Cheeky Peek Guide to Hastings & St Leonards

You have just one day to go if you want to pledge support for the Cheeky Peek Guide to Hastings & St Leonards, I have done, and am looking forward to the finished guide! Go to the website if you'd like to find out more and/or wish to pledge...

Tomorrow: Monthly Hastings Handicraft Fair

At the White Rock Theatre tomorrow (Friday 26th June, 11.00-15.00, admission free) is the monthly Hastings Handicraft Fair, supporting local arts and crafts, and any proceeds going to the registered charity, the Hastleon Amateur Dramatic and Operatic Society. For more details of the fair go to the website.     

This photograph is of a quilt by Ness Mann (website), decorously posed from Stacey Marie RX134 (facebook page) and referred to in my blog of 15th March.   

Enjoy the fair, and who knows what you may come away with? 

Stacey Marie RX134 as a backdrop!

Recently, I saw one of my favourite retired boats at Rock-a-Nore, the Stacey Marie, RX134, (facebook page) being used as a backdrop for photographs, as were nearby net huts etc, so I had a chat with the 2 young women in question to see what was going on! 

They were photographing quilts designed and made by Ness Mann (website), as you can see from these photographs, since shared with me. The boat was originally built in the 1940s in Newhaven (her original registration was NN39) and is now part of the Fishermen's Museum's collection, and is tended to by a couple of local lads.

Daniela Exley (website) was the photographer, many thanks for the images! The Stacey Marie was originally called "Linda" and was built as a punt, becoming a decked boat in the 1950s, using a government grant from the White Fish Authority; the original owners were the Grant brothers, who fished out of Eastbourne. A tragic accident, when one of the brothers was swept overboard and drowned, saw the remaining brother sell the boat to Jack Edmunds, who brought the boat to Hastings in 1961.   

This photograph provides a wee hint that the boat needs a fresh coat of paint and re-varnishing, which the Stacey Marie page assures us will be happening soon. Back to the history... Jack Edmunds sold the boat to Rod Knight in 1976, who renamed her "Andrew Peter" after his 2 sons. Rod sold her on to Robert "Podgy" Ball in 1985, who then renamed her "Stacey Marie", and she was the oldest working fishing boat on Hastings beach when she was retired in 1997.

Here is the rather large anchor that is situated next to Stacey Marie, opposite the Dolphin pub, the landlord of which is one of the boat's guardians. Anyway, she was acquired by Hastings Fishermen's Museum in June 1999, and is now on display in front of the Fish Market at Rock-a-Nore.

  

This is a very recent photograph of Stacey Marie (and the anchor) with the market behind, and taken by a good friend, Marcus J Lamb-Bentley, cheers Marcus!

See also the Hastings Fishermen's Museum/Old Hastings Preservation Society website for more details of their exhibits and much much more.