Hastings America Ground, The Musical!

Bob Tipler (and I've borrowed most of this blog from Bob's facebook account) and John Knowles have written a play with songs loosely based on the history of the America Ground area of Hastings (blog), which Bob says is "an allegory concerning today’s housing crisis and issues of land ownership."

With support from Historic England and a supporting grant from Arts Council England, they have nearly reached the funding required to professionally stage the play this coming June, with a cast of local actors and musicians. There will soon be a push for the final bit of crowd funding and sponsorship required.

There’s a reading of the synopsis of the play with a performance of five of the songs next Wednesday 20th March during the Trinity Triangle Heritage Showcase at the Hastings Observer Building, 13-21.00 hours (eventbrite). Tickets are free and their America Ground synopsis is due to start at 8pm.

Should you wish to go along here’s a link to sign up.

PS. The America Ground The Musical is my invention, I have no idea what they will be calling it, but would be amazed if it's the same, you never know! 😉

Hastings Fat Tuesday 2024 Already? Yes, indeed!

Sadly no St Mary in the Castle this year

Yes, indeed! Hastings Fat Tuesday 9-13 February 2024 (website) already has pre-music festival events occurring, starting, as I write, with today's Frock Up Friday Market Place, from 10.30 am to 3.30 pm, at the Observer Building, 53 Cambridge Road TN34 1DT (website - sorry I'm so late that I very nearly missed this!). I'm presuming this is where to go to get Mardi Gras style accessories, maybe clothes, as they state "Grab your glitter, feathers, and dancing shoes and create yourselves an outfit ready for the rest of the festival!"

Tomorrow (Sunday 4th), from 11.00 am to 3.00 pm at Hastings Museum & Art Gallery, John's Place, Bohemia Road TN34 1ET will be a free Family Umbrella Workshop with Radiator Arts (website), where decorative materials and glue guns will be available so that you may decorate an old umbrella to make it fit for Mardi Gras.

Well done to the organisers, and Hastings folk, for raising the money!

Start preparing for the fun to come... 🎆

Hastings: A Curious Town Dreams Festival 31/5 - 4/6/23

From today (31st May) until Sunday (4th June) A Curious Town Dreams Festival is to be held at The Observer Building, The Printworks, Gotham Alley and the surrounding area (website), that is a "5-day immersive combined arts festival." 

The Festival will bring together around 100 artists and performers creating around the theme of Dreams by way of artwork, cabaret, comedy, storytelling, poetry, music, dancing, workshops and more... The Festival begins today with a Dream Mapping Workshop, 'Beyond the Duvet' and 'Crystalline Dreams' Sound Bath (website).

For the rest of the Festival's events see the website, and enjoy!

A Busy Hastings Weekend!

As I write, the weekly St Leonards Farmers Market is being held at Tommy's Yard, 28 Norman Road TN38 0EJ, as it is every Friday, 10.00-1.00pm (website).

Tomorrow, Saturday 1st October, sees Hastings Oktoberfest with music, beer and bratwurst promised to entertain you indoors from 2.00 to 10.00pm at Horntye Park TN34 1EX! Lots of brass band and oompah promised too, tickets are  £15; more details, how to buy the tickets, at their website. Prost!

Saturday 1st and Sunday 2nd also sees the Pop Up Emporium return to The Stade Hall, close by Hastings RNLI Lifeboat Station, an indoor market for local businesses and crafts to exhibit their wares at; 11.00 to 4.00pm both days (visit1066country).

Then, on Sunday, 2nd October, the Bohemia Creative Quarter (BCQ) regular first Sunday of the month event is held. The event will be from 11.00am to 4.00pm in the Bohemia/London/Tower Roads triangle, an area consisting of 80 or so businesses.

There is a facebook page for the group and, as the image above suggests, expect creative workshops, live performances, wellness and beauty, affordable art, home decor, music, antiques, bric-a-brac, street food, fancy dress and vintage stalls. You are invited to visit and explore the Bohemia area of Hastings & St Leonards...

Also, for the week commencing tomorrow, for 8 days actually, 1-8 October, at the Observer Building, 53 Cambridge Road TN34 1DT, is the People of Hastings Exhibition, an event created by the Digital Arts Hub (facebook). The event will feature a digital 3D portrait of Hastings and its people and culture, following a 4 months long project; all those people scanned for the XR22 project will be represented by 3D models, see if you recognised anyone! It will be open daily 1.00-6.00pm, except on the 8th, when the closing event will be 6.00-8.00pm.

Enjoy your weekend folks! 👌

Early Morning Wander Around Town and...

I've been getting out early the last few days when it's relatively cool, with a nice breeze too, until the sun pops up above buildings from about 07.00, and I'm not good when it's hot! Indeed, today should be the last 'too hot' day for me for a while, with the forecast seeing tomorrow peaking at just 20/22 degrees Celcius in Hastings (Met Office).

So I wandered around the Town Centre in the peace & quiet, although the small street cleaning wagon was a bit noisy, thankfully cleaning up the mess left behind by the very messy Saturday night revellers/litter louts! And good old Debenhams, well, the building, which I shared a short piece of it's history in a blog a little over a year ago following it's closure... Oh yes, good, not so old, O.W.E.N.S 😏 

Indeed, Owens Entertainment, 1-3 Robertson Street TN34 1HT, is opening soon, still no firm date yet, but in the 'Summer' they say (facebook) and 'twill be announced soon, an 'entertainment venue' on 3 floors, with 'over 20 things to do!' The 'fun' will include 'amusement' machines, pool table(s?), 10 Pin Bowling, and many other facilities including Crazy Golf Courses, I wonder if this influenced the plans to enclose the Pirate Course at Hastings Adventure Golf, as I mentioned in a blog a couple of months ago? And restaurants/bars too, indeed, they are advertising vacancies at indeed 😉 and I noticed on one of the notices about change of use, WC facilities will be provided too, necessary of course with food being served, but for general public use too?

I then sauntered along Queens Road, which I wrote about how the area had been moving upmarket in a blog before the pandemic hit us, indeed, the excellent Queens Deli & Shop was situated at the address above... Well, now it's housing Hair & Hound, 196 Queens Road TN34 1RG (tel: 07710 507380), and which brings together a hairdressers with a bar/cafe/Friday evening cocktails: food includes cakes, cookies, very interesting looking toasties, and 'small plates featuring meat and cheese.'

I continued my walk along Queens Road, which still contains many good businesses, not a few hairdressers/barbers, small grocery stores, fast food businesses, but with a significant number of empty premises, some closed since the pandemic hit us, sadly. But I was surprised to see what I last remember was called the Drift In, although it's had numerous names over the years, is not a bar anymore! 

No, the Bottle of Hastings has very recently opened at 91 Queens Road TN34 1RL (website), which is a quality family owned wine merchants and shop. They are aiming to be able to sell over 200 different wines, which can be collected from the premises, and deliveries can be made of orders requested from their website. They have a premises licence, so welcome customers to 'enjoy wines by the glass and bottle' in their seating area, and will soon be offering 'regular tastings hosted by world class sommeliers.'

When I got back indoors, as well as looking up information to do with the above businesses, I also read the Summer Edition of East Sussex County Council's Newsletter, received by email. Interestingly, the County Council has agreed to the request by Hastings Borough Council to extend by another 3 years the Anti-Social Behaviour Public Spaces Protection Order (ASB PSPO) first applied for in 2017 (see HBC Report for plenty of information!).

In addition, the County Council reminded us that Central Government is carrying out, until the 1st of September, a public consultation regarding Creating an offence of public sexual harassment. You have until the end of the day (23.59) on the 1st of September 2022 if you wish to respond on the Government website.

Well, I wish the best to all new businesses opening in Hastings, good luck! And, as I passed the old town centre Post Office building in Cambridge Road, sadly closed now, I wondered when that building will be found a new use within the town? The old Debenhams building appears to have found a new lease of life (above), as has the old Observer building (blog), which is just up the road...

A breath of fresh air makes me think, you know, dangerous! 😁

Observer Building Returning to Action and Open Days.

I first mentioned this redevelopment in a blog a couple of years ago, but now it is coming to fruition. Indeed, the first of 2 open days at the Observer Building, 53 Cambridge Road TN34 1DT, is being held tomorrow (Saturday the 21st of May) from 11.00 am to 2.00 pm, and a second will be held on Wednesday the 25th May between 4.30 and 7.30 pm. The reopening of the building is planned for August, further information about their wide ranging plans, including homes, shops, workshops, and offices, is at their website, and, should you be interested in visiting on one of the open days, please register on their EventBrite page, which contains further information too.

With congratulations and best wishes to the regeneration team!

The Observer Building was designed by the prolific local architect Henry Ward in the early 1920s, who also designed the Queens Road Town Hall (blog) and Debenhams (blog), as well as being involved in many other local landmarks. 

Henry Ward (1854-1927) was buried at Hastings Cemetery in September 1927.

Observer Building Recovery Funding

I discovered very recently that East Sussex County Council, as part of their £45 million East Sussex Economic Recovery Plan (website), are to provide funds for the development of the Observer Building in Cambridge Road TN34 1DT (photograph taken this morning). The Recovery Plan is to help aid recovery from the impact of the Covid-19 Crisis. Fingers crossed...

The Observer Building (Architects' Journal) was designed in the early 1920s by architect Henry Ward (1852-1927), who designed many other local buildings, including the (newer) old town hall in Queens Road (blog).

Sunday, Sunday!

The 'Fat Tuesday' Sunday Umbrella Parade takes a bit of a different route this year, indeed, starting at noon from Butlers Gap in George Street (assembling from 11.30), and walking past Pelham Crescent, instead heading to the old Observer Building in the town centre for an afternoon of fun and Preservation Sunday!  

I see you Bob (last year!)

By 4pm, the event turns into an audiovisual spectacle with Sunday Sonics, and continues from 5pm in The Printworks (See website for full details of the day).   

Enjoy the day, looks like the rain is keeping off for the parade!

Hastings 'Gothic' Town Hall

The 'new' town hall was opened in Queens Road by the mayor, Mr William F Revill, on 7th September 1881, replacing the smaller town hall in the High Street (built in 1823), which is now the Old Town Hall Museum; itself under threat of closure because of recent spending reductions dictated to Hastings Borough Council by central Government. 

Hastings 'new' Town Hall

The architect was Henry Ward (1854-1927), who briefly worked under the guidance of local architect Walter Liberty Vernon when he first moved to Hastings, soon succeeding Vernon, and working for 50 years in Hastings, becoming a prolific architect, based in his practice at 8 Bank Buildings, Hastings. 

As a young architect Ward entered the winning design in the competition for the new Hastings Municipal Buildings. The site of the building was an awkward shape to deal with, and the winning design was a clever piece of ingenuity. It brought Ward recognition that ensured his election as an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects, an honour conferred only following significant professional success. 

Council Chamber

Consequently, one of his first designs was the Grade II listed 'Gothic Revival' Hastings Town Hall, which originally included the local Police Court and cells at the end of the ground floor corridor. The bench was at the east end of the room, with the dock in front, and the west end given over to a public gallery. Next to the court room was the police station, which took up the central part of the Station Road frontage. 

External walls were built using local blue stone, having Bath stone dressings, and the roofing was green slates. Inside, the staircase included scagliola marble columns and stained glass windows. The southern chimney place is made of Bath stone, having a carved statue of St Michael (the 'patron saint' of Hastings) and large painted tiles of Kings William and Harold. 

No more clocks -

Early sign of austerity measures?

Having recently visited the 'Council Chamber' I can confirm it is a reminder of Victorian municipal splendour, the Victorians certainly didn't hide their lights under bushels! Sadly, it is now showing slight signs of neglect, needing a fresh lick of paint at least, presumably another result of austerity measures. Indeed, the clocks outside the town hall disappeared ages ago, due to the expense of fixing them apparently. 

The opening ceremony for the town hall was followed by a luncheon in a large marquee in the adjoining cricket ground, with over a hundred guests enjoying fine food and the entertainment of a local band. Indeed, the first council meeting at the new town hall received a petition protesting about the cost to ratepayers of such an expensive event. The council refused to discuss the petition... 

Ward's Grave

Henry Ward died at the age of 73, at home in 22 Magdalen Terrace, Bohemia Road, having designed numerous other local buildings in his career, including many churches, the Observer Building, Bexhill Town Hall, and a few days after his death the Plummer Roddis department store (now Debenhams) was opened. 

A man of substance, locally a significant architect, he was buried in September 1927 at Hastings cemetery.