St Leonards Festival 2022 - 9th July

Tomorrow sees the return of the St Leonards Festival (website) celebrating the local community and the arts, with music, a carnival and parade, and situated mostly in Warrior Square Gardens and Kings Road. The events are accessible to wheelchair users, include diversity, and aims for sustainability; see website for details.

Plus, not far away, plenty of music on Hastings Pier too (facebook), enjoy!

St Leonards Festival & Carnival Parade Saturday 29th June 2019

Tomorrow sees the return of the St Leonards Festival & Carnival Parade 29th June 2019, from 12.00 noon to 10.30pm (website). There will be a festival market, food and refreshments, street art, story telling, bands playing live, and the Carnival Parade from the Azur Pavilion to Warrior Square Gardens at 2.45pm. Events venues include Warrior Square Gardens, Goat Ledge, and the Street Market will be in Kings Road from 10.00am to 6.00pm; the full programme can be seen at the website.

Enjoy your Saturday!

A visit to Hastings Pier yesterday...

OK, not the most picturesque photograph (better below), but important as these are the 2 certificates that show there is an 'alcohol licence' for Hastings Pier now; something I'm not surprised about as it is pretty much a necessity if they want to make any money! But, to the right is the copy of the Certificate of Employer's Liability Insurance for the HASTINGS PIER CHARITY, not for Lions Hastings Pier Ltd, the new owner...

Now, as many of you will know, a valid Certificate of Employer's Liability Insurance has to be on display for staff to see by law, though not necessarily in view of the public like the Charity posted whilst they managed the Pier. So I ended up talking to a man who said he is the 'manager' and suggested he'd better check if they have this insurance, and that a copy of the certificate is on display for staff to see, otherwise they're breaking the law. He said they must have a copy somewhere, and he'd better take down the invalid Charity certificate, which he did. I wished him good luck!

If you didn't visit St Leonards Festival yesterday you will have missed the Friends of Hastings Pier stall in Warrior Square Gardens, and a chance to speak with people who really care about what should be a community-owned asset, and whose excellent plan for the future of the Pier had been spurned by the administrators in favour of Mr Gulzar and Lions Hastings Pier Ltd.

The principles of Friends of Hastings Pier can be read at their new Crowdfunder page, where you may also contribute to their campaign, but essentially it is about the people in a community having a say in what happens to community assets and that they should stay in community ownership. My best wishes to Friends of Hastings Pier and their campaign, which I do and will continue to support.

Hastings Weekend June/July 2018

So it's to be another busy fun-filled weekend in Hastings & St Leonards, to begin with, this Saturday (30th June, 12 noon to 10.30pm) and the St Leonards Festival provides a culturally diverse delight (website). There will be music, food and drink, a wonderful street market and street art, the carnival parade, and much more! Indeed, look out for a Friends of Hastings Pier presence too (we shouldn't forget there are many people who live and work in Hastings who still care about the Pier with a passion!). By the way, the £ Half a million they had raised through Crowdfunder has been returned to those who contributed (well mine has been returned anyway, so I'm presuming), and now they have a new Crowdfunder page so that they may continue to campaign and have a reserve fund should they get the opportunity to purchase the freehold of Hastings Pier. Good luck and my best wishes to the activists/supporters of Friends of Hastings Pier!

Talking about Hastings Pier and this weeked may well see the last Vintage & Retro Indoor Market  on there (website), open 11am to 5pm on Saturday and Sunday, as we still have no idea what the new owner is going to do with the Pier, he having no plan! Retrobella includes nearly 20 stallholders selling quality vintage garments, homeware, collectibles and vinyl. Good luck to this event too!

And Stade Saturdays brings us free "high energy music with African and Jazz influences," another culturally eclectic mix, when Hexagonal play on the stage at the Stade Open Space from 7.30pm (website).

So, together with all the regularly arranged gigs, and delights to visit, this weekend will again deliver fun for all, plus an excellent weather forecast (Met Office), and not to forget Hastings Fringe events; see website!

More Art on the Beach... with Pebbles!

I took these photographs yesterday morning below St Leonards, so I'm guessing they are something to do with the St Leonards Festival over the weekend...

Quite a few more too, nice one, or twelve!

This Weekend, Busy Busy Busy!

Already started today, and carries on until Sunday, Blacksmiths on the Beach, and as part of the Stade Saturdays season too! Includes 3 days of blacksmith demonstrations and workshops, food and refreshments, blacksmith memorabilia, and oh yes, you can get involved! Many thanks to Nona at the Fishermen's Museum for the photograph; Saturday 9am-7pm, Sunday 9am-4pm.

For Stade Saturday, also, from 6pm, Folk Dance Remixed, a postmodern mix, if you like, of traditional dance, Hip Hop, Clogs, Ceiledh, oh the list goes on! And, from 7.30pm, music from the well-known King Size Slim; see website for more details of the day, including Blacksmiths on the Beach, Folk Dance Remixed and King Size Slim.

Meanwhile, further to the west, there is the 2-day St Leonards Festival, with so much to do I shall just link you to their website for full details, but it does include the Kings Road Market, an earlier performance from Folk Dance Remixed, Music, Food, Theatre, Puppets... Oh, and be warned, there is a loud fanfare when you go to the website!

Back to the east again on Sunday and there is an Open Day at Hastings Lifeboat Station, starting at 11.00 for 5 hours, where the doors are flung open to the public again, together with the usual Tombola, Games and more. See the website for further details.

And, of course, back to the middle, is Hastings Pier, with its usual fun and games, plus, from 12.30 on Sunday, The Fantastic Promenaders! Refer to the Pier's website for more information, and wherever you end up this weekend, enjoy yourself!

Pier Update

From Hastings Pier Charity, many thanks!

The structure of diagonal and horizontal bracing to support the Visitor Centre steelwork is being completed now, and the next operation is to form the reinforced concrete slab. Constructing the slab will be a complex operation as firstly a troughed steel deck is laid on the steelwork. Then steel bar reinforcement will be fixed in place to provide tensile strength and to help enable the slab to be tied to the existing Pier steelwork. The slab should be completed by mid-July. They will then be ready for the pre-fabricated timber building that will be erected on top to form the Visitor Centre. The replacement of the steelwork to the Parade Extension, Central Access sections of the Pier is now complete.

Access to the end of the Pier is now possible, and the remaining 1000sq metres of old deck boarding will soon be lifted. The old deck board will all be recycled either to be made into furniture for the Pier or be used as cladding for part of the Visitor Centre. The main structure of the Pavilion is now complete. The internal fit out of the bar and restaurant will start shortly. See website for more.   

By the way, the Learning and Education team will be in Warrior Square today at the St Leonards Festival, from 12 to 7pm.
 

St Leonards Festival this weekend!

This Saturday 11th July, 'free' festival, and much fun to be had, at Warrior Gardens, music and much much more! See their website for more details.