Coastal Currents and Stade Saturdays are back!

Coastal Currents and Stade Saturdays are back in Hastings, things are gradually returning to some sort of normality, despite COVID-19 infection rates still remaining high locally, indeed, above the average national rate (BBC), and particularly among residents under 50. For details of events please go to the website, and enjoy your weekend!

And stay safe folks, be careful still!

Coastal Currents 2019

Coastal Currents is here again for 2019, beginning on Saturday 31st August at the De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill with an all day beach event Imprint and a Roof Terrace Launch Party  (website). Of course there are numerous events in Hastings too, and Stade Saturdays for the 31st August and 7th September are dedicated to Coastal Currents does Stade Saturdays (website). Enjoy September!

I am having a few difficulties with getting on line from home at the moment so over the next 2 weeks my blogs will be fewer, apologies, hopefully back to normal then!

Stade Saturdays - 24th August 2019

This Saturday, at the Stade Open Space, sees Stade Saturdays with even more dancing! This week goes Ballroom from 2.30 pm to 5.30 pm (website), with music by Simply Swing, take part in dance workshops with Ballroom Glamour, or simply dance, or watch ballroom champions and Para Dance UK Dancers. And the weather forecast looks very pleasant too, enjoy!

Strictly Stade Saturday

For the Stade Saturdays event today, there is Strictly Stade Saturday (website), from 2.00 to 9.00 pm, at the Stade Open Space of course! The day will be led by Dance Hastings and Hastings Salsa, and includes dance classes and opportunity for families, people with learning disabilities, and wheelchair access, come dancing! 

• 2.15pm Wheelchair accessible inclusive class, suitable for those with learning difficulties
• 3.15pm Charleston dance class [inclusive and family friendly]
• 4.00pm Swing dance class [family friendly]
• 4.45pm Social Swing dancing for all
• 5.45pm Salsa class [inclusive and family friendly]
• 6.30pm Social Salsa and Latin dancing for all
• 7.30pm Rueda de Casino
• 8pm - 9pm Social Argentine tango dancing

Hastings Old Town Carnival Week 2019

Carnival Week (3rd to the 11th August - website) returns! As traditional, it really begins with the Tug-o-War at 10.30 am, by the Stade, and in front of Hastings Lifeboat Station by the railway line, but officially the opening ceremony begins at 12.00 by the flagstaff outside Hastings Fishermen's Museum, Rock-a-Nore Road.

Every year plenty is organised for Carnival Week, including many recurring events, for example, in liaison with Stade Saturdays, the Nearly on the Beach concerts, Saturday and Sunday afternoons/evenings (3rd-4th): starting 1.30 pm on Saturday and 1.00 pm on Sunday (website). For full details of events for the week, please go to the website, as there are way too many to mention here, although I have written a separate blog about the return of the OHPS free Stade Guided Walk (among many other guided walks this week!) that meets outside Hastings Fishermen's Museum on many days this week.

Whatever you do this week, enjoy yourselves!

Postponed 27 July - Stade Saturday event

Apparently, the Margate Film Screening 'Stone & Sand' planned for this afternoon Stade Saturdays event (website) has been postponed until the 7th of September 2019 due to previously forecast bad weather, although the present forecast doesn't look so bad for the afternoon, oh well, have a nice day whatever you end up doing! 

Stade Saturdays Returns...

Stade Saturdays (website) returns to the Stade Open Space this evening from 7.30 pm with music performed by Juliet Russel, Tijs Groen and Vocal Explosion, a truly eclectic mix of sound... Your's free to enjoy!

Weekend Events in Hastings

The Hastings Winkle Club (blog) Jazz & Blues Festival - 31 May to 2 June 2019, in aid of local charities, begins this evening with live music at 3 venues: The Letter Quintet playing from 8.30pm at the Jenny Lind in the High Street, and from 9pm with The Black Sheep playing at the Nelson near the bottom of The Bourne, and The Chantell Duncan Band playing at the Old Market in George Street (website). Saturday and Sunday evenings will also see live music at these venues and at Porters Wine Bar in the High Street, the EHSAA Club opposite the Lifeboat Station at The Stade, and the Dragon Bar in George Street (see website for more details).

Saturday and Sunday also has live music plaing at The Stade Open Space, in conjunction with the first of this year's Stade Saturdays (website): live music playing on stage from 12.30pm to 9pm on Saturday 1st, and from 10.30am (opens 10am) on Sunday with The Big Band Breakfast until 7.30pm (website).



Also on Sunday, from 8am to 12 noon, there will be a Car Boot Sale organised by Roebuck Enterprises in the Roebuck Centre, Roebuck Street (in between High Street and The Bourne - facebook page).

Meanwhile, over in St Leonards the road will be closed for the St Leonards/Kings Road Street Market (facebook page) from 10am to 4 pm tomorrow Saturday 1st.

And, of course, there are the usual music events in the regular pubs and bars, and there are museums, seafront, aquarium et cetera to enjoy!



Today, mostly lifeboat images...

OK, we know the main feature now, but what effigy/effigies will be on the bonfire?

Yes, we see a few motorbikes in Hastings, indeed not that rare, but for Stade Saturdays today, the last of the year I believe, there was the Classic Motorbike Show, and Bonfire stuff this evening of course (website)!

Lifeboats arriving, including Hastings new Shannon Class, the current incumbent, which should be going out to calls for about another month whilst crew train on the newbie, the enormous Eastbourne lifeboat, and 2 inshore boats.

The Shannon Class shows off, shooting away at great speed!

Eastbourne Boat 

Hastings 3 lifeboats, for now

The Eastbourne boat doesn't want to be left out!

The Shannon Class RNLI 13-28, the Richard & Caroline Colton, lands!

Coming Home

And I have many more images to post with thanks to our roving photographer Marcus, and his photographs are much better quality than mine here, coming very soon!

Hastings Week, and This Weekend

So, Hastings Week 2018 is from tomorrow, Saturday the 6th of October, to Hastings Day, Sunday the 14th and the 952nd anniversary of the Battle of Hastings (Visit 1066 Country website). So why have I started off this blog with using a photograph of the Stacey Marie (blog)? Well, it is always nice to start off a blog with an attractive image, and in the Hastings Week 2018 programme the Old Town Fryer at East Beach Street uses two photographs (though old 😉) of my favourite Hastings Fishermen's Museum exhibit in their advertisement, so indeed, this is a very appropriate photograph in my opinion, plus, of course, she is an excellent advertisement for the sustainable fishing industry of Hastings (blog). 

However, this weekend there are no OHPS guided walks organised, (although there will be next weekend!) but there are many other intriguing walks organised, for example tomorrow, a 10.66 Walk (meeting at Grosvenor Gardens, St Leonards, starting at 11.06 am) and a Secret Hastings Walk (meeting at the Chessboard in George Street, starting at 6pm), and so much more. As you can see above, there is a Jewellery Sale tomorrow and Sunday at the Lifeboat Station, starting 10.00 each day, with all proceeds going to the RNLI (and next weekend will see the arrival of our new Shannon Class lifeboat*, more of nearer the time). And both days have an extended Stade Saturdays Classic Cars exhibition on the Stade Open Space (website).

Keep your eyes open for plenty of interesting events this week, and enjoy!

* The ceremony for her being named Richard and Caroline Colton will be held at Hastings Lifeboat Station on the 27th of April 2019 (latest information available).

African Night Fever at the Stade!

This week's Stade Saturdays event (29th September) sees a fusion of West African rhythmic culture with modern electric guitars as Diabel Cissokho is presented by Afrikaba and African Night Fever from 7.30pm at the Stade Open Space (website). Promises to be an evening of vibrant music and a celebration of African culture, enjoy!



RAMSHACKLICIOUS for Stade Saturday!

So, what does Stade Saturdays present us with tomorrow at the Stade Open Space (Saturday 22nd September- website)? A wee bit offbeat, with 2 shows (starting at 4.30pm and 7.30pm) and "dressed in punk marching band attire!"  Ramshacklicious present The Band at the End of The World, an apparently "hilarious steampunk circus (with) anarchic music and comedy."

Sounds like fun!

Coastal Currents Arts Festival: 1-30 September 2018

A new mural painted in town, it's September, so it must be the Hastings & St Leonards Coastal Currents Arts Festival 2018! The festival officially starts today, and continues throughout the month, too much is happening to mention everything here, and at so many venues, so I suggest you peruse the website. Though, I have no doubt you'll notice events as you wander around Hastings & St Leonards during the month...

Also, to help launch the Coastal Currents Arts Festival, from 6pm this evening, Stade Saturdays (website) presents Incubate Showcase Night at the Stade Open Space. Local young musicians will play (admission free) and enhance the evening from the stage; Incubate is supported by the Eggtooth Project, developing and 'hatching' the potential of emerging young talent from the town (website). Enjoy the whole day!

Music & Dance: Carousel on the Stade FREE!

This evening's event for Stade Saturdays is Carousel, which starts on the Stade Open Space at 7.30pm (website). Southpaw Dance Company's Carousel tells a visually spectacular tale of a fairground after-hours, and includes a fully functioning merry-go-round as the centrepiece for a story about the characters who inhabit the fairground. As the fair shuts down for the night, its public face gives way to the celebrations and personal tragedies of this group of people. Carousel can be enjoyed as a party night of circus thrills and spills, with live Balkan and gypsy influenced music and dance (their website; includes video).

And free to enjoy, please do so!

RRRrrrrrrr.... Pirate Day 2018!

OK, of course there's many other things happening this weekend, but Pirate Day 2018, what more can I say?!? Ever since Hastings recorded the Guinness Book of Records standing record of the number of pirates in a single area, ie on the beach in Hastings in 2012 (14,231), we've been waiting for our Cornish piratical chums in Penzance to catch up, and they still haven't... So, it's yet another day for Hastings folk to dress up and enjoy itself, but with no pressure...

So much going on, and not just directly to do with Pirate Day 2018, eg Stade Saturdays (website) has Mike Willis singing 'Nashville' from 7.30pm on Saturday the 14th, but also stretches into Sunday the 15th, ie Pirate Day, for pirates, music and much more from 11am. While talking about the Stade, Hastings Lifeboat Station will provide us with more shanties, pirate songs and drums in conjunction with refreshments, also from 11am onwards!

And, well, Pirate Day itself will no doubt see thousands of pirates parading round town, drinking and causing friendly mayhem, and too many events for me to mention, but spreading from the Stade to the Pier via George Street, up on West Hill, Pelham Beach, and Priory Meadow (Visit 1066 website for more in-depth information of each venue). The beach, streets, pubs and bars will be full of pirates, and of course there's a procession planned: from 2pm the Parade of the Kraken commences up from the bottom of High Street/East Street/West Street, crosses The Bourne at the top over into All Saints Street and down to Winkle Island...

Dress up, or not, have fun, and there's even more sunshine forecast this weekend (Met Office), so Factor 50 for me!

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!

Photographs and a Video from Yesterday

Images from the Classic Motorbike Show as the Stade Saturdays event this weekend on the Stade Open Space yesterday.

Early Doors 

The effigy this year wasn't a dig at anyone, but a tribute to local character Ron Everett, aka Popeye, who died, sadly, earlier this year (see blog).

You may have guessed by now that I didn't make it to the bonfire last night, but here's a link to the Hastings Observer, and a fine video to watch, many thanks Observer!

This Weekend, AND Hastings Week Commences!

So, Hastings Week starts tomorrow (website and facebook page), with the Opening Ceremony from 3pm up at Hastings Castle, with free entry to the castle from 2.30pm, there's a treat! Of course, there will be other events going on before that time, for example, in conjunction with Stade Saturdays on the Stade Open Space will be a Classic Cars & Motorcycles Show from 10am to 3pm, which continues on Sunday, and much more; go to website for further details of events, exhibitions, guided walks...

Of course, much more happening and places to visit, as ever, Hastings Fishermen's Museum, the Aquarium, Lifeboat Station, Parks and Gardens, Miniature Railways, Music Month continues (today as well, see website) and, amongst other things, there will be the Retrobella Vintage & Retro Indoor Market on the Pier both days (website).

Yesterday, no, not a Beatles' song...

The leader runs by me after approximately 1 mile of the Hastings 5K Park Run yesterday morning, ok, it's along the seafront, and not actually in a park as many are. It's held every Saturday, beginning at 09.00 at Seaside Road, down from the Bo Peep, to just east of the Pier and back.

The leading woman, 2 ahead of me

And getting closer to the halfway point, runners going away from me, and runners coming back in this shot. In all, 269 people of all ages took part in the regular weekly Park Run yesterday, not to mention the many volunteers who helped to steward the event. The first male to finish the race was first-timer (in this event) Henry Willis of Maidstone Harriers, and first female was Karen Murdoch of Hastings AC, but you don't need to run for a club to take part, people of all levels run for health or social reasons, and new entrants are positively welcomed; see website for further details, and many of these park runs are held all over the country at the same time!

Though, talking about music... Skinny Lister setting up their stage for their gig yesterday evening at the Stade Open Space, as I mentioned yesterday, a Stade Saturdays contribution to Music Month.

Hastings 29 September to 1 October 2017

Well, with Hastings Week to start next weekend, you'd think this weekend would be quiet, but, of course, that would be silly of me to suggest! There will be the usual gigs in pubs and bars, numerous eating places in which to dine, you could visit the museums and parks, the aquarium, castle and caves, miniature railways, theatres, Pier of the Year and seafront (decent forecast for Saturday), oh yes! The Hastings & St Leonards Coastal Currents Arts Festival 2017 ends on Sunday 1st October, so still 3 days of that to go (see website for further details of individual events), and...

Skinny Lister

Hastings Music Month continues until the end of October, quite a long month indeed! To help celebrate Music Month, Stade Saturdays (website) features Skinny Lister (website) on the stage at the Stade Open Space tomorrow (30th September) from 7.30pm. For more details of Music Month events go to the website, an eclectic mix including classical music, folk and Lulu at the White Rock Theatre; do also note the error, though, as the Tune Raiders will be playing at the Dolphin Inn every Tuesday as they always do, and not playing at the Blue Dolphin fish & chip shop!

Continue to enjoy yourselves!