Old Town Hall & Mental Health Initiative

 

I have written about Hastings Old Town Hall (and Museum) many times, eg blog about its history and it closing down, sadly, as a museum, but the latest initiative comes from Eggtooth (website), with their plan to reopen the building as a community hub, The Nest. The Nest will be home to Eggtooth's mental health and well-being service, focussing on the whole community, a creative event space and venue, provide training for younger people with barriers to employment, and with an alcohol-free bar.

Eggtooth remind us that Hastings is ranked the 13th most deprived local authority area in England, with high unemployment, particularly among younger people, and with limited employment opportunities for those younger people. Another purpose of The Nest will be to help change this, providing training opportunities, personal mentoring and fully funded therapeutic sessions.

There is currently a Crowdfunder online to help fund this worthy project, should you wish to support this, please go to Crowdfunder and donate or share, many thanks.

Hastings Soup Kitchens and Workhouses...

Having recently written about Hastings Foodbank (blog) and the Snowflake Winter Night Shelter (blog) I then thought about similar facilities for poorer people in Hastings over 100 years ago, how can things still be so desperate, haven't we developed as a caring nation, the 5th/6th richest country in the World?!? For example, this shop in Queens Road (above) used to be a soup kitchen, as shown in a photograph of this building taken in 1909 that is in the Hastings Edition of The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell (Wordsworth Editions, 2014).

And the building that was the Hastings Old Town Workhouse is still in George Street (Hastings Chronicle), also with a rather nicer usage now!

Since 1909 Britain has fought in 2 World Wars and many others around the world, however, in 1945 Britain adopted the fight against the "5 Evils" described by Beveridge, and there should thus be freedom from "Want, Disease, Ignorance, Squalor and Idleness."* The Attlee Labour governments began that fight against the 5 evils despite Britain being in considerable debt following World War 2. The NHS was created, Full Employment was a target, the Education system became improved and available to children and young adults of all classes, Unemployment, Sickness and Welfare Benefits and Pensions were improved, and a great wave of building decent homes for the public was started, indeed, the number of council houses built was surpassed by Conservative governments during the 1950s. By the early 1960s there was virtual full employment, even in the late 1970s you could walk into a job which was offered to you on the spot.

How did we allow the return of the evils, poverty and homelessness continuing to worsen despite Britain being a much richer country now than it was in 1945? Hastings is the 7th worst town in the country for unemployment (nomis). Life expectancy in Britain is lower than in other developed countries and has stopped rising, indeed, lowered in some areas of the country (BBC). Furthermore, fear of the USA helping to further privatise the NHS as part of a trade deal when we leave the EU, this may well increase the influence of the evil of Disease.

Makes me feel rather sad, and angry!


* Derek Fraser, The Evolution of the British Welfare State, Macmillan 2nd edition 1984.