Convent future under debate

Opponents of the proposed redevelopment of the convent site in Magdalen Road, St Leonards, have called a meeting to be held in the White Rock Hotel on Sunday 3 February at 3pm.

Here they will discuss alternatives to the plan for a high-density residential development involving 165 dwellings put forward by the Goicolea family of Spain which owns the site.

The Local Development Framework scheme may offer a way forward, opening the possibility of having the site designated as private open space and the grounds to the north, where the new dwellings will be sited, removed from allocation to housing, according to Maureen Jarvis, one of the opponents of the Goicolea plan.

Such a proposal could be made as part of the LDF public consultation which started on 3 February and will run to 27 April. In this connection an exhibition will be held from 10am to 1pm on Wednesday 8 February at the Gensing and Central St Leonards Community Centre.

Hastings Brewery Club

The first meeting for Real Ale aficionados

Hastings has hops history! Did you know that hops first came to Hastings from France in 1524? Good old Henry V111. Or that King George 111 had to sleep with his head on a pillow of hops as part of his treatment? No wonder he was mad. Joe Fearn went to the first meeting of the Hastings Brewery Club to find out more – and to get a sneaky pre-taste of the Hastings Brewery Porter before it hits the pubs.

Andy Mason of Hastings Brewery talks Hops

I wasn’t only there for the beer! There was also a presentation by Andy Mason of Hastings Brewery on “That pernicious weed the hop”. We dutifully accepted our free sample (in the name of journalism of course) and learnt about the history of hop growing in England, how hops & hop gardens have been described since Victorian times, the uses of hops past & present, and hop growing in Hastings. There was also an opportunity to touch, smell, and taste the hops in use in the Brewery. After the talk, Hastings intrepid real ale fans were tested on their new-found knowledge about all things hops in a quiz.

So what did I learn? Well, for one thing, hops is used primarily to give the beer a bitter taste, hence “A pint of bitter”. Before hops, the British drank Ale, a malt beverage, which often (but not always) had a sweet taste. It was thick and cloudy and had to be brewed frequently, and did not last long.

Not many people know this, but most beers actually contain animal products – typically a fish derivative called isinglass. Vegetarians will be pleased that Hastings Brewery contains no such additives; all Hastings Brewery beers are made without the use of animal products, meaning that they’re suitable for both vegetarians and vegans.  In 1603, in the reign of James the 1^st, an act was passed with severe penalties for the use of ‘spoilt and adulterated hops’.

A fact that tickled my fancy, was that speculators used to regularly gamble on hops, trying to out-guess the government tax duty on hop production. Two quotes from those heady days read “Many a Kentish man has been ruined by hop gambling”. And “The gambling agents in the Wen make the bets for the gamblers in the country; and, perhaps, millions are betted during the year, upon the amount of duty.” This was in the year 1823! It makes my occasional flutter in the bookies look decidedly tame.

There was ample time afterwards to buy a pint or two of Hastings Ales at the White Rock Hotel bar, where I talked to fellow drinkers about the new beers and to the people responsible for the very nice Hastings Porter, the hoppy dark brew in my hand. The beer was taking effect (ABV 5.5%) so I don’t recall who said what now that I’m consulting my just legible notes. A spokesperson told me:

“We’re now able to produce around 22 casks of beer per brew, which is small for a brewery, (about 1400 pints!)  but large enough to run a commercial operation. We sell our ales to pubs within 15 miles of the brewery in St Leonards-on-Sea – think Hastings, Eastbourne, Battle, Robertsbridge, Rye, and the countryside around.”

The two beers launched at The White Rock Hotel have now joined the permanent selection, and Hastings Gold is a strong, warming bitter. I liked that one equally as well as the porter. All Hastings Brewery beers so far have been created by Brett Ross, the head brewer. Andy Mason helps run the brewery side; Kim Clarke is in charge of admin and sales; and Pete Mason does marketing, and runs the business side of things.

Interestingly, Hastings Brewery is powered by 100% renewable energy. Plus they are looking at reusing more and more waste products, from heat to yeast, from spent grain to waste water.

The Future

Although they will always be called Hastings Brewery, the real ale entrepreneurs are looking at a new logo, and a new image. Now that the core range of session ales has been established, they’ll soon be looking to experiment with beers that are a bit, well, different. They are looking across the Atlantic for inspiration from what my source described as “The fantastic, vibrant US craft beer scene.” (Oo-er!). So expect some new beers that’ll be stronger, hoppier, and sometimes using ingredients that you don’t often see in UK ales.

The next Hastings Brewery Club sampling night is planned for March. Check out the Hastings Brewery website for news of the date and venue.

Portrait Bench unveiled – and gravel mystery solved

Tuesday 24 January saw a resolute group of cyclists and others braving the weather to officially open the final link of the Bulverhythe Coastal Link cycle path, along with the Portrait Bench silhouette statue at Bulverhythe. Richard Hull attended the event and took the opportunity to quiz engineers and planners about the surface of the final link section.

As most cyclists are aware the final section of our local section of the National Cycle Network has been open for several weeks, although marked by a curious group of shrouded figures at Glyne Gap. All was revealed at the official opening and unveiling ceremony. The Portrait Bench, commissioned and built by Sustrans, the national sustainable transport charity, shows silhouettes of three local figures who were chosen through a local vote – Richard Ball, BMX rider, Spike Milligan, comedian, and Tyrone Wildman, sportsman. These Portrait Benches are part of the Sustrans ‘Art and the Travelling Landscape’ initiative. The Bulverhythe Portrait Bench is one of the very first sculptures, with over 70 more planned around the National Cycle Network.

Gravel mystery solved…

Whilst of course welcoming the completion of the Hastings-Bexhill path, many cyclists have commented unfavourably on the surface of this final section, running up and over the small cliffs just before Glyne Gap. The surface is currently loose gravel which can cause a bike to skid, or gravel to be sprayed at high speeds.

As a result, some cyclists have chosen not to use this final section, and have been confused because the Coastal Link path had been designed with careful consultation with local cycling campaign groups, Hastings Urban Bikes and Bexhill Wheelers.

Fortunately, Ian Tingley, chief engineer for the project was present at the opening ceremony, and he informed us that the contractors are being recalled to fix the surface, which was intended to be a ‘bonded’ gravel surface, in other words without the current extensive loose gravel. Ah, construction projects – there’s always a snag to be fixed!

Portraits by Jane Runchman, Martin Beek, Maureen Nathan and Janice Wahnich

Julia Kay’s Portrait Party celebrates Andy Warhol!

Julia Kay’s Portrait Party (JKPP) is an international collaborative art project involving more than 650 artists from more than 50 countries. Working in both digital and traditional media, members of JKPP have made more than 20,000 portraits of each other in less than two years.

 Although the portrait party mainly operates over the internet, every now and again the contributing artists arrange a party in the real world, and Bexhill is the next party hot spot.

The meeting on Sunday 12 February at the De La Warr Pavilion will be the fifth meet up in Europe, other venues have been London’s Royal Festival Hall, a church in Oxford, a bookshop in Barcelona and an artist’s studio in Brussels. Some meetings are closed to the public, but at this event you are very welcome to bring your pads and pencils and join in.

Organiser, Erica Smith, told us a bit more about JKPP: “I have been a member of the group for about 18 months. I’m not a brilliant artist, but my drawing and painting has really improved as a result of being part of the Portrait Party. There is something really special about drawing someone else – even if you draw from a photograph viewed on your computer screen, you feel very close to the person because you have spent time really looking at them and thinking about them. I have attended all the JKPP events in Europe, and it is always a delight to meet the people that you have drawn. I thought it would be lovely to organise an event locally, and the Andy Warhol show at the De La Warr Pavilion is the perfect venue!”

JKPP artists cover a huge array of talent, media and ages. Some artists are just starting out, and some artists, like Martin Beek, who will be at the Bexhill party are long established fine artists. Martin will be launching his book Recent Portraits at the event, and Oxford-based artist Jane Sherwood will also be show-casing her new book, Portraits.

Julia Kay, the creator of the portrait party, is an artist based in San Francisco. She set up the online community because she was hungry to draw as many people as possible. She had no idea the Flickr group would become an international phenomenon. Erica said: “I met Julia Kay in Brussels last year, and although she won’t be here in person for our party, we plan to have a drawing session with her on Saturday using Skype.”

The Portrait Party will run from 11am–4pm on Sunday 12 February at the De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill – look out for people sitting and drawing each other, and feel free to join the party!

More information:
You can view JKPP’s ever-increasing ‘river’ of portraits here.
Read more about Julia Kay here.
Read an interview with Erica Smith about Julia Kay’s Portrait Party here.

“Keep calm and carry yarn”

Question: What do pirate mice, dreams of becoming an author and Hodgkin’s Lymphoma have in common? Answer: Lauren O’ Farrell. Arriving at The Wonky Women’s Institute meeting in St Leonard’s all blue haired and sparky you would never guess that this force of nature had ever been shy or so unwell. She vowed that once recovered she ‘wanted to do everything’.  Who knew this would include knitting world domination? HOT’s Beth Davies finds out more…

As the promoter of graffiti knitting she invites guerrilla crafters to leave their woolly creations in unexpected locations, notably Trafalgar Square. There was also the infamous London telephone box cosy!

Today Lauren is the spearhead of the nomadic group Stitch London. The group offers knitting teaching for free amongst friendly company. It’s difficult to imagine that this global phenomenon started in a pub with a couple of Lauren’s friends and has now grown to over 11,000 members worldwide and held together by the newsletter which Lauren also finds time to write.

This woman is an inspiration, even the most ham-fisted of folk (me) would be hard pushed after half an hour in her presence not to be inclined to pick up some yarn and have a bash. In fact I shall be trying my hand at knitting one or two of her pirate mice.

Here in Hastings and St Leonard’s we have a slight obsession with pirates and our annual Pirate Day is almost as famous as our historical 1066 battle! This year, however there will be a few extra visitors, woolly ones. The Wonky WI will be attempting to break the world record for the highest number of knitted pirate mice ever assembled in one place. The pattern for Lauren’s creation ‘Captain Cat Battler” is available on the Wonky website so get knitting and come along to be a part of this record-breaking event in July.

The shy little girl who dreamt of one day writing her own stories now has three books under her knitted belt and can finally call herself an author, a very good one.

Lauren is now in remission.

More information:
www.stitchldn.com
www.wonkywi.com
www.chasinghertale.blogspot.com

Community Archaeological Dig – call for volunteers, April 2012

In June 2011 the Heritage Lottery Fund approved a grant that will see the Conservation of what is one of the oldest buildings in Hastings. Permission to start was granted at the beginning of September and the project is now underway. Volunteers, including members of the Hastings Area Archaeological Research Group (HAARG) participated in a Graveyard Recording Project in September, and badger exclusion works have been completed to prevent further damage to the graveyard.

The Old St Helen’s Church is believed to be the oldest surviving building in Hastings. This and Hastings Castle are the only structures in the town from the 1066 period. The church is currently on the English Heritage ‘at risk’ Register and needs urgent conservation.

The main conservation works to the ruins and the tower will start in May. This work will be preceded by a Community Archaeological Dig. The medieval church remains undisturbed below floor level and has high archaeological potential  for understanding the Saxon and Norman church building. The Dig will be supervised by archaeologists from Chris Butler Archaeological Services Ltd who have been appointed as archaeological advisors to the project. The Sussex Heritage Trust is seeking volunteers to participate in the dig which is likely to last for the whole of the month of April. Training and supervision will be provided along with tools and equipment.

If you are interested in this opportunity or would like to get involved with the project in some other way please in the first instance contact:
Bronwen Griffiths, Education Co-ordinator, Sussex Heritage Trust
01424 430467 or e-mail  bronwengriff@aol.com

Community Planning for the future…

Central St Leonards could soon see significant improvements in the area rippling out from major property refurbishments in a core group of streets, residents heard this weekend at a community planning consultation. Richard Hull went along to find out what Community Planning is all about…

There was good attendance for the St Leonards Coastal Space Community Planning Weekend at the Magnet on London Road, Friday 20 and Saturday 21 January, and local residents engaged in numerous activities including a walk-about through the core target zone, bounded by Kenilworth Road, Pevensey Road and Silchester Road, labelled The Seven Streets. By the end of May this year local residents should be able to view an example refurbished house on Kenilworth Road.

Organisers estimated that over two hundred residents had at least some involvement in the consultation event, ranging from discussions with organisers on London Road outside the venue to full attendance at both days. Responses to the initiative were reported to be overwhelmingly positive with a number of residents willing to translate their enthusiasm into active involvement in the initiative.

Central to the scheme is Local Space, a housing association with a five year record of urban regeneration in East London where they have attracted considerable admiration from tenants, some of whom attended the St Leonards event. In addition the Gensing and Central St Leonards Community Forum, who helped organise the weekend’s event, visited East London last year and spoke with many tenants.  The strategy in St Leonards, in partnership with Hastings Borough Council, is to purchase properties in the Seven Streets either on the open market or through Council-instigated compulsory purchase orders such as for the derelict St Marys nursing home. Local Space told residents at the weekend’s event that they are initially planning to refurbish 20-30 properties but are hoping to increase their holdings. Local Space will not, however, be managing the letting of the properties which will be managed by local housing associations such as AmicusHorizon, who had several representatives at the event.

Ripple effects

The ‘ripple effect’ of wider economic and social regeneration was the subject of sustained discussion during the weekend, with a broad range of ideas such as a ‘gateway’ at the bottom of London Road to attract those passing along the seafront, market stalls on the promenade, changing the railway station to ‘St Leonards On Sea’, improvements to the area surrounding the station and leading down to the front, heritage trails, and a bandstand in Warrior Square and other ideas for developing and supporting venues for live music.

Some readers might argue that many of these ideas have cropped up over the years but with little apparent progress. However, Bob Young, Chief Executive of Local Space, spelt out their plan to establish with HBC and other relevant local stakeholders a new organisation focused on further socio-economic regeneration in St Leonards. One suggested task for this body is to purchase properties that combine commercial and residential space, such as shops with flats above. These would again be refurbished and rented out, with possible subsidised rents to current and new local businesses.

Further evidence of a commitment to taking concrete steps forward came from one of the workshops which produced a set of action commitments. Reports on these commitments will be presented at the follow-up meeting on Thursday 9th February, 7pm, at the Magnet, Christ Church Courtyard, London Road, TN37 6GL.

Links: Local Space, Gensing & Central St Leonards Community Forum, Hastings Borough Council, the former St Mary’s Nursing Home, John Thompson & Partners urban planners.

For more information, contact Ieva Ansaberga, John Thompson & Partners, 020 7017 1780, ia@jtp.co.uk

Happiness for Hastings!

A new group has formed to promote happiness throughout the town… Hastings Happy Crew formed in July this year, inspired by the launch of the national ‘Action for Happiness’ campaign and modelled on the pilot scheme run in Bristol called ‘Happy City’.

Its aim is to highlight and join together all existing groups that promote happiness and well-being in the town, in addition to creating new ones (such as social inclusion, co-operatives, happy clubs).

Behind this is the overall stance that everyone living in the town is an equal community member and has something to offer towards it.

To date HHC has promoted Ore and Chapel Park community centres, alongside the Fruit and Veg project, with articles written for HastingsOnlineTimes.  As a direct response, local fruit and veg has been available at Ore community centre.

It also supported local Charity for Kids by raising £600 with a Race night held at the Kings Head pub as well as entering two teams in their 6-a-side contest.

A new venture for this year is the creation of a ‘Happy Club’ where direct issues around happiness can be explored and acted upon. The first meeting was held at Ore Community Centre, Old London Rd on 18 January. Contact Graham Hodgson for information about the next meeting – or check out the HOT events calendar.

Also a meeting is planned to visit Happy City in Bristol and confirmation has been giving that they will support Hastings in whatever way they can.

Anyone living in Hastings and St.Leonards can become a member simply by giving a contact email address. There are currently around 60 members.

Website: www.happycrews.com
Email: graham@happycrews.com
Facebook:  www.facebook.com/hastingshappycrew

What did you think when you read of the police call for anarchists to be reported?
DF: There was a serious point and there was a funny point. The funny point was that it was an opportunity to highlight anarchism, but on the serious side was the fact that it wasn’t just badly worded, but that somebody felt that the climate had been achieved where they were able to make a statement like that without it being challenged. A point of view being a reportable offence regardless of any potential civil or other disorder is reminiscent of Nazi Germany.

We read in the papers that rioting is a state of anarchy, but is that the kind of anarchy that anarchy as a political philosophy is about?
KT: People start making statements on the basis of the assumption that that’s what anarchism is about, that it’s about violent disorder, destruction, chaos, so you have to start from that point, and show people that there’s something more fundamental behind it.
DF: Anarchism is a revolutionary ideology, it seeks to replace capitalism and the state, and it seeks to do that through revolutionary activity, so it’s not passive, not just a philosophical. But I guess the difference between anarchism and other revolutionary ideas is that we believe in mutual aid, and that actually mutual aid is what makes society work now. And in fact if society is only driven by the profit motive and the fear of coercion by the state and capital, nothing will ever get done. So although it’s a revolutionary philosophy, we believe that the new society is operating within the current one, it’s just that the state and capitalism actually don’t provide anything useful.

KT: There’s an irony there with Cameron and Clegg and the Big Society, because I maintain that what they’re proposing philosophically is not a million miles from what many anarchists and socialists would see as an idea of mutual cooperation, the idea of people not having to think about things from a financial point of view. The problem is, they’re not using it that way – they’re using it cynically to get things done on the cheap.
DF: Anarchism is part of the revolutionary tradition and part of a working class tradition. Anarchists identified themselves as being a separate strain in the 1860s, basically as a response to Karl Marx’s authoritarian belief that the state can play a role in revolution and this led to the split between the anarchists and the Marxists in the First International, The other area of difference was in the relationship between theory and practice. It’s not that theory is not important to Anarchists, but that theory and action go hand in hand, it does not need a special caste of revolutionary theoreticians, people can be their own theorisers.

NT: What about the anarchists who get involved in violence during big demonstrations, people like Class War?
DF: I see them very much as part of the anarchist tradition. I would say this, anarchists tend to obsess about violence and pacifism in equal measure, in a way that no other ideology does. When you say you’re an Anarchist people tend to ask, are you one of those violent anarchists, in a way that they don’t ask a democrat, or someone who believes in socialism, are you a violent socialist or a violent conservative. I’ve got no problem with people physically opposing the forces of the state because they will use force to defend capitalism and to oppress workers. Then again, like anyone else, I’m not too keen on violence.
KT: As Dave says, we get very wound up about it and in some ways I don’t think it actually matters. We’re trying to move towards a point where there is effectively an anarchist society, and while some people believe there needs to be violence to make that happen, there’ll be an equal number of people who don’t believe in that, and who believe in other ways.

NT: Is it the state or capitalism that is the problem with present-day society?
DF: The state predates capitalism. The state arises to defend class interests in a pre-capitalist society. And it is there to defend class structures, and capitalism is the form in which exploitation takes place within class society..

NT: What should we be aiming for in terms of political and economic systems?
KT: We talk about mutual aid, and that runs all the way down, so an anarchist society needs to be one which is run on those mutual lines. I would imagine that a truly anarchist society is one which is currency-free, with for example a form of bartering, and that leads back into my earlier point that some of these things already exist. People that use them don’t see them as an anarchist idea or even a socialist idea. I’m talking about things like local exchange trading systems, because a lot of them are used by the middle classes, yet they have so much potential for working people, particularly now that we can provide people with things through the community without that exchange taking place, through people’s supermarkets, people’s coops.

NT: So what would the political system be like? Presumably not like Parliament as we know it today?
DF: We tend not to focus on what political system would replace the current one, we tend to focus on the way we organise now, and that’s one way that anarchists differ from other revolutionary ideologies, in that we are prefigurative. We don’t believe there’s any point in drawing up a blueprint, because one, it won’t happen, and two, you’ll be trying to impose this blueprint, which means that you’re destroying the revolution by doing that.
Instead of drawing up a utopian arbitrary picture of what a future society might look like, we believe, and this is the reason we focus so much on the way we organise now, in the values of solidarity, mutual aid and non-hierarchical structures.
The assemblies in Spain and Greece, and in the north African countries as well, are really good examples, where the people, without ever having heard of the word anarchist, get together in that way and organise those assemblies, they have shared resources in quite a critical situation where resources are difficult to share and there’s been no-one walking around with anarchist plaques, saying this is how anarchists organise.

KT: And that almost begs the question, is anarchism a natural state? Is it something that would develop by itself if left unfettered by capitalism anyway? You get that whole argument that if the state fell apart tomorrow, everyone would just be fighting amongst each other – but that’s not anarchy, that’s chaos, nihilism. But what we see in the sort of societies Dave is talking about is that actually that wouldn’t happen, and in fact mutual aid would almost become a prerogative, a necessity.

Watch this space!

The future of the old swimming pool site in West St Leonards could be decided in a matter of weeks – a planning application for the Lido scheme was submitted in December and will be considered by the planning committee on 28 February.

West Marina Lido Ltd is seeking a seven-year lease of the site for, in the words of the application, the “formation of [a] new leisure facility comprising of restaurant, cafe, bar, sun decks, sea viewing tower, a separate block for changing/shower room facilities including a shop for water sports equipment, provision of customer and staff cycle storage, customer and disabled parking and peripheral landscape works to provide a community garden.”

The company is in talks with potential investors seeking funding of around £1.5 million, project manager Adam Daly told a public meeting attended by about 20 at the Marina Fountain pub last Saturday.

Construction costs would be kept low by using recycled shipping containers to form the buildings.

Also present at the public meeting were proponents of the alternative Platform proposal, which involves a natural bathing pool cum skating rink, a beach hut café and restaurant, bike hire and boat storage, a shop, an outside gym and children’s play area.

A small amount of low-cost housing, at least eight units, is also included to provide income for the scheme, La Verne Preston, chair of the Platform group, told HOT.

The notion of constructing the Lido facility from containers clearly grates with Ms Preston. “I feel we should have a more iconic building on that site,” she told the public meeting.

Signatures for a petition opposing the Lido scheme are now being collected by Ms Preston and other Platform adherents. A previous petition with the same aim gathered 534 signatures from residents in the area and was delivered to the council in December.