Videographer Etienne Cutmore-Kourouma and harpist Katya Rajhans pictured in the Four Courts area.

New project puts Hastings’ high-rise towers centre stage

The Four Courts high-rise tower blocks in Hollington dominate the skyline from certain vantage points, but little is known of their heritage or the communities who live there. A new project aims to make good this lack, with a free tour and concert this Saturday, 2 September. Report by Gail Borrow of ExploreTheArch theatre company and HOT’s Nick Terdre.

The Four Courts towers in Wishing Tree Ward, Hollington, St Leonards-on-Sea, can be seen from various points around Hastings and St Leonards-on-Sea. You may have spotted them walking over the top of the hill in Ore or from the Asda supermarket car park off Battle Road. From certain viewpoints, they rise majestically from the basin in which they are sited. From other locations, the towers serve as a guide, each tower’s stripe of colour a ‘welcome home’ beacon for those who live in the high rises or nearby.

Throughout the town, though, there is a lack of acknowledgement and awareness of the high rise communities of Bevan Court, Churchill Court, Kennedy Court and Roosevelt Court. A new project, Four Courts Connect, addresses this, inviting the local population to connect with the four tower blocks.

Following a launch earlier in the month aimed at local residents, a new event is planned for Saturday 2 September to which the whole of the town’s population is invited, comprising a free tour and classical concert. Meet at Roosevelt Tower bus stop (no 22) at 6.30pm for the tour, which will be led by project leader, Yasmin Aishah, who has grown up in this area. Yaz will introduce some of the newly uncovered history and heritage of the four towers, a mid-sixties social housing project comprising almost 400 flats.

Katya – Catherine – Rajhans with her high-rise harp.

The tour will be followed by coffee/tea at 7pm and a concert in the Four Courts Wellbeing Hub, Sydney Close, St Leonards-on-Sea, TN38 9DD, at 7.30pm. Harp duo Catherine and Elizabeth Rajhans will play their high-rise instruments along with violinist, Caí Jones, who has grown up in St Leonards-on-Sea. Videographer Etienne Cutmore-Kourouma, supported by filmmaker Rod Morris, will premiere new video footage of the towers.

This early career team of multi-disciplinary artists are supported by ExploreTheArch Theatre Company and funded by Heritage Lottery Fund and Hastings Voluntary Action’s Making it Happen funding. The team are running their project through the 2023 autumn months.

Project leader Yasmin Aishah.

Future happenings

“We currently have a more festive event in planning at the end of November which will bring back ExploreTheArch’s 2022 project ‘High-Rise Connecting Conversations’ to the Four Courts community hub,” Yasmin tells HOT. “This will be a two-day installation featuring testimonies from our Four Courts residents and visuals prepared by Etienne and his mentor Rod.

“Between these dates we are working to help with the promotion of existing groups and communities using the wellbeing hub to connect with individuals outside their residential area and existing clientele.”

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