Festival By The Lake 2018. Ashburnham Place, East Sussex UK. Fundraiser for Hastings Supports Refugees. Celebrating “Hastings Community of Sanctuary”.

Festival By The Lake 2019

Top jazz musicians, Sarah Jane Morris and Gwyneth Herbert are headlining at this year’s Festival by the Lake on Sunday 23 June, 12-8pm, in the beautiful surroundings of Ashburnham Place, near Battle, East Sussex.

Also on the bill are Hastings’ popular Afrobeat band, Samaki; Juliet Russell and the Vocal Explosion Choir; Syrian trio Jamal, Alaa & Zahi and more. There will be poets programmed by the Whole Shebang and a special theatre performance by PSYCHEdelight, a company who bring together European and refugee actors.

Now in its third year, the festival aims to raise awareness of the global refugee crisis and to foster a sense of community with refugees who have made a new home in Hastings.  It also raises funds for local group Hastings Supports Refugees and promotes Hastings Community of Sanctuary; part of the national City of Sanctuary movement that holds the vision that the UK will be a welcoming place of safety for all and proud to offer sanctuary to people fleeing violence and persecution.

Festival By The Lake 2018. Ashburnham Place, East Sussex UK. Fundraiser for Hastings Supports Refugees. Celebrating “Hastings Community of Sanctuary”.

Taking place on the closing day of Refugee Week 2019, Festival by the Lake is a full day of music, food, workshops and more.  At the heart of the event is a communal picnic and everyone is invited to bring food, bring friends and make new friends.  Delicious food and a bar will also be available on site.

The lake on the estate will be open for wild swimming and you can take a guided tour of the woodlands and kitchen garden. There will be lots of children’s activities, creative workshops and a special treasure hunt from artist Peter Quinnell.

Event organiser, Polly Gifford says: “The atmosphere at the festival is such a happy one, a day of shared humanity in the face of so many troubles around the world.  This year we’re supporting the Lift the Ban campaign, fighting to enable people seeking asylum to work while their claims are processed rather than living on meagre benefits and wasting their skills. I hope you’ll join us for a great day for all the family.”

Hastings Supports Refugees  

Hastings Supports Refugees is a voluntary group that works to raise awareness of – and funds for – the global refugee crisis. Established in 2015, in its first two years the group focused on supporting activity happening in areas of greatest need – in Calais, across Europe and in Syria.  More recently, members of HSR have also been working on projects in the local area including the Hastings Buddy Scheme to support newly arrived refugees – and Hastings Community of Sanctuary.

Sarah Jane Morris, Tony Remi, Tim Cansfield

Sarah-Jane Morris

Sarah-Jane Morris is the British soul, jazz and R&B singer who topped the UK pop charts for a month in 1986 with The Communards’ disco version of ‘Don’t Leave Me This Way’.  Morris’s magnificent soul voice has powered a 25-year career playing around the globe.  Sarah Jane is doing a series of intimate concerts accompanied by the virtuoso guitarists Tony Remy and Tim Cansfield to promote her album “Bloody Rain” and her forthcoming tribute to John Martyn “Sweet Little Mystery”.

Gwyneth Herbert by Ian Wallman

Gwyneth Herbert

Hastings resident Gwyneth Herbert is an award-winning British composer and lyricist, vocalist, multi-instrumentalist and record producer.  She has released 6 critically-acclaimed albums, and toured extensively with her band across the UK and internationally, and has shared stages with artists such as Boy George, Amy Winehouse, Jamie Cullum and John Cooper Clarke. Drawing on influences from the worlds of jazz, folk contemporary classical music and storytelling, she performs with a variety of instruments. In 2017 she developed a new touring and recording project Letters I Haven’t Written, in collaboration with acclaimed video artist Will Duke, that included working with refugee and other groups around the country.

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