COMMENTARY: Embracing Change
KEN DAVIS
Hastings stands at a turning point, change is in the air. We must now be bold and innovative. We all know ours is a seaside town: however, this is not just any seaside town, but rather a unique one which has not hitherto taken advantage of that special status. 2066 is approaching, so we not only have 1066 to celebrate, but also a future to look forward to.
Bureaucracies are notoriously poor at taking risks and thus move forward incrementally, if at all, and so it has been in Hastings. We have, within a stone’s throw, three valuable and scarce resources: St. Mary in the Castle (SMIC), the Castle itself – its ruins anyway – and the oft forgotten Smugglers’ Caves. I am suggesting that the sum of these three could be greater than the parts alone. The key action with historic buildings is to keep them in use rather than just preserved, and the key word with conserved buildings is ‘significance’. The great significance of SMIC is twofold: its close relationship with the cliff and castle, and its prospect towards the sea. These both need to be reinforced. The first by an easier modern connection, and the second by removing the car park (and there are alternative solutions to both of those).
Almost 100 years ago, a creative engineer had a vision of the sort of modern seaside that would serve future visitors; we now need an even bolder vision to take the town into the next 100 years. We all know of a long-held desire for a 1066 Centre and the determination to bring back that little piece of tapestry!
If the three locations and buildings were promoted, converted and operated as one, then Hastings would have a truly unique attraction. What I am suggesting is an inclined travelator type of underground connection between the three, along which different activities could take place, from virtual reality to interactive robotic exhibits. SMIC could contain a 3D cinema with articulated seating, the castle could hold a small amphitheatre with a stage and tiered seating ‘Ladies Parlour’; and the café site (a local architect has produced an amazing design for a new café), could carry a tension structure linked to the funicular with a range of robotic figures from past to future.
Combine all this with perhaps some mythical sea creature on the harbour arm and short term, removable holiday cabins in the unused spaces under the promenade with sculptural small wind turbines and solar panels above the prom, and no other seaside town could compete.
Hastings is full of creatives, so who would like to make a film with me to market this idea and stimulate interest?….or even set up a CIC and do it ourselves! Contact Ken Davis at: [email protected]
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What Ken Davies is proposing in combining three attractions (St Mary-in-the-castle, Hastings Castle and the Smuggler Caves) makes sense. Two of the three do not survive without subsidies, but combined as attractions they could prosper. Of course, it would require first-rate marketing and operation; but surely that can be delegated under a HBC nominee project manager?