Author Archives: HIP - Page 12
Hastings Bids for Cultural Prize
The Government has launched a new UK Town of Culture competition as part of efforts to renew the nation’s cultural landscape. The initiative is aimed at towns of all sizes…
NEWS IN BRIEF
Supermarket Giveaway The supermarket chain Aldi says it provided more than 37,000 meals to people in Hastings and Sussex over the Christmas and New Year period by donating surplus food…
Reputational Water Damage
KENT BARKER considers what Southern Water can do to improve its image - and its services - in 2026. 2025 was a pretty bad year for Southern Water and its…
RNLI Hastings Toasts Long-serving Volunteer
RNLI Hastings Lifeboat Station is celebrating the retirement of a most valued volunteer, Arthur Miles, who steps down from active service at RNLI Hastings Lifeboat Station after more than 20…
New Mental Health Support in Sussex
Christmas and New Year can be a difficult time for many people, so it’s good to know that new resources to help people get the right mental health support have…
WHAT’S ON YOUR MIND?
Letter Community Resilience in Practice Dear HIP What a pleasure to read about the formation of HASTE - Hydraulic Activity Stabilisation Training Enterprise CIC - and the co-operation between experts,…
The Rainbow’s End
A Hastings resident is celebrating a lifelong ambition coming true just in time for her 95th birthday. Jean Bridget Marris once told her family that one of her greatest ambitions…
Nurturing Nature?
PHILIPPA BOGLE says the devastating release of plastic pellets by Southern Water at the end of 2025 has focused attention on another East Sussex beauty spot which is threatened by…
Love Calling!
TOBY BULA-EDGE Calling all lovebirds! Channel 4’s hit dating show First Dates is looking for new participants from the Hastings ; Hastings - and let’s face it, anywhere - can…
Wise Mamas
TOBY BULA-EDGE A new wellness studio for mums has launched in Hastings. Wise Mamas is the first wellness studio in Hastings to cater for and support mothers - and they…
All Kinds of Everything
NICK PELLING and HELEN MURPHY It’s not unusual for galleries to have a café or for restaurants to chuck some quirky art on the walls, but at the Kino-teatr on…
Red Rhymes for Valentines
NICK PELLING and HELEN MURPHY Henry Normal, Janine Booth and Attila the Stockbroker are setting out on a tour of various Sussex seaside venues, bringing radical and left-inclined lines to…
Getting Your Flicks Fix
ELIZABETH ALLEN When I moved ‘down from London’ to Hastings twenty years ago, I found much to enjoy and cherish. But, oh, did I miss my weekly fix of cinema:…
Music for Midwinter
The much-anticipated Music For Midwinter festival is on its way and tickets are flying out the door. The festival is being put on by Sounds St Leonards, an organisation set up by…
Don’t Burn the supper
EDWINA HUGHES As the month draws to a close and we look for reasons to renege on all our New Year’s resolutions, we find the perfect excuse on Burns Night.…
Helena Wojtczak and the Women Sussex Forgot
If you browse the local history sections of any local bookshop, you will inevitably stumble across the name Helena Wojtczak. A recently-elected Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, Helena has…
FOOTBALL: United Looking Up
20 December: Hastings Utd 3, Sheppey United 227 December: Ashford Utd 1, Hastings Utd 010 January: VCD Athletic 0, Hastings Utd 3 HUGH SULLIVAN An eventually comfortable 3-0 victory for…
The Night Swimmer novel on Hastings: the poetry of the tide
JOSHUA GEER In The Night Swimmer, Simon J Houlton casts his debut novel into the restless dark and grit of the Hastings coastline, a place he knows not simply as…
RUGBY: Victory in Yellow
10 January: Hastings & Bexhill 34, Whitstable 17 MAX MOWBRAY Hastings & Bexhill returned to winning ways last Saturday, donning their alternative all-yellow kit against blue-and-white rivals Whitstable and securing…
New Year, New Hobby: Chess!
ZAKIR MOHIYUDDIN, HIP volunteer, Hastings-based creative and parent, makes a New Year suggestion Jeshoots, Unsplash The new year arrives with that familiar sense of possibility. As parents, we find ourselves…
HIP BOOK REVIEW: Days of Future Utopias
Boom! The Exploding Cinema and the New London UndergroundBy Duncan ReekieREVIEW BY KERRI SHARP St Leonards-dwelling filmmaker, author, artist and performer Duncan Reekie has recently compiled and published an impressive,…
Coast to Coast USA – for a Hastings Cause
MEL STEEL Hastings local Josh Bruton grew up in Ore, but has always had a taste for travel and adventure. Or, as he puts it, “doing cool stuff” – which…
Booyah! For the New Year!
MEL STEEL Lisa Driver, founder and CEO of local business success story Booyah! Vitality, is passionate about nutrition, fitness and helping people to feel better. When I meet her she…
New Year Council Offensive
KENT BARKER Hastings Borough Council has begun 2026 with resolute plans to improve the look and amenities of the town. The initiatives centre on the vacant site at the western…
RUGBY: Five out of Five
6 December: H&B 33, Brockleians 1213 December: Gravesend II 31, H&B 32 MAX MOWBRAY Hastings & Bexhill RFC stormed into third place last Saturday after their fifth consecutive victory in…
Santa Surprise at RNLI Hastings Lifeboat Family Christmas
The Electric Cinema in Hastings was filled with festive cheer as RNLI Hastings volunteer lifeboat crew and their families came together for a special Christmas celebration. Volunteer crew Gareth with…
Warmth in every plate: Grosvenor House’s Christmas Lunch for the Homeless
On 11 December, staff from local care home, Grosvenor House in St Leonards-On-Sea, spread warmth and kindness across the local community by hosting a full Christmas lunch for 40 people…
Police in Christmas crackdown on drink and drug-drivers
Sussex Police have made 63 arrests for drink and drug driving in the first week of its Christmas crackdown on drink and drug drivers. With the festive party season in…
WHAT’S ON YOUR MIND?
Letter Palestine Action Ban Dear HIP, We the undersigned, residents of Hastings, Rye and St Leonards, have all been arrested under Section 13 of the Terrorism Act, for publicly displaying signs bearing…
Hastings Local Leader Wins Global Award
Taban Shoresh OBE, a British-Kurdish humanitarian who lives in Hastings, has been honoured as a 2025 Nansen Refugee Award regional laureate by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), recognising her…
Whose Haven?
Caravan Expansion Threatens Wildlife Access, Say Objectors Combe Haven has operated as a holiday park in West St Leonards for over 60 years, an institution which has brought several generations of tourists…
New Creative Hub Provides Inclusive, Accessible Space
HELENA JONES A new grassroots initiative in Hastings is setting out to reshape how local makers, carers, and community groups connect. The Alternative Market and Creative Hub, founded by long-term residents John…
Energy Advice Over Winter
As the weather gets colder and our energy bills get higher, it’s good to know that local community benefit society Energise Sussex Coast (ESC) runs a free Energy Advice service…
Local Youth Launch Mental Health Podcast
A dynamic group of young Experts by Experience (EbEs) have launched a powerful new podcast series designed to support other young people through some of the most challenging parts of…
Hastings – Christmas Gift Haven
ALISON BUCHANAN offers some tips for last minute Christmas shopping We are blessed in Hastings and St Leonards with an abundance of independent traders offering something for most tastes, quirky…
Dancing to the Music of Time
VERA BELL The current St Leonards Concerts season ended on 4 December with an extraordinary performance by five exceptional players. Who knew that the back room at the Horse and…
Hastings Housing Company to Close
PAUL MCLAUGHLIN Plans to wind down the Hastings Housing Company (HHC) Ltd and transfer its assets back to the council moved a step closer last week, following a decision by…
Philharmonic Christmas
CHRISTOPHER CORMACK This year, Hastings Philharmonic has given us three options for Christmas celebrations with their quality ; The first Advent Concert took place on 6 December, and celebrated 20th…
Town Deal Projects Slippage
HUGH SULLIVAN There has been further delay in undertaking two principal development projects in Hastings funded by the government’s Town ; Under the £ million Public Realm and Green Connections…
Council Reform Chaos
Paul McLaughlin The government’s plans for the most radical shake-up of local government structures in a generation appear to be descending into chaos after last week’s announcement that the upcoming…