Author Archives: HIP - Page 2
Classical Music News
Max Baillie, violinist, musicologist and entrepreneur, has been touring with his outstanding and unusual Lodestar Trio, who many of you will have heard when they played for the first time…
Longshore Drift
DAVID EP DENNIS Charles Dickens came to Hastings in 1861 to perform a public reading of A Christmas Carol in the Old Music Hall, now called Yates’s Wine Lodge. This…
MASS Observations
DAVID MILTON One of the many kiss-of-death committees which blight the lives of all small towns decided at the planning stage that De La Warr Pavilion could do without a…
Nadia Reid at Henry Ward
Nadia Reid’s fourth album Enter Now Brightness was released at the beginning of last year. She has been thinking about the past decade. “Ten years of documenting my life in…
Hastings Book Festival Goes Larger
TIM BARLOW The 9th annual Hastings Book Festival will take place from 10 to 20 September, featuring 40 events and more than 80 speakers and performers. This year’s festival promises…
After Dark
Michelle Mildenhall Returns with a new exhibition Courtesy of Michelle Mildenhall After Dark, a striking new exhibition by latex artist Michelle Mildenhall, opens at the Electric Palace Cinema on 5…
How Elite French Transformed Anglo-Saxon
JUDE MONTAGUE 14 October 2026 is the 950th anniversary year of the Battle of Hastings. From that point on, modern English would be permanently changed through the imposition of French.…
900 Years of Embroidered History
The monumental Hastings Embroidery will be on public display for the first time since an exhibition at the Bridge Point Arts Centre in Rye in 2019. The embroidery was created…
Coastal Currents 2026
TINA MORRIS After the privilege of producing this festival for 15 years, one thing has become abundantly clear: this area is full of extraordinary people making extraordinary work. Every year,…
Bohemian Rapsody
A local musician makes his mark CHRIS CONNELLEY Some musicians start early. Mozart, for example, is rumoured to have composed his first piece at the age of five, while Prince…
Planning Changes ‘Will Damage’ Sussex Countryside
CPRE Sussex has warned that the updated National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), unveiled last week by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and immediately coming into force, “will…
Shoplifting: some further responses
A spokesperson for the office of the Police and Crime Commissioner, Katy Bourne: “PCC Bourne has encouraged the Chief Constable to really grip retail crime. Now Sussex Police have an…
Derailment at Lewes
Investigators from the Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) say they have found an “irregularity” in the tracks to the north of Lewes station where three carriages were de-railed and tumbled…
NEWS IN BRIEF
Wages up, Jobs down Workers in East Sussex have received an average wage increase over the past 12 months to July, according to news wire platform Wagesight. Median gross pay…
WHAT’S ON YOUR MIND?
Letter Whose Free Speech? Dear HIP Helena Dollimore MP and Grumpy Cook owner Barry Ashley are right to criticise the Reform-run East Sussex County Council (ESCC) for ending holiday meal…
Big Band at Flatland
HARRY HAWKINS AND VERA BELL Staged within the space of Tawfik Nas’s installation at Flatland Projects in Bexhill, the 17-piece incarnation of the Statue of Liberty Big Band (SoL) was…
Poetry Corner: heatwaves
PETE DONOHUE the memory of rain upon this land dragged from a cooler distance called out several weeks beforehand when times seemed somehow greener squeezes a tear out onto my…
Trash Cannes 5-Day Film Competition
MARK FRENCH This is a unique opportunity to take part in the annual Trash Cannes Film Challenge and Coastal Currents Arts Festival during September. The challenge is to make a…
Explore The Arch Latest Project
GAIL BORROW In the latest exploration of trailblazing women who travelled great journeys around 1000 years ago, Explore The Arch Theatre explores Agatha of Hungary at Pevensey Castle. Early-career team…
CRICKET: Priory Thriller Ends in Tie
15 August: Hastings & St Leonards Priory 154 all out; Bognor Regis 155 for 4 22 August: Priory 237 for 9; Horsham 237 for 7 HUGH SULLIVAN After suffering a comprehensive home…
FOOTBALL: Top of the League
15 August: Hastings Utd 2; AFC Croydon 1 18 August: Eastbourne Town 0; Hastings Utd 2 22 August: Ashford Utd 1; Hastings Utd 3 HUGH SULLIVAN Hastings United have made…
Twins, Cancer, and Comedy
People are often quite curious about what it’s like to be an identical twin. Local sisters Anna and Georgina Lewis have been asked this question many, many times, and decided…
Exam Results: Pluses & Minuses
Figures published by exams regulator Ofqual show that school pupils in Hastings have scored the least number of Grade 7 or above GCSE results this summer of anywhere in the…
‘Best Seaside Town in England’, Says National Survey
The citizens of Hastings and St Leonards are accustomed to claim extreme highs and lows for their town – most sunshine hours, most creative activity and, at the same time, ‘most deprivation’.…
Shrek The Musical
SARAH MILNE AND OUR ROVING REPORTERS The Summer Youth Project at White Rock has become one of the highlights of my theatrical year. I am always amazed by what can be…
Swimmers Raise Jet Ski Concerns
PAUL McLAUGHLIN Swimmers and paddleboarders in Hastings have voiced growing concern over the proliferation of jet skis and paragliders along the shoreline during the recent heatwave. There have been several…
Pride in Place
PAUL McLAUGHLIN The Hastings Pride in Place Board has appointed eight new community members to oversee how £ of government funding for the town’s regeneration programme will be spent. Backed…
Community News in Brief
Walk for Al-Mawasi Hastings has had links with Al-Mawasi, a fishing community in Gaza, for several years. Last year, Hastings Borough Council agreed to make it one of our Friendship…
Cancer Support One Cup at a Time
ROD WEBB Nobody will deny that dealing with a cancer diagnosis on your own is very tough. But you’re not alone if you pop down to the Macmillan Information &…
Coastguard Station Open Day
The Coastguard Station at Rock‑A‑Nore opened its doors to the public last Saturday (8 August) as part of the Hastings Carnival Week celebrations. Officer in Charge Michael Lawless told visitors…
Heatwave: The Summer of ‘26
As East Sussex enters its fifth heatwave of the year, the Met Office has confirmed the uncomfortable news that Hastings has set a new UK-wide highest daily minimum temperature record…
Creative Futures are Here
In this edition of Education Update, local creative industries advocate and training provider SIAN CONWAY-WOOD asks ‘Who is the creative economy for?’ Kate Butts181st Street Students: Left to right: Lewis…
Duck, Toast, and the Sacrament Reimagined
NICK TUCKER For all of you who have seen Bob Log III live before, you will know he defies description. For any of you who haven’t, that makes my job…
Hypha Studio Space Relaunch
Following a rather unexpected studio move earlier this summer, mosaic artist Emma Law is now settling into the Hypha Studios space in Priory Meadow (the former Shoe Zone unit), and…
Hastings Creative College in Town Centre
ROBERT BOUCNIK Hastings Creative College (HCC) will take over the second floor of the old Debenham’s building from September. The college, formerly DV8 Sussex, Bexhill, provides vocational qualifications at Levels…
Norman Heritage Banner Competition
Hastings Borough Council invites residents, families, and local groups to participate in the Norman Heritage Banner Competition, which seeks creative designs inspired by the town’s unique Norman history, landmarks, and…
St Leonards Rocks
JAMES ARNOLD-HO A white sloop met a rocky end on the shoreline of St Leonards beach in the early hours of Wednesday (5 August), despite a frantic rescue effort launched the night…
FOOTBALL: Disappointment in Cup Defeats
7 August: Kingstonian 4; Hastings Utd 1 8 August: Bexhill Utd 0; East Grinstead Town 3 New player-manager of Hastings United Ronnie Dolan tasted defeat in his first competitive match…
TV Pop Up Museum
TOBY BULA-EDGE A look into the past was on offer on August 8 at the first Television Museum pop-up. The event, run by charity Screen Culture UK, aimed to give…
Strategy to Halt Biodiversity Decline
PAUL McLAUGHLIN East Sussex County Council (ESCC) has published a pioneering Local Nature Recovery Strategy (LNRS) designed to reverse biodiversity decline across East Sussex, and Brighton & Hove. As the…