Author Archives: HIP - Page 4
Coven Club at the Carlisle: Female-Led Live Rock Music Night Returns
The Coven Club, a fabulous new live music night to showcase femme-fuelled rock, punk and metal bands, returns to The Carlisle Rock Bar in Hastings in July this year. The…
BASEBALL: Pirates Sail On
JAMES YOUNG Hastings Pirates baseball club continued their blistering form last Sunday (5 July), with two impressive on-the-road triumphs over the Brighton Jets. The wins gave the Pirates a record…
CRICKET: First Win in Eight For Priory
4 July: Hastings & St Leonards Priory 267 all out; Preston Nomads 216 for 7 11 July: Cuckfield 152 all out; Hastings & St Leonards Priory 156 for 5 HUGH SULLIVAN The…
Bexhill Art Weekender
A special weekend returns for 2026: a Town-Wide Celebration of Art, Performance, Film and Community Bexhill Art Weekender returns on Saturday 15 and Sunday 16 August 2026, featuring artists’ open…
Singing in the Rubble
FELICITY LAURENCE As a music educator, I have been honoured to help a little from afar in the current work of the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music (ESNCM), which…
Hastings Arts Forum: Two Seaside Exhibitions
Arts Forum at 20 Marine Court has been showing consistently good-quality art here since 2006, and this summer’s shows are no exception. Bill Greenhead, IceScream GREENHEAD’S GULLS Local Hastings artist…
Cafes, Castles and Community: How Bunka transformed Hastings’ high-up spaces
ELLA LOWDEN In 2024 the Hastings Independent met with Josh Levy, Tad MacDonald and Celia Farrar to discuss the beginning of Bunka, a collaboration delivering restaurant pop-ups across Hastings and St Leonards.…
Paul Joy: A Boxer Who Went to Sea
JOHN COLE The name Paul Joy is well known in Hastings, especially in the Old Town. Paul has been a fisherman here for most of his adult life and he…
Octopus Rescue: A Sign of Things to Come
PAUL MCLAUGHLIN The Pett Level Rescue Boat team, usually tasked with helping distressed swimmers and vessels, found themselves in uncharted waters on Saturday 4 July when they responded to an…
Convent Arson
KENT BARKER The future of the former Convent of Holy Child Jesus in St Leonards is in serious doubt following a fire which destroyed a large area of buildings. Photos: Chris Ostwald…
My Antisocial Town Centre
In this special investigative report, new HIP writer JAMES ARNOLD-HO presents a detailed picture of the acute problems facing businesses and their employees in Hastings’ busy town centre throughfare, Wellington…
NEWS IN BRIEF
Businesses Fined Following investigation by immigration enforcement officers, two businesses in Hastings have been fined for employing illegal workers. Edi’s Car Wash Ltd in Battle Road have had a £40,000…
Bringing Generations Together
Generational conflict is an eternal battle where peace can seem ever distant. But that hasn’t stopped people trying to bring an end to it. The Intergenerational Grants Programme is a…
Automotive Stars Shine at ESC Awards
East Sussex College’s Automotive Training Centre celebrated student achievement, industry partnership and automotive excellence at its annual awards ceremony in Hastings. The event brought together students, staff, governors, employers, families…
WHAT’S ON YOUR MIND?
From our website We Need Defence In response to We Won’t Be Silenced (HIP 303), I’m not for any war. However, we need defence, right? Or should we have no…
Oh Big Blue in Concert
JOHN ENEFER A remarkable night is in store at the Stade Hall on 5 July which will showcase both the breadth of musical talent in Hastings as well as the…
Love Supreme – Musica Feminina
Rawicz and Spalding – Amazons at the Festival VICTORIA KINGHAM The Love Supreme jazz festival takes place this weekend at Glynde Place, near Lewes. Tickets are still selling but it…
A Sauna on the Pier
FRANCESCA SULLIVAN After the Samphire Sauna’s annual summer break for overhaul, the UK’s only sauna on a pier will be back on 5 July, bigger and better! Photos: Francesca Sullivan…
Let Nature be your Teacher
CHRIS WATKINS When I met Elliot Riley he showed me round his sunny suburban garden in Bexhill, which itself has grown unusually ; He told me about the plants there,…
Book Festival and Competitions
Hastings Book Festival is returning for its 9th year with a bumper programme of talks, performances and workshops. Their short story, poetry and non-fiction competitions are already open for entries.…
A Meander Through an Artist’s Mind
DAVID MILTON Visiting De La Warr Pavilion’s art shows recently has been a bit like the three cream cracker challenge – an unpalatably dry, instantly regrettable experience that has you…
Everywhere At Once Festival
This is a fallow year for Glastonbury, allowing the litter-strewn, dog-infested, mud-trodden or dried-raw fields to regenerate. Instead a Lottery-funded project, the Everywhere At Once Festival, has temporarily taken its…
BOOKBUSTER REVIEW: Challenging the Hope Deficit
Making A MovementBy Barney CullumPublished by Acropolis, 2023, rrp £ BY TIM BARTON Those paying attention to world affairs today know there is something of a ‘hope’ deficit. It is…
Poetry Corner: writing my will on the toilet
PETE DONOHUE i’m writing my will on the toilet drinking strong coffee laden with whiskey waiting for that familiar movement of mind & bowels when i’ll think about what i…
Birnam Wood Comes to West Hill
Family-friendly, funny Shakespeare comes to Hastings Castle Hastings Castle will welcome The HandleBards to the West Hill on Friday 10 July for a riotous open-air production of Macbeth, marking a…
Eight Days of Syd’s Last Stand
NICK TUCKER There’s a good reason The Piper has been hosting Syd’s Last Stand – an annual tribute to Syd Barrett – since opening seven years ago. Syd Barrett, the…
TENNIS: Stefan Steps Up in Amherst Club Finals
BILLIE KOTTING This year’s Amherst club tournament involved around 60 players playing across five formats – mens and ladies singles, mens and ladies doubles, and mixed doubles. With a main…
FOOTBALL: New Supporters Club Formed to Boost United Future
IAN GRANT Hastings United fans have begun the process of forming a new Independent Supporters’ Club with a combination of aims: representing their views, organising social events, and promoting the…
CRICKET: Priory Sink to League Bottom
20 June: Horsham 220 for 9; Hastings & St Leonards Priory 185 for 9 27 June: Priory 303 for 9; Three Bridges 304 for 2 Craig NowlanAlfie Hunter - top score against…
Art and Craft in Priory Meadow
A new initiative, Mosaic Malarky, is expanding access to arts and community creativity in Hastings, bringing local people together through hands-on workshops, inclusive making sessions and event-led activities at Hypha…
Classical Music this weekend
Mozart and Chausson at Christ Church St Leonards Max Baillie’s St Leonards Concerts series hosts this weekend The Kleio Quartet, rising stars in the music world here and abroad. Since their formation in…
BLAST Reopens as The Thonett Gallery
The art gallery run by Markus and Tessa Thonett, hitherto called ‘BLAST’ has now changed its name to the more literally descriptive Thonett Gallery, which they feel is more representative…
Could a Norman Horse Leap from a Longboat?
Hastings Borough council have declared that this is the Year of the Normans (1,000 years since the birth of William the Conqueror) for which there will be events across Hastings…
Convent for the Community
The SAVE THE CONVENT pressure group who want the St Leonards site turned into a Community Village give voice to their vision AI Projection of what the Convent could look like The…
Old Town Boating Lake Makeover
PAUL MCLAUGHLIN The Old Town Boating Lake has been a popular feature of Hastings seafront for almost a hundred years. Opened in 1933 to plans drawn up by Borough Engineer…
A Summerof Gardens
The open gardens season is now underway across Hastings and Rother, offering the public a rare chance to step inside inspiring private gardens. MALCOLM GLOVEREdible Open Gardens: The Knowle ECLECTIC…
Keeping our Beaches Safe this Summer
This year marks the 25th anniversary of the RNLI lifeguard service, which officially launched in 2001. What began as a trial on just 26 beaches in south-west England has since…
Funereal Fun &Fundraising Run
A funeral arranger and director at a well-known St Leonard’s funeral home will be raising eyebrows as well as money at this year’s Out Of The Blue Battle event at Ashburnham Place…
News in Brief
Gunshots Lead to Crash Injuries Four people were injured when their car crashed in Hastings during a police pursuit. The incident began after gunshots were reported in Sidley Green, Bexhill.…
Woodland Canopy Walks at theWealden Festival
As part of the Wealden Festival taking place over midsummer weekend, two afternoon canopy walks will unfold on Saturday 20 June 2026. Weaving through ancient woodland near the main festival…