Archives for Articles
The End is Near
PAUL MCLAUGHLIN After much uncertainty and a large dollop of incompetence, it now looks as if Hastings Borough Council will be abolished in 2029, after all. Jason Ellis The Minister…
Emergency Closure of West Hill Lift
The West Hill Lift has been closed for essential surveys and repairs. Hastings Borough Council could not provide a timeline for when it will reopen, due to the nature of…
Hastings Castle Gets Urgent Repairs Boost
Hastings Borough Council (HBC) has been awarded £288,500 from Historic England’s Heritage at Risk Capital Fund to carry out urgent conservation work at Hastings Castle. The funding, combined with £200,000…
WHAT’S ON YOUR MIND?
Letter Town Deal Interest Black Hole Dear HIP, I write in response to the article Town Deal Interest Black Hole, published on 8 October. The funding received by Hastings Borough…
A Hastings Community of Resilience
DR REBECCA SINKER “This is the least extreme climate you will experience in your lifetime.” That was the warning from Prof. Hayley Fowler, delivered in the People’s Emergency Briefing (PEB)…
Can the Local Plan go Further?
JAMES PRENTICE Hastings’ housing crisis is well-known, with temporary accommodation use more than doubling in five years from 240 to 631. A primary cause is the rapid rise in housing…
Active Hastings: Linking the Community to Activity
FIONA MCGARRY In 2022, Active Hastings created a specialised ‘Link Worker’ role for someone to work with Hastings residents who have long-term health conditions to help them become more ;…
FOOTBALL: Rough Justice as Home Run Ends
24 October: Hastings Utd 2, Waltham Abbey 331 October: Hastings Utd 0, Faversham Town 1 HUGH SULLIVAN After nine successive home victories in league and cup games this season (including…
TENNIS/PADEL: Rackets for Bowls at White Rock Gardens
HUGH SULLIVAN Hastings Borough Council has announced that it is in line to receive £ investment funds to construct a new covered tennis and padel centre at White Rock Gardens.…
BFI Film Training Goes Live
CHRIS CONNELLEY Last week, most school and college students were on a well-earned halfterm break, but for a group of young people with an interest in a creative career, all…
Home Education Special: Huge Rise in Home Education
This HIP Special Report examines the factors fuelling the rapid growth in Elective Home Education and asks whether parents are given sufficient support when the school system is failing increasing…
Leigh Dyer at Sea
VICTORIA KINGHAM Having seen and appreciated Bev Harling’s memory tree, it was interesting to discover a little more about Leigh Dyer, the sculptor whose metal works are so much part…
Eyesore Plans Finally Approved
Plans to redevelop 39-41 George Street in the Old Town have finally been approved by Hastings Borough Council. The former nightclub and amusement arcade was destroyed by fire in January…
When the Tide Turns
PAUL MCLAUGHLIN Storms Austen and Boelo stripped away large sections of Pett Level’s shingle beach defences last week, exposing for the first time in decades the old 1940s stepped concrete…
Direct Team Trek from Rye to Hastings
Colleagues working at Hastings Direct recently took on a challenging 12-mile trek to raise money and awareness for Parkinson’s UK. The team tackled the Saxon Shore Way, covering kilometres in…
Plug-in Solar Panels – Worth the Hype?
GABRIEL CARLYLE Local community benefit society Energise Sussex Coast provides free energy and retrofit advice to East Sussex residents. Its energy expert Martin Turner has recently been getting a lot…
Family Courts Survey
Victims and survivors of domestic abuse are being asked to share their experiences of Family Court proceedings in Sussex, highlighting what works well, the challenges they face and what could…
The Weight of Crimson by Holly Rankin
HOLLY RANKIN was a student at East Sussex College Hastings when she wrote this story. As a budding author, and having been told that nobody used the ‘second person’ you,…
Parlez-Vous Franglais
VICTORIA KINGHAM explores an on-stage café and its residents Encountering David Manners for the first time, you’d be forgiven for passing him in the street. A slight, quiet, youthful figure…
Light Blue Touch Paper
DAVID MILTON Flatland Projects rarely sticks to the framed-pictures-on-a-wall gallery format. Sometimes it rather resembles a laboratory or playground. The message it typically gives off is “Work In Progress” and…
Peep Shows
DAVID MILTON Discrete Violations presents a selection of the work of Gordon Matta-Clark (1943-1978), an American artist whose practice moved from the study of architecture to a form of fine…
Edlund Jurd and Goller at Barnaby’s
VICTORIA KINGHAM A couple of years ago I interviewed Rebecka Edlund for this paper. At that time she had fairly recently graduated, and the band she was touring with was…
Celebration of Live!
Celebration of Live! is a two-day festival celebrating everything that makes live music special. It will bring together some of Hastings’ most beloved musicians, exciting emerging talent and internationally recognised…
Pictures at The White Rock
VICTORIA KINGHAM Hastings Philharmonic Orchestra’s 10 years in the business was celebrated on 13 October with a concert at the White Rock, with the largest orchestra Marcio Da Silva has…
Artificial – Yes it Is
VICTORIA KINGHAM Recently I experimented with a free program called , which, quite startlingly, will produce a whole novel on very few prompts, and even a small eerie picture-link based…
BOOKBUSTER REVIEW: What’s Changed for Home Renters?
Eviction: A Social History of Rent By Jessica FieldPublished by Verso, 2026, RRP £ at BookbusterREVIEW BY TIM BARTON A friend came into Bookbuster the other day. She had had…
Poetry Corner: RUSTY GIANTS SURROUND US
HENRY NORMAL The sky over Winchelsea beach is twinned with raspberry candyfloss There's a showroom of cloud types at all points of the compass The sun freefalls over Fairlight throwing…
Marina Pavilion Bidders Seek Further Works
The future of the Marina Pavilion (formerly the Azur) on St Leonards seafront remains clouded as potential bidders seek further works by regeneration company Sea Change Sussex, who have a…
Council Turf War now Legal Challenge
East Sussex County Council’s objection to the government proposal to transfer part of its territory to Brighton and Hove has been backed by a formal legal application for judicial review.…
Southern Water Drop-In
PAUL MCLAUGHLIN Southern Water will host a “Your Water Matters” drop-in event at the Stade Hall on Wednesday 4 November, giving residents a chance to ask questions and learn about…
Council lead member claims turnaround of recycling rates
JAMES PRENTICE & HUGH SULLIVAN Defra (the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs) has released last year’s recycling performance data. It shows that Hastings has been recycling less of…
Old Roar Gill Property to be Auctioned without Reserve
Photos: Hugh Sullivan A detached four-bedroomed extensively modernised property in St Leonards, 24 Foxcote, is to be auctioned next week with a nil reserve price. The reason: it has been…
WHAT’S ON YOUR MIND?
Letter Time and Motion Dear HIP There’s a wonderful silliness in our rail managers and local MP combining to knock an aggregate half an hour off the times of one…
I’ll Swim to France 2: A New Normal
HIP continues to follow SARAH MILNE as she prepares for her cross-Channel swim in 2027 There are decisions you make that change your life immediately. Others take a while to…
Halloween Spooktacular
The Coven Club, showcasing femme-fuelled rock, punk and heavy metal bands, returns to The Carlisle Rock Bar in Hastings for a spooky night of full-throated live music on Friday 30…
Get Yourself a Gun – Alabama 3 Come to St Leonards
Alabama 3 will bring their celebrated acoustic show to St Leonard’s Church, St Leonards-on-Sea, on Saturday 14 November 2026, for a rare intimate performance in one of the town’s most…
Transport Secretary to ‘Look Into’ Ashford Rail Come-Back
BBC South-East reported last week that Prime Minister Andy Burnham gave a boost to the return of international trains to Ashford. In a debate in Parliament on international affairs Helena…
West Hill Lift Gets Lottery Boost
The National Lottery Heritage Fund has offered ‘Round One development funding’ of £531,000 to assist Hastings Borough Council in preparing detailed proposals to secure the long-term future of the West…
Wacky Dog Show at the Pumphouse
ANITA KELSEY For the past two years, the Pumphouse Café in Alexandra Park has teamed up with local charity The Sara Lee Trust to bring Hastings an alternative dog show…
FOOTBALL: United Back on Top
10 October: Sheppey Utd 1, Hastings Utd 213 October: Margate 2, Hastings Utd 217 October: Hastings Utd 2, Erith Town 0 HUGH SULLIVAN Hastings United returned to the top of…