Archives for Top Stories - Page 13
Why We Opt Out of School
Hastings parent, JESS LUBY explains why she chooses to to home educate her ; When I’m asked by people and tell them why we opt out of school, I get…
The Turnpike Roads
The development and layout of Hastings and St Leonards owe much to turnpike roads (toll roads) built in and around the towns in the 18th and 19th centuries. Local historian…
WHERE IS FOOTBALL STADIUM REPORT?
HUGH SULLIVAN Photo: Scott White A full meeting of Hastings Borough Council (HBC) on 15 December last year resolved that Jane Hartnell, the council’s managing director, prepare a report to…
Northiam – Exercises in Democracy
HUGH SULLIVAN Ballots for membership of parish councils up and down the country were scheduled to be held on 4 May, the same day as other local elections. In most…
Hastings, Are You Curious?
KATE WATTS There’s a new festival in town on a mission to put Hastings on the map as the world’s first ‘Curious Town’. New local social enterprise Curious Agenda CIC…
Changing Misconceptions
Brenda Finn, a charity ambassador who lives in Hastings is speaking out to encourage more people to respect and celebrate ; Brenda volunteers for Changing Faces, the UK’s leading charity…
‘Mad Jack’ Fuller: Racist
Hastings’ Isobel Blackman Centre was standing room only as Black Lives Matter organiser Gary McFarlane and Sussex historian Mike Anderson spoke about the ‘Myth of Mad Jack Fuller’ to a…
The Hastings Book Fair Makes a Return
Following an absence of 4 years, the Hastings Book Fair is set to make its return over the spring bank holiday weekend on Sunday May ; For the first time,…
Hastings’ New Cat Mayor
ANITA KELSEY Since asking for mayor nominations of the feline kind I received a message from Connie Fox Richmond aged 10. She thinks her cat Mackerel should be mayor stating…
Crown Jewels?
KENT BARKER argues that what we ask of our royal family is completely unreasonable. If there is one positive thing about the hullabaloo surrounding the coronation it’s that it affords…
We Out Here
GARETH STEVENS reviews a groundbreaking exhibition at Hastings Contemporary. Since the murder of George Floyd in May 2020 and the global upwelling of the Black Lives Matter, there is little…
Men’s Health in Hastings
Sarah Milne With sunny climate and long beaches, Hastings has long been looked upon as a place of health and wellbeing. From the late 1700s, through the Victorian and Edwardian…
We Won’t Pay for Environmental Vandalism
KATY WEITZ They are the new refuseniks: individuals who have stopped paying private water companies for ‘wastewater services’ in protest at persistent sewage spills. They argue that while the water…
My First Date with Jack
SERENA FERRARI Ever since my partner and I moved to St. Leonards back in March, we’ve heard a growing buzz about Jack in the Green. From whispering rumours to outright…
COUNCIL ABSTAINS FROM ACTION OVER PIER
HUGH SULLIVAN The condition of the sub-structure of Hastings Pier, and the threat to its long term future if a substantial maintenance programme is not undertaken, have been put in…
Take Action Man!
MIKE PATTENDEN There’s something primal about walking through a forest or being sat around a roaring fire in the darkness, which may go some way to explaining why they provide…
Unmasking the Spectrum
SARAH MILNE The summer term has begun, and young people across Hastings are currently entering their final months in school. It’s a stressful time of exams and future planning. For…
Spirit in the Mass
Gareth Stevens reviews the Soutine | Kossoff exhibition currently running at Hastings Contemporary and argues that it is a ‘must see’ show. Kossoff, Building Site, 1961, Property of a European…
The Soul of Kinsella
Amanda Brooks and Victoria Kingham In the thoroughly musical, thoroughly joyful town of Hastings we present here the first of an occasional series featuring the lives and ambitions of just…
Post Office Ltd – How Not to Run a Business
ROD WEBB The Great Post Office Scandal is responsible for ruining the lives of more than 700 sub-postmasters. Find how this happened when Nick Wallis comes to Hastings to talk…
Up in Arms
“Claudine and Tracey” Image Credit: Anna Maria Nabirye and Annie Saunders, Greenhalf Studios, Home Live Arts, St Leonards, 2023. Removing boundaries to create meaningful dialogue on topics of race, gender…
Making Space For The Young
Hastings Commons, teaming up with Xtrax Hastings, has obtained another large tranche of government money to develop public spaces in Cambridge Road – this time focussing on the 11-18 age…
Deterred or Detained?
Former Bexhill Prison Site to House Cross-Channel Arrivals HUGH SULLIVAN The former Category C prison of Northeye, on the western fringe of Bexhill, was one of three sites publicly identified…
Battle lines drawn on clean water campaign
PAUL MCLAUGHLIN Government policy and programmes to stem the number of Channel crossings made by small boats of migrants/refugees are likely to be at the forefront of rival claims and…
The Big One
ROD WEBB After a brief period of protesting with XR, I began to feel my age and have since restricted my activism to more low-key community engagement issues, like working…
Why are You so Emotional – the Suppressed Anger of the Young
‘If your anger decreases with time, you did injustice; if it increases, you suffered injustice.’ Nassim Taleb ADAM RUSSELL is a recovering accountant, musician and writer who has always lived…
Batsford Pledges Cultural Future For St Mary
HUGH SULLIVAN Three separate “expressions of interest” to take a leasehold interest in St Mary in the Castle were submitted last month to Dyer & Hobbis, agents for Hastings Borough…
Embracing Equity
The Stade played host to a series of sporting, political and cultural events on Sunday 12 March under the designation Hear Me Roar to mark International Women’s Day (IWD). The day…
Protesters Flush Wasteful Management
ROBERT RALPH On Tuesday 14 March, a group of residents from Hastings and St Leonards Extinction Rebellion and The Clean Water Action Group displayed their disgust at Southern Water’s continued…
The Fabulous Fabulous Red Diesel
VERA BELL attends Hastings Women’s Jazz Festival at the Royal Standard. Fabulous Red Diesel “Twenty-first century jazz,” writes local musician, Pat Sweete, about The Fabulous Red Diesel. Catching their gig…
Food Crisis or Just Shop Local?
ROD WEBB Having lived through the pandemic and the more recent ‘egg shortage’, I’m a bit sceptical of media stories and government spin. During the pandemic we seemed able to…
Rolling Thunder
GARETH STEVENS explores the power and ritual of community drumming and the historical tradition of taking it to the streets. Organising an outdoor carnival parade on a Sunday in mid-February…
Jamming in the Summer Sun
VICTORIA KINGHAM interviews the indefatigable Max Baillie, violinist, viola player, virtuoso, musical powerhouse, Founder of St Leonards Concerts and leader of The Fritz Brothers and other ensembles, in the first…
They Can’t Have No Education
Hastings Academy expels 11 pupils after protest “disturbance” HUGH SULLIVAN Eleven pupils at the Hastings Academy have been “permanently excluded” from the school following their involvement in a protest demonstration…
Save Our Local Fire Services
by PAUL MCLAUGHLIN Helena Dollimore, Labour’s prospective parliamentary candidate for Hastings and Rye, has launched a campaign to fight plans by the East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service (ESFRS) to…
Jin Jiyan Azadi – International Women’s Day
KAY GREEN is a local writer, trades union activist and a feminist. In recent years, because of the anniversary of the Suffragettes’ first victory in 2018 (when some women won…
Reviving The Great British Pub: The North Star
SAMARA JAYNE MARTIN Are the days of ‘The Great British Pub’ behind us? Since we were plunged into the depths of a nationwide lockdown, the social landscape seems to have shifted.…
Council Tax hikes, budgets approved
by PAUL MCLAUGHLIN Hastings Borough Council (HBC) agreed to raise the local council tax by the maximum amount allowed without holding a local referendum at a fiery meeting of the…
Between a Bomb, Some Rock, and a Hard Place
by MERLIN BETTS St Leonards Church hasn’t had the easiest history. From the destruction of its namesake in medieval times, it took hundreds of years to be built on its…
Opt Out and Meet The Neighbours
By Susan McFie Many local residents are furious over the dumping of sewage into our coastal waters. Many more are rightly concerned about the spraying of their streets with a…