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 2 (GCSE equivalent) and 3 (A Level equivalent) in Games Development, Music Production and Performance, and Film, Photography and Creative Media to post-16 students.

HCC has always seen itself as an antidote to bigger and more orthodox further education colleges, with less formality, smaller class sizes and a more supportive, personalised approach. Company CEO Stephen Jeffery explains the impact he expects the new college to have on the local community:

“We think with HCC in the centre of town, we can open up the area to grass roots creativity, e.g. music, art, gaming, as well as accredited and non-accredited education programmes. This we hope will encourage more engagement with local businesses and residents. We are keen to open our facilities for community use, and this is something we will be taking soundings on … with key stakeholders.”

The origins of the new college go back more than twenty years to a youth project in Shoreditch, where disaffected local youngsters were taught to DJ, mix and produce music in drum and bass clubs. The youth project moved to Brighton in 2002 and acquired formal status as an education provider under contract to the DfE in 2013, when English and Maths also became part of its curriculum.

After opening a second site in Bexhill in 2017, DV8 was taken over by the London Learning Consortium in 2020 and was rated as ‘Good’ by Ofsted in 2023. Student numbers have grown rapidly in response to the popularity and success of the organisation with GCSE results in English and Maths exceeding the national average over several years.

Lecturers are grounded in experience from their relevant industries, so work experience and connection with employers has prepared many students for a successful transition into suitable and fulfilling work.

Stephen Jeffery still heads the London Learning Consortium parent company and believes they have “significant experience of delivering adult education programmes and see this as another aspect of the services we could offer in the town. As in many coastal towns, employment is difficult and insecure for many people, but perhaps even more so for young people. There are several new qualifications and ‘routes’ being implemented over the next few years and we are planning to use these as opportunities to expand our provision. I am really excited about the new technical pathways being proposed by the DfE, and in tandem with increased devolution we are looking forward to widening our provision and services to both residents and employers.”

Although HCC will be on site in September, it will not be open as a college until the new year, and it is hoped the transfer from DV8, Bexhill will be complete by next Easter. Stephen Jeffery explains the plan is to complement rather than compete with the existing colleges in the town adding “HCC focus(es) where mainstream education has been less successful, with students that need more time, more support, a different regime of learning and thrive less well in larger educational institutions.

We also act as a conduit into accreditation and further education for young people who have been electively home educated. As an inclusive college, we welcome learners who have experienced barriers in their learning journey, whether that is additional learning or social needs, mental health concerns or involvement in offending; all applicants are considered on a case-by-case basis, often in consultation with parents/carers and other services. 

Many young people need a different place to learn and a space where they are allowed to be different and show their talents and ambitions. We therefore have a ‘niche’ and sit within the FE ecosystem in a small but vital area.”

It is quite a story from humble beginnings to three thriving sites in Croydon, Brighton and now Hastings. The arrival of Hastings Creative College is a welcome boost for the town centre and for local creatives of all ages in the community who will be able to use its facilities and services.

Friday June 14th – 7.30pm (film screening at 7.30pm)
Kino-Teatr St Leonards
Tickets are £10 available from Kino-Teatr box office and online through Ticketsource

Following the release of their fifth critically-acclaimed album Fair Lady London, songwriters Trevor Moss & Hannah-Lou return to the Kino-Teatr this June.

The duo have performed everywhere from The Royal Albert Hall to the home of the Grand Ole Opry- The Ryman Auditorium, from The Warsaw Congress to The Greek Theatre LA, and been championed across national press and radio, including by Bob Harris.

Founders of the legendary acoustic club ‘The Lantern Society’ held in London and right here in Hastings, this is a rare chance to see the duo perform a full set in the grand surroundings of the Kino-Teatr.

The evening will begin with a film screening of ‘Fair Lady London – The Making of the Album Film’

Support comes from singer-songwriter Hayley Savage, a local artist who came to Trevor & Hannah’s attention whilst performing at The Lantern Society.

‘She is a powerful writer, subtle, honest and heart-breaking, with a voice that would hold it’s own on any stage and in any era.’ Trevor Moss.

A ‘folk’ record of sorts, Fair Lady London is more a paean to the capital city they love and personal reflections upon leaving their home to relocate to the South coast. With voices that could melt any heart, there are songs here that stand strong against anything they have ever done. The album was released to universal acclaim.

‘Moss’s burbling guitar is reminiscent of Michael Chapman, Hannah-Lou’s cut-crystal voice like a modern Sandy Denny, but woven into the traditional structure are songs very much rooted in the present rather than the past.’ Mojo

The Electric Palace cinema in Hastings Old Town is hosting a special event during Volunteers Week (1-7 June) to celebrate its dedicated and passionate army of volunteers who man the doors at each screening. By working productively with volunteers, the Electric Palace is able to continue as a community interest company and keep its costs per screening at a minimum.

To celebrate the wonderful efforts of its volunteers, the Electric Palace is inviting the public to join its popular fancy dress party night and screening. Studio 54, a film about the nightclub that was the epicentre of 1970s hedonism, screens on Saturday 1 June, 7.30pm. The evening will be hosted by visual artist Linda King, and the cinema’s owner and founder, local film director Rebecca E Marshall.

“We’ll be dressed head to toe in sparkles this Saturday 1 June to bring some glitz and glamour to the 70s themed fancy dress evening. We’re looking forward to thanking our volunteers for all their time with some revelry. There’s also a prize for the best fancy dress!” says Marshall.

The evening will also offer the chance to see some of the recent artworks on display at the cinema including some distinctive bird decorations, created by Linda King.

See Studio 54 on Saturday 1 June, 7.30pm (doors open 6.45pm). All tickets £8/£7 concessions. Prize for the best fancy dress outfit! To book: www.electricpalacecinema.com/whats-on/studio-54

About Studio 54: (15) 94 Mins / 2018 / USA

Studio 54 was the epicentre of 70s hedonism, a place that redefined the nightclub and came to symbolize an entire era. Now, 39 years after the velvet rope was first slung across the club’s hallowed threshold, this documentary tells the real story behind the greatest club of all time. Starring Farrah Fawcett, Michael Jackson, Liza Minnelli, Divine, Bianca Jagger, Walter Cronkite and many more.

Get involved

If you’d like to volunteer at the Electric Palace, you can find out more on its website:

www.electricpalacecinema.com/volunteers or contact Alan Whitty at info@electricpalacecinema.com

The first horse to be scientifically named, was found near the modest coastal town of Herne Bay. A tiny fossil, part of the skull, was discovered in the cliffs at Studd Hill in 1838 by a palaeontologist, William Richardson. It was given to Sir Richard Owen for identification. Owen was then working at the British Museum but would later go on to found the Natural History Museum (NHM) in Kensington. He thought it to be a rodent and called it, Hyracotherium. It was to be three years before he realised the fossil was that of a horse, from 54 million years ago. He had an uncanny ability to identify species and this was proved when, 38 years later, Othniel Marsh in Wyoming discovered a full skeleton of the early horse. To Owen’s delight, the Herne Bay skull fragment perfectly fitted into the skeleton. Palaeontologists use the fossil, as the starting point, commonly called Dawn Horse, for the story of the evolution of the horse.

The makers of the film are Al Reffell (film-maker – writer, animator & director), Nicholas Godsell (film-maker – assistant director, designer & photographer) and Alan Porter (producer) – for more information search HorseDrawnMedia (one word), or email HorseDrawnMedia@gmail.com

Enjoy the film, Dawn Horse, at https://vimeo.com/207450994

Director: Ken Loach Reviewed by Charley Bolding-Smith

Ken Loach has been raging against the machine since he burst into cinema with Poor Cow in 1967. Nearly fifty years later, he is still creating vital work and his latest Palme d’Or-winning film (his second, after 2006’s The Wind That Shakes the Barley), I, Daniel Blake, is one of his most powerful. What’s interesting to this director is getting to the truth. The movie observes the eponymous figure (Dave Johns) manoeuvering through his surroundings. Dan spends his days chatting with his neighbour, seeking assistance from the local JobCentre, and helping a single mother, Katie (Hayley Squires), as she struggles to get by. And yet, through Loach’s lens, this everyman’s ordinary life couldn’t be more fascinating.

The screen remains black as the opening credits roll, as we listen to a conversation that evokes horror and humour; and, by the time Loach pairs the sound of Dan and an unhelpful government employee with the corresponding imagery, the absurdity and the injustice of his situation is already clear.

This is a film about people; their small acts of kindness and amusing antics while being beaten down by officialdom; making the most of what they’ve got, and doing whatever it takes to claw their way back up again. They confront their social deprivation in different ways: Katie eventually turns to the ‘easy’ money of prostitution to feed and clothe her children; China (Kema Sikazwe), Dan’s neighbour, is aspirational about selling rip-off trainers for profit. There is no sense that, blighted by poverty though their lives are, they will not survive, and – possibly – prosper. Survival is their aim, however achieved. But Dan is doomed by his innate common-sense belief in the purpose of a system seemingly designed to punish rather than aid those in need. The film has been described as Kafkaesque in its portrayal of a nightmarish bureaucracy. But the banal, every day, oppression of fellow citizens by petty Government officials ‘just following orders’ (and taking pride in their efficiency in doing so) reflects more the attitudes of Nazi or Cambodian concentration camp functionaries.

The film comes out against a backdrop of the Government’s apparent assault on the unemployed; it preferring, instead, to give £369m to a billionaire family to do up their ghastly neoclassical London pad whilst chiseling away at the few benefits that millions of their citizens depend upon. It’s hard not to leave the movie theatre without a sense of anger. Be angry: be very angry