The charity is calling on the people of Hastings to join its Mayday Open Day event and help raise the vital funds that power their lifesaving work during the busy summer season.

Organised by Hastings lifeboat station volunteers, the Mayday fundraiser will see the station open during the local Jack in the Green festivities on Monday 4 May. The Shannon all-weather lifeboat and the D-Class inshore lifeboat will be available to view, and volunteers will welcome visitors, talk about the lifesaving work of the RNLI, and provide refreshments during the busy festival day.

Money raised through Mayday events like this one ensures RNLI volunteer crews have the essential training, equipment, and kit they need to respond when someone is in danger.

Paul Freathy, chairman of Hastings lifeboat station, says: “Summer is our busiest time of year. Thousands of people head to the coast and, unfortunately, can find themselves unexpectedly in difficulty and needing the RNLI’s help.

“Mayday is our own call for help. The Hastings volunteer crew launched over 30 times in the last year to aid people in difficulty at sea. We rely on the public’s generosity to support events like our Mayday Open Day, helping fund the kit, training, fuel, and resources that allow our crews to save lives. Your support genuinely makes a difference.”

If you’re unable to attend on the May Day Bank Holiday, you can still get involved by taking part in the Mayday Mile fundraiser. Complete a mile – or more – every day for the month of May, however and wherever you like: walk, run, hop, or skip your way to supporting our lifesavers.

Sign up or find out more at rnli.org/SupportMayday

What do you get when you cross Jack in the Green with synthesisers, a drum kit and a group of mates keen to upset the apple cart? Snapped Ankles packed out The Piper’s gig space on Friday 28 November with a characteristically off-the-wall performance – bringing their distinct post-punk, instrumental dance music to a crowd of responsive revellers.

Having come up through one of east London’s warehouse communities in the early 2010s, the group have made a name for themselves with their live act, where they dress in gillie suits, strap percussive synths to logs and dazzle the crowd with their Orbital-esque headgear. The Piper gig was no different, with the band showcasing their recent, critically-acclaimed album Hard Times Furious Dancing.

On a sold-out night The Piper becomes a frenetic sweatbox, the perfect kind of atmosphere for this group of screaming hedges. On entrance, they pushed through the crowd in their feral-men-of-the-forest get-up, immediately dissolving any sort of physical or metaphorical barriers in the room. What followed was a solid hour of a rave-like vibe; their fusion of electronic styles and Mark E. Smith-esque, anti-melodic sloganeering.

One thing to know about the group is that they’re outwardly political. Yes, you can take the monstrous outfits at face value, as a silly aesthetic that gives punters permission to let loose. But their music is political at its core. “The corporations sail the global seas…lead us to impending calamity, while they encourage us to eat, eat, eat, unhealthy”, shouts the anonymous frontman during a rendition of Personal Responsibilities.

At several points during the night, he’d wade into the packed standing area with his synth and thrash about, twirling various crowd members as he went. At points it crossed into the territory of pagan ritual – some bizarre dystopian future where dancing like fools is the only means of protest. At one particularly memorable moment, he had the lighting engineer illuminate the room with a warm yellow and orange light and had the crowd imagine they were on a beach in Fuerteventura, imitating the sound of waves and cawing like seagulls.

Whether a playful escape or a conscious decision to shake off your frustrations, a Snapped Ankles gig is a raucous, hedonistic antidote to our modern malaise.

Snapped Ankles played at The Piper, Norman Road, on Friday 28 November 2025

The future of the free local May Day procession and celebration, which is well-loved and enjoyed by local people, visitors, and folk enthusiasts nationally and worldwide, had been in doubt because of a lack of funding and commitment from Hastings Borough Council. The Council allocated just £5,000 of funding to the event last year, leaving the organising committee to dig into its reserves to cover the shortfall. 

Keith Leech, the founder and current chair of the organising committee, said the Arts Council funding would ensure the event definitely takes place this year. The money will be used to employ local artists, with free family-friendly workshops and activities at venues all around the town, including at the Hastings Museum, Ore Community Library, the Fishermen’s Museum and Stade Hall.

This year’s festival will build on its education and outreach programme, working with schools and community groups to raise awareness amongst local people, and encourage them to actively participate in the celebration. 

Whilst Hastings Traditional Jack in the Green is secure for this year, Keith Leech emphasised that, “we are not out of the woods yet.” The future of the popular event will “require the continuing support of Hastings Borough Council and local people if it is to continue.”

In his wildly imaginative novel ‘Lanny’, Max Porter describes The Green Man in this way: “Dead Papa Toothwort leaves his spot and wanders off, chuckling, jangling in his various skins, wearing a tarpaulin as a coat, drunk on the village, ripe with feeling, tingling with thoughts of how one thing leads to another again and again, time and again, with no such thing as an ending.” Having many names, locally of course we know him as Jack in the Green, it seems timely to revisit and reflect again on what this age-old myth means to us.

Enter Lorna Ough, a Curator and Programme Co-ordinator at blackShed Gallery, who has come up with an innovative idea for a group exhibition. Whilst the show features the works of fourteen artists, whose work spans a diverse range of material practices and creative approaches, each piece is bound by a common theme. Lorna asked every contributor to consider the following questions: What does the Green Man mean to us in 2024 and do we need him now more than ever? 

Although we tend to associate this myth exclusively with British folklore, the spirit of the Green Man is depicted in many cultures worldwide and has done for centuries. She explains that the title In Every Shadow “comes from Simon Page’s poem, which was written specifically for the show. It frames the exhibition well as it speaks to the idea of the Green Man being both ubiquitous, but also mysterious and unknown. The idea of something, or someone, lurking the margins. Perhaps we need to take more notice of the shadows in life, be more curious and questioning.”

In Every Shadow features a collaboration between Catrin Menai and Justin Stephens to co-create a “folded poem that explores the regenerative nature of language through metaphors of seeing and perceiving. It reflects  the persistent image of the Green Man…  giant leaves sprouting from his mouth and eyes, a way of creating the world.”

“We are at a pivotal moment in our history and in the middle of a year of global change,” Lorna goes on. “The Green Man lives on, remains skulking in the corner of our eye, tucked away in an old building, as a souvenir in a seaside town. By having this thematic focus, the exhibition aims  to explore our relationship to history, nature, and each other.”

 It certainly seems an appropriate theme for 2024 and the exhibition poses some additional questions: in the wake of the impending climate crisis, whilst struggling with smartphone addiction and daunted by the development of artificial intelligence, do we profoundly long to reconnect with nature and our pagan past? Do we now deeply grieve the 21st century epidemic of disconnection?

This upcoming exhibition has already created a fevered sense of anticipation. Collaborative shows are always an interesting prospect, especially when the featured work is connected thematically. By comparing and contrasting different approaches, emphases and media, each artist’s work is brought into clearer focus. In celebrating a variation approach, such exhibitions open up the degree to which the creative process can unfold differently and lead us to the core of what it means to be involved in the world of representation.

There are a number of events and workshops associated with In Every Shadow. The World of Living Trees woodland workshop, with artist and tree surgeon Jim Roseveare, invites participants to explore the intricacies of trees, their structure and how they grow. There will also be a one-off screening of the film Arcadia as part of this exhibition. This  powerful feature  uses archival footage to explore humans’ relationship to the natural world in the UK. There will also be an opportunity to go on a Foraging and wild flavour woodland walk with George Fredenham (AKA Flavour Fred).

In Every Shadow runs from the 7-21 September, launch event: Sat 7 Sept 4-6pm. For more informationExhibition go to theblackshedgallery.org.uk

According to the Jack in the Green (JitG) website: “The long weekend event includes live bands, dancing, sun (not guaranteed) and social events, fun for all the family! The main event, on Bank Holiday Monday, is the colourful procession through the streets of Hastings Old Town filled with unique characters, dancers, drummers, giants and more. The big finale on the West Hill is the slaying of the Jack to release the spirit of summer.”

This also coincides with a huge motorbike and scooter run: The Hastings Mayday Run.

Is it an ancient or modern festival?

Not as old as you might think. Some JitG customs originated in the 17th century as part of the spring/May Day celebrations. Milkmaids would carry milk pails decorated with flowers and silverware, and over time these were replaced with decorated headdresses. Chimney sweeps created garlands, becoming bigger and bigger until, in the 18th century, wooden frameworks of greenery and flowers covered an entire man. 

JitG was first documented in a description of a London May Day in 1770 and became popular all over the South of England during the 19th century.

Groups in Hastings and St Leonards paraded a Jack in the Green until about 1889 when Victorian disapproval of the bawdy and anarchic celebration led to it being replaced by the more sedate May Queen festival. 

JitG was revived in Hastings in 1983 by Mad Jack’s Morris side, now known as Hastings RX Morris (a reference to the RX on the Hastings fishing boats).

Who or what is ‘Jack’?

Some theories:

• A pre-Christian Green Man or fertility symbol.
• The embodiment of the spirit of spring, who must be slain to release the spirit of summer.
• A “very ancient figure” who represented “the Summer itself, the very old bringer-in of the time of plenty”.

The Hastings Jack consists of a wooden or wicker frame covered in woven foliage, including green branches, rhododendron leaves and flowers. 

What happens to Jack on Bank Holiday Monday?

10.15am-12.00pm: He is released from the Fishermen’s Museum and serenaded by the Hastings RX Morris Women. He leads a procession up All Saints Street, across The Bourne and down the High Street where there is a pause for dancing and drumming performances.

12.00pm-4.00pm: The procession goes up Croft Road and along Collier Road to The West Hill. Jack goes on stage and welcomes his followers. On the West Hill there’s music, drumming, dancing and stalls with food and drink.

4.00pm Jack is ‘slain’ to release the spirit of summer. Leaves from his costume are distributed to the crowds to bring luck.

Who are the other characters taking part?

Sal: Jack’s consort, milkmaid with a flower garland who leads him through the streets. 

The Bogies: Jack’s 12 green-faced attendants dressed in rags and leaves. They carry green face paint to daub on people who aren’t green enough! 

Morris dancers: RX Morris (local male and female group in blue, gold and red), Hannah’s Cat (all-female group named after the mummified cat in the Stag pub) in pink and purple, plus various other Morris sides and dancers of all kinds.

Also: a big man with a drum, various giants (Mollies), milkmaids, sweeps, lords and ladies, drumming groups and more …

See our Listings section for details of all the Jack in the Green events between 3 and 6 May or visit hastingstraditionaljackinthegreen.co.uk for more information.

The future of the Hastings traditional Jack-in-the-Green festival has been put in doubt because of a lack of funding and commitment from Hastings Borough Council(HBC), according to founder and current chair of the organising committee, Keith Leech.

Since its revival in the 1980s, the Jack-in-the-Green jamboree has become synonymous with Hastings, one of the town’s largest and most colourful attractions. Such has been its impact on the town that Mr Leech is applying to get the event added to UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list. 

Jack-in-the-Green is also a key driver of the local economy. The pagan ritual to mark beginning of summer attracts thousands of visitors to the town each May Day Bank Holiday for an irreverent, verdant procession up from the Old Town to the West Hill where a giant foliage-covered Jack is ‘slain’ to release the spirit of summer.

The direct cost of staging the event is stated to be about £12,000 – clearly a small amount when compared to the huge multiplier effect it has on the local economy as it brings in significant business to local pubs, restaurants and shops, with the influx of thousands of visitors.

This year, HBC has allocated just £5,000 of funding, leaving the organising committee to dig into its reserves to cover the shortfall. Next year the funding allocation has been cut to zero and, as things stand, this year’s slaying of the Jack could be the last.

The cut in funding for Jack-in-the-Green was confirmed at a meeting of the Council’s Charity Committee last month, along with similar cuts to funding for the Old Town Carnival Week in August and the Hastings Week in October celebrating the Battle of Hastings.

FORESHORE TRUST REDUCTION

The Committee backed the decision of the Foreshore Trust’s Grant Advisory Panel in not awarding grants to the three organisations because of what it said were “concerns that their applications did not meet financial sustainability criteria, with particular regard to their business plans and their ability to become financially sustainable.”

Mr Leech expressed his frustration at the Foreshore Trust’s grant application process, which he described as “neither simple nor straightforward.” He said that his team “was given just ten days to apply for funding back in February and to submit a fully costed business plan with a detailed breakdown of all costs, even where such costs were unknown”.  It was a “near impossible task”, he said.

There is to be a second round of bidding for funding in June. Mr Leech indicated that whilst his team would submit another application, he was “not optimistic” about the outcome and says he feels “badly let down” by the council. As an alternative he has launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise funds independently and called for more local volunteers to keep the event alive.

Council leader Julia Hilton, who is up for re-election on 2 May as Green party candidate in Old Hastings ward, centre of the Jack-in-the-Green parade, said: “We obviously want these events to continue, and we want to identify what support we can give to help them find sponsorship or other forms of funding”.

However, the local Labour party is determined to turn the cut in HBC funding into a big issue in the election campaign. In a leaflet delivered to residents of the Old Town, it pledges to restore the funding, saying it would “cut the number of cabinet posts and use the money saved to support Jack-in-the-Green and other events like it.

Supporters can contribute to the crowdfunding at hastingstraditionaljackinthegreen.co.uk/support.

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 professions of love for the May Day tradition. “You don’t know about Jack in the Green!? Guys, it’s her first Jack!” The way everyone talked about it, with a kind of cherished love and pride as if Jack was a beloved member of their own family, stoked my curiosity and at the same time emphasised my outsider status. Everybody seemed to know about Jack.

But when I asked specifically what Jack in the Green was, no one could really define it. People tried, of course, throwing words around like ‘Pagan’ and ‘Spring’. But when they tried to describe the actual procession— a giant moving bush parading around the town— it was inconceivable to me, a foreigner who was born and raised in upstate New York where May Day was a call for alarm rather than celebration. It was confusing to hear people talk affectionately about Bogeys and Milkmaids, to see pictures of dancing giants and green masks that reminded me of male medusas.

Coming to Lady’s Parlour just before dawn, I was taken aback by the sheer size of the crowd which had amassed at such an ungodly hour. Rosy-cheeked children bundled in prams, doggies on taut leads, people of all ages chatting jovially despite the not-yet risen sun. I watched as some attendees surreptitiously sipped on flasks while others not so surreptitiously poured whisky into their morning brew. Everyone greeted each other with a sense of homecoming even though, surely, they must have seen each other not long ago. One woman with green-streaked hair and large shapely rings blew kisses at every Morris dancer who walked past.

Scowling silhouette

But the magic for me arrived in the shape of a female giant, scowling intensely with a broom in her hand. When I saw her silhouette against the lightening sky, it took a few conscious efforts to register that she wasn’t actually real. It’s hard to recall the feeling now, but at the sight of the giant dancing at dawn, I became disinterested in any sense of rational reality. I could feel my imagination loosening from its cognitive tethers. I wanted to play and dress up and lose myself in the festive persona which Jack in the Green guaranteed me. Dramatized by the castle ruins nearby and the almost imperceptible crawl of the day, I had the feeling that I was in a liminal time zone both present and past, real and surreal.

That surreality only grew as we walked along the promenade towards the Fisherman’s Museum, marvelling at the number of motorcycles revving past. We hadn’t realised that a motorcycle convention coincides every year with Jack in the Green – a contrast of green gowns against the full-body leather suits, the gun-shot pop-pop-pop of engines counterpointing the melodic peal of Morris bells.

As we waited, the collective anticipation was palpable, a clear fidgetiness amongst the onlookers who hoped to get a good view of the Jack as he made his way through the Old Town. Children on fathers’ shoulders, grandmothers pushed to the forefront of the crowd. But in the end it didn’t really matter. It was impossible to miss the nine-foot rotating rhododendron bush with a crown on his head and streamers swimming in the air like tentacles. Miraculously, the Jack appeared light on his feet, as light as if he was levitating, and he danced and spun with ease around the Bogeys, green-painted warriors who beat drums loudly and sipped from horn cups. He was followed by a long procession of men and women painted in alien green with colorful garlands wound around their bodies. Morris Dancers and teams of drummers alternated with puppets like the Sock-Mess Monster and a waddling man made of sticks. Every sight was new and a little intimidating, hard to take in, a playful construction of magic to kick up the dust on one’s imagination.

All ages

At the tail-end of the procession, I joined the group, asking local veterans about what the May Day tradition meant to them. One woman, named Fishy, claimed that, aside from its pagan qualities, the festival represented for her a celebration of people of all ages. “When you get to a certain age in Hastings, you don’t have to start slowing down and being quiet. We celebrate everybody here and so you can be any age and join in and be part of the community and so you feel really viable.” Another local, a woman who was raised in Hastings and returns most years for Jack in the Green admitted that she nearly cried upon his release. “It’s really emotional,” she said. “It’s community.”

On my first date it hasn’t been easy to put into words the mischievous spirit and inner playfulnesses which Jack in the Green unleashes in all of us. Yes, it’s a marking for the change in season where the dispiriting winter shifts towards a more hopeful spring, but it’s also a marking for people who, during these particularly gruelling and unprecedented times, can find some refuge in tradition and community: a day in which one can forget troubles and find hope as a stray rhododendron leaf flutters into a tiny palm. Or in my case, a day in which I was welcomed warmly into the embrace of what Keith Leech called “a sense of pride in one’s culture”, even if it is not necessarily my own. 

By Fiona McGarry 

At the beginning of lockdown, Dan Matthews was concerned that there was “nothing to connect people”. He got together with Andrew Davies, Sherry Clark and Susanne Currid and they decided to “keep the vibe of Hastings going … to keep people’s energy high by live streaming on Facebook”. After that, according to Dan, the station’s Creative Director, “the whole thing snowballed” – local pubs and community organisations got involved with the project, the Observer Building housed the station and it was supported by Leisure & Learning (Hastings), the Common Treasury of Adaptable Ideas and Hastings Voluntary Action (HVA). 

Isolation Station Hastings was born and has been on air ever since, opening a window of interactive streamed entertainment and information which allows the audience to join in by posting questions and comments in real time; over 650,000 minutes has been broadcast so far. This includes: a daily(ish) update on local news and events; music and wild ideas from the living rooms of local artists; virtual versions of familiar local events and festivals like Jack in the Green; and a range of wellness activities and classes and educational programmes for both children and adults. 

A full schedule can be found on the ‘Live’ section of their Facebook page and, in case you’ve missed Isolation Station so far, you can access literally hundreds of videos and playlists of past programmes on the ‘Videos’ section. (You can watch them even if you are not on Facebook.)

Sue Tulley’s quiz on Isolation Station

It now has around 6,500 followers. There have been some surprising successes, such as Sue Tilley’s innovative life drawing classes, where Sue chooses models from her famous or interesting contacts – they’re still waiting on Boy George – and they are interviewed in a chilled, intimate setting while viewers draw them. This has attracted viewers from as far away as New York.

In their quest to keep people connected over the past two months, ISH have trained over 300 people to use technology to make their own programmes and over 100 people have fronted programmes for the first time – developing presentation skills they didn’t know they had.  Dan says: “We’ve just given people the keys to the church hall and said ‘Right – do whatever you want’.” He is proud that ISH has empowered people: “It’s wicked to see how it’s built people’s confidence.”

ISH are now planning how to take things forward at the end of lockdown. “Maybe there’s something we can do now with the skill sets we‘ve developed that can have a wider reach. We’d like to open as many avenues as possible,” says Dan.

• Go to the ISH Facebook Page or their website to access Videos made during the pandemic. 

• Listen to Stella Duffey (creator of Fun Palaces) and Dan Matthews talking about Isolation Station Hastings and Facing the Future on The Common Treasury of Adaptable Ideas 5/5.

• Read our Artist Spotlight on Sue Tilley

“It will ensure that as many people as possible have the opportunity to remember and honour our heroes of the Second World War and reflect on the sacrifices of a generation,” he said. 

PICTURE: Mark Richards

It is not clear with whom Mr Clark consulted before issuing this edict, apart from the SSAFA, the Armed Forces charity, whose chief executive Sir Andrew Gregory was quoted as describing it as “fitting”. It seems that the Minister has more or less unilateral power to change the date under the Banking and Financial Dealings Act (officially by Royal Proclamation, but the Queen is assumed to do as she’s told). However, businesses that arrange large or complex events on the basis of a settled advance diary, and communities that hold customary May Day holiday celebrations, have protested at the disruption, at short notice, of their planned timetables. An on-line parliamentary petition to retain 4th May as a national holiday is gathering signatures, and a demonstration outside the Palace of Westminster was due to be held on Tuesday of this week (after our press deadline) for the same purpose. Holidays on both days, 4th and 8th May, is the organisers’ preferred alternative.

In both forms of protest Hastings is being heavily represented – unsurprisingly, since the town’s two most famous and most popularly attended events of the year, Jack in the Green and the Biker Run, are both timed for the Monday.

Jack stalwarts Keith and Heather Leech were expecting to travel to Westminster for the public demo along with many ‘bogies’ and Morris dancers; so was Howard Martin, leader of the biker rally, and also Kevin Boorman, Marketing and Major Projects manager at Hastings Borough Council. Local MP Amber Rudd was said by Mr Leech to be “supportive’’ and “coming out to meet us”, notwithstanding the distraction of the outcome of the Conservative leadership ballot due to be revealed on the same day. 

At the time of filing this report the petition had gathered around 5,900 signatures – more than halfway towards the 10,000 figure required to trigger a formal government response, but a big shortfall below the 100,000 figure which would force a parliamentary debate. The deadline for signing the petition is 4th September. 

Organisers of the demo will be hoping that the issue will have gained sufficient media coverage to beef up the on-line numbers. In the meantime, current signatories of the petition can be identified, not individually but by reference to their respective constituencies. The digital map shows two constituency hotspots: Hastings & Rye, with 743 signatures and Bexhill & Battle with another 200-odd. But then where else do they holiday quite like us?

• To view the petition and sign if you support it, go to petition.parliament.uk/petitions/242483

While enjoying Jack in the Green (JITG), you might wonder what goes into making all the costumes, why people go to so much trouble, how long it takes them. In other words, what’s it all about? Bob and Claire Humm might be able to give an insight – or at least their own idiosyncratic take on things.

They’ve been going to JITG since 1995, first just standing on the sidelines, absorbing the atmosphere and adding little flourishes to their otherwise ‘ordinary’ clothes. Then around 15 years ago, they decided to jump right in and join the procession. 

Claire and Mask

It wasn’t long before they became famous locally for their amazing outfits. Asked about their inspiration, Bob mentioned Czech folk art and Alexander McQueen. The latter sparked images of ‘shocking’, ‘theatrical’ and ‘controversial’, but he then went on to say that this year
he was going for “a more subtle theme”.

At this point Claire showed me pictures of her two-sided Jack-in-the-Green outfit from 2012, the one that had shocked and amazed the audience at a presentation they later gave to the Congress for Curious People, London – the costume faced both ways, each with a different appearance.

Many of the participants at JITG play a particular role in the tradition and wear the same costumes each year; they are known characters and are expected to be there. With Bob and Claire, the expectation is that they will wear something different each year – which is OK because they like making things and it’s a good excuse to do just that.

For Bob, ‘making things’, includes films, ventriloquist dummies and a pop-up cinema. He trained at Goldsmiths and was taught by the inspirational Michael Craig Martin, who was later such an influence on contemporary artists such as Damien Hirst. 

The actual costume making begins about four weeks before JITG and they are put together intermittently throughout this period – usually with some last-minute panic from Claire. Ideas come and go and the costumes evolve as they are put together. “Sometimes I wish I wasn’t doing this,” Bob says, “but then it helps with other ideas… space to think about plans for the
next project.”

Claire, who studied at Camberwell School of Art, is happy to spend hours hand painting and sewing while listening to audio books, last year Crime and Punishment, this year Anna Karenina. Claire usually works at home as that’s where she keeps the sewing machine; Bob works in his studio “because he’s messy”.

“It’s great that so many people take part in Jack in the Green and the various other dressing-up events in Hastings and St Leonards,” says Claire. “You can be as elaborate or as simple as you want. One year I saw a fishmonger in his apron with a sprig of parsley behind one ear, and it looked just right!”

So keep an eye out for Bob and Claire during the procession and see if Bob manages to be subtle this year or not.

• For more information visit  http://hummbug.net/studio.php

PICTURE: Mark Richards

“Leave it, Eileen – they’re not worth it”

IMAGE: Paul Shadbolt / www.shadboltcartoons.co.uk

Saturday 4th
MayDancing on Winkle Island from 12.00noon, with local morris groups Mad Jack’s Morris and Hannah’s Cat joined by visiting troupes.

The five-piece acapella band Rattlebag will be busking in the streets of the Old Town from 11.00am, then playing a more formal session at the Stag Inn at 2.00pm.

At 8.00pm there’s a choice between: a ceilidh at St Mary’s in the Castle with music from Random and Owain Boorman as caller; and a concert at St Clement’s church in the High Street given by Magpie Lane, an acoustic folk group from Oxford.

Sunday 5th May
The annual church service for morris dancers at St Clements church starts at 10.00am. More dancing outside the church, then at the Stade. At 4.00pm the Copper Family perform songs and stories at the church. There’s also the customary drum-off between light and dark at the Chess Square in George Street: the Brazilian rhythms and custard-yellow colours of Sambalanco meet the black-clad and thundering Section Five.

Later there’s another ceilidh at St Mary in the Castle (Jigfoot with caller Will Hall) and an all-comers squeezebox session upstairs at the Cinque Ports pub.

Monday 6th May
Morris Dancers breakfast at St Mary Star of the Sea church hall on the Bourne from 7.30am.

Dancers, musicians, giants and bogies then prepare in the streets of Rock-a-Nore for Jack’s release from the Fishermen’s Museum at around 10.15am. He marches, with the procession behind him, up All Saints Street, across the Bourne, back down the High Street, then (after a halt) on up Croft Road to the top of West Hill by 12.30pm. A craft fair, food stalls and stage performances from many groups among Jack’s followers will entertain the crowds until around 3.30pm when, after a final cavorting with his bogies and Mad Jack’s Men, he will be ritually slain to unleash the spirit of summer. 

One of the oldest traditions in the country, the crowning and associated festivities help us to celebrate the start of brighter, warmer and longer days in that local spot of splendour: Alexandra Park. Taking place on Sunday 13th May, the event will showcase the peculiar talents and joyous spirit of all members of Hastings’ Community.

The 85th Hastings May Queen elect is Beth Morton. In accordance with tradition, a procession to honour the Queen will be escorted by young Robin Hoods and Maid Marions. Anyone masquerading as the heroes will be warmly welcomed into the group marching from the Park Gates to the Bandstand.

The main programme for the crowning ceremony starts at the Bandstand at 1 pm while the crowning itself takes place at 2pm.

Once crowned the May Queen will be entertained by her various subjects, among which are the Hastings Maypole Dancers, Punch and Judy, fiddlers and facepainters.

Roses Are Red are a group of young folk dancers from Bexhill that have proved very popular at a large number of local events. They will be joined by Julian Rumball, who will mesmerise both young and old with his Punch and Judy show, while the returning Fiddle Choir provide the event’s main musical entertainment. Fantasy Facepainting will also be on hand to decorate excited participants with the spirit of summer.

The newest addition to festivities this year will be a mahogany Maypole standing at an impressive above ground height of 10 feet 8 inches. The pole will be topped with the latest creation of Leigh Dyer, the local Blacksmith, whose work decorates many areas of the town.

Another tradition on show, one of the main events of the day, is a May Garland competition open to submissions from individual children, couples, families, school groups and local organisations. The top three garlands will receive prizes.

Eat @ The Park café will join the day with their usual board of excellent fare and an exhibition of the history of our May Queens, while the Alexandra Park Greenhouse Group will display their range of plants on offer at amazing prices for a variety of May blooms.

Local schools have, so far, been unwilling to officially participate in the event so organisers ask all parents to get their families involved in this jovial custom which continues to be a popular Sussex pastime.

• More information, pictures of past crownings and an event page for the day can be found on Facebook

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The 2016 May Queen, Bethan Jones, will be lending her crown for display at Hastings Museum on Saturday 5th May for a workshop on how to make a headdress for the celebrations. You can wear your own headdress for the Jack procession, and even make another for the Crowning on the 13th. Tea/Coffee and all materials are included in the ticket price. 15 places are available.

• The event can be found on Facebook

• Make a Headdress for Jack-in-the-Green, Adult Art class for £25 a ticket, Saturday 5th May, 10.30- 12.30pm. 16+
Booking essential on museum@hastings.gov.uk

On Tuesday 1st May, morris dancers will assemble on Ladies Parlour, West Hill, to inaugurate a new season. Dancers and spectators will be able to use the reopened funicular railway to assist access to the event as Kevin Boorman, the council’s marketing manager, explains “Our West Hill lift is 127 years old, and is one of the oldest railways in the world still using its original carriages. Dancing at dawn as the sun rises on 1st May is an old tradition too, and we’re pleased to be able to open the lift early to allow Morris dancers to get to Ladies Parlour rather than climb the 100+ steps to the top of the hill.” He continues “Morris dancers in Morris kit will travel free, spectators pay the usual fare: there’s no early morning premium!”

• Dancing at Dawn will take place around 5am on Tuesday 1st May. The West Hill Funicular Railway will open at 4.45.

FRIDAY
Folk music and singing The Stag, High St, from 8.00pm

SATURDAY
Morris Dancers
Wall of Death, from 11.30am
Dancing on Winkle Island
12.00pm
Rattlebag (female harmony group perform folk songs)
The Stag, High St, 3.00pm
FILM The Ballad of Shirley Collins
Electric Palace, High St, 5.00pm
Folk artist Shirley Collins
All Saints Church, All Saints St, 7.30 pm
Ceilidh
St Mary in the Castle, Pelham Crescent, 7.30pm

SUNDAY
Morris Dancers Church Service
All Saints Church, All Saints St, 10.00am
Dancing on the Pier, 1.00pm
The Copper Family Perform at All Saints Church, 4.00pm
Drum-off (Local drumming bands)
Butler’s Gap, George St, 4.00pm
The Big Squeeze (squeeze box music)
Cinque Ports Arms, High St, 7.30pm
Ceilidh
St Mary in the Castle, Pelham Crescent, 7.30pm

MONDAY
Morris Dancers Breakfast
St Mary Star of the Sea Church crypt, High St, from 7.30am
Gathering of dancers, musicians and other processionists
Fishermens’ Museum, Rock-A-Nore Rd, 9.45am
Release of Jack and start of procession 10.15 am
Dance performances as procession pauses
High Street, around 11.30am
Garry Blakeley and Bear Lucas
Perform at the Stage, West Hill, Hastings 11.45 am
Procession arrives on West Hill for further dance and singing
from 12.30pm
Ritual slaying of Jack
West Hill, Hastings 4pm

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Bikers and Morris Dancers get it together for holiday weekend

The Hastings Mayday Run, which celebrates its 40th annual happening this weekend, is ‘one of the biggest free-to-attend motorcycle events in Europe’ according to Bike 1066, organisers of trade and exhibitor pitches and concessions that serve it.  They say they are expecting over 40,000 motorcycling enthusiasts to descend on the town over the course of three days from Saturday morning (5th May).  Not to be outdone, the promoters of the 35th annual Jack-in-the-Green festival that gathers Morris dancers, drummers, folk singers and other musicians into the same weekend’s celebration of the coming of spring will start their festivities on Friday evening with a musical assembly at the Stag in All Saints Street and continue with a programme of dance, folk-singing and drumming events through Saturday and Sunday. By the time  their full procession has climbed West Hill on  Monday afternoon and the mythic rites of Jack-slaying are being performed on the hill top they expect a crowd of 10-12,000 green-bedecked revellers to be in attendance  –  maybe more, if the weather is kind.

Most towns of the size of Hastings might treat either event as the major social gathering of the year, so to have the two groups strutting their stuff alongside each other is remarkable in itself.

In earlier decades, when the green parade was smaller and the number of visiting bikers a minor fraction of those anticipated to come this year, there was a mutual sharing of the street space. Jack and his column would march from the Old Town along George Street to reach the main road seafront, then snake past Wellington Square and up Castle Hill Road to reach the top of West Hill. Bikers might sit on their machines and watch and cheer their passage as enthusiastically as the throngs of bike-less supporters. But as the respective contingents grew in size, the police and other public authorities became keener to steer them apart.  The sea front became the bikers’ unchallenged domain.  The dance and drumming parade was re-routed to turn from the High Street into Croft Road so as to ascend the hill from the east.

In recent years the respective representatives of bikers and green paraders would both attend meetings arranged in advance by Hastings Borough Council with officers from the local fire service, ambulance, police etc to plan safety measures.  According to Barry Jones, long time member of the Jack-in-the-Green organising committee as leader of the chimney sweep band which historically was at its heart, such meetings were held successively but completely distinct. The two sides might even meet in the Council foyer but, like two medical patients waiting their turn for respective confidential consultation with the same doctor, avoided any discussion of mutual interest.

This year it’s different.  Bike 1066 approached the Council for permission to use the Stade open space as a breakout zone for bikers’ entertainment, including a live riding show known as the Wall of Death, an Isle of Man TT simulator and a big screen to show Superbike racing live from Oulton Park: “a great day by the seaside: loud and noisy but great fun”, according to the advance publicity. But the Stade is surely within the ambit of the Old Town.  How would this intrusion be compatible with the stolidly un-amplified bells and whistles of Morris dancers?

No problem, according to Jack’s celebrants. Joint discussions were held, and it was agreed that on Saturday morning between 11 am and 2 pm Morris sides will come to the Stade to ‘experience’ the Wall of Death.  They will take part (chiefly, it is understood, by standing very still) in the motorised show around them, then reciprocate with a music and dance display for the benefit of the biker crowds around them. It could surely only happen in Hastings.

• For full Jack-in-the-Green programme click here

• For Full Biker programme click here

PICTURE CREDITS: DAVE YOUNG & MARK RICHARDS

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In 2016 Hastings Borough council commissioned a report by ‘historic environment’ consultants Drury McPherson on management of ‘heritage assets’ in the town – not just historic buildings but also ‘intangible’ events such as Jack-in-the-Green and the Bonfire Parade. They took soundings from many stakeholders, invited public comments, and eventually came up with a list of twenty-one recommendations ranging from the mundane – increasing signage in the town centre directing pedestrians to sites such as the castle, Old Town and museum – to the radically ambitious – removing through traffic from the centre, seafront and Old Town and reducing car parking on the seafront. The Council’s management of the castle came in for particular scrutiny: they were urged to seek a major grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund to finance a ‘re-presentation’ to the public of the wider castle site. There were also recommendations to develop a new visitor centre at Hastings Country Park Nature Reserve and a visitor hub in the town centre ‘to provide orientation and information’.

A formal Heritage Strategy document was subsequently prepared by the council and put forward to its cabinet earlier this month by Kevin Boorman, Marketing and Major Projects Manager, where it was unanimously endorsed by both Labour and Conservative councillors.

The document sets out a grandiose ‘vision’: Hastings is summarised as ‘a proudly independent, diverse, historic and beautiful maritime town at the heart of 1066 country’. However, the document is wholly devoid of any specific commitments or statements of priority. It does not indicate which, if any, of Drury McPherson’s recommendations will be pursued. Instead it proposes the following ‘broad actions to protect and maximise use of the town’s heritage:’

• exploring external funding opportunities (in other words looking for someone else to pay);

• continuing our enforcement powers to ensure owners of heritage assets and buildings fulfill their obligations (forcing someone else to pay);

• working with private and community partners to maintain and manage heritage assets and develop and improve their sustainability (increasing their capacity to pay for themselves); working with partners such as Historic England, East Sussex County Council, Arts Council England and the Foreshore Trust to promote and maintain our heritage (sharing out responsibilities).

To be fair, the document goes on to state that ‘significant actions in this area’ will be reflected in the Council’s annual corporate plans. But it is difficult to see how endorsement of the Strategy document will have assisted in directing these plans in any meaningful way, other than emphasising that there is a certain hollowness in the claims to ‘proud independence’. In reality, the council has informed the town’s residents, if they weren’t already aware, that protection and practical exploitation of the town’s heritage is mainly down to others who, it is hoped, will drum up the financial resources that it lacks.

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On Saturday 10th February, Hastings Access to Venues and Events launched their first quarterly newsletter. It grew out of their informal Facebook group and other longstanding efforts to publicise the essential value of disabled access to Hastings’ varied townscape.

The group’s activities include campaigning against impossibly designed toilets and investing in tools for local disabled persons such as a moveable access ramp, but they ultimately focus on getting out into the community and being a presence at venues and festivals, demanding fair entry.

The newsletter reports on such activities, listing both best and worst accessed events and showing how members of HAVE have managed to get involved regardless. This first letter mentions Jack-in-the-Green, Burlesque at the Palace, Hastings United FC and what’s coming next.

The founders of the group are Penny Pepper, Kev Towner and Theresa Hodge. Writer, poet and performer Penny Pepper edits the newsletter and will be running a free workshop on spoken word performance skills later in the Spring at the Stade Hall. The first newsletter has been funded by the Sussex Community Foundation and Disability Inclusion CIC, run by Theresa Hodge.

Writers and concerned citizens are encouraged to contact the group to help with their work. Apart from the Facebook group, email  or phone 0333 577 9874.

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You can’t throw a pebble in Hastings and St Leonards without hitting a festival – in fact most articles in this supplement contain details on at least one. Here is a quick round up of those which don’t fit neatly into an art form:

For young and amateur performers, Hastings Musical Festival gets going from 22 February to 17 March. Participants are judged to a high standard in classical music, rock, dance and speech and drama. Changes are on the horizon as the festival has just appointed its first chief executive, Helen Winning, so watch this space.

Then welcome summer with Jack in the Green, 4 to 7 May. This festival is currently in development and promises the usual extensive programme of music and Morris dancing. It culminates in the wild costumed parade up to the West Hill on Bank Holiday Monday. The dancing up of the dawn on Tuesday 1 May rounds off the festival with a touch of magic.

The Stade Saturdays programme of free music and performance will kick off in June and run weekly until October. Now in its seventh year, expect big summer concerts, circus and dance. Hastings Borough Council’s partnership is set to continue with the international touring initiative, Coasters, promising fabulous family friendly spectacle. The programme will be confirmed in spring.

Next up is Hastings Fringe Comedy Festival, from 13 to 17 June. In its third year, this festival is expanding again – On the Rocks and The Palace will be helping the eight old town venues of previous festivals host an outlandish 150 comedy shows over these 5 days.

The Hastings Midsummer Fish Festival is back for a fifth year on 23 and 24 June on the Stade Open Space. This festival celebrates the town’s excellent fishery as well as other local produce, with over 30 different traders, cooking demonstrations from top local chefs, and non-stop live music and entertainment.

St Leonards Festival returns in 2018 on Saturday 30 June, 12 noon – 10pm with a theme of St Leonards Ascending. The free family community festival in Warrior Square celebrates the most culturally diverse population for 40 miles with bands, entertainments and a parade, plus the ever-popular street market in Kings Road. It’s back with the 18 Hours team, who worked on the first ever St Leonards Festival in 2006. Anyone interested in taking part in the festival as a stallholder, performer, volunteer, sponsor or supporter should email office@18hours.org.uk

And then no matter what you are, no matter who you are, on Sunday 15 July you will be a pirate … but more on that later in the year.

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