To celebrate this year’s Refugee Week, venues across Hastings and St Leonards are taking part in a food festival, organised by The Refugee Buddy Project. Recipes of Courage is a week-long programme of events, bringing people together to share recipes that carry stories of resilience, community and hope.

The week began with a sold out launch dinner in Alexander Park, where local chefs served up a feast of different dishes. The dinner was an opportunity for people to share food and stories celebrating Hastings as a sanctuary for migrants and people seeking refuge.

Speaking on the dinner’s importance, CEO of The Refugee Buddy Project, Rossana Leal, explained that sharing food “can reveal just how much we have in common” when we talk about ingredients, flavours and recipes we use “a universal language which cuts across any differences we may have.”

On the same night, The Refugee Buddy Project released their cookzine, a collection of recipes contributed by people across the community, designed by Katy Louis.

Throughout the week more than 20 local Safe Haven venues are offering Refugee Week specials on their menus. One venue, The Crown on All Saint’s St, is serving a family recipe for baklava from Mustafa Bakro and his wife Lina. When asked about her choice of recipe Lina said that “for us in Syria, and specifically in my home city of Idlib, baklava is a symbol of hospitality and love.”

Hospitality and love are central to this food festival, but they also reflect what is unique about our town of Hastings and the warm welcome we strive to provide for those seeking refuge.

If you begin to fill up on all the delicious food offerings, venues are also serving an array of brilliant performances, talks and exhibitions: from cooking classes for young people to free Spanish lessons and storytelling evenings.

To top off the week, head over to Hastings Museum for Sanctuary Festival on Sunday 21 June. Organised by local charity, Hastings Community of Sanctuary, the festival is a celebration of community and courage, showcasing performances by artists and musicians from around the world. Throughout the day there will be live music, creative workshops and debates – not to mention a variety of delicious food stalls from Mama Putts, Liban Coast, Mama Geny’s and The Dove Cafe.

Try a taste of something new this Refugee Week.

To find out more about The Recipes of Courage festival visit therefugeebuddyproject.org.uk/events/food-festival To find out more about Sanctuary Festival visit hastings.cityofsanctuary.org/sanctuary-festival         

I was excited to see what Seb Hipperson and his team had done to the old French’s wine bar. So when I was invited to DJ there by promoter Horizon, I thought: why not find out a little of the background and share it with you lovely folk?

Seb’s vision for French’s is to “foster a diverse and inclusive space where all feel welcome to dance and engage with Hastings’ vibrant music culture.” But why keep the name? Well, French’s has been a cornerstone of Hastings nightlife since 1971, and Seb felt a responsibility to revive its name and legacy for a new generation. He feels that retaining the original name also honours the local tradition, as many residents continue to refer to it as “the old” French’s.

Looking ahead, he plans to make use of the upper floors to establish creative studios, further developing French’s as a centre for artistic collaboration.

Horizon is fronted by 28 year old Elliot Green aka “Easy Green” who purchased his first sound system at 18 years old. Bringing people together, creating memorable experiences on the dance floor, is the driving motivation for him. “Making the crowd move, watching the smiles, the hugs, and the dancing.”

But he is also committed to supporting local talent, specifically DJs from the local South Coast. As Elliot explains, he feels it is essential for the future growth of the scene in Hastings. “The area has reached a significant juncture, with new venues emerging and promoters offering diverse events, all contributing to a burgeoning community spirit. French’s is a big part of that. Once the renovations are complete, particularly the addition of artist spaces upstairs, it will serve as a hub for creativity and collaboration.”

Continuing this community spirit, Elliot will be playing alongside Juan Leal (Ditchcoteque) on Friday 1 August, starting at 12pm at Barista and the Shack on the seafront, in aid of the local Refugee Buddy Project. Both will be donating their set fees and inviting donations, though it is free to all to attend. 

You can also catch them at Crown House on Saturday 3 August.

After a short break, the Library of Things has relocated and reopened within HEART community information hub at the Priory Meadow entrance of Hastings Town Hall.

The library has some new librarians and is open on Fridays from 12.00-4.00pm and Saturdays from 10.00am-1.00pm. Fridays also include Make and Mend workshops during library hours and the relaunched cargo bike delivery service for £2.50 a trip. 

Friday 14 June is Sewing Machine Awareness Day, and there’s an opportunity to come and try using a sewing machine between 12.00-3.30pm – and maybe even borrow one to take home.

Another exciting event is the Functional Mobile Phone Project taking place on the first Friday of every month from 5 July onwards. Drop off old phones and chargers so they can be given to people who need phones – with six months’ worth of data. Broken and unfixable phones will go for recycling via community supporters eco project in Bexhill.

For more information, contact info@umbrellasussex.org.uk or visit umbrellasussex.org.uk

Free Family Fun Days at Broomgrove Community Centre

Throughout the summer, Active Hastings will run a number of free themed Saturday Family Fun Days at the Broomgrove Community Centre, including a Beach Dance Party on 15 June, 1.00-3.00pm and Olympic-themed games on 20 July, 1.00-3.00pm. 

Active Hastings also run a range of low-cost or free activities at the Community Centre, including Zumba, Pilates, Creating a Healthier You exercise class, age-friendly activity and social sessions, Boxercise, under 5s Play and Stay, junior Muay Thai and the Friday Night Project.

Heather Jury, Physical Activity Development Officer for Broomgrove at Active Hastings, says: “As part of the UK Prosperity Fund, we are delivering a variety of physical activity opportunities in the Broomgrove area, which we hope will increase social interaction and encourage an active and healthy lifestyle.” 

She would also like to hear what other activities the community would like to see at the centre, as well as anything that stops people from being active. “Pop along to one of the Saturday Family Fun Days to chat to the team.”

For more information visit activehastings.org.uk/listings or follow the Active Hastings Facebook page facebook.com/activehastings

Refugee Week with the Refugee Buddy Project

Following its 25th anniversary last year which saw over 9,500 events in 130 locations in the UK, Refugee Week once again aims to inspire audiences and convey the shared human experiences that bring us together. 

The Refugee Buddy Project Hastings and Rother (TRBP) is one of hundreds of organisations responding to Refugee Week from 17 to 23 June. TRBP works with artists, creators and businesses for a week-long celebration creating a ‘community of welcome’ along the coast. Each year, Counterpoints Arts chooses a theme, and for 2024, it’s Our Home: “Everyone is invited to celebrate what Our Home means to them and make [it] a more welcoming, safe and sustainable place for all.”

Various strands are woven into the TRBP celebration: food and hospitality, stories and memories, and visual representations. There are activities for all, from a pub quiz (to test knowledge of all things British) to a pop-up exhibition and workshop in Priory Meadow; from setting up a garden project (behind Dove café) to a film depicting Hastings’ intergenerational, multinational community (Flavours without Borders) at Hastings Museum and Art Gallery. 

The week offers an extraordinary exhibition by Palestinian photographer Samar Abu Elouf at Electro Studios Gallery. Entitled The Light from Hell, it explores the line between hope and despair in Gaza, living without power, in every sense.

On the Solstice, Friday 21 June, activities centre round a community picnic at the West St Leonards Bathing Pool site. Everyone is encouraged to bring their own food, and there will be shared Palestinian food. Activities include a cycle ride, a beach clean under the title of Caring for our Earth, music, dancing and ‘visual scribing’ to create a visual memory of the event.

For more food experience, the Crown will be teaming up with guest chef from Dove café, Roa al Madi, to include Maqluba, a special collaborative dish, on their menu for the week.

For full information, see programme on p8 of the HIP List or contact rebecca@therefugeebuddyproject.org

Art in the Park

On 19 June, between 10.00am and 3.00pm, as part of Refugee Week, the Art in the Park team are inviting people to come and picnic to find out more about what they do and how they can get involved with the wonderfully creative Arts on Prescription (AOP). This will be a fun day with interactive creative workshops, once again celebrating the theme of Our Home. This will be in collaboration with other local groups promoting the services they offer. 

AOP projects aim to bring art to all, making it accessible and affordable. Tara Reddy says: “We rely on our community and fundraising to cover overheads and a wonderful team of dedicated volunteers to make it happen!“

The team of peer volunteers, artists and wellbeing practitioners provide accessible and inclusive weekly creative activities from Art in the Park at the old bowling pavilion in Alexandra Park to adults and families at pay-what-you-can rates. 

Through the AOP peer mentoring volunteer programme, attendees flourish, access further education and training opportunities, often leading to employment. 

Sanctuary Festival 

On Sunday 23 June there is a free festival organised by Hastings Community of Sanctuary, which works closely with the TRBP. The Sanctuary Festival is a day of music, workshops, talks, activities for kids, food and friends and takes place at Hastings Museum & Art Gallery. It will be bigger than ever this year, with participants from 18 countries taking part.

Hastings Comedy Festival

Get ready for a week of laughter as the 9th annual Hastings Comedy Festival returns this month. This year the festival will run for seven days from Monday 10 June to 16 June. Participating venues include, Electric Palace, Jenny Lind, East Hastings Angling Club, Ye Olde Pump House, Albion, The Crypt, The Printworks, Brewing Brothers (Courtyard) The Good Place, as well as The Piper, Heist Market, Oscars, Sugar Pie Honey Buns and Cumbia Kitchen in St Leonards. 

There is a packed programme of shows throughout the week. Headliners this year include previous British Comedian of the Year Jeff Innocent, Desiree Burch, Lucy Porter and Russell Hicks. Award-winning comedians such as Funny Woman winner Kate Checka, BBC new comedian of the year Frankie Monroe and 2022 Hastings Comedy Festival newcomer winner Dan Harding will be performing their shows during the week. 

Britain’s Got Talent star El Baldiniho will be performing his kid’s comedy magic show at The Observer Building on Saturday 15 June along with Jed and Gary and award-winning kids show, Chemistry of Chaos. 

Hastings Comedy Festival Newcomer competition, The Norman Award, returns on Saturday 15 June at The Crypt. Dan Harding, winner in 2022, will be performing his show at Albion on 13 June. There are many, many more shows to choose from. Programmes are available throughout the town, or you can check the festival’s website for full listings. This year’s poster and programme design is by talented local artist Georgie Wheeler.

Many shows are on a low-ticket warning, with some shows already sold out. The team encourages booking in advance to avoid disappointment, although tickets will be available on the door if the show is not sold out.

A wide range of local pressure groups – led by Hastings & Rye Palestine Solidarity Campaign (HRPSC) but joined by trades union groupings, Amnesty International, refugee support groups such as the Refugee Buddy Project and Hastings Community of Sanctuary, and other humanitarian organisations – presented an open letter to local politicians last week demanding that they call for an immediate ceasefire in relation to Israel’s assault on Gaza. 

Addressed to Hastings Borough Council, Rother District Council, East Sussex County Council plus incumbent Conservative MPs Sally-Ann Hart and Huw Merriman, the letter alleged that Israel’s methods of bombardment, together with its siege tactics of cutting supplies of water, food, electricity and fuel to the trapped population, violated international law and constituted war crimes under the Geneva Conventions. It claimed that a YouGov national poll found 76% of the UK adult population supported an immediate ceasefire. Yet, despite being “our elected representatives”, none of the recipient councillors or MPs had accepted invitations to speak publicly or attend the many rallies and vigils that have been held locally “in the interests of peace and to bring an end to the indiscriminate slaughter”.

At the time of going to press, no official responses have been made to the letter. Ms Hart released a statement on 10 October backing Israel’s ‘proportionate’ response to the Hamas attacks of 7 October and followed this up with a further statement on 23 October, assuring constituents that the Prime Minister was making use of diplomatic channels to bring the violence to a halt. However, she has not backed the call for a ceasefire, nor has any local Labour politician departed from the national party’s apparently whole-hearted support for Israel.

HRPSC Secretary Laurie Holden said: “We have been overwhelmed by the support shown to the people in Gaza by the local community. Every day people are coming to our stall to donate, sign our petition or generally just help out. There is a real sense of shock among ordinary people that our leaders have let us down by failing to demand Israel stops bombing innocent Gazan children.

“We have friends in Gaza, we know how this is affecting mothers, children and families. We read out their messages at the rallies, and it is heart-breaking. But the worst thing is we don’t know if they’ll be alive to message us tomorrow. It is appalling what we are witnessing, so we are heartened to be joining other prominent groups across the community to make our voices heard.”

This year’s Refugee Week in Hastings, Rother and Wealden will launch on Sunday 18 June at 18.00 at the Hastings Contemporary. The sheer span of the events and activities in the week (18-25 June) is so impressive and comprehensive – the programme stands testament to the commitment of its organisers and the drive of all those volunteers involved. More than that, having an emphasis on promoting leadership from the refugee community itself demonstrates the wonderful value that newly settled refugees bring to the culture of our borough. The week will raise the visibility of diversity in our creative community and support emerging talent.

Refugee Week is a national festival of locally produced events held around World Refugee Day on June 20. Its theme this year is ‘Compassion’. Initiated and steered by the umbrella organisation, Counterpoint Arts, 2023 is the 25 anniversary of the event, which now includes a growing number of international iterations including Australia, Greece, Hong Kong, Germany, Malta and South Africa.

This year, following financial support from Arts Council England, the Refugee Buddy Project (RBP) has commissioned four artists and invited submissions for a Creative Call to Action. The response has been overwhelming and over 40 artists, creative businesses and community spaces from across Hastings and St Leonards have come together to plan an extensive programme of participatory events. Major cultural spaces along the East Sussex coastline, including Hastings Contemporary, HMAG, the De La Warr Pavilion and Towner Eastbourne (working with the Devonshire Collective) will be hosting exhibitions and workshops during the week. Inclusion of these major venues marks a major upscaling of Refugee Week in the region.

The RBP says that the principle aim of the week is to “promote a show of solidarity and empathy for people who are displaced and seeking safety, while celebrating what compassion looks like in action, to a broad audience in the local community as well as summer visitors to our town.”

“There is something for everyone in the programme, from exhibitions, window displays and limited edition artworks, to creative workshops, talks, education projects, a pub quiz, bike ride and food events centred around the rich culinary traditions of the people who are making their home here.”

The programme of events has been sensitively planned to particularly focus on ensuring the voices and experiences of those seeking refuge are central. “Several featured artists have no recourse to public funds” the Refugee Buddy Project says “and will be given materials and publicity and support from local galleries, as we are not allowed to pay for their creative labour.”

Some of the Refugee Week highlights include a group show at Electro Studios (June 22-25) featuring internationally recognised artists Chloe Dewe Mathews and Chiara Fabbro, alongside young Syrian photographer Nour El Din. This show will also feature a sound work comprising the experiences and hopes of several of the men who found themselves moved to a spot hotel in Hastings after Manston Detention Centre was closed. Artist Jimena Pardo will be showing a selection of Chilean Arpillera works Arpillerando el Exilio at the Nest and has begun a new collective textile work Compassion is a Verb that will be developed with users of Eggtooth support services, and will then remain at the Nest for visitors to the café to add to. The list of events is just too exhaustive to mention here, but please see the full programme shown elsewhere in this issue.

Considering why Refugee Week is so important to a coastal community like Hastings, Chloe Dewe Mathews, one of the event’s commissioned artists, says, ”Away from the skewed agendas of government and the media, these events and exhibitions become a space for discussion and contemplation, for people who want to learn from each other and find ways to express their support for refugees and people seeking sanctuary.”

Rossana Leal (Founder & CEO) and Alex Kempton (Director of Operations and Campaigns) from The Refugee Buddy Project recently represented Hastings at a summit in Athens on the Arts, Integration and Refugees. They attended as delegates of Counterpoint Arts, shared their experiences and gave a presentation on how they strive to create a culture of welcome through the arts, food and solidarity in the borough. Inter Alia, an Athens-based NGO that works to inspire social change through supporting artistic and cultural expression are sending a delegation to Hastings to host a discussion of best practice during Refugee Week.

To find out more about refugee week go to: therefugeebuddyproject.org

Story Time started as a monthly story-telling night, which aimed to help people share their voices and grow a sense of community. It has since developed into a network of events, installations, collaborations, and an archive of excellent tales. 

Share your personal story in 500-1200 words. Explore the theme however it feels most true to you, it could be compassion for or from others, discovering self compassion or something else completely.  

If language or writing are a barrier to you sending in a story, please reach out to Story Time anyway – they’re here to help.

Three stories will be selected to be read out at a live event at Cactus Hound Bar (24 June 13.00) and a range of chosen submitted stories will feature on Story Time’s website. Some extracts will also form part of a window display at Plant The Seed during Refugee Week 19-25 June. 

Authors of the three selected stories will receive £50 each for their performance – funding provided by Arts Council England via the Refugee Buddy Project. 

Please submit your stories to lily@storytime.site by the 1 June 2023.

HUGH SULLIVAN

The former Category C prison of Northeye, on the western fringe of Bexhill, was one of three sites publicly identified last week by the Home Office for the future mass accommodation of asylum seekers who cross the Channel on small boats. 

There were more than 45,000 such arrivals in 2022, a number which has risen exponentially over each the past four years despite a succession of government measures on both sides of the Channel intended to stem the flow. The cost of providing residential hotel accommodation for these arrivals has soared, and capacity is increasingly stretched. Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick told Parliament on 29 March that the Government had, effectively, a dual purpose in finding alternative solutions – reducing costs, but also “deterring” people from making the passage. 

“This Government remains committed to meeting our legal obligations to those who would otherwise be destitute, but we are not prepared to go further,” he declared. “Accommodation for migrants should meet their essential living needs and nothing more, because we cannot risk becoming a magnet for the millions of people who are displaced and seeking better economic prospects…

“We have to suffuse our entire system with deterrence, and this must include how we house illegal migrants… So today the Government are announcing the first tranche of sites we will set up to provide basic accommodation at scale.”

Adult males only

It is understood that up to 1,200 adult males will be accommodated at Northeye. Females and minors under 18 – who have together constituted less than 20% of the small boat passengers since 2018 – will be placed elsewhere.

Responses to the plan to reopen the site for asylum seekers has been mixed.

Local MP for Battle and Bexhill, Huw Merriman, himself a junior government minister, was making further enquiries earlier this week on how they would impact on local services.

In a joint statement from Rother District Council and East Sussex County Council, a spokesperson said people in the community were likely to have “many questions” about the plans and the councils would work together “to understand and assess in more detail the impact this would have on local communities”.

Campaign groups critical

However, Mary Atkinson, of the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, reacted with scorn and anger: “It beggars belief that the government is seriously considering housing people, many who have escaped awful conditions in their own countries, in a former prison.

“Robert Jenrick says that accommodation for migrants should meet their essential living needs and nothing more, but re-traumatising people who may have faced unlawful imprisonment, oppression and torture by the state by placing them in similar facilities is utterly inhumane.” 

Alex Kempton, Director of Operations and Campaigns at the Refugee Buddy Project for Hastings, Rother and Wealden, struck a similar note:

“We are very disappointed by the Government announcement that it plans to use the Northeye site in Bexhill to house up to 1,200 people seeking refuge. We have been campaigning for months about the poor treatment of people kept in detention hotels both in Hastings and across the country, and this plan to use poor quality mass accommodation sites will only exacerbate the issue. People seeking refuge deserve to be treated with dignity and respect, and to be housed in community accommodation where they can live alongside their neighbours. Isolating and segregating people in this type of camp is horrific, and we will campaign with our partners and volunteers in Bexhill to stop this camp from opening.”

Home Office dilemma

There’s a basic dilemma for Mr Jenrick and the Home Office in meeting these objections. On the one hand, he maintains that the facilities being offered meet the requisite minimum standards. 

“The sites will house asylum seekers in former barracks and modular accommodation in an orderly manner with healthcare provision in place, catering facilities on site and 24/7 security”, he told Parliament.

“Not only are these sites more affordable for taxpayers than hotels, but they are more manageable and orderly for communities and offer significant employment opportunities in the broader area.

“We will work closely with local authorities and key partners to manage the impacts of using these sites, including liaising with local police to make sure appropriate arrangements are in place.

“This approach also brings the UK in line with European partners, including Germany and Greece, who also successfully use military sites.”

Less deterrence, more detention?

On the other hand, for people desperate enough to make the dangerous Channel crossing after spending a winter or longer in a makeshift shelter in the Pas du Calais, reliance on a concept of “deterrence” seems at best unrealistic, and arguably disingenuous.

The more pressing question is what happens if, or when, the government’s Illegal Migration Bill, currently working through Parliament, is enacted and put into effect. The express aim of this legislation is to remove the right of anyone entering the country “irregularly”, including those making the passage by small boat, to make an asylum claim here, and to give the Home Secretary power to detain and then deport those that have thus barred themselves.

Detention is one thing; deportation another – there is no current prospect of finding a country, apart from Albania, willing to accept any significant number of such deportees from the UK (even the legally controversial scheme of transportation to Rwanda has never been envisaged as a large-scale system – it’s really another of the Home Office’s “deterrence” notions, with no evidence of effect on significant numbers). So it’s likely that tens of thousands of people will continue to arrive in the country by small boat, be detained and be declared inadmissible for asylum in the UK, but with little prospect of removal from the country.

 Hitherto, the majority of these small boat passengers have eventually succeeded with asylum claims, giving them the right to work and to integrate into the social and economic life of the country. What’s the end game now? 

VK: I first heard of you as the instigator of the St. Leonards Concerts music series. What gave you the idea, and why? How long has it existed?

MB: My first concert in St Leonards was right after gatherings were again legal following Covid, June 2021. I remember walking out in front of an audience of 80 people, and what an amazing feeling it was to be stepping on stage again! Almost everyone I’d made friends with over my first lockdown year in St Leonards was there, and for most of the audience it was the first show they’d been to in over a year. My friend, incredible musician Laura van der Heijden and I played a real blinder of a piece, the Kodaly Duo, a rhapsodic, Hungarian odyssey for violin and cello. To be able to programme the music myself and invite friends and colleagues down to this beautiful place felt like something to build on.

VK: How is St Leonards Concerts funded?

MB: The series has had a small amount of sponsorship, but it’s mostly funded by ticket sales, including paying the musicians. I haven’t been able to pay myself much so far, but that should change as I hope to attract bigger audiences and find further sponsorship. I’m getting great feedback about the events and, as well as attracting new audience, there’s a loyal following growing – so I feel long-term positive.

VK: Do you have administrative staff?

MB: Not yet! It’s still early days, but I’m working on building a local team of people who will help me manage the events. I do have a bit of help, some from friends and some I’ve paid for, but at this stage the administration is still a mostly a one-man-band. Running around setting up venues/ recordings/ticket lists/door staff etc while trying to do a dress rehearsal can be pretty hectic! I’m having to learn new levels of multi-tasking!

VK: How do you decide on content, performance and performers?

MB: This is the fun part! Often I’ve brought programmes that I’m playing elsewhere for a repeat performance. Two of my three bands have visited, as well as other people I work with regularly in other settings. But as things develop, I’m enjoying the chance to explore tailor-made performances. I play a lot of classical music and I want to create the sort of listening environment where audience members feel like they can have an intimate experience, really led on a journey and captivated by a dynamic performance.

I think context is often a barrier to an engaging experience, along with some of the more artificial concert conventions, so I’m trying to make things inclusive and relaxed. For example, with the bigger concerts, I always arrange the chairs in a wide crescent around the performers. It’s a simple change, but it makes a huge difference. As to the music, I have a long list of amazing people and programmes I want to perform as part of the series… watch this space!

VK: Are you national as well as local?

MB: I’m constantly on the road. I play across the UK and Europe. In February and March I’m playing concerts in Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, and Norway as well as closer to home in the UK. Setting up St Leonards Concerts is partly about being able to play closer to home.

VK: How do you find rehearsal space?

MB: As the Fritz Brothers we rehearsed in my living room! For the recital I did with pianist Ljubica Stojanovic, for example, a local couple kindly made their lovely piano in their front room available. We mix and match.

VK: What’s your opinion of the current local classical music scene?

MB: It’s buzzing! It’s exciting that there is so much going on, and there are loads of great players around and audiences up for going to shows.

VK: Does St. Leonards Concerts do outreach work?

MB: Not yet, but it’s definitely on my radar as something to do in the future. What I would like to do is to bring more younger people and those without classical music or much live music experience to St Leonards Concerts. Sponsorship will also enable me to set up ticket schemes that will subsidise tickets for those who are struggling financially – and I’ve already made contact with a few local organisations, The Refugee Buddy Project for example, and a local school. Access and education are both on my mind as the series grows. I’ll also be looking for partner organisations.

VK: From your website and seeing the Fritz Brothers on only their third outing, it’s clear you are an exceptional musician, intensely versatile and cross-genre. Who do you think influenced you and who do you admire the most?

MB: I grew up in a musical family. My father is a cellist and was a big name on the British classical scene as I was growing up. He’s been a huge influence, but I’ve also looked for inspiration among non-classical musicians. There’s an amazing Romanian Gypsy fiddler from the 1930s whose music and playing I love: Georges Boulanger. The style is quite different from conventional classical violin playing, but actually, there’s loads of overlap. Also my teacher Ivry Gitlis, who died just a couple of years ago aged 96. His maverick lineage includes some of the great musicians of the 20th century, so I’m lucky to have learned from a true legend.

VK: Tell me about your musical education?

MB: I did my A levels at a musical vocational school, set up in the 60s by the legendary violinist Yehudi Menuhin. I was precocious, always had an individual style. I won some prizes and scholarships, but real virtuosity has come more gradually to me than some. I’m still fascinated by the violin and how to play it. I don’t think that will ever leave me and will help me always develop. My mother is German. When I was growing up in England, this was still something to be ashamed of because of the WW2 associations and xenophobia from other kids at primary school. Now I’m proud to have dual citizenship with Germany and to be part of Europe. It also helps a lot with touring, post-Brexit, not needing a visa.

VK: I marvelled at The Fritz Brothers. Do you front other ensembles yourself, as well as doing studio work? Do you also play in the orchestra here?

MB: I played with the Hastings Philharmonic last year as soloist for Tchaikovsky’s epic violin concerto. I do regular studio work in London, film scores. I played solo on a big one recently but I’m actually not allowed to say the name of the film!! My regular groups are all chamber music, where leading roles interchange. I like to let rip, have my moment to shine, but I also love the interaction in chamber music.

VK: Is jazz your first love? The arrangements for that band were mostly yours, I think? Are all the arrangements and solo breaks written in, or are you as accomplished an improviser as you are an arranger?

MB: We arrange everything ourselves in Fritz Brothers. Improvisation is very much a part of what the band does. I’m picking up from jazz playing I did as a teenager and learning it afresh – daunting when you have the likes of the mighty Ewan Bleach as your band mate… but I’m loving the process! To me, jazz violin only really makes sense in an old style of playing – sweet and lyrical – and this is what we try to capture in Fritz Brothers. What Fritz Brothers does is mix the music of Rachmaninov and Chopin and other great classical tunes with this old jazz style, particularly Gypsy-jazz and old Swing.

VK: What are your French influences? Do you play jazz on viola as well as violin? How do you find the comparison?

MB: I loved jazz as a kid for sure. But I never listened to jazz fiddlers and, dare I say it, I’m not such a Grappelli fan. I feel like he plays too many notes, too noodly. His bandmate Django [Reinhardt] inspires me much more with his cheeky, rhythmically-concise style. And of course the great horn players like Lester Young, Cannonball Adderly, John Coltrane were high on my listening list. South African Jazz pianist Abdullah Ibrahim was another big figure growing up. I’m not inclined to play jazz on viola – you really need the extra brilliance of a fiddle for that style, and for the higher registers. The viola will get lost in that context.

VK: Do you have an outlet for your own compositions?

MB: Yes I do – my group, Lodestar Trio, plays some of my music, and I occasionally direct ensembles where I play my own material as part of a wider programme. I also have a duo called Sonnen, with electronic musician Vahakn Matossian, where all the material is our own.

VK: All your musical associates have some level of virtuosity. How did you meet The Fritz Brothers, for instance? And are you all from eminent musical families?

MB: Bass player Misha Mullov-Abbado certainly comes from an illustrious lineage of top classical musicians. I’ve known clarinet and sax player Ewan Bleach for years – actually we played in a rowdy Ska band at festivals through our 20s. I met Frank since moving to St Leonards, and John I know through Ewan as they work a lot together. What makes them brilliant is that they are all skilled improvisers as well as great in written repertoire. I met Frank in a St Leonards garden, jamming in the summer sun! They are some of the best players I know in any field, and part of the aim of the St Leonards Concerts is to bring the kind of performances you would hear at top stages in London or Europe to the doorstep of concert-goers in St Leonards.

VK: Are the other Fritz Brothers involved in St. Leonards Concerts?

MB: I do the programming for St Leonards Concerts, and each concert is so far a stand-alone performance of a band or particular programme. But within each project there is a collaborative input amongst the musicians.

VK: How old are you, If it’s not a rude question?

MB: I just turned 42. Fresh-faced I’m told! Must be the winter sea swimming…

St Leonards Concerts Diary

Next Concert: Sunday 26th March, 5pm, Christ Church, Silchester Street, St. Leonards.

Haydn’s 7 Last Words of the Cross – a truly sublime piece for string quartet performed as part of the Easter calendar with special guests.

• You can make bookings via the St Leonards Concerts website and find details of other concerts to be confirmed.

Immigration minister Robert Jenrick had made it clear that he is looking for larger sites that might cost less to administer. However, both Rother and ESCC raised concerns about the remoteness of the location and the pressure on local services, and it was confirmed last week that the government would not pursue the plan.

Rother’s leader, Doug Oliver, was quoted by the BBC as welcoming a “sensible” decision. “Camber is not a large community… this would not have been the right arrangement either for migrants or for residents,” he added.

In the meantime an open letter put together on behalf of the Refugee Buddy Project (RBP), Hastings Community of Sanctuary and Hastings Supports Refugees has been sent to Sussex Police and Crime Commissioner Katy Bourne, asking her to “reassure local people by sharing with us what is being done to ensure” that popular protests against the use of local hotels for refugee accommodation are “managed effectively”.  The letter, which was countersigned by several local Green party councillors including leader Cllr Julia Hilton, by local trade unionists and by other activists, referred to recent “horrific scenes in Merseyside” when a hotel housing refugees in Knowsley came under sustained hostilities. 

Alex Kempton, RBP’s Director of Operations and Campaigns, referred to “a community-based response group who are organising to be ready to respond and defend our neighbours should the need arise. We sincerely hope this won’t be necessary but we will not stand by and let our neighbours be harassed.”

Refugee Week’s vision is for refugees and asylum seekers to be able to live safely within inclusive and resilient communities, where they can continue to make a valuable contribution.
Refugee Week is an umbrella festival, and anyone can get involved by holding or joining an event or activity. Refugee Week events happen in all kinds of different spaces and range from arts festivals, exhibitions, film screenings and museum tours to football tournaments, public talks and activities in schools.

Refugee Week takes place this year from 19 to 25 June and the theme is Compassion. The programme in Hastings will be part of a National series of events, and they are looking forward to working with local artists and partners to celebrate what compassion looks like in action, here in Hastings.
There are opportunities available for artists, local businesses and local individuals to get involved and there will be more information available over the coming weeks, so please keep an eye on the RBP’s website and social media. You can also contact the Project Manager Rebecca Sinker directly to register your interest: Rebecca@therefugeebuddyproject.org.

Rossana Leal, Founder and CEO of The Refugee Buddy Project tells us, “We are really excited that we can continue the great success of the 2022 Refugee Week, which brought together people from across the community in creative celebration. Refugee Week 2023 is shaping up to be even bigger and better, so get involved and help us create a community welcome.”

For more information please contact Alex Kempton, Director of Operations and Campaigns: alex@therefugeebuddyproject.org or visit therefugeebuddyproject.org

BY HUGH SULLIVAN

On 24 January the UK Parliament debated allegations published in the national Observer newspaper the previous weekend that dozens of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children were being regularly targeted and “kidnapped” by criminal gangs from a Brighton hotel where they had been placed by the Home Office. Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick told MPs: “We take our safeguarding responsibilities extremely seriously and we have procedures in place to ensure all children are accommodated as safely as possible while in those hotels.” There was, he claimed, “24/7 supervision, with support from teams of social workers and nurses. Staff, including contractors, receive briefings and guidance on how to safeguard minors… The movements of under-18s in and out of hotels are monitored and recorded, and they are accompanied by social workers when attending organised activities.”

Whatever the reality of this depiction, Mr Jenrick did not address the fact that other dispersal hotels which are supposed to house adults only are also accommodating a substantial proportion of minor-age children for whom no such safeguarding systems are in place. A spokesperson from East Sussex County Council (ESCC) confirmed last week that they “do not oversee the welfare of people in the adult hotels”, but that their Children’s Social Services department has taken into care “some” unaccompanied asylum seeking under-18s who were originally assessed by Border Force as adults.

“There are different ways in which we can become aware of children in adult accommodation”, the council spokesperson said. “The children themselves can ask for an assessment to be done, through the management of the hotel, or voluntary sector organisations can help them make that application.”

Enter the Buddy Project

One such organisation is Hastings volunteer group the Refugee Buddy Project (RBP), who are rather more forthcoming on the scale of the problem. Alex Kempton, Director of its Operations and Campaigns, says that, out of 82 men accommodated since November in local hotels spot-booked by private company Clearsprings Ready Homes Limited on behalf of the Home Office, nine identified themselves to RBP staff during a registration process as under 18. These were flagged to ESCC, who conducted age assessments and, when satisfied that they were children, removed them and placed them in care.

The spot-booking and mass displacement, to Hastings and other south coast towns, followed clearance and closure of the Manston detention centre near Ramsgate. Hastings Borough Council (HBC) leader Paul Barnett complained to the Home Office in the immediate aftermath that no advance notice had been given to the council by either Clearsprings or themselves, and HBC issued a statement indicating that they were “pressing the Government and their agents to clarify how they intend to support [the asylum seekers] locally and how long they expect them to reside here…We are keen to understand what longer term dispersal plan they intend to put in place.”

Asked last week what responses they were getting, a HBC spokesperson said they were having “a presence at meetings” addressing current accommodation figures, health concerns and general wellbeing issues. “The responsibility lies with the Home Office and [Clearsprings] for the safety and security of residents. The long-term plan of the Home Office is to reduce numbers at the hotel and take those accommodated into core Initial Accommodation or into dispersal accommodation. This however, is a matter to be addressed to the Home Office.”

Government stance

Mr Jenrick told MPs on 24 January: “I want to end the practice of putting children in hotels, but the key to that is stopping people crossing the channel in the first place. If we continue to have tens of thousands of people, including very significant numbers of minors, crossing the channel every year, I am afraid that there is no choice but to accommodate people for a short period of time in hotels before they can flow into better accommodation within local authorities.”

Ms Kempton is scathing. “It used to take up to six months for the Home Office to make a first decision on asylum claims. Now it routinely takes two years. In the meantime all asylum seekers are routinely housed in substandard accommodation and forced to rely on charities like ours to ensure they and their children can get to school and do their homework at home, as well as eat and live with some modicum of dignity.

“Allowing the situation to get this bad is a political decision, serving the government’s narrative that we are ‘being overwhelmed’.

“In the absence of statutory services, we have led the response here, actively engaging with the men, going into the hotel and assessing their needs, helping with financial support, and distributing donations of clothing and hygiene items gathered by the Hastings Community of Sanctuary. But the risk to unaccompanied children is immense. For the Home Office to throw the responsibility back to the local authority as if these children are some football which can be passed from one service to another with no one taking full responsibility is frankly disgusting.”

On November 8, the Refugee Buddy project (RBP) found out by chance that a hotel in Hastings had been spot booked: in other words it had suddenly been used to accommodate around 80 asylum seekers from countries such as Syria, Afghanistan, Iran, Sudan and Egypt.

At around the same time, the council also became aware of this situation through a tip off from a restaurant that had been asked to provide meals for the newly arrived men. That the borough was never formally informed of the co-opting of the said hotel to hold people awaiting their asylum application to be processed is clearly unacceptable. Councillor Paul Barnett, leader of Hastings Borough Council confirmed to me that no formal notification of the new placements in Hastings had been received by the council or any other support agencies in the borough.

CREDIT: Coldwar Steve

“The booking of the hotel happened without any warning from either the Home Office nor their local contractor, Clearsprings Ready Homes. We complained and did get an apology. Then a parliamentary debate led to a further Ministerial apology to all local authorities and a commitment to working more closely in future,” he said. 

Unfortunately, despite this assurance, it did happen again and another hotel was booked. Following further complaints from the council, it has now been emptied.

Obviously the immediate concern is for the individual wellbeing and safety of those who have been accommodated in Hastings without a coordinated plan. Beyond that the council, along with organisations like the RBP, are pressing the Government and their agents to clarify how they intend to support them locally and how long they expect them to reside here.

Cllr Barnett said: “We are also keen to understand what longer term dispersal plan they intend to put in place. We understand that this is not an isolated case and that many other towns across the country, including some in other parts of East Sussex, are being similarly used to accommodate this group”.

He went on to say that, “the voluntary sector here has done an excellent job welcoming people and ensuring they have the support they need, and I want to thank HVA, Hastings Supports Refugees and especially The Refugee Buddy Project for their hard work over the last few weeks”.

Members of the RBP visited the hotel the next day after finding out about its existence. They found a dire situation. The majority of the men had been moved from Manston asylum centre. Following reports of the mistreatment of residents, squalid living conditions and a suspected outbreak of diphtheria, the centre had been closed, and those housed there were moved to hotels and other accommodation around the country.

Manston had provided basic temporary accommodation to small boat arrivals while they underwent processing. Designed to hold 1,000 people, with a maximum of 1,600, it was described in October as being “catastrophically overcrowded”.

Rossana Leal, the RBP charity’s CEO, said that the hotel had been filled a week prior to them finding out about it. She explained that most of the men had only one set of clothes, and for many this was the same that they had worn during their perilous channel crossing in small open boats. It was clear that some were suffering with health issues such as skin rashes and some with open lesions. Evidently these men had received no basic health care and their conditions were being exacerbated by poor diet and lack of available hygiene products. One of the first things that the RBP did was to purchase a bag of toiletries for each resident. 

Clearsprings Ready Homes is contracted directly by the Home Office to prepare temporary accommodation for migrants and refugees. Whilst their website states that they “work closely with non-government organisations, local voluntary groups, statutory services, local authorities and landlords to ensure the properties are fully compliant and the welfare of the residents is closely managed,” on visiting the hotel it was clear that, especially in the case of collaboration with local charities and other agencies, these words were empty.

A refugee breakfast

I was stopped from visiting hotel rooms by security. The foyer area is small and a little shabby. The only place where the internet is available, it was full of men, some asleep on sofas and others sitting on the floor. Whilst residents are informed they can come and go as they please, some told me of an enforced 10pm curfew. Residents are forced to wash their clothes in bathroom hand basins, have no easy access to drinking water and often wait long times for food which sometimes contravenes their dietary requirements and/or their religious observances. One of many photographs I saw showed a typical breakfast. A slice of white processed bread, a sachet of butter, a hard boiled egg and a banana.

Each asylum seeker should have a payment of just £8.24 a week. An amount that is pitifully low in order to meet any basic needs: factor in travel costs for asylum application meetings and it is plain that this system is just not working. No-one in the hotel is receiving this despite having been in the country for up to three months.

I met two asylum seekers at the RBP offices. Abdo, a doctor, and an engineer named Mahmoud. Both names have been changed to protect their identity. Through an interpreter I heard of their horrendous experiences in Manston, where they had spent around a month in tents, sleeping on wooden floors and being subjected to inhumane treatment including not being able to wash and having food withheld if they complained. Their written testimonials also make for harrowing reading. Abdo told me that apart from the relief he felt to have survived the crossing, he sometimes wishes he had not made the decision to leave Sudan and wishes he was back with his wife and family. He describes his time in the UK as just months of hostility and suffering.

Mahmoud looked totally defeated. Clearly a bright man, he talked eloquently about his hopes and aspirations. He clearly felt he had been duped by the UK government and was just not prepared for the maltreatment he had received at the hands of the UK authorities. I was struck by the fact that both Abdo and Mahmoud were especially distressed by the way they had been systematically stripped of their dignity and also by an intense feeling of uncertainty about what was going to happen to them next.

It is clear there are many, many questions to be answered.

• If you wish to support The Refugee Buddy Project’s work please donate to their Winter Appeal here
therefugeebuddyproject.org/donate-winter-appeal

• Hastings Community of Sanctuary are running a Winter Clothing Appeal to help meet the needs of new arrivals placed in hotel accommodation in Hastings and across East Sussex. Details on their website at hastings.cityofsanctuary.org

Refugee Council Statistics 

Detention

The UK Government has the power to detain people who are here seeking refuge. Sometimes this even includes children. There is no maximum time limit in place for people held in detention, meaning people are held indefinitely. 

The latest statistics show that there were 2,077 people in detention in immigration removal centres at the end of September 2022; among them were 1,383 people seeking asylum. This equates to a 47% increase from the previous year.

Despite a Government promise in 2010 to end the practice of detaining children, there were 139 occurrences of children entering immigration detention in the year ending September 2022.

Homelessness and Destitution

The moment someone receives a positive decision on their asylum claim should be one of celebration and relief, an end to instability, and the start of a bright future where they are able to establish new lives in the UK. Instead, many newly-recognised refugees experience homelessness and/or destitution.

The Home Office provides accommodation on a no-choice basis and subsistence support as low as less than £6 per day for people seeking asylum, if they would otherwise be destitute. But once they are awarded status, this support stops after just 28-days. Faced with a cliff edge and no support to find new housing, open a bank account, and secure income, among other activities needed before being evicted, many refugees are at significant risk of homelessness and/or destitution.

Hastings’ young people and marginalised communities need your support with the Youth Multimedia Storytelling Programme Crowdfunder. We need to encourage more diverse and representative voices into the media – to tell their stories and share their perspectives of the world, and to get more equal access to employment. Hastings, along with many towns along the coast, has a specific and pressing need for help with employment – the media is just one part of that effort, but an important part.

Widening Access

As in many professions, the journalistic elite perpetuates itself. Wealthy families can afford a year or two of supporting their young person going through the maze of internships and networks and badly paid posts as they get their first foot in the media. That’s too big a bar for most families in the UK. Many in positions of privilege want their own children to get those opportunities, and ‘putting a quiet word in’ with contacts is also a crucial part of exclusion for others. Only 20% of journalists identify as being from a working-class background. In addition, 245 local newspapers closed in the UK in during the past 20 years, previously a route into national journalism. 

Photos from Young Syrian photographer Nour Alezou’s exhibition at The Nest during Refugee Week
CREDIT: Nour Alezou

The project would give younger people and those from marginalised communities in Hastings the chance to develop digital journalism skills – writing, researching, photography, video, interviewing, maintaining social media – crucial for anybody trying to get into the media at any level. Very few can now be a ‘print’ journalist only – they also need to be able to record and edit audio and video and ‘re-purpose’ their material for a range of outlets. Experience is crucial and building a track record of published pieces is essential for anyone attempting to start a career in a highly competitive (and shrinking) field. These skills and experiences are also transferable to other career paths such as the creative industry. 

Broadening Political Debate

Exclusion and a lack of diversity also help maintain a narrow political and cultural Overton window (the range of ‘acceptable’ opinion). The edges of that window are policed forcibly, and mainstream journalists can relax within the middle of it and pat themselves on the back for their ‘not this or that’ party approach – what Noam Chomsky called ‘a herd of independent minds’. The problem with that is that the ‘centre’ has shifted very far to the right in the last decade or two with the rise of right-wing populism and the conversion of formerly ‘left’ parties into neoliberal centre-right ‘alternatives’ (looking at Blair and Starmer). The fence that many journalists are pleased to be sitting on is, in fact, far to the political
right, and far removed from the experience of the majority.

CREDIT: Nour Alezou

We also need to up-skill a wider group of people as the ‘legacy media’, as they are sometimes called, are increasingly failing. Sales of newspapers are shrinking year on year – but remain influential – and the use of ‘fake news’ by newspapers has always been a huge issue for our democracy and the way the population is informed. The golden dawn promise of social media is well and truly over – algorithms are set to promote the extreme, to create division and encourage people to stick within their own silos. We need a new generation of budding journalists prepared to ‘speak truth to power’ and to develop new ways of working – in what we currently call social media and media, but which will undoubtedly become one seamless entity.

Creativity Works

We are really pleased to partner up with The Magnum Photos Foundation for this project. Ask a photographer and they will tell you that Magnum is a stellar name in photography, and Magnum has already piloted a project similar to this in London and Shannon Ghannam, Global Education Director, recently worked with the Refugee Buddy Project to mentor ​young Syrian photographer Nour Alezou whose exhibition was hosted at The Nest during Refugee Week celebrations. We will also have support from Fujifilm UK and The Newspaper Club, East Sussex Career Hub, Eggtooth Hastings, Hastings Contemporary, Xtrax Young People’s Centre and Hastings Radio. 

Shannon explains: “This project was inspired by a programme that Magnum has been part of for a number of years in London called ‘Creativity Works’ in partnership with Create Jobs – A New Direction. They are a youth employment agency that has a specific remit of increasing diversity, equity and inclusion within the creative industries. It is one of the most powerful professional relationships I have had because I learnt so much about the various barriers young people might experience when trying to access certain opportunities and how to support them to overcome these. Another powerful outcome was the networks the young people created with each other and professionals they met on the programme that continue to this day.”

How the project works

The young people on the project will create a special edition of HIP, about their lives in Hastings and issues important to them, through multimedia journalism co-created with the wider community. We hope to engage people from working class backgrounds, people from black, Asian or minority ethnic backgrounds; people with experience of exclusion; incarceration; looked-after children; young parents or
carers; differently-abled people; people from the GRT and LGBT communities.

The programme will seek to build vocational skills as well as support creativity, confidence and well-being through the creation of a supportive peer and professional network. It is hoped that this project will offer additional funding, new talent, a wider professional network and new audiences for HIP.

Shannon adds: “We will design a programme specifically with these young people in mind and support them to build the skills and confidence to create multimedia stories about their lives and their town. We will then print a special edition of the newspaper and find various ways to showcase this work in the town and online.”

CREDIT: Nour Alezou

As a relative newcomer to St Leonards, Shannon has become aware of the energy and talent in this town: “Having lived in St Leonards for two years I know how so many individuals and organisations will pull together around this initiative and these young people and support them into whatever comes next for them, further education, internships, employment etc, and I hope that this cohort will in turn support the next as tutors and mentors as we have seen happen in the programme in London.”

Support the Crowdfunder

If the Crowdfunder is successful, we have been promised matched-funding as one of five projects to receive £5,000 in this way from the East Sussex County Council’s Community Wellbeing Fund. But ONLY if the Crowdfunder is successful, and the deadline is December 23rd! We hope that everyone who cares about the future of local journalism and increased representation will help us.

• We will also have support from Fujifilm UK and The Newspaper Club, East Sussex Career Hub, Eggtooth Hastings, Hastings Contemporary, Xtrax Young People’s Centre, Refugee Buddy Project and Hastings Radio.

• Please, support the future of local journalism and the future of young people in the town! The address is www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/hasting-independent-press-youth-training-project

In a month in which a government minister conceded that Manston Asylum Centre was operating illegally, 11 asylum seekers were abandoned at Victoria railway station with nowhere to stay, without warm clothing and many of them wearing flip-flops – it is clear that the UK’s immigration system is deeply flawed and underpinned by bigoted inhumanity. When Suella Braverman uses incendiary language that likens the plight of beleaguered migrants and refugees to an ‘invasion’ – it is clear that direct policy decisions are taking a hitherto more bureaucratic hostile environment into a new phase of intentional abuses of human rights. If Tory disdain for refugees were not enough, the terrorist firebombing of Manston indicates that the Home Secretary’s rhetoric is literally adding fuel to the fire of hate.

CREDIT: Andrew Grainger

In such a climate warm inclusive and welcoming spaces are needed to counterpose this hostility.

The Refugee Buddy Project has always been about more than providing friends and allies for newly arrived refugees and migrants. When I meet with its CEO Rossana Leal and one of its eight Trustees, Yeser Mohammed, they both insist that there is a pressing need to counter prevailing narratives. Part of the project’s key mission is to work with communities to ‘create a culture of welcome’. 

Yeser tells me how she first came to be involved with the Refugee Buddy Project. She is a cardiac physiologist at the Conquest Hospital and once had to act as a translator for a Syrian person who had been admitted. This led to a stark realisation of just how vulnerable recently arrived refugees with little English were.

The Dove Café in the western end of St Leonards is just one of the many initiatives set up to achieve this aim. Whilst the café has been open throughout the summer, there was an official launch party on Saturday 12 November including a ‘ribbon cutting ceremony’ attended by the Mayor of Hastings Cllr James Bacon. Although there is a range of weekly rotating specials, the menu is always full of delicious home cooked dishes ranging from falafel, potato and kale soup, dahls and baklava.

Fresh back from joining the protests at Manston the day before, Rossana tells me how the community café is a safe haven for everyone in the local refugee community to come together and ‘break bread’. Not only that, it provides employment opportunities for chefs, servers and the outside signage and logo was designed by a Buddy Project participant who is currently studying graphic design at Brighton University.

“The Dove Cafe is a warm and safe place for all looking for refuge. We are currently seeing so much hostility in the media from politicians who choose to blame the most vulnerable for the many things that are wrong in our society. We hope that people will come to the cafe and share their sorrows, anxieties and thoughts. It is always good to feel that you are not alone and are part of a bigger network of people who care,” Rossana tells me.

Alex Kempton, Director of Operations and Campaigns says: “We are delighted to have a community space again, one which will certainly be needed in the coming difficult winter months whether as a space to socialise, or to get warm food and drink without breaking the bank. The Dove Café is a welcoming, vibrant space open to everyone in the community.”

• Visit the Dove Café, 19 Bexhill Road, St Leonards-On-Sea TN38 OAH. Opening times Thursday to Saturday 10am-4pm. For more information please visit therefugeebuddyproject.org

It is a sad fact of life that today’s heartbreaking news is all too rapidly supplanted by tomorrow’s heartbreaking news. A combination perhaps of compassion fatigue and the sheer relentlessness of bad news tends to give horror a shrivellingly short shelf life. Occasionally it is the job of an artist to drag us back. To make us think and, importantly, feel all over again. To not let us forget. The classic example is probably Picasso’s Guernica; the vast black and white tableaux which still has the power to take us back to 1937, when the Luftwaffe unleashed the first wave of the mass murdering of civilians from the sky.

The Hastings artist, curator and writer Colin Booth is following a similar principle. In conjunction with the Refugee Buddy Project, he has produced a written piece, All that is Lost, and had it applied to the door of the new Refugee Buddy Project café, on the Bexhill Road.  A piece of art which takes us back to a cold, black November night
in the middle of the English channel in 2021. To be precise, on 24 November last year, 34 human beings – one an unborn baby – were in a dinghy, fit for a maximum of 20, realising with increasing panic that they were sinking. 

In screaming chaos and darkness 32 people drowned. As Colin’s piece says, so disarmingly,  they “should have been given safe harbour.” Subsequently, the British and French coastal authorities have played pass the blame parcel. Relatives are still engaged in a legal struggle to find out whose sins of omission were the greater. The legal struggle will doubtless go on for years until almost no one can remember it even happened. 

Booth was also instrumental in finding the premises for the new community café. If you go along to that cafe now, you will find that Colin’s words go beyond an anguished lament. On the main large glass window the names of those that died, and their country of origin, have been painstakingly stenciled. 

Booth has always been interested in language. The way it can both reveal and hide. The precise names of people somehow reminds us of their humanity. Official language tends to turn people into abstractions. Even the word ‘refugee’ is horribly reductive. They were particular people. One was a seven-year-old girl. Not a seven-year-old ‘problem’ that might be forgotten about in the dark sea or Rwanda. As Booth implies, these were once people with dreams. 

The cafe itself is something that Colin initiated, bringing the owner together with the charity. The volunteers have done the rest. In some ways it is part of a vision to bring more cultural life to that part of West St Leonards that can seem a little overlooked. The café is to be a straight commercial venture. But with one twist. Those that can afford to pay can leave the price of a cup or a bite to eat behind the bar, thereby donating a ‘buddy’ drink or snack for those who cannot pay.

The café and the artwork may be small initiatives when set against the enormity of the refugee issue and the sour indifference seeping out of our zombie government. But, sometimes, even in the face of forgetting, it is surely important just to shout out some basic truth. Colin Booth’s work is that necessary shout.

• The Refugee Café will formally open towards the end of August.

Over recent months, we have seen the conflict in Ukraine unfolding in real time before our eyes on our TV screens and social media.  At the same time, we continue to see the more familiar images of refugees from other areas of war arriving in the UK from their journey across the channel on small boats.  

I wrote about the experiences of Ukrainian refugees in our town, and those of us who have opened our homes as sponsors in the June 17 issue of the Hastings Independent (no 203). I included a quote from Jane Grimshaw, Convener of Hastings Supports Refugees and Co-Chair of Hastings Community of Sanctuary who said she believes we are now, “creating a two-tier system of people deemed worthy refugees and those deemed unworthy”. In the same issue, Alex Kempton, the Refugee Buddy Project’s Operations and Campaigns Manager outlined how divisive media narratives around refugees have been responsible for directing sympathy and empathy towards different groups of people.

Video still from the project Dastan, 2010 by Amak Mahmoodian

This year’s annual refugee week, 18-26 June, was organised around the theme ‘Healing Through Creativity and Conversation.’ In Hastings we were treated to a vibrant program of creative actions and events, organised by the Refugee Buddy Project in collaboration with over 18 local artists and 15 organisations. At the centre was a panel discussion held at the De La Warr Pavilion on Wednesday 22 June. All Refugees Welcome was organised and hosted by the Buddy Project, in partnership with Shannon Ghannam of Magnum Photos. It was a fascinating, powerful, and challenging call to examine the role images play in the in our understanding, attitudes and behaviour around migration and asylum seeking in the UK and the impact dominant narratives have on individuals, families and communities settling in our communities.  

Journalist and author Daniel Trilling gave a moving reflection on his many years reporting on refugee news stories. He explained how important it is for us to look behind the statistics and political slogans presented to us to find the individual human stories and discussed his experiences travelling with people from country to country while writing his book Lights in the Distance (2018).  Daniel’s presentation showed how terms commonly used by the media to define individuals ‘refugee’ or ‘economic migrant, ‘legal’ or ‘illegal’, ‘deserving’ or ‘undeserving’, fall woefully short of capturing the complex realities of their lives and stories.

This idea was developed further by Jess Crombie, a researcher and consultant for the development and humanitarian sector, including organisations such as the Red Cross, Save the Children and the DEC. Jess discussed how stereotypes evolve when the media shows just part of an individual’s story, such as a man’s arrival on a beach in England wrapped in a blanket with no shoes, or a child looking dirty and destitute in a refugee camp. These images capture just a moment in those complex realities Daniel Trilling describes in his writing, yet we use them to form wider attitudes and opinions on the individual as a whole and can even extend these beliefs to everyone else we associate with the image before us.

Through presenting her People in the Picture research project with Save the Children, Jess urged us to let individuals express themselves and tell their own stories. She explained how many of those who contribute to professional visual campaigns have given consent to work with photographers and videographers. They understand that images capturing desperation help agencies to collect the funds and support that enable them to do their work. But these images should be accompanied with a balanced story about the people involved and the lives they lead. Of course, many of the images we see every day are taken without the consent of the individuals involved and with no opportunity to give their own explanations.

The activist and campaigner, Maz Saleem, gave us a passionate and emotionally charged reminder of what can happen as a result of media stereotyping in recounting her memories of the day her father, Mohammad Saleem, was stabbed and murdered in an Islamophobic attack in April 2013.  Maz reminded us “tomorrow it could be someone else’s father, mother, brother or sister who is murdered or attacked for simply looking visibly Muslim”.  

The panel discussion was closed by the Iranian photographer Amak Mahmoodian. Amak, now living in Bristol, showed us a selection of beautiful and powerful images exploring the impact of being of displaced and exiled from home.

The discussion left lots to think about, but it’s clear we can all help by challenging the stereotypes, or incomplete ideas about people we have formed through the terms and images served to us by the media. The best way of doing this is to give those refugees living among us in Hastings the time and space to share their own, complete, human stories.

• Check out the Refugee Buddy Project for more information about the All Refugees Welcome discussion and the panellists. www.therefugeebuddyproject.org

The Refugee Buddy Project will be holding their popular Christmas Fair on 4 December 2021. After a gap of one year, the event returns for 2021 hosted by the Hastings Museum and Art Gallery. 

There will be something for everybody, with stallholders including:

• The Herby Witch: candles, soaps, essential oil products 
• Kate Gritton: oil paintings
• Jane Walsh: ceramics mugs, bowls, jugs, etc 
• Sassy Luke: artwork; prints, cards 
• Ruth Charman: jewellery, calligraphy art, trinkets 
• Anne Wingfield: jewellery 
• Khadiga Otteli: Sudanese cakes and pastries. 

Also available to buy is the audio project by Simon James, I Feel You Like Home, released to coincide with the All In The Same Storm: Pandemic Patchwork Stories exhibition at The De La Warr Pavilion. The audio project, containing 11 postcards and 8 tracks, is beautifully presented in a tin covered with hand-printed, block-on-hessian cloth, designed by the amazing Non-Format design. 

The fair opens at 10am and at 3.30pm there will be a talk by Issam Kourbaj, whose work is currently exhibited at the Gallery as part of the Crossings: Community and Refuge exhibition, co-curated by The Refugee Buddy Project. Come and hear the artist speak about his profound and poignant boat installation. Free tickets are available at www.eventbrite.co.uk by searching for Issam Kourbaj.

The Refugee Buddy Project Hastings, Rother & Wealden started in 2017 with the aim of matching local volunteer buddies to newly arriving refugees in Hastings and St Leonards. In the four years since it began, it has expanded to support all people seeking refuge across Hastings, Rother and Wealden through a combination of one-to-one peer support, buddying, activities and frontline support. 

So come along and make a start on your Christmas shopping; enjoy a mulled wine or hot chocolate, a Christmas fair and a social gathering. Proceeds from sales on the day will go to supporting the work of the Buddy Project. 

• For entrance to the Museum and Christmas fair you will need to book your free admission ticket at www.hmag.org.uk/aboutus/bookyourvisit 

In the wake of the recent Sanctuary festival, two online meetings have been organised, in order to allow people in Hastings to get a fuller understanding of the refugee question and possible changes to UK asylum law.

The campaigning group Hastings Community of Sanctuary (HCoS) are currently sharply focused on opposing the Nationality and Borders Bill, which is now in committee stage in parliament. The group have set up an online meeting next Tuesday 5th October at 7.30 pm which will feature Bella Sankey, Director of Detention Action, as a guest speaker. The main purpose of the meeting is to give a detailed analysis of the bill’s proposals and its current progress. According to Dr Felicity Laurence, one of the group’s organisers, the bill will make it a crime to enter the UK “spontaneously,” as she puts it. To arrive without legal permission may result in subsequent deportation, possibly even to offshore detention camps, or even four years in prison (though the government has gone rather quiet on the literally far-flung idea of a camp on the Ascension Islands). It is also feared that it will become a crime for anyone who seeks to help those people. 

CREDIT: Nick Pelling

A second concerned group is Hastings Against War (HAW). They are also holding a meeting on the same Tuesday evening in conjunction with the Rother Interfaith Forum as part of their programme of regular meetings on the first Tuesday of each month. The apparent clash of meetings perhaps only goes to show that there is growing urgency surrounding this topic, given that Hastings and the south coast are on the front line. Speaking to John Enefer of HAW, it is clear that there is a “difference of emphasis” between the two meetings: the HAW group will feature a talk by Rossana Leal, a director of the Refugee Buddy Project. The group, according to its website, aims to “work with people seeking refuge and not for them” – in other words, to listen to the needs of refugees already in and around Hastings.  

There may be those who feel that the issues are not so clear-cut. The Home Secretary, Priti Patel, argues that the current asylum system is “broken” and needs reform, to help “genuine” asylum seekers but also to deter illegal immigration and profiteering criminal gangs. Concerned groups suggest that the right to genuine asylum is being steadily eroded. It is probably desirable that people of all persuasions attend such meetings and that light replaces heat. It may be, however, given the empathy gap between them, that the aims of the government and the hopes of the Hastings groups cannot be made to reconcile. The political struggle looks likely to continue for some time.

• To register for the HCOS event, go to https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-case-against-the-nationality-and-borders-bill-tickets-174977190487

• To more information on the HAW meeting, check info@hastingsagainstwar.org

By Nick Pelling

The Festival of Sanctuary sends a simple message of welcome, with some of Hastings’ best musicians and artists once again showing their support for the act of seeking sanctuary. Organised by Hastings Community of Sanctuary, and raising funds for Hastings Supports Refugees, the festival celebrates the power of community, of creativity and of hope.

Taking place for the first time in the centre of the town at Hastings Museum & Art Gallery, the event, previously known as Festival by the Lake, is now in its fifth year. Many of Hastings’ brilliant musicians have supported the event, and this year’s fantastic lineup includes Buddha Triangle, Helen Sharpe and Clair Nicholson, alongside festival regulars Jamal, Alaa & Zahi, renowned Syrian musicians now based in Brighton. As well as a solo set, Bev Lee Harling will be performing with Lucy Mulgan from Barefoot Opera and the Refugee Buddy Project. Hastings’ younger generation of artists will be represented by Kay Iris and Poppy Sharpe.

Around the grounds of the museum you’ll find storytellers, art workshops, poetry readings, drumming sessions, fun for kids, community stalls and delicious food. You can also take a walk through the woods to the Bohemia Walled Garden – a sanctuary for nature in the heart of the town – for a guided tour.

Inside the museum, you can see a British Museum Spotlight Loan Crossings: community and refuge, a new exhibition featuring the moving Lampedusa Cross made by Francesco Tuccio from the remnants of a refugee boat wrecked near the Italian island of Lampedusa, alongside poignant boat artwork by Syrian-born artist Issam Kourbaj. Made from repurposed bicycle mudguards tightly packed with burnt matches, 12 tiny boats represent the fragile vessels used by refugees to make their perilous voyages as a response to the ongoing tragedy in Syria.

The exhibition is co-curated by the Refugee Buddy Project, who have run workshops with the local refugee community across a series of weeks on the exhibition’s themes, whose work will also be displayed. There will be talks and workshops responding to the themes of the exhibition, including from Issam Kourbaj, exhibition curator Jill Cook from the British Museum and a speaker from the UN Agency for Refugees. A display of original postcards, donated by local artists, will be sold to raise funds for vital work supporting refugees in the UK and in Europe.

With so much conflict around the world, and an increasingly hostile environment in the UK, it is more vital than ever to send out a message of hope

Polly Gifford

Festival organiser Polly Gifford said, “We’re excited to be able to bring people back together this year, and to be working with Hastings Museum. With so much conflict around the world, and an increasingly hostile environment in the UK, it’s more vital than ever to send out a message of hope, and no better way of doing that than through music, art and community.”

Cllr Paul Barnett, Deputy Leader and Lead for Culture and Regeneration at Hastings Borough Council, said, “The council is really delighted that this wonderful festival is taking place in and around our Museum and Art Gallery this year. At a time when the world is increasingly concerned about the plight of refugees, and in a town which does 

so much to welcome people from wherever they come from, we can all learn so much from the experiences and words of those who have successfully settled in Hastings. So, a big thanks to all those volunteers at Hastings Community of Sanctuary and the Refugee Buddy Project who have worked hard to make this happen. I am looking forward to this special day so much.”

Hastings Community of Sanctuary is part of the national City of Sanctuary network. Their vision is for the UK to be a welcoming place of safety for all. A place that is proud to offer sanctuary to people fleeing violence and persecution. Find out more about their current campaigns and how you can get involved at their stall and at hastings.cityofsanctuary.org, where you can also sign the City of Sanctuary Pledge. Find the latest festival news on the Hastings Supports Refugees Facebook page.

Hastings Festival of Sanctuary Sunday 12th September 2021, 12-6pm, Hastings Museum & Art Gallery. Entry is free and open to all, so bring your picnic (and your dancing shoes) and join them for a day of solidarity, community and culture.

• For more information about the festival contact info@hastings.cityofsanctuary.org

• For more information on the exhibition go to britishmuseum.org/exhibitions/crossings-community-and-refuge

After a week of hearing extraordinary ideas emanating from the Home Office and splashed across mainstream media – one to send all asylum seekers arriving in the UK to camps on remote islands in the south Atlantic, another to create waves in the English channel to wash migrant boats back to France – groups supporting the rights and aspirations of refugees will be holding a “weekend of action” around the country this coming Saturday and Sunday, 10th and 11th October. 

The action will be co-ordinated around a slogan “Solidarity Knows No Borders” (#SKNB), protesting at the government’s “hostile environment” policy and focussing on demands for:

• The removal of obstacles to safe passage
• The expansion and extension of government resettlement programmes.

In Hastings the action is being promoted by the Refugee Buddy Project led by Rossana Leal under the heading: “A Weekend of Celebrations: Hastings Welcomes People Seeking Refuge.”  On Saturday banners will be dropped by drones along beaches from Fairlight to Bexhill, for unfurling by groups of up to six people (to comply with Covid-19 regulations).  Anyone who would like to participate is invited to band in a group, making their own banner, if they choose, on the theme of welcome; a specific beach groyne can then be allocated to them for the drop. 

Suggested sub-slogans are:
• Seeking Refuge is a Human Right
• Safe and Legal Routes NOW
• Stop Militarising the Channel
• End Illegal Deportations
• Solidarity Knows No Borders
• End Detention
• No Detention Camps

Film footage will be created, edited and released the following day on social media.

This year the theme of Refugee Week (15th-21st June) is ‘Imagine’. It’s important that we do try to imagine, so we can begin to understand how people seeking refuge in the UK are treated – very differently from the rest of the population. 

During the pandemic, refugees in shared accommodation where Covid-19 outbreaks have occurred have faced difficulties in accessing tests. They have also faced more hostility than before the pandemic and have less money because of the difficulties in applying for and collecting allowances – a lack of support from the Home Office which may constitute a breach of human rights. It is also harder for them to access digital tools like Zoom that the rest of us rely on to get through lockdown. Especially given that most online support and material is not designed for speakers of English as a Second Language.

PICTURE: Sarah Gomes Harris

The Hastings, Rother & Wealden Refugee Buddy Project has been very active during the past two months. Pre-lockdown, it was already making use of online environments to communicate with Buddies and supporters, which made it easier to transition to develop the online projects that are taking place at the moment.

One campaign that was launched this spring in response to the increased arrival of people on boats is the #RefugeesWelcome social media campaign. Buddy Project Director, Rossana Leal, says: “We thought it was really important to offer a compassionate narrative which we know hundreds of local people share.” 

• Full details are on their website: therefugeebuddyproject.org/refugeeswelcome 

Stitch for Change: Pandemic Patchwork Stories is another project, ongoing through Refugee Week, which, according to Alex Kempton of Hastings Community of Sanctuary, involves creating a: “giant patchwork of individual stories, experiences and names, stitched together into one quilt –
a record of community action
and a shared narrative of the pandemic.” The aim is for people to come together and make individual patchwork squares with images or words that express how they felt during the pandemic, or a message of solidarity. Weekly sewing workshops are held on Zoom to provide help and support. When the squares are sewn together, the quilt will be displayed in a local gallery. 

• For more information and inspiration, go to: therefugeebuddyproject.org

The Buddy Project has a full programme of events for Refugee Week, including sharing of personal stories and recipes (via online videos); online exhibitions from the De La Warr gallery by three local refugee artists; and a diverse range of films about migration and the experiences of refugees.

Sister organisations, Hastings Supports Refugees and Hastings Community of Sanctuary are organising a virtual version of their popular annual Festival by the Lake on Isolation Station Hastings see hastings.cityofsanctuary.org events page. On 21st June you can picnic in your own back garden to show solidarity with all those facing discrimination and enjoy “an afternoon of great live music, poetry, talks, creative fun for kids, an online raffle and more”. 

Rossana invites everyone to take part in Refugee week: “Share the #RefugeesWelcome social media cards on your social media, send us your photos for our Video of Welcome, watch the films we will be sharing with you, cook the recipes our refugee buddies are sharing, send us your patchwork squares for the quilt, join Festival by the Lake on Isolation Station.” 

The Buddy Project has joined various networks together and stands with people seeking refuge, despite the deliberate hostile environment generated by the Home Office. It describes itself as providing: “a safe space for people to come together and have some very difficult conversations about racism and privilege”, important ongoing discussions and debates that we should all get involved in. In the longer term, the group needs sustainable funding if it is to survive. 

• Click here to see the Buddy Project’s full Schedule of Activities for Refugee Week 2020.

• For more information about Festival by the Lake online click here and Stitch for Change click here

Stitch For Change is a textiles and embroidery project, hosted by The Refugee Buddy Project, Hastings, in response to the current public health crisis.  It aims to promote the meditative benefits of hand stitching and to provide a method of connection during a time of isolation and separation.  The project creates an online space for people to come together and find a collective voice. This is made possible through weekly Zoom sessions on Friday afternoons and regular sharing via the dedicated Facebook group.  

The project will see the creation of a giant patchwork of individual stories, experiences and names, stitched together into one quilt – a record of community action and a shared narrative of the pandemic.  It is inspired by political quilts and arpilleras that have been used across the world to express feelings and beliefs in often challenging circumstances.  The finished piece will be displayed in a local exhibition space for the public to view.

You can participate by making a cloth square 6×6 or 11×11 inches (please leave a half inch border all round) with your chosen words or patchwork images, using fabric scraps, sewing, embroidery or other techniques you feel comfortable using.  Anyone can join in; if you need help with materials or skills you can join our Friday Zoom sessions for tips on stitching and how to gather inspiration.  

Your square should depict: how you are feeling; what you are doing to pass the time; who you are worried about or missing, or messages of solidarity and hope – anything that expresses your experience. Completed patches should be posted to a central point; an address will be made available to you upon request.

• For further information (including Zoom meeting ID) please visit our Facebook group.

East Sussex College, Hastings played host to a local Labour Roots Rally last Saturday as the party starts to mobilise its half-million membership to fight an expected upcoming general election. 

PICTURE: Julia Kotziamani

Labour Roots is described by organisers as “a rolling series of open events, bringing together activists and the public with Jeremy Corbyn and members of the shadow cabinet.” Organisers report reaching the 430 capacity attendance of the college, including book sellers, stalls, organisers, college staff and general public who were present for the climax: speeches made in the college atrium by Jeremy Corbyn, Barry Gardiner and Diane Abbott. 

Earlier, the event featured multiple workshops, titles including Winning the Green Industrial Revolution, Refugee Buddy Project, Persuasive Conversations, and Digital Army training. 

Winning the Green Industrial Revolution featured Mr Gardiner, shadow Secretary of State for International Trade, and local activists, who discussed what such a revolution would mean for Hastings. This included consideration of green unionised jobs, new green skills and education, and a cleaner community to live in “for the many – by the many”. Mr Gardiner spoke of the need for renewable solutions to energy needs and their efficiencies, quoting the ability of ground source heat pumps to reduce the annual heating bills of some households to just £13 and the great potential of coastal towns to generate tidal, wind and solar power. These industries are becoming increasingly efficient, offering renewable energy at approximately £48 per megawatt hour (MWh), as compared to nuclear energy from Hinkley Point where in 2012 the guaranteed price – known as the “strike price” – was set at £92.50 per MWh plus inflationary increases.

The Refugee Buddy Project discussed the biggest challenges for the refugee community and opportunities for residents in Hastings to organise solidarity and support for settled refugees.

Persuasive Conversations gave people a chance to practise talking, and listening to people’s concerns, about Labour policies; similarly, Digital Army training gave online activists advice on how best to spread news and policy online via Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Jeremy Corbyn, in Hastings last Saturday, tells HIP:
“I believe in a welfare state”

Universal Credit 

Between the training sessions and speeches Mr Corbyn made time to talk to local Hastings newspapers. His central message was: “I believe in a welfare state.” 

He suggested that the problems of displaced communities, of frictions between wealthy incomers and existing communities, and of generating new industries in Hastings could be addressed by reversing changes to how benefits are paid under the Universal Credit system. The current system, he said, causes rent arrears: “The five week wait for money under Universal Credit has seen people unable to pay their rent on time and risk being made ‘voluntarily homeless’ by landlords who apply the letter of the rules.”

He criticised the ‘two child’ Universal Credit policy, which provides support for a maximum of only two children, and claimed that “getting rid of this alone will stop up to 300,000 more children being pushed into poverty.”

In addition, there should be more housing stock available to the local community for social housing.

Renewable Energies

Mr Corbyn echoed Mr Gardiner’s earlier suggestion of the great potential for Hastings to generate renewable energies which could be used to subsidise coastal communities “left behind” in terms of wages and growth; he quoted the statistic that earnings in coastal communities like Hastings were on average £1,600 lower annually than comparable inland towns. 

In the culminating speeches Ms Abbott promised to end the ‘hostile environment’ for migrants, including closure of the infamous Yarl’s Wood and Brook House detention centres. Mr Gardiner, Cllr Maya Evans, migrant champion Rossana Leal, and local poet and activist Penny Pepper also addressed the crowd. 

Mr Corbyn included a promise to build 37 new wind farms across the UK with 51% public ownership. From anticipated profits, 80% would be earmarked for decarbonising the economy and tackling climate change. The other 20% would be invested back into coastal communities like Hastings.