AAH September 2012

AAH

September 2012

ALL ABOUT HORSHAM MAGAZINE

Pipe Dreams Will support slot spur on folk favourites?

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Call 01293 851913 Email: info@abmbuilding.co.uk Website: abmbuilding.co.uk Liston House, Faygate Lane, Faygate, RH12 4SJ

View all previous editions of AAH at www.aahorsham.co.uk

A Mini Adventure For the first time in August, the biggest slice in the ‘Official AAH Enquiries Pie Chart’ was not ‘People asking when we are going to deliver the magazine to their area’.

26% of calls were about deliveries, but pushing that into second place with 69% was ‘How did you get that pony to stand in front of the Knepp Castle ruins?’ We also included a few shouts of ‘Where’s Gandalf?’ and ‘You should have put a horn on its head’ into that percentage.

Of the other calls, 11% were ‘Your photographs are amazing’, 6% were ‘I can’t read AAH on my iPhone’ and 2% of calls were from people insisting that they weren’t trying to sell us health insurance.

The mathematicians will realise this doesn’t all add up, but seeing as there is no pie chart, it doesn’t really matter. We are working on providing an iPhone friendly version of the magazine though...

It’s been a difficult month - the Olympics seemed to make people lazier, which surely was not the intended reaction?

Stories frittered away due to a lack of response (news of an archeological discovery will have to wait!)

Nonetheless we learnt a lot in August.

We’ve learnt that there are people sleeping rough in Horsham and that dolls house furniture can be expensive but not as expensive as a Lamborghini bumper.

So we have everything from a miniature world of dolls houses to a planned rave in Dial Post. We were considering going to the rave for our ‘Page 3’ photo next month, but sadly I’m having

Ben Morris (All AAH Articles, Layout & Advertising) and Toby Phillips (All Photography)

You have no idea how much time it took for Toby to place us in this miniature display in a Horsham Dolls Club exhibition at Horsham Museum! a cup of coffee and watching New Tricks that night!

We have expanded our circulation again. New routes include West Grinstead and Old Holbrook in Horsham, and we also now deliver to Heath Way, Barnsnap Close, Goose Green Close, Owlscastle Close, Broome Close, Gorse End, Erica Way, Fern Way and Heather Close. Those who still do not receive the magazine can pick one up from Horsham Museum and all of our editions are online at www.aahorsham.co.uk

As I’ve mentioned before, we don’t have an advertising sales person here at AAH (it really is only me and Toby) so if you do wish to market your business in the magazine please get in touch. Our advertisers, including Strands, Mark Antony Windows, James for Carpets and Sussex Kitchen Designs - have reported a great response from the magazine. It does help when you advertise in something that people read!

Our rates/details are on Page 5.

Happy reading!

Ben, Editor

Cover Story

AAH ALL ABOUT HORSHAM MAGAZINE

September 2012

AAH

September 2012

ALL ABOUT HORSHAM MAGAZINE

Pipe Dreams Will major support slot spur on folk favourites?

I really wanted to use the Harris Brothers on the front page, but the picture had such an array of colours that it made it difficult to write a headline on. Besides, Toby insisted that I used the Pipe and Tabor shot!

The picture was taken on privately-owned land in Lower Beeding. It is close to where my grandparents live so I know the area well, and have for a while considered using a longabandoned watermill for a photoshoot. It was perfect for a folk band! We told Pipe and

Tabor where we would be going so they brought their Wellies along, which was handy as we had to negotiate a muddy slope, a dodgy wooden bridge and leap across a stream to reach the location. Toby set up his lights in the old building, although the sun’s rays were breaking through the tree cover. As well as the front page image, Toby took a picture of Dean standing in what would have been a first floor window or door. But that image was not as striking and was binned!

Deafening Support As the noise level in the velodrome reaches 140 decibels, Dave Ashdown of Horsham Hearing Centre describes how such levels can cause long-lasting damage For those people who were lucky enough to get tickets, the cycling events in the Olympic velodrome must hhave provided a spectacle that they will never forget.

No doubt the sound will stay with them for a long time too!

If they find it hard to describe the atmosphere as the likes of Sir Chris Hoy and Victoria Pendleton took gold, then there is a comparison; It was like standing 30 metres away from a jet engine.

Noise levels in the 6,000-seat arena reached close to 140 decibels during the victories of Britain's cyclists, according to The Dangerous Decibels Project, a US based public health campaign designed to reduce the incidences of noise-induced hearing loss.

This level is roughly equal to fireworks and the sound of a gunshot.

Dave Ashdown of Horsham Hearing Centre, at 22 Worthing Road, Horsham, said that such levels of noise could lead to hearing damage.

He said: “If you do that as a regular thing you are going to suffer noise-induced loss.

“If you think 80 decibels is the level of a normal conversation, then 140 decibels is a factor of one thousand - a thousand times louder.

“But it is not noise level but a combination of intensity and time of exposure that can cause damage. If you look at the noise at work regulations issued by the Health and Safety Executive, you will see that 85 decibels is an acceptable level to have for all of the working day, so eight hours. Increase that by only three decibels, to 88, and you have to halve the time to four hours.

Noise in the Olympic Velodrome reached an incredible 140 decibels “That becomes two hours for 91 decibels and so on. By the time you reach 140 decibels, you are talking less than 100th of a second.

“With any exposure over 125 decibels there is a risk of noise-induced hearing loss. Maybe in the future the crowd at these cycling events will be given earplugs!”

If this were to happen, Horsham firm Hearing Electronics Ltd, based at Blatchford Close, could certainly develop the technology.

The company, associated with Hear Centres, supplies earpieces to McLaren F1 drivers Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button as they fight for this year’s World Championship. As

one of the world’s leading companies in manufacturing specialist communication earpieces, Hearing Electronics Ltd supplies many major broadcasters including the BBC, Sky and ITV. But we can all benefit from custom-made earpieces and incredible, high-definition devices.

Dave recommends that we all have regular hearing check-ups as many people are unaware they have hearing loss. He said: “We need our ears as much as we need our eyes and I would recommend everyone to have a hearing check every couple of years.”

‘Maybe in the future the crowd will be given earplugs’

Hear Clearly in High Definition Call us to arrange a free demonstration

01403 218700 Horsham@hearcentres.com Horsham Hearing centre | 22 Worthing Road | Horsham | West Sussex | RH12 1SL

If you would like to discuss advertising in AAH, please contact Ben on 01403 878026.

Eighth Page £50; Quarter page: £100; Half Page: £175; Full Page £300

CONTENTS 6 News Round-Up

41 Geoffrey Sparrow

What’s making headlines, including big news for Southwater housing plans

The Horsham doctor who brought the hunt to life in his sketches

8 My Story So Far

46 Group Discussion

The Olympian who flew 81 bomber missions in World War Two

It’s a small world, after all, at Horsham Dolls House Club

12 One to Watch

52 Events

Tom Haynes is on the way up after impressing for Barns Green men’s team

September’s highlights include West Grinstead Ploughing Match

14 Pipe & Tabor

53 The Ark Centre

The folk duo are preparing to support Joan Armatrading on tour

How a Christian group is helping the homeless and needy of Horsham

61 Meal Review

22 Motoring

The Foresters Arms in Horsham is gaining a reputation for good food

Washington Coachworks has become renowned as a supercar specialist

30 Harris Brothers

66 How Interesting

The Ashington family that has devoted a lifetime to running a funfair

The pub landlord who became an Olympic gold medallist in Stockholm

The AAH Team Editor: Ben Morris editor@aahorsham.co.uk 01403 878026 / 01903 892899 Accounts Manager: Kelly Morris advertising@aahorsham.co.uk 01403 878026 / 01903 892899 Photography: Toby Phillips tobyphillipsphotography.co.uk info@tobyphillipsphotography.co.uk 07968 795625 Contributors Jeremy Knight (Dr Geoffrey Sparrow feature and assistance on P6 6 article)

Additional thanks to...

The Harris family of Ashington, Brian Little of Horsham Rotary Club, Kate Rollings at Fishers Farm, Sussex Wildlife Trust, Clare Phillips at Christ’s Hospital, Jason Semmens and all at Horsham Museum, Sussex Newspapers for the kind use of a photograph of Undercutting.

Cowfold), The Morris Family (Slinfold, Horsham, Tower Hill, Nuthurst, Maplehurst, Crabtree), Toby Phillips (Town Centre), Herbie Whitmore (West Grinstead), Ben’s Grandma (Wisborough Green) AAH is also available to pick up for free at Horsham Museum, The Causeway.

Door-to-Door Delivery team The Paterson family, Geoff Valentine, Cydney Magnus, Andrew Price, Trish Fuller, Sarah Guile, Amy Rogers, (all Horsham rounds), Anna Laker and Alex Besson (Billingshurst), Jamie Towes, Laura Harding, Shaun Bacon and Karen Taylor (Southwater), Jack Barnett (Monks Gate/Mannings Heath), Karen Parnell (Warnham), Will Smith (Ashington), Roger Clark (Partridge Green and

Website Run by Mi-Store of Brighton. Read all of our editions at www.aahorsham.co.uk Copies of past editions of AAH (except July 2011 and January 2012 - sold out) are available for £3 each (this includes postage). Please send a cheque (payable to AA Publishing Ltd) of £3 for each copy to: AA Publishing Ltd, 2 Viney Close, Ashington, West Sussex, RH20 3PT.

6

Thinking of extending or Improving your home?

Pic: Simon King/ ICEcodes

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" " # % 1: Horsham Symphony Orchestra perform * The ! 8% rise + in A* and % A #grades !contrasts with ' ! %%% the national trend, which reveals a fall in 6: Horsham Best, Red River and Brighton their next concert at the Capitol on Saturday, GCSE gradings across English, Maths and Blonde, produced by Horsham based WJ 17th November at 7.30pm. The orchestra, led ! #% Sciences for the first time in GCSE history.

King, have won gold at the Great Taste 2012

by Steve Dummer, will perform Britten’s Four awards after being judged by a panel of 350 Sea Interludes, Gordon Jacob’s Trombone food and drink experts.

4: An application for new housing to the west Concerto with Ryan Hume, and EdwardBuild of Southwater has been pulled back by Elgar’s Symphony No. 1.

7: The Great British Circus, which regularly " villagers were concerned , % over Berkeley. Many # #$ new homes being built on # ! visits a site in Dial Post, could be coming to an a possibility of 500 2: Local businessmen Simon King and Mark end. # Great House # # Farm ! % In an article in Horse & Hound in August, greenfield land on which Hickman have launched ICEcodes, a new Martin Lacey - who runs the circus - said he # # There are fears, however, that sits. child safety tag. Mobile phone numbers of a ) currently has decided to close because of the &Berkeley ! ! parent or teacher are stored in a code on a may prepare a proposal for even$ !

Government’s intention to ban the use of tag which is secured to childs clothing with a # more% homes in Southwater#$in the future. wild animals in circuses by 2015. The news clip. If they become lost or separated, the per# ! ! % has been welcomed by Horsham-based son finding them scans the tag with a smart 5: A campaign group has been established by phone and releases the numbers. Alternalocal residents to fight against the building of charities Born Free and the RSPCA. tively, a ‘Found Child’ hotline can be called a crematorium with 63 car parking spaces on 8: Horsham Museum has been given the flag which will text the numbers – either way, the land in West Grinstead. If successful, the of Grenada signed by all the athletes from the parents or teachers details are available alcrematorium would be built next to The Olympic team who trained at Broadbridge most immediately.

Orchard Restaurant. A previous application Heath, including 400 metre champion Kirani For more visit www.icecodes.co.uk was rejected by Horsham District Council in James and his coach Harvey Glance. The flag October 2011. West Grinstead Parish Council will go on display at the museum until the end 3: Christ’s Hospital pupils are celebrating has sent a ‘very strong objection’ after disof the Paralympics in an exhibition highlighting GCSE success with 78% of pupils receiving A* Email: info@abmbuilding.co.uk cussing the application at a meeting in July.

Horsham’s sporting heritage. and A grades, compared with 70% achieving The application will be heard by Horsham these awards in the previous academic year.

Website: abmbuilding.co.uk District Council later this year.

9: We had so many entries to our Fishers

Call 01293 851913

Liston House, Faygate Lane, Faygate, RH12 4SJ

AAH News Round-up 4

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Pic: www.no-crematorium.org

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Pic: Andrew Mason/SWT

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Pic: Fishers Farm Pic: Kings Chamber Orcestra

16 Pic: Dark Star Brewing Co.

14 Farm competition in last month’s edition that we asked the farm if they would consider donating two extra sets of family tickets. They agreed! So tickets are in the post to Vikki Shelley of Southwater, Kay Matthews of Henfield and Adam Harding of Horsham. For details of Fishers Farm Adventure Park visit www.fishersfarmpark.co.uk 10: Horsham Amateur Operatic and Dramatic Society (HAODS) are back at the Capitol for Guys and Dolls on 6th-10th November.

Tickets cost from £14 from 01403 750220.

11: An Osprey has visited the Sussex Wildlife Trust site at Woods Mill in Henfield. In his blog, Mike Russell of SWT wrote: “I’ve finally been rewarded with a wonderful view of an osprey circling over the lake. In the past one has been seen flying high over Woods Mill but this was the first serious visit, eyeing up the very tempting carp that we have cruising in the shallows.’ Arlington and Weir Wood Reservoirs have also entertained single birds for much of the summer.

12: The 30th running of the Barns Green Half

Marathon will take place on Sunday 30th September. Since the race began in 1982, this unique village occasion has raised a huge amount of money for charity. Last year over 1400 runners took part in the race raising over £10,000 for good local causes.

13: Billingshurst Chamber of Commerce presents a free small business exhibition at Billingshurst Community and Conference Centre on Thursday 25th October from 12-6.30pm. BilliBiz - The Show, will offer visitors a diverse mix of products and services from the local business community. Further details can be found at www.billibiztheshow.co.uk 14: The Paralympic Lantern came to Horsham Park on 25th September. Table tennis player Tyler Paul and disabled athlete Michael Hobbs handed the lantern to Leonard Crosbie, Chairman of Horsham District Council, and West Sussex County Council deputy leader, Lionel Barnard. It came by train from London Victoria to Horsham. To coincide with the torches arrival, a carnival procession danced though Horsham Park, and an enormous painted Paralympic panel was created by

15 local artists.

15: The Kings Chamber Orchestra will perform both ‘The Great Adventure’ for children and their families at 4pm on 5th October at St Mary’s Church, Causeway, Horsham. Tickets cost £7.50 and £5 for children, who are encouraged to bring a Teddy. Later that evening at 8pm, the orchestra perform a concert based on Oscar Wilde’s ‘The Selfish Giant’ (tickets £12.50). Both of these classical concerts are being organised to raise funds for the building of a new parish centre at All Saints Church, Roffey. Tickets are available at www.allsaintsroffey.org.uk or at Waterstones in Horsham or by calling 01403 272383.

16: Dark Star Brewing Company host Hopfest, a three day festival, in Partridge Green on 28th - 30th September. Hopfest includes tastings at the brewery, music from the likes of Saviours of Soul,competitions and a hop exhibition by leading Hop Merchants, Charles Faram. The event is held in celebration of the first harvest of hops and will tie in with the launch of Green Hop IPA. For more details visit www.darkstarbrewing.co.uk

8

‘Hitler denied me a chance at Olympic gold

so I bombed him’ I was born in Upper Tooting, South West London, in 1917. My father was a bricklayer and was in the building trade for most of his life and didn’t make a lot of money.

Bill Lucas, 95, World War Two Veteran

I played cricket and rugby at school, and on sports day I turned out and ran one mile. I wasn’t all that successful, and two others at school were better at it than I was. But once I started taking it seriously I started beating them.

I joined Belgrave Harriers Athletics Club, one of the biggest clubs in the country.

They were then operating at a track which was within walking distance of where I lived.

Before the war I was up to a good standard and beginning to look at the 1940 Olympics. I was expecting to go to Helsinki to run in the 1500 metres.

I was called up for service in 1939. I didn’t want to go in the Army, although my father had been and was awarded a military medal. I didn’t want to go in the Navy as I don’t like water, so I wanted to go into the RAF. I was initially told I could not fly as I had an enlarged heart. I had to explain to the medic that I had been an athlete before the war and that all athletes had enlarged hearts, especially distance runners. He said ‘I admire your courage, I’ll put you forward’.

I was among a group given duties manning a Lewis gun at an airfield in Wiltshire. After three months we began to pursue flying activities in Torquay. I was then posted to an elementary flying school in Burnaston, which is now East Midlands Airport. I passed the solo flight test and then I then went to an advanced flying school in Montrose.

I was flying single engine aircraft and I expected to become a fighter pilot. This was towards the end of 1940 when the Battle of Britain was still raging and all of us pilots thought we were going to be drafted into that. But we won the Battle of Britain and the mood changed. Instead of becoming fighter pilots we were presented with big

bomber planes.

I flew 81 missions as a bomber pilot, rather more than average, flying Wellington and Stirling bombers. We would lay sea mines at low level and go on bombing missions.

There was always danger - you never went on a mission where you were not shot at.

When I was flying my four engine aircraft

my rear gunner claimed a couple of enemy fighter pilots.

You never fail to lose friends. When you are on a squadron on a mission at night with perhaps 12 or 16 planes, it was rare that somebody didn’t fail to return. I used to work out a method that I thought defeated the enemy defences. Perhaps I

My Story So Far proved a point, or perhaps it was luck.

I had heard that a crew, who came to me as a novice crew before they were taken over by a new captain, had unfortunately been shot down. It was my understanding that they had all been lost. That was until a few weeks back, when I had a phone call from a man who had seen a picture of me and my crew in The Sunday Telegraph. He told me that one of them, my engineer Jack Taylor, was his grandfather. He told me he that Jack didn’t die in the war.

On the day that the crew was shot down, he had been withdrawn. He eventually earned a distinguished flying cross and lived until 1994. I met Jack’s daughter recently and we had lunch together.

In the war, we always had military targets. Don’t get the idea that we did Dresden because we wanted to thrash Dresden to death – it is not true.

The truth is that every raid you went on you were given a military target. If you didn’t hit it, well that was too bad. We were often carrying out our missions with dead reckoning, so there was no radar. Your navigator had to calculate direction, wind change, speed, and then try to arrive at a target at a certain time. When that time came you had to rely on being able to see the target and if it was cloudy you couldn’t. There were occasions you had to bring your bombs back or drop them in the sea.

I was awarded a distinguished flying cross and a Mention in Despatches

Emil Zátopek leads the field at the 1948 Games, with Bill at the back of the chasing pack (#213)

Bill (back left) with one of his crews. The grandson of Jack Taylor (back row, second right) recently contacted Bill and told him Jack had not died in the war.

40 10 ‘I ran in a heat with Emil Zatopek, who went on to become one of the greats, winning four gold medals’ for my instructional duties in Scotland. I am also a Freeman of the City of London.

I had a job before the war, in insurance, and that job was still there when it ended. I had reached the rank of squadron leader and was pretty well paid but I came back to a salary that was less than half what I made in the RAF. The RAF offered me a two-year extended service commission, but there was no guarantee that I could stay beyond that, so I weighed it up and decided against it. I had married my first wife late in 1944 and we had our first child soon after, so I had to consider that. I worked for the insurance company for a couple of years, and then decided to become an insurance broker.

The war ruined my athletics career. It wasn’t until I was demobbed in late 1946 that I went back to Belgrave and started training again.

I really only had 12 months of solid training for the 1948 London Olympics and I was nearly 32 by then. But I made it to the Games and I’m pleased about that. I ran in a heat with Emil Zátopek, and that also pleases me because he became one of the greats, winning four gold medals.

The Olympics then were very different. I lived at home with my wife and daughter, with a second on the way. I travelled to Wembley, carrying my own bag, taking a bus to East

Croydon, then on to Victoria, taking two Underground trains and walking to Wembley Park. There was nobody to help me. I turned up at the track, met the team manager, was given a number and then lined up for the race! Then I went home.

If there had been no war, I would have thought that I might have got a medal in 1940 and maybe even got the world record that year. If I’d not done it in 1940 then perhaps I’d have done it in 1944.

Hitler denied me that chance, so I went and bombed him instead.

I was a very naïve young man when I went in to war in1940 but we learned very quickly. As an individual, I am pleased that I had a war like that. It did me a lot of good.

I stopped running in 1955 but turned to administration and officialdom. I was a qualified track judge. I did public address announcing at White City Stadium and was referred to as ‘the golden voice of athletics’. I then took on a number of team manager roles, which took me beyond retirement.

Bill in Torquay in 1940

I moved to Cowfold in 1979, married my second wife Sheena and retired from insurance in 1982.

I’ve been President at Belgrave twice and President of many athletics associations. So I’ve been in it up to my neck and still am! I have been a member of Belgrave Harriers for 77 years and still feel I contribute something at committee meetings.

Bill with javelin thrower Tessa Sanderson in 2000

Signed Limited Edition print auction Bill is a supporter of the Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund and regularly raises funds with other veterans.

Bill has a limited edition print of two de Havilland Mosquito F.P VI by renowned aviation artist Trevor Ley. The print commemorates the 50th anniversary of the Mosquito entering service. This particular print has been hand signed

by Bill Lucas as well as nine other war veterans. It is being offered exclusively to readers of AAH magazine.

We are welcoming bids in excess of £65 in a silent auction that will end on 25th September. Please submit your bid to AAH editor Ben Morris by calling Ben on 01403 878026 or by emailing editor@aahorsham.co.uk Every penny will be donated to the Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund. We would also welcome donations of any size to the Fund. For more details about the charity please visit the website at http://www.rafbf.org/

One to Watch Thomas Haynes Cricketer

Pictures by Toby Phillips

13

ASHES to SMASHES Barns Green cricketer Tom Haynes was only 13 when he made a century...for the men’s team Anybody that doubts if our Olympic success can inspire a new generation to take up sport could do worse than look at Tom Haynes.

As a seven-year-old, Tom watched England famously win the 2005 Ashes series against Australia and dreamed of becoming the next Andrew Flintoff.

Now fourteen, Tom is developing his game in the Sussex County youth team, and this season has signed for East Grinstead men’s team.

Having played for Barns Green youth teams previously,last season he was selected for the men’s team for the first time. He hit three centuries for the 2nd XI before being promoted to the 1st XI in the third division of the West Sussex Invitational League.

Tanbridge School pupil Tom said: “I had always watched cricket on television, and after the Ashes series in 2005 my interest in cricket grew. I started playing properly when we moved to Barns Green when I was seven or eight. It’s a real cricket village – it’s about all you can do here!

“My dad played when he was younger, and then stopped but he started playing again when we came here. He got involved in the coaching side at Barns Green and I played alongside him in the 2nd XI last season.”

Tom also plays for the Sussex County team.

He was only nine when he was selected to play in the Sussex Under-10s team and has continued to progress.

spin so it doesn’t affect me as much.

“As a batsman I am averaging 50 runs for Sussex Under-14's this year and my top score for East Grinstead 2nd XI is 98. I also play for Barns Green Under-14s and we have a very good side. We won the Sussex Cup in the Under-13s last year.”

Tom admits he was nervous when he made the jump up to men’s cricket, but it couldn’t have gone any better for him. As a club, Barns Green encourages its best young players to gain experience in the senior squads, and Tom settled in quickly, hitting an unbeaten 50 on his debut for the 2nd XI. But despite a close association with his village team, Tom decided to make the step up to East Grinstead this season after discussing the idea with his PE teacher Kristian Hunt, who play for the Premier League team.

Tom, a recent recipient of a Horsham District Set 4 Success Award, hopes he can continue to develop at East Grinstead and the Sussex youth team and eventually reach a county standard.

He said: “I have a couple of big years ahead of me. This year I hope to get into the Sussex Emerging Players Programme as once you’re in that you get separate coaching and you get an automatic place in next year’s County squad.

“If I keep playing well I hope to get into the Academy and hopefully get into the Sussex County team one day.”

He said: “The Sussex teams carry on to Under-17 level and at that point they pick the best players to go into the academy.

Those players join the second team at Sussex and if you are good enough you may get offered a first team contract.

“I’m now primarily a batsman. I was a pace bowler but couldn’t do that anymore as I had Osgood–Schlatter disease, which is related to growth in teenagers. It was quite bad for a couple of seasons and I’ve had problems with my knees, but now I bowl

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Pipe Dreams for Folk Duo? Who do we have here?

This is Pipe and Tabor, a folk duo comprised of Carly Stubbs of Washington and Dean Morris of Horsham, by an abandoned watermill in Lower Beeding.

What’s a Pipe and Tabor?

It’s a small drum and a three-hole pipe often used in folk music. The band doesn’t actually use them, but it has meaning.

What meaning?

Carly said: “We wanted to call ourselves ‘Elephant in the Room’ as that was our first song. But the name had been taken by another band. We were close to calling ourselves ‘Joanie Loves Chachi’ too, but we were reading about Morris dancers as we share the surname (Carly’s maiden name is Morris) and

we have a folk sound. We found folk bands use a pipe and tabor so we went with that.”

So have I heard anything they’ve done?

That’s doubtful, as they’ve only written eight songs, of which only four have been recorded to demo and only one has been mastered.

There has been no EP, let alone an album, and although they’ve played a couple of times at The Tanners Arms, local gigs are few and far between.

So why bring them to my attention?

Their demos are good enough to have attracted interest from Joan Armatrading. The three times Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter has chosen Pipe and Tabor to be her support act at a concert at the Hawth in Crawley in November.

16 How did that come about?

Dean said: “I was looking on the Hawth website and clicked on the details for the gig and noticed that there was a competition to find a different local support act for every night of the tour. You had to send a basic recording to an email address, so I sent Elephant in the Room and The Virgin, and didn’t think anything more of it. The tour manager called and requested a copy of our lyrics. Later they came back and asked us to master The Virgin. It was apparently Joan who chose the artists.”

Then what happened?

The duo met the singer, most famous for her

top 10 hit Love and Affection, in Liverpool for a photo shoot. They were transported from Euston station along with other bands from the south in a fleet of gold Mercedes tour buses and eventually met Joan at a service station. It was here that Carly embarrassed herself…

Do tell - I like an embarrassing anecdote…

Carly recalls: “We weren’t expecting to see her, so when I walked off the bus and she was there I shouted ‘Joan, there you are!’ Then the cogs started turning, and I realised she didn’t have a clue who I was of course. Dean, who blushes easily, was beetroot red! But I had to go along with it, so introduced myself and

‘The tour manager said he liked The Virgin, and requested a copy of our lyrics’ continued to make an idiot of myself throughout as that’s what I do around anyone cool. I did something similar with Martha Wainwright!”

Martha who?

Martha Wainwright is Carly’s musical hero. You’re more likely to have come across the music of her brother, Rufus.

Dean is also into his acoustic singersongwriters, citing the likes of Fionn Regan, John Gomm and Xavier Rudd as influences.

So how did Dean and Carly meet?

They both played in a band called Tinks several years ago. Carly said: “We had a very ambitious team leading us back then and there was a lot of talk that we were being signed. It gave us false hope.

Nothing came of it and Dean and I were getting a bit fed up with what was happening, so we wrote ‘Rock Star’. We had such a good time that we decided to form our own band and called it Mr Fynn.”

Just as a duo?

The became a four-piece band. They played at the Pressure Point in Brighton acoustically a few times and they went down well but the songs were more suited to a full band sound. Tom Cooper, who played in a function band called The Session with Dean, joined on bass

Guitarist Dean Morris

and he brought in Jonny Aves on the drums.

How did Mr Fynn do?

They played at the Boars Head regularly, performed at Guilfest a couple of times and occasionally in London too. They released an EP – Stand Down – and reached the final of the Live and Unsigned competition, having won a local heat and then a south of England regional final to earn their place in the national final in London. They also had a well-known singer-songwriter supporting them at one gig…

Paul McCartney?

No, he was already fairly well established at that point. It was Ed Sheeran, who as well as looking like Chuckie from Rugrats has had a number one album and sang a Pink Floyd song at the Olympics closing ceremony.

Carly recalls that he was one of the very few people they have come across on the circuit who had genuine star quality.

Mr Fynn couldn’t follow him into the charts then?

Carly said: “I fell pregnant when Mr Fynn was doing pretty well. I did play Guilfest when I was seven months pregnant so we did try! After Bertie was born it was a struggle for us all to get together to rehearse. Tom got itchy feet first and felt it

Singer Carly Stubbs

was time to move on, and Jonny was doing his own thing and moved to Jersey to try and set up his own school of music. So we became a duo.”

And changed the name too?

That all came about due to the very different kind of music they were writing. The loud rock anthems of Mr Fynn gave way to gentle fables of love and life. Dean said: “The band was young people’s music, whereas the music we are playing now appeals to an older audience. Also, when we had a full band Carly’s voice was almost being forced

into places it didn’t want to go. It’s a more natural sound now and I’ve been able to introduce a lot of percussion into the songs.”

So what are the new songs about?

There’s a string of good songs, of which Elephant in the Room is the most immediately catching. The Virgin was inspired after Carly talked to friends about their memories of early sexual encounters (‘Oh hell all this is new, I don’t know what to do, I'll just copy what I've seen in films and roll around on top of you’) whilst Elephant in the Room was based on a difficult break-up (‘How can you

18 bear to be, standing here in my company? Just look around and you will see, that everyone feels as awkward as me’).

Sounds a little sombre…

Other songs are a little more rousing. The Dance Settee is a stomping sing-along based on the Lord of the Dance, a song regularly sung as a hymn at schools and in churches.

Do Pipe and Tabor play live often?

They play live every few weeks at The Proud Galleries in Camden, called ‘London’s premiere lounge-about hip spot’ by Time Out magazine. Carly said: “We play on a Saturday afternoon when they serve barbecue food on the terrace.

For the first few times we were quite happy to sort of fade into the background a bit but the last time we played there we went for it. We stood up rather than sitting on stools and played to our best and the reaction was unbelievable. It went from people milling around to cheering and dancing and we got rid of all of our CDs. To see people walking by from Camden Market and coming up to have a drink and listening to you play is very rewarding.” They also perform at the Fiddler’s Elbow in Brighton, occasionally at The Tanners

Scan the QR Code to hear the duo’s music Arms – they call it Horsham’s best live music venue – and of course at the Hawth in November.

where you stop and think ‘wow, she has a great voice’. It is not every day you stop and think ‘wow that was a great song’.”

Maybe third time lucky for Dean and Carly then…

Who knows, but there is not so much drive for success, and both Dean and Carly are happy to concentrate on writing good songs and see what happens. Carly said: “You come across people all the time on the unsigned circuit

Can I hear their music?

You can visit the band’s website at www.pipeandtabormusic.com for three demo recordings, and visit our own website at www.aahorsham.co.uk for a live recording.

You can also scan the QR code above to listen to their music.

info@strandshairsalon.co.uk

01403 249990 Get the Sexy look at Strands Strands stylists formed part of the official Hair Team at the Miss World Competition Strands use Blazing highlighting, giving you seven shades of lift on natural or tinted hair NEW STYLIST & APPRENTICE NEEDED! CALL LOU

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‘For Thelma, we used a Golden Blonde base with Chocolate Brown and Highlift Blonde pieces. We used Short Sexy Hair, What a Body blow dry gel to add volume, finishing with Healthy Sexy Soy Paste for texture and shine

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“I strongly recommend you use a member of

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Company Directors Mark Edwards and Antony Deakin have more than 30 years of experience in the industry.

We cater to all needs with every aspect covered from complete conservatories - including design, project oversight and planning regulation - to minor repairs, locks and condensed units.

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Mark Antony Windows has also been recognised by the Double Glazing & Conservatory Ombudsman Scheme (DGCOS).

The DGCOS is supported by TV’s consumer champion Nick Ross, who said: “The double glazing industry doesn’t exactly have the best reputation in the world. We’ve all heard stories about aggressive sales tactics, poor standard of workmanship, problems never being rectified, and installers going out of business, leaving worthless guarantees.

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20

WILDE THINGS The Capitol has revealed a thrilling autumn programme featuring a wide range of popular music, comedy performances and family shows.

There is top comedy from the likes of Jethro, Lenny Henry and the fabulous ventriloquist comedian Paul Zerdin.

Those who seek nostalgia can step back in time with The Twist Show - a rock ‘n’ roll epic set in an American diner, Born in the USA – showcasing classic American rock spanning three decades, and the hugely enjoyable Sing-a-long-a Grease.

There’s music from the likes of The London Community Gospel Choir, The Searchers and Kenny Ball and his Jazzmen. The Russian State Ballet perform Swan Lake and there’s passionate South American dance in Tango!

Tango!

The Capitol also attracts some of the country’s finest theatre productions. This autumn’s highlights include the witty thriller Dead Ringer and Fascinating Aida – nominated for three Olivier Awards.

The season kicks off with Middle Ground Theatre Company’s production of Oscar Wilde’s wonderful comedy of mistaken identity, The Importance of Being Earnest.

Known as one of the most popular plays ever written, it’s bursting with hilarious lines and extraordinary twists of fate.

Tis production has received rave reviews, with BBC Essex calling the show ‘Outstanding’ and the Brighton Argus remarking on a ‘triumphant production’.

The Importance of Being Earnest

Acclaimed production kicks off new Capitol season

The all-star cast includes Corrine Wicks (Emmerdale, Doctors) Tom Butcher (The Bill, Doctors) Sarah Thomas (Last of The Summer Wine) Jim Alexander (The Bill, Dream Team) Sapphire Elia (Emmerdale) David Gooderson (A Touch of Frost) Gerry Hinks (Coronation Street) and Diane Fletcher (A House of Cards).

Prim-and-proper Jack Worthing lives in the country with his pretty ward Cecily Cardew, but when in London he is known as Ernest and is in love with the equally prim-andproper Gwendolen Fairfax. Gwendolen’s cousin is Algernon, but when he travels to Jack’s country house he is also known as Ernest, and is in love with Cecily.

Confused? Well, do try to keep up! So two bachelors named Ernest, who aren’t… and two beautiful girls who are in love with Ernests... but who aren’t!

Add the magnificently imposing Lady Bracknell, a nanny with a dubious story about a handbag, and the result is a hilarious and timeless masterpiece not to be missed.

The Importance of Being Earnest is at the Capitol on 11th – 15th September. Tickets cost £19.50 (£22.50 on Friday and Saturday evenings). For further information on any of the shows or to book contact the box office on 01403 750220 or visit www.thecapitolhorsham.com

AAH picks some highlights of the Autumn season...

Room On The Broom (Sunday 28th – Tuesday 30th October) is a magical, musical delight from the creators of The Gruffalo. It may not be as famous as the monster outsmarted by a mouse, but it’s every bit as wonderful. The stage production promises to be a perfect experience for children aged three and over.

Ventriloquist and comedian Paul Zerdin returns with The Puppet Master on Sunday, 28th October.

Paul is becoming part of the furniture at Horsham, so successful have his previous shows been, and this time he will introduce a brand new character.

‘Zerdin’s attention to detail and his use of dynamics is quite breath-taking” The Times

Following a successful run at The Edinburgh Festival, award-winning magician Piff The Magic Dragon visits on Friday, 12th October.

Don’t be fooled by the picture, this is not a kid’s show. Piff is a terrific magician – Penn and Teller called him ‘stunningly good’ – and has a sharp wit too.

'Cute, Inspired & very funny’ - Time Out

This year’s family pantomime is Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Thursday 13th December 2012 – Saturday 5th January 2013). The classic tale stars soap star favourite Gillian Wright (EastEnders) with a supporting cast including Jane Deane from CBeebies. West End singing stars Daisy Wood Davis and Bradley Clarkson also star.

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22

TO

Bodyshop that talks the It’s not the Manchester United training ground car park, a cafe in St Tropez, or the cast of The Stig’s next Christmas DVD. This is Washington Coachworks, a workshop tucked away in the corner of a small industrial estate occasionally livened up by the grunt of a V12 engine.

As Lamborghinis and Ferraris line-up outside, there is much more going on inside the body repair and re-spray

specialists. A Jenson Interceptor, barely recognisable in the early stages of restoration, sits alongside an MGB GT V8 which has been almost entirely rebuilt.

A classic Jaguar, a Ferrari, a Porsche 911 and a Volkswagen Campervan are also on the receiving end of some tender loving treatment.

After a quick glance, you would be forgiven for thinking that Washington Coachworks is a specialist for prestige or high performance vehicles, where a

select band of people who can actually afford the cars tested on Top Gear come for their repairs.

But that is only a small part of the story of Washington Coachworks.

The badge on the bonnet doesn’t have to have a prancing horse or a charging bull on it in order for your car to be repaired or re-sprayed here. Next to the Ferrari is a Honda Civic, whilst alongside the Porsche a Ford Focus is being repaired.

Washington Coachworks

‘We are well known for our association with supercars and we’ve become quite renowned for it.’ for many years together at Frosts, and we had this vision that we could start our own body shop centre.

“Neil went the self-employed route and I went the management route, later working for the Harwoods Group. But we always had this idea we could work together at some point.

“He found this site in Washington and we looked at it and thought it was perfect. It was the right size for us, and it was accessible for people from Horsham, Crawley, Chichester, Brighton and Worthing. Neil started the company and I joined him after a few months.

“Neil always had a good name for paint work and I bought in management skills. We were very fortunate in that we were able to hit the ground running. We had dealt with some lovely people in the past who have since become customers of ours.”

Everything was going well for Washington Coachworks, but in October 2010, Neil died suddenly.

RQUE Phil Earl, a director at Washington coachworks, said: “The exotic cars are lovely – we are well known for our association with supercars and we’ve become quite renowned for it. We’re grateful for that and the team here love working on those cars.

“But you have to attract people from the local area with their regular cars as well, as you cannot survive on a select number of customers with high performance cars.

“There is nothing that we won’t do.

We’ve had everything from Koenigsegg cars worth £1million all the way down to old Ford Fiestas and we treat each car the same.”

Washington Coachworks was only launched in 2009, but was quickly able to build up its business thanks to the reputations that its two directors - Neil Johnston and Phil Earl – had previously established.

Phil said: “Neil and I worked together

James Foster working on a Porsche

Andy Pursell inspects the brakes of a Ferrari

24

Phil Earl and his wife Sarah have seen Washington Coachworks gain an excellent reputation for its work on supercars

Mark Collins gives a Porsche 911 a thorough inspection

Kevin Hill-Upperton shows how to give a vehicle a proper polish!

Phil said: “It was always a business we both wanted to do, and it’s a great shame that it is not him and me running it together, and not a day goes by when I don’t miss him and wish he was here as there was so much he could do.

“He was a great character – there was nobody else like him.

Everybody who ever met him would remember him and he put a smile on everybody’s face.”

Despite the loss of its hugely popular and charismatic founder, Washington Coachworks continued to go from strength to strength. It has strong links with many dealerships in the area, including Horsham Car Centre which is an official Dodge, Chrysler and Jeep dealership, Kia at Washington, Godfey’s Mazda in Southwater and Alfa Romeo specialists Monza Sports in Ashington. They are also associated with Brighton Honda as well as

Suzuki at West Sussex Motors.

As well as providing body repairs for large dealerships, Washington Coachworks is in partnership with several smaller independent companies. One such company is Parr Porsche in Crawley, with Washington Coachworks sponsoring its entry into the Carrera Cup Championship.

Recently, Phil has found that the company is branching out beyond cars. They have recently re-sprayed several drop tanks from Harrier jump jets, and one regular customer recently asked for his furniture to be re-sprayed in ‘Brooklands Green’.

Phil said: “We have a ‘can do’ attitude here and we’ve done work in aviation, helicopters, boats, caravans and motorhomes in addition to the cars. For a while we’ve been doing work for MCA Aviation in Shoreham and they sometimes need work to be done quickly.

‘Neil was a great character – there was nobody else like him. Everybody who ever met him would remember him’

Washington Coachworks

Phil Stebbings is a high performance car enthusiast and valued customer of Washington Coachworks. Chris Bruce-Hay with drop tanks from Harrier jump jets.

“Because of the size of the paint shop we can spray commercial vehicles up to the size of a high top Mercedes Sprinter, which comes in handy for people with camper vans too.”

Another part of the business is restoration, but with two extensive projects someway off completion, there is little scope to take on any more major rebuilds at present.

Recent projects have included the

restoration and repaint of a 1969 TVR Vixen, the restoration of a 1985 Porsche 911 Targa and the part rebuild and repaint of an English Racing Association (ERA) car from 1934.

Sometime after completing the ERA job, Phil and Alan Edwards, part of the experienced team at Coachworks, came across the car and remarked on its stunning paintwork -

before realising it was their own handiwork!

Another assignment meant finding a new bumper for a Lamborghini Murcielago, which cost no less than £24,000 from the Italian manufacturer!

Many other projects have involved supercars with which Washington Coachworks is most commonly associated it with. The company is increasingly involved in the ‘supercar’ day of

“You have to attract people from the local area with regular cars as you cannot survive on a select number of customers’

Alan Edwards in front of the large paint shop at Washington Coachworks

26 the Piazza Italia festival in Horsham, with regular customers driving cars such as the Pagani Zonda and the De Tomaso Pantera in the parade.

Phil said: “We are fortunate that we have some people who are huge car enthusiasts that are both friends and customers. Phil Stebbings founded the De Tomaso Drivers Club and there are a lot of people in that club that have amazing cars. We’re fortunate to operate within those circles, but of course you need to do a good job to ensure they keep coming here.

“I take my Porsche out at Goodwood and attend track days hosted by Peter Saywell and that helps gets your name and face out there and attracts new business too. Most of what we do here is through word of mouth, and we have a very good team here and that is why we’ve been so successful.”

Sarah Earl added: “‘Our philosophy is one of teamwork, and we are very fortunate to have a great team here with a wealth of experience who all pitch in and work exceptionally hard to produce a quality job.

“That is a considerable factor in why we continue to go from strength to strength in what is a tough economic climate.”

For more information visit the website at www.washingtoncoachworks.co.uk or call 01903 892700.

Top: the team at Washington Coachworks and (above right) paint sprayer Jeff North

Shaws has been part of the business landscape in West Sussex for over 15 years and is now firmly established as the region’s independent choice for all things glass.

With their showroom in Horsham and factory site in nearby Faygate Shaws are a full service glazing firm

www.shawsglass.co.uk

Conservatories Double Glazing Front Doors Back Doors Composite Doors Fascias and Soffits Replacement Hinges Cat Flaps Table Tops Shop Fronts Replacement Double Glazed Units Cut Glass Toughened Safety Glass Supply only windows Glass Balustrades for staircases Acoustic Glass

66 North Street, Horsham, RH12 1RD Tel: 01403 211133 www.shawsglass.co.uk

A School like no other...

Christ’s Hospital OPPORTUNITIES FOR ALL Christ’s Hospital has a long and illustrious history which dates back to 1552, and throughout those 460 years it has maintained a remarkable diversity.

This year, despite a reported national decline in the number of A grade awards, over a third of Christ’s Hospital pupils achieved three straight A grades or better.

And this has all been achieved with our long held and proud tradition - Christ’s Hospital School offers pupils from all walks of life the opportunity to achieve their full academic potential and to develop their interests and talents in a

HISTORY Christ’s Hospital was founded in London in 1552 and moved to Sussex in 1902. It has a rich history which is evident in many facets of school life.

The most obvious is the Tudor uniform which is worn with great pride by our pupils. For all that, we have a decidedly modern outlook and our focus is very much on providing our pupils with the best possible preparation for the future.

Academic expectations are high and pupils are given every encouragement to develop a love of learning and to pursue academic excellence.

Our magnificent red brick campus

caring and stimulating environment.

Christ's Hospital is fundamentally a charity school, enabling bright children from all backgrounds the chance to have a first class education.

It is almost unique for a British independent school in that it provides the students with means-tested financial support. Such support is known as a bursary and may be awarded in the form of a discount of up to 100% on fees payable.

Long may we continue to offer such opportunities to all, but there has been change at the school in recent times.

In September 2011, Christ’s Hospital offered day places to pupils for the first time since the 16th Century and more day places are now available.

provides the perfect backdrop for the busy lives that our pupils lead.

As you would expect from one of the foremost boarding schools in the UK, the facilities are first-rate and the huge range of co-curricular activities on offer is second to none.

Although Christ’s Hospital is predominantly boarding, our day pupils enjoy exactly the same routine as the boarders, apart from sleeping at school.

The extended boarding week allows pupils to make the most of the vast array of day, evening and weekend activities on offer and helps foster the strong sense of community within the school.

‘Christ’s Hospital offers pupils from all walks of life the opportunity to achieve their full academic potential’

SUCCESS Christ’s Hospital’s history of high academic

achievement has been maintained with excellent A Level results, recently announced. Nearly 80% of all grades were A*-B. These excellent results, alongside the bespoke advice and one to one tutorial support our pupils receive when deciding which university and degree course to apply for, have ensured that the majority of our pupils have gained places at top UK universities.

For the first time, Christ’s Hospital Art

TRADITIONS Of all Christ’s Hospital’s traditions, perhaps the most familiar are the Tudor uniform and the Marching Band.

Over 100 young musicians form the band which contributes enormously to the life of all the pupils at the School.

Six days a week, the pupils assemble by the Quadrangle at lunchtime and march into Dining Hall to the accompaniment of the Band. Known as 'Band Parade' this is a unique and spectacular tradition at Christ's Hospital.

Today, the Band also has an impressive record of engagements. It accompanies the School on its annual parade through

students were assessed under the rigorous Cambridge Pre-U Art qualification. No fewer than 10 pupils gained Distinctions in this exam, including a rare D1 grade for Celeste McEvoy who goes on to read History of Art at Leeds.

The Head Master, John Franklin, said: “The students have not only achieved academically, but they also have done so much in other areas. They are rounded and confident young people who take with them the confidence and the skills they will need to achieve success at university and beyond.”

the City of London for a church service on St Matthew's Day in September and is no stranger to performing at Lord's and Twickenham (RFU) where it entertains the crowds during the interval of international matches. The Band also takes part in the Lord Mayor's Show and rounds off the academic year with an hour-long display of marching and countermarching as a tribute to those who are leaving.

‘The students have not only achieved academically, but they also have done so much in other areas’

31

Brothers have all the Tyme in the world

The Harris brothers are part of the furniture in Ashington.

The family has lived in the village for generations, and for all of that time they’ve been synonymous with funfairs.

With Victorian-era rides transported by pre-war vehicles, the Harris Brothers run one of the last surviving Olde Tyme fairs.

Now the five brothers are coming to a stage in life where they must pass more responsibility on to the next generation.

But can the funfair survive in today’s society?

We spoke to all five brothers at the annual festival in their home village of Ashington…

Robert: “John Harris was born in 1833 and he had five sons. He was a timber merchant who had a yard in Cuckfield. He came into the fairground business in the 1860s at the time of horse-powered roundabouts and went on with his sons to be the first operator of steam roundabouts in Sussex.

He died in 1901 and his son Frederick left the other brothers to run the first set of gallopers and moved to Ashington to start the present business from The Orchard in

January 1902.”

Douglas: “Our father is Fred and our grandfather - another Fred Harris – ran the fair before him. Now it is run by us five brothers - Fred, John, Ted, Robert and me. We also have our two sisters Jennifer and Anthea and many family friends who help us keep it going.”

John: “Fred’s the eldest, then Doug, then Jennifer and Anthea, me and Robert are twins and Ted is the youngest at 57.”

Douglas: “I was born into (the funfair life).

You help out from the day you can walk. It was a case of ‘none of that reading and writing, that don’t do anything, that’s just a waste of time!’ As long as you can stand in front of people and show what you are and who you are. Confidence, that’s what it is all about. I’ve worked with the top engineers in the country, and they ask how I know when everything is ready and right and I say ‘it’s a gut feeling’. That has got me through life.”

Ted: “I’ve been involved with the fair since I was a boy. We had a great life – it was stress

free. We never had any money or luxuries but we had enough to keep going. You could afford to live on next to nothing. We were never paid money by our dad, but he fed us and we’re all here today, still laughing.

I just hope we can carry on, if Mr Cameron doesn’t put an end to it all.”

Douglas: “We used to have the Noah’s Ark ride as well. It was a roundabout with hunting horses, foxes and hounds. That was brand new in 1937. We’ve had the Gallopers since 1896. After the war they took a bit of a dip in popularity so we got Dodgems. The Dodgems are in the yard but we don’t use them much. We are all getting too old and we can’t lift them. We have to do the things we can do and build off the truck – work you can do without having a heart attack.”

John: “There are bits down at the yard everywhere as our family has been there for 150 years. We are all hoarders and you don’t realise it. You sometimes think ‘why am I saving this?’ but eventually you’ll need it.”

Fred: “If we could add anything it would be Dodgems. We have some but they are made

32 Robert Harris

Douglas Harris

‘The biggest change has been health and safety but it’s not untimely’ of steel and are too heavy for us. Modern dodgems are made of aluminium and are easier to set-up.”

Ted: “Our big rides now are The Gallopers, The Park Swings, Chair-o-Planes and the Paratrooper ride. We don’t do it all ourselves – volunteers who are friends of the family help us out. We also have stalls such as the hook-aduck and trampolines run by associates, and for the carnival we have an Olde Tyme Ferris Wheel, which is not part of our funfair.”

Robert: “We call people in when we want to put on a bigger fair such as here in Ashington.

We all work together and it’s beneficial to everyone. Each ride takes about three or four hours to set up, depending on the weather and how energetic we are feeling – we’re all getting a bit old now!”

Ted and Douglas Harris

Douglas: “We use authentic vehicles to transport the rides. The AEC Matadors are over 70 years old. They are worth money (if we were to sell them) but it depends who is prepared to pay for them. They look the part and make the funfair more authentic. Modern trucks are all computerised – you can’t put a spanner to them. But if any of these goes wrong, we can fix them.”

John: “One of them recently cracked a brake drum and we went down to Blackberry Stores and found one. We call our bottom yard Blackberry Stores as underneath the blackberry bushes are pieces of old trucks and rides! The Matadors were made for the war and were only supposed to go for 72 hours, not 72 years!”

Douglas: “There’s an organisation call ADIPS (Amusement Device Inspection Procedures Scheme) which ensures that funfair rides are safe. The Gallopers have just had an MOT, and every bit of it was stripped down. We’ve had to develop with the health and safety aspects.

It has made it ten times more stressful.”

Robert: “The biggest change has been the health and safety elements but it is not untimely and it is necessary. It’s a part of modern life. We have a good inspector who is very down to Earth and gives us good guidance and instructions and keep maintenance to the national standard.”

Douglas: “He understands that these rides are not rockets that are flying to the moon – and he knows they have never injured anyone.

Time in itself tells us that they are safe little

Harris Bros Funfair rides.”

John: “We’ve had a beautiful Showman’s Wagon for 40 or 50 years. It’s a palace on wheels. We bought it from another showman. We did have a couple of wagons long ago but they fell to pieces so we replaced them. Wagons have always been in the family. These Showman’s Wagons were made by coach builders and this one was built in 1932. We actually have four, but this is the best one and the other three are being renovated. I live in this one all summer.”

Douglas: “When we run the funfair, all of the wives come out and help as the money is not there these days to pay wages. If we didn’t have a big family we couldn’t run the fair. People are too greedy these days – they don’t get out of bed for less than £120 a day.”

Fred: “We have a number of volunteers who help us, and they have just appeared over the years. We need them in order to keep the fair going. Some people are retired and they will travel around, working with us at the weekends.

We go down to Dorset in a fortnight’s time and they’ll all take their caravans – it’ll be like a busman’s holiday.”

Robert: “On festival day in Ashington, there will be a large percentage of the village that will come and see us – it is a big reunion day for everyone. You get people that have moved

Fred Harris away from the village– there’s a Mr Butcher that lives in America who normally flies over for the day. It’s a great day for us to see people.”

Ted: “Our rides are only £2 a go – inflation goes up around you but you cannot go up with it. You get the odd person moaning about the price – then they will go and pay £3 for a pint of beer rather than putting their kid on the ride. It’s hard to invest in

new equipment because of the money involved.”

Douglas: “You still see people go ‘Blimey, £2 for a ride?’ But when you see the expense of setting up the funfair - the diesel costs, insurance, public liability, testing and maintenance – you see that it adds up. It costs £200 to have someone to declare a ride safe even though you know it is. The most unsafe thing is when you put

‘Our rides are £2. Inflation goes up but you cannot put prices up with it’

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36 things up for five or six weeks, at theme parks and that type of thing.

Theme parks are safe don’t get me wrong, but our method means there is less chance of anything going wrong. Yet we are the ones treated like pirates.”

Fred: “You can go and buy any old ride and plenty of people want to sell rides and equipment as funfair business is so bad these days. But is it worth investing £100,000 in a ride?”

Solomon Harris is John’s son

Ted: “We make very little money. If you’re in it for mega bucks you had better look elsewhere. You couldn’t set up a new fair these days as you would need to invest a lot of money and somehow work out a way to get it back.”

John: “This only works because it’s a family business, that’s all. It works for us, and we’ve been doing it for 150 years so we must be doing something right.”

Fred: “We try now and stay within 30 miles of Ashington, because of the fuel bills. There is one other fair of this type that is bigger than ours now, Carters of White Waltham, and they are a good family fair too. They can make more money in the London parks. If you take this event in Ashington as an example, we have maybe four hours on one Saturday afternoon to make enough money to see us through the week.”

Douglas: “We’ve done the Ashington Festival for a while and it’s a great event. We also go to Plumpton Racecourse at Easter, as well as Peper Harow (near Godalming), Haslemere, St Lawrence Fair in Hurstpierpoint and many others.”

Robert: “Nostalgia comes around infrequently but when it does it is nice. People want to reflect on the past as they knew it. It is quite funny when you see people say ‘oh the eighties were the best because of hip-hop’ or whatever it was they liked, and you think ‘no it wasn’t, the sixties was the best!’. It depends how someone’s memory serves them.”

Ted: “Theme parks have affected the popularity of funfairs, and so have computers as children are indoors.

Society as we know it is totally different to what it was when I was a lad. Its heyday was in the fifties. When the fair came to your village it was the highlight of the year. Now, it doesn’t

Harris Bros Funfair

John in his beautiful showman’s wagon

‘The worry is that with a stroke of the pen someone could end all this’ matter as there is other entertainment. Here in Ashington it is a very festive show which is great, but today’s society does not rely on fairs.”

Douglas: “The worry is that with a stroke of the pen some bloke in London or Manchester could end all of this. We used to go to Cuckfield Country Fair at Whiteman’s Green. We were there for 31 years, then one day some chap from Mid Sussex District Council told us we needed £10million in public liability insurance. The only way we could do that was to get two separate certificates for £5million which would cost us £360 each. But we wouldn’t have been able to take £720 on the rides – that would have taken us a week! So that was the end of our days at Whiteman’s Green.”

John: “Everything you see out there that has been painted, I’ve done it. The style has always been the same. Fairground painting is unique – it’s not like this, or like that, it is what it is. It has its own style with the patterns and the lettering.”

Douglas: “I have painted the names of a lot of the family on the vehicles and rides. You can see the names Redman, Cole and Summer - my three grandchildren.

Annie is the boss – my wife, and Lulu was my dog.”

Ted: “A few years ago, there were some boys scrapping on the Gallopers. We split them up, but one of them came back later that night and set alight to it. It was badly damaged and you can see that one of the horses has his backside burnt. That is where the plastic melted from the roof, but we left it there to remember what happened. We all had to chip in to rebuild it.”

Robert: “Our fifth generation is already actively involved with the fair and we have a sixth generation in line, the oldest of whom is already out with the fair.”

Douglas: “John has a son – Solomon (known as Solly). Ted has a son who helps us and Robert’s grandson is here too.

They will hopefully keep it going in the future. We hope it’ll be all

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The Harris family with friends and helpers right.”

John: “There is not a Fred in the next generation! We had a famous uncle called Solomon and my son came along, 17 years ago, so that was the name I gave him. He is among the next generation of Harris boys that will keep it all going if the rules and regulations don’t stop them.”

Solomon: “I’m just doing private (tree surgery) work at the minute. I’ll work at the fair as much as I can but you sometimes need to keep it all going by doing other things. I

think we can carry this on if we all pull together. I enjoy it – it can be a pain sometimes when it’s raining hard, muddy and you’re stuck in a field somewhere, but it can be fun at the same time. It’s swings and roundabouts really.”

Robert: “We are only repeating what our grandfathers and fathers have done. We do it roughly 26 times a year in villages around East and West Sussex. It is the nostalgia that draws people in. They might have met their husband or wife on the swinging boats or the roundabout.”

Ted: “It is a concern for us that we might not be able to pass it all on to the next generation.”

John: “Those Matadors are over 70 years old.

If somebody ticks a box one day and decides they are too old, that would be it. You could put modern trucks in their place but it’s just not done – it’s not authentic.”

Solomon: “I hope us younger ones can all keep going. I’m sure the brothers will always be here, telling us what to do!”

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41

Hounds of love The Horsham Artist who lived for the hunt

By Jeremy Knight, Horsham Museum If you search for ‘Horsham’ on Wikipedia – the online Encyclopedia – you will find a list of notable residents, both living and dead.

There are several artists named amongst a list also comprising poets, authors, sportsmen, politicians and TV personalities, including the sculpture artist Edward Bainbridge Copnall, the painter and naturalist John Guille Millais and of contemporary times, Jamie Hewlett - the co-creator of animated pop band Gorillaz.

But one man who does not make the list is the outstanding comic artist and illustrator Doctor Geoffrey Sparrow.

As a doctor, he served the residents of Horsham throughout much of the 20th century, but he enjoyed drawing in his spare time.

He died in 1969, but his importance as an artist was recognised in 2001 when Horsham Museum obtained a grant from the V&A Purchase Grant fund to buy some of his prints, aquatints and original artwork.

Eleven years on, the Museum is now holding a major retrospective on Dr

Sparrow’s art.

As an artist, he followed in the tradition of Thomas Rowlandson, John Leech and Henry Alken, as he captured the foibles and characters of man and beast.

Geoffrey Sparrow was born on 13th July 1887, and grew up in small house in Ivy Bridge near Plymouth as the youngest of four children. He was surrounded by his father’s library, which consisted largely of copies of The Old Sporting Magazine which dated back to 1800.

As a boy he spent many a wet day poring over pictures by George Stubbs, Benjamin Marshall, Henry Alken and other sporting artists.

Geoffrey began to collect old racing and hunting prints from the age of 21.

He later wrote: ‘It will be easy to understand that in such an atmosphere of red coats, horses, hounds, terriers and old sporting prints on the wall, I became thoroughly soaked in the tradition of fox hunting and have always held old Jorrocks’ opinion that all time not spent in hunting is wasted.’

Dr Geoffrey Sparrow (Image: HDC/Horsham Museum)

Dr Geoffrey Sparrow Geoffrey chose medicine as a career course, studying at Cambridge and St Bartholomew’s Hospital Medical School.

He later wrote: ‘For some reason - as yet unexplained - the public has always thought that the best doctors are either men of colour or alcoholics and there was at that time a strong prejudice in favour of those from Vienna.

‘I decided, in quite a foolhardy way, to practice medicine although a mere Englishman, and white, and sober, and after a time I settled down and began to develop a practice, though I do not believe I ever acquired the bedside manner, or indeed ever could see the need for it.

“It is a sort of humbug-all gas and gaitersand I have always felt that a medical man should be frank and open.’

He served as a doctor in The Great War with distinction and was awarded a Military Cross. An account of his experiences was published in a book he co-wrote -‘On Four Fronts with the Royal Naval Division’.

The book is remarkable not only for its accuracy and descriptive accounts of warfare, but also for his illustrations. The book now resides at the Imperial War Museum.

It was during the First World War that he met up with George Fothergill, a sporting

Dr Sparrow’s picture of the Boxing Day Hunt in Horsham artist. Fothergill painted in watercolours and although he was a fine painter he was not a very good teacher! Geoffrey would merely watch him in an attempt to learn his methods.

Geoffrey wrote: “He had been a doctor but gave it up in order to paint! All very well in a way, but bad finance. I was not to know then that I was to do exactly the same in

1945, but by then of course I was nearly 60.

“I used to go each week for a lesson and it really was most enjoyable. George was deaf and rarely heard anything, unless in praise or appreciation of his painting’.

At the end of the First World War Geoffrey moved to Horsham where he joined a local medical practice, with Messrs Vernon

43 ‘Somewhere between the wars there came a wave of sloppy sentiment through the country’ and Kinneir, and moved to Horsham Hospital in February 1920. He wrote: “My first operation - an acute appendix - was done at 8.30pm after my return from the best hunt I ever had in Sussex.”

He lived initially with his mother at 14 Carfax, but he married Margaret Dixon in September 1921 and bought a house at 5 North Street, which he then sold to a cinematograph proprietor in 1934.

He wrote of his North Street house: ‘Now in its place stands the usual picture palace with the unusual feature of a sort of lighthouse in front. In our day there was a beautiful old-world garden and stabling for two horses behind, and we were sad to leave it as our new house at the end of Brighton Road was a poor substitute: its advantage lay in the fact that it was brand new, very convenient and not highly rated.’

Geoffrey Sparrow lived for three things – hunting, art and medicine.

It was not the ‘kill’ but the camaraderie of the hunt that he enjoyed and this is apparent in many of his images.

Some people today might suggest these pictures glorify hunting, but it’s likely that Dr Sparrow would have given short shrift to such views.

He wrote: ‘Somewhere in the middle period between the wars there came a wave of sloppy sentiment through the country.

People wanted to radiate kindness just as steam comes off a midden.

They began to wonder what flies did in the winter and whether a rabbit minded being caught by a dog and things like that. I have always thought that if you kept minding your own business you’ll have plenty to do without all that.’

But, in regard to his drawings, what

A sketch of camels drawn during the war

Horsham Museum has Dr Sparrow’s war medals

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57

Many of Dr Sparrow’s pictures capture life in Horsham town, but horses and hounds define his output. he glorifies is not the killing of animals but the horse, hound and sportsman working together within the Sussex landscape.

His pictures portray the foibles and humour that are generated when groups of people come together.

During World War Two Dr Sparrow saw military action. He ran a ‘recovery unit’ in the desert, where he drew ‘Camels in Sand’.

But when he came out of the Army in June 1945, he found Horsham Hospital full of London surgeons and could see no future for himself there.

He retired and took up work under the Ministry of Pensions, devoting more time to hunting and art.

Towards the end of 1950, the year in which his two daughters Philippa and Joanna were married, Geoffrey had a bad fall over a small rail whilst out hunting.

Soon after this and possibly as a result of it, he developed an illness known as Meniére’s Syndrome. He reported ‘a slowly increasing one-sided deafness with head noises and quite fulminating attacks of vertigo’.

Nonetheless, in August 1957 he said to his wife: ‘I’m absolutely miserable and I think if I bought a horse it would do me good!’

So he bought a pony which gave him far greater opportunities for hunting and making hunting pictures and caricatures.

He joined Brighton and Hove Art School where every Friday he would learn etching and aquatinting. It was here that he met Janet McNally in 1955, when she was in her last year at Brighton Art School.

Janet was about 24-years-old and Geoffrey was about 67. They would both attend the art school on a Friday in a class conducted

by Dick Cowan, who later became principal of Brighton Art College.

He taught Geoffrey all he knew about the interesting, but somewhat old-fashioned, skill of etching, using copper plates, wax and acid.

Janet later recalled Geoffrey saying that he was born in a very lucky period and was fortunate to have seen so many developments in the world.

She remembers him wearing plus fours, leather gaiters and a soft cap, driving a Land Rover with the occasional crate of chickens in the back.

Geoffrey loved animals, dogs in particular.

He had a lurcher called Spider, and a whippet known as Fly. Fly often went around with him and features in some of the drawings including The Porters at Victoria Station.

Later in his life, Geoffrey and his wife ran a farm at Maplehurst. They had a herd of Jersey cows and about seven horses. They bought horses in Dartmoor and Geoffrey’s wife would break them in.

In about1960 he moved into a Canadian framed house in Upper Beeding, and he continued to draw and sketch until his death in 1969.

Now Horsham Museum is bringing attention to some of Geoffrey’s art, showing over 35 works of art collected over the last 20 years.

The exhibition ‘A Host of Sparrows’, reveals a quality of illustration, line and observational skills that mark out Dr Sparrow’s drawings from the humdrum.

Through his quick sketches he spans some 50 years of life in Horsham town and field with a fascination for the hunting, the absurd and the ironic.

The illustrations were always done with a sense of soft humour rather than a biting or savage wit.

A Host of Sparrows opens on Tuesday 4th September and runs until 13th October 2012.

Three separate drawings show the original Town Hall, the modified Town Hall, and how Market Square might look without it!

46

Horsham Dolls House Club

GOOD THINGS come in very small packages...

Dolls houses – they’re not for little girls!

At least not the ones that the members of Horsham Dolls House Club play with…

Like model train sets for men, a childhood fascination for dolls houses can develop into a serious hobby in later life and this in turn has spawned a huge industry.

One major exhibition in Kensington attracts over 170 dolls house and miniature makers from around the world. Some houses and furniture can cost hundreds – even thousands – of pounds.

One dolls house to have been featured in the exhibition is a replica of Spencer House, created by specialists in Bath for an American collector. It is thought to be worth over £200,000 - more than the average home in the UK – and boasts over £3,000 worth of carpet.

The Fairy Castle stands over eight feet tall and is on permanent display at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. Originally owned by silent film star Colleen Moore, more than 700 individuals were involved in making it between 1928 and 1935 including surgical instrument lighting specialists and Chinese jade craftsmen.

Sweetie Shop by Linda Lang

The drawing room incorporates rose quartz and jade from the Chinese royal collection which are almost 500 years old. It was valued at $500,000 in 1947, so who knows what it would be worth now?

Nothing quite so expensive is owned by members of Horsham Dolls House Club, but they do possess a bewildering devotion to all things miniature.

The club was formed in 1994 and consists of a mixture of experienced members

together with others relatively new to the hobby. The club’s latest project has been one of its most challenging – an Olympic village called ‘Baxter-Dean Court’ as a tribute to two of its members who died during the course of the two year project.

Joyce Dean, a former editor of Dolls House World magazine, died in 2010 and the club’s longest serving member Jean Baxter died last year.

The village provides accommodation for a variety of athletes from all over the world. It is made up of 18 bedrooms all furnished exactly the same using mount card to make the furniture. Each member then accessorised a room, providing a sparkling exhibition which was recently seen at Horsham Museum.

The group meets on the second Wednesday of each month from 7 - 9.30pm in the Scout Hall, Billingshurst Road, Broadbridge Heath. New members and visitors are always welcome. For details visit the club’s website below.

We spoke to some of the club members about life in 1:12 scale… www.horshamdollshouseclub.co.uk

Astridge Family Daphne: “We are three generations of one family who all love dolls houses. These dolls houses we put together these days are not toys – they are big girl’s toys. I have five or six dolls houses, as my husband makes them and us women fit them out. He makes them out of real oak timber. I don’t spend much time anymore on my dolls houses as they are all furnished now but I used to devote a lot of time on them.”

Ella, 11: I’ve been coming for one year. It’s a bit unusual for girls these days to like dolls houses. I’ve got three, but when I bring my friends over they really like it and find them fascinating. My mum does a lot of the hard bits for me but I’m good at doing the little bits like cutting up bits for boxes and food items.

“

“I have always been in to woodwork but was denied the chance to do it at school as we had to do cookery. My grandfather used to have a workshop and was always making things and I found it all fascinating.

I’m very much the wood person in the group, and you have other people that may be good with fabrics or electrics. When we moved to Horsham we found a lady called Lucy who used to sell miniatures from a stall in the market outside the Old Town Hall. We went there every week as my daughter always wanted to buy something new for her dolls

house, and it was Lucy who told us about the club. Now I have a Georgian town house, and have cupboards full of stuff at home! You can always get new ideas from other people at the club, as well as from magazines (there are several dolls house magazines in the UK) and exhibitions and fairs too. You can buy kits or ready-made accessories – it’s a phenomenal business and it can be very cheap or hugely expensive. At the Kensington fair people sell miniature furniture for thousands of pounds. Once you start it is very addictive.”

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“

Linda Lang

Horsham Dolls House Club Carole Neve monthly meeting, so we all know what we will be making. Tonight we are making shelves and contents, and each member can decorate and paint it in their own way to suit their dolls house. You can add Victorian type packages or make it more modern if you wish. The Olympic project took two years. Each room depicted the athlete’s accommodation. We would each spend one month making a bed, then the door frames, then carpeting and electrifying, and once we had finished the basic rooms we could accessorise.

I chose to do Usain Bolt’s room and had him doing his victory celebration with his flag. I was glad when he won!

Sue Hannay

“

You are guided through it all from the start and learn gradually. I started going to a club in Henfield and eventually started coming here too. This is a very nice, friendly club and you learn something new all the time. You don’t realise you’ve improved until you look at your old work and think ‘I can’t believe I thought that was good!’ The social side of the group is fantastic but one of the things I like about it is that you switch off and forget about all other things going on in life, and just have fun and concentrate. There are some people that literally devote their lives to it – morning, day and night – and I couldn’t do that. I have too many other things going on. A lot of retired men who have worked as carpenters or builders retire and then start making miniature furniture and dolls houses. Some items are a lot of money but when you consider how much work and time is put into a piece, they can’t be charging what it is really worth.

“

“ “

I joined in 1997. I was a head teacher but took early retirement and my husband bought me a dolls house. I had one as a child, and had wanted one for a long time since, but my job didn’t leave me any time to work on a dolls house.

Some people have rows of dolls houses at home but I didn’t want it to get to that stage. I didn’t want to finish it and after 14 years it is still incomplete!

We all work towards a club project once a year but the things we do during our monthly club night are not necessarily things for that.

We have a programme of events for each

“

“

49 Hazel Rochelle

“

The basic kit we need is a ruler, a cutting board, craft knife, tweezers, scissors and a pencil but gradually you add to it. Eventually you require things such as paint and brushes. We use mainly acrylic paint, but we also use Fimo, which is like clay in that you can make small things such as cakes, and you bake it in the oven before painting it. Dolls houses become like a drug – you can’t stop. I now have three dolls houses at home, and I’ve just finished a big art deco home. It’s like a show house with each piece of furniture made especially for it. My husband and I are both keen on art deco so wanted a dolls house in that style. He enjoys dolls houses too and he lit the Olympic village project that we’ve created. Our art deco house cost £5,000 and that was before we had bought anything for it. The bespoke furniture has been made by Kim Selwood in Scotland, and he is about the only person who makes miniature art deco furniture. He has made for us a few unique pieces that he has never done before such as a cocktail bar, but anything you can buy in the real world you can buy or have made in miniature form. It’s very rewarding to make something that turns out well, and you always get better at it. When I joined 12 years ago I wasn’t very good at making things but eventually you improve and everybody helps you.

Above: Work from a 2004 display by Desna, Jane and Katie

“

Advertisement

Salon earns Start-up award Undercutting has been highly commended in the Start-up category at the 2012 Business Matters Awards.

Tania Flint-Clarke moved into 41 Brighton Road, opposite The Tanners Arms, and opened her salon when the recession was at its lowest point.

She is thrilled to have received the commendation from the Awards scheme, run by West Sussex County Times, Crawley Observer, Mid Sussex Times, and the Sussex Express, to recognise the best of local businesses.

Tania said: “I am ecstatic about

‘I think we are popular because our prices are affordable’ receiving this commendation as we were also nominated for Best Customer Service so it is a double

Lorna, Tania, Mandy and Sophie (Picture courtesy of Sussex Newspapers/Business Matters) celebration as far as I am concerned.

“I think we are popular because our prices are affordable, our products do what they say on the tin and most importantly, we love sharing our skills and offer a relaxed environment.”

Undercutting is now expanding and welcomes Mandy Bussley,

who has over 20 years of salon experience. Mandy will be at the salon on Tuesday and Thursday nights - a service that has become popular for many working clients.

Undercutting offer a discount for pensioners and students, cater for children, pamper the parents and ensure clients are part of their

loyalty card scheme.

For those of you looking to cut costs further, book with the salon’s 2nd year apprentice who has consistently been top of her class at college.

Plenty of free street parking is available. Please call Tania on 01403 274691.

Quote "welcome" when booking with Mandy for any hair service to receive a 10% discount

50

Below: Oliver Twist by Linda Thompson and (above) a jewellery shop by the late Jean Baxter

Linda Thompson

“

My mum was a founder member but I didn’t join for a while as I was working in the evenings. I used to come along when I could.

My father made me a bungalow when I was young, based on a great aunt’s bungalow, but it was never completed. Now I’ve got one dolls house, which also isn’t completed. It’s more or less up and running but I haven’t finished the electrics and there’s some minor bits to finish off. I’ve had the house since 1997 and it’s still a work in progress, and I have a few shops that are not completed as well. I have little dolls houses bits everywhere around the house which my husband doesn’t think much of!

“

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51

A Helping Hand Horsham mum-of-three Andrea Hottenbacher has launched a new and unique business venture that lends a helping hand.

Mama Friday offers help with childcare, household chores, preparing meals, running errands, helping new parents gain confidence, as well as running babycare workshops for first-time parents.

Based on her experiences as a mother, Mama Friday offer bundles of ‘home help hours’.

Clients can then buy the amount of hours they can afford with no long-term commitment and can use their hours at a time that suits their lifestyle.

Dee Blick recently called on Mama Friday when her cleaner went on holiday. Dee said: "I was so impressed with Andrea’s enthusiasm, professionalism and attention to detail, plus the time she took to really understand our needs. It’s a fantastic business concept too. She deserves an abundance of success."

Mama Friday was launched in May and now Andrea is supported by two experienced child care professionals, Dawn Mallinson and Sonia Parkes. Both are first aid trained, CRB checked and have substantial childcare experience.

Andrea said: “Our aim is to support women and their families, particularly when they are finding their feet in a new or challenging situation.

“We can be there when hearts and homes need time and care. Women don’t need to struggle alone.

“Sometimes just a couple of hours help can make the world of difference to a woman in need of rest or to get things done.”

Mama Friday specialise in practical, flexible home support for women, particularly after childbirth, illness, an operation, injury or loss.

The services Mama Friday offer are particularly favourable for first time parents, especially its ‘Cherish’ baby care workshops.

These workshops are held in the privacy of their home and include practice holding, bathing, caring for and carrying a new born (with weighted dolls).

Mama Friday is also recommended by The Olive Tree Cancer Support Centre as unique in the area, offering support that many cancer patients need and ask for.

The bundles are excellent as a gift from relatives, colleagues or friends clubbing together. Bundles come in a minimum of six hours and are personalised in a face to face registration interview. You can currently take advantage of a special offer price of £12 an hour (normally a very reasonable £16.50) and only £25 for a 90-minute private baby care workshop.

Andrea

See Mama Friday’s video on YouTube

The ‘Was it really a year ago? Doesn’t time fly?’ section We featured the Stuart James Band as they prepared to launch their new album, Changing Lanes. Stuart is still regularly performing and is due to perform at the Horsham Festival of Sound. He is very excited about a gig at the 100 Club, in Oxford Street with Giles Robson and Erja Lyytinen on 25th September. The band then head out for three gigs in Holland.

The Magog Morris were the subject of our group discussion.

The group has had a very busy summer, performing most weeks, finishing with a dance at the White horse in Maplehurst on 28th August.

This year the ladies of Magog have been raising funds for the Queen Elizabeth II School in Horsham.

Our main feature was on St Hugh’s Charterhouse in Parkminster, near Cowfold.

We spend the day with the monks, seeing their living quarters, tasting their apple wine and even joining them for vespers. We did return with copies of the magazine. The monks still produce apple wine, which can only be bought from the Union Jack Farm Shop in Cowfold.

Pieces of caravan were flying around all over the place at Rusper Raceway.

The venue had been taken over by Trojan International, who were keen to bring back regular racing to Rusper. The venue is not yet hosting regular raicing, but the company itself is still in good health and holds regular and popular meets at Ringwood.

15-16th Sept

Horsham Beer Festival is held over two days in the Drill Hall, Denne Road, Horsham. Three sessions are held over two days, with tickets costing £6 (with a festival beer) available only from Beer Essentials in East Street.

24th Sept

West Grinstead Ploughing Match and Agricultural Show is held from 9.30am at Priors Byne Farm, Bines Road, Partridge Green. Adults £5, under 14s free. For details visit www.west grinsteadploughing.co.uk

Kings Church hosts a marriage course. The series of seven sessions is aimed at enriching marriage.

The course will be held in the Bohemia restaurant at the Comodor, West Walk, Horsham. Call Donna Bone on 01403 280845.

29th October

A huge underground music festival is set to take place at Dial Post Showground over four days. It features some of the country’s biggest hardcore and techno DJs. http://freepartyradio. com/umf/

15th Sept

The 50+ activity club hosts a free open day at Broadbridge Heath Leisure Centre from 9am 4pm. Activities include exercise classes, dance, tennis, short mat bowls and much more. For details call 01403 211311.

14-17th Sept

6th Sept

events

You’ll find more details on forthcoming events in the News Round-Up section on pages five and six

South Lodge hosts a Ladies Lunch with Virginia McKenna, OBE as guest speaker. She is perhaps best known for her role as Joy Adamson in Born Free. Arrive from 12pm. Cost £32 with three-course lunch.

21st Sept

Cocoa Loco in West Grinstead has an Open Day, during which you can sample and buy some of the delicious treats made by the chocolatiers.

For details of this event visit www.horsham localproduce.co.uk

A Batty Night Out is held at Chesworth Farm at 79pm. The Horsham District Council-organised event with Jenny Clark costs £7 (adults) and £4 (child). Booking is essential. Call 01403 215263.

30th Sept

20th Sept

The Horsham Accordian Band, which meets in a hall in Slinfold, will be performing a concert at the bandstand in the Carfax from 12-2pm. It is the latest in a series of free musical concerts in the town centre.

Alison Ingram exhibits her work at Horsham Museum from today. Her abstract wildlife paintings are instantly recognisable and will be available to purchase. Alison was featured in February’s edition of AAH.

30th Sept

19-20th Sept

Eighty stalls have been selected for the New Horizons Appeal Autumn Gift Fair in aid of St Catherine’s Hospice at Knepp Castle, Shipley.

Fair Day is 20th Sept at 9.30am - 4pm. Contact Paula on 01293 447367.

29th Sept

Pic: Hugh Clark/SWT

Ashington Toy and Train Collectors Fair is held at Ashington Community Centre, RH20 3PG at10am - 2pm. Buy, sell and swap from a range including Dinky, Corgi, Hornby, Meccano and more. Call Simon on 07727 023893

Please send event details to editor@aahorsham.co.uk

All Aboard The group that helps horsham’s homeless

Calvin Ayres and Lisa Burrell

The inspiring story of The Ark Aaron Vincent is forty years old and homeless.

He has slept rough in stairways and car parks in Horsham, eaten food from bins, been addicted to drugs and on several occasions has considered taking his own life.

Yet, as he talks to us, he is smiling. There’s optimism in his voice and a glimmer of hope in his eyes. He talks of getting his life back on track and the possibility of seeing more of his three children.

Aaron has very much been handed a lifeline

by The Ark, a group set up by Lisa Burrell two years ago.

The Ark operates as a drop-in centre held three days a week at the United Reformed

Church in Springfield Road, Horsham, from where it provides help and support for people with alcohol, drugs and gambling addictions, as well as housing and benefit support.

Aaron said: “Lisa has put me up at her house for a while. Before that I was living on the streets. I would sleep in the stairways of flats in The Needles, as the heat used to come out from under the doors of the flats.

“Sometimes I would sleep in Swan Walk toilets just so I could keep warm.

“A lot of the time I was on my own, but I’ve got a mate who is also homeless and in the winter we’ve had to cuddle up together. We

put cardboard down so we are not lying on a cold floor.

“You do get called names, as we couldn’t shave very often so we had long beards.

You’d be called Grizzly Adams and things like that.

“I had a drug addiction about three years ago, but I got myself clean. I would eat food from the bins behind Swan Walk but I always tried to eat it a day before it was out of date!

“I’m 40-years-old now and there have been three times that I thought I would kill myself, but in all honesty I didn’t have the guts to do it. I went to different places and thought I could jump, but there must have been

Aaron Vincent is homeless but has been helped by The Ark

‘I was living on the streets and eating out of dustbins around Horsham’

Janet prepares the food parcels

something inside that stopped me from going through with it.

“I have three children and there was a period of five years when I didn’t see them. It is only in recent weeks that I have been able to see them at all and that is because my life has changed since I met Lisa and started coming to The Ark. “I used to steal a lot of food but haven’t stolen since I’ve been staying with Lisa. I now go to church as well, and I have taken on board the Christian message. I go to Church on a Sunday.

“I’ve been coming to The Ark for close to two years now and I’ve come a long way. I want to get some accommodation, but for a guy of my age it’s a case of how long’s a piece of string?

“I don’t come here just for the food parcel – The Ark has taught me not to steal, not to lie, and I feel like a new man.

“The next step is to get myself a flat, and then I could see my kids every weekend. If I had those two things I’d be a happy man and wouldn’t ask for anything else from the

world.

“Lisa is an angel. They broke the mould when they made her. I can’t speak highly enough of Lisa and her husband Mike.”

Lisa worked for a law practice several years ago, but after she married, started working at Christian Family Concern in Croydon. From there, she went to work for the YMCA, a Christian-run charity providing young people with a safe place to live.

During Lisa’s time at the YMCA, she gained experience in drugs and alcohol intervention.

But the YMCA was not reaching all of those in need, and Lisa felt compelled to help people of all ages.

She said: “The YMCA is great but it only meets the needs of people aged 16-25 and there are others in town that have alcohol, drugs and homeless issues, or are just struggling with life in general.

“Around that time the United Reformed Church set up its food parcel service and then the church offered me the use of the building.

55 ‘I was addicted to heroin, but I’ve been clean for a couple of months now’ “The Ark was born out of a period of prayer with other Christians. One of our trustees is a retired reverend, my husband is a trustee, and another trustee is a senior nurse. Our Chair of trustees is involved with drug and alcohol rehabilitation so we all came together with the same heart.”

The Ark meets three times a week, on a Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, and it’s effectively a drop-in centre. Lisa and a team of volunteers offer help and advice on benefits, drugs and alcohol, and housing. They also have links to other agencies, and hold literacy and numeracy courses. A food parcel service runs on a Tuesday evening.

Lisa said: “What tends to happen

is that people come in and they have not engaged with other services, and they don’t want to.

“We find that once they have engaged with us, we can say to them ‘how about we refer you to here, and come with you to the first meeting’? Then we can help them.

“We work with addaction, Sussex Alcohol and Substance Misuse Service, and I am trained in drug and alcohol intervention too so we can offer our own help. We also work with housing and social services, but everybody over the age of 18 has to have a priority need to be housed.

“If they’re 16-18 they fall under the responsibility of Social Services and will be accommodated.

Over the age of 18 there is no

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The Ark

Food parcels are given out every Tuesday

‘a local businessman donates potatoes, carrots, tomatoes and fresh vegetables’ Thursday 25th October 2012 ‘BilliBiz - The Show 2012’ is a FREE Business Exhibition being held in the Billingshurst Community Centre on Thursday 25th October from 12.00 midday until 6.30pm and will offer visitors a diverse mix of products and services from the local business community.

It’s a chance for local businesses to exhibit, network and gain exposure.

For more information please visit www.billibiztheshow.co.uk

requirement to accommodate them unless there is a priority need.

“One or two are rough-sleeping in Horsham but most people end up on the sofa surfing circuit. We know at any one time of about 20 that are precariously sofa surfing, and we occasionally find someone who is sleeping in a tent or in stairwells on a regular basis. It’s not just men – there are three women we’ve had in the last year that were in this situation but have now been housed.

“My husband and I are really lucky that we have been able to share our home with some wonderful people. It’s about sharing life, helping people along. We don’t have a ‘handsoff’ approach.

“At the end of the day, God is very clear about sharing and what he has blessed us with, so we do.”

Whilst The Ark is based in a Church (provided by the United Reformed Church free of charge) and is run by Christians, the Bible is not forced upon those that attend.

Janet Sowerbutts is a retired minister and is one of the trustees at The Ark. Janet said: “There is no Bible class pushed on people, but it’s there if they want it. There is no forcing or no compulsion.

“A little while ago, a few people did want to learn more about it so somebody came in and held a session on the Bible.

“They get the idea that there is a Christian flavour behind this –

57 we say grace before a meal – and if they ask questions we answer them. We are trying to do what God would want us to do but there are no rules – they don’t have to go to church and they don’t have to read the Bible. But we do hope that they will be influenced by the care and love they receive here.

“We are changing what we do here.

In the beginning, it was the food that was vital and giving people a healthy meal was the first thing that we had to do. Then we focused on addictions. But what has taken over is helping people to find accommodation and in some instances finding work.

“You can’t talk to them about beating a drug addiction until they have somewhere to live.

“For some of the people that come here, The Ark has been an absolute lifeline.

“People in Horsham are unaware of what is happening in our society at the moment – the needs and the loneliness of a lot of people who find themselves on their own. It’s fine for the council to provide

accommodation, but this can leave people isolated and with nowhere to go. You need social contact. But society doesn’t deal holistically with the whole person.

“When somebody comes through the door we don’t know what their need is and we have to be open to that. Not all of the people that come here are addicts– some come for the social aspects. They come for friendship.”

As well as being a place where people can sit down and have a chat over a cup of tea, visitors can play pool and table tennis. The group has also enjoyed days out camping, bowling and visiting the seaside. Some enjoy cooking and preparing the food parcels, with food donated by churches, businesses and individuals (including one local businessman who drops in potatoes, carrots, tomatoes and fresh vegetables).

Others like to paint, draw or make greetings cards, or take advantage of the volunteers who help with writing CVs, claiming benefits and personal finances.

Brian Furber has created an art book for children

The Ark Robert Stones took part in a cycling event

‘Lisa has sorted out gambling addiction counselling’ As well as drugs and alcohol advice, GamCare visit each week, providing help and information on gambling addiction.

One of the beneficiaries is Robert Stones, who built up credit card debts and fell into gambling in a bid to eat into his financial deficit.

Robert said: “I have epilepsy so you can’t work and there is a lot of discrimination when it comes to getting a job. People don’t want to know. I worked at Gatwick and enjoyed a job there for a couple of years but the fits got worse and I started having dizzy spells.

“One day I fell down an escalator and they said I was a danger to others in the airport, so I had to be dismissed.

“After that, I went to the doctors and got a letter saying I was unfit for work and I’m now on benefits. I started out getting disability allowance and then I got a flat sorted out. But then I got a credit card and the debts went up. I also got a loan from the bank thinking I could pay the interests off and I couldn’t.

It spiralled out of control.

“I thought I couldn’t cope so a couple of years ago I took an overdose and ended up in hospital. I didn’t know about The Ark at this time and was thinking about ending my life. I thought a way out of the debt could be gambling.

“I started with bingo and horse racing, then moved on to roulette. Without this place I would have gone further downhill and built up more debt. But this week I’ve been able to sort out a debt relief order.

“I’m still gambling but not as much as I was. Lisa has sorted me out gambling addiction counselling and the man from GamCare comes to see me on a Monday.

“If it wasn’t for this place, a lot of these people here with addictions - drugs, alcohol or gambling – would be outcasts of society. But they are not outcasts -

59

Many enjoy socialising at The Ark they are normal people who have had problems in life and need help.

“They will sort out anything for you in here. It’s like a big family – it’s an amazing place.”

Another person to have benefitted from The Ark is Sherene Gilbanks. During our visit, Sherene, 24, was cradling her eight-week-old daughter Scarlett.

Sherene said: “I had an appointment at The Ark when I first came to Horsham, and that was when I met my boyfriend Martin. I had been in prison for three months - I have been in prison a couple of times for shoplifting -and I was released last August and came here.

“I was working with addaction, which is a drug rehabilitation service that helps you get clean. I’m now off the drugs and clean. I was addicted to heroin, but I’ve been clean for a couple of months now and it’s going well.

“When I fell pregnant, I thought ‘what am I going to do now?’ That was when I started coming off the methadone. It’s hard to do – it’s taken two or

‘Our desire is to have a house in which we can have more people come and live with us’ three years to come off the drugs and stay off it.

“We have been housed now in Horsham. The Ark has helped a lot. It’s somewhere I can come to if I need to talk to anyone, and I can relax. Life is a lot better at the moment.”

It’s been only two years since The Ark was formed, but it is helping those in our community most in need.

In the future, Lisa hopes that they can help even more. She said: “We’ve been here for two years, and we’ve seen changes in everybody – positive changes. Success here is that one small step - it’s not a giant leap.

“Our desire is to have a house in which

we can have more people come and live with us and get their lives back on track.”

Until that day though, the visitors to The Ark are grateful for what they have.

Janet said: “Lisa is the most remarkable woman in the world.

“The number of people out there that are in secure accommodation, out there that have got a job, out there who have found their feet, because of that one person, will surprise you.”

For more information contact Lisa on 07825 284054 or visit www.thearkhorsham.org.uk

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‘when i last gave up drugs my eyes were opened to something new’ Calvin Ayres and son Brandon

My Story: Calvin Ayres “I’m 28 and I’ve been addicted to drugs since I was young. I went to The Education centre in Haywards Heath, which is a school for troubled boys, and I remember I felt sorry for a lot of the other boys as they didn’t have parents.

I knew I was lucky to have family. I was close to my dad, who passed away five years ago from cancer.

I started smoking and drinking from a very young age and it progressed from there. I was smoking puff through bongs when I was eight and after that it only got worse.

Later I was addicted to heroin and crack cocaine. I got clean for a while and then got back on it. Now I’m on prescribed methadone and am recovering.

I get my kids every weekend and that helps me. I have a ten-year-old son and a three-year-old daughter. I’m trying to make my life better for them, and hopefully find some work so I can take them on holiday and be a father figure.

I’ve been lucky not to go to prison for the

things I have done. I’m trying to keep my head above water and keep myself on the straight and narrow. It’s so hard when you can’t find work and the drugs are out there and they are easy to get hold of.

Sometimes drugs are just an escape as it helps you forget. You can block it out but the next day you’re going to wake up and feel as you did before.

Lisa has been like a mother to me since I’ve been coming to the Ark. It has helped me learn that life is too short – you only get one and you have to make the most of it and help others around you.

People come here because they’ve had something bad happen to them in life and want to do something about it. I want to help myself.

I come here to get away from everything and it’s nice to talk to other people. There are a lot of troubled people here. I get my methadone through addaction here and I want to work for them eventually. I want to become a drug counsellor, a bit like Lisa,

and talk to people about their problems.

I’ve done every drug there is – I understand what people go through as I’ve been through everything you can go through.

I’ve lost people – seen people go in front of me. I’ve seen things that people shouldn’t have to see.

I don’t let anyone preach to me about God here and Lisa knows that. If you believe in God that’s up to you, and I’ve nothing against that, but I’m not one of them people.

For a while, not so long ago, I was off the methadone, and I was normal, just like you.

I started playing football, got fit, but then I dislocated my leg and arm and I got depressed and fell back into drugs. Now I want to get to where I was again.

When I last gave up my eyes were opened to something new. You realise what is going on – I know what the right things to say are, and what the right thing to do is, it’s just that doing it all is not easy.”

61 nachos

The Spice of Life They met in Tel Aviv - now two friends offer exciting variety at a most unlikely venue - The Foresters Arms I had been told that The Foresters Arms was well worth a visit, but there was an initial reluctance on my part to investigate.

For me, The Foresters has never demanded anything more than a passing curiosity, like an antique shop that has had the same chair in the window for twenty years and yet still manages to stay in business.

It was a pub that was sometimes jokingly mentioned as a possible starting point for a pub crawl in the days before parenthood, but more often than not, we thought better of it and opted to start a little closer to town.

When I think of The Foresters, I still associate it with a teacher of mine at Forest School, who would often pop there for a pint at the end of the school day. Seventeen years after I left Forest, that same longretired teacher was sat at the bar as I arrived for this review.

The Foresters is a very attractive looking pub. Unless you know it’s there, you could easily miss it as you negotiate your way through the

parked cars along St Leonard’s Road. With its white picket fence and hanging baskets, it looks more like a cottage than a public house.

What you don’t see from the front is the very attractive rear garden, with 16 wooden round tables and floral decorations.

And its appearance is not The Foresters Arms’ only asset – it is building up a reputation for good food and as a vibrant yet friendly pub.

The pub’s landlord is Colin James, but he entrusts the day-to-day running of The Foresters to Marsha Lewis and chef Nick Williams, who have worked together for many years…in Tel Aviv of all places.

Nick said: “Marsha worked in an Irish bar and I used to shoot pool there.

After that, we both worked together at Mike’s Place, which is a big American Diner in Tel Aviv where I was the head chef.

“Mike’s Place was next to the American Embassy and was actually blown up in 2003 in a terrorist attack which killed three people.

Nick Williams joined The Foresters in April

Review: The Foresters Arms T-bone steak

“After Mike’s Place I ran all of the Little Prague restaurants in Israel. It’s a Czech bar and we both worked there for several years.”

Marsha was the first to join the pub, arriving last summer, and gradually took on a greater role. Her mother and step-father had a pub in Tel Aviv in the late 1970s and Marsha ran her own pub in Fort Lauderdale, Florida in the 1990s, so she had experience to call on.

Marsha realised that the pub would need to offer good food in order to attract new customers. She said: “For a while people were not sure what was going on with the food as the kitchen was not open every night. I heard

that Nick was coming to the UK so I called him as we work well together and have a good laugh.

“He had a bit of a trial period this April and it went well, and now Colin lets us get on with it.

Nick runs the kitchen on an independent basis so he is very much his own boss and that was just what he was looking for.”

Whilst Nick runs the kitchen, Marsha runs the pub, with cocktails, a ‘diner’s club’ with special offers, and live music on the last Saturday of each month helping to attract a younger crowd.

She said: “You don’t want to tread on too

many toes as there are people that have been coming here for a drink for more years than I’ve been alive. But I’m trying to add a little more flavour and variety, so people are not walking in to a pub with no vibe.

“I think the pub is getting better and better, and we are noticing a lot of new customers.

It’s a diverse mix – you get people aged 18 to 84 - but there has never been any trouble here. Everyone gets on with what they’re doing and there’s a really good dynamic.”

When it came to the food, Nick sticks primarily to what he knows best. He spent eight years travelling in Asia, during which he learned a

‘There are people that have been coming here for a drink for more years than I’ve been alive’

63 Marsha

calamari

lot about curries. Therefore, he has a curry night every Wednesday, with a jungle curry from northern Thailand proving particularly popular recently.

There are also several Mexican dishes, which Nick perfected whilst working at Mike’s Place. Nick didn’t feel that anybody was doing nachos properly in the Horsham area, so he thought he would.

Nick said: “This is a real local pub, with a lot of regulars, so I had to think about that when deciding the menu. I have got the classics, and I brought a few of my own things in without being too extravagant and keeping the food at reasonable prices.

“This is the kind of food I like to eat myself. I don’t like all the fancy stuff. I like comfort food and enjoy cooking it. The feedback has been very good. It’s simple, fresh and reasonably priced.”

We settled down in a small dining area with nice, clean tables out of view of the bar, and for starters picked fried calamari with lime alioli dip (£5.25) and deep fried brie in panko breadcrumbs with fruit compote.

The calamari carried good flavour with thyme, rosemary and sweet paprika seasoning, and the home-made dip was full of zest.The brie had a golden breadcrumb coating and the beautiful fruits of the forest

compote was an enjoyable complement to the soft, warm cheese centre.

Other starters include home-made chicken liver and pistachio pate with caramelised red onion confit and toasted ciabatta bread (£5.75) and warm goat’s cheese salad with chargrilled red peppers and garlic croutons in walnut vinaigrette (£4.95).

Nick also keeps the soup vegetarian too, to provide an alternative to the vegetarian risotto (£7.95) and the market salad (£6.95).

Some of the vegetables Nick uses come from the Bennetts Field allotments, which is just over the back of the pub. Rhubarb crumble was on the menu for a while as one

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Review: The Foresters pork escalope

cheesecake

‘This is the kind of food I like to eat myself. I don’t like all of this fancy stuff - I like comfort food’ of the women at the allotments brought in a bin liner full of it!

However, feeling carnivorous, we avoided the vegetarian choices and selected the T bone steak (14-16oz) with garlic and paprika butter, pan-fried green beans and chips (£12.95) and pork escalope with a spiced orange and pineapple sauce with green beans and potato puree (£9.95).

As Nick promised, this was good, honest, frill-free food at its finest. The steak was well cooked, as you would expect from a chef who has had experience of an

American diner, and was not too fatty or chewy. It was very well presented and at £12.95 represents excellent value.

The pork escalope had been marinaded in crushed coriander, garlic and ginger and packed a light punch, and the fruity sauce brought good colour and intriguing flavour.

Other options on the main course menu include pan fried liver and smoked bacon in

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a red wine sauce (£8.95) and beer battered cod fillet with chips, peas and tartare sauce (£7.95). There is also a home-made pie of the day, freshly prepared by Nick, on the specials board (£8.95).

There are also a few treats on the desserts menu. The cheesecake (£3.95) is made by Louise, who lives a few doors down from the pub on St Leonard’s Road.

65

‘Some of the vegetables Nick uses come from Bennetts Field allotments’ Nick said: “She sells cheesecake to a few people, and I tried one and thought it was very nice so I now offer it on the menu.”

We had to sample it ourselves, and hats off to Louise, and we also tried Nick’s crème brûlée. Nick has made it in a variety of flavours – lemon, cherry, raspberry and passion fruit to name but four – and it’s a popular choice at the standard dessert price of £3.95.

Other choices include a sticky toffee pudding (£3.95) and the fruit crumble.

The Foresters also offers a number of Mexican dishes including delicious nachos that may well be the best in town. Ciabatta sandwiches are available

for £3.75 and there is a nice children’s menu too. Meals include cod fish cake, scampi, chicken goujons, and sausage, egg and chips.

The Foresters has the feel of a village pub, yet is located right on the edge of Horsham town. As Marsha mentioned, it is a warm and

welcoming pub that attracts people across the age spectrum. Its food now places the pub as one of the best in town for an informal evening out, and when combined with its enclosed garden makes The Foresters a place we would recommend for families to spend an afternoon eating and drinking.

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66

The ‘things you probably didn’t know about Horsham that are really quite interesting’ page...

Arthur Hill

Alfred Shrubb

The Horsham pub landlord who won Gold at the

Stockholm Olympics There’s been much excitement recently about Horsham’s involvement in the Olympic Games.

Horsham was represented in London 2012 by handball player Mark Hawkins, and of course we celebrated the success of 400 metre gold medallist Kirani James as the Grenada team trained in Broadbridge Heath Leisure Centre.

Horsham Museum has even been given a flag of Grenada signed by all the athletes including Kirani James and his coach Harvey Glance.

The flag is on display at the museum until the end of the Paralympics.

You have to go a long way back though to find a gold medallist from Horsham.

Crawley has enjoyed more success in recent decades - Daley Thompson trained in the town, 1972 bronze medal winning boxer Alan Minter was born there and so was Commonwealth swimming champion Rebecca Cooke.

But back in 1912 in Stockholm, Arthur Hill

won Water Polo Olympic gold. In 1980, Margaret Hill gave to Horsham Museum a collection of items that belonged to her husband. They are now on display alongside items owned by Alfred Shrubb, perhaps Horsham’s greatest athlete. Alfred was a fine middle distance runner at the start of the 20th Century, but wasn’t allowed to enter the Games as he was seen as a professional.

Arthur Hill was born in Birmingham in 1887 and grew to well over six feet tall. He started to win swimming championships at an early age using a swimming style called the ‘Trudgeon Stroke’, which was later replaced by the faster crawl.

In 1908, as a reserve, he represented Great Britain and Ireland at the Olympics in London. Four years later he was on the winner’s podium. The Olympic newspaper produced daily at the Stockholm Games reported the following: “The most useful man on the English side seems however to be Hill, the back, whose

displays in the three matches, apart from unnecessary fouling in the first two, have all been of a high standard. Not only is he a strong defensive player, but he has the capacity for turning defence into attack which is the hallmark of the high grade exponent of the game.”

After the Olympics he travelled in Britain, appearing in exhibition matches. In 1913 he moved to Canada where he worked on the Canadian Pacific Railroad, possibly as a policeman, later serving with Canadian forces in the First World War. In the early 1920s, he swam for the New York Athletic Water Polo Team, captained by Johnny Weissmuller (later to play ‘Tarzan’ in the 1930s black and white films), helping them win the American championships.

In the 1920s, he came to Horsham, according to his widow, to run part of the family business where he was landlord of The Bridge public house in East Street. He lived in the Horsham area for over 40 years, dying at the age of 79 in 1966.

Straight no nonsense advice. Powerful marketing. Working for you.

Lettings Department 01403 282500 Website: henryadams.co.uk | Email: horshamlettings@henryadams.co.uk