News | APRIL 2021
Henfield History Group meetings via Zoom
The Henfield History Group has been able to successfully deliver monthly lectures via Zoom over the past year. We have had some interesting and varied presentations from speakers who have adapted their talks to fit this new, sociallydistanced way of working. It is likely that we will continue to meet this way for the foreseeable future and with that in mind, we would now like to offer more people the opportunity to join. At present we have a full programme of speakers in place which runs until March 2022. We look forward to enjoying a variety of topics including Alan Barwick giving his presentation on ‘Researching my Religious Ancestors’ for April. In May there will be a talk by Alan Cooke about ‘George Wyndham, 3rd Earl of Egremont’, whilst in June we will hear about ‘Roman burials and Religion in Sussex’ from Dr David Rudling. July will bring Rupert Matthews addressing us on ‘The Kingdom of Sussex’, to mention just a few of the talks we have scheduled. The annual membership fee is £10 per person, or £18 per couple. Our virtual meetings are on the second Tuesday of the month at 8pm. For information contact Maureen Fletcher, Hon Secretary on 01273 492194.
Maureen Fletcher
Survey results on Henfield High St
Last year I was doing my A-Level Geography project on how the COVID-19 pandemic had affected Henfield High Street (looking particularly at the first lockdown). I asked BN5 readers to respond to my business or customer surveys to collect data, and 68 people responded on the customer survey and 6 businesses filled out the businesses survey! I would like to thank all of you who took part, as well as everyone who offered help: Henfield Community Partnership, Henfield Parish Council and of course BN5! In terms of results I found that unsurprisingly fewer customers used the High Street in lockdown, and there was a trend towards online shopping at that time. Whilst many businesses had to close, others saw an increase in customer footfall. Businesses were forced to adapt to the challenges presented by lockdown, with a few most commonly mentioned for responding particularly well. Jeremy’s was praised for helping people feel safe, Budgens’ for maintaining stock and Truffles’ for its delivery service. Answers from both surveys suggest that local support has played a key role in mitigating negative impact on the High Street due to the pandemic. Suggestions for ways to help the High Street recover include shops having a shared delivery service and a shared website, allowing deliveries and some e-commerce to continue
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