Get Hastings, Summer 2023

Summer 2023 / FREE

We don't live by the seaside because we like wind and rain, and so we are delighted that the summer months are finally upon us.

Our cover stars, HotWax, are soaring like seagulls into the sun at the moment and here at Get Hastings, we’re so proud of our younger generations, of their creativity and their ambition. This area takes on a totally different personality when the sun is beaming down on us, let’s label it ‘holiday mode’ and hopefully, this Summer issue will get you in the mood for the many long, beach days that we have laying ahead of us.

With love, The Get Hastings team

Contributing Writers

Linda Baxter

Michael Smith

Sophie Harper

Charlie Crabb

Tim Scullion

Jamie Sellers

Bev Lee Harling

Charlie Moon

Contributing Photographers

Joe Charrington

Stephen Painter

Alice Denny

Jeff Pitcher

Rachel Mann

Jonny Thompson

Toby Shaw

We would like to thank all of our contributors, and our gratitude also goes out to Scantech Lithographic Ltd who partially sponsored this issue. Thank you to all of the brilliant independent businesses who have supported us with advertising.

By using Carbon Balanced Paper we have balanced through World Land Trust the equivalent of 698kg of carbon dioxide. This support will enable World Land Trust to protect 133m2 of critically threatened tropical forest.

Mel Elliott Editor-in-Chief

Beth King Editor

Steven Larkin Graphic Designer

Caitlin Lock Photographer

BAGELS

47 KINGS ROAD • ST LEONARDS-ON-SEA OPEN: WEDNESDAY TO SATURDAY

photolotte

LORNA HAMILTON -BROWN MBE

Written by Sophie Harper

Photography by Caitlin Lock

There was absolutely no mistaking Lorna Hamilton-Brown for anyone else when I saw her enter Eggtooth’s The Nest at The Old Town Hall for our interview this May. Dressed from head to toe in colourfully printed sports luxe with matching bucket hat and luminous trainers, donning her trademark Black Girl Magic earrings, she looked every part the craft maverick I’d heard so much about.

Lorna's knitted magazine cover, WE MEK. ©passion4.com

It’s true that most of us not privy to the world of drop stitch and purl have a certain image in our heads of what a typical knitting enthusiast looks like and admittedly, in my mind at least, Lorna is an exception, except she’s not – not in the real world.

The problem is, as Lorna so expertly explained to me, is that we only know what we’re told, what we see, and historically black people have been left out of craft books, magazines, and TV programmes on the topic. “Black presence in craft is really important to me,” she says, “early examples of knitting are found in Egypt, but everything else is from the European point of view. Everyone knows what Fairisle is or Scandinavian knitting style, but no one knows what African knitting looks like. I remember hearing about Indian knitting and being really surprised for the same reasons – because you never read about it or see examples – it’s not seen. If you were just relying on reading books about the history of knitting you will never see us. If you look at magazines in craft, it’s only recently that you see a black person featured on the front.”

Lorna tells me how despite being a keen knitter from the age of five, and now a knitting personality well-known in the community, she is frustrated by the lack of diversity in the craft world. “We did a talk with Heritage Crafts, that was interesting. They asked, ‘what do you think of when you think of British craft or heritage craft?’ – it all started from that point – I think it was Elaine Mullings (sculptor and art collaborator on Lorna’s We Out Here exhibition at Hastings Contemporary who said ‘whose heritage are we talking about?’).

“We’ve always crafted, but during slavery black people weren’t allowed silk or yarn, so they typically crafted with found materials, limited materials, so of course their work was always going to look different, but it was viewed as inferior. There was always a lot of snobbery over the level of stitching and that stitches had to be a certain size or length, but the skill was always there, it was just different. I think it’s important to look at craft from the black gaze, how we see things, and realise how our history hasn’t been written.

“My dissertation I did when I was at the Royal College of Art is about the myth that black people don’t knit. I was at an academic knitting conference (yes, there are such things!), and I commented that the audience wasn’t very diverse, and one academic said in response ‘that’s because black people don’t knit’! So, I thought I’d cover this in my dissertation, titled ‘Myth: Black People don’t Knit – the importance of art and oral histories for documenting the experiences of black knitters’. I actually came to the conclusion that she was right, because if you look at books on the history of knitting, we’re never mentioned, we’re never featured.”

Working hard to address this misconception, Lorna has championed black artists within the craft community, aiming to achieve more equal representation and diversity that on top of her first class honours degree in Digital Multimedia from De Montford University, Leicester, and Masters in Knitted Textiles from the Royal College of Art, has also gained her the position of a Patron of the Knitting & Crochet Guild, a spot on Vogue Knitting’s Diversity Advisory Council, and awarded her an MBE for her services to the community.

“I commented audience and response black

“I left school with no qualifications, I only had one CSE, which was art, so I went and did screen-printing at A-level – it was really complicated with overlaying. When we went to the moderator having looked for my work and seeing it had ‘fail’ next to it, we asked why and he said, ‘because somebody like her is not capable of that work – she must have cheated’. That happened to a lot of people and there was no recourse, my parents didn’t know how to appeal – that was my experience of studying art.” Astounded at what Lorna was telling me, I asked her whether anyone spoke to her or tried asking her about her work, “No,” she says, laughing at my disbelief.

“I’ve always knitted from an early age,” Lorna tells me, “it’s something that’s always been there. I had quite a disruptive childhood, but knitting was always something I went to and saw the artistic qualities in. It’s a place that I go to and it’s calming. My mother made clothes and my father made and sold candlewick bedspreads. They were both makers, my dad worked for himself he was always selfemployed, and I saw that you could earn a living from making. I started making children’s clothes when I was working in Knightsbridge, and I went to Harrods to speak to a buyer who said to me, ‘are you on the list?’ – I didn’t even know what the list was but she told me they didn’t consider anyone who wasn’t on the list, so I said fine, but then she came back to me and said, ‘oh actually, we found some space’ so there I was with my things being sold in Harrods! I didn’t enjoy it though – I remember going to look with my mum and they followed us around like we were shoplifters. I remember asking if I could have my name on the labels in the clothes and they said no, you’re nobody.”

In her thirties and living on the North Peckham Estate, Lorna heard about a mini foundation course she could take at Camberwell School of Art, so went and enrolled herself. “At the time my son, who’s going to be 30 this year, was a few months old. I went along and did this foundation, but I was so tired because I had to go home during the lunch break to breastfeed so I said to the tutor, ‘I’m really tired, can I sit down?’ and he said ‘we draw with the whole body, we stand when we draw!’ – really old school – they offered me a place but I didn’t want to take it because I was really tired and didn’t like the way they taught – I remember he said, ‘you don’t understand this is such a prestigious place, you will never have this opportunity again!’

We moved to Leicester and I thought I’d like to do an art foundation, I didn’t want to do textiles or anything like that, so I did digital multimedia and went to De Montford University afterwards – that was my first degree. They had game design, web design, but I was drawn to performance –doing projections and things like that. When I got to my final piece, which was about domestic violence, they said if you do this piece we will fail you – this isn’t a performance course, I was ahead of my time, but I’d calculated that even if I failed that module, I was still getting a first and I didn’t care, so I just did what I did. One of the tutors there used to say, ‘I’ve lectured at the Royal College of Art’ – I didn’t really know what the Royal College of Art was at that stage and I didn’t really care, and I remember saying ‘I’ll have your job one day!’ I ended up lecturing there and we worked together!” She laughs.

“I started to incorporate knitting into my artwork and then I started to incorporate performance into my artwork.” Telling me how she’s listened to The Archers since she was a child, she now works out her day by the show. “I listen to Radio 4 and it gets repeated at 2pm, so when I hear that I usually go for lunch and then I’ll work to The Archers until 7:15pm and stop. There was a storyline about domestic violence and I really wanted to respond to it and put the word out. In the Old Town there’s a plaque dedicated to a lady that was murdered – you walk past these things every day and don’t really notice and so I did a piece about Helen Archer and I put it out in front of there and did a whole social media post about it. It was really about coercive control, her partner was doing these things making her feel like she was going mad and then he took the son’s bunny, so I made the jumper with a bunny on it for Henry and I tied it on the railings at Alexandra Park and left it there.”

commented that the audience wasn’t very diverse, and one academic said in response ‘that’s because black people don’t knit’!”

“I think it’s important to look at craft from the black gaze, how we see things, and realise how our history hasn’t been written.”

A lot of Lorna’s work is responsive to media headlines or topical debate, and often she’ll place her work in plain sight in public spaces to offer up a talking point to passers-by, an act that has gained her the reputation for being the ‘Banksy of Knitting’, according to Lauren O’Farrell, aka Deadly Knitshade – creator of the Stitch London craft community and founder of Graffiti Knitting and craft collective, Knit the City.

“When I first moved to Hastings I did two large knitted pieces. It was just after the London riots in 2011 – a lot of the pieces I make I just make them, there’s no commission, I just respond to things – anyway I made these pieces, called ‘Out of the Blue’, they were of two young people –the newspapers were demonising youth at the time talking about the ‘feral youth’, but it wasn’t only young people rioting, so I made these two pieces and I hung them at the seafront and asked people what they thought they were doing. People would stop and comment thinking they were holding guns, doing drugs, but the truth is they are just standing around minding their own business. I took them around schools to show the kids, and I’d tell them I was going to show them some knitting and they’d be like ‘ah Miss, knitting is so whack!’ and then I’d show them and they’d be like ‘oh this is so great’.”

Lauded for her work in the community, one of Lorna’s most recent projects has been the We Out Here (WOH) exhibition at The Hastings Contemporary, highlighting the talents of six local Black artists of Caribbean heritage,, which at the time of interview was in full-swing, and after hearing about her life (and finishing our hot chocolates) she asked if I’d like a whirlwind tour of the exhibition – I leapt at the chance, obviously.

Leading myself and two others in tow, Lorna offered up such insight into each and every artist’s background, medium, and role in the craft community. It struck me how generous she was with her time and knowledge, genuinely wanting to share the skills of her peers, speaking about Paul Hope’s stitched leather artwork ‘FROM’, Elaine Mullings’ vibrant sculpture ‘Co27: Blue Tears’ and ‘OG: A Kind of Blue’, Eugene Palmer’s touching paintings making up ‘Wave and Parade’, Richard Mark Rawlins’ wonderful tea towel piece ‘Conversations Over Tea’ and ‘JAB JUMBIE’, and Maggie Scott’s excellent printed velvet/nuno felted lenticular ‘Shopping?’ on waste colonialism, leaving her own work ‘Woman Blue-Elevate’ and ‘WE MEK’ knitted magazine covers, until last. Showing no sign of slowing down, I’m looking forward to more art collaborations and exhibits from Lorna – if you’re into art and storytelling, you’ll keep an eye out for her work too. ⚫

Talking Shop:

with Geoff Clarke of La Collina Gardens

Written by Mel Elliott with photography by Caitlin Lock.

Bumble bees and hippies love ‘em and so do I! The earliest dates of us humans gifting flowers go back to the time of Ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and the Roman Empire, then, because they were massive show-offs, the Victorians really went for it! With flowers on cards, wallpaper, soft furnishings, clothing, and with large bouquets adorning tables and mantelpieces. Our love of flowers hasn’t waned since these times and flowers are used for romance, to show appreciation, to celebrate, and to commiserate, they bring the outdoors in, provide fragrant aromas and an explosion of colour on even the dullest of days. They provide our brains with all of those ‘happy chemicals’ that we’re always searching for and you can literally make someone’s day by surprising them with a £1 bunch of daffs.

Searching for happiness himself, in 1980, a fresh-faced 22-year-old Geoff Clarke bought a modest shop at 13 Norman Road in St Leonard’s – he had ambitions of becoming a green grocer. “It was sort of half grocery, half florist and within about three weeks I realised that I hated green grocery but that I did rather like the flower side!”. Fast forward 43 years and La Collina Gardens is rooted firmly into the community, employing fifteen local people and providing fresh flowers, plants and happiness to local businesses, individuals and those all important weddings.

“When I first came here, it was a very well-to-do area,” he said of St Leonards, “there was a Russell & Bromley on the corner and there was a department store on Marine Court, it was a very posh area but it soon started going downhill

and it went down and down and down, but recently it has all changed again and its a wonderful place to be now!”

Geoff explained that the florist industry has also changed considerably and that people are far more aware of flowers than they ever were. “I put that down to the good old supermarkets,” he said. “They’ve educated people into enjoying flowers and they’ve done us florists a favour.”

Geoff used to go to Covent Garden to buy his flowers but then he decided to do things a bit differently. “It was something that no florist in this country had ever done,” he told me. “I would go to Holland and buy flowers in the auctions. Holland is the flower capital of the world and they have the largest flower auction there. They have 24 hours of growing in these glass houses and when it gets dark, they have these special lamps that come on. When you approach, you get this wonderful orange glow and the closer you get, the stronger this glow gets.”

Geoff used to get in his van and make this trip to Holland every week, load it with flowers and then make a mad dash back again - I’m guessing that his van didn’t need one of those Magic Tree air fresheners dangling from its rear view mirror. Because of these trips, Geoff would often be the first in the UK to get hold of new varieties of flowers as Holland was so ahead of the flower game, not only growing flowers, but also having exotic species imported from Colombia, Israel, Italy, Brazil, you name it. “I did that trip every week right up until the 31st December 2020, before Brexit, and then I couldn’t go anymore. It became a nightmare with customs etc, and I miss it so much. I used to love going to Holland but sadly, those days are over.”

“I did that trip to Holland every week right up until the 31st December 2020, before Brexit, and then I couldn’t go anymore. I miss it so much.”

As with most things, flower trends change frequently and Geoff has to keep his finger on the pulse of his industry. “It’s always changing,” he said, “I’ll try something new sometimes and I’m too not sure, but then six months later it’s everywhere. I keep up to date, I’ve got to, it’s part of my job.” He tells me that some flowers never go out of fashion, such as peonies (a personal favourite of mine).

Along with his wife, Sharon, Geoff opened a second branch of La Collina Gardens in Bexhill, in 1992. “It’s fairly equal but I think St Leonard’s slightly has the edge these days, it’s because of all the trendy people coming in and spending a lot of money,” he said when I asked him which shop was more profitable. “In order for a florist to do well, they have to be linked to an undertaker,” Geoff told me, “and of course we have Towners straight across the road and he takes care of two thirds of funerals in the Rother area, he’s cornered the market. He’s my closest friend and I couldn’t wish success for a better person, he’s really generous and supports lots of local charities.”

Whilst Geoff insists that all his staff are qualified, paying for their tuition and allowing them time to study, he himself, has no qualifications to his name. “I had to learn in a hurry!”, he admits, telling me that back in the day, his only qualified staff member left to start up in London, creating arrangements for the likes of Elton John and George Michael rather than the residents of St Leonards. Geoff was left with no choice but to learn the art of flower arranging. “But I picked it up quickly and had a bit of a flair for it,” he said.

Whilst Geoff’s passion for his business, his shops and his team is absolutely clear to see, he does plan to retire in the near future, and no doubt his team will present him with a lovely bouquet when that day comes. ⚫

St Leonards shop: 13 Norman Road, St Leonards, TN37 6NH

Bexhill shop: 18 St Leonards Road, Bexhill, TN40 1HN

Vinyl records are cumbersome. They're delicate and are susceptible to warping in the heat. They can be annoying to flip over. But they're also perhaps the only piece of media technology that has remained unchanged in 75 years, when the first mass-produced 33rpm disc was manufactured for Columbia Records in 1948.

There's a reason for the continued survival of this format in spite of – or perhaps because of – its shortcomings. There's just something magical about vinyl. The physical connection between the stylus and the groove, the beautiful large-format sleeve art, the tactile physicality of the square paper sleeve and round plastic disc. Even their symbolic power as a reflection of your passion for a musician or subcultural tribe. A record collection might contain albums recorded and manufactured in 1955, 1977 and 2023, all different but equal, nestled together, waiting to be flipped through and rediscovered again and again.

When my partner Susan and I quit our day jobs and moved to Hastings nearly 10 years ago, it was with the sole purpose of opening a record shop in this seaside town we’d become smitten by. We’ve always been record collectors and had been selling records at London boot fairs for a few years, and were struck by the enthusiasm and friendliness of so many of the crate diggers we met at these fairs. It was such a pleasure to spend Sunday mornings in the company of these music fans – young and old – and to hear their stories. This raised the question –why not take a risk and do it full time? Many years later, we know that we chose the right town to do it in.

There are some towns, even cities, where an afternoon’s trawl through new and used record shops can be a dispiriting experience. The same old boring records at inflated prices in shops helmed by unfriendly staff who act more like gatekeepers. This has never been my experience in Hastings and St Leonards. I’ve lost count of the number of visitors to our town who have told us how lucky we are to have such great record shops here. I usually resist the urge to tell them it’s not luck but a lot of hard work and dedication, because who wants to be that person?

It’s no coincidence that this area is a haven for music obsessives and record collectors. It’s a deeply musical town, stuffed full of performers, writers, producers and journalists who have chosen to make a home here. Throw a stone from Hastings beach and you’ll almost certainly hit a DJ or a musician, though it would be discourteous to do so. It’s remarkable for a town of our size to enjoy such a rich seam of creative musical people, and this is reflected in the quality and vibrancy of its record collecting scene.

So whether you’re a fan of jazz, hip-hop, punk, soul or prog rock, you’re sure to find something in the racks of one of our local shops – not to mention the excellent Revolver record fairs that take place throughout the year.

Over the next few pages you’ll find a handy guide to the record shops of Hastings and St Leonards, along with honourable mentions for more great shops a little further along the coast. Happy digging!

Introduction by Tim Scullion

Listings by Beth King

Map illustrated by Mel Elliott

Photography by Joe Charrington

1. Bat Cave Records

23 Rock-a-Nore Road, Old Town, Hastings TN34 3DW

Open Sat 12–5pm

Opposite the fishing net huts, Bat Cave Records is open just five hours a week on a Saturday, or when the owner feels like opening. Look for the sign outside, it’s through a private courtyard. Don’t forget to visit the cashpoint first. Cash only!

2. Courthouse Records

Courthouse Mews, Courthouse St, Hastings TN34 3AU

Open daily, except Weds

Formally Rick’s Records, Courthouse is tucked away in the yard of a junk dealer in the Old Town. Now owned by Simon, it offers a huge selection of records for crate diggers.

Record I love:

Dave (pictured): The Hits of Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazelwood.

5. Japhy

Theaklen House Unit TH22, Theaklen Dr, St Leonards TN38 9AZ

Open weekdays, 9–5pm (by appointment)

Japhy specialises in dance music in all forms - techno, deep house, electro, acid, italo, hip-hop and electronica. You can dig through his warehouse unit of records up on the Ponswood Estate, which includes specialist collections that he sells globally on behalf of record labels, collectors and DJ's.

Record I love:

Laurent Garnier — 33 Tours Et Puis S’en Vont

6. King Records

14 Kings Road, St. Leonards TN37 6EA

Open Mon – Sat

You’ll find King Records down on the lower floor of the Dandelion Deli on Kings Road. Will and Andy sell the full spectrum of second-hand 12" and 7" vinyl. There’s a steady — and interesting —selection of new material that fills the racks - Latin, folk, disco, pop, soul, jazz, funk, rock, prog, reggae and more.

Record I love:

Will (pictured): Harout Vol. 8 Armenian Disco Folk

Andy: Nucleus – Elastic Rock

* Check with each shop for opening times.

3. Dark Circles

Unit 6, Marine Court, St Leonards TN38 0DZ

Open Mon – Sun

Dark Circles is Adam (aka The Disc Slinger/Cloth + Wax) and Kim’s brand new seafront coffee and music hang-out. The shop was about to open when we went to print, but its record racks are guaranteed to be filled with quality, hand-picked new releases that’ll delight any discerning vinyl junkie.

Records we love:

Kim: De La Soul — 3 Feet High and Rising

Adam: Alice Coltrane — Journey in Satchidananda

4. DayGlo Records

20 Silchester Rd, St Leonards TN38 0JB

Open Mon – Sun

DayGlo is a record store, second-hand clothes shop and artists’ studios. Owners Rosie, alongside her parents, and Haydn have a nice selection of second-hand vinyl in stock from indie and soul to funk and disco, with some rock and pop jostling for attention.

Records we love:

Steve Sullivan: Pillows & Prayers Vol.1: Cherry Red Compilation Haydn: Naran Ratan — Trees etc.

7. Pressing Matters

85 Queens Road, Hastings TN34 1RG

Open Thurs – Sun

Marc (aka Mr Thing) and Steve Underwood’s record shop is in the basement of Printed Matter. Between them they sell an impressive selection of rare and sought-after soul, funk, hip-hop, breaks, jazz, library, punk, post punk, and more.

Records we love:

Mr Thing (pictured): David Shire – The Taking of Pelham One

Two Three (Original Motion Picture Score)

Steve: The Decayes – Accidental Musik

8. Printed Matter

85 Queens Road, Hastings TN34 1RG

Open Thurs – Sun

Owner of Printed Matter, Lee Humphries, sells the best vintage Jamaican re-issues ranging from rocksteady, ska, dub, roots reggae, soul and funk, as well as hosting author events and a radical book club. Together, Printed Matter and Pressing Matters is Hastings’ answer to a Virgin Megastore Three independent record sellers selling together.

Record I love:

Ernest Ranglin – Below the Baseline

* Check with each shop for opening times.

9. Tough Love St Leonards 10. Wow And Flutter

73 Bohemia Road, St Leonards TN37 6RG

Open Tues – Sun

Owner Anja Petitto’s Tough Love stocks a wide range of mostly new and pre-loved metal and rock vinyl, along with the latest obscure releases – anything from Nordic, neo-classical, soundtracks to indie and pop, alongside a 'Local Legends' section dedicated to local musicians. It's a community hub for music lovers up in Bohemia, hosting regular in-store performances each month and selling takeaway coffee, merch, artist prints, gifts, and more.

Record I love: Metallica – 72 Seasons

8 Trinity St, America Ground, Hastings TN34 1HG

Open Tues – Sat

Located in Hastings' offbeat America Ground for almost 10 years, Wow And Flutter sells a fine selection of curated used vinyl, CDs and tapes, along with vintage comics and cult Japanese toys. Owners Tim and Susan ensure there's a heaving rack of fresh stock every Saturday, so checking out what's new is a must.

Records we love:

Susan: Althea & Donna – Uptown Top Ranking

Tim: Sun Ra – Liquidity

11. Music's Not Dead 12. Platform Two Records

De La Warr Pavilion, Marina, Bexhill TN40 1DP

Open Weds – Sun

Ollie and Del’s Music's Not Dead is a small indie record shop housed in one of the UK's most iconic cultural buildings, the De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill. Specialising in new releases and re-issued Americana, folk, rock and blues, plus books and T-shirts.

Record I love:

Ollie: Garden Party – Rose City Band

Del (pictured): This is the Kit – Careful of Your Keepers

9 London Road, Bexhill TN39 3JR

Open Weds – Sat

Psych legend, Nick Saloman from The Bevis Frond who owned Platform One, handed the reigns over to Alex and Graci who now run Platform Two Records in Bexhill, specialising in psych, garage, prog, jazz, soul, reggae and punk. Their racks are filled with interesting and unusual vinyl, without silly prices.

Record I love:

Alex: King Crimson – In the Court of the Crimson King Graci: Fotheringay – Fotheringay ⚫

Steve Pai n ter

food photography

stevepainter_food_photographer www.stevepainter.co.uk

Written by Linda Baxter with illustration by Mel Elliott

Catherine Cookson

From a child brought up by her grandparents, living in extreme poverty, to a lady amassing a fortune of £14 million, this truly is a “rags to riches” story (a kind we all love to hear). Catherine Cookson born Catherine Ann McMullen (Katie), until the age of seven thought her mother was her older sister. Her real father was a bigamist and a gambler.

She left school at the age of 13 and took many jobs, one of which was in domestic service. After this at 18-years-old she took a laundry job at Harton Workhouse in South Shields. In 1929 Catherine Cookson moved to Hastings. This was to run the laundry at Hastings Workhouse on Frederick Road in Ore.

In 1930 the workhouse was renamed Hastings Municipal Hospital and then after the introduction of the National Health Service in 1948, it became St Helen’s Hospital. St Helen’s closed in 1994 and the 1903 buildings have now been demolished and a housing development now stands on the site. There is a road named Cookson Gardens just off Frederick Road (named after Catherine Cookson).

Mounted on West Hill House on Exmouth Place in the Old Town is the blue plaque that reads “Katie McMullen later famous as writer Dame CATHERINE COOKSON resident of Hastings 1930–76 lived here 1931-33, Hastings Borough Council” This was the first home where Catherine Cookson lived after moving to Hastings. It was a modest tworoomed flat.

Catherine Cookson was a diligent saver and by 1933 she bought a large Victorian house in Hastings, this being The Hurst, 114, Hoad’s Wood Road, Hastings. Here she took in lodgers and it was where she met her husband Tom Cookson. She resided here until 1954 and was able to stop working and concentrate on her educational book reading. There is also a blue plaque on this property which reads “Katie McMullan Later famous writer Dame CATHERINE COOKSON resident of Hastings 1930-76 lived here 1933-1954”.

In 1940 aged 34, Catherine married Tom Cookson, a teacher, at Hastings Grammar School. Sadness then came into her life when she experienced four miscarriages which resulted in a mental breakdown. It was because of this that she took up writing, to ease her depression, she also joined a writing group in Hastings. Her first novel (Kate Hannigan) was published in 1950 when Catherine was 44 years of age.

In 1954 Catherine and her husband instantly fell in love with a house in Hastings “Loreto” St Helen’s Park Road, which they were advised not to buy “as it needed work and was always up for sale”. They bought this house positioned in a most prestigious location in Hastings next to St Helens Woods where they would spend the next 22 years. This house had six bedrooms and was built in a mock Tudor style in 1938. They had to decorate this house themselves as money was limited at that time.

This was to be the home where Catherine Cookson would pen 40 books whilst always keeping a low profile. The blue plaque on this property reads “Loreto, Catherine Cookson Author lived here 1954 – 1976”.

Catherine became one of Britain’s bestselling authors; her upbringing played a big part on her writing as she wrote novels containing characters and conditions they lived in, worn down by their circumstances. She would visit mines, run down areas, farms and industries etc. to research the material for her books. She became the most borrowed author in Britain for 17 consecutive years.

Many of her novels have been adapted for TV, two that spring to mind are “The Mallen Streak” and “The Cinder Path” both of which I watched years ago. Others include “Dinner of Herbs” which was a TV series and “The Wingless Bird”. Many films have been made based on her writings and I’m sure Catherine Cookson readers all have a favourite.

Catherine Cookson left her beloved house in Hastings in 1976 to return to her birthplace in Newcastle. She was awarded an OBE in 1985 and made a Dame (Commander of the Order) of the British Empire in 1993.

Before her death in 1998 just before her 92nd birthday Catherine Cookson had written over 100 books (written in her own name or two other pen names) which sold more than 123 million copies in at least 20 languages.

Catherine Cookson donated over £1 million to medical research examining vascular diseases. This included a focus on detection of deafness in children conducted by the University of Newcastle. As well as the above she also helped the university fund its Hatton Gallery and library. Financial help and support would go to the less fortunate writers than her. Today the Catherine Cookson Trust gives donations to worthy causes in the UK.

Dame Catherine Cookson was a woman Hastings should be very proud of. ⚫

Catherine would visit mines, run down areas, farms and industries etc. to research the material for her books.

Illustration by James White

Written by Bev Lee Harling

When I first began looking into my family ancestry I had no idea of the impact it would have on my life. In January 2022 I was feeling creatively stuck. The postcovid landscape for musicians such as myself was looking pretty bleak and my Dad had just been diagnosed with mixed Dementia and Alzheimer's.

I sought the help of a creative coach, and Dr. Mo Cohen burst into my life. After a few sessions of focusing on what was holding me back, we got right down to the fundamentals of 'Who am I?' And 'Where am I from?' These might seem like fairly basic questions, but to me, they had been a huge question mark over my life ever since I was a kid. My Mum was a very secretive person and never spoke about her parents or family and as a result, I didn’t even know what my Grandparents' names were.

Portrait by Caitlin Lock Collage by Mel Elliott

Through working with Mo Cohen and his transformational approach to creativity, I was encouraged to look into some of my family stories. The idea behind this is that we're all influenced by these inherited tales and that by working through them, we can free ourselves from the grip of those narratives, choosing how we would like to move forward.

I began doing this by recording some of my dad's early memories of life with my mum. Ask my dad what he had for breakfast and he couldn’t tell you, but drift back to the 1960's and the day he drove from London and met my mum at a coffee house she worked at in George Street and his descriptions can make you smell the coffee and hear the jukebox.

Then, using the usual genealogy sites, newspaper periodicals and local museums I began to do some family tree research and quickly became obsessed.

Through my research, I found out that my mum had lost her mum to cancer when she was just 8-years-old. Her father died a year later leaving her orphaned at the age of nine and she was then fostered until she got married to my dad.

In my research, I found two areas particularly difficult to find evidence of. The first was if you were a quietly law-abiding citizen, the second was if you were a woman. Thankfully my grandpa, George Victor Hutchinson, was neither of these and once I’d found a couple of newspaper articles about him and his various scurrilous petty crimes in the Halton area of Hastings, I was on a roll.

It turned out he'd been in and out of the local courts and prisons during his lifetime for assaulting policemen in Albion Street, driving dangerously, car crashes in Ore village, drunkenness in and around various different pubs in the Old Town, Halton and Mount Pleasant areas, violence towards pretty much anyone he came into contact with once he'd had a few drinks and my personal favourite, Larceny by Trick – where he tried to flog a motorbike that he didn't own by impersonating a door to door banana salesman (I'll leave that one to your imagination!). Usually, his defence was that he couldn't remember a thing due to the amount of homemade wine he’d consumed. It sounded like a normal night out in Hastings to me.

After my grandma, died, he left his kids to fend for themselves and shacked up with a Mrs Humm, the landlady of the Fortunes of War pub. She called the police on him several times for being drunk and violent, then he reported her for having illegal guns on the premises. According to her, they belonged to her dead husband Herbert Humm, who'd kept them after being in the military. There was, interestingly, no record of him ever having served in the military, but he had died very suddenly, leaving her to run the pub single handedly. Predictably, my grandpa also came to a sticky end in her pub from taking an overdose

of Soneryl tablets, causing butobarbitone poisoning. It became clear why my Mum never talked of her earlier life.

I found a census from 1911 which showed that my longsuffering grandma, Jane Elizabeth White had lived in Ebernezer Road, just off All Saints Street and that her father, George Louis Duncan White's occupation was sited as being a fisherman. This was a revelation to me, I knew my mum had grown up in Hastings but had no idea that she was a part of one of the fishing families.

I was suddenly transported back to a memory as a kid, sitting on a little stool in our utility room in Ore Village. There is washing dangling from a string strung taut along the ceiling and there is rain, so much rain tapping its rhythms on the windows outside, rain drops having races with each other to get to the bottom of the pane. A door at one end leads to a concrete driveway where I have spent many hours bouncing on my rusty, hand-me-down pogo stick and learning how to ride my second hand bike with rubber rainbow tassels on the handle bars.

My mum is gutting fish. Chop, slice, swoosh. The fish are flat and brown with orange spots on them. Chop, slice, swoosh. The smell wafts over from the massive freezer trunk she uses as a work top, you know those ones which often house dead bodies in murder mysteries. I don't like that smell, it makes my nose wrinkle, but it is a familiar one that has always been in our house. The freezer trunk is always full to the brim of fish. I never question why or wonder where it is all coming from. It doesn't occur to me that these fish are actually a part of our family.

My whole understanding of my mum had changed. As I delved further back using the discovery of my great grandfather's name, I received an email from Nona Jackson at the Fishermen's Museum containing photographs of him and his son, Louis. To look upon the faces of my recently discovered ancestors was such a thrill.

"...he'd been in and out of the local courts and prisons during his lifetime for assaulting policemen in Albion Street, driving dangerously, car crashes in Ore village, drunkenness in and around various different pubs in the Old Town..."

Left: A still taken from the short film, 'Ploughing the Sea: Bev Lee Harling' by Caitlin Lock.

Newspaper searches threw up a series of articles about a sea mystery that shook the residents of Hastings in March 1940 when a lugger boat called the Happy Return disappeared off the coast of Rye. There were no adverse weather conditions and an eye witness account from the harbour master told of how the boat was there one minute and not, the next.

I quickly went to the next article which talked of a body washing up on the ranges of Lydd several weeks later. There were two fishermen aboard the boat when it had disappeared: Richard Eason and my great uncle, Louis White. The body was Richard's, identified by his family. There was no trace on his body to indicate how he had come to be in the water, only that he had tragically drowned. I felt as though I was in the middle of a mystery novel, except this was about my own family and a town I'd known my whole life. It was nerve shredding as I clicked on the next article. Had Louis survived? How on earth had a whole boat disappeared?

A wave of sadness overtook me. There, in the black and white print, it told me that a second body had washed up, identified by my great grandpa, George White as being Louis. Devastated, I scoured the article for a mention of the boat or why this tragedy had happened. Nothing.

The following article, however, proved more fruitful. A diver from London had been employed by George Steel, the owner of the boat, to investigate where the boat had last been seen. He discovered the boat in its watery grave with the whole of the starboard side blown apart. His conclusion was that a mine had caught up in the trawl net of the Happy Return (the irony of that name!) and had blown the ship apart catapulting the two men into the water.

A heart melting description in the final article of "Crowds of silent watchers gathering at Rock-a-Nore road for the funeral, under the watchful eye of the flags of the fishing fleet at half mast" completely floored me. Listed under the evocative account of that day were all the people I had been researching – my grandma, great aunts, great grandparents, great great uncles and aunts, all grieving for the loss of Louis. It helped me to pull all the research together to be sure that all of these people were indeed my family.

A few weeks later, I found a picture of Great Grandpa George and his brother 'Jumbo' in Navy uniforms from WW1. They had both been Minesweepers, locating the underwater bombs and detonating them before they could cause any damage. I can't imagine how George must have felt when he realised what had happened to his son.

Inspired, I began creating music and writings influenced by the kind of traditional folk music you can hear on a Tuesday at The Stag pub in All Saints Street. Mo Cohen supported me throughout the process as I navigated through some

difficult family revelations and my writing gradually began to develop into a one woman show. At The Stables Theatre, I was able to work on songs whilst looking straight out into the old town and the stomping ground of my ancestors. My interest began to be held by the women in this community, how had they coped with all the trials and tribulations, the losses and living their lives so closely in tune with the weather and the changing seas? Their lives were so poorly documented and so I allowed my imagination to start telling the stories I could find, but from the perspective of the women. My attention kept drifting back to my grandma and how she would have felt, waiting for the safe return of her brother, Louis.

After finding the story of the Happy Return I posted it on the local Hastings Old Town Fishing Community group on Facebook, asking if anyone knew anything. Incredibly, I was contacted by 95-year-old local, Violet Bailey, whose dad, Jack Simmons went out on the lifeboat looking for my great uncle Louis. I was lucky enough to meet with Violet and hear first-hand how close her dad had been to Louis and how shaken he’d been coming back from their fruitless search for the boat. I asked more about the lifeboat he’d been on and when she told me the name of it, I felt a shiver run down my spine. The Cyril and Lilian Bishop was the lifeboat used for the search and now stands, pride of place at the bottom of Harold Road, exactly opposite where I had been staring out of the window, writing the song about the Happy Return in the Stables bar.

Since embarking on my research, I have developed a stronger understanding of my mum, the hardships she faced and how they shaped the kind of mother she was to me. She overcame so many things to give me and my siblings a safe and caring environment to grow up in.

I've spent some great quality time with my dad visiting important times in his life. Recording them has been a fun project we've both been able to share. Also, by discovering the stories of people in my history and locals, it has given me new understandings of who I am and where I'm from and through telling the stories of other people it has begun to inform my creativity in new ways.

With the guidance of Mo, I've begun to choose which inherited stories I want to take with me and which ones to leave behind and, because this process has worked so well, we are starting up LifeWrights to help others go through the same process that I have.

So, unlike my grandma's poor brother Louis, over the course of investigating my family ancestry I have fortunately had a very happy return to my life as a creative. ⚫

bevleeharling.com

lifewrights.com

Many towns will revel in the fact that they have a huge Cineworld complex with about a dozen screens and all the latest blockbusters available the second they’re dropped off of the Hollywood hills. Here we like to do things a bit differently though (of course). Whilst we do have an Odeon cinema in Hastings and a much larger Cineworld just down the road in Eastbourne, it’s the independent options that we are so privileged to have here in the area.

At the Kino Theatre in St Leonard’s, we can get dressed up to the nines to go and watch the latest Bond movie from the comfort of a chesterfield sofa and with a cocktail (shaken not stirred) in hand. At the De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill, we can enjoy rooftop screenings of classic films during balmy summer evenings, and in the heart of Hastings Old Town, we have The Electric Palace Theatre which feels nostalgic and traditional, with its gold velvet seating and dim, hazy lighting.

Walking up those steps is like entering another world. This small but perfectly formed cinema is run by a dedicated team of volunteers. One of those volunteers, Jamie Sellers, tells us more about what goes on there:

October 2022 saw the Electric Palace cinema in Hastings Old Town celebrate the 20th anniversary of its opening. But for a short time, it looked like this beloved local institution might not reach that landmark. The covid pandemic hit businesses everywhere and placed the very future of the cinema in doubt. The local community’s response to an appeal was overwhelming though, raising over £15,000 in less than a week.

I began working at the Electric Palace as a volunteer four years ago. I’m one of around 30 people, on rotation, from the local community, who will greet you as you enter, answer your questions and, on a very busy night, guide you to that last free spot in the cinema. Some of us do it out of a lifelong love of cinema, some to be surprised by films they know nothing about, and others simply because they enjoy meeting and talking to people. All of us appreciate the communal experience of sitting in a darkened room anticipating what unfolds on the big screen, something for which there is no substitute.

A volunteer since the outset, Glenys Jacques, describes her favourite thing about the Electric Palace:

Another who runs the door, Chris Pierre, highlights a key benefit of volunteering at the Electric Palace: the chance to socialise and discuss films after screenings, something the team says is really key to why people feel so passionately about the Electric Palace. It provides a welcome and open-minded safe space to share your thoughts about film. Chris says:

Some of the more unusual recent events in the cinema’s annual programme include a series of films about the great outdoors, with ‘forest bathing’ sessions held in nearby woods before screenings, and honey tasting from local vendor Bee Potion, as part of the annual Dear Future Film Festival, co-curated by the Electric Palace’s founder and co-director, Rebecca Marshall.

Local B-Movie enthusiast, Robin Elliott-Knowles, has been curating the monthly Sunday night B-Movie Fan Club at the Electric Palace since he was 13, inspired by a screening of Ed Wood’s legendarily hammy Plan 9 from Outer Space that he attended at the cinema. The idea behind the B-Movie Fan Club was both to celebrate the B-Movie genre and also to create an opportunity for Robin, who has autism, to cultivate an independent social life and make more connections. The club is a fantastic example of how this grassroots venue embraces ideas from its audience and enables them to flourish and create a community of its own within the venue. If that sounds in any way far-fetched, come along to a B-Movie night

"The moment I walk in the door I feel at home. It’s a true community resource, open to ideas from the community; music, plays, anything that involves presentation, audience, and creative endeavour!"

"Conversation! Between the volunteers, the staff and the audience. It's not just watching the film, but a feeling of we are doing something together. It makes it different. A bit clubby or being a member of something good."

Image by Jeff Pitcher.

and experience it for yourself. When Robin was asked what he loves about B-Movies, he replied “I love their quirkiness and sometimes they are so bad that they are better than a so-called well-made film. They are just so unashamedly FUN!”

Robin loves sharing these films that he loves with other people, he enjoys being around like-minded nerds and autistic people. “They are my tribe” he says, “I love showing films that hardly anyone else has seen before and surprising them”. Robin also enjoys giving talks before his films which he promises are “both factual and fun”. And yes, sometimes he gives away the plot! “It’s an opportunity to talk to people, which, as a young autistic, adult, is very rare. I love the audience responses and laughing along with them. They are special nights and the audiences are wonderful, eccentric and kind.”

The team of directors steering the cinema into the future (existing co-Director Annie Waite, joined by new appointments Julia Andrews-Clifford and Antonia Clarke) have ambitions to really boost opportunities for the space to be used by more local community groups, schools and businesses to enjoy the benefits of the big screen setting.

A common reaction from newcomers to the stylish bijou setting, is a gasp of “Wow! What a lovely place!”. With its vintage golden velvet seats, a bar stocked with thoughtful items including liquorice sticks (“Some customers are very passionate about the liquorice!” notes Annie), and local ales handpicked by The Jolly Fisherman pub. The team

really wants to ensure the community has the chance to make the most of the place. If you’re looking for a stylish venue for a special occasion, the cinema can be hired for private events and parties. There was even a romantic marriage proposal at one private hire screening a few years back.

The cinema already plays host to a variety of clubs and festivals, including the annual Hastings Comedy Festival, art exhibitions regularly adorn the walls. The now firmly established Hastings Punk Choir uses the venue for its weekly practice, and younger audiences are encouraged to learn about the industry via the Young Film Programmers Group.

As a Community Interest Company, the Electric Palace’s goal from the outset was to ensure it diversifies from being ‘just a cinema’ to really providing a community-focused venue. Many screenings have a ‘cinema plus’ element, an added incentive to ditch the sofa, brave the elements, and watch a film in the company of others. In its programming, the Electric Palace tries hard to represent films that are F-Rated: the F-Rating is applied to all films which are directed by women and/or written by women. This allows audiences to pro-actively choose to go and see F-Rated films, and highlights that women can and should have more than just a supporting role within the traditionally male-dominated industry.

Unpaid carers with a Carers Card can attend screenings for free alongside the person they care for, while any pianist who would like to entertain arriving audience members on the cinema’s 1880 Chappell piano, prior to a show, can earn themselves a free ticket to that performance.

But to continue to provide this warm and welcoming space, the Electric Palace really does need regular support. Competition from streaming services is at an all-time high, and if we don’t use these community spaces, we’ll lose them.

Hilary Claire Dunham Philips, profiled in the How We Met feature in Spring 2023’s Get Hastings, is a regular. The last word goes to her: “There are two things I love about the Electric Palace, first: the programming. I go to the Thursday morning film, only £5 and I get a free coffee. Unless I’ve already seen the film, I just book for whatever it is, regardless. The second is the staff. My memory is dreadful and I give them endless opportunities to point and laugh, I get the film wrong, the day wrong – once I even booked twice! But they just smile, pour the coffee and make sure my favourite seat is reserved. One of the best things about Hastings, that cinema.” ⚫

The Electric Palace

Photos of the B-Movie Fan Club, taken by Rachel Manns.

WAXING LYRICAL WITH Get

Written by Mel Elliott with photography by Alice Denny

When I got into the car the other morning to take my kid to school, the radio defaulted to BBC 6 Music and I immediately heard something I recognised. It was ‘Treasure’ by HotWax and once the song finished, Lauren Laverne was gushing about them being the ones to watch out for in 2023. At this point, I had already interviewed the band for Get Hastings but even in that short period, their potential had grown so much.

They are played regularly on 6 Music, they supported Supergrass last year, NME recently labelled them as ‘Britain’s next great guitar band’ and they have a summer of music festivals lined up, supporting the likes of The Strokes and Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Royal Blood on their West Coast stint of the US. HotWax are currently balancing on a precipice of dreams come true and I for one, am thrilled for them. ‘It’s one of the perks of being a rockstar’, I explained to HotWax’s drummer, Alfie Sayers as he seemed genuinely delighted at sinking the golf ball, ‘you get to play crazy golf for free!’. He looked at me with a face that said ‘I could get used to this’ and with the speed at which HotWax are on the rise, I have a feeling he might have to. It has to be said that I was excited too! I was about to do my first ever band interview, and if that Cameron Crowe film was called Almost Fifty rather than Almost Famous then we’d be almost in my head.

HotWax arrived at the crazy golf course, excited and beaming, dressed in vintage fake fur, laddered fishnets, heavy eyeliner and baggy jeans. Grunge was definitely the word that sprung to mind but like many bands, HotWax don’t like to put a label on their musical genre, especially when you take their influences into account: Blondie, Hole and Yeah Yeah Yeahs (Tallulah), The Foo Fighters and the The Red Hot Chilli Peppers (Lola) and Nirvana, Stereolab and a bit of jazz thrown in for good measure (Alfie). Lola tried to sum up: ‘Each song is unique. Some songs you’d say are definitely alternative rock or punk and then others you’d say are ‘90s surfy and some I think are pop!’ I asked them about any guilty pleasures. ‘I love Bossa Nova!’ Alfie said with a giggle. ‘Mine is Adele… massively,’ Tallulah admitted.

Tallulah Sim Savage, is just 18-years-old and before HotWax, she was in a band called The Kiffs alongside HotWax bassist, Lola Sam. They met at secondary school (Rye College) where they were put together by their music teacher at just 12-years-old. By the age of fourteen they were playing to crowds on Hastings’ Pier and in The Albion upon the stage that we were currently sitting upon, doing their interview. The Kiffs went their separate ways when those pesky GCSEs got in the way, and it was at music college in Brighton that Lola and Tallulah teamed up with drummer, Alfie.

‘I started playing guitar at the end of primary school and my family are all musicians,’ Lola said when I asked how she first got into music. Tallulah’s parents (her dad is Hastings’ own notorious Dr Savage) also steered her into music she thinks ‘but also living in Hastings and being surrounded by music and art and stuff’, she said. I asked Tallulah if her performer parents had given her any advice. ‘My mum always tells me to take each day as it comes and I really struggle to do that but I feel it’s important to focus on that one day and give it everything, even when there’s so much going on, and that goes for music or anything’. ‘Yeah we have to do this now,’ said Lola, ‘we have one chance to do this so we have to put everything into it’.

I asked the band how they go about writing songs. ‘It depends on the song really’ says Alfie. Tallulah jumped in, ‘a lot of the time Lola writes the main riffs and she writes a lot of the music and I’ll always write the lyrics separately, by myself and then we’ll bring it all together in rehearsals. But there isn’t just one method’. I asked how they felt about making commercial compromises in terms of their creativity and Tallulah replied ‘I think we really like to stay true to ourselves and never make something because we want it to be a hit or whatever. Luckily, we haven’t had any problems with that so far.’

When I asked about collaboration, Tallulah and Alfie appeared nonplussed but Lola seemed well up for it.

‘I’d love someone to rap on one of our songs, I think that would be really sick! Like Little Simz or something, can you imagine?’ she said enthusiastically as her bandmates laughed.

‘And if you could support any artist, who would it be?’ I asked.

‘Well I mean, some of the things we’re doing this summer are already like a dream come true for me because we're playing at All Points East with Yeah Yeah Yeahs and that was always the band for me, so I was like oh my god! It’s really exciting’, Tallulah said.

"We have to do this now... we have one chance to do this so we have to put everything into it."

—

Lola Sam

Waxing Lyrical with HotWax

I received a resounding ‘Yes!’ When I asked HotWax if they’d always wanted to be musicians. ‘We’ve all always been around music,’ Alfie told me. ‘…and even before I started playing guitar I knew that’s what I wanted to be,’ said Lola. ‘I’ve always been into visual things,’ said Tallulah, ‘like video and styling and stuff like that and I was really into art but I’ve always loved music the most’. They also hate the idea of doing something else in the future. ‘No!’ said Lola. ‘It would be cool as well though to create more videos and really get into the visual aspect of the band’, said Tallulah ‘actually, I’d quite like to learn how to produce’ Lola said, ‘to be able to do it all yourself is the dream’. Lola is also very keen to do more covers. ‘We did 'I Put a Spell on You' for Halloween and we did 'Born This Way' for Pride,’ said Tallulah. ‘We definitely have more covers on the horizon’ said Lola, ‘but picking the right song is very important’. ‘We’ve always been very adamant about not doing covers,’ said Tallulah. ‘Well YOU’VE been adamant,’ argued Lola, ‘but yes we definitely want to do more.’

Playing live is a big part of being in any band and especially here in Hastings where you can hear live music coming from somewhere at any given time. HotWax love to perform their song 'Barbie (Not Yours)' because it’s fun and usually towards the end of the set, but they also enjoy playing whatever is newest on the set list. ‘I love to play the song 'A Thousand Times' because it’s very nostalgic to us,’ said Tallulah, ‘we wrote it when we were younger and it always feels special’. They absolutely love to play at Fat Tuesday and anywhere in Hastings but when I spoke to them, HotWax were stoked about their then imminent sold-out gig at The Printworks (which happened on the 20th of May). ‘We’ve grown up going to see bands there,’ said Lola, ‘bands such as Kid Kapichi, and it felt like every week as they did so many gigs there!’

I have known Tallulah since she was a little kid and I’d recognised her to be absolutely lovely, but quite shy and that didn’t quite correlate with the sultry, confident singer and guitarist that we see on stage today. ‘Is this something you’ve had to work on?’ I asked her. ‘I was a weirdly shy person and I still definitely struggle with getting anxious about being confident, but I guess growing up and being on stage gives you this confidence. You have to put on a show and you can’t come across as though you don’t know what you’re doing. But also, leaving school and going to music college and fitting in definitely helps. When I left school I was like oh my god, I can completely be myself now… which is good’ she replied with a look of relief. I completely resonated and I hope that some of the younger people reading this can look forward to being themselves some day soon, as well.

Lola admitted to getting very nervous before a recent gig ‘because my whole family were there,’ she explained. ‘When it's a crowd that we don't know I’m okay but I’ll definitely be nervous for the Hastings gig. ‘Well when

it’s people you already know, that’s the scariest because they already have an impression of you but recently we've been doing gigs where no one knows us and it's easier.’

We chatted about the music industry and Lola has an issue with the vast amount of very average male bands that are ‘really shit but everyone still seems to really love them’. Weirdly, she failed to remember any band names when I pushed her for details but I’m 99.9% certain she was merely being diplomatic, which was very mature for a 19-year-old musician I thought. ‘I mean, just look at the headliners’ she said, ‘every year it’s some old white man. I feel like it’s getting a bit boring and that festivals need to up their game… except for All Points East of course which will be really good’. Lola Sam: diplomat by day, rock goddess by night!

— Tallulah Sim Savage

"It would be cool to create more videos and really get into the visual aspect of the band ."

‘So how did you feel when NME said you were Britain's Next Great Guitar Band?’ I asked them as our interview came to a close.

‘We had no idea that was going to be the title! It’s a lot to live up to,’ replied Lola.

‘It was hard to get my head around!’ Said Tallulah. ‘It was quite overwhelming,’ admitted Alfie. Lola continued ‘but it actually made me feel really proud. We’ve been doing this for five years now and it makes me look forward to the future.’

To end on a slightly trivial note, I asked what their favourite biscuits are (they didn’t know this but I had a small pack of Jaffa Cakes stuffed away my pocket which I would have happily parted with for the correct answer).

‘Oh my god I love this question!’ Tallulah said with a genuine enthusiasm before selecting Custard Creams. Lola also picked Custard Creams and Alfie struggled to decide between Biscoff and Custard Creams.

‘We’re just a Custard Cream band really!’ Tallulah said with a shrug, and with that, I said my goodbyes, slightly jealous that my life doesn’t consist of hot pants, guitars and music festivals. Oh, well, at least I had a cup of tea and some Jaffa Cakes to look forward to. ⚫

'A Thousand Times EP' is out now on Marathon Records and you can catch HotWax live at the following events:

2nd July

Newport, Rebel Fest

7th July

Madrid, Mad Cool Festival

22nd July

Hackney, Visions Festival

25th August

London, All Points East Festival

9th September

Torquay, Burn It Down Festival

Waxing Lyrical with HotWax

Written by Michael Smith with photography by Joe Charrington

Nothing says Hastings like Jack in the Green: clog-dancing maidens, stomping steampunk drummers, Morris dancers a-leaping with their knee bells and handkerchiefs, happy LGBTQ+ samba troupes, beardy blokes with owls perched on their arms, a long procession following the presiding deity of the rite, Jack, the spirit of Spring, making his way up the winding cobbles of the Old Town, all eight foot of him covered in foliage and flowers, a green nature spirit zig-zagging and spinning crazily up the crooked streets like a Whirling Dervish or maybe a Zangbeto voodoo spirit of Benin, herded and jostled by the priestly caste of Bogies all decked in ivy leaf and green rags, shepherding him to the spot by the castle commanding the seaways back to Normandy, the sacred spot at the top of the West Hill where he is ritually slain each Mayday, sacrificed to banish the winter and release all the goodness of the warmth and the light…

But there is another, more secretive spirit who rules deep below these rites, an altogether more sinister deity who waits in the darkness of the underworld of caves grown into the living rock of the West Hill… in a womb-like chamber at the heart of it all known as “The Chapel”, a primitive idol carved out of that primordial stone lurks, troubling the shadows, staring out at you from the darkness of unknown ages, bad vibes since time immemorial… the hippies round here say the ley lines join up wrong in this town, and if this is indeed the case, I’d bet my crooked three bob bit this chapel is the crossroads, the black heart of the wrongness…

It was a fresh, sunny Spring day when we headed down to the caves to take some photos, a mistletoe wreath on a maypole on the crest of the hill, commemorating Jack’s recent sacrifice… we took the path down the eastern flank, towards the Old Town, by the stumpy little old hilltop lighthouse thing pointing out to sea, just above the entrance to the caves that descended down into the depths…

As soon as you’re in there, heading down Monks’ Walk, a close, claustrophobic tunnel dug out of the rock, a sinister oldy-worldly construction with columns, candle nooks and pointed gothic arches carved into it, like something out of the black mass scene in an old Dennis Wheatley film, you immediately start to feel an uncomfortable sense of foreboding… at the bottom, the tunnel abruptly corners a sharp left turn, then suddenly opens out into a cavernous, sunless chamber receding off deep into the darkness, unnerving you, and you’re wary of what may lay ahead…

"The hippies round here say the ley lines join up wrong in this town..."

It’s all weird and unsettling enough, but it’s only once you arrive at the black heart of the place, The Chapel, that it fully hits you..."

In modern times the caves have been turned into a visitor attraction popular with tourists and the various English language schools in the town, Spanish and German teenagers looking freaked out among the pantalooned mannequins, the pistols and artefacts in glass cases, the interactive displays where you put your hands into a dark hole with a cartoon smuggler saying, “I’ve lost me booty, can you find my pipe?”, all a bit too 70s, a bit too Captain Pugwash and Seaman Staines, and then there’s the holes in the walls where chains for smugglers’ prisoners used to be, and the recreated bony corpses of smugglers hanged in gibbets, victims of the rivalries and turf-wars between local gangs, a 17th century version of the Essex Boys, dominated by the worst of the lot, the Hawkhurst Gang, the Ronnies and Reggies and Mad Frankie Frazers of the day…

It’s all weird and unsettling enough, but it’s only once you arrive at the black heart of the place, The Chapel, that it fully hits you: a horrible feeling, an atmosphere so thick and heavy and menacing it feels like it’s weighing down on your

chest, and you need to catch your breath, a feeling of something oppressing you, bad vibes radiating from the place where the altar would usually sit in this dark chapel – the idol, that horrible thing carved out of the living rock, a crude, brutish humanoid shape, like a heavyset mudman, with a face like a voodoo mask the wrong size plonked artlessly over the top of a crude clay head, and you’re thinking, Who the Hell ARE you? but at the same time you don’t really want to know…

The Victorians called him St Clement, but he has a far from saintly air; there’s something diabolical about him; the shadow of his crudely carved shoulders cast a pair of Baphomet-like wings behind him, his clumsy arms cupped in a hollow just about big enough to fit what in? A baby? No, stop thinking these thoughts, I told myself, as I remembered the stories of the place being candlelit like in the olden days for the benefit of a TV crew not so long ago, and every time they pressed record, all the candles flickered and went out, all at once, right on cue, take after take…

Other stories from the staff included running footsteps, children laughing, the sound of chains being dragged late at night when everyone else had left… a common complaint is the sensation of somebody blowing in your ear… one customer emerged white as a sheet into the gift shop once saying something had been whispering her name down there… one girl told me the walkie talkie told her to Piss Off once when she was locking up and there was no one else around… there’s one animatronic mannequin all the staff are scared of that apparently malfunctions and says Get Out Get Out Get Out on loop; I was later told it only does this when one particular member of staff is in the room…

They held a psychic night down there recently and did a Ouija board – just looking for trouble I’d say… the girl I was speaking to heard loud footprints stomping up angrily behind her, she turned in fright to look, but of course there was nobody there… lots of children came through on that Ouija board session… the living asked the dead if there were any nasty ghosts who wanted to harm them, and they said only one: He who stands in front of the idol… “Anything happened to you in the Chapel?” I asked her, “I don’t go in there. I always take the long way round. None of the staff like going in there,” she told me… apparently the only person who does like that room comes to visit once a month, a man who pays his entrance fee, goes straight to the Chapel and then sits in front of the idol for hours on end…

I’ve been in that Chapel two times with my son and twice with friends, and each time someone’s said, “Right, can we leave now? I don’t like it down here…” Beth from Get Hastings who was organising the shoot took a funny turn and decided she had to leave… I wanted to leave too but we needed to get some photos and as always it takes a while to set up…

“Stand in front of the idol will you Michael?”

I know it was probably a bit of autosuggestion, as well as last night’s hangover, but I couldn’t bare being too close to him for very long, I was getting a queasy feeling being in his presence, a headache, a feeling like I needed some fresh air, a feeling like I just needed to get the fuck out of dodge as quickly as possible…

“Turn to look at the camera, will you?”

I didn’t want to turn to look at the camera; I found when I was near the idol, I always had to have him in front of me, where I could see him, and turning my back to him felt like a really bad idea…

“Yeah, that’s lovely,” said the photographer, “Great – can I go now?”

“I’ll walk you back if you want,” offered the lighting guy, “Wait! Don’t leave me here alone!” said the photographer, so the three of us walked back to the entrance… as we walked by some iron chains, I got an inexplicably strong whiff of something,

“Whoa, can you smell that?”

“Yeah, it smells like… beef Hula Hoops…” said the lighting guy, and we all laughed nervously because that’s exactly what it smelled like…

It was a fresh, sunny Spring Day when we descended into the caves, but it could have been a different time of year when I reached the surface again… a heavy grey helmet of cloud enveloped the hill, like my headache… I sat on the step to try and get my breath back, still feeling queasy, oppressed, still feeling really wrong… a great black crow flopped through the skies and landed on the path in front of me as I looked out over the Old Town nestled in its gorge, thinking of all that hidden secret wrongness it was built on top of… the cave complex forms a sprawling four acre system that extends under the Old Town, one tunnel even coming up under the altar of All Saints Church with the ITNOTGAOTU grave, a warren of twisting claustrophobic passages to further cavernous hollows and chambers…

I woke up in the middle of the night worrying about all that hidden secret wrongness, worrying about that idol’s awful misshaped face, while I listened out for my poorly baby coughing and wheezing in the cot next to the bed, and I felt very uneasy indeed… the next day I found out Beth was woken up startled in the middle of the night by her daughter running into the bedroom screaming after a horrible nightmare, which really did her in… and writing about it now, I’m worrying about the crude, clumsy, horrible face of that idol again, and I can’t get him out of my mind’s eye, and I find I need to stop writing and walk around the flat for a bit, just to have a breather and to check that everything’s alright… Δ

"There’s one animatronic mannequin all the staff are scared of that apparently malfunctions and says Get Out Get Out Get Out on a loop."

COMMON PEOPLE

The Creative Commons team.

Photo by Jonny Thompson johnnythompson.co.uk

COMMON PEOPLE

Written by Beth King

Portrait photography by Joe Charrington

It’s a breezy summer’s day and I’m standing on the newly renovated roof of the Observer Building, chatting to a few ‘Hastings Commoners’. Darren, originally from Brixton, moved here when he was youngster in 1998. He is a trustee and Chair of Hastings Commons Community Land Trust. “I was severely depressed when I first volunteered at Ore Valley and met Jess (Steele)” Darren tells me. “I remember saying to Jess, “Right, what do you want me to do?” and Jess replied, “That’s not how it works, Darren, what do you want to do?” “There was this path, and ever since I was a kid, it’s been slippery and dangerous, so I said, “I want to sort that out.” And we did. The whole experience gave me a new perspective, a bit of self-worth. I felt like I belonged rather than just being.”

At the time, Darren was volunteering for Heart of Hastings Community Land Trust, as it was then known, when they were trying to save the disused power station site at Ore Valley to transform it into a community-owned and permanently affordable eco-village. They occupied the site on licence for over two years, clearing it up and putting on community events, before effectively being evicted in March 2019 by the regeneration agency, Seaspace, who sold it on to a commercial housing developer. “It was a case of powerful decision makers who just wouldn’t listen… they wouldn’t even look at the plans” says Jess. “It’s still derelict today” says Darren, “although now there’s thousands of tons of rubbish dumped there from the Fellows Road development. I know, because I live there, I’ve seen them do it.”

Since then, Hastings Commons CLT has successfully rescued the Observer Building and Rock House from dereliction, transforming them into new workspaces for creatives and affordable homes. The CLT bought the buildings, and others, for the community’s benefit. By taking them off the market they’ve stopped commercial developers from ever being able to brazenly flip the building for profit or turn them into luxury flats that only a few can afford, which could easily have been the fate of the OB. The buildings are held in a trust and can’t be sold, so they stay in the community forever. As the community owns the assets, they also get to make decisions about them.

Back on the roof, and people are still grieving over what happened at Ore Valley. For Commoner, Ian Studley, proudly wearing a Heart of Hastings branded sweatshirt (the name changed to Hastings Commons in a vote last September), redevelopment is taking too long. He wants to see things ‘sorted’. Ian also thinks that, “Locals are being forced out by the incomers – DFLs, AFBs or whatever you want to call them.” As we stand marvelling at the views and imagining what the rooftop bar will look like, I ask him who he classes as ‘locals’. “Hastings or St Leonards’ second, or first, generation born-and-bred”, he proclaims. I share some sympathy with Ian’s views. As someone who was priced out of the area where I grew up, the influx of people moving to Hastings has pushed house prices and rents up. People have cashed in, but others are victims of the UKwide housing crisis.

“I’m not comfortable with the term DFL”, says Jess Courtney Bennett from Project Art Works and a long-term supporter of Hastings CLT. “There are a lot of people who have moved to Hastings, perhaps not out of choice, who are key parts of the community. I don’t agree with grouping people together as a ‘negative’ term”. I agreed, chipping in with, “You get tossers everywhere, whether they’ve moved here from London, or they’re born here.” Darren points out that the CLT should be here to help anyone who’s been established in the town for at least several years and has genuine need. “If they understand what the CLT is about and want to get involved, they should be welcomed”.

Anyone can become a member of the CLT for just £1.00 and have a say on the future of the CLT. It has 300 members already, but they need a lot more people to get involved and become a philanthropist for a quid. If you want more affordable housing, workspaces or a community-run nursery, you can put these ideas forward to a vote at the AGM. You can donate more, but you can’t buy more votes. It’s a democratic process and everyone gets one vote.

Hastings Commons’ approach is an aspiration and one that is littered with challenges – not least how everyone can work together, without it all becoming a headache. Yet, it has opened up opportunities for creatives to collaborate

and given people secure homes. “The general idea is great; it has a lot to offer, and it is changing people’s lives”, Ian says, pointing over at Darren.

Ruth McSmart, owner of Cheese on Sea who, along with her partner, James, rents a shop on Claremont said, “Yes, it’s flawed, but it’s human nature not to get everything perfect and there’s no way that we would’ve been able to do what we’ve done and open our business and employ local people if we hadn’t had our rent protected by Hastings CLT. The bloke next door to us, his rent increased to a ridiculous rate and so he closed, and that shop has sat empty for months.”

The Observer Building has had something like 13 owners since closing in 1984. Most of them sold it on to make a profit, without doing anything to improve the building. So, over the years, the building just rotted as water and pigeons took over.

There are still many people in the town who worked at the old Observer, or whose parents and grandparents did. Many more remember the infamous days of the ‘Old OB’, around 2015/16. Despite the controversy surrounding the developer at that time, Jeff Kirby, these days will remain the good old days for many. Dawn Dublin, Erika Holland and later Lily Kim and Lily Pierce, Rob Sample, Ollie Crowther, Jay Toole, Michaela, Mauricio and others, helped breathe new life back into the building by creating creative social spaces. They ran workshops, a café/bar, cinema, and exhibition and theatre spaces. Rock House supplied the electricity and water (legally) through a hole in the wall. One person remembers the toilets being, “really grotty”. The point is, no one can argue that saving the OB, and other buildings, for the community is not a good thing.

The alternative is far worse. But, for creative spaces to flourish, they must avoid falling into a corporate hierarchy structure that can stifle creativity. It’s a delicate balance if you want a place to function well and be sustainable, and this is exactly what the Commons aims to achieve.

“No one can argue that saving the OB, and other buildings, for the community is not a good thing.”

Thankfully, due to the CLT’s phased approach to development, the Observer, 12 Claremont, The Caves, The Common Room and Rock House are all safe, but land and housing are expensive and grant funding can’t last forever.

Since Rock House in 2014, Hastings Commons has successfully bid for over 100 funding awards, including from Hastings Town Deal. While a sign of endorsement for the process, the negative side is that funders have their own set of conditions, timeframes and constraints and being accountable to many funders is inevitably going to impact on the speed and cost of the development.

The more people who become a member of the CLT, the better, but I asked Jess Steele why people would become a member when many bought shares in the Pier, and look what happened to that? “Hang on a minute”, Jess replied, putting me straight, “you’re forgetting the vital bit in the middle, we saved the Pier.” Which is true. Jess had stepped away from the project when it was handed over to the new owners, Hastings Pier Charity, who led the restoration but failed to generate sufficient income. In the end, the Pier entered insolvency. Jess tried to buy it back with Friends of Hastings Pier, but it was eventually sold by the Administrators to the current owner for £60k.

The last Commoner I spoke to, Nick Wates, thinks the principle of a community-led developer is brilliant. “What characterises this organisation is its community spirit and dynamic approach to development. I’ve been here for 30 years and was involved in an organisation called the Hastings Trust, a similar kind of trust, and in 1990 we had a go at trying to save the Observer and get it going as a shared workspace and we didn’t succeed. The point is, this organisation (Hastings Commons), has done it with the OB and with Rock House, and it’s fantastic.” ⚫

To become a member of Hastings Commons CLT for £1.00 (or more) visit their website hastingscommons.com.

Correction: please note Nick Wates was incorrectly quoted and identified as Alex West in the print edition.

From top:

Darren French

Jess Courtney

Bennett

Ian Studley

Nick Wates

The Top Five New Books at The Hastings Bookshop...

Reviews by Charlie Crabb of hastingsbookshop.co.uk

Fassbinder: Thousands of Mirrors

by Ian Penman (Paperback, £12.99)

The first original, full-length book by ex-NME journalist and music critic Ian Penman explores the life and work of the late German filmmaker Rainer Werner Fassbinder. The book, recently published by Fitzcarraldo Editions, is written in 450 short fragments and was completed quickly under a self-imposed deadline, in the spirit of Fassbinder himself, who was so prolific he would release multiple films a year. The book isn’t a biography of Fassbinder, nor is it a conventional study of the film maker, instead it is a collection of fragments that evoke Fassbinder's films and the time and place of West Germany in the 1970s; its art and music, the explosive revolutionary politics of the post-war period and the dark pull of drug and alcohol addiction. A must read for fans of cinema and cultural, political history.

The Late Americans

by Brandon Taylor (Hardback, £18.99)

Brandon Taylor burst onto the literary scene in 2020 with his Booker-prize shortlisted debut novel 'Real Life', which was followed a year later with a magnificent collection of short stories, 'Filthy Animals'. In his new novel, 'The Late Americans', Brandon Taylor paints an intimate portrait of contemporary American life in a way that undoubtedly confirms his place as one of this generation's most perceptive and gifted novelists. The novel explores a group of young Americans living out their complicated and confusing interconnected lives in Iowa City. The circle of friends, lovers and enemies in 'The Late Americans' is centred around Ivan, Fatima and Noah, all of whom are at some sort of crossroad in their lives. Their broad social circle is populated by a diverse range of characters who are black and white, queer and straight and who do a varied mix of different jobs, from photographer and poet to landlord and meatpacking worker. Brandon Taylor uses the lives of these young people in the American Midwest to explore interpersonal questions of love, damage, trauma, precarity and loss, as well as larger social and structural questions related to queerness, race and inequality in contemporary America.

Sagittarius & Valentino

by Natalia Ginzburg (Paperback, £8.99 each)

Small Worlds

by Caleb Azumah Nelson (Hardback, £14.99)

From the bestselling author of 'Open Water', this is an exhilarating and poetic novel about joy, faith dancing, fathers and sons and the worlds we build for ourselves. Over the course of three summers, we follow Stephen’s life in music and dance in London and Ghana, as he tries to find a space in which he can feel free to be himself. 'Open Water' is a novel driven by the rhythm of dance music, from the gospel sounds of the church he attends with his family to the garage music he dances to in basements, Stephen can only feel free when he is losing himself in music. It is through his father’s records that he discovers an aspect of his father that he never truly knew, but how can he build a loving relationship with his father and the world beyond the safety of music?

Daunt Books are continuing their posthumous revival of the work of the Italian 20th Century novelist Natalia Ginzburg with the publication of two more short novels, 'Sagittarius' and 'Valentino'. Admirers of Ginzburg's writing include Sally Rooney, Maggie Nelson and Colm Tóibín and her clear, direct style of prose has led readers to draw comparisons with Elena Ferrante and Annie Ernaux. Both 'Sagittarius' and 'Valentino' are deeply concerned with class, ambition and aspiration. In 'Valentino', a spoiled child disappoints his parents by scandalising the family with his choice of bride. In 'Sagittarius' a domineering mother moves from a small Italian town to a city and strikes up a friendship with the mysterious Scilla, who opens up a new world of possibility and potential. Both novels explore the complexities of family life and offer psychological insight into the problem of living with and through other people.

August Blue

by Deborah Levy (Hardback, £18.99)

'August Blue' is the latest novel from celebrated writer Deborah Levy, who is the author of several novels including 'Hot Milk' and 'The Man Who Saw Everything', as well as her formally innovative and highly praised work of auto-fiction, the 'living autobiography' trilogy. Levy's latest novel opens in Greece, where Elsa Anderson, a concert pianist in her thirties who recently walked off stage in Vienna mid performance, is being watched by another young woman who bears an uncanny resemblance to Elsa. As Elsa drifts across Europe, escaping her past, she is followed by her elusive doppelgänger. 'August Blue' is a dazzling novel about melancholy, identity and the stories we get lost in. ⚫

pg.55

Dahl Curry Recipe by Colombo 16

pg.58

District Guide –Queens Road

pg.62

Young Voice –Charlie Moon: Artist

pg.64

How We Met: Katy & Dan

pg.66

1 x 5 – 1 Person in

5 Minutes: Su Warren

DAHL CURRY

COLOMBO 16

Colombo 16 are relatively new kids on the block and add a taste of Sri Lanka to the multi-cultural cuisine offering we already have in the area. Their Marine Court restaurant opened just six months ago with Caleb Joseph at the helm. Caleb is Brighton-born but his father is Sri Lankan and he feels a strong sense of Sri Lankan heritage. By day, they offer a fusion brunch with some traditional Sri Lankan options, by night contemporary curries, short eats and desserts intended for sharing. Their dishes are based on family recipes passed down

from Caleb’s grandparents and his mother roasts the family's curry powder recipe. These recipes are modernised with an ingredient-led approach sourcing locally and importing weekly from Sri Lanka. Caleb has kindly offered up a recipe for Dahl curry for you to make at home.

Colombo 16

17–19 Marine Court colombo16.co.uk

Words by Mel Elliott Photography by Steve Painter (stevepainter.co.uk / @stevepainter_food_photographer)

Ingredients

1 cup red split lentils

2.5 cups water divided

2 red onion, chopped

1 tsp ginger

3 cloves garlic, sliced

2 sprigs of curry leaves

For the Dahl

1 tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp cumin powder

½ tsp coriander powder

1 tsp salt

1 pinch of dill seeds

½ cup full-fat coconut milk

Tempering

1 tbsp oil

1 tsp brown mustard seeds

½ tsp cumin seeds

1 red or green chilli, sliced

1 sprig of curry leaves

Wash the red lentils until the water runs clear. Into a pot add red lentils, 1.5 cups of water, ½ the chopped onions, curry leaves, minced ginger, sliced garlic, turmeric powder, cumin powder, and coriander powder. Bring to a boil. Turn the heat to medium, cover the pot and cook the lentils until all the water is absorbed and the lentils are cooked through. This would take about 15–20 minutes.

Tempering

In a pan, heat the oil and add the other ½ of chopped onions, cumin seeds, curry leaves, the sliced chilli and once golden, add the mustard seeds. Cook until the mustard seeds start to pop. Pour the tempering into the cooked Dahl. Add the coconut milk, salt and stir to combine. Cover and let it all simmer for five minutes. Check the seasoning and add more salt if needed or more coconut milk if you require a thinner consistency. Serve Dahl with rice, roti or even some fresh bread. We finished ours off with some coriander oil and crispy curry leaves. ⚫

Written by Mel Elliott & Steven Larkin Illustrated by Mel Elliott @officialmelelliott

It wasn’t too long ago that Queens Road was a bit of a dive: strewn with discarded takeaway containers and lacking any kind of charisma.

Over the last few years though, this area has seen a much needed resurgence and today, it is brimming with great independent businesses: gourmet burgers, galleries, wood-fired pizzas, locally brewed beer, lightweight kayaks, haircuts, local wine, cocktails, paint, clothing, nail salons, books, vinyl, kebabs, greengrocers, there’s a sewing shop, a pet shop and even a shop selling prams… for the pram race! Basically, if you can’t get something on or around Queens Road, is it really worth having? And if it is, then, well, you can probably get it from ESK.

Downtown Colourville

130 Queens Road

Opened 2023

A paint-maker and colour-maker, concocting pigment mixtures like a chef. Heavily influenced by music. Prints with taglines such as "That Satsuma was a Peach" and "Hair of Nan" are also available.

Get Hastings loves

The paint samples packaged like vinyl records.

Yard & Quarter

123–124 Queens Road

Opened 2016 (relocated from St Leonards seafront)

An inclusive, eco-friendly, plant based salon. They’re for all types of people with all types of hair.

Get Hastings loves

The wide range of plastic-free hair products, and petting the friendly resident dogs on the way in and out – don't sit on Pablo when he's all cosy in his blanket on the sofa!

Eel & Bear

28 Waldegrave Street

Opened 2018

A craft beer and natural cider and wine emporium. Stocking only independently produced beverages, Eel & Bear are fully licensed to try before you buy. They also offer a plastic-free takeaway service.

Get Hastings loves

The art gallery of uniquely designed beer cans all lined up in the fridges.

Hair & Hound

196 Queens Road

Opened 2021

Business at the front, party at the back. A cosy salon/café/cocktail bar hybrid, with a rotating food menu. Supper Club and other events are regularly held.

Get Hastings loves

Cocktail nights at the Gold Bar!

Chef's Ware

60-61 Queens Road

Opened 2017

Whether you're looking for something practical, sexy or odd, Chef's Ware will have it. Copperbottomed saucepans, kitchen knives made from Japanese steel, or some good old Le Creuset –the list is endless!

Get Hastings loves

The choice; Chef's Ware stock over 6,500 different items.

The Prince Albert

28 Cornwallis Street

Opened 2023

The Prince Albert is a charming little pub serving cask ales, real ciders and much more. Partnering with Cheese on Sea, their food offering consists of poutine, burgers, hot dogs and other cheesy delights. A good selection of board games and open fires make this a cosy winter hideaway and outdoor seating makes for a fun afternoon on warm days.

Get Hastings loves

Anything with cheese on it quite frankly!

Table Flip

201 Queens Road

Opened 2022

Big on community, Table Flip offer table-top gaming seven days a week with gaming nights on Thursdays and Fridays. There's also a free Pokémon club on Sundays for the kids.

Get Hastings loves Geeking-out at the available collectibles – bought, sold and traded.

The Imperial

119 Queens Road

Opened 2016

The Brewing Brothers' empire continues to spread across the town with Taproom on The Ridge and The Courtyard, but The Imperial is where it all began. Inspired by US brewhouses, they brought the ethos over the pond and set up a brewery for quality craft beer.

Get Hastings loves

The wood-fired pizzas — plus the blazing-hot oven is a treat in the colder months.

Printed Matter

185 Queens Road

Opened 2017

A small independent book shop focusing on current affairs and politics, with added fiction and graphic novels. You'll also find vinyl records of ska, reggae, punk, jazz, soul and Missy Elliott.

Get Hastings loves

The monthly Radical Book Club and the considered curation of the available vinyl.

Bookbusters

39 Queens Road

Opened 2013

Bookbusters sell a mixture of end-of-the-line new books as well as second-hand classics. They also stock "nerdy t-shirts" records, CDs, DVDs, Manga and graphic novels. This is Hastings, so the most popular section, of course, is their collection of occult books.

Get Hastings loves

Getting lost in the forest of piled up books around the shop.

1066 Bakery

36 Queens Road

Opened 1997

Friendly staff and a vast twofloor space means this bakery is always full of customers, enjoying the outdoor seating with the kids occupied in the upstairs play area. Everything is baked fresh on the day.

Get Hastings loves

The amazing Biscoff and Nutella croissants (exclusive to 1066 Bakery) are delicious.

Chinese Supermarket

44-45 Queens Road

Opened 2018

A refreshingly alternative supermarket of fresh produce as well as bottled, tinned, frozen and dried goodies. Everything is authentic, imported from Asia.

Get Hastings loves

The Taiwanese Apple Milk –much tastier than you may think, and it comes in a pink can.

Hastings Fresh Fruit & Vegetables

46 Queens Road

Opened 2013

A small but jam-packed shop selling fresh fruit and vegetables from all around the world, from your common-all-garden courgette to figs, spices and tropical fruit.

Get Hastings loves

Spending a tenner and walking away with 3-4 bulging bags full of fresh fruit and veg.

One Twenty One

121 Queens Road

Opened 2021

A full-to-the-brim clothing market offering hand-picked vintage at very affordable prices. You'll find designer clothing, vintage sportswear and highend high street pieces. You can also grab a coffee or hot chocolate while you're there.

Get Hastings loves

Vintage Ralph Lauren for the bargain price of £15 just can't be beaten.

Bottle of Hastings

3 Trinity Street

Opened 2022

This wine shop is great for recommendations whether you’re buying a gift or you want something to pair with the sea bass you just picked up over the road. They stock an excellent range of wines to suit all budgets, including many from local vineyards. Manager, Drew, is super friendly and offers the opportunity to enjoy wines by the glass and bottle in the shop.

Get Hastings loves

A big bottle of Spicy Tommy’s Margarita.

Pet Express

28-29 Queens Road

Opened 2010

Like Harrods for your dog/cat/ bird/fish, Pet Express houses all kinds of food and accessories for your beloved pet. There's also a delivery service for when you can't drag a 15kg bag of dry dog food all the way up the West Hill.

Get Hastings loves

The caring and helpful staff that greet your four-legged friends like they were their own.

Morrisons

Queens Road

"Since 1899"

Anyone who frequents

Morrisons will know that dancing is not limited to just nightclubs. If you want to listen to some top bangers while you’re searching for eggs or their vegan alternative, this is the place to be and it hasn’t gone unnoticed. There is even a Twitter account dedicated to their fabulous playlists.

Add that to their reasonably priced plants (both indoor and outdoor), a great bakery and fish mongers — do you need more reasons to shop at Morrisons?

Take your own bags and wear your dancing shoes. Now aisle ‘av some of that!

Get Hastings loves

The deli counter, the freshly baked bread and the great choice of fish.

Waterworks Road

If you turn off of Queens Road heading to Morrisons, just on the right, is The Yard. In what used to be stable blocks, we have over fifty businesses nestled together in a tight-fit community.

Half Man! Half Burger! is the place to go for great comfort food and drinks, in another unit, Geoff Wass makes ultra light kayaks and canoes, Katja creates breathtakingly beautiful cakes for all your celebratory needs, Gillmans is a dog grooming centre, with fabulous doggywallpaper in the entrance.

Kitty Clogs is a British company that fell in love with Swedish clogs and has been producing them ever since. Process Club is a screenprinters, offering membership access as well as a screen printing service.

Reliquary are antique furniture dealers, specialising in architectural/ecclesiastical and pre/post war pieces There's also clothing makers, joiners, plumbers, artists, potters, jewellery makers and sculptors. Their regular ‘Makers Market’ sees a coming-together of businesses based in and around the Yard with a focus on the hand-made.

Written by Charlie Moon (12)

I'm Charlie Moon, I'm 12-years-old and I live with my Mum, Dad and cat, Mingus, in Hastings. I go to school in Rye and I enjoy doing art and music.

I've been drawing and painting ever since I can remember. I started off drawing detailed plans of houses, boats, submarines and other objects I can make into living quarters like pears and pigeons.

I sketch out in pencil first and then I use acrylics on canvas or board. I also use chalk, pastels and marker pens. I like bold, bright colours. I'm influenced by The Far Side by Gary Larson and like things that comment on the strangeness of life.

I was born in the Whittington Hospital in Highgate which has a huge cat logo on the roof. I think this set my pathway towards my cat obsession. I managed to persuade my parents to adopt a cat from the RSPCA and he's my biggest influence.

Mingus is 8-years-old, he's black and white with four white paws, a white bib and a white tipped tail. He looks like he's just got back from tea at The Ritz. He loves to dribble and dip his tail in our food when we least expect it. He's a huge fan of cheese and Marmite and sits at the breakfast table with us on his own chair, waiting for it.

I really love going to museums more than galleries on my days off as I don't think that many art spaces cater well for kids. The last exhibition I saw that I really liked was the Lego exhibition at Hastings Museum.

So far I've exhibited my paintings at The Crown and The Nest in Hastings Old Town. I want to keep my prices affordable for everyone so they range from £5–£50. I'm hoping to do other exhibitions in Hastings and I'm aiming to exhibit in London in the near future. I always donate a percentage of my earnings to a charity like the World Wildlife Fund or Eggtooth and the rest of the money, I'm saving up for a deposit on a house for my Mum. ⚫

Community Charlie Moon: Artist

Charlie's artwork on display at The Nest in Hastings Old Town.

Katy & Dan in Alexandra Park.

Words by Mel Elliott with photography by Caitlin Lock.

This issue's How We Met story centres around the romance of Katy and Dan, who are relative fledglings when it comes to their blossoming relationship. So it only seemed right to have them photographed with a cherry blossom tree that was in full bloom… and that was handily, straight opposite their flat which overlooks Alexandra Park.

Katy is 28 and works in PR, for an agency and was living in North London. Dan, 29, is Hastings born and bred and is not a rock star (although no one would blame you for thinking that), he is, in fact, a tree surgeon, 'but everyone is surprised when I say that', he tells me. 'Maybe I should just say I'm a rockstar who moonlights as a tree surgeon' he says.

'We were matched on Hinge', Katy explains. 'Hinge encourages actual relationships more than just hookups. It's the app that says it's meant to be deleted. It's my favourite of the dating apps and I've tried all of them!' she laughs.

Before they were matched on an app, Katy had been single for around six months and Dan 'for a long time!' he admitted. 'And it was quite weird because when you're on Hinge you set a distance limit and just by chance I was in London for work and we worked out that Katy was briefly visiting a friend nearby and that was how we were matched.'

'What were the chances of that!?' Katy said. 'It was just meant to be!' Dan said, both of them pleased as punch.

Katy continued, 'so, we'd been speaking on there for six weeks before we met in person but it was full lockdown at the time. I messaged him first but we were messaging other people up until we met and then I was like yeah, you're the one. Then he invited me down to stay for the weekend.'

'Woah, hang on. So the first time you met him was to travel for miles and stay with him?' I asked. 'Yeah I thought why not! I totally trusted him.'

'And we had an instant connection,' Dan reassured me. 'She was coming to visit from another city obviously, but it can also be scary letting someone else into your home.'

Katy added '...and he was living in an annex at his parents house back then... so on day one I met everyone!'

'Yeah, I walked through the door and his mum was standing there! I was like Oh hello!' I've never really spoken to my family about my love affairs before,' Dan says, 'but when I started chatting to Katy I thought this is the one. She was worth talking about.'

'I came down again two weeks later and things were allowed to open up then so we went to Pizzarelli and then had some drinks on the pier… and met more of his family,' Katy says, 'I had met his entire family within a month.'

'Me and my family are very close,' Dan explains '...and it was such a big deal that I had found someone I actually liked so everyone was like Oh my god we've got to meet her! Book us in!' 'Five months after we met he asked me to move here and a few weeks later I did!' Katy says.

'We were heading into another lockdown and we were like, shall we stay apart for four months or shall we just go for it?' Dan says.

Well Katy and Dan did just go for it and they are as gushy about one another as you'd totally expect them to be. They may not have met in a traditional way but without the dating app… and lockdown (allowing Katy to work from home and move down here), this happy young couple most likely wouldn't have happened.

Katy and Dan are very grateful for the serendipitous circumstances that brought them together and they'll be celebrating their three year mark this July. They have many plans for the future including a tour of the East Coast of North America and Canada, getting a house together '...and as soon as we get a house we're getting a sausage dog' Katy assures me while Dan looks slightly concerned. ⚫

Name Su Warren

Age 77 years young

Occupation Su spent many years raising three children, alone but she always wanted to go to art school. She is currently making three documentary films about people living in Hastings and Bexhill and she has a ridiculously high bed so that she can see the sea from it.

Lives St Leonards

1. When did you last cry?

I was sorting out some stuff, doing a bit of de-cluttering, and I came across this tiny little mitten and I looked at it and thought ‘Oh my god! That used to be Toby’s!’ It’s moving me even now as we speak about it actually. I looked at it and thought ‘it’s all gone so quickly and that used to fit him’. It just brought back all of those memories of being with my kids and how lovely it was.

2. What is your most treasured possession?

I think, photographs of family and friends… and me when I was young because it's that time that you kind of yearn after but knowing it will never be like that again. A family I knew had a house fire and they lost everything including all of those memories and it really frightens me. So I treasure those photographs and I keep some of them in tin boxes so that if there was a fire, they wouldn’t get destroyed.

3. What did you want to be when you were a kid?

I wanted to stay a kid. I hated the idea of growing up and I was a very late developer compared to the kids in the flats where I grew up. They sort of changed overnight when puberty hit and I still had plaits and plimsolls and wanted to play out.

4. What is a recent happy memory that you will always treasure?

It’s about my kids again! I do other things though, I do have a life! They are my everything though. So, being with all my kids and grand-kids at the same time.

It doesn’t happen often as some are in London and some are in Berlin. They are all very busy with their own families and busy lives but then again, I’m busy too. So it’s a joy for me when we all get together.

5. What advice would you give to your younger self?

There is no Prince Charming who is going to sweep you off your feet like you were told in fairy tales. I think you should not fear being alone, and one day you might meet that special person. We were always taught that we should marry and have babies but… get an education, be self-sufficient, love yourself, and then you will be ready to meet someone… or not, because that’s okay too. ⚫

Left: Su had her incredibly high bed made so that she can see the sea from it.

This page: Su photographed by Toby Shaw.