Get Hastings, Autumn 2023

It was during the summer months that we were creating this autumn issue but it was easy to imagine the following season, what with the wind and the rain and the dark, gloomy skies. I do hope that while you’re reading this, you’re sitting outside a cafe, enjoying an Indian summer and not sitting in front of a fire, livid that we were robbed of all sunshine.

But even if we’re deprived of sunshine, autumn delivers us two of Hastings’ most popular events: Bonfire night and Halloween, both of which show Hastings for the weird and crazy place that it is. There is always something to look forward to when living here!

This autumn issue of Get Hastings spreads its wings over to Bexhill. It celebrates art with Steph Warren and Sue Tilley. To those of you who don’t know his work, it introduces you to world-renowned composer Polo Piatti, it highlights businesses, as well as an unfaltering community spirit in our allotments and Bottle Alley features.

As always, we show huge gratitude to everyone who has contributed to the issue and to all the businesses who have supported us by advertising with us.

With love, The Get Hastings team

Mel Elliott Editor-in-Chief

Beth King Editor

Caitlin Lock Photographer

Steven Larkin Graphic Designer

Contributing Writers

Contributing Photographers

Kathy Foley Michael Smith Louise Coulthard Tony Howard Neal Neofitou Betty Furmston

Toby Shaw Clare Hughes JJ Waller Steve Painter Josie Barnes

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.

WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY

CRYSTAL & WELL-BEING STORE 70 Norman Road, St Leonards On Sea, TN38 0EJ rockbodysoul.co.uk @rock_body_soul

toby@tobyshaw.co.uk

SHAWWEDDINGS.COM

4. Steph Warren: Surviving Banksy

28. A Day in the Sun

Steph shares her insight into the world of street art, graffiti and working with Banksy.

Why so many of us are enjoying ‘The Good Life’ on our allotments.

11. On the Couch with Sue Tilley

36. Pillars of the Community

Sue discusses sitting for Lucian Freud while he created one of his most famous paintings.

When Zeroh and local volunteers came together to refresh one of our muchloved locations.

16. Polo Piatti

48. Book Reviews

Classical Composer, Polo Piatti, talks about the importance of a good melody.

Hare & Hawthorn share some of their top picks for autumn.

22. Blue Plaque: Michael Faraday

5O. Community

This issue’s Blue Plaque piece centres around Michael Faraday, award-winning inventor.

24. Talking Shop: Space 17 Paula Robert of Space 17 / Candaroma scented candles.

← For even more content visit

gethastings.com

Mushrooms, Young Voice, 5x1, a guide to Bexhill and How We Met.

Get Hastings is designed and published by Larking at the Observer Building, Unit 1, 53 Cambridge Rd, Hastings TN34 1DT.

This Magazine is printed onto stock from FSC managed forests and is fully recyclable in accordance with ISO certified standards for environmental, quality & energy management and is Carbon Balanced. This publication was printed locally by Hastings Print & Signage, an Environmentally Aware and Eco Friendly printing company.

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Interview by Kathy Foley Photography by Toby Shaw

Born and bred Hastonian, Steph Warren is one of the United Kingdom’s leading authorities on the graffiti and street art movement, having worked with both Banksy and Ben Eine back in the noughties as a young woman at the forefront of a very male orientated and secretive world.

Owner of Stella Dore Art Gallery (previously based in East London, now in St Leonards) I caught up with the gallerist, curator, art and mural facilitator — the woman who Banksy based his ‘Sweep It Under The Carpet’ mural on.

SURVIVING BANKSY

We meet on a rainy ‘summers’ day at Porters in the Old Town. Steph turns up with her sidekick, Eddie, a 12-year-old Jack Russell.

Notoriously grumpy (Eddie, not Steph) I can hear Steph’s dulcet tones way before I can see her, reprimanding Eddie for barking and being a grouch. On a rare day off from her St Leonards based art gallery, Stella Dore, we laugh and chat about how her infamous dulcet tones have recently featured on the critically acclaimed BBC Radio 4 podcast; ‘The Banksy Story’.

“It’s been a mad couple of weeks since it was released” explains Steph, “I’m still getting my head around it all to be honest, but I’m pleased I’ve done it. It’s been cathartic, that’s for sure… and saved me a fortune on therapy!” she laughs.

For those of you that haven’t listened to the podcast, it tells Steph’s story of her time as a former member of Banksy’s secret printing press, ‘Pictures on Walls’. For three years, Steph worked directly with the elusive and anonymous artist who is now one of the biggest names in the contemporary art world. She did this all before his rise into the stratosphere.

“It’s been cathartic that’s for sure and it’s saved me a fortune on therapy!”

Steph’s story of that time isn’t all hunky dory though (you may need a tissue listening to the podcast) but 20 years later, with life a lot rosier, swapping London for life back home in Hastings, I asked Steph why she’s only just told her story publicly now.

“To be honest, James the podcast producer tracked me down via old limited company records, and then he wore me down for a year until I said yes to an interview. He was very persistent, he actually came into my gallery at first pretending to be a customer”, she laughs.

“The timing felt right, I’d processed a lot of what had happened to a point, and being part of that movement, including some incredible, mad and historic Banksy shows that I worked on. It was good to get stuff off my chest to be honest.

Banksy was my boss and friend, I even used to house sit for him and his family – but his identity I would never disclose (drat for us!) but my story is mine, it should have been called the Steph Warren story with some Banksy facts”, she laughs. To be fair, we have to agree, she certainly was the star of the podcast.

Get Hastings Autumn 2023

Steph Warren: Surviving Bansky

Steph is a big fan of graffiti, especially the writer 10 Foot. “I also like spontaneous protest graffiti which is humorous and funny,” she says.

But what actually is the difference between, tagging, graffiti and street art?

“Tagging is graffiti, and graffiti and street art are almost polar opposites but from the same discipline. Different ends of the same beast.

I suppose one is quite positive and the other is destructive. There are a lot more rules in graffiti, self imposed rules by graffiti writers: what you can go over and what you can’t.

It’s less mainstream than street art and it’s about letters and words. It’s more about dominance for the writers, where street art is for everyone, it’s more community. You can paint any subject, where as graffiti is more anticommunity and it’s all about the writer. I think graffiti is an inevitable outcome of capitalism and advertising which makes people feel powerless. It’s a concept I definitely learned from Banksy: how advertising undermines you to sell you things. It can make you feel bad on your way to work, just to sell you a toothpaste!”

“Banksy and I aren’t in contact anymore, but he’s a clever man, I learned a lot, and I think that him funding the migrant rescue boat was incredible, huge respect for that. My father treasures a book Banksy signed for my parents where he wrote thank you for your daughter”.

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From Banksy, to opening her first Stella Dore Art Gallery in East London, Steph then went on to work with another infamous graffiti and street art star, Ben Eine. Creating many huge murals world wide especially in the U.S such as ‘More Light More Power’ in Winwood, Miami, along with ‘Scary’ in Rivington Street, London. “They were mad, and also bad times,” she reflects, “but I do really enjoy painting and commissioning murals big and small”. Closer to home, Steph is a huge champion of local street artists, having recently worked on a large mural with Abraham.O who she cites as her current favourite artist, and Stan Cush at Hastings Pocket Park. “I didn’t get to paint as much as I’d liked on this mural, but it was such a great experience, the artists wanted to be there, they were enthusiastic and they really are both amazing, true talents. Apart from stability and sanity when choosing artists to work with now (slight chuckle) I look for magic, because that’s what art is isn’t it? It’s alchemy… turning nothing into gold!”

I can’t help thinking how very true that is, and I think of St Leonards’ very own Banksy mural on the seafront depicting the toddler building Tesco sandcastles.

As our lunch comes to an end and Eddie is now agitated, yearning for a walk, our chat turns back to her gallery: Stella Dore on Norman Road, celebrates its 5th birthday this year. “A riot of colour, and a true art solace which is so much more than its aesthetics if you look underneath,” she says.

But what plans does Steph have for the future?

“More murals hopefully! More new artists to champion, work with and curate. More shows, and also the development of a book and podcast idea that I have.” When asked how she wants her job title to be listed on this interview as we wrap things up, she laughs, and says “Art Survivor.” I can’t help laughing too, she’s actually a true champion and so much more. We can’t help thinking, who needs Ken/Banksy anyway?

Art Barbie has done it all herself. ⚫

Get Hastings Autumn 2023

Interview by Mel Elliott Photography by Clare Hughes When you think of the word ‘muse’, several people come to mind: a mid nineties rock band, obviously Kate Moss in all her forms, the Pre Raphaelite poser, Elizabeth Sidall and last but not least, St Leonard’s based Freudian nudie, Sue Tilley.

“I don’t like animals”, she said as she entered the French Depot antique furniture warehouse where myself and Clare, the photographer, had meticulously laid out a bear rug, a stuffed flamingo, a ceramic collie, a cow, two chickens and a leopard print day bed. Ooops!

On the Couch with Sue Tilley

It was between 1994 and 1996 that Sue posed naked for one of Lucian Freud’s most famous paintings, Benefits Supervisor Sleeping and it was one of five paintings of her by the artist who referred to her as ‘Big Sue’. Benefits Supervisor Sleeping sold for a whopping £17.2 million in 2008 and was bought by none other than rich Russian, ex-Chelsea owner and pal of Putin, Roman Abramovich.

Apparently it adorns a wall of his superyacht which I imagine also sports a bear rug and a stuffed flamingo. “When that painting sold, they tried to make out that I was just a simple woman who worked in a job centre because I suppose that’s a better story” she told me, wanting to show that she is more than ‘that painting’.

Sue had been creative from a very young age: always making things, cutting things up and driving her mum mad, she admits.

“I was always making people have drawing competitions and quizzes. It’s funny how things have turned out in my later life!” she laughed (Sue has been known for her pub quizzes and online art lessons).

I showed Sue the results of our photoshoot before I sat down to interview her in her home in St Leonards. I thought I would begin by reassuring her that she looked eccentric, brilliantly-lit and glamorous AF. She told me that she didn’t mind being the centre of attention at the shoot but that if this would have been happening to her when she was younger, she’d have been insufferable.

Now I cannot imagine for one moment that Lucian Freud, fancy-pants grandson of Sigmund, was hanging out in a Jobcentre in Hackney, begging to get his housing benefit paid (trust me, I’ve been there and I would have spotted a posho a mile off). So I wondered how their paths crossed.

“I had to remind myself that he sees naked people all the time. It’s like going to the doctor, it’s not sexual or tantalising or anything.”

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I began by asking Sue about her early years growing up in London, “I had a very nice childhood, no complaints whatsoever!” she said. “We lived in a big house in Paddington with my auntie, my uncle and my cousins, so there were four children and we always had someone to play with. Every day that there wasn’t school, we’d go to Hyde Park and if it rained we’d hang around Paddington Station, it was a big treat. It was a bit rough round there with prostitutes then but even at that young age I was fascinated by them!”

Sue spent three years at teacher training college, training to be an art teacher. “It was a waste of three years but it all worked out, I met all the people I wanted to meet. I was too nervous to apply for St Martins but I met lots of people there without even going there, I mixed with people from that world.”

At the time, she was hanging out with Stephen Luscombe from Blancmange and her best pal, performance artist Leigh Bowery. “Lucian Freud had so many children that you were bound to know at least one of them!” she laughed, “and Leigh ended up modelling for Lucian. Leigh liked to boss people’s lives around so he decided that I should work for Lucian. He told him all about me but because Lucian was such a control freak, he had to make him think that it was all his idea. The first time I met him I was doing the door at one of Leigh’s nightclubs and I could see Lucian staring at me, he commented that I was wearing the wrong colour lipstick… and he was right! Someone had given me a Cristian Dior lipstick and I was so thrilled but it was a bluey pink and I’ll never put anything mauve near my face now!”

Sue sat for nine months consisting of three to five days per week for each of the five paintings. “I started off on twenty quid a day but I managed to get it up to thirty-three by the time I’d finished. But to be honest, it doesn’t matter how much I got paid. It was a life experience. Some people would pay him to be in that position. I’ve got a lot to thank that picture for, it’s given me lots of opportunities in life.”

I asked Sue how she felt about getting naked at first. “Well, I had to remind myself that he sees naked people all the time. It’s like going to the doctor, it’s not sexual or tantalising or anything. Although, when I got up to go to the toilet, even though there was no one else there, I wrapped something around myself.”

This was all happening during the time when ‘supermodel waif’ and ‘heroin chic’ was all the rage. “Do you think there was a bit of rebellion against that going on?”, I asked? “Either from you or from Lucian?” “No, he really enjoyed painting the flesh and I think I looked rather nice on that sofa, I fit it well”.

Obviously, Sue’s body has gone through some changes in the almost 30 years since Benefits Supervisor Sleeping. She’s a bit thinner “but not much” she says “although I think that painting made me look fatter than I was to be honest. When people would see me they’d go Oh, you’re not quite as enormous as we thought!”

Sue has had bad knees since falling out of a window at a wedding many years ago and has recently taken up going to the gym every other day in order to get fit ahead of an operation on them. “I feel so much better when I go, I can feel my muscles working.”

Sue has also lost a breast to breast cancer, “how did you feel about this?” I asked. “I shocked myself because I couldn’t care less!” she said. “When I was younger I used to be terrified of cancer but when I got it I didn’t even cry. I was over 60, I’ve got no children and old age looks pretty horrible. The only difference is that it makes me irritated with people, like when they moan about a poxy little cold.”

So what’s next for Sue Tilley?

Well, after jokingly saying once that she’d never strip off again for less than a million pounds, an Irish artist named Ian Brennan is currently trying his very best to secure the money. He has painted Sue and is attempting to sell this piece for £1 million, which he will then pay to Sue to sit naked for him.

Sue is also about to embark on teaching art classes at The Old Rectory… see, those three years training to be an art teacher wasn’t a waste of time after all!

With thanks to Darren at The French Depot and all of its weird and wonderful stuff. (thefrenchdepot.com) Leigh Bowery: The Life and Times of an Icon

by Sue Tilley is available on Kindle. ⚫

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Get Hastings Autumn 2023

Interview by Mel Elliott Photography by Toby Shaw Is he a mint with a hole? (No, but he does carry them around in his pocket). Is he a German hatchback or a game for posh people on horseback?

No! He’s actually a genius Argentinian composer and pianist living in Hastings and he’s one of the loveliest people I’ve had the pleasure of interviewing.

Polo Piatti makes no apologies for creating melodic, catchy tunes and sophisticated earworms. He believes that the classical music world is full of prejudices and elitisms.

Polo’s mission is to fight against this, one concerto at a time.

I played his music in the garden recently while barbecuing, and my husband declared “this is the best stuff you’ve played all day!” (although, to be fair, he says that whenever I turn Taylor Swift off). I played his music last week while my fourteen year old daughter had her friend round for dinner. “I feel really fancy eating pasta and listening to this!” her bestie said, looking very pleased with herself while my daughter eye-rolled me for embarrassing her, yet again.

I met with Polo at the Hastings Contemporary.

We went upstairs to the cafe with a view and we sat outside. It was sunny and quiet and the perfect conditions for conducting a recorded interview I thought. I was wrong. No sooner had I started to ask my carefully curated questions than the place was a hive of activity: there was a clattering of cutlery and cups and saucers, a man shouting ‘do you want sugar!?’ to his large, noisy party and the choooo choooo of the miniature steam train as it passed the gallery. It was a veritable orchestra of sounds and not quite the perfect conditions anymore, but it had to do.

Piatti was born in Buenos Aires but he is not your typical Argentinian. “I don’t dance tango and I can’t play football. I cannot do anything but music… I can’t even change a lightbulb!” he laughed. He was sent to have piano lessons at the age of three and by the age of four, his teacher informed his parents of his natural talent. By the age of twelve, he was hailed as a child prodigy and sent to the most prestigious Conservatoire in South America, touring Brazil, Chile and Argentina, performing, and without seeing his family for long periods of time. “It was hard, I was always alone in hotel rooms.

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I remember at the age of 13, entering a large city and seeing my face all over posters and billboards, it was stressful… wrong, I think. My parents didn’t see me perform in concert until I was eighteen”. Piatti does not come from an artistic or musical family at all , “I have no idea where it comes from,” he shrugged, “200 years ago there was a famous composer named Alfredo Piatti… but he has absolutely nothing to do with me!”

I wanted to delve into Polo’s mission for melodies. “Basically music has a power and everybody knows that. A melody produces a very specific emotion and there is a resonance with the audience. When you make experimental, contemporary classical, you decide to go against harmony, against melody, and I am absolutely opposed to that. When you speak to many composers, they want to change society because they see the problems, they want to shock people

Get Hastings Autumn 2023

and show the anger of the world.” In the hoity-toity world of classical composing, Polo receives a fair amount of flack for his views. He is sometimes told that his music is predictable and easy. How does he feel about these criticisms? “I don’t care!” he says, “they play my music in the intensive care ward at The Conquest Hospital because it makes people happy. I think we, as humans, have forgotten the power of music, melody, symmetry and rhythm. Nobody wants to pay good money going to a concert to experience how clever a composer is. Instead, we want to feel something, to be lifted, to feel inspired!” he says. “I write for the heart, not for the brain” he sums it up with.

Polo is completely focused on reflecting on how the world could be. In a world that is surrounded by ugliness, war, fear and hate, Polo has zero interest in reflecting reality.

Instead, he feels the importance of creating a counterbalance, “it’s important for the soul, we have to recharge you know?” he says.

“Our difficult times demand an antidote, offering emotionally charged, beautiful, passionate and tuneful music to recover and heal so much mental illness.”

He believes that creating beautiful melodic, harmonious music that people can recognise or hum along to, can contribute to making classical music become more accessible and therefore more popular with the wider public.

“It’s a fallacy to suppose that you cannot show emotion by clapping in certain pieces or that you cannot dress in a specific way when attending a concert” he says.

“I write music for the heart, not for the brain.”

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Polo Piatti

In an attempt to achieve his mission, Polo founded and is artistic director of The International Composers Festival, bringing in composers and conductors from all over the world, and the Hastings Sinfonia, an orchestra that prides itself on being friendly and inclusive. No audition is required to join and it mixes good amateurs (grade 6 or 7) with professionals, as well as bringing in composers and conductors from all over the world. Its local concerts are very affordable and I look forward to attending one soon.

Polo’s latest CD, his Bohemian Piano Concerto, recorded by the National Symphony Orchestra, will be launched in October.

Polo is currently working on his latest commission, a violin concerto. He is also writing his first ballet. “Does writing specifically for someone to dance to make you think differently about what you’re creating?”

I asked. “Yes. I am married to an actress who

“Our difficult times demand an antidote, offering emotionally– charged, beautiful, passionate and tuneful music to recover.”

is a former dancer so that helps!” he says. ”You have to take into consideration that dancers get tired and you have to imagine the movement. It is a ballet set in an imaginary world, where the six main characters have to save the world for children who have lost their emotion. It’s a fascinating work and it will be quite magical. It should premiere next year in Japan”.

I asked Polo how he works and whether he uses digital programmes such as Sibelius: “I’m old-school. I write with pen and paper, usually sitting up on the East Hill. When I finish I go to a piano and check it” he tells me. I was astonished upon hearing this: contemplating the incredible skill that it must take to be able to imagine and hear the notes that you’re composing. “I then have to put it into Sibelius as many orchestras won’t accept hand-written manuscripts. I sometimes do commissions and I give them the signed manuscript, it’s more poetic”.

Get Hastings Autumn 2023

I asked Polo what brought him and his wife to Hastings. “We were living in East London and my wife and I used to come to the festivals such as Jack in the Green, Pirate Day and Old Town Carnival Week. We kept coming back and one day we said, shall we just sell the house and move here? We were so warmly received by our neighbours in the Old Town and that made it the best decision we ever made.”

“Are you inspired by your surroundings here?”

I asked.

“Absolutely!” he said. “Especially by the contrast between the fishing community and the amount of artists moving here from London. I love that completely diverse people happily live here side by side. It’s incredible.

I can go to a cafe here and I feel like I’m in Paris. You can share a drink with someone and discuss politics or philosophy and talk about saving the world. That happens a lot here in Hastings.”

“Do people who have pianos at home keep inviting you round to dinner parties in the hope that you’ll play for them if they give you a bit of Malbec?” I asked, knowing full well that I have a piano in the hall and a bottle of Malbec in my drinks cupboard at home.

“Hah! I don’t even get given Malbec!” He joked.

“One time I was invited over for Christmas with some friends here in the Old Town so obviously I played for them. Somebody who didn’t know me was there and he came over to me afterwards and said you know, you should consider becoming a pianist, you could earn

some money! Everyone in the house was laughing but I let him continue for a bit and then he came back to me half an hour later full of embarrassment.”

We were almost finished and ready to start our photoshoot, which we did partially in someone’s living room in St Leonards as they have a nice grand piano. Note to self – if you’re going to take all the pictures off someone’s wall, take a photograph first so you know where to put them all back.

It was a privilege to spend time with Polo Piatti. His talent, warmth and kindness should be bottled and sold. Maybe I should try and learn one of his piano pieces and then invite him round to listen while he drinks Malbec, I considered. I shall definitely give it a go but having watched and listened to Polo Piatti play, I doubt very much that my piano skills will let me.

Where can people listen to your music?

On Spotify. And you can buy my sheet music from my website polopiatti.com How can people get involved with Hastings Sinfonia?

You can apply to join the orchestra on hastingssinfonia.com. Our Winter Concert takes place at the De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill on 3rd December.

With thanks to the Bruce family and the use of their grand piano (sorry about the pictures, Audrey) and St John’s church on Pevensey Road. ⚫

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Blue Plaque: Michael Faraday

Michael Faraday Written by Michael Smith

n a traffic island marooned off the messy 60s junction that guillotines the town centre in two, there is a block of diddy modern granny flats plonked incongruously between the grander remains of the Regency front, with an even more incongruous Blue Plaque hidden behind the wheelie bins that nobody is able to read.

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Michael Faraday, it tells you in very underwhelming and matter-of-fact language, stayed in a cottage on this site the summer before he presented the Royal Institution with his discovery of electromagnetic induction in the autumn. I think this deserves a bit more of a song and dance about it on the part of Hastings Borough Council, and maybe even a replacement for the sea-battered blue plaque going rusty round the screws. His insights in that cottage helped usher in the modern world, right here in Hastings.

During a summer of quiet contemplation, going for long thoughtful walks along the beach, luminous evenings saturated in soft seaside light, the idea came to him that electricity, the mysterious power observed in awesome natural phenomena like lightning, might be a manifestation of an invisible, asyet unharnessed forcefield propagating the universe… he also suspected that magnetism must be a complimentary manifestation of this same mysterious force, and crucially, that the presence of one could be used to generate the other… he worked out how to induce an electric current in a wire by moving it through a magnetic field, which is still basically the same way that all the electricity lighting your home, boiling your kettle and charging your phone is generated in power stations to this day. Faraday’s demonstration of this at the Royal Institution caused such a stir the prime minister of the day visited his laboratory to have a look. “And what use do you think this will have?” he asked Faraday. “I know not, but I’ll wager one day your government will tax it.”

enerating electricity via magnetism from an invisible cosmic force field no one had imagined was even there before… and as if this wasn’t enough, Faraday’s insight that summer by the sea ran even deeper: staring out at the immensity of the English Channel, watching how the waves marched in across the blue, then observing them breaking and lapping against the solidity of the pebbly shore, he also wondered whether light might be another manifestation of this electromagnetic force field, a perturbance rippling through it like a wave across the vastness of empty space.

Light and electricity as ripples in a cosmic field.

It’s hard to overstate the impact this revelation has had on the modern world. Without it, we’d still be relying on steam power and candlelight.

Almost a hundred years later, John Logie Baird harnessed these two manifestations of Faraday’s invisible field with the invention of television, giving public demonstrations of the first ever television picture in the old Edwardian arcade I sometimes buy my clams and crab claws from, a street or two from Faraday’s Blue Plaque.

He’d been trying and failing to broadcast wireless images for years by the time he arrived here in 1923, stony broke and in poor health. Before his public demonstrations in the Queen’s Arcade, he managed to create the world’s first working television set with bicycle light lenses, knitting needles, a pair of scissors and an old tea chest in his lodgings at 21 Linton Crescent. He gave himself a 1000-volt electric shock in the process, escaping with only a burnt hand, and got asked by his landlady to vacate the premises immediately as a result.

Strange to imagine, these dreamers drawn to the same inconsequential seaside resort, visionaries trying to discover and harness the invisible forces of the cosmos on this eccentric pebbly strand beside the endless blue.

Though he might seem like the odd one out, I would include Aleister Crowley in this club.

There is no Blue Plaque to him, and when he died he had to be cremated in Brighton because our council refused to have anything to do with him, but for me, the patron saint of Hastings has to be Aleister Crowley. He casts a long, Nosferatu-shaped shadow over the town.

The Great Beast 666 saw out the end of his days in a boarding house here in the 1940s.

Scarecrow-thin in his worn out tweeds and his satyr’s white goatee, they say in his final days he’d pretty much given up on magick and evoking forces from the vasty deep, but he still practiced one key ritual every day, invoking the energies of the sun, looking up into the golden light with hands cupped to receive its warmth: “Its light is mine, its rays consume me, I have made a secret door into the House of Ra…”

Get Hastings Autumn 2023

Faraday’s insight was that the energies of light, electricity and magnetism were different manifestations of the same fundamental field that permeates the universe. Crowley believed that Light, Love and Liberty were different emanations of the same fundamental Law: “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law.

Love is the Law, Love Under Will. Every man and every woman is a Star.”

He believed this Law was revealed to him by an entity named Aiwass, emissary of the god Horus, unintentionally summoned when Crowley performed a rite in the King’s Chamber of the Great Pyramid with his wife Rose. The next day Rose fell into a strange trance, and in a non-human voice dictated The Book of the Law to him in their room in Cairo for an hour a day at exactly mid-day for three days running in April 1904, an advent that marked the Equinox of the Gods, which ushered in a New Age for humanity. Convinced as he was of his role as prophet of this New Age, he died obscure, penniless and spent in Hastings in 1947. Only a handful of people turned up to his funeral.

His last possessions were meagre, and they say his wallet had an amulet inside it that contained a folded up magic square drawn on calf’s skin, soaked in menstrual blood. This particular magic square was supposedly a spell to help him discover buried treasure. The Logos of the Aeon died a pauper nonetheless. Another dreamer at right angles to the world, coming to the edges of our small, familiar realm to ponder the secrets of the infinite blue beyond it. t’s comforting to think these thoughts, standing with bulging Morrisons bags on the road to nowhere that guillotines the town centre in two, over the road from Faraday’s forgotten Blue Plaque, waiting under a scowling sky for a bus that never comes. ⚫

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Talking Shop

With Paula Roberts at Space 17

Written by Mel Elliott Photography by Caitlin Lock At 17 Bexhill Road, nestled between the butchers and the greengrocers, is a candle maker and reflexologist’s studio offering treatments and workshops. Paula Roberts has been practicing reflexology for over twenty years, starting out in a maternity ward in London, where she would miraculously turn babies from the breech position by tinkering with the expectant mother’s feet!

Get Hastings Autumn 2023

‘So what exactly is reflexology?’ I hear you ask. Also known as ‘zone therapy’, reflexology is an Eastern alternative medical technique involving the application of pressure to targeted points on the feet, ears, and hands… but mostly feet. This is done using thumb, finger, and hand massage. Reflexology can help you relax and cope with stress and anxiety, it can relieve you of pain, lift your mood and give you a feeling of well being, as well as stimulating circulation and the delivery of oxygen and nutrients. In a nutshell, it encourages your body to heal itself!

Paula had treated her two sons upon her couch that very morning as she had done since they were babies. “It was really nice having them come in here for their treatments”, she tells me. Paula hasn’t had this dedicated space for very long: Space 17 opened in 2021 predominately selling her candles branded Candaroma (you may have seen them dotted about various shops around town). Space 17 is a tranquil, light and airy space, with shelves adorned with beautiful candles, lotions, bath salts, facial oils and more. Large plants sit in the window and upon the floor. The couch, used for reflexology can be screened off and a small kitchen in the back of the studio is where candles are made.

The entire place smells divine and fills you with a sense of calm.

“IT’S LIKE ALCHEMY! I LOVE CREATING!”

When myself and Caitlin, the photographer, arrived, Paula had rows of candle glasses lined up as she carefully stuck a wick into each one using a drop of melted wax. “Right, what shall we make!?” Paula asked, clapping her hands together “I’m going to make you both a candle”, she said, much to our delight. The only issue now was what we wanted our candles to smell of! As Paula passed us potions to have a sniff at, it soon became apparent that my nose is pretty rubbish (which is a godsend at times let me tell you). “Lots of people lost their sense of smell due to covid”, Paula explains. “I actually run workshops to improve peoples’ sense of smell since covid. We use these four main scents”, she said, removing the lid from a jar and passing it to me. It was hugely familiar and I sniffed it several times but could I name it? No. Caitlin got it right immediately and, of course, it then became blatantly obvious to me. The second jar got passed along and again, Caitlin nailed it. It became apparent that I was in desperate need of Paula’s sense of smell workshop as I only redeemed myself

by saying “Oooh! This smells like my Dad did in the eighties! Like Brut or Old Spice” I said. “Everything used to have the same smell before we got more sophisticated”, Paula told me “to me it’s like Matey bubble bath”.

Whilst my favourite smells for the home are usually what are considered quite masculine scents such as bergamot, tobacco, oud and woods such as cedar, I decided to step out of my comfort zone as I opted for a tomato and basil candle. I have it wafting at me from my desk as I write. It smells fresh and crisp and I can assure you that it smells nothing like a jar of Loyd Grossman pasta sauce.

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Talking Shop: Essentially Speaking

Paula worked at Neal’s Yard remedies for 12 years and has been a reflexologist for 25 years.

“I started making candles to enhance my reflexology business,” she says, “I couldn’t justify spending loads of money on good candles such as Diptyque so I started making my own. I like to call my price-point ‘affordable luxury’, I think when you start going over £30 that’s a lot of money, especially at the moment”.

Paula uses a British fragrance house, “historically all the fragrance houses were based in France so it’s nice to use a UK company” she said. “I buy oils that have been slightly modified so that they work with wax, I then blend them to get my range of smells.

It’s like alchemy! I love creating!”

Paula started to tell me about smell trends and how we are drifting away from what she describes as quite European scents such as

rose and other florals. “I’m starting to work more with things like oud and tobacco which are heavier and more middle-eastern,” she says, “it’s interesting and it’s happened in the last ten years”. When you walk into Paula’s shop, you may notice a candle titled ‘17’ which I assumed was named after no.17 Bexhill Road but it is actually a candle/scent that was developed for her son’s seventeenth birthday… you just don’t get these stories when buying candles from a department store.

Besides candles, Space 17 also sells facial oils, bath oils and salts (all made on the premises).

Paula also delivers workshops and ‘Saturday free talks’ on subjects such as the menopause, “they’re for getting people to engage with their own health really” she explains.

So, the next time you want to get someone (or yourself) something that smells divine, consider stepping away from TK Maxx, cross over the road and support an independent maker with over twenty years of experience.

Get Hastings Autumn 2023

Paula gave me a run-down of her top-selling candles: Neroli & Rose — This is good at balancing female energy as well as helping with anxiety and depression.

Wood & Pepper — Using sandalwood, cedarwood and black pepper.

Seasalt & Juniper — I wanted it to smell like when you walk on the seafront and it’s been stormy. It’s fresh and quite cleansing.

Fig & Mandarin — This smells earthy and fruity.

A Winters’ Night — This is massively popular. It smells of cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, cardamom and ginger.

It’s very warming and Christmassy.

Check out paularoberts.co.uk for details of talks and workshops (including Natural bath and body products on 12th October and Fragrance and candle making on 14th October). You can also book reflexology appointments. ⚫

Written by Louise Coulthard Photography by Caitlin Lock The importance of having land designated for communities to grow food on is a long standing British tradition. In World War II we were digging for victory on allotments, in 1845 the Victorians passed laws compelling local authorities to provide them, in fear of a peasants’ revolt and even the Anglo-Saxons had them. Having the opportunity to grow your own food should not just be a luxury in the UK, maybe it should be a right.

Above: Josephine & Craig Right: Beccy

As modern supermarket culture developed, the demand for allotments fell. However, the Covid-19 pandemic has sparked a nationwide renaissance. Visiting Marina Allotments in St Leonards it’s clear to see the benefits of having one is not just nutritional. For many people, tending to an allotment offers a break away from their daily life. Henry, a musician usually heard playing reggae on his trombone, comes to his plot for peace and quiet. “When I’m up here I don’t listen to nothing, my music is the wind and the birds and the sea sometimes, if it’s rough”.

“You have your own oasis” added Ratko. He and his partner, Rowena, live in flats and access to this outdoor space is incredibly beneficial to both their physical and mental health. “But don’t underestimate how much hard work it is”.

There can be a high turnover with allotments.

When people arrive they’re full of enthusiasm but often need help. Some leave, some stick it out and learn from their neighbours.

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It’s that sense of camaraderie which keeps many people coming back. “It gives a feeling of belonging” said Rowena, “everything is so fragmented these days, the community here is important”. Another resident, Rhod, agreed.

“You still feel part of a community somehow, even if you’re not joining in”.

It offers a place for both socialisation and solitude. There’s a caring atmosphere on the allotments which extends beyond people tending to their plants, and a great diversity of people who learn from one another in many different ways. Those who, for whatever reason, can’t manage a whole plot to themselves can appoint associates to help them, or are encouraged to get involved with the community plots where people come together and share the load. The committee also organise events throughout the year, like bringing your own apples along to make cider, or using your produce to bake pizzas in their pizza oven, hand built by some of the residents.

It’s particularly impressive to see how the range of professions join together to share and build skills. “I didn’t have anywhere to express my creativity” said Mark, who was an accountant when he and his partner, Beccy first got their plot 10 years ago.

Tending to their allotment led to an explosion of artistic energy and a complete career change, he’s now a cabinet maker. “We can’t wait to see what the next ten years bring!”.

This page, clockwise from top left: Di, Rhod and flower cuttings

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Though for some residents the future of their allotment is concerning, as climate change looms. “We’re having to start thinking about planting different things” said Rowena, “the last few years have been very unpredictable, the plants don’t know what’s going on”. The committee are looking at doing more conservation of rainwater and finding alternative ways of irrigating.

There are also solar panels on the allotment shop roof to power their machinery.

A forest garden on the allotments has trees which are coppiced and used to make fences or bean poles, and one lovely resident, Di, fashions her old nylon tights into trellis.

Nothing goes to waste! Di uses the weeds on her plot to make herbal teas and has a very holistic approach. “You’ve got control over what you’re consuming” she said, which was echoed by Beccy “it’s a statement against mass production!”.

This feeling isn’t just limited to allotments.

I also visited Josephine Fairley and Craig Sams who grow produce from their back garden in Hastings Old Town. Whilst their garden is quite large, the area they reserve for produce is reasonably small, consisting of a greenhouse and two beds.

“How often do you eat produce from your garden?” I asked, “365 days a year!”

Josephine replied proudly. “We grow herbs, salads, corn, courgettes, tomatoes… and we’ll discuss Craig’s dandelion patch later!” she laughed. Each morning, Craig sprinkles dandelions and herbs on to his home-made bread with some mayonnaise for his breakfast.

Before they lived in Hastings, they were in London with only a balcony, but even that small space didn’t stop them from growing their own produce. ‘What would you grow if all you had was a windowsill?’ I asked. “Tomatoes” replied Josephine. “I’d get an allotment”, said Craig.

It’s not just growing your own food which brings people joy. Many people who I met on the allotments choose to produce flowers as well. Jen grows an array of stunning blooms and does so as a way of saying thank you, “my husband used to run this plot but then he had a stroke, people help me a lot so it’s really nice to be able to give them a bouquet”.

One of the most touching things I found on the allotments was their ability to connect you to different people or places. Sally grows dahlias, which filled her garden when she was a child. “My dad used to grow them, he died thirty years ago but every now and then I look around and think he’d be really proud of me”. There’s an unexpected power and sense of magic, where people are growing and planning for their future whilst nurturing their past. There are residents with young families, finding pleasure in teaching their children how to grow, and one person recently

had their ashes scattered on their plot.

They mean so much to people.

Above: Freshly– picked blackberries

Allotments are social and community-based in their nature. They’re rented, never owned, and you officially can’t make a profit from them. Ever changing with the seasons or each new resident, they provide solace and a sense of belonging. It’s no surprise that after Covid, with our new found appreciation of outdoor space and human connection, allotments are having their day in the sun once again. ⚫

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The next year this would be rotated, growing a different crop ensuring we always had a natural rotation, a good selection of vegetables and a healthy soil in the growing areas (the coalman used a horse and cart, so we had a supply of horse poo that went on the compost heaps in the corner). Very few people had a greenhouse and if so, it was very small and only used to propagate or overwinter non-hardy plants.

It worked well and everything was organically grown, not for any non-chemical reason per se, just that it wasn’t thought about. We picked off caterpillars and removed aphids if we saw them and the abundance of birds, hedgehogs and predatory insects did the rest.

It was a given that the soil was kept healthy with organic matter and weeds were forbidden (ooh the shame!). However, every inch of space was used to grow, sometimes with multiple crops in one row. Lime was used to keep the pH high and to help break down the soil in the winter. Most veg grows better in a slightly alkaline soil, especially brassica, which tends to get ‘cabbage club root’ in overly acidic soils.

Below is a general guide of what to sow and when (weather dependent of course). Check out future issues of Get Hastings for my season by season gardening advice and to do lists.

September/October Leafy vegetables such as spinach, kale, leaf chicory, lettuce and corn salad can still be sown now. And the last sowing month is starting for radishes, rocket, cress and lettuce.

Veg Growing & Me

by Tony Howard of Harborough Nurseries I started growing vegetables quite young, with my father in the northeast of England.

Living in a mining village, the back gardens were used to produce food for the kitchen and the front gardens reserved for flowers.

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Our streets were terraced, therefore we had small plots where we would normally only grow one or two types of vegetables, while the neighbours would grow a different veg. For example, my dad would grow only brassicas one year, next door would grow legumes, someone else alliums, potatoes, salad and so on down the street. We would then swap veg with other families.

Garlic cloves can be planted directly in the soil in September/October, which will provide you with deliciously large garlic bulbs in the following year.

October, you can plant onions for an early yield in the new year. Note that only a few varieties are suitable for this late planting. Plant the onions in a sheltered spot in well-drained soil.

November Use whatever is left in the garden — store/ pickle or freeze. ⚫

Considered | Organic | Ethical Hair A sustainable hair salon by the sea

123 – 124 Queens Rd Hastings TN34 1RP yardandquarter.co.uk 01424 438 688 @yardandquarter

BAGELS thesleeperstore

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

The Crown is an independent freehouse serving quality locally sourced food and drink in the heart of Hastings Old Town.

Open 7 days a week 11am–11pm Food served 12–4/ 5–9 Illustration by Imogen Partridge

64–66 All Saints Street thecrownhastings.co.uk 01424 465 100

photolotte

Get Hastings Autumn 2023

Interview by Mel Elliott Photography by JJ Waller ‘Never eat shredded wheat!’ a helpful person yelled to aid with the confusion of which side of the pillar was South West and which was North East.

It was a sunny Thursday morning and an army of volunteers had come together to paint Bottle Alley, an initiative organised by creative collective, Zeroh. Spirits were high and people of all ages were eager and ready, yielding rollers, paint trays and brushes, awaiting their instructions.

WHEN PEOPLE UNITED TO REFRESH BOTTLE ALLEY

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Each person was allocated a pillar and each tin of Leyland paint had a number and a name written upon it: a system that Dan and Neil of Zeroh had only thought up that morning.

They looked slightly nervous that it wouldn’t work and they also advised everyone not to paint right to the bottom of the pillars because of dog wee. Sound advice I thought.

Bottle Alley is a unique double-tiered promenade structure, built in 1934 and designed by Sidney Little who was known as ‘the concrete king’. Large concrete panels were lowered from the promenade. They were decorated with pieces of smashed bottles, hence the name Bottle Alley. There are several original spare panels still hidden away in one of the units, just in case. It is a walkway that has been undesirable at times but one that locals and visitors are highly fond of. Once tins of paint and pillars had been allocated, I began walking and chatting with the volunteers whose once pristine overalls were now splattered with shades of blue.

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“Bottle Alley means a lot to me. It’s the place I’ve always come to in times of joy and in times of sadness.”

Pillars of the Community

Dan (L) & Neil (R) of Zeroh.

I asked one man why he had volunteered to paint Bottle Alley as his pillar changed from white to turquoise. “Bottle Alley means a lot to me. It’s the place I’ve always come to in times of joy and in times of sadness.” He is a partially sighted artist, going by the name of ‘Two Eyes Blind’. He told me that bright, colourful stripes were his thing, making it abundantly obvious why he was here, painting colourful stripes that would be seen by the whole community for a long time to come.

Six year old Ziggy thought this would be a good thing to do with his dad but was slightly disappointed with his colour. “It’s very pale” he said, “too close to white!” We discussed this further and despite wanting a darker shade, Ziggy was still enjoying the ride.

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Artist Lorna Hamilton-Brown was also disappointed that she wasn’t wearing her usual trademark turquoise lipstick (see Get Hastings Summer ‘23) that would have matched perfectly with her pillar. “I remember when the artwork was originally done, it was so amazing and over the years I’ve watched it deteriorate so it was really nice to get involved and actually be a part of the artwork.” Lorna vowed to pop back down to Bottle Alley another time wearing her lipstick.

After speaking to the volunteers, I then asked Dan and Neil of Zeroh, how they met and began working together: We met at University in the north of England, while studying for Fine Art degrees, and never looked back really. It became instantly obvious that our shared interest in music/street/club culture and club performances on the fringes of society where much more interesting avenues to follow than the dry art history lectures or trips to Hadrian’s Wall. So we started doing our own thing in our University town, throwing ‘art parties’ in nightclubs and inviting others on our course to produce performances as we dressed spaces, created environments and deejayed… kind of dropping out, much to the dismay of our seniors at university, very much forging our own creative path. We did emerge from this with honours degrees in sculpture and photography, but the excitement and interest in transforming spaces/working with music and designing memorable events never left us.

30 years later and here we are in St Leonards, where we have been for the past 15 years.

“...this isn’t just about us, it’s a collective respectful effort and really just the start.”

What is your connection with Bottle Alley?

What other projects have you been a part of/created there?

Bottle Alley has captured our hearts and minds, but it’s also ruined our clothes, exhausted us and stolen our sunglasses.

Ultimately it’s inspired us and challenged us in equal measures. We definitely feel an affinity with the space, we see an opportunity for it to grow and want to develop some of its qualities that will help it to meet its potential, especially now there are businesses down there too. We see it as an undervalued cultural asset that has great potential for Hastings and St. Leonards community as a whole and expand upon how it was originally intended to be used by its architect, county engineer Sidney Little. We have plans to improve and introduce infrastructure and assets which will give access to others. We view our presence down there over the next couple of years as us laying groundwork for others to build upon.

‘Wavelength’ mark II is the 4th intervention we’ve produced in the space, the first was ‘Point of Decay’ in 2015. We were commissioned by Coastal Currents to produce an opening event, but we turned the space into a gallery by commissioning 16 local artists to produce work that wrapped around the columns. The event, a champagne reception with a classical trio performing on a red carpet at the pier end of the alley, was attended by 1.5k people and pre-dated much needed extensive repair work, hence the title.

Wavelength mark 1, was produced in 2018 and soon after we were commissioned by the council to produce a music-to-light |show to highlight the new lighting system we advised on, videos of which are online.

It’s a space for everyone, we registered BottleAlley.org so that we can start to give it even more of an identity and future-proofing

the space which needs resources to maintain and improve it. We are grateful that the council are prepared to listen to our ideas, no matter how wild they are. We are just getting started on the interactive and responsive qualities of the lights and we will be returning to the light shows to music this winter.

Get Hastings Autumn 2023

How did Thursday make you feel, seeing all those people coming together to help?

It made everyone feel great, this isn’t just about us, it’s a collective respectful effort and really just the start. So far, nearly 300 people have come forward to help. We are so moved by this, and the teams of painters were so patient with us on the day as it was quite a task.

But the main point to make about the volunteers is that we want to get to know them going forward as Bottle Alley will always continue to challenge us all, and the generosity of spirit and selflessness that we experienced gives us confidence in the community and in the challenge.

What is next for Zeroh?

Neil: To keep learning and improving our art and have a meaningful life, embrace new challenges, eat more jam.

Dan: Ditto to what Neil’s said and as well as the plans we’ve already mentioned for Bottle Alley we have some exciting commissions coming up and we’re in talks about a series of immersive gigs with the band Stick in The Wheel, following on from our show with them as part of Brighton Festival, with whom we’ve been working closely with over the past three years.

The weather turned on us shortly after the painting of the pillars but the colour and light along that stretch of walkway gives hope on even the dullest of days. Locals have been avidly posting pictures of it on social media, delighted that it has a new lease of life again.

The businesses down there (Starsky and Hutch and The Selkie) will hopefully see the benefits.

I’m pretty sure that Sidney Little will be smiling down on his pride and joy, and when six year old Ziggy and all the other volunteers next takes the walk from The Pier to Warrior Square, the colours will light up their faces and they’ll think “Yeah, I did that”. ⚫

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The Top Five New Books at Hare and Hawthorn Bookshop...

Reviews by Neal Neofitou of hareandhawthornbookshop.co.uk

The Invisible Women’s Club

by Helen Paris (Hardback £16.99)

A Bird in Winter

by Louise Doughty (Hardback £16.99)

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This is the new novel from the best selling author of Platform Seven. It is a brilliant well-paced spy thriller, that is a real page turner. The main character is called Bird. She is a woman on the run – one minute, she’s in a meeting in her office in Birmingham – the next, she’s walking out on her job, her home, her life. It’s a day she thought might come, and one she’s prepared for – but nothing could prepare her for what will happen next.

As she flees north using multiple disguises, Bird must work out who exactly is on her trail, and who – if anyone – she can trust.

This is the second novel from author Helen Paris, and she sets the novel in Hastings.

Readers will relate to the area, and the problematic council. Seventy-something Janet Pimm is invisible. Spending most of her days alone, she tends to her beloved allotment with love. Plants, Janet thinks, are more important than friends. Overlooked, Janet’s neighbour Bev, has reached the age when a cloak of invisibility threatens to descend. Her friendly advances are rebuffed

by Janet, but when the council threatens to close the allotments, Janet realises something is not right and because of her knowledge of plants she guesses people just want the land for development. As the two join forces, Janet realises that she isn’t happy to be a wallflower after all. And that maybe there’s more to Bev than she thought. She must swallow her pride and enlist people’s help. It is a joyful story of courage and strength that is witty and warm.

by Kate Atkinson (Hardback £18.99)

The first story collection from Kate Atkinson in twenty years, Normal Rules Don’t Apply is a dazzling array of eleven interconnected tales from the bestselling author of Shrines of Gaiety and Life After Life. In this first full collection since Not the End of the World, we meet a queen who makes a bargain she cannot keep, a secretary who watches over the life she has just left and a man whose luck changes when a horse speaks to him.

With clockwork intricacy, inventiveness and sharp social observation, Kate Atkinson conjures a feast for the imagination, a constantly changing multiverse in which nothing is quite as it seems.

Uprooting

Geneva

by Marchelle Farrell (Hardback £16.99)

by Richard Armitage (Hardback £16.99)

What is home? It’s a question that has troubled Marchelle Farrell for her entire life. A longed-for career in psychiatry saw her leave behind the pristine beaches and emerald hills of Trinidad. Until she uprooted again for the peaceful English countryside. The only Black woman in her village, Marchelle hopes to grow a new life. But when a worldwide pandemic and a global racial reckoning collide, the upheaval of colonialism that has led her to this place begins to be unearthed.

As her relationship with the garden deepens, she discovers that her two conflicting identities are far more intertwined than she had realised. Full of hope and healing, Uprooting is a book about finding home where we least expect it, and which invites us to reconnect to the land – and ourselves.

Geneva is actor Richard Armitage’s brilliant debut novel and will greatly appeal to lovers of sci-fi and thrillers. Scientist Sarah Collier has started to show signs of Alzheimer’s and is reluctant to accept the invitation to be the guest of honour at a prestigious biotech conference – until her husband, a neuroscientist, persuades her that the publicity storm will be worth it. The revolutionary technology being unveiled could save Sarah’s life. In Geneva, the couple are feted as stars – but behind the five-star luxury, investors are circling, and Sarah’s symptoms are getting worse. As events begin to spiral out of control, Sarah can’t be sure who to trust – including herself. An atmospheric, intelligent destination thriller with great twists, and a strong female lead. ⚫

Normal Rules Don’t Apply

Get Hastings Autumn 2023

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This Autumn, our ‘Community’ section takes us on a delicious recipe trip with Lion’s Den mushrooms, as well as walking us through the streets of Bexhill discovering businesses and things to do there. Local teen, Betty Furmston writes this issue’s ‘Young Voice’ article and of course we have our usual ‘How We Met’ and we get to know one person in five minutes.

51. Recipe with Lion’s Den / 54. Bexhill Area Guide / 60. Freewheeling by Betty Furmston 64. How We Met / 66. 5 x 1.

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Photo by Gabriel Mihalcea

RECIPE

Get Hastings Autumn 2023

—

BY LION’S DEN

Words by Mel Elliott Photography by Steve Painter (stevepainter.co.uk) Illustrations by Evie May Adams (eviemayadams.com) Meet Ollie Hunter: mushroom fanatic, Masterchef semi-finalist and author of two cookbooks.

Ollie and his partner, Laura are on a mission to serve up plant-based dishes that pack an umami punch (something that they both had missed since becoming vegan). You can try Lion’s Den menus from pop-ups in various pubs and restaurants in the area. Their shiitake and lion’s mane mushrooms are grown from within the Brewing Brothers brewery and tap room on Ivy House Lane and their range of mushrooms and sauces can be found in Trinity Wholefoods, St Leonards Grocery and Judges Bakery.

Mushrooms are obviously their main ingredient, but they also put organic local vegetables at the heart of their food. They then cook “root to fruit” to ensure no waste, and take advantage of the amazing flavours and textures. Ollie and Laura believe that moving towards more plant-based foods is the simplest and fastest way to help combat the ongoing and urgent climate crisis.

Lion’s Den have very kindly offered up a recipe for you to try at home...

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Every so often, a mist is set off to keep the humidity levels in the temperature controlled container unit.

Get Hastings Autumn 2023

Cumin Fried Shiitake Hummus, Shiitake Carpaccio Serves 4 1 Garlic Clove, grated 1 Small Lemon 1 Tin Chickpeas 1 large tbsp Tahini Glugs of Olive Oil 1 tbsp Cumin Seeds 12 Shiitake Whole Nutmeg Fresh Thyme Remove the stems from six Shiitake – you’ll use the raw heads later. Slice the stems and the other six shiitake and fry in oil. Once brown add the cumin seeds for a few minutes then remove from the hob. Place in a blender along with the garlic, lemon zest and juice, tahini, salt and chickpeas (reserve the aquafaba for a vegan dessert). Blitz adding olive oil. Add water as well if you need to loosen it slightly.

Toast the bruschetta and dollop the hummus onto each one. Thinly slice the six raw shiitake heads and place on top of the hummus. Grate nutmeg all over, scatter with fresh thyme, and drizzle with olive oil.

Books: 30 Easy Ways to Join the Food Revolution Join the Greener Revolution ⚫

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Bexhill Area Guide

BEXHILL AREA GUIDE Words & illustrations by Mel Elliott Bexhill is a mere seven minute train journey from St Leonards Warrior Square but stepping out of the station and into Sea Road feels like you’re entering a different world or going back in time. I had never been to Bexhill as a youngster but there is something very nostalgic about it, like Parma Violets or Opal Fruits.

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If you do want to go back in time, Get Hastings highly recommends Bexhill Museum: It’s most famous attraction is Eddie Izzard’s childhood train set, a piece of magical battery-powered wonder made for him by his father around sixty years ago. But Bexhill museum is more than that, it has many interesting artefacts such as old racing cars (did you know that Bexhill was the birthplace of motor racing in the UK?) and fancy costumes worn by none other than Queen Victoria. Step out of the museum and into Egerton Park with its play and exercise apparatus, coffee shop, bowling greens and ducks… many, many ducks.

The De La Warr Pavilion has gone on to exhibit artists such as Andy Warhol, Bridget Riley and Grayson Perry. It has hosted performers such as Patti Smith, Elvis Costello and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and Agatha Christie’s fictional legend, Hercule Poirot has worked out ‘who-done-it’ from the building’s impressive sweeping spiral staircase.

The De La Warr Pavilion sits on the seafront, proudly, as Bexhill’s pride and joy. Designed

by Erich Mendelsohn and Serge Chermayeff, and originally hailed ‘The People’s Palace’, this striking white, chrome and glass structure was the first steel-framed building in the UK. It opened to the public in 1935 but was forced to close down and black-out just four years later when the Nazis started getting all aggro.

On the following pages are some of Get Hastings’ top picks for businesses in Bexhill but, if you are not a resident, do make sure to venture there by train, bicycle, foot or car and explore Bexhill for yourself.

Today, the DLWP is a seaside champion of art, music, theatre, film and community events and workshops. Its gift shop sells ceramics, books and stationery, a record shop sits in the foyer and the cafe upstairs has views for miles.

Bexhill Museum 47 Egerton Road Bexhill-on-Sea

DLWP Marina Bexhill-on-Sea

Get Hastings Autumn 2023

Bexhill Area Guide

Cactus Moon

EST. October 2021 77 Western Road

THE OLD AMBULANCE STATION EST. 2022

10 Beeching Road This converted building houses eight, low-cost creative studios. Each artist contributes by volunteering amongst the local community. Outside sits a large sculpture by Steven Gregory and a more recent edition is an old train carriage that will be restored and turned into an art cafe.

Get Hastings loves:

The Old Ambulance Station’s team of volunteers providing help and hard graft to their community.

UNIT 4+2

EST. 2013

17A Parkhurst Road Julie and Graham run this large, light and airy gift shop in which over 15 different local artists sell their wares. Ranging from place mats, mugs, t-shirts, hats and much, much more.

Get Hastings loves:

Their concrete mushrooms and the wheel-thrown mugs with ceramic seashell embellishment.

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Cactus Moon offers fabulous coffee and delicious homemade cakes with a relaxed retro vibe. They also sell a range of easy care houseplants.

This place is so dog-friendly that dogs get their own menu offering roast dinners, paw star martinis and more!

Get Hastings loves:

The Harry Styles cut-outs that sit amongst the cacti, the soundtrack and the fact that you can take your dog out for dinner.

Get Hastings Autumn 2023

BOW TIES

EST. 2013

Unit 3, The Collonade Cream teas and quintessentially English dishes all served on dainty bone china.

Get Hastings loves:

The lovely garden and outdoor parlour with traditionally set tables, doilies and chandeliers.

BEECHING ROAD STUDIOS EST. 2022

Beeching Road Gosh it’s all kicking off on Beeching Road isn’t it? Beeching Road Studios is another converted building that is here to support the growth of creative businesses by providing affordable studio space. Amongst the residents are Common Clay and Three Legs Brewing Company who have recently opened a tap room offering some of their best brews.

CHAPELLE ROUGE

EST. 2019

30 Sea Road

Get Hastings loves:

Beeching Road Studio’s Early Careers Programme which offers subsidised studio space, exhibitions and mentors to creatives with 0-10 years experience.

French braquant, rustic furniture, vintage designer clothing and shoes.

Get Hastings loves:

Their range of French antique cabinets and Patsy, the resident dog.

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Bexhill Area Guide

VINTAGE AT 25 EST. 2014

25 Sea Road Quirky, vintage goods. Not your traditional antique shop. Selling sheep shears, toy cars and everything else in between. It’s where people come to discover the unique.

Get Hastings loves:

Their range of toys and games and owner Jacqui is super friendly.

Hughies beach cafe

EST. 2013

Unit 3, The Collonade Hughies sits right on the promenade below the De La Warr Pavilion. It’s a family-run cafe selling homemade cakes, sandwiches and toasties.

Get Hastings loves:

Every table comes with a water pistol for shooting those pesky seagulls away from your sandwich. Be careful not to squirt your fellow diners!

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Brickmaker’s Ale House EST. November 2019 27 Sea Road A traditional cast beer and cider ale house with a strong focus on local community and encouraging good conversation.

Get Hastings loves:

The beer served straight from the barrel as well as the glassfronted cold barrel store.

Get Hastings Autumn 2023

BEST TILE BOUTIQUE

EST. In Ireland over 20 years ago.

2019 in Bexhill, first UK store 21 Endwell Road Boutique tile shop selling beautiful crafted, handmade cement and ceramic tiles from Morocco, Spain & France. They boast the UK’s largest selection of handmade tiles with over 1,500 styles, colours, and designs.

Get Hastings loves:

Their tiles! Ever since I stumbled upon this shop I’ve been raving about it to everyone… as well as tiling everything that will sit still for long enough.

Replay Music Stores

EST. 50 years ago

9 Sackville Street Music sales and repairs run by Day. All good musical instruments, records and hi-fis bought and sold. New and Second hand.

Get Hastings loves:

Day’s passion for his business, as well as the beautiful white LAG slimline electro acoustic guitar priced at £585.

WILLOW EST. 2016

50 Sea Road Willow is a boutique, selling a colourful array of sustainable linen and cotton clothing with a forever appeal. Owner, Karen likes to sell pieces that are contemporary and slightly edgy and that will suit people of all ages.

Get Hastings loves:

Their soft and slouchy dungarees that come in a variety of colours. It’s very difficult not to feel relaxed and chilled out whilst wearing dungarees. ⚫ 59

Young Voice: Freewheeling

YOUNG VOICE

BY BETTY FURMSTON, 17

Illustration by Mel Elliott The driver’s licence. A small aspect of the wallet, easily overlooked; but for the just-turned-17-year-old it might as well be the holy grail – and it’s perhaps even better for their friends. But the combination of a driver’s licence and a car? It’s too glorious to even contemplate. I dedicate this article to my friend, Gemma, who recently passed her test and now pulls up at our school with music blasting and tyres screeching.

How to explain the wondrousness of a set of wheels?

She gives us lifts to the station and bus stop, McDonald’s Drive Thru for lunch, and of course, epic karaoke sessions. Such an important occasion warrants a real celebration, not between family but between friends, who, let’s be frank, will now spend the majority of time arguing over shotgun, sticking their heads out of windows, and keeping the seats warm. Recently, the perfect opportunity literally fell from the sky.

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This was the night of comet c/2022-E3, passing close to Earth for the first time in 50,000 years. This was once in a lifetime, and fortunately the designated driver and her friends are all gigantic nerds. The plan is hatched over lunch when Gemma, Grace, Tom and I all figure out when to go – tonight is the night.

I’m bubbling with anticipation all day, checking a star app and watching as the green comet shoots across the sky, considering where we should go to avoid light pollution. We eat as fast as we can when we get home, pack blankets, spare socks, binoculars and coffee. I sprint back to the train station and meet Tom and Grace there. By the time we get to Gemma’s house I’m jumping up and down thinking I can see it already, but of course, I’m kidding myself. We crank up the tunes – horrible histories parodies of course – and we make a stop at Tesco to grab energy drinks and crisps and brownies, and then we are flying.

I can imagine that the wheels aren’t even touching the tarmac, we really are a rocket; but my spirit feels even lighter, and I stick my head out the window and laugh at the heavens.

We put on show tunes to sing along to, but we could listen to the worst thing in the world and it wouldn’t matter. We’ve picked what to listen to and that makes all the difference in the world.

Beachy Head is our chosen spot and mercifully the clouds have become sparse and scut along the sky and out of our field of view as we drive up. It’s beautiful:

Young Voice: Freewheeling

we can see the long winding Sussex sprawl along the coast, tinged with the lights of a thousand homes, and we can also see the endless sea and the constellations which disappear beyond our horizon. It takes your breath away with more force than a punch to the gut.

We had planned to sit on the grass but with the cold wind blowing off the sea and the one-degree temperature, we stamp our feet and rub our hands instead, running back and forth, half in elation at Andromeda shining over our head and half to keep frostbite at bay. We search in earnest for the comet; we track it back and forth across the sky, and with a whoop, we’ve found it!

It’s only a slight shadowy blur, but it’s racing over our heads faster than we can comprehend, and we chase it eagerly with our eyes. We are the first generation since prehistory to see that specific blur of light; passing over our heads is not just ice and rock and gas, but history too. We cheer and jump and laugh. I can’t help thinking about those paintings you see of mad Greeks in togas leaping as they dance under the stars. We have significantly more layers and are jacked up on caffeine, but stargazing still endures.

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We lie back, exhausted, at one o’clock, and we point out constellations. We can see Orion for sure, but the others we just make up names for, or pretend we know what we’re talking about. Does it matter if canis minor is a fish? We are witness to the same points of light as the first humans.

The ISS passes overhead and I can see the lights on its wings from our glorious perch. There are people on that tiny little speck that live, breathe and dream – are they watching us back? Can they see us? I wave. They are new to the scene (as young as we are, according to the cosmic calendar) and when they come home they’ll be taller because of the change in gravity, but I also think they’ll stand taller because they have crossed the final frontier. Just as Gemma has broken down the boundaries of 17, they’ve done what few men before have done. It’s a giant leap to drive and to fly a spaceship, but they are different kinds of leaps.

They are the space cowboys of the 21st century; they are the compact hopes and dreams of a society raised on the space race.

A star shoots across the sky and nobody else catches it – gone too quickly for my shout to matter, but it happened, and we were there while it faded brightly.

I shut my eyes, but I can’t think of a wish in time.

I realise that I’m happy already – the gift was to see the asteroid tumble out of a sky that seems fixed in place, the anomaly. A car is pretty cool too. ⚫

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P EO P L E

How We Met

How We Met Interview by Kathy Dyton Photography by Caitlin Lock

Victoria: I actually find that sad because he was so close and I didn’t know. I wish I’d met him years ago.

We had our first date in London.

David (44) & Victoria Weir (39) This is the story of how David Weir (CBE & British multi gold medal paralympic wheelchair athlete) met his wife Victoria and how after mutual disastrous relationships, they created a happy, blended family down on the South Coast.

Victoria: We met on Tinder and after swiping I saw David’s picture. He was wearing a tuxedo on a red carpet. I didn’t know who he was, or that he was a famous athlete, he didn’t tell me straight away.

David: Tinder was hard for me at first. The pictures I posted didn’t show my chair. I’d get loads of messages and after I said I was in a wheelchair, they’d just disappear and ghost me. I thought, ‘god, this is ruthless’.

Then I thought ‘actually, I’m kind of lying here’, so I put my wheelchair pictures up and that’s what Victoria saw.

But it’s funny as I also got messages from people asking ‘why are you impersonating David Weir?’.

Victoria: I think we were both at that stage where we were getting to the end of our tether with Tinder and rubbish dates. It was constantly disappointing and completely exhausting.

David: Yes, Victoria was going to be my final date.

If it hadn’t have worked, I’d already made up my mind that I was coming off Tinder.

Victoria: I was messaging four other people when I first contacted David. As a teacher, I’m hot on my grammar and punctuation. David has dyslexia so his messages were so short, bordering on the blunt (laughs). However, his messages were the most consistent compared to the others, always saying ‘good morning’, telling me where he was training and stuff, so I lost interest in the other guys.

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David: I was living in Surrey at the time, Victoria was in St Leonards. I liked her profile first and her appearance of course, but I also liked that she was a teacher and that she lived on the South Coast. I used to suffer with depression so I would always visit this area to get away from it all before I met Victoria.

David: I suggested a pub, but I forgot it was the Championship playoff, the place was packed and noisy with a huge TV screen but we ended up talking in there for hours.

Victoria: When I had to leave, Dave said ‘so am I going to see you again?’ I said ‘yes’, but I don’t think he believed me. He said I was hard to read. I had my guard up. Before the date I asked him to send me a picture of himself with one of his medals just so I knew he was who he said he was. Internet dating is a minefield.

David: After our first date it was instant for me. Within a month I was meeting her parents. We moved in together within three months. I’d been planning the proposal for a while but Victoria had already told me what ring she wanted, so it wasn’t a complete shock. I gifted her a balloon with ‘Will You Marry Me’ written on it.

Victoria: (Laughs) But he didn’t actually say the words!

He forgot to, in the moment, and he just passed me the balloon. Dave comes as a package, he has four previous children, and now we have a child (Teddy) together.

As a teacher I was used to children and I met the kids very early on. Family is so important to us: my parents are great step-grandparents and they are a big part of their lives too. Dave’s a great Dad. David: We’ve been married for a year now. We could have married at St Paul’s Cathedral because of my CBE, but the waiting list was too long so we married at The Gallivant which was great. Victoria is a wonderful mother and step-mother, along with being beautiful to look at. I’ve never been happier to be honest.

Victoria: Dave makes me laugh. He’s forever late and he’s always rushing around, putting t-shirts on back to front and inside-out at the same time. One time, early on in our relationship, we were having breakfast at a hotel and he leaned over to me and said ‘I’ve never been so embarrassed, my spare pants were hanging on the side of my wheelchair at the buffet and I didn’t realise’. He always makes me laugh… and I really fancy his arms. ⚫

Day photographed

by Josie Barnes @josiebarnesphotography

P EO P L E

5 1

Get Hastings Autumn 2023

1 PERSON IN 5 MINUTES

Name: Day Lavale Age: I never give my age away Occupation: Musician, vocal tutor, choir leader of the Lifted Up Community Choir, Replay Music Stores in Bexhill.

Lives: Bexhill-on-Sea

1. When did you last cry?

Okay that’s such a personal question. I think it was over lockdown. I had a lot of time to think about everything that was restrained and contained. I went through all the emotions of grief that I hadn’t thought I had felt before, all the happiness I hadn’t thought of before and yes, I let my emotions out during that time.

2. What’s your most treasured possession?

I don’t have one. Not an item anyway. Now that I’m older I feel that my most treasured possession is my health, my memories, and the people that mean the most to me. That’s more important to me than anything.

Small things: peace of mind, joy, gardening, playing music with friends, family. They’re the most precious things to me.

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

When I was a kid I wanted to be somebody like Jesus or Ghandi (laughs). And I don’t think those people thought they were important. I think that their journey was important and what they stood for was important.

I wanted to stand for something. I never thought I wanted to be a policeman or a doctor. But the first occupation that I remember wanting to do was a scientist but when I went to school I felt discouraged ‘cause I wanted to do three sciences and they said ‘you have to do one science!’ and that put me off because I wanted to study science and I wanted to do all three.

4. What is a recent happy memory that you’ll treasure?

Again, I’m at the stage where I treasure the moment I’m in because I’m in a place where I can be myself and treasure my life because I’m not worried about what people think.

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

It’s strange because I’m putting a set together for a concert and I’m doing a song that I wrote when I was fourteen and the song is called ‘Don’t Waste Your Time’.

So I think I’m going to reverse the question a little bit: my younger self has given me advice and I take that advice quite seriously! The first line is ‘Don’t waste your time on ambition’ and it’s about being yourself, not trying to strive to be like somebody else but being the best person you want to be. So that’s my younger self talking and I never knew I was so wise when I was 14!

See the Lifted Up Community Choir’s concert on 10th December at the De La Warr Pavilion.

Tickets available from DLWP.com ⚫

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