Inside Cissbury, Issue 41 June 2025 by insidecommunity

Celebrate our community with

the

Worthing Festival and Fringe this June

Let’s grow this town together!

This June, we’re celebrating the rich heritage and creative talents of our local community with a newly-designed Worthing Festival and Fringe, bringing together the unique cultural and natural assets of Worthing – and you’re all invited!

The heart of the Festival is a free, family-friendly music festival taking place in the natural setting of Homefield Park on Saturday 21 and Sunday 22 June from 11:00am to 9:00pm, featuring live music across three stages, music and art installations celebrating nature, circus performers, activities for kids and a variety of tasty local food and drink. The skatepark will be hosting skateboarding lessons and a fun skate jam and there’ll be a display of top of the range audio systems in luxury sports cars, courtesy of leading international audio brand Bowers & Wilkins.

The theme of this year’s Festival is “Let’s grow this town together”, a nod to the rich horticultural heritage of Worthing, as well as the role of the arts in developing local talent and supporting the creative community. The AudioActive Youth Stage will feature young musicians such as Maxwell D, Louie Lavack and Lilly Wolfe, while the Discovery Stage will showcase solo artists and emerging talent. The main Park Stage will have a family-friendly lineup of local and international music including solo artists, bands and choirs such as Spring into Soul, Laura Vane, Son Guranchando, Yumi & the Weather, The Jones Street Boys and Papa Linos & Nhasitafara.

As well as the Festival in the Park daytime event, which will run from 11:00am to 9:00pm, the main Festival weekend will feature a series of evening after-parties and DJ sets spread across the pubs and clubs in town on the Saturday night, creating a vibrant atmosphere for everyone to enjoy.

The Festival Fringe will run throughout June at venues across the town centre, including a wide range of music, theatre, circus and dance performances, heritage walks and talks, visual arts, exhibitions and art installations. More information can be found on our website www.worthingfestival.org.uk

Worthing Festival is being supported by Arts Council England and local businesses including headline sponsor, Bowers & Wilkins, main sponsors AudioActive and Hand Brew Co, along with Lightning Fibre, Connect Media, Inside Publications, Colonnade House, Northbrook College and other Festival supporters and partners. Local businesses are encouraged to get involved in the Festival and to help make the event a celebration for the whole community.

To find out more, visit www.worthingfestival.org.uk. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram @worthingfestival to see more festival programming and event information.

We look forward to seeing you at Homefield Park on Saturday 21 and Sunday 22 June from 11:00am.

Let’s grow this town together!

CONTENTS INSIDE ⚪ ⚪ ⚪ ⚪ 3

Welcome

Wow Worthing! June is such a fun packed and vibrant month. After such a great vibe in the town through May, especially around the VE day celebrations, we can safely say that Worthing is a fantastic place to live. Have a good look through this month, as there is a lot going on that you really don’t want to miss!

Last month, Matt Marchant (Inside The Real Repair Shop), held a competition for those who followed his instructions to win some DomLuca coffee. Between us, Matt and myself had a number of entries. Sadly, the ones that went directly to Matt were disqualified as they didn’t pay attention to detail! The winners have already heard from Matt and are; Dawn who prefers her coffee percolator and cafetiere, Tom – a big fan of the stove coffee pot, and Kristina who uses a French press and frother and dreams of owning an Orchestrale Nota… maybe one day!

Have a great month and keep in touch!

Liana :)

the

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LHelping our Veterans with PTSD

ast month, the Country, and the Commonwealth, came together to commemorate the 80th anniversary of VE Day. Without the sacrifices of the many brave men and women of those times we would not have the privilege to live in the free democratic nation of today.

I grew up in a generation that did not have to do National Service, or risk being called up to serve in conﬂict, but through my business and professional life in community pharmacy I have come into contact with quite a number of veterans. This was especially true in the 1990s and onwards when many of my older customers had “done their bit” in World War 2.

Some had come back with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), a condition that was barely recognised and less understood at that time. However, some were still suffering, right up to the time when I was assisting them, decades after the event. They would only tell me about it if they could get a quiet moment with me in private, and they would tell me what was really keeping them awake at night, or why they had awful nightmares.

“I should still be out there, with me mates, under the sand,” said one North African Campaign veteran with survivors’guilt.

Nowadays, PTSD is so much better recognised. Those who may be suffering are encouraged to speak up and seek help, rather than bottle it up and “get on with it” as in years past.

Research in the UK is clear that military veterans have higher rates of mental health issues including PTSD. In a 2018 study, the rate of PTSD was estimated at 7.4% - about double that of the civilian population. The study also showed that veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars were particularly affected, with rates up to 17%. If we consider the likelihood of associated mental health problems then the rate may be as high as 30%. It is also true that veterans find it hard to speak up. Loneliness and/or alcohol and substance misuse are also factors that makes things worse.

In 2021, the NHS launched Operation Courage, a new service for past and serving personnel who need help for any mental health condition, which are often linked to PTSD. Affected individuals are

helped by specialists in treating Armed Forces veterans. Sometimes the issues are linked with moving into a civilian life, and Op Courage have specialist services for this as well. Those needing urgent help are promised a same day referral.

Treatment can involve talking therapies, cognitive behavioural therapy, and medicines.

Help is also available from charities such as combatstress.org.uk, and many others. Combat Stress have helped 16,000 veterans in the past year from no less than 15 different conﬂict zones. They have a 24 hour helpline, 0800 138 1619

Everyone owes a debt to our veterans. We can reduce the ill effects of PTSD, for example by befriending and listening, or volunteering with local branches of The British Legion or The Soldiers’, Sailors’ & Airmens’ Families Association (SSAFA). A former colleague, when I served on WSCC, ran a breakfast club for ex-service veterans in Littlehampton.

It is important to know that PTSD can be successfully treated even many years after the event. It is never too late to ask for help.

Bryan Turner MRPharmS

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Caroline Osella

Pride & Prejudice, Great Love & Great Hatred

June already - Pride month. Not feeling celebratory.

A UK Supreme Court Ruling recently stated that transgender women are not, for the purposes of the Equality Act, legally women (in a case funded by a billionaire who chooses hate and division over philanthropy).

I sat down with some transgender women and with a Baptist pastor. Yup.

Skyler pleads,“Get to know us, get a bit of empathy …”. She reminds me that, “We live ordinary lives, we also want to talk about normal stuff - just say hi, talk to us”. Sapphire adds, “We don’t choose to defy social norms, it’s been pushed on us”.

We talk about how the violence of some men affects all women, and how trans women are, statistically, most often the victims of violence - not the perpetrators. “We fear our safety, like all women, at night. But there’s no let up even in the daytime, for us”.

We agree that trans people are being used as a useful distraction from who’s really harming usused as bogeyman and scapegoat and as a “wedge issue” to break the possibility of community solidarities. (Now “The Gays” aren’t scapegoats, new ones needed). Facts and statistics don’t matter to many. That has violent impact.

The women tell me that the new bill is terrifying: transgender people are wondering if this country is safe, and Skyler has, “Literally had to talk friends down off the ledge”.

She also points out that, sometime soon, there will be women challenging each other in bathrooms and changing rooms, with fallouts from embarrassment to bodily violence. “It will become an excuse - ‘I thought she was trans’.”

In 2021, a young mother was beaten unconscious in Chapel Road, Worthing, by people who thought (wrongly) that she was trans. Remember “gay panic” as a murder mitigation plea? We’re back in that absurd space.

Ask a biologist about human biological sex to hear that it is most definitely not a binary. It’s also not defined by chromosomes. Prof. Anne FaustoSterling was explaining already back in 1993 that biology could discern at least 5 human sexes. By 2025, research biology would no longer even speak of distinct “sexes” - but about more dynamic and complex ﬂuid systems. Chromosomes, genitals, gametes - they’re all small parts of very complex and dynamic (changing) systems. Yes, even you, Madam. And you, Sir.

What does a Christian make of all this?

Rev Mike Parker, Worthing Baptist Church, “Didn’t grow up Christian. When I became one 30 years ago. I assumed the church had some tough stuff to say. That the God of love I was starting to understand wasn’t aﬃrming of gay people…based on my assumption of what the Bible said…and what some people told me it said”.

Mike has, “Been drip-feeding grace for 16 years - to myself, to the church”. This eventually meant that, “Some of the discussions in Christian press about gay marriage began to grate. I wondered if the Bible was actually clear about all this - it wasn’t even mentioned in Bible college!” He felt pain and witnessed lack of love when, “People in my life, in the church, couldn’t express their true self”. He also recognises that, “I was brought up in the culture of - “laugh at” - now I see the cruelty in all that”.

So, 9 years ago, Mike used his 3 month sabbatical carefully: “I spent it praying, reading, talking to all sorts of people, reading the Bible very deeply, meeting aﬃrming ministers, meeting LGBTQI+ Christians. I realised - What the Bible actually says is not what I’ve been told it says ”.

At the same time, Mike was noticing, “A theme of grace - among those who were LGBTQI+ Christians and those who aﬃrmed them; grace within them and coming from them. There was a ﬂavour of the God I knew: grace, humility - not, “I know best” or “I’m right”; a desire for justice, and love”.

This contradiction between God’s love, and how people misunderstand certain verses and take them out of context, turned up among church members, when Mike opened up a conversation in Worthing Baptist church. He was astonished to find that even many lifelong Christians had “surprisingly little Biblical knowledge”.

Some church members, “Were way ahead, without verses or anything, but just from love, genuine love

- they were already there”. Mike shared with the church the passages and the theology he’d studied that allowed his head to catch up with his heart. Many left, many stayed, and new people came in.

Skyler and Sapphire ask us to open our hearts, listen, see the human. Mike says, “My heart’s always been open, but understanding came later…trans, gay and queer people were here all along, in the world, in our churches. They’re part of the rich diversity and creativity of God’s creation. The diversity was already there - different ethnicities, people with disabilities, wide age range, all of it. But, now we recognise it all, we aﬃrm it”. He smiles - “It’s such a non-issue - that you love, honour, respect someone for who they are. I’ve been on steep learning curve - but I respect people who don’t understand yet - it takes time”.

Ian Lekus, in a Harvard-Kennedy law school assessment of the UK act, comments, “The U.K. Supreme Court has now added junk jurisprudence to the junk science of last year’s Cass Review”.

Globally, the rise of anti-trans hate is connected to movements standing ‘against gender-ideology’. As Lekus states, “Like the gender-critical feminists, the anti-gender movement - a movement backed by mega-rich Russian oligarchs, American evangelicals, and extreme-right Spanish and Latin American Catholic billionaires - purports to be acting in defense of women and the family”.

Be careful who your friends are; if they can hate a tiny and marginal group so fiercely, who else do they hate? And when will they turn on you?

Many of us know Pastor Niemöller’s poem (‘First, they came for the Communists…’). Let’s hope that by November, when we remember wars fought in the name of freedom, that we might have remembered and understood his words in our hearts.

Rev Mike has been on a journey of love, grace, humility and learning; he’s followed his heart full of love towards a more mature understanding of the biological facts around how sex and gender work and how they are lived and experienced; this is mature faith, built on universal love.

Strange times, when a Baptist church is the place offering solidarity, knowledge and compassion to transgender people, while women who call themselves feminists actively build cultures of hate against other women. As Skyler and Sapphire told me, “We’re not a threat, we’re not a danger, we’re just human”.

Caroline Osella writes @ Rewilded Anthropologist - https://carolineosella.substack.com/

Overcoming the ﬁnish line: My journey with Dyspraxia

FA:ST

Welcome to FA:ST (Future Adults: Shaping Tomorrow), a section of INSIDE that responds to requests from young people to write and have their say. If you are a young person with something to say, email liana@insidepublications.ltd.

Amonth ago, on May 4, I ran the Worthing 10K. I crossed the finish line with burning legs, a pounding heart - and a sense of pride that still lingers. That medal wasn’t just a piece of metal around my neck; it was proof that I could do something I once believed I was incapable of. It meant something to me on a level deeper than running itself - it was a reﬂection of all the years I spent doubting my own strength.

I have dyspraxia, a condition that affects coordination and movement, and from a young age, it was clear that sports would always be a struggle. At school, PE lessons were torture. I couldn’t keep up. I was the one who tripped during warm-ups, dropped the ball in games, and was picked last, again and again. The teasing followed. The comments about being “clumsy” or “useless.” They cut deeper than I ever let on, leaving me with a sense of inadequacy I couldn’t shake off. I grew up believing that my body was something I couldn’t trust, that it would never allow me to do the things I wanted.

Matilda Cutting age 16

But, running the 10K was a challenge I couldn’t resist. It was a chance to rewrite that story.

Training was hard. It didn’t come easily. There were days when I could barely push myself out the door, days when the voices in my head told me it was pointless, that I was too weak to finish. I had a lot of doubts, and I wondered why I even signed up for a race that seemed impossible. But, then I’d think back to all the times I’d been told I couldn’t do something - and how, in the end, I’d always proved them wrong. It wasn’t about getting the fastest time or even running the whole distance. It was about showing up and refusing to let my past define me.

The race itself was something I’ll never forget. The roads were closed to traﬃc, which felt strangely empowering - there was something symbolic about running on roads that normally belong to cars. I focused on the path ahead, blocking out everything else. It was just me, my body, and the race. No one else’s expectations. No one else’s opinions. Just me proving to myself that I could do it. That I could keep going even when my legs screamed for mercy.

When I crossed that finish line, I didn’t feel like the person who struggled with dyspraxia. I didn’t feel like the kid who had been bullied in school or the one who had always felt like the odd one out. I felt like someone who had fought hard and won. The medal was a reminder that I’m stronger than I think, that the struggles I’ve had don’t define my limits - they just push me to break through them.

Running changed something in me - not just my physical strength, but how I see myself. For the first time in a long while, I realized I am capable of so much more than I ever imagined. The way my body feels when I move now is different. It’s no longer just an obstacle or something I resent. It’s a source of pride. The hardest part was always believing in myself. Dyspraxia made it easy to feel like I was always falling short, like I wasn’t “good enough.” But running taught me that progress isn’t about being perfect. It’s about trying. And showing up - even on the days when confidence is at its lowest. I don’t have to be ﬂawless to be strong. It wasn’t just about the race day, or the finish line - it was about all the moments leading up to it. The early mornings when I forced myself to lace up my shoes despite the doubt creeping in. The training runs where I had to push through the exhaustion. It was the act of simply keeping going, even when I felt like stopping.

Since that race, I’ve signed up for my next one in October. And every time I think about it, I’m reminded of how far I’ve come. Running isn’t just a hobby anymore. It’s proof that I can do hard things. It’s a reminder that the limitations I’ve carried for so long don’t have to be my future. That race was just the beginning. The medal isn’t just a token of my achievement - it’s a symbol of everything I’ve overcome and everything I still have yet to accomplish. And no matter what happens next, I know I’m capable of more than I ever gave myself credit for.

I want to ride my bicycle

Matt Marchant

IThis month I want to get back to workshop-related activities. Back to how this whole thing started – fixing and maintaining things, linked to sustainability and whatnot.

t has been a very dry year - great for fair-weather cyclists like me. I avoid cycling when it’s raining. After cycling to work in April, and receiving a broken bike for my eldest daughter this week, it inspired me to write a “get your bike ready for summer” in a handy top-10 list. A lot of folks I speak to say that they wouldn’t know where to start when it comes to basic bicycle checks. I suspect for most, it’s about confidence. There are free tutorials online showing bike-related maintenance tasks. You just need a few tools.

When selecting the right tools for your bike, always follow the manual or seek advice, especially before splashing the cash on expensive specialist tools. Any self-respecting bicycle mechanic will carry the following tools and for many basic maintenance tasks and is all one might need.

A basic tool kit should include

• 10mm, 13mm and 15mm spanners for brakes, wheels and pedals

• Allen keys from 3mm to 5.5mm

• Small ﬂat blade and small cross-head screw driver (for gears and brakes etc)

• Multipurpose 3-in-1 oil or something GT85 for drive trains

• Maintenance spray for cleaning

• Small pliers/cutters

• A multitool - very useful for trips

• A pump with a gauge is also handy

• Puncture repair kit

Don’t spend a fortune - there are tool libraries that can usually help.

Top Ten Top Tips for happier cycling this summer!

TYRES

If your bike has been languishing in the shed all winter, check the condition of your tyres for cracking on the side walls and the quality of the tread. While there’s no legal minimum limit for bicycle tread in the UK, it’s worth having tread if you want to stop in the wet. Always inﬂate to the recommended amount – the pressure in PSI or BAR can usually be found on the tyre’s sidewall.

BRAKES

Being able to stop is always good. Ensure that brake levers operate smoothly, cables run freely and brake blocks or pads come into contact with the wheel’s rim or disc in good time. Follow basic adjustment for your bike as required. If your bike uses brake ﬂuid, it needs to be changed every two years.

SADDLE

Incorrectly adjusted saddles can make journeys unforgettable for all the wrong reasons. Spend time getting comfortable before setting off. Saddle and handle bar height should also be adjusted in conjunction. YouTube is awash with advice about optimum riding position geometry. Find a position which works for you.

GEARS

These make life much easier. I can’t cover gear adjustment here, but ensure that all cables and moving parts are lubricated properly and gear mechanism are not bent

– leaning bikes over on the ground can often damage bicycle gears.

CHAIN

So many cyclists run a bike with no oil on the chain, leading to poor running and ultimately premature failure. Lubricate and clean chains, especially if you use your bike in the rain and ensure that chain-slack is not excessive.

CABLES

Spend time checking cables can run smoothly, are lubricated with maintenance spray and correctly adjusted to ensure a smooth machine.

GRIPS

I recently changed my handle bar grip for under £10 and it made such a difference. My bike is nearly 30 years only so the original grips had started to go a bit hard. New gel ones made riding the machine much more enjoyable again.

PEDALS

Ensure pedals can turn freely without much resistance. They should turn smoothly. Some types can be adjusted and some can be lubricated, but if they’ve given up the ghost, then eBay is your friend.

LIGHTS,

REFLECTORS AND BELL

It’s a UK requirement to have working reﬂectors front (white) and rear (red) at all times and have a working bell. If you ride at night, get yourself a decent set of lights. Modern front LED lights tend to be bright, so angle them down a bit so they don’t dazzle oncoming road users. Remember to remove your lights when leaving it unattended for any length of time as bike magpies can sometimes be tempted.

SECURITY

There’s always someone out there who would rather they had your bike, but don’t make life easy for them. Invest in a quality lock and secure your bike to bike stands rather than ﬂimsy street furniture or wire fences.

I hope that’s been of some use to you… happy cycling! Got a bicycle top-tip, do get in touch.

‘Paws for Wellbeing’ with Miss May

Miss May loves being outdoors. This month we’ll be exploring the benefits of connecting with nature alongside our canine companions. We also get to meet PERMAH Pup of the month –Jonnie! Thanks to Elizabeth for sharing their beautiful and highly relevant story.

On June 19 Miss May and her dad, Clive, are excited to be presenting together at the Outdoor Coaching Live Festival at Henley Business School on their work with Pets As Therapy and on the benefits of coaching in nature alongside a dog.

BENEFITS OF NATURE CONNECTEDNESS WITH DOGS

There’s strong evidence from psychology, neuroscience, and health research showing that “nature connectedness” - our relationship with the natural world, contributes to our wellbeing. Involving a dog in opportunities to connect with the “green and blue” of nature can add unique and even more powerful value. Here’s how:

1. Enhancing emotional safety and trust: Interaction with dogs boosts bonding hormones like oxytocin, helping people feel more emotionally secure and safe. Their presence with us can make outdoor spaces feel inviting, more relaxed, and less intimidating. Dogs naturally lower social barriers too, making it easier to engage with other people and make friends with other dog lovers!

2. Improved mental health: Being in nature results in lower anxiety, depression and stress, alongside boosting mood and emotional regulation. Interacting with dogs too can reduce stress hormones like cortisol. When we feel anxious or emotionally flooded, dogs can provide a grounding influence, often making us stop like pausing to sniff or ask for attention. These unplanned moments offer us a chance to slow down, take a deep breath, pause and sit with our emotions, reflect or simply shift gear into a more positive state of mind.

3. Greater life satisfaction and vitality: Nature connectedness is positively associated with having a sense of meaning, purpose and experiencing positive emotions such as awe, wonder, serenity, curiosity and joy. Interacting with a dog can prompt us to tune into our own body language, posture and relational dynamics which can all help to energise us.

4. Providing a cognitive and creative boost: Time in nature restores directed attention and enhances memory performance. Natural environments promote greater creativity, divergent thinking and problem-solving capacity. Dogs often spark that spontaneous joy, playfulness or calm which helps broaden our thinking, approaching issues, be they problems, challenges or opportunities, with greater creativity and ﬂexibility.

5. Increased pro-social and pro-environmental behaviours: Nature connection and appreciation of beauty encourages empathy and kindness. It boosts moral, compassionate and sustainable action. People with awareness of nature are more likely to engage in eco-friendly habits and advocate for the environment. This adds to sense of purpose and psychological wellbeing. Being in nature with dogs creates wonderful opportunities to both appreciate the world around us and to protect it for future generations.

6. Physical health and recovery: Being in nature lowers blood pressure and heart rate. Exposure to green/blue space reduces physiological stress markers leading to faster healing from illness. Our dogs can help encourage us to get outdoors and if we can get walking, or at the very least experience the benefits of fresh air and a wider, richer perspective.

Miss May Instagram @may_redgoldengirl #bemoremissmay #permahpup PAT details more information on volunteering t. +44 (0)1865 590 308 w. https://petsastherapy.org

University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust Voluntary Services Tel: 01903 205111 Ext: 85615 or Email: uhsussex.volunteers-wash@nhs.net

PERMAH PUP OF THE MONTH MEET JONNIE

Jonnie was born on the streets of Sharm El Sheikh. Arriving to live with me in France through a series of incredible coincidences.

In late 2023, bringing a dependent into my chaos was an insane notion!

And yet, with her lopsided grin and her sweet but precocious temperament, the angel wing markings on her back assured me that she was the gift that I didn’t know I needed.

When the temperature dropped below zero, I clung to her for warmth in my uninhabitable farmhouse, looking into her big brown eyes, I knew we had to get moving. We made our way to the Herault in the Southwest of France. Thankfully, the weather was unseasonably warm for January, and I took this time to build a solid connection with my unmanageable but adorable Egyptian street dog.

I needed to recover from a series of shocking events. She needed to settle in with a safe and present human. We had both been through a lot! We had the wild countryside of rural France to ourselves. The mountains and the lakes. We hiked together. She slowed my thinking, forcing me to be present in those moments. She dawdled along, sniﬃng ﬂowers and tearing off unexpectedly to find something that smelled good.

Without her, it might have been tempting to curl up and sleep away the nightmare of 2023.

Without her, I might not have noticed the beauty of the situation in which we found ourselves. The wonder of being lost together for hours in nature, under endless blue skies and illuminating starry nights. I would never have seen the fireball meteors or collected the driftwood while she paddled in the lake. I might not have healed and recovered.

Thank you, Jonnie.

Written by Elizabeth Reece from Herault, SW France.

For more information about Miss May meet and greets or workshops please contact: Email: coach@cliveleach.com Insta: cliveleachcoach LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cliveleachconsultancy/ Turning Tides: https://www.turning-tides.org.uk/ StreetVet: https://www.streetvet.co.uk/ Canicross: https://www.canicross.org.uk

Clive & Miss May on Nepcote Green

Jonnie the Egyptian Street Dog

From Homeﬁeld Park to Global Rankings: Worthing Man Runs 30 Marathons in 30 Days

At just 21, Laurie Argent has completed an extraordinary feat — running 30 marathons in 30 days throughout April, all around Worthing, in support of the Amos Trust.

What makes Laurie’s achievement even more remarkable is how far he’s come. “When I was 10, I couldn’t even finish a 1km run around Homefield Park,” he recalls of his time at Chesswood School. Fast forward just over a decade, and he’s now ranked 7th globally — and 1st in the UK — for distance run in April on the fitness platform Strava, which has over 100 million users.

Laurie’s running journey began at 15. Since then, he’s completed a 50km solo charity run for Yemen at 16, the Weymouth Half Ironman on his 18th birthday, and the Brighton Marathon in 3 hours 9 minutes. He’s also trekked to Everest Base Camp.

This April, Laurie ran a full marathon (42.2 km) every day — many after a full shift working as a Teaching Assistant at Oak Grove College, a special school in Worthing. “Running gives me time to be free in my head with no worries or pressures,” he says.

Laurie has inspired supporters locally and online, sharing his journey through daily updates and reﬂections.

Follow his incredible achievement:

Instagram: @laurie_argent (see ‘30/30 Challenge’)

Strava: Laurie Argent (Worthing)

COMMUNITY

From struggling to run a kilometre to conquering over 1,200km in 30 days, Laurie’s story is one of resilience, purpose, and local pride.

CARERS HEALTH AND WELLBEING SUPPORT

Are you aged 18+ and caring for a relative, partner, friend or neighbour who is ill, frail, disabled, has dementia or alcohol/substance misuse problems? Are you a parent carer?

Are you having diﬃculty with maintaining your own health and wellbeing in order to cope with the demands of your daily routine?

Perhaps you don’t have time to visit your GP surgery for a general check-up?

We are a free service provided by West Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust - The Carers Health Team can visit you at your home and check your general state of health and wellbeing. Our aim is to improve both your own health and the health of the person you are looking after, by providing you with information to help you in your caring role.

THIS COULD INCLUDE:

• Practical advice such as safe moving and handling techniques and managing medication.

• Information and advice on other services available to help you in your caring role and lead a healthier lifestyle.

• Advice and information to help you plan for the future and guide you through the complex health and social care system.

• Referral for NHS health check/screening

How to contact us

01243 623521

EmaiL: SC-TR.carewellbeing@nhs.net

Web: sussexcommunity.nhs.uk/carers

Facebook: scftcarers

FThe dilemma facing modern men: Stuck in work mode or dad mode, and losing themselves in the process

By Thomas Charles Smith

ifty years ago, life had a rhythm: work, home and a third place; a social club, a pub or even the football pitch. Somewhere to switch off, reset and be yourself outside the roles of “worker” and “dad”.

Fast forward to today, and that third place has all but disappeared for many men. For those working remotely, even their second place of work has vanished. Instead, they find themselves trapped in a cycle of work mode and dad mode, with no real transition or space to breathe.

Being a dad comes with many joys, but everyone needs time to unwind. Life as a working dad is challenging enough, but when your job keeps you tied to a desk for hours on end, it brings its own unique set of struggles. Between long workdays, family responsibilities, and the demands of everyday life, prioritising health and wellbeing often takes a back seat.

If you’re a desk-based dad, whether you work in an oﬃce or remotely, you’ve probably felt the effects: low energy, creeping weight gain, stiffness, declining health and the mental strain of juggling everything at once. But the good news? Small, intentional changes can make a huge difference.

This was the struggle one of my clients, Sam, recently shared with me. As a dad working from home, he felt constantly pulled in two directions, answering emails while making the kids’ lunch, jumping from Zoom calls to bedtime stories, with no real separation between roles. The longer this went on, the more he felt stuck, frustrated and burnt out. And I know he’s not alone.

Like Sam, many dads recognise the strain their lack of work-life balance has on their health. They often find themselves stuck in a cycle of yo-yo dieting in an attempt to fix things, going from 0 to 100, then quickly back to 0 when their chosen approach doesn’t fit their demanding lifestyle.

Many fitness professionals simply don’t believe that someone doesn’t have time to exercise. They claim that some people “don’t want it enough”, but for a lot of parents, even grabbing 30 minutes to themselves is a luxury. That was the case for Sam.

To break out of this cycle, we had to move him away from the all-or-nothing mindset. Instead of shifting from reverse straight into fifth gear and back again, he needed a way to shift up and down the gears in a way that suited his life.

On the rare occasions when time was free and life was less stressful, he’d shift into a high gear, getting to the gym a few times a week, tracking his calories, and walking more. But when life came at him fast, a low gear was more realistic. So, he set a timer to get up and move every 60 minutes, stretched for two minutes, and ensured each meal included protein and a portion of fruit or vegetables. He couldn’t track calories or hit the gym, but he could still prioritise sleep, hydration, and movement in a realistic way.

This shift in approach helped Sam change his mindset. He learned to accept imperfection, to be okay with slower progress, and to realise that getting somewhere slowly is far better than always ending up back at square one.

It’s important to note that your life is different from Sam’s, and so is your starting point. The targets you set should be tailored to you. What you choose to focus on in a high or low gear will depend on your individual circumstances. Starting slow and building up over time is key.

Even simple changes, going for a walk on your lunch break, consciously drinking more water or hitting your five-a-day, can add years to your life if you’re not doing them already. Small, consistent actions will set the wheels in motion for your health and fitness transformation.

If you’re a dad struggling to break free from the

constant demands of work and parenting, finding a third space can be a game-changer. For me, attending matches at Worthing FC has been a perfect break in my routine. But if you’d like to kill two birds with one stone, not only breaking away from work or dad mode but also getting moving in a structured, supportive environment, I’d love for you to join me at our monthly Men’s Walk & Talk event on the South Downs. It’s completely free!

We meet one Sunday a month, at 11:00am (information is available on my Instagram page @ tom_charles_smith). It’s an opportunity for local men and dads to step away from their desks, get outside, and connect with others facing the same struggles. We create a welcoming, safe space for men to walk, talk, have a laugh, and open up without fear of judgment.

This isn’t about becoming a fitness fanatic or overhauling your entire life overnight. It’s about making small but meaningful changes.

It’s about setting boundaries so you don’t become the man who worked himself into the ground, never said no, and never prioritised his own needs, only to realise too late that everyone else would have been better off if he had.

Start prioritising your own health and wellbeing today. Your energy, your happiness, and your family will thank you for it.

NATIONAL GARDEN SCHEME

Inspirational National Garden Scheme West Sussex Gardens opening in June

With summer now underway, it’s a great time to get out and explore the range of West Sussex National Garden Scheme gardens opening during June.

THE OLD RECTORY, BARNHAM

Saturday, May 31 and Saturday, June 1, 10:00am4:00pm with The Shrubbery, Barnham.

THE SHRUBBERY, BARNHAM

Saturday, May 31 and Saturday, June 1, 10:00am4:00pm with The Old Rectory, Barnham.

THE OLD VICARAGE, WASHINGTON

Sunday, July 27, Monday, Aug 25, 10:00am5:00pm and every Thursday 10:00am-4:00pm. Pre-booking essential on a Thursday.

THE OLD MANOR, NUTBOURNE

NEW Thursday 5 and Saturday 7 June with Shorts Farm, 12:00pm-5:00pm.

SHORTS FARM, NUTBOURNE

NEW Thursday 5 and Saturday, June 7 with The Old Manor, 12:00pm-5:00pm.

APULDRAM ROSES, CHICHESTER

NEW Friday, June 6, 2:00am-5:00pm. Prebooking essential.

SWALLOW LODGE, ST LEONARD’S PARK

NEW Saturday, June 7. Timed slots at 12:00pm, 2:00pm and 4:00pm. Pre-booking essential.

LORDINGTON HOUSE, LORDINGTON Saturday 7 and Sunday 8 June, 2:00pm-5:00pm.

8 RUSHY MEAD, WEST BROYLE

NEW Saturday 7 and 15 June, 11:00am-4.30pm. Pre-booking essential.

4 HILLSIDE COTTAGES, WEST STOKE Sunday, 8 June, 11:00am-4:00pm.

TALMA, HORSHAM

NEW Sunday, 8 June, 2:00pm-6:00pm.

PEELERS RETREAT, ARUNDEL

Tuesday 10, Saturday 14 June, 2:00pm-5:00pm.

FITTLEWORTH HOUSE, FITTLEWORTH

Wednesday 11 and 18 June, 2:00pm-5:00pm.

THE ORCHARD, POYNINGS

NEW Thursday, June 12, with Woodlands, 11:00am-5:00pm. Pre-booking essential

WOODLANDS, FULKING

NEW Thursday, June 12, 11:00am-5:00pm with The Orchard. Pre-booking essential.

1 PEST COTTAGE, MIDHURST

Friday 13 and Sunday 15 June, 2:00pm-5:00pm.

ALDERBURY, PULBOROUGH

NEW Saturday 14 and Sunday 15 June, 11:00am5:00pm.

BUMBLE FARM, LOXWOOD

Saturday 14 and Sunday 15 June, 2:00pm5:00pm.

OAKLANDS FARM, SHIPLEY Saturday, 14 June, 11:00pm-5:00pm.

DOWN PLACE, SOUTH HARTING

Sunday 15 and Monday 16 June, 1:30pm-5:30pm.

BIGNOR PARK, PULBOROUGH Tuesday, June 17, 2:00pm-5:00pm.

PARSONAGE FARM, KIRDFORD Friday, June 20, 2:00pm-6:00pm.

DURFORD ABBEY BARN, PETERSFIELD Saturday 21 and Sunday 22 June, 1:30pm5:30pm.

KNEPP CASTLE, WEST GRINSTEAD Saturday, June 21. Timed slots at 10:00am, 11.30am & 2:00pm. Pre-booking essential.

JUDY’S COTTAGE GARDEN, WORTHING Saturday, June 21, 10:30am-3:30pm.

STEYNING GARDENS, STEYNING NEW Opens Saturday 21 and Sunday 22 June, 10:30am-5:00pm.

BERLAS, MIDHURST Sunday, June 22, 1:30pm-4:30pm. Pre-booking essential.

THE FOLLY, CHARLTON Sunday, June 22, 2:00pm-4:30pm.

WARNHAM PARK, WARNHAM Sunday, June 22, 11:00am-5:00pm.

RYMANS, APULDRAM Sunday, June 22, 2:00pm-5:00pm.

MEADOWSIDE, WEST CHILTINGTON NEW Thursday, June 26, 10:00pm-4:00pm.

64 CUCKFIELD CRESCENT, WORTHING Thursday 26 and Saturday 28 June, 10:00pm4:00pm.

ST MARY’S HOUSE GARDENS, BRAMBER Friday 27 and Saturday 28 June, 2:00pm-5:00pm.

FIVE OAKS COTTAGE, PETWORTH Saturday 28 and Sunday 29 June, 2:00pm5:00pm, pre-booking essential.

FINDON PLACE, WORTHING Sunday, June 29, 2:00pm-5:00pm. Pre-booking essential.

With record donations in 2024, the power of gardens and garden visits for good causes is evident. 2024 was another landmark year for the National Garden Scheme with the charity donating a record £3,501,227 from the 2024 garden opening season. The impact of these donations to our major nursing and health beneficiaries means that thousands of people who live with health conditions such as cancer or Parkinson’s, who have poor mental health, or who struggle financially as unpaid carers, have been supported by our funding of the nurses, health professionals and case workers who support them. Our funding has also provided support to those in the Gardens and Health sector along with Community Gardens and supported gardeners through traineeships.

To learn more about the above gardens including further opening dates and admission costs visit https://ngs.org.uk NB Occasionally Garden openings need to be cancelled. Always check on the NGS website beforehand.

Online readers can click on this links in the titles and the interactive National Garden Scheme 2025 Sussex Booklet

Nature Needs You!

Traditionally, towns like Worthing had thriving urban habitats. Roadside verges complemented front gardens, themselves located on tree lined streets.

This aesthetically pleasing array delivered many environmental benefits. Trees cooled streets in hot weather, absorbed surface rain and retained carbon during photosynthesis, breathing out only oxygen and reducing air pollution. Gardens provided sanctuary and support for a variety of insects, mammals, reptiles and birds.

But our urban landscape has changed. Tarmac patches indicate removed street trees. Grass verges often double up for street parking - cars mashing them into muddy wastelands and gardens are few and far between.

This isn’t unique to Worthing. It is replicated countrywide - collectively contributing to habitat loss. Coupled with a changing climate and the use of pesticides - England is now one of the most nature-depleted countries on Earth.

The State of Nature report from 2023 highlights the changes in biodiversity and the pressures on nature, emphasising the rapid decline in pollinating species - butterﬂies, wasps, beetles, hover ﬂies and all varieties of bee (there are 275 species in the UK and only ONE of them is the honey bee). 75% of our food depends on pollinating insects - we need to sit up and support nature!

Worthing Borough Council declared a Nature Crisis in 2023, pledging to support biodiversity. Town centre planting is now pollinator friendly, areas of parks are left to nature and the council participates in #NoMowMay. Worthing has also joined the list of councils shunning pesticide use in these spaces, helping not just insects - but the birds and bats that they sustain.

Worthing residents are coming together to support nature. Over 736 species have been counted in the Local Wildlife Site of Heene Cemetery and the Friends of New Parade are a brilliant example of communitycouncil collaboration, wild ﬂowering an urban green space.

You can also help. Sponsor a street tree, adopt a road verge, plant pollinator friendly plants, introduce a pond or let the grass grow and stop using pesticides. With lots of citizen science projects, you can also help monitor and protect wildlife.

There is no better time to join this national call to action.

Further Information

https://sponsor.treesforstreets.org/provider/worthing-boroughcouncil

https://www.westsussex.gov.uk/roads-and-travel/maintainingroads-verges-and-pavements/verge-maintenance/naturefriendly-road-verges/ https://ukpoms.org.uk/ﬁt-counts

Promoting biodiversity in graveyards

Heene Cemetery in West Worthing is also a West Sussex Local Wildlife Site. Its 1992 designation as a Site of Nature Conservation Importance was conferred on this one acre site of neutral grassland and scrub in recognition of it containing “fragments of a much threatened habitat - an ‘old meadow’ community”; 152 years after its creation as a cemetery where there are now 1,960 souls buried, it is Worthing’s smallest Local Wildlife Site.

When the gates are open - as will be the case for an Open Day on Saturday, June 14 - visitors will see grasses and ﬂowers growing to full height, testament to a collective effort to maintain the site both as a graveyard and as a biodiversity hotspot. Species surveying has revealed, for example, 26 species of bees - and counting.

This dual-purpose site is the result of compromise. An increase in tidiness would result in a less-rich habitat (as indeed would wholesale neglect). This does not mean that supporting wildlife in a cemetery is disrespectful to the dead. Graves and nature have long been partners in our culture. Cut flowers adorn coffins and headstones, and headstones themselves often weave flowers and plants into their design. Those that survive often speak with a vocabulary of the natural world. Many of our churches are replete with glazing and carving that perpetuates this bond. Some of this country’s most revered naturalists, such as Gilbert White, were clergy.

What better way then, of continuing this reverence of the past with a passionate care for the future, by giving biodiversity a helping hand in graveyards in Worthing and up and down the land?

This debate does not happen in a vacuum. The climate and biodiversity crises that are upon us need communities to play their part. National organisations such as Caring for God’s Acre (now in its 25th year) provide much welcome advice on how to have a win-win situation with all stakeholders. Graveyards don’t need to have a formal Local Wildlife Site designation to motivate volunteers.

The General Synod of the Church of England came to this conclusion in February, backing measures promoting biodiversity in churchyards as wildlife havens. Few of those buried in Heene knew anything of the environmental crises that have befallen us. How would they have responded?

Rob Tomlinson, Friends of Heene Cemetery, www.heenecemetery.org.uk

Heene Cemetery detail June 2020

Heene Cemetery - Marsham’s Nomad beeNomada marshamella - April 2025

Thriving Together

Shaping the future of the places we call home

https://adur-worthing.govocal.com/en-GB/projects/thriving-together

Thriving Together is about working with you - residents, communities, businesses and local community partnersto design a future that works for everyone.

Your ideas will help shape our plans to the government for future priorities for Adur and Worthing and for your neighbourhood.

We have put together some early ideas to help spark imagination about what’s possible.

Now it’s your turn!

What matters most to you and your neighbourhood? Join the conversation and add your ideas online.

Simon Rigler

June 7 – July 5

worthingheritagealliance.uk

Nurserymen at Ivy Arch nurseries

FRIENDS OF WORTHING AND BROADWATER CEMETERY

Cemetery tour Nature Matters - 11:00am Saturday, June 7 - Broadwater & Worthing Cemetery, South Farm Road, BN14 7TW

A walk through the cemetery, finding out about the lives of naturalists Richard Jefferies and William Hudson and horticulturalist James Bateman, will be punctuated with stops to appreciate the natural environment. We will be looking, for example, at the wildﬂowers or insects “in residence” on the day.

The tour lasts for about 75 minutes and is free of charge. No need to book in advance.

Visitors should meet by the chapels 1015 minutes before and refreshments will be available for a small donation.

FRIENDS OF HEENE CEMETERY

Saturday, June 14, 1:30pm-4:00pm in Heene Cemetery, Manor Road, Worthing, BN11 4RY

Join us at Heene Cemetery, on the corner of Manor Road and St Michael’s Road, for a variety of tours to be held on Saturday,

We are grateful to Malcolm Linﬁeld (see talk June 26th) for these wonderful photographs from the age of horticulture in Worthing

June 14 from 1:30pm to 4:00pm. Guided tours include - “Stories from the Stones”; “Stories in the Street” and “Why Heene Cemetery is also a Wildlife Site”. Free entry. Donations towards our work, gratefully received.

SUSSEX FAMILY HISTORY GROUP (WORTHING)

June 19, 7:30pm, Field Place - Jeremy Prescott

Sacriﬁce & Remembrance – The story behind the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

Jeremy Prescott served for 26 years as an Army Oﬃcer seeing operational service in Dhofar, Oman and 4 tours in Northern Ireland. After retiring from the Army he was appointed as CEO of a charity covering Leics and Rutland which supported rural communities.

WEST SUSSEX GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY

Saturday, June 12, “Pebbles on the Beach” Worthing Pier, led by members of the West Sussex Geological Society. Meet 11:00am. Donations. Low tide 1:40pm.

An introduction to the pebbles and geology of Worthing, ideal for children and those new to the subject

SUSSEX FAMILY HISTORY GROUP (WORTHING)

June 26, 7:00pm for a 7:30pm start, Chichester Room, The Manor House, Field Place - Malcolm Linﬁeld

Worthing and the Glasshouse Industry. Early evidence of market gardening in Worthing can be seen on Phillip’s map of 1814, and it was in these gardens that the first greenhouses appeared in the 1830s. From these modest beginnings, a major pioneering industry developed, which employed hundreds of people, and greenhouses appeared all over the town.

The Worthing GIasshouse Industry was very important to the local economy for over 70 years, yet most people in Worthing today have no idea it ever existed. My talk outlines the story of this fascinating industry, how and why it all started, the challenges faced by the growers over the years and how and why it declined. Many people have ancestors who worked in the

Tomato house, Greenyer’s nursery, Broadwater, 1942

WORTHING HERITAGE FESTIVAL INSIDE ⚪ ⚪ ⚪

industry, so this should be a subject of interest to both family and local historians. Over the years, I have been very fortunate to interview some of the descendants of the pioneer growers, and I am indebted to them all for sharing their precious memories and wonderful photos, which form a substantial part of my talk.

Free to members, suggested donation of £5 on the door.

WORTHING SOCIETY TALKPIONEERS OF WORTHING

Thursday, June 26 at 7:00pm, Worthing Library Lecture Theatre, Richmond Road Cost £5 per person

People who had a major impact on the town’s development.

For bookings and payment details please contact Georgina Colwell, our Social Secretary on: georgina@musicair.co.uk

WORTHING 1825: LIFE IN WORTHING TWO HUNDRED YEARS AGO

Illustrated talk with Chris Hare, Saturday, June 28, 2:30pm - 4:00pm, cost £8.50 per person.Sidney Walter Centre, BN11 1DS

What would life have been like in Worthing two hundred years ago? It was only 19 years earlier that Worthing had legally been recognised as a town, having only been an obscure hamlet since Saxon times.

Yet the forward march of this growing seaside resort was hampered by a volatile population, notorious for their love of riot

and smuggling. Respectability proved to be an ill-fitting garment in Regency Worthing, as the town authorities sought to impose their will on the town folk. Book at www. tickettailor.com/events/historypeople

WORTHING SOCIETY BLUE PLAQUE HERITAGE TRAIL WALK

Approx. 1 hour 30 minutes in the town centre. Thursday, July 3 Meet at 2:30pm outside the Pier Pavilion. Cost £5 per person. This Walk in in memory of our late Vice-Chair and Conservationist: Edward “Ted” Kennard who led the Campaign to saved the “Desert Quartet” statues. For bookings and payment details please contact Georgina Colwell our Social Secretary on: georgina@musicair.co.uk

WORTHING 1925: LIFE IN WORTHING 100 YEARS AGO

Illustrated talk with Chris Hare, Saturday, July 5, 2:30pm - 4:00pm, cost £8.50 per person. Sidney Walter Centre, BN11 1DS

In 1925, the Great War had only ended nine years earlier, and its dark shadow still hung over people’s lives, which can be seen in the debates and controversies over war memorials and whether the council should buy goods and services from German firms. But this was also the era of the “Roaring Twenties”, even in Worthing! The Great Depression was still four years away and the population of the town was expanding rapidly, soon to engulf the neighbouring villages of West Tarring, Durrington, and Goring. Worthing’s market gardens were ﬂourishing and both city commuters and the retired moved to the town in their droves.

Book at www.tickettailor.com/events/ historypeople

Fuller’s vineries, Lancing c. 1910

Worthing Halt Nov. 1905 Looking at the nurseries on the north side of Chesswood Road

Chris Hare

Worthing 1825 What was life like in Worthing 200 years ago?

What were the differences and similarities to our own times? Can we empathise with our Regency forebears, or do we gaze back over the decades with incomprehension at a world so utterly at odds with our own?

If we were to travel back in time, we would be struck immediately by how small our town was then: only 5,000 inhabitants, compared to our current 2025 population of 112,000. Yet, to the people living in Worthing then, they would have noticed the extraordinary growth of their town, which had doubled in population in just 20 years. Worthing oﬃcially became a town by Act of Parliament in 1803, and established the Worthing Town Commissioners as Worthing’s first local authority.

Everywhere new houses were being built and many of the street names familiar to us today were being laid out, for example, Bedford Row, Warwick Street, Montague Street (formerly Cross Street). The old village, located at the junction of North Street and High Street, was being supplanted by the new houses facing the sea, housing for wealthier professional people and for visitors, wishing to experience the ‘sea cure.’ The old villagers began to seem out of place, and their working lives as rural labourers

and fishermen, was beginning to seem like the vestige of another world, albeit one rooted in centuries of tradition.

If there was one person who was credited (or blamed) for accelerating this process of change, It was retired city businessman, Edward Ogle, who lived in some splendour at Warwick House, then the largest property in the town, that overlooked The Steyne (then a rough field where fishermen mended their nets and local people used to meet and enjoy good company on summer evenings). Ogle, one-time chairman of the Worthing Town Commissioners had overseen the establishment of the market place, including Ann Street, which he named after his wife. With the exception of the south side of Ann Street, the development that Ogle oversaw here, was demolished wholesale over fifty years ago to make way for the Guildbourne Centre.

Ogle wished for Worthing to become a town for ‘genteel and select company,’ and did all he could to keep undesirables out. He even had a wall built between Worthing and Heene, to ensure the poor residents of Little Heene (presentday Thorn Road and Brunswick Road) couldn’t mar the good name of the aspiring seaside resort Ogle was creating. However, when he tried to claim The Steyne as his own, and fenced it off with large signs warning that trespassers would be prosecuted, the common folk of Worthing, many of whom had lived locally for generations, were outraged. They marched to The Steyne, smashed down the fences and hurled away the offending signs. Ogle had hired some London heavies to protect his new domain, but they were overwhelmed by the locals, who paraded triumphantly with a band playing the popular ditty, “If you don’t get out of the way, we’ll box your ears!”

When you walk with family and friends on The Steyne today, or enjoy the ice skating in winter, or concerts in the summer, remember that you can only do so because of the resistance to Edward Ogle’s attempted privatisation way back in 1813. When Ogle died, six years later,

Fishermen going on board at Worthing

some mourned him as the man who turned a sleepy little village into a town; while others mocked and derided the reign of ‘King Ogle’.

Looking back at my old notebooks, drawn from the minute books of the Worthing Town Commissioners, newspaper reports and guide books, I see that 1825 was an eventful year in the town. There was much excitement that a new road was about to be opened along the coast, linking Worthing with the other expanding towns of Littlehampton and Bognor, today we know this road as the A259.

Smuggling was rarely out of the news. The 1820s and 1830s, were hard times for the poor, who saw their wages falling and with it job security. Men who might have thought they had a job for life working on local farms, now found themselves lacking security and where forced to compete against each other just to get a few weeks employment. For many people, poverty was only averted by taking to smuggling. Although condemned by lawful authority and respectable opinion, smugglers saw no shame in their clandestine occupation, and referred to themselves as ‘Free Traders’ or ‘Fair Traders’ fighting against excessive tariffs on imported goods.

In March, two vessels belonging to the Coastal Blockade (later known as the Coastguard) seized 344 ankers of contraband spirits off Worthing, along with six large sacks of tea. An ‘anker’ was a keg of eight and one third gallons of spirits, and the Coastguard had seized 344 ankers! We get some idea of the huge scale of local smuggling operations, and we can be sure that far more contraband was landed than was ever intercepted. On that occasion three Englishmen and five Frenchmen were detained, suggesting close cooperation between the seafarers of the two nations.

In December 1825, a fierce battle took place between coastguards and smugglers at Worthing, as the Brighton Herald explained: “ [A] report states that

the smugglers had endeavoured to bribe a blockade man, in which they failed. A large party of these men lay in ambush, waiting the landing of the [smugglers] boat, when a very dreadful affray took place; one of the smugglers, the report adds, was shot, while others were dreadfully maimed; and that thirteen of the smugglers were made prisoners. The boat’s crew, we understand, consisted of French and English sailors.”

Another way poorer people could ward off destitution and protect their families was to form themselves into Friendly Societies. These societies were funded by their members, who paid in a set sum when working, and then drew a small allowance from the society when unemployed or ill. The Worthing Friendly Society (like many others), traditionally paraded the town on May Day. A church service was held, followed by “an excellent dinner” at the Nelson Inn. In 1825 it was reported that “the affairs of the Society are in the most prosperous state.” I wonder to what extent that prosperity was made possible through income derived from smuggling?

Like many traditions of Old England, May Day, was losing something of its old

In March, two vessels belonging to the Coastal Blockade (later known as the Coastguard) seized 344 ankers of contraband spirits oﬀ Worthing, along with six large sacks of tea. An ‘anker’ was a keg of eight and one third gallons of spirits, and the Coastguard had seized 344 ankers!

rural character. In 1825, it was reported from Brighton that “the grotesque ceremonial of Jack-in-the-Green” was still being celebrated by chimney sweeps and “a multitude of juvenile urchins”, who were “dancing rudely to the discordant notes of a fiddle and drum.” At Broadwater, the tradition of taking garlands from house-to-house, and asking for “a penny for the garland” was still being observed in 1825.

Tragedy struck a local family in June 1825, when two brothers aged ten and twelve, were drowned in Patching Pond, while another brother was reported drowned at Steyning. We do not need to think ourselves back two hundred years to know what a devastating blow this must have been to the family concerned.

In September, there was much concern in the town about an outbreak of measles that was proving “very fatal” among children.

November 5 was celebrated with great enthusiasm two hundred years ago. Although no injuries were recorded that year at Worthing, it was reported from Bury that the windows of the local pub were blown out, when the gunpowder used in the making of powerful “Sussex squibs”, exploded. Rather amazingly, no one was reported to have been hurt. The year ended rather sensationally, with a “midnight dual” taking place by moonlight in the town. The potentially deadly encounter was occasioned by a romantic rivalry, and such was the passion aroused, that a dual with pistols was deemed the only acceptable way of resolving the matter. A surgeon was on hand “to administer to any wounds that might be inﬂicted.” After an exchange of shots, “the seconds interfered” to draw the contest to a close, and the two dualists felt able to withdraw with their honour (and their bodies) intact.

Chris will be giving an illustrated talk on Worthing in 1825, giving more details of life in the town at that time at the Sidney Walter Centre at 2:30pm on June 28. He will be giving a follow-up talk at the same venue on the following Saturday, July 5, on Worthing one hundred years ago, in 1925. https://www.tickettailor.com/events/ historypeople/

Patching Pond

Duel

Henry Parish

Stars of The Future!

Worthing FC’s u18s team are addicted to success. They have won the Isthmian Youth League undefeated (with only one draw!), secured the Isthmian Youth Cup with a 1-0 win over Camberley and may – by the time you read this – have completed the treble by beating Tonbridge Angels in the Champions of Champions Cup.

Such is their desire to succeed, Pathways Manager, Stuart Evans, finds player motivation completely unnecessary. “We’ve got a lot of lads that are used to success. They want to keep pushing, keep driving. They’re saying, ‘why have I not been given a first team opportunity? Why am I not starting week in, week out?’ They’re very ambitious.”

Make no mistake though, Evans tells me this side is a “coaches dream”. “I had them as u17s last year, there’re no egos, they listen, they want to learn. A large group have been together since u14s, they’re used to each other. It’s just a special bunch of lads.” The praise didn’t end there: On the prospects

of members of this squad, Evans added: “I genuinely feel they have the opportunity to potentially go further than Worthing Football Club.”

It is hard to see how their prospects could have been harmed by their exploits against Camberley in the cup final. “It was a tough game”, Evans tells me. “They sat in a low block. Our boys had to be patient, make the right decisions on the ball. It was tough for them, as youngsters, to get their head round how to deal with that type of defensive display. I was very proud.”

Their reward, suﬃcient to lift the cup, came before half time. The challenge of dealing with a low block (a team who deliberately sits back to defend) was something they had practiced extensively for. “A lot of teams fear us, without sounding big-headed. They will look to sit in a defensive block and to counter (attack). These guys will come up against this a lot in their careers, it’s about how we can get them into the habit of using their time on the ball in the right way.”

Evans tells me that style is not only fear-inducing, but also an identity.

“It was set by Adam Hinshelwood before he went to York. Chris Agutter came into the first team manager role this season and has adapted it. We look to play the same shapes, patterns and movements throughout the age-groups.”

These boys are, in some ways, victims of circumstance. “I’ve been at the club since the Isthmian Southeast days. If we were still (there, as opposed to National League South), a lot of these boys would have already made their first team debuts. They’re that good.” It will take patience, but with their lack of ego, willingness to learn and undoubted ability, Worthing could have quite the crop of young footballers on their hands.

Worthing RFC U18s Girls: (adapted and abridged from the words of Chris Gaskell)

(thought to have originated from Paul Bryant, an American Football Coach), but Worthing’s girls became its embodiment. It was that resolute defence which won the day against Farnham in the semifinal (31-27), a side they’d lost to just weeks prior.

Their defensive mettle, coupled with a steadfast commitment to their game plan, led them to glory shortly after against Guildfordians in the final. Worthing’s opponents in the final had been unbeaten in the league all season, their only defeat coming against Worthing at a 10s festival.

Sticking to their guns wasn’t easy. Guildfordians took the lead after 4 minutes. Worthing managed a reply to both early tries, before Worthing became bored of just keeping up.

For Worthing’s u18s girls, it was a coming of age. Victory at The Stoop, home of Harlequins, saw them not just lift the Quins Cup but also reach their potential.

The season had been tricky despite a third-place finish. They’d faced tougher competition in the Surrey league compared to the Sussex division their predecessors had won twice on the spin. With most players representing Worthing College, some their county, and a few their country, fixtures piled up, and with it went team consistency.

It is almost a cliché in the sporting world that “attack wins games, defence wins championships”

A try just before the break deﬂated their opposition, something Worthing exploited mercilessly. Two tries later, and the game was all but over. Dreams achieved. Memories made.

Chris Gaskell – Head Coach –said: “I am so proud of the girls for this achievement. The work and dedication that has gone into this season deserves this title. Credit to Guildfordians, they are a very good rugby team with lots of talented players but on the night the Worthing girls dug deep and executed the game plan ﬂawlessly to end as Surrey/Quins Cup champions.”

Worthing FC’s boys u18s and Worthing RFC’s girls u18s both take trophy glory.

Young people: the key to a more sustainable future

By Tanwen Morgan

Since January of this year, CREW have been focusing our efforts on reaching out to schools and engaging families. We have had much success and there has been a real appetite across the board for running bespoke events for these groups. Since forming in 2022, we have focused on reaching out to our community with our constitution stating our aims,

“To promote, for the public beneﬁt, the conservation, protection and improvement of the physical and natural environment, in particular, but not exclusively, by providing the public with information and guidance… about biodiversity loss, climate change [and] ways that individuals and businesses can mitigate the e ects of climate change...”

By engaging young people and families, we believe we can have a real impact on building a positive future for Worthing and beyond. The benefits of engaging young people specifically are vast. Through these workshops and events, children learn that we are responsible for caring for our planet and leave knowing actions we can take as individuals, and as a collective, to lessen our impact on the planet. We want children to grow up as aware citizens, making decisions based upon a deep understanding of

the natural world and our relationship with it. Through understanding that humans and nature are in a symbiotic relationship, their behaviours, values and voting choices will benefit us all. Recent research by The Guardian found that between 80-89% of the world’s population want more action on climate change. Through their interviews with 130,000 people across 125 countries they found that many people stated that they would happily forgo 1% of their salary to put towards climate initiatives. If we realised that caring for our Earth puts us in the majority, we would be setting up a more sustainable and pleasant future for ourselves and generations to come.

The behavioural science behind engaging people in this work is ever evolving, but what is clear, is that fear and despair largely puts us into a state of freeze and, therefore, the need to repress and ignore the problem. Many people are also put off from getting involved in this work because there is an expectation of perfection; however, many people doing a little is better than only a few doing a lot. Instead, what we need to work towards is empowerment and agency. Below is how we are employing this at CREW.

ACTIVATING PRIMARY AGED STUDENTS

We have run several workshops across various primary schools in Worthing and have a number still in the pipeline; these sessions have varied from class groups to specialist workshops for eco clubs or open to any students to sign up. Our

sessions always promote the wonderful things that are already happening around the world whether that’s finding out about brilliant local initiatives such as the Sussex Kelp Recovery Project by Sussex Bay or standing up for the health of our water like Surfers Against Sewage or even national programmes like Kids Against Plastic, a charity founded by teen sisters Ella and Amy. Through highlighting the fantastic things that are already happening we hope to show young people that taking climate action is joyful and has a positive impact.

One of our most popular sessions has been the fast fashion workshops run by Tanwen, Kathy and Sally. Students learn about the impact of fast fashion not only on the environment, but on people too, including a shocking fact that 15 million second-hand garments are imported to Ghana each week! We often believe that giving our clothes to charity means they’re always sold on, but billions of items a year end up in landfill, in the oceans or clogging up natural spaces such as Jamestown beach in Accra, Ghana. Sometimes the shock factor can be useful in helping us to reﬂect on our own actions and what we can do to change it. Our follow up workshops then teach children the skills to upcycle one of their t-shirts. Students are buzzing with creativity and ideas and you can see how proud they are of their pieces once they are finished. They leave with a totally different item and also the confidence to perhaps try these skills out further. By repairing, upcycling and loving our items for longer, we can make a real difference to our planet.

GUIDING SECONDARY AGED STUDENTS TO A GREENER FUTURE

For the secondary workshops, we have run whole year group sessions, as well as bespoke smaller sessions. We have

continued our focus on empowering young people to get involved in climate action and emphasising that ‘trying is enough’ (one of the key foundations of Take the Jump). One of our most popular sessions has been on green careers and the skills that we need young people to have as they enter the workforce. The Inner Development Goals that accompany the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, look at the importance of ‘inner growth for outer change’ and talk of 23 skills that

have been pulled together by thousands of experts globally. These skills are hard to teach explicitly but starting the conversation is a vital part in upskilling young people for the future.

HOW FAMILIES CAN TAKE ACTION

This year we began running various events aimed at families (all types, shapes and sizes). We have been delighted at the uptake of our regular litter picks along the beach and in local parks. We have had cross generational fun from grandparents all the way down to our youngest litter picker who was not even 2. Attendees reported feeling proud to be modelling this behaviour for their children and others mentioned how lovely it was to feel like you’ve done something worthwhile. We have had amazing support from Worthing’s Coastal Oﬃce who lend out litter pickers. You can also book them through Worthing and Adur Council website where you can request pickers to be left in lockers at various locations across the town. Please do keep an eye on our eventbrite if you would like to take part in any of our family events, new faces are always welcome!

If you would like to connect with CREW, volunteer, be a trustee, deliver an event or join our mailing list, get in touch info@worthingcrew.co.uk

We are asking for your help to ensure our climate centre has a sense of security and stability, enabling our community to become more resilient, prepared and able to adapt to the changes occurring now and in the coming years. Please consider making a donation no matter how small. Thank you.

LIVE MUSIC REVIEWS

Hello, and welcome to NEW MUSIC REVIEWS!

by Beth Sarah, blueskymusic.fun

This month has been very busy for new releases, live performances and the exciting build up to the Worthing Festival! Don’t forget to check out the Worthing Festival website for all of the exciting details of Fringe events throughout June, and of course the Festival Park on June 21-22 in Homefield Park behind Worthing Hospital. And while we are working hard to bring live music to the community, behind the scenes musicians and songwriters are also working hard getting their thoughts into songs, and putting them on the internet so we can hear them. Here are a handful of recent releases from artists in the area.

RIARËH DEVILLÉROCKER WITH SOUL

Riarëh Devillé sent me this track for review when I was lying on a hospital trolley, off my face on morphine waiting for an x-ray. It was the most welcome submission and, as I’m quite used to hospital stays, I of course had my headphones with me. I popped them on and when the x-ray technician came to find me, I was smiling and bopping my head to this fun tune. In what seems to be a slight ode to Wet Leg, Rocker with Soul is driven by a female voice describing her story to a ﬂuctuating backing that contains so many elements in small doses, making it move throughout the whole track. I am a big fan of a good arrangement and this track ticks all the boxes! Little moments of Spanish guitar, stabs of strings, multiple vocal lines with different effects on them - entirely created by Devillé as a self-produced artist. With today’s low statistics around women in the music industry, it’s a privilege to be able to get a first listen to tracks that are part of this small percentage.

LAURA VANE –SEPTEMBER

A story of long distance love, September is an R’n’B anthem that hits hard in all the right places. Laura Vane has garnered attention globally with

listeners in Tokyo and Sydney among many others, and this newest offering brings the nostalgia of the 90s, reminiscent of artists such as En Vogue, Toni Braxton, TLC and Mary J Blige. It feels a bit like turning on my radio as a teenager and this is exactly the kind of tune that I would have learnt all the backing vocals to! With gorgeous piano and organ, enhanced by gospel-style vocal oohs leading from one line to the next, plenty of harmonies and a powerhouse lead vocal that takes the song to new heights as it progresses, September is exactly my cup of tea. I particularly enjoy the call and response between the lead and backing during the middle 8, and the funky bassline that just gets better throughout. Turn it up loud, sing along, dance, do whatever you need to do - and enjoy!

MCGOVERN – LOCK KEEPER’S DOG

I’m sure McGovern has a valid explanation about the imagery of a dog and frog, keeping it together and how this links to life - perhaps it means whatever the listener thinks it means? For me, it feels like the epitome of anxiety driven by other people’s opinions. Beginning with a very raw-sounding vocal and acoustic guitar, McGovern weaves a story, lyrically poetic and rhythmic. As it moves from verse to chorus, back to verse and then onward, the song builds to a crescendo that reminds me of the heavier side of Paolo Nutini with a rough, gravelly vocal. I’ve had the privilege of watching McGovern perform live, and he doesn’t hold back how he makes a song build with just his voice, even in an acoustic setting. There is something quite overwhelming about how intense the song becomes and it feels almost like I’ve encroached on something so personal and passionate that I shouldn’t be privy to; yet it’s in the public domain. I’m really conﬂicted with this one; I love it, yet it unsettles me. ‘Keep

it together / keep it together / keep it together’... I’m hanging by a thread here! I wonder if that’s what McGovern intended?

MILTON HIDE –BUNGAROOSH

One thing that you can always guarantee with a record from Milton Hide, one of the UK south’s most popular folk duos, is a fun listen. No one song being anything like another, it’s like there’s bound to be something for everyone - from the very much folky vibe of ‘Simon’s Nick’ to the more rocky feel of ‘Bungaroosh’ and several different feels in between. Having the diversity of both a female and male vocal, each song takes on it’s own identity, with the more sombre subjects being tackled by Jo - ‘Small boats’ and ‘Quicksand calling’ tugging at the heart strings - while Jimbo takes on the more satirical elements. For what is a decent folk album without an element of satire and mockery of those who are swayed by the opinions of the Daily Fail?! One of the things I love about this album is that on each listen, I can hear all the different instruments with clarity. Milton Hide worked with a number of other instrumentalists to build the vibe of each track and what the listener experiences is nothing short of a live performance directly into their ears. If I close my eyes I almost feel like I’m sitting in a cosy rehearsal room, surrounded by people playing and singing around me. This album, while containing some upbeat songs that get your feet tapping, really at its core explores some of the more challenging themes that we face as a society - people. Described as ‘a metaphor for people and places in this world that hide their true nature behind a classy facade’, Bungaroosh is a fun, beautiful and emotional way to process such themes.

Email review submissions to reviews@blueskymusic.fun Find out more about what we do at www.blueskymusic.fun

LIVE LISTINGS INSIDE ⚪ ⚪ ⚪

To get your music event listed email events@insidepublications.ltd by March 5 for April

SUNDAY 1

Goosebumps

The Goose, Marine Parade

4:00pm-7:00pm Live music, summer vibes and interactive percussion jam. Come and join us!

TUESDAY 3

Bluegrass club meet-up The Egremont

7:00pm www.theegremont.co.uk Tel 01903 530180

THURSDAY 5

Speakeasy Conversation Club - 3 guest speakers Cellar Arts Club

7:30pm - 11:00pm

FRIDAY 6

Band Friday Chasing Cars, Smugglers Return, 8:30pm

Sly Pigeon - Live music Cellar Arts Club

7:30pm-midnight

Supersaurus The Egremont www.theegremont.co.uk 01903 530180

Wayﬁnder Origins (Girls nightFemale talent from across Sussex including an ex Italy’s Got Talent Finalist.)

The Railway Hotel

SATURDAY 7

Worthing Techno Militia – DJs Cellar Arts Club

7:30pm-2:00am

Wayﬁnder Bad Wabbit festival in Chichester 6:00pm

TUESDAY 10

Band Friday - The Brooks House Band Smugglers Return

8:30pm

Life drawing - Art Cellar Arts Club

7:30pm-9:30pm

FRIDAY 13

The Snakepit - Goth and Darkwave DJs Cellar Arts Club

7:30pm-midnight

SATURDAY 14

Daddys Day Goosebumps

The Goose, Marine Parade

4:00pm-7:00pm Live music, summer vibes and interactive percussion jam. Come and join us!

Worthing Fringe Festival - Carnival Procession & Portland Road Street Party!

Drumheads Samba, Spring into Soul Gospel Choir and a host of local artists, entertainers and performers process on the streets carnival-style from Coast Cafe at 2pm, to the Pavillion theatre, Montague Place, Audioactive, and Spun Records in Portland Rd, where a street party with live bands kicks o at 4:30. 2:00pm - 9:30pm

THURSDAY 19

Featherstone Jazz Four (Traditional/ Dixieland Jazz) Thomas a’Becket 7:00pm-9:30pm 01903 266643

FRIDAY 20

Band Friday The Jukebox 6 Smugglers Return 8:30pm

The Deﬁning 10 Fringe special - a dot-to-dot journey with a guest musician Cellar Arts Club 7:30pm-2:00am

SATURDAY 21

Karaoke with Beany Smugglers Return 7:00pm

UNION Indie Disco - 90s indie & alternative DJs Cellar Arts Club 7:30pm-midnight

SUN 22

Brookfest (including Wayﬁnder) South Farm Road An all day music festival and Tap takeover

THURSDAY 26

BB Jukebox Smugglers Return 8:30pm

FRIDAY 27

B.A.B. Smugglers Return 8:30pm

Express: Disco/Funk 1974 to 1979 - DJs Cellar Arts Club 7:30pm - midnight

SATURDAY 28

Mayukh Gangopadhyay - A Live Indian Classical Music Concert Cellar Arts Club 7:30pm-midnight

REGULAR LIVE MUSIC (WEEKLY, BI-WEEKLY, ETC.)

SUNDAYS

Jazz Sundays (weekly)

The Cricketers 6:00pm 01903 233369, www.thecricketers.pub

Jazz Sundays with cheeseboard (weekly)

The Toad in the Hole 3:00-5:00pm

Live Jazz (every Sunday) The Charles Dickens 3:00pm-5:00pm

Open Mic (every Sunday) The Broadwater 7:00pm-10:00pm 01903 238675, www.greeneking.co.uk/ pubs/west-sussex/broadwater

South Coast Blues Jam (every 3rd Sunday)

Original Copy (AudioActive, Montague Street) 2:00pm-5:00pm Contact FB group southcoastbluesjam

TUESDAYS

Open Mic Night (every 2nd and 4th Tuesday of each month)

The Corner House 7:00pm 01903 216463 www.cornerhouseworthing.co.uk

WEDNESDAYS

Drumheads Samba - Community drum group (weekly) Audioactive, 86 Montague St 8:00pm-9:30pm Sean@drumheadslive.com 07815307218 Insta Seanquinnpercussion

Jazz Jam (most Wednesdays)

The Charles Dickens

7:00pm-9:00pm

Open Mic Night (bi-weekly)

The Beach House 7:30pm 01903 367313 beachhouseworthing.co.uk

Open Mic Night (weekly)

The Goose 7:00pm 01903 203851, www.instagram.com/ the.goose.worthing

Open Mic NIght with Miss Kate (every Wednesday) The Lock Inn 8:00pm-10:00pm Pub Trivia Quiz Egremont 8:45pm www.theegremont.co.uk

THURSDAYS

Karaoke and Cocktails (weekly) O’Connors on Warwick Street 8:00pm 01903 206088, www.facebook.com/ OConnorsOnWarwickStreet

Thursday Acoustic Sessions (weekly) The Cricketers 8:00pm 01903 233369, www.thecricketers.pub

FRIDAYS

Spuntaneous- Live music improv session (bi weekly) Spun Records, 1Portland Rd 7:00pm-11:00pm (Free) Sean@drumheadslive.com 07815307218 Insta Seanquinnpercussion

Karaoke (bi-weekly) The Golden Lion 8:00pm-11:00pm 01903 245439, www.greeneking.co.uk/ pubs/west-sussex/golden-lion

JohnnyIllustration by Arty Mikey

Anna - Arty Mikey

Sussex Gruﬀs Male Voice Choir

COME AND SING WITH US!

Due to the choir’s continuing expansion – we now have over 40 members – we have moved our rehearsal venue to a larger space. We now rehearse in the Shaftesbury Room at Worthing Leisure Centre, Shaftesbury Avenue, Goring-by-Sea, BN12 4ET. We rehearse every Tuesday from 7:00pm to 9:00pm.

Sussex Gruffs Male Voice Choir is a community choir, who perform regularly, both to entertain and to raise money for local charities and other worthy causes. We are always happy to welcome new members to our thriving group. We don’t hold auditions, and you don’t need to be able to read music. In addition to singing, we also organize social events for our members and their family and friends to enjoy.

Potential new members can come along to one of our rehearsals on the first Tuesday of every month. If you would like to know more, why not visit our website at: www.sussexgruﬀsmvc.co.uk

Worthing Film Club

TITLE: Silent Running

DIRECTOR: Douglas Trumbull

ORIGINAL LANGUAGE: English

FILM YEAR: 1972

FILM BLURB:

In a future where all ﬂora are extinct on Earth, an astronaut is given orders to destroy the last of Earth’s plant samples, kept in a greenhouse aboard a spacecraft. Incredible effects by director Douglas Trumbull.

VENUE: The Connaught Studio

DATE: June 23 @ 8:15pm

TICKET INFO: WFC members go free, non members use this link: wtm.uk/events/silentrunning-pg/. Want more info on joining? Email: worthingﬁlmclub.gmail.com

Author Talk –

An Evening with Asia Mackay

Worthing Library

Tuesday, June 10 7.00pm

Tickets £5 from Worthing Library, or call 01903 704809

Join us as we discuss Asia’s career so far and her latest novel A Serial Killer’s Guide to Marriage. A BBC Radio 2 Book Club pick, with TV deals already signed - it’s one of the hottest comedy thrillers of 2025!

Hazel and Fox are an ordinary married couple with a baby. Except for one small thing: they’re ex-serial killers.

There will be a Q&A session and book signing following the interview. Books will be available to purchase on the night.

Summer Fayre Saturday

June 28, 11:00 – 14:00

For All Saints Church and Pre-school, Findon Valley, BN14 0DT

Working together for the community - there will be: Worthing Steel Band, BBQ, Books, Cakes, Face Painting, Inﬂatable Fun, Plants, Raﬄe, Splat the Teacher & Preacher, Tombola and Toys.

Wristband to include many of the activities £5, some are extra cost.

Worthing Antique Arts and Collectors’ Club

Est. in 1968, we are a small, friendly club that meets on the first Tuesday of the month at Field Place, Durrington, BN13 1NP.

Our meeting in July will be on the Tuesday 1, so don’t miss it! We welcome back Sara Choudhrey, artist and lecturer.

Sara’s talk will be on The Inﬂuence of Islamic Art on the Arts & Crafts Movement, not to be missed!

All are welcome to attend our meetings, non members £7.50pp or our annual membership is £35 for 11 meetings a year, (less than a cup of coffee).

Start time 7.30pm-9.00pm. Each meeting includes talk, raﬄe and any club news, with plenty of free parking on site.

Again, it was lovely to see so many new faces at our last couple of meetings, and hope to see many more throughout the year.

To find out more about the club please visit www.worthingantiqueclub.org.uk where you will find a complete list of speakers for the year, and a little history about the club, or call Andy on 07984 403890

Coming up later this year we have John Benjamin (Antiques Roadshow), also a talk about the Connaught Theatre and Understanding British Hallmarks.

Worthing Twinning Association

There will be a French film ‘Le Placard’, produced in 2001, with English subtitles to be shown on Thursday, June 12 at 7:00pm, in the West Worthing Baptist Church Hall, South Street, Tarring, BN14 7LU. Though there are elements of farce, the film is also a sensitive comedy of character featuring François Pignon who is about to be fired. He is advised to pretend to be gay so that the firm will not dare to sack him for fear of being accused of sexual discrimination. Cost £5 includes a glass of wine/juice and a doughnut.

Full details of all WTA events can be found at www.worthingtwinningassociation.org

PHAB Friends Worthing

We are a local charity dedicated to organizing social events for adults with disabilities, along with their families and friends.

Monthly Activities at West Worthing Social Club:

- Art and crafts - Karaoke

- Line dancing

- And much more!

Everyone is welcome to join in, regardless of ability.

Monthly Live Performances at Methold House, Worthing: We host exciting live entertainment, including acts like Elvis, the Rat Pack, Bingo Disco, and many others. A fantastic lineup of events is planned for the rest of the year!

Get in Touch:

Email: phabfriendsworthing@gmail.com

Phone: 07396 702204

Find us on Facebook for updates and more information.

Join us for fun, friendship, and community!

Broadwater’s Big Day Out

Broadwater’s Big Day Out is back again this year between 10:00am and 4:00pm on Saturday, July 19. It will be taking place on Broadwater Green and at Worthing Fire Station.

We look forward to seeing as many of you as possible at the Broadwater Carnival and Worthing Fire Station Open Day. This popular and well attended event brings the community together, supports local businesses, promotes fire safety and provides much needed funds to local charities as well as the Fire Fighters Charity.

This year’s chosen charities are Chanctonbury Community Play Scheme (CCPS), Seaside Hospital Radio, West Sussex Mind and The Fire Fighters Charity.

Last year you helped us raised a record amount of £12,500 for our charities. Let’s see if we can do the same this year for such deserving causes.

We will have lots of stalls, children’s rides, comic characters, arena events, fire safety demonstrations, food and drink, entertainment, activities, a raﬄe and classic cars and bikes on show.

Ann Barlow, Chair of Broadwater Carnival Society says “We are looking forward to seeing you at this great, fun, community event. The monies raised are really making a positive difference in people’s lives within our community”.

Mark Cooper, Commander of Worthing Fire Station says “All the teams at Worthing Fire Station are once again looking forward to co-hosting the Broadwater Carnival and will be welcoming everyone to come and experience a fun and educational day out whilst supporting some great local charities. Look forward to seeing you all there”.

Make sure to keep an eye on the Broadwater Carnival Society Facebook page and website (www.broadwatercarnival.co.uk) for details of the event timings on the day. QR codes will also be available before and on the day to access the timings.

Please don’t forget to bring both cash and card as we are limited for cash machine choices in the local vicinity and not all vendors will be able to offer both payment methods.

Please note road closures will be in place on the day around the event. Please plan your travel in advance.

For general enquiries, stall bookings, sponsorship, volunteering, raﬄe donations, SEN prebooking’s and press enquiries please email the team at info@broadwatercarnival.co.uk

Worthing Choral Society

Musical Director Aedan Kerney

Assistant Musical Director Sam Barton

7.30pm Saturday 21st June 2025

St George’s Church St George's Road

Worthing BN11 2DS

A Season to Sing reimagined by

Joanna Forbes L’Estrange from Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons

Other works are to be included in the programme

Tickets

Adults £10.00 each young people under 18 £5.00 each

Obtainable from www.trybooking.com/uk/DXQQ on the door or from choir members

Broadwater’s Big

1 INSIDE FEEDBACK

Liana Naylor

Dear Liana,

Feedback

Letters to the Editor

INSIDE

Unit 1, Wayside, Commerce Way, Lancing, BN15 8SW liana@insidepublications.ltd

You are likely not aware of this issue and given the importance of culture to the community connected through Inside Worthing magazine I thought you might like to read my opinion.

All Saints Church and Hall

allsaintschurchfindonvalley.co.uk

Findon Village Hall findonvillagehall.net

Findon Village Preschool www.findonvillagepreschool.co.uk

Residents’ Association High Salvington pamela.hsra@shawz.me.uk

Findon Valley Residents’ Association www.fvra.org.uk

Lime Tree Surgery

Lime Tree Avenue, Findon Valley Worthing BN14 0DL

tel:01903264101

An iconic place of national significance which could be celebrated in Worthing is the remnant of Tarrings famous fig garden. Unfortunately, I believe that Worthing Council encouraged the destruction of most of the orchard in the name of ´development´ years ago. However, a third of the trees apparently still exist and are open to the public once a year. Or are they? Having failed in their duty to open up for several years the council is currently trying to renege on its legal obligation to open the garden gate to the public for that one day of the year! A modification to the law imposed on it by government would likely lead to the trees destruction. Unlocking the gate appears too onerous and I’m not certain our council oﬃcers value the cultural assets of the town. I guess trees are just a nuisance. A frieze on the upper ﬂoor of W H Smith in the town centre apparently depicts the famed Thomas à Beckett ceremonially planting one of the fig trees at Tarring in his position as Lord Chancellor or during his archbishopry at Canterbury. Values change. Shame.

Best wishes for the past, present and future, John Bailey

Local swimming group call on government and local council to hold Southern Water to account over poor water quality at Beach House bathing site in Worthing

Local swimming group the Muscle Beach Swimmers Club of East Worthing is shocked by recent reports that the water quality at Beach House in East Worthing is poor and amongst the worst in the country.

Muscle Beach Swimmers Club of East Worthing comprises 24 people of all ages and who swim all year round in East Worthing, around 500 metres from the water quality testing site in question. People in the group swim in the sea for various reasons, primarily physical and mental health, as the benefits of cold-water swimming are well documented. Swimming itself is great exercise and there is a social aspect to gathering together with friends and neighbours.

There have been a couple of instances where members of our group have become ill, and whilst it can be hard to directly prove that this is due to the water quality, we believe that it is linked.

The poor state of the sea is well documented, but this damming report further amplifies the need for immediate action. We acknowledge that one cause of pollution was identified at the Beach House site and rectified. But it was said by the local council to be “one source” implying that there are many. To receive the Brown Flag accolade highlights the poor quality of the water we swim in, and more action needs to be taken.

“We know the long-standing issues around water quality in the UK and closely monitor sewage releases into the sea so that we can swim as safely as possible. We demand further action from the government and Worthing Borough Council to ensure that the quality of the seawater matches many other parts of the Sussex coast which regularly receive good ratings,” says Mark Smith, a spokesperson for Muscle Beach Swimmers Club of East Worthing.

“We call on the government to act on this, to work more closely with Worthing Borough Council and the Environment Agency and also to demand action from Southern Water to bring about change and to improve the water quality at this site. To compound this issue Southern Water are raising bills for local residents by 47% adding insult to injury,” Smith continues.

I would welcome your response and am happy to speak with you further about this matter.

With regards,

Mark Smith