Inside Worthing, February 2023 Issue 29

Liana Naylor

I am Liana, creator and editor of the Inside family of magazines covering Broadwater, Tarring, Durrington, Worthing, West Worthing, Goring and Cissbury.

Welcome to the February edition of Inside Worthing. The year is properly underway already, there is a palpable energy and enthusiam from local groups and businesses.

Simon Rigler, our Crossword compiler and local reader, is having a well earned break this month, I know that a lot of you will miss the crossword.

Crew have opened their information centre, head over to p24 to see what they are up to and their opening times. Transition Town Worthing have an announcement too about a collaborative sustainable mapping tool on p23.

The theme this month (#LetsSusItOut) is Clean Water and Sanitation. I want to thank all of our contributors for the efforts they make to work with the themes each month. You can read about the themes of each month on p18-19.

Keep in touch!

@InsideCommunityMagazines #insidemagazines

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CONTRIBUTORS

Inside Health & Wellbeing - Bryan Turner MRPharmS

@worthingethnographic - Caroline Osella

Inside Local History - Chris Hare

Inside the Real Repair Shop - Matt Marchant

#LetSusItOut - Cllr Vicki Wells

Schools, Colleges and Local Groups are invited and encouraged to contribute to the contents of Inside Worthing.

Delivered free to homes in Worthing town centre and East Worthing. Copyright Inside Magazines 2023. Inside Magazines cannot be held responsible for the claims and accuracy of adverts or editorial content, or the effects of those claims. All dates and details are believed to be correct at time of going to press. No responsibility can be taken for subsequent changes.

Inside Magazines are in no way connected to or endorsed by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs provide a framework for information purposes only.

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Clean Water It is Everyone’s Right

BRYAN TURNER MRPharmS

Continuing with the Inside Magazines series of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, this month, we consider the 6th goal. The historic and global struggle for clean water and sanitation for all.

Here in the UK, providing clean drinking water was a project taken up with gusto by our Victorian forebears. Indeed their labours in this regard are considered widely to be the greatest public health success of the last 200 years. People now take for granted that their drinking water is clear of human waste. This was the basis of the fight against diseases such as cholera, typhoid and other bacterial and viral water borne diseases that killed many hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, in major epidemics.

Only vaccination comes close to the provision of clean water as a public health success. A tragic part of the history of Broadwater in Worthing is the typhoid outbreak of 1893, when faulty drainage allowed sewage to enter the drinking water supply. As many as 200 local people are likely to have perished (read more in Chris Hare’s article on p20).

Nowadays such incidents are mercifully absent in our country, and indeed Water UK, the representative body for the water industry report that 99.96% of water delivered in the UK meets todays exacting standards. We should be thankful for

that, but remember that the UN goals are global goals and there are large parts of the world where the standards we take for granted are not deliverable for much of the world’s poorest populations. Last summer I was fortunate enough to visit Kenya, and was able to see firsthand the difference between our secure mains delivered clean water supply, and the effect on health if you have to rely on water drawn from wells and stored in tanks in equatorial heat. If you are intending to travel in parts of the world such as this, I totally recommend Loperamide and rehydration salts. See your Pharmacist before travel!

While tap water is safe in the UK and no-one should expect river water to be of drinking standard, it is right to expect that in places where people swim or play that they should not be at risk of ingesting significant doses of human coliforms (one of the bacteria from human waste that causes illness). Sewage in storm overflows and the discharge into rivers and seas has been highlighted in the media throughout the past year. This is a serious public health issue for the public, the Government and its regulators. It is clear that there is much investment needed, and work to be done in this regard.

Delivering clean water is not just a job for the Governments of the world. Thankfully there are also organisations such as Rotary International that have big projects ongoing around the globe. Since 2013, The Rotary Foundation has invested more than £100M in over 2000 projects. Through water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) programs, Rotary has been improving access to safely managed clean water supplies to communities, schools and healthcare facilities in regions such as Central America, South Asia and Equatorial Africa. Worthing has two active Rotary Clubs, both of whom regularly support water projects across the world. Why not get in touch with them if you able to help?

Swimming in Sewage

August 2013. I get notice about a ‘Sewage Alert Service app’. This app alerts beach users when untreated human sewage is being discharged. Who could imagine that we’d need such a thing?

Vince sits back, reflective,

“It’s crazy in a modern European country. It doesn’t seem too much to ask - and other countries manage this issue better than usnot to dump sh*t into the sea, where people swim”.

April 2021. A protest in Worthing, organised by Surfers Against Sewage group. Things didn’t get any better, then? Despite years of everyone knowing about the problem - from national and local government, environmental activists, swimmers - and, of course, the water companies themselves.

Vince reminds me, “Every time there’s a storm, they dump it in the sea - it’s absurd!”

October 2021. MP Tim Loughton speaks out. In his speech, he says, “In extreme weather conditions, sewage companies are permitted to release untreated water, usually through ‘overtopping’, into sea outfalls, if there is a risk that the whole system will fail and residents will suffer from a surge of foul water backing up through manholes and into properties. The problem is that this appears to be happening too often and when there are no apparent extreme weather conditions to justify it”.

Vince has a big-picture analysis of these incidents, which are claimed by Southern Water to be justified responses to extreme weather, but seem to happen frequentlyand under all kinds of weather conditions.

“Privatisation is the biggest thing, here. I’m not ideological about it - I don’t have a problem with, for example, BA being private - but it’s absurd to privatise a monopoly

service”.

Southern Water is one of nine regional private monopolies. In March 2021, it declared £138.8m as profit. The CEO received a £435,000-a-year salary, a £550,900 bonus, plus pension payments and benefits, bringing him to an overall pay package of £1.082 million.

Vince continues his criticism of permitting privatised monopoly utilities. “Firstly, I can’t ask someone else to deal with my waste - I have no choice of service-provider; secondly, shareholders and directors take huge amounts of money out that could and should be used for improvements - capacity building, better storage, and so on”.

BBC News Sept 6th 2022. Sussex beaches: People advised not to swim after sewage releases.

Vince is sceptical about the need for ‘overtopping’ at any time, and of UK tolerance for the practice. “The sea should be a public amenity. Many people live here expressly to use the sea for leisure and recreation. If you’re allowing periodic poisoning of the sea from a huge entity that makes profit at public expense - that’s nuts”.

Oct 1st 2022. Post on the Worfolk Worthing sea swimmers FB group. Weather and sewage dependent, Dawn swim at 6:30am.

It doesn’t look as though things are getting any better.

Vince concludes, “The state of our water is almost a measure of the health of the ecology. And none of this is a good reflection on modern Britain: our rivers are dead and there’s turds floating in the sea”.

Will 2023 bring change?

Caroline Osella, Caroline blogs @worthingethnographic.com

Worthing Football Club

Is it really better to give than receive? Research into mental wellbeing highlights “giving to others” as one of the five steps to mental wellbeing. The other four are:

⚽ connecting with other people

⚽ being physically active

learning new skills

mindfulness

It’s an interesting combination, but how can you develop this into your day to day life and gain the benefits of improving your mental wellbeing? A first thought might be to start a course of study or head to a gym to get fit, but this might seem a bit daunting and possibly too expensive. Luckily for many of our community organisations, people who volunteer find that when they get involved, many of the ways in which they are giving their help provide a fast track to these five steps... and it’s completely free to join in.

At Worthing Football Club, for example, we are fortunate in having great volunteer support, not least in the form of the WFC Supporters’

Association. This voluntary group works together to build a ‘family’ of supporters, sharing information and updates about the Club and fundraising for practical works about the ground, such as refurbishing the accessible toilet, providing baby change facilities and so on.

It’s not just about raising cash, but also giving time and effort, too: this might be by joining in “working party” activities, such as cleaning, litter picking, painting and repairs (a useful way of being physically active), or helping to run behind the scenes work for the playing teams or getting involved with the Club’s partner charities (Love Your Hospital, Heads On Charity, Turning Tides and Worthing Food Foundation).

People who come along don’t have to have particular

skills (although learning some new ones will help to tick off another one of those steps...). It’s all about ‘keeping it local’, working together to improve things for our community and, of course, ‘connecting with people’ in a meaningful and valued way.

This approach can be found in a wide range of clubs and organisations across Worthing, so there are plenty of opportunities for you to get involved. This could be either as a ‘one-off’ or a more regular commitment whilst taking those steps to improve your wellbeing too!

For more details on mental wellbeing, just search the NHS website for “5 steps to mental wellbeing” which has some good, practical suggestions and ideas.

If you would like to find out more about volunteering at Worthing Football Club, please contact Angelatanner@worthingfc. com.

Not managed to stick to your new year’s resolution? No problem. You don’t need a new year to make changes.

don’t even need a new week or even a new day. There is no time like the present to make some tweaks to your lifestyle so you can live a happier, longer and healthier life.

Lots of people make the mistake of going ‘all in’ in January and burn themselves out after a week or two (if that!). The problem is that they make too many big changes at once and this is just not sustainable for most people.

Setting yourself small, achievable goals

each week and slowly building up these good habits is far more likely to result in long term changes.

When thinking about goals you should break larger goals down into smaller manageable chunks. So, instead of ‘get fit’ this could be ‘move my body once or twice a week for at least 15 minutes’. Instead of a ‘don’t eat junk food’ this could be ‘have at least 1 nutrient packed meal a day’. Once you’ve mastered the smaller habits you can then set new bigger targets to aim for.

Write down your targets and put them somewhere noticeable e.g. the fridge door or your bathroom mirror to remind you regularly. Most importantly, celebrate your successes, no matter how small!

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In the top 50 teams in the country. Rugby for all from u5 through to Colts, both boys and girls teams, Senior Men, Ladies and VETS. Social membership available too.

Venue also available to hire for all special occasions both inside and out

You may have seen the 2022 John Lewis Partnership Christmas advert, which highlighted both the urgent need for more foster carers and celebrated the wonderful lengths that foster carers go to in order to make a child feel welcome.

There are many ways that the John Lewis Partnership is supporting children in care and care leavers – from developing policies that support foster carers and kinship carers, to providing more job opportunities to young people who are care experienced.

As part of this work, the John Lewis Partnership has been eager to support the WSCC Fostering Recruitment team, by offering the opportunity to hold popup events in branches of

As a local authority, West Sussex County Council urgently needs to recruit foster carers who can give safe and loving homes to the 850 children it cares for. Of this number, 64% are aged 11 to 17 and they desperately need someone who can guide them through this important and uncertain time in their lives. While all the children in the care of WSCC are in safe accommodation, with many already living with local foster carers, a significant number of children are still waiting to find their foster family.

As much as there is probably a lot that you don’t know about John Lewis’s commitment to children in care and carers, there are likely a few things you don’t know about fostering!

There are many types of care, from respite or emergency care, to fostering unaccompanied asylumseeking children and offering supported lodgings to help young people aged 16-21 learn the skills needed to live

independently.

Foster carers for West Sussex County Council receive comprehensive training, ongoing 24/7 professional support and a competitive financial package of up to £28,500 per year to help look after a child in their care. And so much more… including activities for your birth children, and access to a network of face-to-face and online support groups.

One WSCC foster carer, James, surprised his foster child when he offered to teach her to swim (she thought he would exclude her from a trip to the pool if she admitted she couldn’t swim). He stated, “To be the first person to give them hope, or care, or love… is the most rewarding thing I have ever done in my life”. To reiterate John Lewis’s message, it’s the small things that make a big difference…

Waitrose and John Lewis across the county, including Worthing.

Time to check your plumbing

Now that ‘dry January’ is out of the way, you can grab yourself a drink once again, and since this months’ edition is all about water, I thought I’d ‘tap’ into another repair topic that’s close to my heart. I hope to get some ideas ‘flowing’ for you, my loyal reader. Don’t worry, I haven’t gone ‘around the bend’ yet.

Now you see, I’m no plumber, nor do I really offer plumbing-type repairs to anyone apart from family and friends screaming for help! But, due to the nature of my repair-work, I’ve learned many skills that have transferred from the shed to the house, when the need arises to mend a leaking tap or fix a broken loo. The rest of this isn’t going to be a how-to guide, but more of a general meander through common household waterrelated issues with some

top-tips thrown in for good measure.

I wager that many of us could save water, time and money by fixing our own dripping taps and overfilling loos, armed with a little basic knowledge and a smattering of simple tools which will cost less than a take away curry for two. It’s a matter of looking around your home at the fixtures and fittings you already have, and then buying some spanners and screwdrivers to fit. You don’t have to spend a lot, and it’s certainly worth having a

small selection of plumbing tools handy to use as, plumbing problems always seem to arise at the most inconvenient times!

Ball-cocks

The float operated valve; a device used to control flow, to automatically regulate the water level in a vessel like a cistern or tank. If you have one, they wear out from time-to-time and occasionally need new valve rubbers and/or floats. In my experience, it’s worth keeping a valve rubber handy in your plumbing kit as these are cheap and fairly easy to change, if you have the nerve.

Taps

Kitchen and bathroom taps generally work in the same way, and will either be fitted with a traditional faucet style valve (hence why our American friends call taps, faucets) or a

MATT MARCHANT

more modern quarter-turn ceramic valve. Faucet valves can be adjusted to account for wear and can be serviced with new washers and special grease. Before replacing a dripping tap, try adjusting or replacing a valve washer, it will certainly save you time and money. Ceramic valves can be replaced on a tap and so long as you have measured yours accurately, a new replacement valve can rejuvenate a tired tap and stop that drip. Remember, a dripping tap can waste thousands of litres every year!

Loos

We all rely on them, they’re everywhere and they use a lot of water. In fact, around 30% of all household water use, is flushing-related.

Toilets have moving parts, rubber seals and a mixture of plastic and metal fixings, all working alongside water in the cold and warm. Therefore, it’s only a matter of time before your loo needs you. Look under the cistern lid, get to know where the flush button connects to the lever that empties the tank to the pan, make a note of what type of flush mechanism you have as it could be handy when you’re later talking to a plumber or getting parts yourself. Keep an eye on your overflow pipe, if fitted, for signs of drips, a sure sign of a problem. Many modern toilets no longer have an external overflow pipe, but have an internal overflow system, which, if overfilling, will run back into

the pan, continuously. So, if your toilet is always running water into the pan, without the flush being operated, check or have checked the filling system as soon as possible. It will be literally pouring a valuable resource down the drain overwise.

There are loads of water saving ideas out there. Just Google it and you’ll be bombarded with ideas and gadgets claiming to have the answers. But as with most things in life, the best are usually the simplest and often free. So in summary, sort that dripping tap, mend that overflowing loo and fit a water butt if you water your garden in the drier months. Don’t continuously run the tap when brushing your teeth and use only the shortest program practicable on your washing machine, but most of all, please don’t stop taking a shower. Until the next time.

Coastal Water Quality

water quality by reducing pollution, eliminating dumping and minimising release of hazardous chemicals and materials, halving the proportion of untreated wastewater and substantially increasing recycling and safe reuse globally.” In addition, the aim is “..to support and strengthen the participation of local communities in improving water and sanitation management.”

between May and September. Currently the beach at Heene Road is the only area of our foreshore with designated status. We need more to increase monitoring by the Environment Agency, who test designated waters for bacteria and then classify the quality of the water.

Who doesn’t love our coast and foreshore? Once you’ve lived by the sea, it’s hard not to return. I moved back to Worthing to raise my family 13 years ago and I’ve been delighted by the beauty of the sea and terrified to learn how destructive practices like trawler fishing and pollution have impacted the ecosystems both on and off the foreshore.

As such, I’m dedicated to raising awareness and improving this fantastic environment so that it has a sustainable future for all. In Worthing, there is good news but with so much to achieve to protect this environment, we need to learn as much as possible about it. The monitoring of coastal water and the wildlife it supports has never been more important. It’s easy for residents to help with the effort too.

By 2030, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals for Clean Water and Sanitation aim to; “...improve

The Council has started supporting the foreshore in earnest. In July 2022, a motion was passed to phase out the use of the pesticide Glyphosate in our parks, open spaces and along the foreshore. The significance of this is that we have helped reduce levels of the weedkiller from entering the water system - washed into storm drains and out to sea -impacting the aquatic ecosystem. Weeds are being manually removed from the Prom, mostly by Gary - the top man with a hoe. If you see him at work, make sure you thank him!

We’ve applied to the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) for a second bathing designation. This was possible because a team of six citizen scientists completed over 20 hours of beach surveys. They recorded how many people used the beach between Steyne Gardens and Bayside Apartments, toting up the swimmers, water sports activities and paddling

We learned in November 2022 that Worthing retained 'Good' bathing water status for the second year running. This after a bathing season that saw a reported 15,012 hours of raw sewage released into water across the country. In Worthing, data from Southern Water’s Beach Buoy monitoring system shows that spills occurred on 18th and 24th May totalling 2hrs10 minutes.

Two spikes of bacteria were also recorded in Worthing, one in June and one in July. I’ve been meeting with Southern Water and their data suggests that these concentrations of intestinal enterococci and e.coli are not related to spillsrather misconnections within the sewer system. If that's the case then Southern Water needs to increase investment into misconnections investigations across the borough. Misconnections occur when toilets are wrongly plumbed into the sewer system rather than the foul waste system.

We know sewer networks are easily overwhelmed by downpours. So to help prevent deluges overburdening the road surface sewer system, I have asked Southern Water to provide free water butts for all of our public buildings including schools. This water will be used to water trees during the summer months.

17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were adopted by United Nations (UN) Member States in 2015 and serve as a template for global partnerships to work towards a sustainable future for people and the planet by 2030. The goals recognize that ending poverty and deprivation must go hand-in-hand with strategies to improve health and education, reduce inequality, while tackling climate change and preserving our oceans and forests. The SDGs are intended to be used from grassroots to nationwide levels. The goals do not work in isolation, they are about partnerships for a sustainable future, and work in partnership with each other too.

Read more about it on https://sdgs.un.org/goals (09/08/22) and you can follow the latest updates on www.facebook.com/sustdev @SustDev

Any positive assistance from the company to reduce rain overwhelming the surface water drains will greatly help improve our sea water quality locally.

The UK coast is home to 650 different species of seaweed. Following the 2020 fishing trawler ban that covers 300km2 of seabed off Sussex, we are seeing the recovery of kelp, subsequent improved fish stocks and variety of species - a bottom up return of the ecosystem, capturing carbon, cleaning the water and protecting the foreshore.

Following a recent collaboration with the Fishermen’s Society of Worthing, we can look forward to a new era of sustainable fishing, ecological custodianship and the preservation of 200 years of local fishing heritage. Our fantastic local fishermen are helping Portsmouth University research cuttlefish and they are reporting increases in all catches including bass, whiting, bream, sole, plaice and huss.

Local free diver

Erik Smith has observed mussel beds colonising the base of the wind

farm, spotted garfish, an electric ray and even John Dory!

Meanwhile Worthing Pier angler, Sarah Croft frequently lands (and releases) conger eels -the local apex predator of the seaincluding three whoppers at over 43 lbs - proof that this ecological infrastructure is returning and testament to the success of the trawler ban.

You can help too, by taking part in the Big Seaweed Search. Pop into the Coastal Office (opposite Marks & Spencer, on the prom) to help the Marine Conservation Society and the Natural History Museum monitor 14 ‘indicator species’ of seaweed. Their presence, absence or abundance helps assess the health of ecosystems. You don’t need to be an expert, but be prepared to spend an hour on the Worthing foreshore at low tide trying to spot these climate soothsayers.

I believe the future of our coastal waters and the wildlife it contains is positive. We can all help support this precious environment on the journey to recovery and sustainability.

Cllr Vicki Wells Cabinet Member for the Environment

CLEAN WATER & SANITATION

February 2023

AFFORDABLE & CLEAN ENERGY

March 2023

DECENT WORK & ECONOMIC GROWTH

April 2023

INDUSTRY, INNOVATION & INFRASTRUCTURE

May 2023

REDUCE INEQUALITIES

June 2023

SUSTAINABLE CITIES & COMMUNITIES

July 2023

RESPONSIBLE CONSUMPTION & PRODUCTION

August 2023

CLIMATE ACTION

September 2023

LIFE BELOW WATER

October 2023

LIFE ON LAND

November 2023

PEACE, JUSTICE & STRONG INSTITUTIONS

December 2023

PARTNERSHIPS FOR THE GOALS

January 2024

Worthing and the Great Epidemic

The population of Worthing doubled between the coming of the railway to the town in 1845 and the opening of the pier in 1862 and it then doubled again in the next 20 years, and by the end of the century was approaching 20,000 inhabitants (it had been only 2,000 a century earlier). Unfortunately, the town’s infrastructure did not keep up with the population growth, and this was particularly true of the water supply. The town’s water came from a mixture of private wells and bore holes sunk by the Council. The latter was stored in a water tower, constructed in 1857 to the south of what is now Tower Road. As the town expanded, so more bore holes were sunk, but some people in the town wondered whether proper precautions were being taken to ensure this water was clean and fit to drink.

In March 1893 further excavations were commenced at the waterworks site, with a view to locating a new supply of water. On the afternoon of Friday 14th April, the resident engineer, R.J.Harris, was called away from his lunch, as workers reported a surge of water, rising in one of the shafts. At first Harris thought it was sea water, but on tasting it he found it to be fresh. Men were employed

to secure the shaft, working shifts to line it with bricks. Despite evidence, that later came forward, that there was often ‘a bad smell’ from the new well in the mornings, local councillors and the local Press, were delighted that Worthing’s water problems were now over, thanks to the discovery of the ‘Big Fissure.’

Yet within a few weeks there were reports of severe diarrhoea in the town, and then, on the 8th May, two people were seen by a town doctor suffering from a high fever. Within a week there were 60 cases, and within a month, 38 people had died. On 23rd May, Dr. Charles Kelly, Worthing’s Medical Officer, formally informed the Local Government Board that there was an outbreak of typhoid fever in Worthing.

Initially, the town, at least its better placed section, appeared united in its efforts to play down the significance of the outbreak for fear of destroying the holiday season, on which the economy of the resort depended. None of the local newspapers ran any stories on the outbreak, although all must have been all too aware of the danger they were facing.

A decision was taken to ‘flush out’ the system.

It is not recorded how this was done, but possibly sea water was pumped into the mains, hydrants and dead-ends. The tank on the water tower was also cleansed. The Town Sanitary Committee was convinced that this effort had solved the problem. Indeed, following these measures, new cases of fever declined markedly.On 14 June, Dr. Kelly, with the full support of the Mayor and Sanitary Committee, declared that ‘the epidemic may now be considered at an end.’ The Mayor, Edward Patching, no stranger to controversy, was in bullish mood and resolved to ride out the storm. In a joint statement with William Verrall, the Town Clerk and Charles Cook, Chairman of the Sanitary Committee, he issued an ‘Official Communication to the London Press’, which put the blame for the outbreak on the nocturnal habits of the brick-setters, employed to line the new well, back in April.

Mayor Patching and the Sanitary Committee were playing a dangerous game.They were gambling on the measures they had already taken being sufficient to stem the epidemic and thereby ensure that the summer season at Worthing would not be undermined by the spectre of disease. However, the measures they had taken had not been sufficient. The cause they attributed to the outbreak – the nocturnal habits of the night workers – had not been the cause

of the epidemic, but rather contamination from an old sewer, close to the new well. Far more seriously, it would later be alleged that Mayor Patching knew this was the case, but had suppressed this vital information. However, the councillors were delighted as the visitors kept coming to Worthing during June. During the second week of the month, 250 members of the Borough Hop Trade Mutual and Friendly Society spent the day in the town and Patching claimed that there had been 10,000 visitors during June. However this was only a lull, the terrible epidemic came back with a vengeance at the beginning of July, with devastating consequences.

There is little doubt that this was not a second outbreak, as reported in the Press, but a reoccurrence of the original outbreak. The bacteria may have been in abeyance due to the ‘flushing-out’ of the system, but its source and cause – faecal contamination – was still present. There also seems little doubt that the weather – dry and hot – caused the bacteria to proliferate. The West Sussex Gazette reported on 22nd June: ‘No rain! No rain! Things are beginning to look serious as regards the weather. Since the first week of March there has been hardly enough wet

to lay the dust.’ When the rains did come, and then only for a few weeks until the hot and dry conditions returned, they may have simply washed more of the bacteria into the drinking water supply. Whatever the exact process that led to the resurgence of ‘the fever,’ the toll on the town’s population was immediate and terrible. In the first week of July 184 cases were reported, rising to 819 cases by the middle of the month, with 65 deaths. As the month progressed, so the epidemic spread, first to Broadwater, then to Tarring and finally, on 27th July, to West Worthing. Many of the cases in these outlying areas were caused, not by victims drinking contaminated water, but

by close association with those already infected. With an incubation period of up to two weeks, the opportunities for spreading the disease were considerable and would eventually lead to over 1200 cases being reported, of whom 194 were to die.

The incompetence and supposed cover-up at the heart of the outbreak led to many recriminations in the town and to the most bitter local elections ever witnessed in the Worthing, with a whole batch of new ‘progressive’ councillors being elected. The new council built a waterworks on the Downs at Hillbarn Lane and the town has been supplied with fresh drinking water from the chalk aquafer ever since.

Chris Hare has written many books on the history of Worthing and Sussex, available to buy from Worthing Library and Steyning Bookshop. You can find all Chris’ books listed at https://historypeople.co.uk/books-and-publications/

Meet Sam INSIDE

The cost-of-living crisis is accelerating homelessness. Local homeless charity Turning Tides have seen a doubling in the number of people reaching out for support.

During these harsh winter months, could you make a difference to the lives of people facing homelessness in your community? People like Sam.

Sam is a hard-working full-time store manager. He's a DIY enthusiast, currently decorating his home. And a doting uncle to his three-month-old niece.

But not so long ago, Sam was homeless. Having struggled with mental health problems for most his life, he had hit rock bottom. Fortunately, Sam was put in touch with Turning Tides.

Sam credits the support he received from Turning Tides with saving his life –providing a platform for him to create a hopeful future.

“I had no possessions, no confidence and I was scared about the future. When I moved into Turning Tides’ supported living accommodation, I was immediately assigned my keyworker and connected to the charity’s mental health team. With their support, I was able to accept who I am and what I had been through. It doesn’t matter what your background is or who you are, finding yourself homeless can happen to anyone. Understanding that really helped me with my recovery. I developed my confidence and ways to manage my

anxiety - working towards a future of independent living.

While being supported by Turning Tides, I started volunteering with a local charity; giving back to the community was important to me. I soon felt ready to go back to work full-time and was offered a position as a store manager with the charity I’d been volunteering with. Simultaneously, Turning Tides had spoken to the council and found me a property I could move into – and this was the perfect time for me to move into my own place – I was ready! Turning Tides helped me with this transition, such as aiding me with my council tax and finding a grant for purchasing the appliances I needed. Even now, I can reach out to them if I ever need support or to chat. I’m proud of where I am now. I love my job, I love being busy, and I love working for a charity. Turning Tides provided a platform for me to succeed. Without them, I don’t think I would be here. I certainly wouldn’t be the person I am today.”

Read Sam’s full story at www.turning-tides. org.uk/sams-story This year, you could transform the life of someone like Sam.

➡ Donate today at www.turning-tides. org.uk or by phone on 01903 680748

➡ Take on a challenge to fundraise for Turning Tides in 2023. Visit www. turning-tides.org.uk/events for more information.

"It doesn’t matter what your background is or who you are, finding yourself homeless can happen to anyone."

OPENING OF THE CENTRE

The centre (8-9 South Street, opposite Iceland) is now open! Although we are still organising the space, everybody is welcome to pop in for a chat.

We are

open on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from 10am to 4pm. The Centre will be formally opened on the 16th February, with the Mayoress cutting the ribbon!

UPDATE

CROWDFUNDING

We have started a much needed Crowdfunder. Please share the links with friends, family, colleagues etc...it can be accessed via this QR code

Concerned about Climate Change? Want to make a difference in our locality and beyond? Then come to an Extinction Rebellion Worthing meeting at 6:30pm on the 1st and 3rd Tuesday of every month at CREW, 8/9 South Street, Worthing (opposite Iceland). Together we can make a difference.

All events start at 2:30pm with doors open 2:00pm

www.worthing-wurlitzer.org

The Assembly Hall, Stoke Abbott Road, Worthing, BN11 1HQ

Sussex Theatre Organ Trust Registered Charity 281001

See wtm.uk for seat prices. Tickets may be purchased from our ticket agent Worthing Theatres and Museum through their box office (01903 206206) and online at wtm.uk.

WTM acts as the commercial agent on behalf of the promoter and producer of this event

Please mention Inside Worthing when responding to advertisements

JG ROOFING

ROOFING & EMERGENCY REPAIR SPECIALIST

Wednesday 1st February

Beth Sarah album launch at The Factory

Live alongside Woodruff and Phun City, from 7:30pm

Every Wednesday (except 1st Feb)

Blue Sky Music Open Mic at The Smugglers Return from 8-11pm

Every Sunday

Blue Sky Music Open Mic at The Broadwater from 8-10.30pm

Every 2nd Tuesday of the month

Blue Sky Music Open Mic at The Thieves’ Kitchen from 8-11pm

Every last Sunday of the month

Time to enjoy life

Seascapes, 8 Southey Road, Worthing, BN11 3HT Beachside, 14 Queen’s Road, Worthing, BN11 3LX

Providing supported housing for over 55s

We offer affordable, high-quality living for older people who want to be as independent and self-reliant as possible, without the worry of maintaining their own home.

• A warm, safe and homely atmosphere with a beautiful garden

• Professional, dedicated staff and support when you need it

• Delicious home-cooked meals

• Cleaning and laundry service

• Close to the town, seafront and local amenities

Affordable, all-inclusive fees

BEFORE AFTER Room available

For more information or to arrange a visit, call us on or email enquiries@abbeyfield-worthing.co.uk

SCAN ME

Comeandtryusfor aweekforFREE

Supporting emerging musicians in Worthing and surrounding areas

Henry V: Interview with Artistic Director Holly Race Roughan

When Headlong’s Artistic Director

Holly Race Roughan first read Henry V last year, her reaction to Shakespeare’s muchloved history play was that something more dark and complex lay at its core.

Luckily, the production she’s directed is anything but dull: a lean, chilling, gripping interpretation of the play, it arrives in Worthing on Tuesday 28th February 2023.

Race Roughan is the Artistic Director of Headlong theatre company, who tour new plays and fresh stagings of classics around the country. But the suggestion that she sink her teeth into Henry V came from Shakespeare’s Globe in London, where the resulting co-production has just enjoyed a critically acclaimed run at their indoor Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, winning rave reviews.

“I was interested in whiteness and nationalism, and I had another play entirely in mind,” admits Race Roughan. But the more she looked at Henry V, the more obvious it became that it had plenty to say about not only whiteness and nationalism, but also imperialism, immigration, Brexit, Royalism, and our country’s status as an international power (or not).

The story of Henry V leading British troops to a stunning, unlikely victory over the French, the play has often been subject to critical interpretations, from Nicholas Hytner’s Iraq war-era 2003 version to a bleak recent production at the Donmar starring Kit Harrington. Yet it

is older, more triumphantly nationalistic outings that still loom largest in many audiences’ minds: the Laurence Olivier and Kenneth Branagh films, for instance, taken as stirring portraits of national pride.

“Henry V has been used and co-opted, through various points in history, as a piece of nationalist propaganda,” says Race Roughan. Reading it, she felt like she had “unearthed an origins story of the creation of Englishness. I felt like this story needs to be held accountable for its contribution to the ideology of Englishness, with all its toxicity.”

Not that she’s committed an act of vandalism on a classic. “I don’t think Shakespeare wrote a piece of propaganda; I also don’t think he wrote a searing criticism. I think he’s written something very smartly ambiguous. And what me and the team set out to do was to turn the dial up on the bit of the play that is often turned down.”

Running at just two hours long, this is a paredback and pitch-black Henry V, a psychological thriller where the human cost of an expansionist war, conducted to burnish the male ego, is laid bare. Audiences have been so surprised by the play’s brutality that Race Roughan has even been asked if she wrote certain lines. “No no no, Henry really does threaten to rape the women and murder the babies, that’s in the play! It’s just quite often cut out, or done in a way that doesn’t land.”

Rather than a noble hero, their Henry is a dangerously

capricious leader: one minute, full of anxious self-doubt; the next, spurred by a nearpsychotic temper into cruel practical jokes and merciless vengeance. And Oliver Johnstone is sensational in the part: he has a watchable charisma, both vulnerable and terrifying.

This Henry has the selfquestioning interiority of a Hamlet – his famous “once more unto the breach” speech is delivered inwards, as if trying to spur himself to action rather than his troops. Yet he also possesses the manipulative zeal of a Richard III: not a statesmanlike king, but one of Shakespeare’s arch villains.

“I had a strong sense that I wanted an unreliable, maniacal, Richard III [style] Henry. And Oli got us there, but via a really long journey – in the first half, [he’s a] fragile, vulnerable bullied child who suddenly finds he’s got to rule the county,” says Race Roughan. Rather than open the play with Shakespeare’s soaring prologue, Race Roughan and dramaturg Cordelia Lynn have inserted a scene from Shakespeare’s earlier play, Henry IV part ii. In it, we see Henry V bullied by his father – even as he is dying. This provided Johnstone with the psychological key to unlock the character.

The play also closes in an unconventional way: with a brief final scene that is indeed completely new, and which brings the play sharply into contemporary Britain and the hostile environment. No spoilers here – but this

coda helps highlight how Race Roughan sees the play as being about “the origins of empire”, something she wanted to dig into at the moment.

“We are living in a time of post-Empire: crumbling economy, and crumbling British might. How interesting to do a play that is all about the might of England, that has been used to get people riled up in the name of Englishness, at a point where it feels like our country is in decline on the world stage.”

And Henry V continued to feel eerily more relevant as they worked on it. Literally as they were auditioning actors, ‘the queue’ – of mourners wanting to pay respects to Queen Elizabeth II – formed along the south bank, outside the Globe theatre. “I went into it thinking about nationalism and Brexit and Empire, and in the middle of it, the Queen of England died,” says Race Roughan, still a little incredulously. “We put a scene at the beginning which is all about the death of a monarch – and that suddenly felt really visceral.”

The production, which opened in December, also makes heavy use of the national anthem: the first time in 70 years when the lyrics would be the same for the play’s monarch as for our actual monarch. “The anthem was just so in the air in a way that it hadn’t been three months earlier,” acknowledges Race Roughan.

Even so, making Shakespeare feel vital for contemporary audiences was a challenge for her – Henry V is the first Shakespeare play she’s directed. But anyone who has ever felt baffled by the bard will find her attitude refreshingly honest:

“At one point, I was like I might as well be directing in French… fundamentally I don’t understand what you’re saying to each other. It felt like pushing a boulder up a hill made out of treacle!”

But the result of this was that it became incredibly important to Race Roughan that the production be crisp and comprehensible. “A lot of our rehearsal process went into making it crystal clear. There’s a thing around access there for me: how do I make sure that someone with a PhD or someone who just happens to want a night at the theatre is following the same story?”

She approached the text in the same way as she would a brand new play: making cuts and changes where needed for both clarity and pace. “It’s short, and it’s punchy.”

And Race Roughan is excited now that the production is having a new lease of life on tour. The Sam

Wanamaker Playhouse is lit only by candles; she’s looking forward to the “electric version” of their Henry V. “It will remain a psychological production, but I think it will intensify it.”

Race Roughan always loves seeing how Headlong’s work changes as it tours across the country. “A production is 50 per cent what you rehearse, and 50 per cent the audience. So if the audience changes, that’s a significantly different production. I’m interested to see if people will laugh or be moved in different places – to see what we will learn about this play by being in Leeds, Northampton and Worthing.”

Henry V

Tues 28 Feb to Sat 4 March Connaught Theatre, Union Place, Worthing, West Sussex, BN11 1LG

Tickets: From £12.50

wtm.uk/events/henry-v/

“My mum who has Alzheimer’s absolutely loves these sessions – it’s a wonderful activity that we can do together and she really comes alive.”

Supported and sponsored by:

Love to Move and time to chat

Love to Move is a fun, age and dementia friendly seated movement programme to music. It is suited to older adults, those living with dementia, MS and Parkinson’s and their carers. Delivered by British Gymnastics’ Love to Move coaches. There will be a nominal charge. After the class, there will be refreshments and time to chat.

Tuesdays 1:30 to 3:00pm: Steyning Centre

Fletchers Croft BN44 3XZ

Wednesdays 10 to 11am: Heene Community Centre, 122 Heene Rd, Worthing BN11 4PL

Wednesdays 2.30 to 4pm: Shoreham Baptist Church

Western Road BN43 5WD

For more information call 01273 286 172 or email worthing.shoreham@rightathome.co.uk

Watch the Love to Move programme here:

Direct Local Marketing Works

East

Pages Lane, Worthing, West Sussex BN11 2NQ Tel: 01903 212855

ewpagesman@msn.com

Worthing Food Foundation

East Worthing Baptist Church 43 Pendine Avenue, Worthing BN11 2NA Tel: 01903 442149

chair@lesaldenfoundation.org.uk

l It markets directly to the audience you need to reach

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l No competing with millions of other electronic posts, there’s only one letterbox

l Received, Read and Retained

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