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I N T H I S I SSU E . . .
30
CHRISTMAS GIFT GUIDE Delve in to our 8-page beauty and grooming guide for this year’s gifts for under the tree. Ranging from budget to deluxe we have it covered. Next month we will have more beauties to share with you.
26 I LOVE LEWES Clare Crouch, president of Lewes Chamber of Commerce is an inspiration to the district. Putting her best foot forward she talks exclusively to us about what is so amazing about the district and why businesses will always be first on her agenda.
COVER ILLUSTRATION BY: NEETA PEDERSEN Danish, British, Indian artist Neeta Pedersen’s distinctive vision comes from her unusual heritage, her extensive travels and her rich visual imagination. She has succeeded in developing a very strong style of her own and created a substantial body of original work.
STAY IN CONTACT LEWES
L E W E S D I S T R I C T / D E C E M B E R / 2 019
8 DIARY #SAVE THE DATE We have it all, check out what’s going on this Christmas in our beautiful district. So much to see and do, what’s not to love?
We’d love to hear from you! If you are a local business within the Lewes District or resident with a story to tell and you’d like to be featured, please email: editorial@townandcountymag.co.uk To advertise email: advertising@townandcountymag.co.uk or call 01273 033 500
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HELLO
Christmas will soon be upon us and at Town and County we can hardly wait for the festivities all over the district to begin. In the meantime we have plenty to celebrate already. First of all, this month’s Big Interviews! With Brexit uncertainty the issue on everyone’s minds, we have had the privilege of an in-depth interview with a political giant. Former MP and cabinet minister Norman Baker, who held the Lewes seat for 18 years, pulled no punches when he told us how horrified he is by the current state of affairs in Westminster. Throughout his career in politics, he was renowned as a formidable ‘inquisitor’, never afraid to challenge the powers that be and to tackle thorny issues head-on. He was equally outspoken when he told us about the chaos now enveloping the House of Commons - and his views make fascinating reading. Other top features this month reflect on the distinguished career of a local singer who was awarded the MBE for his services to music and education, and on a multi-talented artist who made her home in Lewes after journeying far and wide to find inspiration in diverse cultures. In line with our constant aim to support the local economy and businesses of all kinds, this month we also have an interview with Clare Crouch, president of the local Chamber of Commerce, who says proudly that everything everyone could want is available in Lewes. We also love to support local organisations and so we want to expand our Diary section. We can’t let people know about upcoming events unless we know about them, so we hope more of you will get in touch and tell us what you have planned for the future so that we can include in our Diary pages. Finally stuck for a Christmas gift, then check out what we have in store for you in this issue. We’re always looking for more people with an exciting story to tell, so if you know of anyone who deserves to have the spotlight turned on them, please email us at editorial@townandcountymag.co.uk
SEÁN KANE, E D I TO R
CON N ECT WITH U S LEWES
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Editor: Seàn Kane, editorial@townandcountymag.co.uk Advertising: advertising@townandcountymag.co.uk Production: richard@townandcountymag.co.uk or call 01273 033 500
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Norman speaking at a conference; Right: Norman former Transport Minister
AGAI N ST TH E G R AI N Former Lib Dem MP and Cabinet Minister Norman Baker tells Jo Rothery he is appalled by the bitter conflict and utter confusion currently holding sway in Parliament
the big interview
T
he current state of politics and the prevailing atmosphere in Westminster leave Norman Baker, the MP for Lewes until 2015, filled with horror. “It’s insane, an absolute shambles, very divisive and I’m appalled at the extremes some people are going to,” he says. “The House of Commons is not a good place to be now.” He may be dismayed at what is happening now. Still, throughout his long and distinguished career on the political scene, he was a thorn in the flesh of the government, never afraid to challenge authority and always determined to get wrongs righted. ‘The most annoying man in parliament’ is how David Cameron once described him. Such an epithet didn’t cause the then MP for Lewes any qualms - instead, he regarded it as recognition of his determination to challenge the powers that be and stand up for what he believes. This political heavyweight prides himself on his reputation for always being ready to throw down the gauntlet. His determination to tackle injustices goes back long before he entered the political arena. “I was always interested in current affairs, always seeing things that were wrong and yet not seeing anyone trying to sort them out,” he says. “I don’t believe in accepting things as they are. Too often the people who should be taking responsibility ignore the elephant in the room - I want them to look at the elephant and act when needed.” Born in Aberdeen in 1957, his mother was a nurse and his father, a trawler skipper, died when Norman was just eight. The family moved to Hornchurch in London in 1968, and he attended the Royal Liberty School near Romford before graduating from the University of London in 1978 with a degree in German and History.
Always passionate about music, he became a regional director for a record company for five years and in 1981 took his first steps on the political ladder by joining the Liberal Party. “When the SDP was formed, I didn’t think I was in the same party like them, so I became a ‘sleeping member’,” he says. By the early 1980s, he had moved to the Lewes area and was living in Beddingham, teaching English as a foreign language. “In 1987 the Liberal councillor for Ringmer called round to see me and asked if I would stand for Lewes District Council. I was elected and also joined the parish council. Two years later I was also elected to East Sussex County Council.” Already making his mark as a politician, he became a leader of the district council in 1991, holding that position until he won the Lewes parliamentary seat in the 1997 general election, standing as a Liberal Democrat. He had contested the Lewes seat at the general election in 1992 but was defeated by the sitting Conservative MP, Tim Rathbone. Five years later he gained the position with a majority of 1,300 votes. “In 1997 I became the first non-Conservative MP for Lewes since 1874,” he says. “It was a huge turn round, the result of several factors, I think. There was a lot of anti-Tory feeling at the time, we’d had Black Wednesday, and John Major’s government was in complete disarray, the Back to Basics policy was a shambles. “Having been on the council for several years, local electors knew me, and I was known for
‘ When t he SDP formed , I didn’t t hink I was in t he sa me pa r ty as t hem , so I bec a me a sleeping member.’ TOWNANDCOUNTYMAG.CO.UK | 9
the big interview
‘ Th e e nviro n m e nt h a s a lways be e n vit a l t o m e , a n d ba c k in 19 89, I wa s o n e o f t h e f irst t o h ig h lig h t t h e issu e o f c lim at e c h a nge .’ helping people at a local level. In a poll, 83 per cent couldn’t name the sitting Tory MP, but 69 per cent could name me as the Liberal candidate. I also brought the green voters in - they actively supported me. Norman was ahead of his time in bringing green issues to the fore, 30 years ago. “The environment has always been vital to me, and back in 1989, I was one of the first to highlight the issue of climate change.” He was appointed as the Liberal Democrat environment spokesman in 2002 and in May 2005 he joined with two former environment ministers, Labour MP Michael Meacher and Conservative
John Gummer, to table a cross-party Early Day Motion in support of a Climate Change Bill drafted by Friends of the Earth. He also opposed nuclear power, describing it as ‘hopelessly uneconomic’, and warning that new nuclear power stations ‘would generate vast quantities of nuclear waste and divert essential funding away from energy efficiency and renewable sources of energy.’ Civil liberties were another major issue over which Norman challenged the authorities, feeling that too much power was embedded in the wrong set of hands. He prided himself on uncovering scandals and conflicts of interest among MPs and in the government. Named as ‘Inquisitor of the Year’ in The Spectator’s Parliamentarian of the Year awards in 2001, his persistent questioning of Peter Mandelson played a large part in Mandelson’s second resignation from government. Norman also campaigned to force disclosure of the details of MP’s expenses under the Freedom of Information Act.
Nick Clegg and Norman host a Q&A session with primary school students at Cradle Hill School, Seaford
the big interview Norman attending a International Transport Forum in Leipzig, Germany
“The Freedom of Information Act is a great cleanser. I believe that power should be devolved to a more local level to protect people’s rights.” In 2001 he won a test case in the High Court when the National Security Appeals panel ruled that the Data Protection required MI5 to allow him access to information he believed the security service held on him, the first time this had happened in the 92-year history of MI5. Norman continued to hold several prominent and influential Liberal Democrat posts and then came his first taste of being in government during the Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition of 2010-2015 when he became Parliamentary UnderSecretary of State at the Department for Transport. In October 2013 he was appointed Minister of State at the Home Office but resigned from this role in November of the following year, following a year of internal battles with the then Home Secretary, Theresa May. He had continually clashed with his Conservative boss on issues including drugs policy and immigration and at the time of his resignation, described working at the Home Office as like walking through the mud as he found his plans thwarted by Mrs May and her advisers. He likened being the only Liberal Democrat in the Home Office as being ‘the only hippy at an Iron Maiden concert’. 12 | TOWNANDCOUNTYMAG.CO.UK
At the general election in 2015, Norman was defeated in a close-run contest with Conservative Maria Caulfield. Does he miss the cut and thrust of the Westminster scene? And is he involved in local politics? “I still take a keen interest in national politics, but the etiquette of local politics behoves me to keep out of the way. The sitting MP has her manifesto, such as it is, and I wouldn’t want any future Lib Dem candidate to think I was there as a backseat driver. “Nor would I want to be in Parliament now. It’s a period when people are going through extreme emotions, and colleagues tell me the House of Commons is a wretched place with a very unpleasant atmosphere. “I’m appalled at the horrible attitudes of some people on both sides of the Brexit debate and the way some Remain extremists are driving the fear. I’m glad I’m not involved, I wouldn’t want to be a part of how some people are being treated and the violence that is being threatened.
‘The Freedom of Information Act is a great cleanser. I believe that power should be devolved to a more local level to protect peoples’s right’s.’
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the big interview
“The referendum vote in favour of leaving the EU was very close, and in other countries, it would require a majority of two thirds to carry through such a significant constitutional change. I believe Theresa May got it wrong - at the very least the views of the minority should have been taken into account and a compromise reached. Her approach was very tribal, favouring her party rather than the country. “A lot of people didn’t know what they were voting for, didn’t know what leaving would mean; it wasn’t clear at all, so people had no idea what anything meant. Now it’s become People versus Parliament, hugely divisive. Parliament had done what it’s supposed to do, preventing the Leave campaign taking control which would put that control in the hands of a small number of people in Parliament. “I think if Boris Johnson were prepared to be sensible, he would probably get a majority in the Commons for a soft Brexit and that’s something the EU would go along with, and he would get something through. But he doesn’t want that, and if he does manage to force a hard Brexit through, that will result in a considerable level of bitterness. “The best thing would be another referendum where people knew exactly what they were voting for - most people would accept that, but of course, he would be taking a risk he would lose.”
‘ I d o n’t like t h e way m e d i a c ove rs t h e Roy a ls . I t h in k it is ve r y in t r u sive , su pe r f ic i a l .’
Although Norman is no longer actively involved in the political scene, he shows no signs of slowing down. He has a broad portfolio of interests and acts as a freelance consultant, as well as giving lectures and training civil servants. He recently carried out some work to improve democracy in Kazakhstan. Better transport has always been an issue close to his heart, and in 2017 he became one of the few former MPs to carry his political campaigns into real life by being appointed the managing director of The Big Lemon, a solo-powered bus operator in Brighton. Effectively acting as transport manager there, he won several council contracts, doubled the number of routes and increased the number of staff. He is also an established author. He had grave doubts over a public inquiry ruling that the death of scientist David Kelly in 2003 had been suicide and in 2007 Norman’s book ‘The Strange Death of David Kelly’ was published. ‘Against the Grain’, his political memoir, was published in 2015 and now Norman has just released his latest book, ‘And what do you do?’, a forensic examination of what the Royal Family means to Britain. The apt title is based on the words you’re most likely to hear if you meet a ‘Royal,’ at your investiture, a visit to your place of work or your school. Not a ‘safe’ topic and likely to become a best-seller, in typical and challenging Norman Baker style, he likens the royal family to a longrunning soap opera whose members have become celebrities, whether we like it or not. But, he says: “They also display arrogance, hypocrisy and indifference to the gigantic amount of public money they waste.” He estimates their cost to Britain is about a third of a billion pounds a year and asks why we are being asked to pay £359m to refurbish Buckingham Palace while the Queen hangs onto admission fees. So not a fan? He accepts there are a few admirable qualities, but the negatives outweigh the positives. He said: “There are royals we find admirable, and those Royals we do not find admirable. It very much comes down to individual personalities. I’m a fan of Harry and Meghan, but even I find it hypocritical that Harry can preach green issues then fly to his holiday in a private jet with an entourage of security staff - that we pay for.”
He does espouse Prince Charles’ stated view that the Royal Family must slim down and even wonders just what some of them are for, (except for the Queen). And he notes how former members of loyal staff - ‘backstairs Billy’ or Princess Margaret’s chauffeur - were dismissed the day after their royal employer died, or no longer needed them. They are thrown out of their homes. “That is medieval - and inappropriate,” he says. “I don’t like the way the media covers the Royals. I think it is very intrusive, superficial. Why should we be interested in whether Prince George is riding on a tractor - he’s a kid, let him get on with it. It would be much more accurate for the media to concentrate on the real stuff, tax exemptions due to arrangements with various governments which have allowed the Royal family to become wealthy. We should lay bare how such exemptions allow them to benefit from the State, I believe improperly.” After losing his seat in Parliament, Norman reformed his old band, The Reform Club in which he is the chief lyricist. “I’ve always been into music. I feel it turns black
and white into colour,” he says. “As a band, we do live gigs now and then - we played at Paddy Ashdown’s memorial.” Norman also presents three music shows a week on a local community radio station, one featuring 1970s hits, another Blues and the third playing little-known B-sides from the 1960s. A very rare 1946 Wurlitzer jukebox has pride of place at his home in the centre of Lewes, which he moved to in 2000 knowing his house at Beddingham was to be demolished to make room for a flyover. Eight years later the Argus newspaper in Brighton published a front-page article saying ‘MP’s house demolished’. This prompted one of his Lewes neighbours to rush around, fearing the house in town was under threat. “I love Lewes,” Norman says. “Back in the 1980s my partner at the time and I had decided we wanted to move to somewhere about 50 miles from London. We came to Lewes, fell in love with it and I’ve been here or hereabouts ever since. I intend to stay here for the rest of my life.”
•
TOWNANDCOUNTYMAG.CO.UK | 15
Images: Liberal Democrats, Department of Transport
Norman addresses delgates at a Ministerial Session; Left: Norman and children from Churchill Primary School
D I A RY
#savethedate
Here comes Santa, from November 23 Father Christmas will be the star attraction at Drusillas Park, Alfriston when he returns to take up residence in his magical grotto from Saturday, November 23, weekends only, and daily from Saturday, December 14 to Monday, December 23. Children who meet him there will receive an early Christmas gift. Visitors will also have a chance to come face-toface with Huskies who will be greeting visitors in the Ice Cave. New this year is a stunning 24-foot giant Christmas tree which will be twinkling in time to music in the centre of the events area. drusillas.co.uk
Nov 30 Lighting up, November 30th & December 12
Santa will be coming to Battle on his sleigh on Saturday, November 30, from 1.45pm and the Christmas lights will be switched on at 5pm. It will be late-night shopping in the town on Thursday, December 12.
Nov 23 Dec 1
Find The Meerkats, December 1 Nine meerkats are on the loose and hiding around the centre of Brighton until Sunday, December 1. The Meerkat Trail mini-adventure has been designed for young children and their families, but anyone can take part, with stickers to collect along the way. Trail maps can be picked up from the Jubilee Library where once you’ve found the meerkat poster, you can pick up a meerkat sticker at the children’s desk.
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Dec 5
Dec 7
Lewes Late Night Shopping event, December 5 Lewes wouldn’t be Lewes without Late Night Shopping, where there’s something for everyone to enjoy. From the bottom of School Hill to the Bottleneck the road will be closed from 6pm 9pm. Street performances from the castle down to Cliffe High Street. Festive stalls, food retailers and fairground rides. leweslatenightshopping.co.uk
Lewes Santa run, December 7 A festive fundraiser in aid of the Bevern Trust, the Lewes Santa Run is the perfect start for some Christmas cheer. Join hundreds of Santas in the town on Saturday, December 7 for a 2km or 4km fun run, starting and finishing from Harvey’s Yard, off Harvey’s Way. More details and to book your place, eventbrite.co.uk/e/lewes-santa-run-2019
Folk club, December 8 Thomas McCarthy, the Irish traveller, singer and storyteller and a spellbinding performer, comes to the Lewes Folk Club on Sunday, December 8, at the Elephant and Castle, White Hill. He will be leading an all-day workshop on traveller life, songs and stories, followed by two 45-minute sets in the evening. Members of the audience can also perform a song or tune in the evening if they wish. Everyone is welcome, especially if they would like to sing or play. elephantandcastlelewes.co.uk
Rhyme times,Various days and times Local libraries are hosting friendly, informal free Rhyme Time sessions where babies, toddlers and their parents or carers can have fun singing, playing musical instruments and learning rhymes. They are held in the libraries at Battle, Lewes, Seaford, Peacehaven and Newhaven. Contact the libraries for details of days and times.
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D I A RY Family fun, December 7
Horam Manor Farm will be hosting a Christmas Extravaganza on Saturday, December 7 from midday to 4pm.
Dec 8
Christmas concert, December 8
The Corelli Ensemble with Owen Dennis will be at Seaford Baptist Church on Sunday, December 8 for a seasonal concert. They will be playing Vivaldi Concerto in D minor for two violins with soloists Maeve Jenkinson and Kate Comberti, Bach Concerto for Oboe d’amore with soloist Owen Dennis, Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings and Howard Blake’s Snowman Suite. Tickets on the door or from Seaford Tourist Information.
Time to relax, Every Monday 10am-12pm
The Oyster Club in Lewes is a weekly drop-in space for people over 60 to relax, find some quiet space, make friends and be creative. Held in the Westgate Chapel on the High Street every Monday from 10am to midday, it is run by Hannah and her husband Kevan. Occasionally other artists, musicians and complementary therapists will drop in. You can choose from art and craft activities, mindful doodling or colouring, learning how to manipulate a hand or rod puppet, music, relaxing hand massage, magazines and books to read, with tea, coffee and snacks available. Although the club is for anyone over, or nearly, 60 years, people with disabilities including memory problems and dementia are especially welcome. Hannah is experienced at working creatively with people of many different abilities and ways of communicating and their families or carers.
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D I A RY
Tuesdays Open casting is now being held on Monday evenings for next year’s Lewes Passion Play, a street theatre event enacting the ‘Greatest Story Ever Told’. Many different roles are available, from major parts to one-line roles to crowds, including Jesus, his followers and opponents, so you can read for a specific role or try out for a few. Everyone is welcome to the open casting, 7pm9pm at Eastgate Hall. lewespassionplay.org
Wednesdays Sporting memories, Wednesdays 11.30am A free weekly meeting for older sports fans to share their love of all kinds of sports in a relaxed environment is held in Polegate Community Centre every Wednesday (not Christmas week), 10am-11.30am. It’s an opportunity to socialise and talk sport, promoting wellbeing through reminiscence. linda.bowen@sussexcricket.co.uk
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Stepping out, various days and times Free, friendly health walks led by trained community volunteers are held every Tuesday morning in Seaford, not too long and not too difficult. There’s no need to book, just pop along shortly before the start time at the alternating start points of Salts Cafe on the first, third and fifth Tuesday in the month, and Martello Tower on the second and fourth Tuesday. Similar walks are also held on Tuesdays in Polegate, meet just before the 10.30am start time near the railway station. At Lewes, the weekly health walks take place on Fridays, 10am start from The Needlemakers, and at Battle, they start at 10am from Battle Abbey.
History group, December 9 On Monday, December 9 at Kings Church, the Lewes History Group will be exploring public art in the town. Andrew Buxton will reveal many aspects of the history of Lewes that are represented by statues, monuments, murals and other artworks such as the madrigal singers in Grange Gardens and the Battle of Lewes helmet in the Priory grounds. leweshistory@gmail.com
Images: Alex Farran/Flickr, Shutterstock
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EYE SPY
Many of us shudder upon hearing such phrases delivered with such enthusiasm at the end of October, and so is it time to re-evaluate the festive season and possibly our approach to it? While I do confess to keeping my beady eyes open to gift possibilities throughout the year, I am not as they say ‘done and dusted’ before the pumpkins have even been carved! It has made me reflect upon how the build-up to JC’s birthday was once a joyous bundle of excitement, filled with eagerly anticipated celebrations; from Christingle to cake baking, roaring log fires infused with cinnamon, and more red ribbon than you could shake a (jingle) bell at. It would appear at first glance now though, that the tick list has replaced the wish list and anxiety has taken over from anticipation. The Christmas television adverts seem to have somewhat overshadowed the wonder of pantomimes and “I would like” has been silenced with “I want”. I wonder how this Christian celebration has evolved uncontrollably into a marketing frenzy and, more importantly, how, with a few tweaks, we can bring the old cherished and perhaps, forgotten values back into our family homes. Crackers! No, not a retort, but it seems a good place to start. It never ceases to amaze me how much we spend on the ‘extras’ over the Christmas period, and our table decorations are no exception. The traditional British cracker (not heard of in America, surprisingly) would be an ideal item to start making ourselves, particularly bearing in mind the single-use plastics contained therein. Waitrose/John Lewis has just announced it will stop selling those containing plastic toys and puzzles from 2020 in support of that very issue. Let’s face it; the absence of those trinkets will not be missed and finding perfect personal gifts small enough to fit fun in itself (frustrating but fun, honest). Many ‘make your own’ kits are available, but they are straightforward to create from scratch and themes and jokes are of your own making. Well, that has to be an improvement in itself doesn’t it? Stockings used to be old rugby socks filled with nuts, oranges and sweets at the end of the bed. Now the personalised stocking is on-trend, why don’t we create our own too? Hand-made family treasures 22 | TOWNANDCOUNTYMAG.CO.UK
have a funny habit of lasting the test of time and bring a smile to those around at each December unveiling, whether they match the décor or not! Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate we do not all have the time to spend being creative, but perhaps we can all be inventive instead. One-off gifts made by the children or adults, and placed in a plain box for them to decorate will keep them amused for hours. The same could be said for personalised Christmas cards, advent calendars, decorations etc., and something the family could do together. Never underestimate the power of a gift made from love. We all get caught up in what feels like the avalanche (note my only snow reference) of the Christmas Count Down though don’t we – like Wimbledon or a World Cup. Upon recollection, however, we will notice that the prevailing memories are not those recollecting the value of the gifts or how perfectly decorated the tree was, but of the cherished moments shared with family and friends. Attention to detail, however, is everything. But, perhaps it’s the wrong details we’re focusing upon. Balancing experiences with expenditure, and tradition with technology would be a step in the right direction. Let’s step back for a moment and think about the meaning of Christmas – to coin a phrase. I’m not talking about Bailey’s, though in our house it does herald the official start to the season, but of being mindful. Of reminding ourselves, it is not a competition, and there are no winners – well except for Amazon. Most importantly though it’s about being grateful for what we have and that doesn’t mean being the first in the returns queue on Boxing Day. Enjoy! •
Illustration: Paul Shadbolt
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ringing together the very best talents in modern-day marketing is proving a winning combination for this forward-looking business as well as the companies and individuals who use its full-service consultancy. Established by Paul Townley-Jones in May this year, Paparico is powered by artificial intelligence and machine learning and is already forging ahead, a superb example of talent, technology and five-star service working together to achieve the very best results. Key to it all is providing specialist teams with expert credentials, tailor-made to suit any marketing budget, large or small, and designed to adapt to individual clients’ aims. “We succeed by pairing the best talent with the
latest technology, including artificial intelligence, to approach marketing challenges with the aim of making a budget work smarter to deliver a high return on investment,” explains Paul. He brings to his agency a wealth of experience in all elements of marketing, from the traditional to the very latest, advanced techniques. He has always been fascinated by the psychology of effective marketing and has focused on the vital elements of detailed research and strategic planning, taking full advantage of cutting-edge technology. Before launching Paparico, he devoted a great deal of thought into developing his concept of having a small core team while building up an impressive line-up of contractors who can provide
the ultimate expertise across a number of fields. “A lot of traditional marketing and advertising agencies may have 20 or so people in their team, but the resources they can call on are limited to the certain skills of those people,” Paul explains. “We are the opposite of that. I like to use the large number of excellent contacts I have to piece together a team whose skills fulfil the individual needs of any client. “Nowadays there are many more genres people have to engage with such as all forms of social media. That can take up a lot of time for business owners and their staff who already have so much to do and marketing is, at times, often delegated to someone who can fit it in when they have time among their other tasks. “In an increasingly competitive marketplace, digital marketing can have a massive impact and is crucial to success, but there are a lot of people who aren’t digitally savvy - not only do they not have time for marketing, they also don’t have the technical know-how. “At Paparico we use our AI technology to help clients get the best results, enabling them to have more time to focus on other vital aspects of their business, their products and services. “In the same way, the technology enables us spend less time doing the mundane tasks and more time focusing on getting results for our clients - a win win situation.” Paul says that although it’s a commonly-held belief that using artificial intelligence can be expensive, in fact the opposite is true and it’s a very wise investment for any business. “It could be expensive for any individual business to use AI on their own, but as an agency we have special arrangements with a number of platforms which enables our clients to benefit from them often at no extra cost.” While Paparico offers a full service, research is a vital element of their work. “You could compare using artificial intelligence to carry out research as similar to a robot in a factory doing much of the repetitive work. It can make an amazing difference, looking at reams of data in hours that would take a team of humans weeks to do. “Artificial intelligence also looks at data exactly how it is, unsupervised and without bias, which is massively important for a company when making strategic planning and business management decisions.”
Although the majority of Paparico’s work centres around digital marketing in all its forms, including designing, building and developing websites, search engine optimisation, digital advertising, and analytics, Paul can put together a team of experts to match the needs of each and every client. “Print can still be very important for some clients and prices for that are very good at the moment,” he explains. “Content is extremely important.We are currently doing web design for a brewery so we have brought in an award winning-beer writer.We work with a number of copyrighter contacts who have considerable experience in the fields we work in. “I started my own business because I believed that with the right teams and technology in place, I could deliver better results and a superior client experience. I deliberately positioned ourselves as being different, with very strong values. “Paparico translates into ‘to pamper’ in Portuguese and we live up to our name. Customer service is at the heart of the business and we aim to give five-star service at all times. We always deliver on that promise.”•
For more information or to book an appointment contact Paul Townley-Jones on 07919 566 338 Paparico.co.uk Facebook: paparicomarketing Twitter: paparicoagency Instagram: paparicomarketing
AN D DI D THOS E FE E T? Words Keith Hayes
history
T
hose who celebrate the life, at a funeral, of someone who led a healthy and extrovert life, nearly always choose the hymn Jerusalem. It’s music that can be bellowed out without fear of upsetting those mourning the dead. The first line, for those who aren’t of a religious persuasion, reads ‘And did those feet in ancient time, Walk upon England’s pasture’s green? Those who are regular readers of my terrible tales in Town and County know I love nothing more than a story based on rumour, gossip and a smidgeon of historical fact to back it up. So did the feet in times gone by walk upon Lewes’s Saxon twittens? The feet in question belonged to Charles Dickens. About 15 years ago, two letters from Dickens were discovered in a writing bureau in a home in Telscombe Cliffs. Dated1847, the two messages were auctioned off and raised £3600 for the man who found them, a distant relative of Dickens. It is not guaranteed of course, but if the letters were found on the outskirts of Lewes, there is a fair chance that Dickens did find his way to the County Town. Indeed he was in Seaford in 1850 among the crowd of 10000 who watched about 50000 pounds of dynamite blast chalk rock from Seaford Head, to try and divert the estuary of the Ouse so that Seaford could become an important port. He almost certainly had left when the sea washed the soluble chalk away, thus ending hopes of Seaford playing host to merchant’s vessels. Dickens was very fond of travelling by train, so it is almost certain that he would have passed through Lewes, already a critical junction for the new railway companies, as there is ample evidence that Dickens frequently went to Brighton. Other evidence of Dickens’s feet walking on Lewes’s hilly streets is a bit more circumstantial, although demonstrating that here or not, his knowledge of events in the town and other communities in the area is said by experts to be reflected in his writings. Dickens made the idea of a White Christmas romantic and sentimental. He experienced six such occasions when everything was white, touched by snowflakes floating from the heavens on Christmas Day. He also popularised the festival as one of Christmas decorations, carol singing, punch supping and gift-giving.
Some of Dicken’s most famous works; Left: Charles Dickens in his study
‘ D ic ke n s wa s ve r y f o n d o f t r ave lling by t r a in so it ’s a lm ost c e r t a in t h at h e wo uld h ave pa sse d t h ro ug h Lewe s .’ But he especially excited the imagination with snowfalls in a white season where the snow lay roundabout. His snowy world of Pickwick Papers was written in 1863, and the descriptions of the landscape reflected almost precisely the conditions of the time. Literary experts say that his snow-laden writings were triggered by the winter of 1863 in which very heavy snowfalls were recorded. That was the year 15 people died when a dangerous overhang of snow on a ledge above Cliffe’s South Street gave way, triggering an avalanche that destroyed a row of cottages beneath. The tragedy occurred where the Snowdrop Pub now stands. Because he was familiar with the area, Dickens would have quickly known about it, and it would have impressed on his mind when writing novels such as Pickwick Papers. Dickens was also caught in a train crash at Staplehurst in Kent in which ten people died after carriages toppled from a viaduct. Dickens was in the first carriage which stayed attached to the locomotive and was saved. That experience persuaded him to write the ghost story The Signal Man. But he was also influenced by the ‘Ghosts of Clayton Tunnel’ another horrific railway smashup in 1861 Twenty-three people died and 176 injured in that accident, not far from Lewes and ghosts are said to this day to be heard from the spirits of the victims who died that day. Dickens also knew about that TOWNANDCOUNTYMAG.CO.UK | 27
history
tragedy leading to his own ghost story. Dickens visited Brighton on many occasions and memorialised the phrase ‘All aboard for the Skylark’, after touring the Brighton front and shouting it out with gusto. Dickens frequently stayed at a Brighton Hotel called the Bedford, which was only knocked down in 1964. The site presently has a Holiday Inn on it, but a ‘Blue Plaque’ is attached to the site commemorating the fact that Dickens often stayed there. The author made many references to Brighton in his books; Bleak House, Nicholas Nickleby, Sketches by Boz.and the Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit. Now I have never hidden under a bushel, my fascination with Lewes’s 63 pubs. Dickens was also quick to recognise the town’s penchant for a decent drink. One notable brew in the 18th century is a strong beer from Newhaven brewed by Thomas Tipper. It was known as Old Stingo which King George IV, the former Prince Regent, was known to enjoy. Old Stingo is mentioned in Martin Chuzzlewit in which Mrs Gamp is known to partake.
‘ Lewe s h a s g h ost s g a lo re so it c o n f ir m s t h e fa c t Th at t h ose f e e t in a nc ie n t t im e s d id in d e e d wa lk a lo ng Lewe s ple a s a n t t wit t e n s .’ 28 | TOWNANDCOUNTYMAG.CO.UK
Harvey’s Brewery invented a beer cocktail named ‘Huckle-my-buff ’ which is considered to have been the world’s first cocktail, created in Sussex. Huckle-my-buff is a hot drink consisting of brandy, eggs, beer, sugar and nutmeg. It was initially made with smuggled French brandy and Harvey’s porter beer. This particular drink does not escape Dickens attention either. Dickens was also familiar with Haywards Heath. He often visited the nearby village of Lindfield. An elderly resident recalled that as a child, she met Charles Dickens when he frequently visited a local doctor, Richard Tuppen. Similarly, she recalled that Tuppen and Dickens went to church on Sundays, but Dickens found it difficult to keep awake during the long sermons of those days. When he was awake, he made sketches of the congregation, chiefly caricatures, on the walls or a pillar. Among the old lady’s most treasured possessions was a signed copy of a Dickens’ book ‘A Christmas Carol’, given as ‘a token of regard’. The ghosts and spirits that appear in A Christmas Carol had allies even after the great author’s death. Dickens’ ghost was reportedly turning up in Victorian séance parlours, telling spooky tales from the other side of the grave. That settles it then. Lewes has ghosts galore, so it confirms the fact that ‘Those feet in ancient times, did indeed walk along Lewes’s pleasant twittens. No Ghost worth its salt would go anywhere else. •
Images: Arbogast Inn/Flickr, Shutterstock
Snow covered field in Lewes; Left: Charles Dickens
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gift guide
What a luxurious edit of beauty and skincare gifting we have for you this festive season! With at home pampering this good there really is no need to brave
W
elcome to the first-ever beauty and grooming Christmas gift guide from Town and County magazine. Our beauty editor Natalie Courtois has put together an amazing selection of beauty and grooming gifts for the ones you love or as a treat to yourself this festive season. From the thousands of products she has come across, these are the ones we are sure will delight you, from well-known luxury brands such as Elemis and Molton Brown to emerging fragrance brands and organic skincare made here in the UK. Natalie and our editor, Sean Kane, have selflessly dedicated themselves to trying every single product featured. It’s a tough job, but someone has to do it! We hope you fall in love with our selection of luxury gift sets, many of which are fantastic value for money, meaning you can spoil those you love that little bit more!
B E AU T Y & G ROO M I N G
CHR ISTM AS GI F T GU I DE
WOMEN UNDER £40 Rosalique Miracle gift set £30 Fenwick.co.uk
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WOMEN UNDER £80 Rituals The Ritual of Tauru Set £39.99 Rituals.com
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WOMEN LUXE
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34 | TOWNANDCOUNTYMAG.CO.UK
Men-u grooming essentials selection box £29.50 men-u.com
From secret Santa’s to pure luxury, our grooming gift guide has everything from fragrance, to haircare to luxury skincare, broken into price categories to help you choose the perfect gift
Heath The Face Set £24 Heathlondon.co.uk
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36 | TOWNANDCOUNTYMAG.CO.UK
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TOWNANDCOUNTYMAG.CO.UK | 37
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MEN LUXE
Foreo Luna 2 Men’s £149 Feelunique.com
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40 | TOWNANDCOUNTYMAG.CO.UK
WITH A SONG
IN HI S H E ART Nicolas Chisholm tells Jo Rothery how his lifelong passion for music has been at the harmonious core of a long and distinguished career
42 | TOWNANDCOUNTYMAG.CO.UK
A
s a talented tenor, Nicolas’ superb singing voice has given a great deal of pleasure to many people over the years. Still, he has also been a teacher for almost 40 years, a dedicated educator who has played a large part in encouraging others to share his passion and learn to appreciate good music. Having retired in 2010, he has devoted his time since then to the Brighton Philharmonic. He will continue to support the orchestra though he has to step down as chairman at December’s annual general meeting as this position can be held for only nine years at a time. His most recent involvement on the classical music scene is with Lewes Baroque which staged its first festival in 2019. Although born in Sunderland, Nicolas has spent most of his life in the south-east of England and he went to school at Christ’s Hospital near Horsham. It was there at the age of about 16 that he discovered his singing voice and his lifelong love of music came to the fore. Both his grandfather and father were musical, and his mother also loved music - Nicolas grew up with the sound of Radio 3 being played loudly in the background. His first job was as a professional singer in the choir at Chichester Cathedral. “That was a fantastic experience, to be singing in a building with such wonderful acoustics,” he says. “I was in the choir for four years, and at the same time, I got into teaching there, English and Latin. So my original intention of a career as a singer changed direction, though I continued to sing with lots of choral societies.” A career in education proved to be a shrewd choice for Nicolas, and he went on to become head of Classics and a housemaster at Hurst College, where he stayed for 12 years. Then came an enormously prestigious appointment as headmaster of the Yehudi Menuhin School in Surrey, a specialist music school which provides a marvellous environment and expert
interview tuition for gifted children from all over the world to pursue their love of music, develop their musical potential and achieve standards of performance at the highest level. Nicolas led this inspirational seat of musical learning for 22 years before retiring in 2010, and over the past nine years has continued to make his mark in several exciting and challenging voluntary roles connected with music and education. Until recently he was president of the Incorporated Society of Musicians, effectively chairing the board of the ISM until he reached the end of that term of office last year. He remained as a governor of St Paul’s Girls’ School in London and was also a governor of the Royal Ballet School - at both of these schools. He provided valuable expertise as chairman of their education committees. His dedication to the world of music and education was recognised in 2011 when he was awarded the MBE. “I think it is vital for children to be allowed to learn about music,” he says. “They need to be able to experience anything creative, be it art, drama, music, anything that gives them the chance to express themselves rather than being constrained to just
Nicholas performing
‘ I t h in k it is vit a l f o r c h ild re n t o be a llowe d t o le a r n a bo ut m u sic .’ TOWNANDCOUNTYMAG.CO.UK | 43
interview
In rehearsal
the national curriculum. It’s what this country needs; encouraging children in this way is crucial for them.” When retirement came, and Nicolas made his home in Iford, he was determined that his energy and experience would not go to waste. “I was looking for things to do as I was only 61 when I retired,” he explains. “I very much wanted it to be involved with education but also still in the musical world. The front runner at that time was the Brighton Philharmonic, so I became a board member, and I’ve been chairman for the past six years. “Now 95 years old, the orchestra has had only three directors during that time, and it has a very loyal band of Friends, with people from all over nearby towns and villages as well as Brighton supporting it. “Allowing people to hear high-class live music locally is crucial and many leading musicians from all over the country who play with other professional orchestras most of the time enjoy coming to play at
‘ I st ill pl ay key boa rd s at t im e s - I t h in k a singe r h a s t o be a m u sic i a n a s we ll .’ 44 | TOWNANDCOUNTYMAG.CO.UK
our concerts in The Dome and having a day at the seaside. Over the years we’ve had many amazing musicians playing with us in Brighton. “The Brighton Philharmonic offers a very innovative programme throughout the year, an eclectic, extensive choice - chamber music and other genres, including a musical extravaganza. It’s vital that our concerts should be entertaining. These are challenging times, and as it approaches its centenary, we have to make sure the orchestra has to diversify. We have hopes and dreams for the future. “It is a hard task keeping an entirely professional orchestra going in this current financial climate, and I have been finding it more challenging recently to raise the funds we need to continue to present orchestral concerts. I have to step down as chairman after the nine-year limit, and as I hand on the baton to another member of the I know, we need to appeal to a broader audience without losing our vast body of Friends who have supported the orchestra brilliantly since 1941. “We need to attract more young people, and there is not enough breadth in the national curriculum, so I’ve used my educational experience to introduce a way of giving school students a taste of music by bringing them into rehearsals. About 900 children and their parents have come in to spend about 45 minutes listening to music and realising how exciting it is. “Our next series of concerts has just begun and will include a musical extravaganza. More details can be seen on our website.” Nicolas will be sad to have to step down from the chairmanship of the Brighton Philharmonic, but music will continue to play a large part in his life. “I still play keyboards at times - I think a singer has to be a musician as well,” he says. “Chamber music has been part of my life since I was a teenager, and there’s still a lot of music-making to be done. “I’m now involved with a relatively new organisation in Lewes, a Baroque collective, a small choir and small group of players. It’s been going for a couple of years, and now I’m helping it to get off the ground. “Lewes is an amazing place. It’s quite extraordinary how much is going on here, and there’s room for lots of live music and good audiences who want to hear new things and be thrilled by them.” •
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SHAKEN FROM HIS BED:
LE WE S AT WAR ‘The bomb blast was so fierce, and it blew my brother out of bed’. With a twinkle in his eye, he added, ‘And he was in Plumpton’. Words Keith Hayes
history
A Luftwaffe light bomber fighting; Main: View over Lewes
F
or some five years, I rolled out of bed at 5.30 each morning to sling the newspapers outside Martin’s High Street store from pavement to shelf. How this began is still a mystery to me. I can’t remember. But I joined two other elderly volunteers, Arthur and Fred. Fred was the original curmudgeon. I learned much about the style, wit and curl of the lip that curmudgeons need to be a successful grouser. But Fred was also a living historian of life in Lewes, from the time as a youth when he was charged with tending to the shire horses used by a local milk delivery firm, to his nimble antics installing television antennae on most of the roofs in the town. But inside, like most curmudgeons, Fred was a softie. When I asked daft questions, he not only
gave me an immediate answer but then followed it up with photos, news cuttings and his memorabilia to make sure he had made me understand the oral response to my enquiry. I had been to a World War II exhibition in Glynde where the incomparable Dame Vera Lynn was appearing, and so Lewes at war was on my mind when I asked Fred if Lewes had suffered badly during that conflict. His answer was as explosive as a Big Bertha bomb. Of course, he rattled. “North Street was demolished, and the bomb blast was so fierce, it blew my brother out of bed.” With a twinkle in his eye, he added: “And he was in Plumpton.” Apocryphal or not, Fred backed up his tale by bringing a multitude of booklets, pamphlets and clippings to sink a battleship next day, proving his
TOWNANDCOUNTYMAG.CO.UK | 47
history ‘ Wa r t im e a lt e rs t h e way we live . A pa r t fro m diving int o a ir r a id s h e lt e rs , t h e s p re a d o f in f o r m at io n be c o m e s re st r ic t e d .’ point that Lewes had indeed taken a battering from the Nazi war machine. Many stories are told about the bombing of towns, villages and sometimes people along the coast of East Sussex. Eastbourne was especially hard hit. Raids claimed 1,100 people, 174 fatal, 443 severely injured, 489 slightly hurt and many more made homeless. But not much has been said about Lewes. Fred set me straight. The town did take the brunt of several attacks, mostly those intended for Newhaven. But the train station was also a key target as well as the Phoenix Iron Works and low-level bombing occurred on several occasions. Wartime alters the way we live. Apart from diving into air raid shelters, the spread of information also becomes restricted. Does it heck. What happens, of course, is that rumours start and with each telling, gain credence which today would be dubbed ‘fake news’. One favourite that was told, retold, and then retold again was that a Churchill tank was plastered into an alcove in Clayton Tunnel. Brave soldiers they were who dug the opening for this fierce piece of armour, because it is a known fact that ghosts inhabit that tunnel, screaming their way from a fatal and tragic railway crash in 1861 The tank was to be dug out of the wall, have its powerful guns trained on the invading enemy, blasting them to high heaven, thus saving the nation! Quite so. Another rumour going the rounds was that all sorts of army equipment were being hidden in duck ponds around the district which could be recovered in the event of armed guerrilla war against the enemy invaders. Many believed that Dad’s Army, the slightly comical Home Guard, were the only force left to defend the country against a German landing. My grandfather, a veteran of World War I, told me that this worthy organisation, while excellent propaganda value, would have failed at every turn. His view was that it took so long to get the regulars out of the pubs, where they were regulars, that the 48 | TOWNANDCOUNTYMAG.CO.UK
English World War II aircraft
invasion would have been over long before a bullet had been rammed into the breech of a rifle. It was also a widely held belief that Rudolf Hess was captured in Sussex. Hess had mysteriously left Berlin, supposedly on a peace mission for Hitler, designed to strike a peace deal with Churchill. It’s well known that I am very taken with tales passed on in bars and pubs. Often they lead to something substantial for a storyteller. But even I wouldn’t have fallen for that one. Nonetheless, it does show the mood of the general public in wartime Britain, where any rumour was scooped up eagerly and quickly translated into fact. Yet as is so often the case, there is a thread of truth in the story. A German light aircraft was forced down by RAF crews near the old racecourse. Not a fighter plane, the aircraft was found to be carrying mail for troops stationed in the occupied Channel Islands. As Hess was reported to have piloted himself in a twin-engine Messerschmitt, the story probably gained credibility because the man who started the tale claimed Hess had dinner with him and his family. There were real stories of strafing of schools and the town’s streets, as well as bombers landing and German aircrew bailing out over the town. One such attack took place when school children saw a morning matinee in the Odeon Cinema, located on Cliffe High Street, opposite St Thomas’s church. Reminiscing about it later on in life, one of the pupils reported that the teacher was so upset that she needed a tot of whisky to steady her nerves. I can understand that. Working in Northern Ireland, I needed such ‘medicine’ every time a bomb went
off. That usually meant a bottle a day! The worst attacks were in the winter and spring of 1943. In the first raid, several bombs were dropped in the New Road, North Street, Brook Street and Saint Martin’s Lane area, causing considerable damage although the death toll only reached two with 11 seriously injured. During the second raid in May, three of the more massive bombs failed to detonate, and firebombs caused the damage. Later that year, a bomber carrying 18 bombs was shot down in Barcombe. The crew were taken prisoner by a local farmer, handed over to the police and held in Lewes police station. Bombs were dropped near the Needlemakers and in Grange Gardens. One exploded and the other buried itself so deep that bomb disposal units could do nothing to disarm it, so covered it in cement and left it alone. According to diaries found in a house on The Avenue in Lewes, leaflets with parts of Hitler’s speeches were dropped from the air. The diary’s author, a Margery Barrett, daughter of Harvey’s chief brewer at the time, caustically commented in July 1940, ‘Hitler was supposed to invade today. He didn’t.’ Margery also tells of days out in Brighton but with significant changes to the seaside town. The piers were cut in half, presumably to make them useless as landing piers in an invasion. Another resident recalls anti-aircraft guns on the Downs above the town. Whether it is apocryphal or not, a belief existed that Cliffe
Old air raid shelter entrance; Above: A Ration book
Bridge was stuffed with explosives against the day a German vehicle might try to cross the Ouse. Away from the conflict, the local populace was subject to rationing. Chocolate and sweets didn’t stop until the early fifties, nor did coal. The meat was more available than other foodstuffs, and I can remember singing to my grandmother’s butcher ‘You are my sunshine’ with the reward of an extra sausage for being such an uninhibited songster. Sausages may have been less rationed, but they were made with 80 per cent sawdust, 10 per cent colouring, a little water and lurking somewhere, a touch of pork. A typical weekly allowance was one egg, two ounces of tea and butter, eight ounces of sugar and four ounces of bacon. The war-driven invention of margarine supplemented the butter allowance by four ounces. Perversely, restaurants weren’t rationed half as much, and dining out, if you could afford it, was still an option for the wealthy. Of course, dining out was based on the assumption that your favourite restaurant hadn’t been demolished by a spoilsport German pilot. There were shortages, especially if crops suffered a lousy summer and potato stocks, not rationed, sometimes ran dry. The bread was also exempt. But after the war, experts found that the British diet was the healthiest the average Briton had experienced in many a year. Rationing didn’t end when hostilities were finally over. The meat didn’t come off ration books until 1954. But perhaps there is an abiding legacy from the last world war. People were encouraged to ‘Dig for Victory’, and gardens, parks and other waste spaces were used to grow crops. Lewes is alive with allotments today as people still grow their vegetables, flowers and herbs while keeping hens for fresh eggs and geese for the golden sort. But thank the almighty or at least the government, beer was never rationed. Lewes had already suffered a cut back in its 63 pubs of the mid-1800s. I hate to think what might have happened to pubs if the beer had been restricted. Nowhere to write these stories for one thing. • TOWNANDCOUNTYMAG.CO.UK | 49
Images: Debs Eye/Flickr, Keith Gentry / Shutterstock
history
promotion
C H A RTE R S V I LL AG E EAST G R I N S TE A D You only need to take one step to make the holiday feeling last all year round Now summer and autumn are long gone, it’s not uncommon for the winter blues to show their unwelcome faces. But life shouldn’t be about longing for the sun to shine or your next aeroplane journey. We believe the answer to a long-lasting holiday feeling is quite simple: live in a retirement village! Dorothy Creelman, resident at Charters Village in West Sussex says: “Every day can feel like a holiday.” Dorothy explains: “I participate in an enormous range of social events and activities, which keeps me active and helps me live each day to the fullest in my retirement. “I enjoy relaxing in my beautiful apartment and taking daily walks around the beautiful grounds. We also have a bar here, which we frequent for the
occasional glass of wine. What’s great about the bar is that it is just downstairs, we don’t have to worry about designating a driver!” Surrounded by mature woodland and wildflower meadows, there is a whole range of on-site communal facilities at the village. They include Charters Towers, a beautiful exclusive clubhouse, which has a restaurant, bar, shop, a stunning galleried lounge and more. The tenure options are just as varied as the facilities too. Residents can rent long-term, rent to buy, part own, part exchange or purchase their one or two-bedroomed apartments – but with just a few properties left, timing is key! Don’t miss your opportunity to move into a safe and welcoming community in West Sussex. Before the last properties are taken, call 01342 870871 or pop into the show home which is open Monday - Saturday from 10.30am to 5.00pm. chartersvillagesales@retirementvillages.co.uk
L N e AS t ie w b T 5 s r ui em ld ai ni ng ! er op pr
Bringing fa mily closer together A luxury retirement property and rewarding lifestyle is closer than you think with our range of purchasing options. Make your retirement dream a reality with Retirement Villages Group.
▪ Independent retirement living ▪ Historic resident’s clubhouse ▪ Restaurant, bar, shop and hairdressers
Call us on 01342 870871 to arrange your personal village tour, or to request a free brochure.
• Ask us about Rental • Moving Made Easy options • Part Ownership option** • New Homes available • Try before you buy • 1 & 2 bedroom properties available Please ask for details
Pre-owned and new homes available from £325,000* Move into Charters Village for £227,500 under our new part-ownership scheme** Visit our Show Home open Monday to Saturday 10.30am – 5pm to find out more. Charters Village, Felcourt Road, East Grinstead, West Sussex, RH19 2JR www.chartersvillage.co.uk *Other charges apply and leases are subject to an assignment fee. Please ask for details. ** Subject to availability. Please ask for full terms and conditions, other charges apply. Part ownership is only available in conjunction with a new build purchase.
LI V I N G FOR HER
ART
Multi-talented Neeta Pedersen tells Jo Rothery how her extensive and inspirational travels eventually brought her to the home she loves in Lewes
interview
A
lthough she has journeyed far and wide to explore different countries and cultures, the creative life of Lewes has seen Neeta’s creativity blossom to its full potential. “Being creative is not only my work and my passion - it’s my life,” she says. “Without my art, I would be lost.” Born in Mumbai, at the age of six months Neeta was adopted by a Danish couple and flown to Denmark, where she grew up in a loving and caring environment which encouraged her to develop confidence and her imaginative, adventurous nature. “After leaving school I hadn’t found my path in life so when I was 17, I left home and began travelling,” she says. “I wanted to see a bit of the world, experience other places, other cultures.” Neeta first spent some time in Israel but later travelled to India and Nepal for six months to observe and absorb the culture she came from. “At that time, I needed to go to India to see where I had initially come from. It was necessary and exciting but also an emotional experience, though my adopted parents had prepared me very well indeed. They were always very clear about my origins and often spoke of my original mother when they heard about her through letters from a social worker. “The last thing they said as I was getting on the train to start my journey was ‘if you want to find your birth mother, let us help you’ because they had always been so open about things, that had prepared me for how I would feel when I arrived in India. When I was in India, I discovered how Danish I am! “I was thrilled growing up in Aarhus and had wonderful parents and friends. But one of the reasons I decided to explore other countries was because when I was 15 or 16, I started to experience racism for the first time, something I hadn’t
encountered when I was younger.” Neeta encountered some particularly unpleasant racist incidents when she returned to Denmark for a while at the age of 19. “In the 1980s, racism was growing in Denmark, and although I felt entirely Danish, I was an Indianlooking girl, so to some people, I seemed unusual and strange. “When I was walking in the street, people would come up and spit in my face. They didn’t understand who I was, that Denmark was my home, and that made me feel alienated.” Neeta’s unique heritage caused a slight dilemma at border control when she first arrived in Nepal. “The officials couldn’t understand why I looked Indian but had a Danish passport, and it took eight hours before they would let me into the country.” After her stay in India, Neeta made a trip to the United States before returning to Denmark, where friends suggested that she should go to college in Britain as it was a multi-cultural country. “I had been thinking of going to San Francisco but ended up going instead to England and loved it. I studied at college in Brighton and thought while I was doing that, I should see more of England. The minute I put my feet in Lewes, on January 5, 1997, I felt more at home than I had for a long time. “I loved the town and the people. One of the things that struck me was that every time I met new people here, they would ask ‘what do you do?’ In other places, the question had been ‘where do you come from?’ “I was only supposed to stay for six months, but now I can’t imagine living anywhere else. Although I look Indian, I always felt Danish, but now I have British citizenship and feel both Danish and British. “I love the old buildings in Lewes and the fact the town is in a national park, surrounded by beautiful countryside - I’m very inspired by nature. TOWNANDCOUNTYMAG.CO.UK | 53
interview Neeta’s beautiful work
I also love the people, and this is such a creative community.” Having studied Multi-Media at Brighton from 1997 to 1999, Neeta went to the New York Film Academy for a Total Immersion Intensive Workshop and later attended the University of Westminster in London where she gained a BA (Hons) degree in Animation. Neeta loves art in all its forms and has built up a large, loyal following for all aspects of her work. A multi-talented artist, illustrator, designer and animator, she has a powerful and imaginative style that shines out in her paintings, sculptures, photography and digital art, as well as the delightful silk scarves, cushions, bags and mugs she makes. She also does special commissions and designs logos and websites for several clients. In her artwork, she explores the world of her imagination, often focusing on feminine sensuality, sexuality, energy, emotion, dreams and fantasies, expressed in the many media she uses. Her work ranges from the highly-decorative and romantic, to the stark and explicit and this unique style has gained her an international reputation, shown in leading galleries in Denmark and the UK and held in private collections in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Canada and the United States as well as England. “My paintings and sculptures are always based on emotion, my bags and scarves on beautiful designs,” she says. Neeta’s latest project is taking her on a very
‘ Th e m in ut e I p ut my f e e t d ow n in Lewe s o n J a n u a r y 5 , 19 97, I f e lt m o re at h o m e t h e n I eve r d id .’ 54 | TOWNANDCOUNTYMAG.CO.UK
Bonfire night gathering by The War Memorial
poignant and nostalgic journey - she is working on a book which explores death from losing her adopted father. She had to go through the heartrending process of seeing him die twice - 15 minutes after first being declared dead, he came back to life and survived for another five days. Neeta spent that time sitting by his bed, and though he was unable to speak, she knew there was something he wanted to say, and so she made two promises she was sure he was trying to ask of her. “For those five days, I knew I was going to have to watch him die again, which was awful, but it changed my whole view of death. Like most of us, I used to be frightened of death, but I’m more at peace with it now. “I hope my book will inspire people to look at life and death differently. The book, touchingly illustrated by Neeta, will be published sometime in the new year. •
Home Heat
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We don’t stop for Christmas, or New Year, if you need us you can still call 24 hours a day
local news
TH E LE WE S FUND Volunteers in Lewes and surrounding villages helping those in need.
W
hile many parts of Lewes and the neighbouring villages ranging from Rodmell in the south to Newick in the north are prospering, there are significant areas of deprivation and individuals in need. For example, in the vil-lages, older people often feel isolated and value the abil-ity to go to weekly lunch clubs, or keep fit groups, or in-deed the opportunity to chat with others. In the case of those with disabilities then, in the absence of rural bus services, special transport can help them attend classes and groups. Food banks are another service facing growing demands, with three operating in Lewes alone, helping many hundreds of people. The young have also suffered by cutbacks with far fewer youth clubs and related activities, while a charity to support the homeless has recently been set up in Lewes. The growing need for these facilities, and related advice on topics such as the rising cost
of energy and heating homes, and debt advice, as evidenced by requests for help at the Citizens Advice Bureau, which are at record levels. We are fortunate that there are over 100 local community groups and charities who, along with their hundreds of volunteers, help meet these many of these local needs. However, these groups and their volunteers can only operate and survive with continuing financial support, which increasingly has to come from the local community, as public funding contracts. The Lewes Fund was established in 2012 to help facilitate charitable giving and to act as a fundraiser for these many local groups. The FundFund draws on the knowledge and support of the local community, working together to help reduce disadvantage and build stronger, and more sustainable communities for the future. The generosity of over 50 local contributors has already enabled us to give out over ÂŁ60,000 in grants to local community groups. We also now have ÂŁ200,000 invested in our Endowment Fund, which is managed by Sussex Community Foundation. The income from this Fund enables grants to be made in future years. Grant beneficiaries meeting the needs of TOWNANDCOUNTYMAG.CO.UK | 57
local news ‘ Th e yo u ng h ave a lso su f f e re d f ro m c ut ba c k s wit h fa r f ewe r yo ut h c l u bs .’ the young, the old, the disadvantaged and other groups in Lewes, Chailey, Newick and Ringmer have received grants worth £350 to £5,000; the majority being for sums under £1,000. For many groups, small amounts of money can make a considerable difference. For example, the Chatterbox Group of elderly residents in Newick were delighted to receive a small grant to buy a gaming console. They use this for ten pin bowling competitions, dancing and many other activities increasing their social activities and helping keep fit. Ringmer Disability is a social group for men and women with disabilities. They meet regularly to have a chat and a ‘cuppa’, have talks by a diverse range of speakers, along with exercise activities including New Age Kurling. A Lewes Fund grant has helped to pay for transport for outings to attractions across the South-East, as well as shopping destinations. Pippa’s Group in Lewes has benefitted from grants to help support its activities, providing an affordable, happy, highly staffed and stimulating pre-school for children (2-5 years), including those with disabilities. This enables them to enter school with the best possible start.They also offer support and advice to parents by providing a weekly Parent Support Group. These are examples of the more than 30 groups that have been supported by the Lewes Fund, which include Chai-ley Youth Group, Dancing for Fun and Fitness, Diversity Lewes, Fitzjohn’s Food Bank, Homelink helping home-less people into housing, Join Us network of older residents, Landport Food Bank, Landport Youth Centre, Lewes Bridge Junior Football Club; Lewes Citizens Ad-vice, Lewes Low Cost Counselling Services, the Queen’s award-winning, Oyster Project’s voluntary community action by people with physical disability of all ages and older people, Patina - Children’s Moving on Parade, Railway Land learning difficulties initiative, Refugee and Asylum Seeker Support, 58 | TOWNANDCOUNTYMAG.CO.UK
Smarter Living, St Mary’s Church Hall social centre, the Scouts, St Peter and St James Hospice, Talking News for the blind and those with poor sight, and Westgate Chapel which provides premises for community groups. We now want to reach those other local groups who may not yet be aware of our grants. However, the demand for help exceeds the current funds available. To help us meet future needs and expand the number of grants we can make, we welcome new donations to the FundFund, especially those made via standing orders. Contributions usually attract Gift Aid, in-creasing their value by 25%; in the case of businesses, donations can generally be offset against tax. Cheques should be made payable to SCF/Lewes Fund. For a donation form, please see our web site www.lewesfund.org.uk There is three grant round for 2020, with closing dates on 10th January for spring decisions, 1st May for summer decisions, and 11th September for autumn decisions. Grant applications ideally up to the value of £2,000, should be made via the Sussex Com-munity Foundation website sussexgiving.org.uk/apply-for-grants/how-it-works/ which helps minimise our costs. Applications for small grants will also be considered during the year. The FundFund is overseen by a steering group of locals: Richard Pearson (Chair), Michael Bell, Keith Hollis, Pe-ter Mettyear, Ruth O’Keeffe, Caroline Tower, and the Lewes Mayor (ex officio). •
For more information about the Lewes Fund, email Richard Pearson - lewesfund@sky.com
LE WES H A S IT ALL
Clare Crouch, president of the town’s Chamber of Commerce, talks to Jo Rothery about the importance of the local element for everyone
“A
nything you want as a business is available here in Lewes,” Clare says proudly. She also takes great pride in the fact that the Lewes Chamber of Commerce represents businesses of all kinds, including professionals and traders. “We have 55 or so members, not just retailers,” she explains. “Networking is actively encouraged and if anyone needs legal or financial advice, then another member will be able to provide that. The same applies to other services or products. “Of course we are great supporters of shop local, but that doesn’t mean just shopping. It’s about taking advantage of all local services and businesses, and in Lewes everything a business could need is available right here.You don’t have to go any further for what you want.” Clare has a proven track record of her own as a businesswoman. In 1990 she went to work for hrs creative as a secretary and bookkeeper, training to be an accountant, but being in that creative environment prompted her to reassess how she wanted to spend her working life. “It made me think ‘why do I want to work with numbers?’ I was really lucky that the company took me on as an apprentice and in the 1990s that meant a lot of really good training, going on courses, supporting the designers. I loved what I was doing and really got into it.” After becoming a designer herself and wellestablished as part of hrscreative, Clare became a co-director in 2012 and full owner two years later. “I took over on February 14, 2014 and had a wonderful Valentine’s Day present in the form of a telephone call from my solicitors to tell me the deal had gone through.” As a business owner, Clare recognised the importance of being a member of the Lewes Chamber of Commerce and joined in 2014. She has been president for the past three years and devotes a great deal of time and effort into making it a vibrant, expanding organisation of benefit to all kinds of local businesses. “It’s a voluntary role that sees me attending meetings and representing businesses and traders with other local and regional organisations including the North Street Quarter Sounding Board,” she says. “I help organise networking and social events for
interview ‘ M a ny o f my c lie n t s a re pe o ple I ’ ve m e t t h ro ug h t h e C h a m be r.’
the Chamber and also help with the organisation of late-night shopping each year.” Having received excellent training herself which put her on the path to business success, Clare is very aware of the importance of helping local businesses adapt, enabling them to cope with the demands of an ever-changing marketplace. The Chamber holds regular workshops on rapidly-moving developments such as social media, websites and technology. The local element also plays a part in the Chamber’s strategy when organising these workshops as well as networking and other events. “We believe in supporting local businesses as much as possible so we use their venues and facilities for our meetings,” Clare explains. The Chamber is an important conduit to the district council and other local organisations and this year has taken a prominent role in challenging proposed increases in parking charges. It is supporting a petition objecting to the proposal by East Sussex County Council to double parking charges in the High Street. “Businesses have to cope with ever-increasing rents and rates and I believe an increase in the cost of parking would be detrimental to the town,” Clare says. “Parking charges impact on how long visitors remain in Lewes, or even visit, and consequently on how much they spend while here.
TOWNANDCOUNTYMAG.CO.UK | 61
history
Clare Crouch at Lewes Castle
“We also sit on the sounding board for the North Street Quarter and whatever happens with the underground car park, we want to see pay on exit there so that people aren’t constantly having to think about how much time they have left before a parking ticket runs out.” Clare has lived in Lewes since she was five years old and believes that to take full advantage of all its wonderful environment and excellent facilities, businesses must support each other and work together for themselves and the good of the town. “We’re a very small Chamber, run entirely by volunteers, but we believe it’s very important for our members to share information so we produce a monthly newsletter to keep them informed. We’ve relaunched our website and we are also getting better at using social media - we’re on
‘A ny t h ing yo u wa n t a s a b u sin e ss is ava il a ble h e re in Lewe s .’ 62 | TOWNANDCOUNTYMAG.CO.UK
Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin, and we try to share something on those platforms every day. “At the moment we’re planning our events for next year and we’re also trying to build up our membership. We are a small Chamber but we are here for everybody - you don’t need a shopfront to be a member. “We also support each other - many of my clients are people I’ve met through the Chamber and I offer a discounted rate for any work commissioned by members. I like to keep fit so I’ve joined the recently-opened Body Happy gym in Lewes which is one of our new members.” On a personal level, Clare is a strong believer in supporting good causes - about 70 per cent of her clients are in the voluntary sector and receive discounted rates. She also regularly puts her fitness levels to the test to raise funds for a number of charities. “I’ve been fundraising for ABF, The Soldiers’ Charity, for three years now, raising nearly £9K to date. This includes two 100km sponsored walks, a tandem skydive with the Red Devils, street collections, bucket collections at Lewes FC, sweepstakes, etc. “I’ve also done sponsored walks for Macmillan, the marathon Mighty Hike, St Peter and St James Hospice and Help for Heroes on theThames Bridge Trek.” Clare’s company, hrscreative, supports several local charities and voluntary organisations including the Bevern Trust, Lewes and District Dementia Action Alliance and Lewes Pound, and she is involved in many of their activities. She is also just about to join Lewes Rotary. •
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RO B I N R E DB R E A S T
T
he nation’s favourite bird enjoys an even greater following at this time of year, when most homes across the country are graced by at least one robin perched on the mantelpiece among an array of season’s greetings. But why is the robin so strongly associated with Christmas? As with so many of our festive traditions, it all began with the Victorians. Back in 1840, a major reform of the Post Office saw the launch of the Penny Post, making it possible to send a letter anywhere in the British Isles for the modest sum of one penny - and introducing the now-famous Penny Black, the world’s first postage stamp. Such an affordable new service immediately proved popular and generated a multitude of mail, which was delivered by postmen in brand-new, bright-red Royal Mail uniforms. The red-breasted postmen were fondly nicknamed ‘Robins’ and the birds soon featured on early Christmas cards – another new invention – allowing the Victorians to delight in the idea of a robin delivered by a ‘Robin’. The postman’s nickname has long since fallen out of use, but the bird remains our Christmas number one thanks to a huge back-catalogue of festive fables, legends and folklore. The most ancient of these saw
64 | TOWNANDCOUNTYMAG.CO.UK
robins as omens and harbingers, potentially of joyful tidings, and the storybook robin is always a friendly, trusting character. The garden robin seems to live up to this reputation, appearing almost instantly the moment we start digging and happily darting underfoot to look for unearthed worms. Robins are resident all year round but draw particular attention with a splash of colour in the otherwise bleak mid-winter palette of browns and greys, and they are one of the only birds that sing at this time of year, so are often connected with winter. Robins are far from friendly when it comes to other birds though and can be surprisingly aggressive in defence of their winter feeding territory. They do begin to mellow towards the end of December when males start trying to attract a mate, so look out for pairs of robins jointly defending a territory around Christmas time and into the New Year. •
Image: Roger Wilmshurst / Sussex Wildlife Trust
Charlotte Owen, WildCall officer at the Sussex Wildlife Trust, tells us how this much-loved bird became so popular
LEWES BASED MAN AND VAN
Single item or full removal 1 or 2 men We go anywhere and everywhere Call/text 07801149615 Email martin@lewesvanhire.co.uk
UNION MUSIC STORE’S TIMELESS CLASSICS
PHIL SPECTOR’S
‘A C H R I S TM A S G I F T F O R YO U ’
V
isitors to our shop will notice that pride of place is given over to our ‘Wall of Sound’ sign, custom built by local artist and prop maker Paul Harrison. The sign is a reference to the magical sound created by the celebrated and controversial record producer Phil Spector.You’ll have undoubtedly heard Spector’s huge, ambitious sonic creations in classic recordings from the likes of The Crystals, The Ronettes, Ike & Tina Turner, The Righteous Brothers, Dion, The Beatles, John Lennon, George Harrison and Leonard Cohen among others. Tales of his unpredictable and often disturbing behaviour are legendary and his conviction in 2009 for murder make Spector a most unlikely candidate for providing the soundtrack to cosy Christmas scenes across the world, but his ‘A Christmas Gift For You’ album originally released in 1963, remains an absolute perennial and the most celebrated of this largely sniffed at seasonal genre. In fact unlike any other christmas album, this record is so revered it was subsequently voted to number 142 of Rolling Stone magazine’s ‘500 Greatest albums of all time’. It was recorded in the autumn of ‘63 at the legendary Gold Star Studios in Hollywood, scene of countless all time classic recordings including The Beach Boys’ inimitable celebration of cosmic positivity ‘Good Vibrations’. In fact Beach Boy Brian Wilson, who claims ‘A Christmas Gift’ as his favourite album of all time, according to legend plays piano, uncredited, on the sessions. Other notable studio musicians assembled by Spector for the recordings include Barney Kessel, Leon Russell, Sonny Bono and the great producer and arranger Jack Nitzsche. 66 | TOWNANDCOUNTYMAG.CO.UK
The album featured vocal acts Darlene Love, The Ronnettes, The Crystals and Bob b Sox & The Blue Jeans from his stable at Philles Records and on release wasn’t quite the commercial hit that one now might imagine but rather has grown over the years in stature and popularity. Undoubtedly contributing to it’s continued popularity and artistic elevation it was re-released by The Beatles’ own Apple Records in 1972, retitled ‘Phil Spector’s Christmas Album’ and bearing a new cover, this time featuring Spector himself sporting a Santa outfit, beard and all. Certainly many, possibly most, of the bankable household names in music have dipped an elf like toe in the Christmas album waters, from the likes of James Brown, Elvis Presley and Ella Fitzgerald, all of whom made a decent fist of it, to more modern attempts by leftfield heroes such as Minnesota group ‘Low’ and celebrated US singer songwriter Sufjan Stevens, both of whom have also managed to impress critics and fans alike with great, uncynical and worthy seasonal musical gifts. Never before or since though has anyone truly managed the nigh on impossible task of creating a cross generational and almost universally loved and respected artistic treasure from the low expectations of the Christmas album sub genre. It’s testament to the incredible quality and vision of Spector’s much impersonated ‘Wall of Sound’ that this album has managed to transcend it’s narrow seasonal remit. Happy Christmas all!! Del Day and Danny Wilson run Union Music Store in Lansdown Place www.unionmusicstore.com
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