Old Hastings Preservation Society Newsletter Spring 2010

Newsletter February 2011

Old Hastings Preservation Society

Registered Charity Number 221623
Company Registration 611762

Hastings History House, 21 Courthouse Street, Hastings, East Sussex. TN34 3AU Tel: 01424 424744
We wish you all a happy and healthy 2011 and hope to welcome you to Hastings History House and the Fishermen’s Museum during the year. Subscriptions are now due and you will find a reminder enclosed with this newsletter unless you pay by standing order. We value your continuing support and hope that you find the events and exhibitions of interest. If you have any ideas of subjects or other events the Society could offer we will be happy to hear from you. We are always delighted when members offer an exhibition they have created for display. The History House is open for hire to other groups so if you know of a group wanting somewhere to meet let us know.

Ian Porter received the Order of 1066 in Hastings Week. Ian works tirelessly for the OHPS and the benefit of the Old Town and other groups in Hastings and St Leonards and we are delighted that he has received this recognition. Old Town Carnival Week 2010 was our best ever and Ian has grown this event together with the Old Town Carnival Association into one of the highlights of the year and a vital opportunity for the Society to raise funds. Well done Ian.
2012 will be the 50th anniversary of the first Old Town Week started by the OHPS so start thinking about events to celebrate this milestone.
Dennis Collins has been busy completing his series of 25 Hastings and St Leonards History bookmarks. These are on sale at the History House at £1 and make very good present. We are pleased to have Dennis back in health and in Courthouse Street most weeks.
The History House is open Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays till March when Fridays will be added, from 11-4 with thanks to the volunteers who make this possible. We welcome new volunteers who can offer holiday cover for the team.

We have had a most interesting programme of talks this 2010/11 season. The last two in the series are:- *SATURDAY 12th FEBRUARY at 5.30pm* “80 Years of Empress” by Stephen Dine of the family run Empress Coaches. *SATURDAY 12th MARCH at 5.30pm “The History of the Comic Song” with Mike Hatchard* *Tickets for both of the above £2 available at the History House.* Thanks to our speakers and to Judie Wycherley for organising an excellent lecture series. We are also grateful to Mike Plumbe who has offered “A Sideways Look Down Under” sharing with us his recent visit to Australia. On Friday 18th February at 6pm. No charge, donations welcome. Refreshments will be available at all the above events
Book Sales 2011 We are grateful for your support for our book sales and are please to take donations of good quality books for our next sale which is on 19th and 20th February from 11am – 4pm. No Reader’s Digest volumes, Encylopaedias or videos please. Books may be dropped off at the History House any time we are open. If you would like us to collect them please phone Ian on 812662 or Anne 427718. The following book sale will be on 4th & 5th June.	16th April visit to Walmer Castle and Sandwich booking form and details enclosed. Thanks to Jill Bradley for organising this. It is likely that the History House will be closed that day
New Books available at Hastings History House “Pirates in the Cupboard” by Frank Ball, tales of a local fishing family £25 and Steve Peak’s “Mugsborough Revisited” looks at Hastings and St Leonards as known by Robert Tressell £7.50. Also published in 2010 Rebecca Shalfield’s “Echoes of Bourne Valley” – an illustrated novel set in Hastings and Brian Lawes “Twittens of the Old Town” £2.50. We have some copies of old maps for sale including one which marks most of the lost and existing twittens between the High Street and the Bourne and All Saints Street and Tackleway. We have recently been given a copy of “Beyond the Mere” by Lyneve Amoore. In 1784 Charles Amoore took on 57 High Street as a grocery and the family also ran a similar business at 1a Robertson Street from 1875. Grandson William married Ellen Fermor and they ran the Eagle Brewery in Courthouse Street. Ellen carried on after William’s death till1867 when she sold it - just in time as this brewery burnt down in 1868! The story then follows the family to Australia and New Zealand and the diary and journal extracts of these voyages and making a new life are most interesting. If members would like to see this book please ask at the Desk.

A new venture for the Fishermen’s Museum – boat repair skills learnt during the repairs to RX 90 “Valiant”

Thanks to funding from the Stade Education Project, local and National Charities as well as contributions from our funds and with the agreement of Steve Barrow our local boatbuilder to act as tutor, two students from Sussex Coast College Hastings – Lewis and Shane - have started taking apart this fishing boat. Needless to say there have been extra areas needing repair revealed - mainly the transom- but we are hoping that the funds will stretch. You can see the weather has not been too kind so far.

We are taking the work of the History House out and about. For the first time we had a stall at the Family History Fair in Hastings Week, Stephanie and Anne had a couple of sessions at the Isobel Blackman centre and we spent the day with a local history display at the opening of the Café/Hub in January. Anne has given several presentations on the History from Postcards project and also on the History of the OHPS [a work in progress given our copious archives]. Several members attended a talk at Hastings Museum on the “Keep” project a new home for archives in Brighton. The new building and facilities look good but it is not cheaply accessible from this end of the county and disappointment was expressed that copies of Hastings material promised when East Sussex County Record Office took many of our local records, have not been provided. The need for cuts in local authority spending is of concern with regard to Hastings Museum and Art Gallery. The access to the local studies collection is minimal which seems strange given the popularity of Local History courses and interest in family history. We have sent back a response to a survey about the Old Town Hall Museum. A wonderful collection of local history material - do renew your acquaintance with it if you haven’t been in lately.
Have you thought how you could help in Old Town Carnival Week 30th July to 7th August and Heritage Open Days 8th – 11th September – volunteers, walks, talks, all ideas and offers of help welcome.
Right of Way on the Stade –some of you will recall that I had appealed against the County Council’s decision not to designate a public right of way around the boating lake. This is still going through the process but now the casework carried out by the National Rights of Way Casework Team in the Government Office for the North East will transfer to the Planning Inspectorate at Bristol, operational from 4th April, so they will now be adjudicating in this matter. Don’t expect a quick response I guess is the hidden message.
	Replacement Street Lights have from time to time caused great concern to those who live in conservation areas and indeed others who appreciate the look of the older decorative lamp standard; the one pictured is in Fairlight Rd. We will be taking out the excellent OHPS Old Town streetlamp survey on a walk with Cllr John Hodges to compile a list of those which it is felt should have sympathetic replacements if and when needed. This should then ensure ESCC has a list to work to.
Good News - many of you will have signed Aubrey Ingelton’s petition for a Local List of buildings that people valued but were not considered appropriate to be nationally listed. We understand the good news is that HBC Planning Department would like to have such a list and ways will be sought to achieve it.
Exhibitions at Hastings History House – we are now working hard on “A Town Transformed”, Hastings and St Leonards in the 1920s and 30s. It was such an important period for the town and has shaped much of what we have today along the seafront. It will look at the work of Sidney Little and the revolutionary ideas he brought to the post of Borough Engineer. We welcome Hastings Jack-in-the-Green back for Easter and the May Day celebrations and then “A Town Transformed” will go back up to be joined in May by a unique mind map of Hastings connections developed by Marilyn Saklatvala. This “Hidden Connections and Strange Influences” will be a fascinating exploration such as many of us experience as we research local history. As for the future, Dennis is working on anniversaries, Hastings Photographers in still in the frame and as well as a commemoration of the events of 1066 we hope, in Hastings Week, to have a display from the Hastings Borough Bonfire Society. We are planning a full programme of walks, talks and other events for Old Town Carnival and Hastings Weeks and we hope that you will find something to interest you and encourage you to renew you membership in 2011, a reminder is enclosed or a receipt if you have already done so.

Not such good news- St Mary-in-the-Castle’s Barbara Rogers will be issuing a public statement shortly but SMIC-F’s newsletters says she has told Jeremy Birch that the current lack of information regarding the My Place project makes it impossible to develop SMIC and that she would close for bookings at the end of June. It will be a very sad day if HBC lose Barbara who has given us a great chance of keeping SMIC as a thriving arts venue.
I have enjoyed working with the Hastings Trust Young Roots project on the history of the building and there are undoubtedly some young people who love the building but I would be surprised if the economics of the My Place project now stack up.

Whilst recently converting some slides to digital for a page on the archaeology of Winding Street for the opening of the new café and hub in the Isobel Blackman centre, I came across pictures of 137 All Saints Street being repaired in the 1980s also showing Blackman’s shop next door.

Our Old Town Walks begin again in May on Tuesday afternoons and we are always happy to take special bookings for groups – contact Raymond or Erica Barrett 420555 to make arrangements.

Talks - if you know of a group who would like a talk on the OHPS or other local history topics contact Anne Scott on 427718.

Stade Guided Walks begin at Easter a printed programme will be available shortly. If you would like a special walk for a group contact Bea Rapley Stade Education Officer on 451167

.Coach to the British Museum on 15th March. The Stade guides are going up for a training session and there may be some seats on the coach available for a small charge. Contact Bea Rapley if you are interested on 451167

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