Cover - Viva Lewes

vivaLEWES i s s u e s i x t e e n j a n u a r y 2 0 0 8
e d i t o r i a l
‘January,’ sang Pilot, right at
the butt end of the pre-punk
era. ‘Sick and tired, you’ve
been hanging on me.’ Everyone
knew what they meant:
three months of winter still to
go, before the daffodil-lit end
of the daylight-starved tunnel,
and only the chance of snow to
cheer everyone up.
But… hang on. It wasn’t, and
isn’t, all that bad. January is
also the time for resolutions,
for new starts, for planning a
better future. January is a time
when your self-help plans start
bearing fruit, if you haven’t
fallen off the good-intention
wagon already.
In Lewes January has become
the month of the Wellbeing
Fest, in which scores of stallholders
offer a taster of their
health-oriented wares. From
giving-up-smoking gurus to
Bowen therapists, from Alexander
technicians to health-food
cooks, these are the people who
can help you keep your newyear
plans on the straight and
narrow. With this in mind, as
we did last year, we’ve teamed
up with the WellBeing lot: their
2008 programme can be found
in the centre of this edition.
Other than that there is, as
ever, plenty to look forward to
this month, from a Mozart opera
to a French film weekend,
from Burns Night to the most
extraordinary set in the history
of Lewes Little Theatre. Enjoy
the issue, enjoy the month, enjoy
the New Year. Welcome to
2008.
c o n t e n t s
5. Art: Graham Sendall’s uncluttered view of Sussex
7. Art: Chris McWho? Chris McHugh, that’s who
9. Classical music: The NSO present Mozart’s first great opera, Idomeneo
11. Cinema: A weekend in France, at the All Saints
13. Theatre: Alan Bennett’s neighbour from hell?
15. Talk: The truth about twittens
17. Gig guide: Rock ‘n’ roll ‘n’ ska ‘n’ folk ‘n’ psychobilly ‘n’ R&B
19. Diary dates: The best of the rest
3. Food: Meat and two veg, gastro style, at the Ram in Firle
5. Food: Haggis neeps and tatties? It must be Burns Night
6. Food: Bill Collison goes for the dough
WB1. WellBeing Fest supplement
WB3. We Try Out… Dancing for fitness, the Nia Technique way
WB5. We Try Out… Nick Williams enjoys a full facial
WB7. My Career: Mr Pineapple Head on his busking past
WB10. My Music: Classical guitarist Geoff Robb on his busking past
45. Kids: Tight-rope walking, Dick Wittington and nits
47. Football: Steve King likes it on top
49. Day out: Emma Robertson enjoys a flutter on the Plumpton nags
51. Viva Village: A freezing church, and a mysterious grave in Southease
53. Literary Lewes: Exactly where was Eve Garnett’s One-End-Street?
55. Columns: Norman Baker and Marina Pepper
59. Trade Secrets: How Gossypium are irritating the Yanks
70. My Lewes: Jane Hodge is enjoying her tenth decade
Our art deco-style cover was designed by the extraordinarily talented Neil Gower.
This magazine is made using 55% recycled, 100% sustainable paper.
Editor: Alex Leith alex@vivalewes.com Deputy Editor: Emma Robertson emma@vivalewes.com Sub-editor: David Jarman
Designer: Katie Moorman katie@vivalewes.com Food Editor: Emma Chaplin emmachaplin@vivalewes.com
Advertising Manager: Steve Watts steve@vivalewes.com Publisher: Nick Williams nick@vivalewes.com.
Viva Lewes is based at Pipe Passage, 151b High Street, Lewes, BN7 1XU
For information about advertising or events you would like to see publicised, call 01273 488882 or e-mail info@vivalewes.com
Every care has been taken to ensure the accuracy of our content. The Viva Lewes Handbook cannot be held responsible for any omissions,
errors or alterations.
3

Film maker Tom Tyrwhitt on his remarkable short films

The Flag (left) and Fireworks by Graham Sendall
Graham Sendall
A Sussex painter with an idealised view of England
The many fans of hyper-local artist Peter Messer
will be interested to pop into a small exhibition in
Pelham House of a Burwash man with a similar – if
not identical – ethos.
Graham Sendall paints stylised-realist scenes of his
village and the surrounding area, of allotments and
churches, country signs and red post boxes. They are
entirely unpeopled, which gives them a slightly eerie
quality, as if they are a slice of a who-knows-how-itmight-end
narrative. Something is about to happen
in them. It’s always quiet… too quiet.
“I work in a different medium from Peter,” says
Graham, fresh from hanging the exhibition in the
hallway of the big hotel. “I use acrylics, and paint
on large three-by-three-foot frames. But there are
similarities to our work, a number of people have
commented on it. We both distort reality, though
in different ways. I move things around. If I don’t
like the position of a tree I’ll move it to the other
side of a building. I’ll alter perspective to make a
better composition. There’s an idealism about my
work. Although none of it is premeditated. It just…
comes out like that. I like paring things down. I’ll rid
a house of its drainpipe, and airbrush passers-by and
road signs from pavements.”
Graham last year was runner up in the coveted Singer
Friedlander/Sunday Times award (with a prize of
£2000) for his painting Big Tree. Having started
painting five years ago, after retiring from a career
in graphic design, he was surprised and flattered by
the honour. “I entered the competition in 2005, and
made it onto the shortlist, which is then exhibited,”
he says. “So I was hoping for a repeat of that when I
entered Big Tree. I was stunned to win a prize.”
He cites another Sussex painter, Eric Ravilious, as
a major influence, and there’s certainly a common
feel to their work. “I was also influenced by the
between-the-war posters that British Rail used to
commission,” he says. “They had a way of taking out
detail, and reducing everything to a simple colour
palette, which was what I was aiming at when I
started out.”
Indeed, much of Sendall’s work has a mid-lastcentury
feel to it. Stepping into the exhibition is
like stepping back in time, to a simpler, more naïve
world, before the streets were clogged with cars,
where the beer was bitterer, and old maids biked
to Holy Communion through the mists of early
morning. V Alex Leith
W W W. V I V A L E W E S . C O M
A r t
5

chris MCHUGH
The first thing I notice about Chris McHugh’s work is the extraordinarily
bold use of colour - a rich palette of ‘hot colours’, as Julian
Bell put it in a recent conversation with McHugh, as different as
possible from Bell’s own ‘blue’ paintings. Some paintings are obviously
abstracts - the only clue to his subjects in the titles themselves
- frequently place-names or the language of Greek mythology.
Others are apparently more representational - such as a series
of panoramic landscapes painted in comparatively more muted
hues. Speaking to Chris on the telephone I ask him which are more
typical. “The panoramas are not really landscapes for starters,” he
says, momentarily stopping me in my tracks. But they do look like
them, I persist. “Well they have a horizon”, he concedes. “What
I’m actually trying to do is play with that structure to explore the
idea of landscape painting. I’m interested in the way that the horizon
is such an instantly recognisable feature that even if you take
everything else out people will still make that connection.”
W W W. V I V A L E W E S . C O M
A r t
A r t
This is a recurring theme with Chris
it turns out, an interest in the way that
people ‘read’ artwork - an earlier series
involved distorted outlines of the human
face. All of these projects, however, he
describes as excursions from his central
project of producing truly abstract abstracts,
which don’t, he emphasises, have
a ‘real’ subject as such. “People will see
all sorts of things in them,” he says, “but
in fact the only subjects, if they have any,
are things and places in other paintings.”
What about the titles? “In a lot of ways
I think that titles can get in the way of
people interpreting work so I tend to
shy away from ones that push people in
a certain direction. When it does arrive
- usually after the painting is complete,
the title is usually an association, never a
description.”
The ongoing dilemma with abstract
work, however, is how to get people
to want to make their own interpretations,
I’m told. “It’s easier with the
horizons and the faces because there is
an obvious hook, but with the others
you have to bring people in with colour
and forms.” So what is he looking for
in a completed work? “I want people to
be able to keep returning to it and find
different things each time. That’s what
makes a great painting for me. It’s like
a person with a rich personality - you
keep finding out more about them that
you didn’t know.” He laughs, “I just
need to get people to get to the point
where they want to get to know them in
the first place.” V
Emma Robertson
Chris McHugh’s solo show runs from the
6th January at HQ Gallery.
01 73 487849
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Idomeneo
Son conducts father in Mozart’s Trojan opera
The first thing the young up-and-coming
conductor Nicholas Jenkins does, in our
phone conversation about the forthcoming
New Sussex Opera production of Mozart’s
Idomeneo, is to sidestep the issue of
the severed heads. More of which later.
“There is a lovely story that I do want to
address,” he says. “The first opera I ever
saw, at the age of four and a half, was an
NSO production of Peter Grimes. I remember
it in some detail, mainly because
my father was performing in the lead role.
It inspired me into starting a career in the
business, and now I have begun to establish
myself at home and abroad.” [He has
conducted at the Opera National de Lyon
both in his own right and as assistant to
Marc Minkowski].
“In February I was given the call, last
minute, to step in as conductor of the
NSO’s production of Tobias and the Angel.
This has led to my conducting this
opera, in which my father is performing as
Idomeneus, the lead role. It is a lifelong
ambition of mine to conduct my father,
which is about to be achieved. And when
they hired me for Tobias, they had no inkling
of the connection.”
Idomeneo is a story, what’s more, about
the relationship between a father and son.
A conflicting one, of course, in which the
King of Crete disapproves of his heir’s
choice of fiancée, Ilia, the daughter of
Priam, the defeated King of Troy. “It is
Mozart’s first mature opera,” says Nicholas,
“and it is one of the greatest works in
the operatic repertoire, in which his music
is at its most daring and passionate, as
he pushes the extremes of the emotional
scale, from great joy to terrible despair.”
“The cast is extremely strong,” he continues.
“As well as my father, it is a great privilege
to be conducting Rebecca Bottone, a
wonderful soprano who has started working
at places as esteemed as the ENO. Her
delectable lyrical style makes a wonderful
contrast with the style of Rachel Nicholls,
another exciting singer who is extremely
fiery. Sparks will fly.”
Sparks certainly looked like flying last year, when a Berlin
production of Idomeneo caused an unholy row that went
global. The director, Hans Neuenfels, finished the production
with a twist that had not been in the original opera or
libretto – the appearance of the severed heads of Poseidon,
Buddha, Jesus and Mohammed. An anonymous phone call to
the opera house before the first performance was enough to
persuade the company MD to call the whole thing off, for fear
of Islamic fundamentalist reprisals. An international debate
about freedom of expression and the nature of self-censorship
ensued.
While this production won’t cause such a stir, it does start the
classical season off in Lewes with quite a bang. “It is a concert
version of the story,” says Nicholas, “which means the audience
will have to imagine the scenery and suchlike. But it’s
such a powerful and stirring piece of work, performed with
the aid of a 42-strong chorus, that nobody will be leaving disappointed.”
V Antonia Gabassi
Thursday 17th January, 7.15pm, Lewes Town Hall
W W W. V I V A L E W E S . C O M
O p E r A
Rebecca Bottone courtesy of Arkonas Holt
9

French Film Weekend
David Jarman enjoys two very different movies
The last weekend in January sees a celebration of French culture
hosted by Lewes Film Club at the All Saints Centre. Both
films - Gabrielle (2005) and Jacques Tati’s Monsieur Hulot’s
Holiday (1953) begin at railway stations but there any similarities
end.
The protagonists of Gabrielle are played by two impeccably
French actors, Pascal Greggory and Isabelle Huppert, but the
film is actually based on a short story by Joseph Conrad, entitled
The Return. Director Patrice Chéreau has moved the
mise-en-scène from London to Paris and although The Return
appeared as one of Conrad’s Tales of Unrest, published in
1898, the action of the film seems to be unfolding a couple of
years before the Great War.
A man comes home early from work to find a letter from his
W W W. V I V A L E W E S . C O M
C I n E M A
wife. She has left him. The way in which
Pascal Greggory conveys Jean Hervey’s
instant physical and mental disintegration
is extraordinary. Lacking the courage
to carry out her plan to join her lover,
the wife returns unexpectedly and the
rest of the film addresses the emotional
fallout of her decision.
The short story is primarily devoted to
the husband’s emotions, but the film
pays equal attention to his wife, who is
never even named in Conrad’s original.
The husband’s approach to the crisis
is characterised by blustering and
dully unimaginative attempts to regain
control of the relationship by articulating
a succession of glib explications
of what has occurred. More obviously
sympathetic, less explicitly obsessed by
rank, Gabrielle is nonetheless mired in
a solipsism that is initially reticent, later
casually cruel. Both roles elicit very fine
performances; Isabelle Huppert is quite
superb.
It is a very stylish film and there are passages
of great beauty - one reservation I
have concerns the alternating colour and
black and white sequences, some with
music, some silent. If Gabrielle was an
early Tarkovsky film one would attribute
this to a paucity of colour film stock.
Here it is obviously intentional but less
obvious what the intention is and ultimately
this proves merely distracting.
No reservations at all about Monsieur
Hulot’s Holiday. In 1997 it was voted
the funniest film of all time by readers
of The Independent - admittedly not a
group renowned for its collective sense
of humour. It is sheer joy from start
to finish. Even my children, apt to sit
poker-faced through Buster Keaton or
’Allo ’Allo, adored it. V
Gabrielle 5th Jan 8pm
M. Hulot’s Holiday 7th Jan 4pm
1 1

sy_Viva_128mm x 90mm.qxd 19/12/07 16:35 Page 1
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Photograph: Alison Grant as Miss Shepherd by Alex Leith
The Lady in the Van
Unconventional neighbours can provide great material, finds Emma Robertson
Alan Bennett has always been notoriously cagey
about his private life. He refuses to give interviews,
and has evaded several attempts to ‘out’ his sexuality.
When, in 1987, Ian McKellen publicly challenged
him to declare that he was gay, Bennett retorted that
this was like asking a man crawling across the Sahara
whether he would prefer Perrier or Malvern water. ‘I
was rather pleased with that,’ said Bennett later. Even
his recent uncharacteristic candour – via his memoir
Untold Stories – is largely to do with the fact that he
didn’t expect to live to see it published. In his play The
Lady in the Van, adapted from the book of the same
name, Bennett addresses this lifelong tendency. “I’ve
never been very good at writing about what directly
faces me,” he admits. “I’ve always found it easier to
write about what I find just to the left of me.”
For fifteen years what he found ‘just to the left of
him’ was the real-life subject of the story, the eccentric
Miss Shepherd, who quite literally occupied this
space in a succession of camper vans in the driveway
of his Camden home. But, despite her obvious appeal
as writing material, it wasn’t a story he initially
wanted to write, I’m told by Mike Turner who will
be directing the play at the Lewes Little Theatre this
month. “He was torn between doing what he saw as
his social duty and his motives of self-interest. And at
the same time he was wary of the fact that he seemed
t h E A t r E
to be doomed to write about old ladies”. It is however,
Mike agrees, an extremely humorous and moving
portrayal. We discuss the way, that despite the filth in
which Miss Shepherd lived – she never washed and
had rather mysterious ‘toilet arrangements’ which involved
throwing a quantity of plastic bags out of the
van each morning – she always retained her dignity,
throughout. “She had such a strong sense of self-assurance”,
says Mike. And cheek. Having been invited
into the driveway (and eventually the garden shed)
after she was threatened with eviction, Miss Shepherd
frequently came up with plans to move into the
house itself. “She tried to convince him that she could
help out by operating a radio call-in show in the front
room”, laughs Mike. “She thought they could split
the room with a curtain – as long as her side took in
the TV.”
I finish by asking about the difficulties of staging a
play that requires at least one vehicle onstage. “After
seeing the West End production I did have my doubts
about whether it could be presented in Lewes,” says
Mike. “It was quite exciting in the end,” he laughs.
“We actually had to widen the entrance and hire a
crane to lower it in. It was definitely a challenge.” V
January 12-19th
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Lewes, by design
Even the twittens are an example of the many elaborate design features
that characterise our historic town
For those interested in the finer features of Lewes’
rich heritage, the Friends of Lewes have invited a
most qualified speaker to give a slideshow and talk
- ‘Gems of Architecture and Design in Lewes, c. 900-
1900’ - in the Town Hall.
Colin Brent is the author of three books on Pre-
Georgian, Georgian and Victorian Lewes, as well as
a town guide. Together they span the history of the
town.
Colin tells us that the ‘gems of design’ will include a
gold penny, minted at Lewes for Aethelred II (979-
1016); the Saxon portal at St John-sub-Castro; a tomb
slab carved in black Tournai marble for Countess
Gundrada; the stiff-leafed Romanesque arcade at St
Anne’s; Renaissance oak caryatids at Pelham House,
and a fierce plaster dragon flanking Elizabeth’s royal
arms at St Thomas’, Cliffe.
From the Georgian period he has chosen the stylish
garden front of School Hill House; bow windows and
Mathematical tiles, red, black and buff; some finely
detailed box tombs; skilful brickwork in side streets,
and the Regency elegance of Coombe Cottage. The
Victorians are most strongly present in their stained
glass, especially the exquisite windows designed for
St Michael’s by Henry Holiday, a disciple of William
Morris. Pictured on this page is Holiday’s St Swithun.
Perhaps the most striking piece of design is also
probably the earliest. The first silver pennies struck
here were for King Aethelstan (924-939). His mints,
along with a market and a law court, would have been
within the fortified town. This was probably planned
by King Alfred (871-99) as one of a chain of fortress
towns established to resist the marauding Danes.
Quite possibly, too, his layout included the present
West Gate and the twittens, regularly descending
from the High Street to the southern wall. The grid
pattern led eighteenth century antiquarians to believe
that Lewes was built as a camp for Roman legionaries,
fresh from assaulting the British ramparts on Mount
Caburn, but it seems more likely that Lewes’ famous
narrow alleyways were the result of Saxon urbanisation.
On which subject, rather excitingly, rumour has
it that archaeologists recently excavating on the Baxter’s
site have uncovered a stretch of Alfred’s original
town wall. V
Town Hall, Thursday 31st Jan, 7.45pm
Affordable Art for Homes and Offices
Visit www.fineartcompany.co.uk or call 01323 484749
W W W. V I V A L E W E S . C O M
t A L k
1 5

gigGUIDE
Thurs 3rd
Bill Caddick. Folk rocker, formerly of
The Home Service. ‘A hell of a voice
and plays a mean guitar’
(fRoots Mag).
(Folk at the)
Royal Oak, 8pm-11pm, £5
Fri 18th
The Varlies. Rock, funk and tango
from a punk-never-happened Tunbridge
Wells fivesome at
Harveys’ brewery tap.
John Harvey Tavern, 8-11pm, free
Fri 18th
DJs Little Rik and David Crozier. Rik
from Rik’s Discs playing R&B, rock’n’
roll, ska and 50s and 60s garage.
The Greenhouse Effect, 33 Church St,
Hove, 9-2pm, £3.50/£1.75
Thurs 24th
Ska Toons. Lewes’ local ska-jazz
fusion artists, featuring a funky new
drummer, will pack out their
regular haunt.
John Harvey Tavern, 8-11pm, free
Thurs 31st
The Boat Band. Ceilidh, Cajun, and
whatever else takes their fancy including
trad Northern folk songs, from this
talented strings ‘n’ squeezebox trio.
Royal Oak, 8pm-11pm, free
Alter Ego
W I t h g r A h A M d E n M A n
Thurs 10th
Matt Green and Andy Turner. Traditional
English country dance songs on
fiddle and Anglo-concertina.
(Folk at the) Royal Oak,
8pm-11pm, £5
Sat 19th
DJ Digitalis. Brighton’s best-known
alternative (rock, punk, ska, indie,
psychobilly etc) DJ plays his new
hometown for the first time.
The Lansdown, 8-12, free
Fri 1st Feb
Titanic Syncopaters
The Collaborators. Nick Lowe and
Elvis Costello-tinged pop from local
duo James Morris and Andy Coote.
John Harvey Tavern, 8-11pm, free
Ska Toons
Sat 2nd Feb
Alter Ego. Three-piece cover band
who ‘put the fun in function’.
John Harvey Tavern, 8-12pm, free
W W W. V I V A L E W E S . C O M
Sat 12th
The Canary Wharf Project. Classic
covers band whoops it up at the top of
the town.
Pelham Arms, 8pm-12am, free
Thurs 17th
The Titanic Syncopaters (with Peta
Webb). Classic 20s and 30s sounds
(Fats Waller, George Gershwin) with
sax, tuba and one hell of a voice.
Royal Oak, 8pm-11pm, £5
Sat 19th
Zen House. Retro cover band playing
Clapton, Roxy Music, Fleetwood Mac…
and the Lambrettas.
Constitutional Club, 8-12, £3
(members free)
Thurs 24th
The New Deal String Band. Raucous
fiddle, guitar and banjo trio, featuring
legendary punk-folkster
Ben Paley.
Royal Oak, 8pm-11pm, £5
Fri 1st Feb
The Tar Babies. Hard-gigging retro
cover band (Beatles, Kinks, Monkees)
with a daft psychedelic edge.
Pelham Arms, 8-12pm, free
Tar Babies
1 7

diary DATES
Sat 5th
Food – Farmers’ Market. Don’t forget
the first-of-the-year offering from local
farmers and producers.
(Cliffe Precinct, 9am-1pm)
Fri 18th
Cinema - Away from Her. Lewes
Film Club’s latest offering stars Julie
Christie as a woman whose marriage
falls apart as she falls for a fellow
Alzheimer’s patient.
(All Saints, 8pm, £5 for non members)
Sun 6th
Racing – Sky Bet Sussex National
Meeting. The first meeting of 2008 at
Plumpton Racecourse, just eight minutes
away on the train from Lewes.
(Plumpton, first race 12.20, from £14)
Fri 18th
Mon 14th
Racing – Sky Bet Raceday. Join the
weekday diehards for this Monday
meet.
(Plumpton, first race 1.30pm, from
Talk – Prehistoric Standing Stones as
Musical Instruments.
Yabbadabbarealgoodstuff from the
Lewes Archaeological Society.
(Town Hall, 7.30pm, £3/£2)
£14)
W W W. V I V A L E W E S . C O M
Sat 12th-19th
Panto – Dick Whittington. Poor urban
kid gives away his cat and becomes
mayor of London.
(St Mary’s SC, Christie Rd, times and
prices vary - see ad on page 12)
Sat 19th
Classical Music. The Music of All Saints
lot change venue with a Latin-American
themed concert including a piece by
Brazilian maestro Heitor Villa-Lobos.
(Town Hall, 7.45pm, £10/£8/children
free)
1
1
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Photographs: Alex Leith
The Ram Inn
Emma Chaplin commits a terrible food crime in Firle
Very occasionally my partner and I sneak off from
work when our son is at school, to play truant
for a couple of hours. We might watch an unanimated
film, sometimes even with subtitles, or have
lunch together. We did this recently on a bitterly
cold but beautiful winter’s day, heading out to the
Ram at Firle. Last time we ate there it was after a
walk on the Downs one summer a few years ago,
and we sat in the garden. This time I noticed, for
some reason, that, like nearby Alciston, the village
has only one obvious road in and out. You do feel,
once you’re there, that you are far removed from
the nearby A27. The car park seemed to be heaving
with various excited dogs and their owners. I
wondered if they’d been having a doggie social up
on the Beacon. We entered through the back door
of the handsome 16th century building. The Ram
gets very busy at weekends, but even midweek it was
bustling with people and pets, many of whom were
local. I recognised Peter, the butler from Firle Place,
and friendly banter was being exchanged between
bar staff and the obviously regular customers. Low
winter sun shone on a slant through the windows
onto the Fired-Earth type of bitter-chocolate-colour
walls, hung with black-and-white photos showing
Firle a hundred years ago, which is much the
same as Firle today. The pub has an interesting mixture
of modern and old and, not being the sort of
place for garish Christmas decorations, clusters of
holly were strung up along the wooden beams. We
grabbed a table near a cosy fire and ordered a pint of
Harveys and a small glass of Chilean Volandas Cabernet
Sauvignon at £3, (£11.95 for the bottle). The
wine list starts reasonably but also offers Laurent
Perrier Rosé at £55. The menu changes daily, with
main courses around £10. There were some interesting-sounding
salads, but it was a warm-food kind
of day, so I ordered braised lamb shank at £9.95 and
Rob went for roast pheasant breast at £9.50. Then,
when the food arrived, both plates with puddles of
dark aromatic gravy, I committed a terrible foodie
crime. I realised I wanted the pheasant more than
the lamb, partly because the lamb came with red
cabbage, which I’m not overly fond of. Rob, rightly,
bore the look of long-suffering, put-upon partner
but kindly agreed to swap. Fortunately, he was very
happy with red cabbage, declaring it ‘beautifully
cooked’, and said the accompanying chive mash
was particularly good, because they had used waxy
potatoes and crushed rather than mashed them,
which worked well with the lamb. The red wine
and rosemary gravy tasted as delicious as it smelled.
My roasted pheasant breast came with seasonal root
vegetables and roasted new potatoes. The ‘vegetables’
seemed to include apple and plum, their
sweetness working well with the pheasant. After we
had finished eating, I could hear the siren call of
banoffee pie with chocolate sauce at £4.95, but we
both needed to head off to the wide world beyond,
and back to work.
www.raminn.co.uk
01 73 858
W W W. V I V A L E W E S . C O M
V
f O O d
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“Best thing I’ve ever eaten in a restaurant,
no question. Two perfectly soft, really
meaty eggs in matching cups with
a mound of soldiers... just bloody
indescribable... just the whole point of
opening your mouth if you’re human.”
Giles Coren
The Times Magazine
produce store produce store produce store
Lewes: 56 Cliffe High street
BrigHton: the Depot, 100 north road
www.billsproducestore.co.uk

Photograph: Alex Leith
Burns Night
Which whisky goes best with haggis, neeps and tatties?
It’s not unreasonable for an editor to assume that if he sends his
food editor a haggis recipe and asks her to make one for a Burns
night feature, she might do it. My response was: “Why would I
get up to the elbows in sheep’s ‘pluck, heart and lights’ when you
can buy one ready made?” Unimpressed by my lack of derringdo,
he agreed we could investigate the best whisky to drink with
haggis. I contacted Mr Hamish Elder at Harveys, who wondered
why we were talking about Burns night in December, since January
25th is the traditional night to celebrate the poetry and egalitarian
spirit of Robert Burns. But, once magazine deadlines were
explained, he put us in contact with a splendidly named Lewes
whisky appreciation society called the Dram Busters. Simon
Goodman explained he was given a copy of Jim Murray’s Whisky
Bible a couple of years ago, and the group formed after that as
a means of breaking free of ‘airport whiskies’ by pooling their
money to try a wider variety. Now, with twenty six members,
they meet quarterly over food in different places, like a Harvey’s
double-decker bus, or Mount Caburn on the summer solstice to
toast the sunset.
The Dram Busters agreed to host a joint evening with Viva at the
John Harvey Tavern. Harveys, passionate about their whiskies,
supported the evening by generously stumping up for delicious
buttery bowlfuls of neeps and tatties. These were cooked by the
JHT, along with MacSween meat and vegetarian haggises kindly
donated by Waitrose and Richards the butcher. Alasdair Smith, a
true Scot and former vice chancellor of the University of Sussex,
W W W. V I V A L E W E S . C O M
was our guest of honour.
Simon arrived, with several other fellow
Dram Busters, carrying a black attaché
case. So far, so James Bond. He opened
it to reveal a number of glistening amber
bottles and tasting glasses with ‘hats’. As
our ‘Great chieftain o’ the puddin-race!’
was brought steaming to the table on a
large platter, bursting magnificently out
of its skin, Alasdair read out Robert Burns’
Address to a Haggis. A Japanese blended
malt called Suntory Hibiki was passed
around, the first of six whiskies we tried.
I took a tiny taste of haggis, expecting it
to have an overpowering taste of offal, but
finding it deliciously spicy; like a monster,
oaty sausage. The Suntory was lovely;
smoky, ‘spirited’ and ‘aromatic’. We moved
through two sweeter, smoother Scottish
malts; caramelly Speyside-Balvenie, and
honey toned Highland Blair Athol. It was
fascinating how different the whiskies
were, particularly noticeable when tasted
alongside each other. Initially, I said little,
awaiting the opinions of the ‘experts’
around me, but as more drams went down,
I got braver, and less sober obviously, crying
“Parkin!” when I smelled the Dalwhinnie,
a silky Central Highland malt. Robin
said it often happens like that. “It’s lovely
to watch new Dram Buster members really
entering into the spirit of it.” The
last whisky was eye-watering. “TCP?” I
suggested, after sniffing the Islay malt,
Ardbeg. Iodine from the seaweed apparently.
The evening was a revelation, and
tremendous fun. In conclusion, we agreed
that the Black Bottle Islay blend, at around
£15, with a peaty, peppery kick, was the
best of our six to accompany haggis, which
is peasant food after all. Best stand-alone
whisky that we tasted was the last; the 10year-old
Ardbeg, Jim Murray’s whisky of
the year. “Sinus central. It makes you feel
alive”. V
Emma Chaplin
You can contact the Dram Busters at
drambusters@googlemail.com.
f O O d
5

Photograph: Carole Becker
If you’re not actually on a mission to buy the best
croissants or apple tarts or authentic bread in town,
you can walk straight past the Real Patisserie on Trafalgar
Street in Brighton if you’re not careful - it’s
a tiny, unassuming little place. But once inside, just
like the decent patisseries in France, it’s packed with
all sorts of breads, sweet and savoury pastries and
cakes.
The shop opened in 1997 and, as owner Alastair
Gourlay says, the timing couldn’t have been better.
‘If you produce good honest food with good honest
ingredients, the last decade couldn’t have been better
if you work in the food industry,’ he says.
Born and brought up on a farm in the Welsh borders,
Alastair originally studied agriculture. But during a
year at university in France, he decided that farming
was not for him. He couldn’t imagine living in
a remote part of the country with mostly sheep for
company. ‘I can remember when I decided I wanted
to switch to patisserie,’ he says. ‘Generally, I was inspired
by eating but there was a defining moment. I’d
been at an all night party and was extremely hungry.
I was wolfing down a pain aux raisins and I thought
- I could make these for a living. It’s not such a huge
leap from farming - the farmers grow the wheat and I
bake with it and it’s still working with your hands.’
Alastair did a two-year apprenticeship in patisserie
near Montpelier and then worked as a pastry chef in
Paris for a few years (very low pay, ridiculously long
hours) before returning to England to open the first
Brighton shop in 1997. ‘I had got to know Brighton
when my brother was at university here and liked it.
I had a feeling that it was the sort of place where the
people would appreciate a good pastry or two,’ he
says. ‘Plus, it was quite easy to get to France and with
a French wife, that was important.’
In 2001 the Real Patisserie started baking and selling
bread alongside the pastries. Alastair had done
a bit of bread production in France but he is mainly
self-taught. The bakery produces a range of breads,
including an organic seeded loaf and a white sourdough,
both of which we stock at Bill’s and – my favourite
– a chewy brown or Campaillou, to give it its
proper name.
We’ve been selling bread from the Real Patisserie at
Bill’s for years. I like it because, not only is it fantastic
bread, but it’s fair. Some bakers just charge too much
and customers will only pay so much for a loaf of
bread. But Alastair charges us a decent price, which
means we can charge a decent price and the customers
are happy. As usual, we’re up against the supermarkets
and we can’t compete on price (not that I’d
want to compete with a 25p loaf). So, customers pay
a bit more, but what they are getting is good bread,
made with top quality ingredients that haven’t been
rushed through the process. Bread with real texture
and flavour takes time, as any home baker knows.
The bakery bakes 15,000 loaves a week and supplies
160 shops, restaurants, pubs, sandwich bars and cafes.
‘We can’t keep up with demand,’ says Alastair.
‘And because we won’t compromise on quality, we
have to turn new customers away.’
A few years ago, Alastair returned to his roots and
nowadays, as well as running the bakery (a second
shop opened on Western Road in Brighton in 2005
and there are also bakery premises at New England
House), he is a part-time farmer. When his father retired,
he and his brother agreed they wanted to hold
on to the farm and so now, between them, Alastair
and his brother, their father and a farm manager,
keep it going.
And in spite of the unsocial hours and hard work,
would he recommend bakery as a career? ‘Definitely,’
he says. ‘In terms of manual trades, it’s got to be
one of the best.’ V
Bill’s Fruit and Veg boxes delivered to your door.
Order in store or call us on 01 73 476918
W W W. V I V A L E W E S . C O M
b I L L C O L L I S O n
Bread of Heaven
And not just bread. Flaky savoury tarts, crumbly croissants, fruit-filled pastries and
cakes, all packed with the authentic flavours of a French patisserie, this month, Bill
Collison talks to the owner of the Real Patisserie in Brighton.
7

Alfriston Court
Luxury Care Home
Alfriston Court, opening in February 2008, is a luxury Care Home located in the fabulous tourist
village of Alfriston, in East Sussex. Nestled in the Cuckmere Valley surrounded by the South
Downs and only ten minutes from the coast. We are only a few minutes walk into the village.
Alfriston Court is a large Edwardian styled country house set in nearly four acres of gardens, lawns
and woods. It has been carefully and lovingly restored from a well known country house hotel into a
luxuriously appointed Care Home.
Fabulous Location Luxury Accomodation Wonderful care
For discerning elderly people who need luxury accommodation and service with wonderful care, 24 hours per
day, every day of the year. Our staff have been carefully selected and we have a very experienced high quality
management team.
A la carte meals by our excellent chef with silver service in The Downs restaurant, or room service. Careful
and detailed attention to resident’s tastes and dietary needs. Room service is available 24 hours. Visitors are
always welcome.
All enquiries 0870 8501461
Chanctonbury Healthcare Ltd is a local Sussex family-run Care Home business that operates Alfriston Court
Luxury Care Home, The Queensmead Care Home in Polegate and Oaklands Court Nursing Home in Horam.

Mountfield Road, Lewes
01273 486000
www.waveleisure.co.uk
fun and fitness for all
at Lewes Leisure Centre
come and see what is on offer at your
all year round health and wellbeing centre

Lewes WellBeing Fest
Organiser Claire Kirtland on the multifarious benefits of the Lewes
WellBeing Fest, about to celebrate its third edition.
What is the Lewes WellBeing Fest all about?
We all make New Year’s resolutions, especially after
the excesses of the holiday period. But how long do
we keep them up? Sometimes we need help to achieve
betterment, whether we’re talking about physical fitness
or spiritual health. The WellBeing Fest brings together
all sorts of experts in all sorts of fields, whether
you want to give up smoking, take up doing Pilates or
find out which dance class is perfect for you. There
will be scores of stallholders offering advice and information.
Add to this free taster massages, wonderful
vegetarian food and some top entertainers on show,
and you’ll understand why over two thousand people
visited us last year.
Why Lewes?
The people of this town are famously open-minded
and this has led to a number of alternative as well as
mainstream wellbeing practitioners to set up in Lewes,
from acupuncturists to Zen counsellors. They dedicate
their working lives to supporting and helping people
to lead more balanced, wholesome lives and this festival
gives them a platform to promote their products
and services.
How did it all start up?
I took part in a health day which was held at Lewes
Town Hall a couple of years ago and decided that I
could do something very similar on a grand scale. I
went to Rita Eccles, a local Bowen Therapist who had
organised it, and she was happy for me to take on the
project and make it my own.
What kind of things can we expect to see or
experience?
You will be able to find out more about an eclectic
mix of traditional and contemporary therapies including
life coaching, homeopathy, massage, emotional
freedom technique, meta-medicine and neuro-linguistic
programming. We are also showcasing stage
demonstrations, including Nia Technique, Tai Chi
and Pilates. There will be talks on topics ranging from
prosperity and shamanism to druidry and finding your
perfect career path. You can also try out a range of
organic vegetarian cuisine and delicious juices. Plus
there are entertainers, including the guitarist Geoff
Robb, who you might have seen perform recently at
the Lewes Guitar Festival, and the children’s performer
Mr Pineapple Head.
What happened last year?
We built on the success of the 2006 festival, and extended
the timescale to include Sunday as well as Saturday.
It was a great success, and so far we have seen
over 3,000 visitors come through our doors. Not many
of them have left without finding something to inspire
them. V
W W W. V I V A L E W E S . C O M
L E W E S W E L L b E I n g f E S t
Photograph: Katie Moorman
W B 1

Nia Technique
It’s fun to dance at the YMCA, finds Emma Chaplin
On a viciously cold day recently I went along to one
of former trapeze-artist Lauren Dowse’s classes to try
out Nia, which is a fusion of dance and martial arts.
This wasn’t my first time. I’d taken Nia classes a dozen
years ago in California and loved it with a passion.
Although open to men and women, my class only had
women in it, and I’ll never forget the day a poor bloke
poked his head round the door to see twenty women
bellowing ‘HA!’ in unison whilst doing a vicious Tae
Kwon Do punch. He ran away and never came back.
Lewes is a lot less temperate than the Bay Area, and
when I arrive, the room is hardly warmer than outside
because the YMCA forgot to put the heating on. Lauren,
who holds classes in several venues but is looking
for a properly heated permanent space, is wafting a
smoking moxa stick around the place. “It smelled of
old socks in here” she says, by way of explanation. It
gives off a dope-like aroma, which is not entirely inappropriate
for something which originated around the
hippy West Coast. As I bravely remove my socks and
woollies, I notice most other class members are also
women, but there is one chap, who tells me he is an
RSC actor. The class has a similarly friendly, easy-going
atmosphere to the one I used to attend. We start
with a warm-up and move into what Lauren explains
is a new routine called Mood Food. It’s expressive,
with quite a bit of symbolism in the moves; scooping
up energy from the earth, that sort of thing. Much of
the music is vaguely familiar, and if you come regularly,
you get to know the various routines. Some
class members attend several a week. The moves are
mostly easy enough to follow even if you are new, and
you choose your own pace. Nia offers three levels of
intensity for the routines, and you are encouraged to
be aware of your body’s limitations and capabilities
as you go along.
There is something uplifting and joyful about the
class. As you get older, it’s hard to find the opportunity
to kick off your shoes in a room full of other people
and fling yourself about to music. Nia combines
exercise with being a good reliever of stress in a safe
environment where you don’t fear being humiliated
by younger cooler people who might get out their
mobiles and make a humiliating post on YouTube.
Beautiful youths are most welcome in Nia classes, but
so is everyone else. V
Free trial class. £25 per 5 classes.
Lauren@uknia.com
01273 470437
W W W. V I V A L E W E S . C O M
W E t r y O u t
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W B 3

Photograph: Katie Moorman
Having a facial
Nick Williams gets his stubble softened
I’ll be honest, when we had a discussion in the Viva office
about trying out beauty treatments, I wasn’t expecting to
end up being the person stripped to the waist and lying on
the heated treatment table at the back of the Still Room on
Lewes High Street. I’ve never really considered myself the
grooming type, - I’m more of a morning-shower-and-shave
and a bi-monthly short-back-and-sides-at-Andy-and-Marvin’s
kind of guy. Anyway, despite this, there I am, lying on
my back, about to receive a facial treatment from Lynette.
What’s more, she’s dressed from head to toe in clinical
white clothing and standing next to a machine which has
a worryingly large number of buttons and attachments.
Sensing my nervousness, she goes out of her way to explain
that my role is primarily a passive one, and that basically I
just have to lie back and enjoy the pampering, which will
cover my head, neck and shoulders, as well as the area I was
expecting to receive some attention - my face.
W W W. V I V A L E W E S . C O M
W E t r y O u t
Over the next hour or so, I do manage
to relax, in fact so much so that during
one of the periods of neck massage, I
may well have temporarily dozed off.
The treatment itself involves the application
of various gels and gauzes to
my face, followed by gentle electrotherapy
from one of the machine attachments.
To enable this to work, I’m
asked to hold on to a small electric bar,
presumably to allow the electric current
to work its magic. Throughout
the session, soothing music (a yoga
CD, I later learn) plays quietly in the
background, and Lynette patiently
answers my bewildering array of simplistic
questions, before leaving me to
relax quietly in a darkened room for
a few minutes at the end of the treatment
- where I believe I manage to
sneak in my second catnap of the day.
After the session we discuss what’s going
to be my new ongoing grooming
regime. This, apparently, is to involve
using facial cleansers instead of soap,
stubble softener (to be applied overnight)
and a couple of moisturisers. I
leave the Still Room feeling relaxed in
a slightly heady kind of way, having enjoyed
95% of my treatment. The only
bit which I didn’t like was that given to
my nose. Now please don’t misunderstand
me, I genuinely appreciate the
effort and enthusiasm Lynette put in to
removing the blackheads, it’s just that
my pain threshold is clearly lower than
I imagined. Mind you, I hardly think
she derived more pleasure from that
particular encounter than I did. Having
said that, overall it was an experience
I’d recommend, and one I plan to
repeat. Sticking rigorously to my new
grooming regime may prove slightly
more difficult… V Nick Williams
W B 5

Lewes WellBeing Fest
WEEKEND PROGRAMME
Throughout the weekend there will be live music, stage demonstrations and delicious organic
food in The Market Place as well as an eclectic mix of traditional and contemporary taster
treatments & services for you to try in our WellBeing Zone.
Featuring performances from Classical Guitarist Geoff Robb, Brighton Band Indigo Eye, Anima Creations and Gill
Emerson from the Ceilidh Crew.
In the Creative Children’s Activity Area CREATIVE SPARK are making sound sculptures from junk for ages 5 –
14yrs. There is face painting for the little ones and on Sunday Our top clown Mr Pineapple Head is providing FREE
Thrills, Spills & Funnyaches for all the Family!
Stage Demos from Wave Leisure including: Pilates to improve your flexibility & strength to maintain good posture
as well as the ultimate indoor cycling workout. Lauren Dowse facilitates The Nia Technique - the ‘East Meets West’
method to tone your body and more fitness demos from Harts Leisure Club which include ‘Body Boost’ and ‘Sculpt
& Tone’, Tai Chi from Clear Sky Tai Chi & Coaching and lots more to be confirmed..
(*children’s workshops cost £2.00 per child, please click here for times)
(*programme subject to change)
Workshop/Talk Programme
Saturday 12th January
11:30 - 1 :30pm
Empowering Ourselves for Healthy Living
TRANSITION TOWN LEWES
FREE
Presented by the Health Group of Transition Town
Lewes and introduced by Adrienne Campbell of the
same group:
In this interactive presentation we shall explore traditional
and modern perspectives on healthy living
through the lens of empowerment.
Dr Kevin Baker is a former Accident & Emergency
Surgeon now in practice as an Integrative Health
Physician.
www.transitiontowns.org/Lewes
12:30pm - 1:30pm
BEYOND MIND BODY
MEDICINE
CLAIRE MARSHALL
IMMA Trainer and META-
Medicine Health Coach
In this amazing workshop you will move beyond
your current understanding of mind body therapies
and hear about a new, natural healing paradigm
called META-Medicine®. Discover the root cause
of pain and disease and learn the approaches you can
take to heal at root cause AND prevent future health
issues, for more info:
www.meta-medicineuk.com
:00pm – 3:00pm
Why is Lewes so Magical?
A Workshop Exploring the Sacred Landscape
of this part of Sussex
*Early Booking Recommended
Advance Tickets £7/£10 at the door, book now.
W W W. V I V A L E W E S . C O M
PHILIP CARR-GOMM is a
writer and psychologist who
also helps to lead The Order
of Bards Ovates & Druids. He
has lived in Lewes for nearly 20
years and founded the Lewes
Montessori School.
His book ‘The Druid Way’ explores the magical
landscape of Sussex in a journey from Lewes to the
Long Man of Wilmington and back.
In this workshop we will explore what it means to be
living in this landscape and the ways in which we can
enhance our experience of being at home in it. For
more info on Philip see:
www.philipcarrgomm.druidry.org

3:00pm – 4:30pm
How to discover the work you were born to do and
create income from it
*Early Booking Recommended
Advance Tickets £7/£10 at the door, book now
NICK WILLIAMS is a world
expert on work, and how you can
work for love and money. He is
a best-selling author, broadcaster,
has a thriving international
coaching practice and has been
invited to give hundreds of talks
in over 100 cities in 15 countries. His work has been
the subject of over 1,000 media features. His best
known books are The Work We Were Born To Do,
Unconditional Success and Powerful Beyond Measure.
His website is www.nick-williams.com.
Most people believe that they can only work for money
or love, not both. Nick will share the nine ways
most people come to discover the work they were
born to do. He will then show how practical ways to
take what you were born to be doing and generate
income from it.
5:00pm – 6:00pm
Illness: Why me? Why Now?
FREE
VIV CRASKE is a journalist, NLP
Practitioner, Hypnotherapist and
Timeline Therapist
Meta –Medicine is a revolutionary diagnostic technique
which shows you which stresses create which
diseases. It is the first step towards designing a holistic
therapy plan to take you back to wellness.
For more info see
www.metamedicinesussex.co.uk
Workshop/Talk Programme
Sunday 13th January
11:30am – 1 :30pm
Journey to Creative Possibilities
*Early Booking Recommended
Advance Tickets £5/£7 at the door, book now
KATE MACAIRT is a Creative
Play Therapist who has many
years experience working with
children, young people and
adults. Creative Spark believes that Creativity is key
to our sense of well-being and Creative Spark workshops
are proven to help ignite the creative drive.
This workshop uses playful and therapeutic methods
to explore your creative potential… non-threatening
and fun we will enjoy a journey which will include;
creative visualisation, music, movement and painting.
1:30pm – 3:00pm
‘THE SHAMAN’S REALITY PACKAGE!’
*Early Booking Recommended
Advance Tickets £7/£10 at the door, book now
3:30pm – 5:00pm
From Adversity to True Success
W W W. V I V A L E W E S . C O M
L E W E S W E L L b E I n g f E S t
LEO RUTHERFORD, MA Holistic
Psychology, is founder of
Eagle’s Wing Centre for Contemporary
Shamanism and has taught
in the UK for more than 20 years.
His books include ‘SHAMANIC
PATH WORKBOOK’ (ARIMA),
and ‘WAY OF SHAMANISM’
www.shamanism.co.uk
How do you experience ‘reality’?
Is it loving and nurturing or
challenging and confusing? (Or
worse?) I will show you a shamans’
map of the Universe and its
many powers and we will journey
to touch one of those powers.
*Early Booking Recommended
Advance Tickets £7/£10 at the door, book now
STEVE NOBEL is a director of Alternatives, a business
and prosperity coach, author of The Prosperity
Game, Master Business NLP Practitioner.
www.stevenobel.com
Challenges are not meant to stop you in life, they are
there to teach you and show you a better way. Explore
how to be more in tune with your heartfelt dreams,
your deepest values, and your guiding spirit. Then
you will achieve results that will make your spirit soar
and your heart sing.
W
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Mr Pineapple Head aka Ben Edmonds
“Twenty years ago I had long dreadlocks. I was into
juggling, and I went to do a workshop course in Bristol,
called ‘The Fool’ which taught the method-acting
side of clowning. It was a tough course: they broke us
down, and built us up again. Afterwards we were all
given a personal bit of advice, to help us on our way.
The tutor told me to cut my hair, because I tended to
‘hide’ behind it, and a clown shouldn’t hide anything.
I didn’t do that, but I did tie it into a ponytail, which I
sometimes wore on the top of my head.
A year later I was in Thailand in an open-air market,
and I was juggling fruit to entertain the shoppers. I
picked up a pineapple and held it up. I looked at it,
it looked at me, and everyone started roaring with
laughter. Later in Australia, I was doing some busking,
and they started calling me Mr. Pineapple Head. The
name stuck. I made a leather hat, to incorporate the
hair sticking out the top, like leaves. I’ve long since
cut the hair, but I still wear the hat, having adjusted it
with false leaves.
After a while I stopped harbouring ambitions to be
a juggler because I realised I’d have to practice ten
hours a day to become world class. So I attended
more clowning workshops to perfect the art of physical
comedy. I got work in a group called the Circus
Pipsqueak, and as the Bez-type character in a band
called Hooflung. I also started touring schools with
Facepack Theatre for a season every year. This helped
me take the plunge and go into clowning full time.
That was twelve years ago, now.
I mainly do kids entertaining nowadays, but I still
do clowning for adults – my character is called Mr
Ed. I don’t have to change my act much, though I’m
drier and droller (and a little more lewd) in grown-up
shows. With kids I’m more physically active. But a lot
of the tricks are basically the same: the giant bubbles;
the extended glove; the juggling apples and eggs gag.
That’s one I’ve used all my career. I can’t get rid of it:
it always gets them going.
My act changes year on year, but I feel I’ve perfected
the tricks: there isn’t a weak one in my repertoire now.
The way I have developed is to increase the mime in
my act. I virtually never say a word – only occasionally
for extra effect.
No group of kids is the same as another. Sometimes
you get a kid who doesn’t want to be there, who tries
to take it out on the clown. I’m too experienced to let
this bother me. I simply can’t be wound up, so pretty
soon they shut up and get into it. It’s not a clown’s role
to tell people off, anyway.
Downside? The only one I can think of is at social
gatherings when you tell people what you do. They
immediately get interested and ask you lots of questions.
At that point, I’d sometimes rather I had a more
normal job. But only then.”
W W W. V I V A L E W E S . C O M
V
M Y C A R E E R
W B 9

Qigong
exercises for the health
weekly classes in Lewes
contact Chloe for more info
01273 470901
www.qigong-daoyuan-engl.net

List of Exhibitioners
1. Jos Colover, Ceramic Breasts
01273 474254
. Onsite Chair Massage
01273 553259
bettinahorvat@yahoo.co.uk
3. Anima Creations
Anima Music, Natural Clothing
07939 870826
www.animacreations.com
4. Sarah Yearsley Bowen – NST
Therapist
01273 403 930
www.bowentechnique.org.uk
5. Cynthia Rigby Health Vitalics
01403 822 522
www.healthvitalics.co.uk
6. Jane Andrews, Your Natural Balance
07906 558326
yournatural.balance@yahoo.co.uk
7. INNERLIGHT
07803 386742
www.innerlightinc.com/cat
8. Annie Lightly Medium & Healer
01273 206351
9. Ruth Orpen, Sticks And Stones
07831 805692
amethyst1951@hotmail.com
10. Equilibrium Health Centre
01273 470955
www.equilibirum-clinic.com
11. Helen Raggett, Forever Living
Products
01273 564829
www.freetoprosper.net
1 . Joy Youngman
Clairvoyant, Medium, Channeller
www.joyyoungman.co.uk
13. Muna Chapman
07901 832124
www.intuitivemuna.co.uk
14. Lewes Chiropractic Clinic
01273 483327
www.leweschiropracticclinic.co.uk
15. Meta-Medicine UK
01273 530021
www.meta-medicineuk.com
16. Meta-Medicine Sussex
07939 134274
www.metamedicinesussex.co.uk
17. The Charcoal People Ltd
020 8549 2772
www.charcoalpeople.co.uk
18. Books@Lingfield
01342 410730
bob.broadway@googlemail.com
19. KGB Crystals & Gifts
01293 454310
charioite@yahoo.co.uk
0. Renaissance Cosmetic
Medicine Clinic
01273 474428
www.cosmeticmedicineclinic.co.uk
1. Emotional Freedom Technique,
Kathy Johnson
01273 487464
kathyhealing@talktalk.net
. Wave Leisure,Lewes Leisure
Centre
01273 486000 www.waveleisure.co.uk
3. Harts Leisure Club
01273 486111
www.whitehartlewes.co.uk
4. Brighthelm Healing Trust
01273 775145
sheila.browning@ntlworld.com
5. VivaLewes
01273 488882
www.vivalewes.com
6. Yoli’s Hemp
01273 331009
www.yolisamazinghemp.com
7. Elizabeth’s Web Designs
01273 882789
www.elizabethsdesigns.co.uk
8. Star Communities
Organising Inspirational Events
01273 488924
www.starcommunities.com
9. Circle of Life Rediscovery
01273 470793
www.circleofliferediscovery.com
30. Seasons Organic Cafe
01273 473968
31. Steve Judd Professional Astrologer
01225 336118 www.stevejudd.com
3 . Clear Sky Holistics
07749 750256 www.clearskyholistics.com
33. Healing For Harmony
01273 474108
www.healingforharmony.com
34. Iona Naturals
01273 882789
www.ionanaturals.co.uk
35. Transformation Therapy
07986 105865
susan@susanhall19.wanadoo.co.uk
36. Emma Stow Astrology
07866 734356
emmarayeastrology@yahoo.co.uk
37. Emma Blume Yoga
01273 474528
yoga@emmablume.com
38. Salad Master, We Change Lives
020 3132 9910
www.healthylivingshows.com
39. Anne Pether,
Complementary Therapist
01273 303481
40. Katharine Walmsley
Journey Therapy
01273 514270
www.journeytherapyworks.com
41. Creative Spark
01273 858945
W W W. V I V A L E W E S . C O M
W E L L B E I N G F E S T
www.creativespark.info
4 . In Safe Hands, Nuro Weideman
07931 790 666
www.insafehands.co.uk
43. Martin BlissBackRub
07817 258117
44. RSPB Wildlife & Conservation
Charity
01273 763615
www.rspb.org.uk
45.The Guided Journey to Self Mastery
07767 655797
www.selfmasterygame.co.uk
46. Dr. Edward Bach Memorial Trust
0845 200 2954
www.bachmemorialtrust.org
47. SouL BaLance HoListic Therapist
mkya02@hotmail.com
48. Clear Sky Coaching
01273 239054 www.clearskytaichi.co.uk
www.clearskycoaching.co.uk
49. Sue Mitchell Therapies & Healing
01273 890046
www.suemitchelltherapy.co.uk
50. Mandy Fischer – Cliffe Osteopaths
01273 480900
www.lewesosteopath.com
51. Holistic Channel
01323 727183 / 01323 469321
www.holisticchannel.org.uk
5 . Alan Gornall Acupuncture
01273 483327
www.lewesacupunture.co.uk
53. Grace Massage Wax
07709 575148
www.gracemassagewax.com
54. Party With Tree Spirits
01323 815722
www.partywithtreespirits.com
55. Transition Town Lewes
01273 479779
www.transitiontowns.org/Lewes
56. Dr Hauschka Organic Skincare
Treatments
01273 470955
www.equilibirum-clinic.com
57. Nick Ashron, Psychic Artist
07801 530573
www.nickashron.com
58. Natural Ways
01273 475757
holistics@aol.com
59. Rocks magazine
01273 544556
www.rocksmagazine.co.uk
60. New Earth Photography Ltd
07791405656
www.newearthphotography.com
61. Harlequin Aura Imaging Photography
07956 819056
lintel2@hotmail.co.uk
W B 1 1

M Y M U S I C
Name: Geoff Robb
Profession: I’m a guitarist.
What sort of stuff do you do? My father was a conductor
and violinist, so I used to go to sleep at night
with violin quartets and rehearsals under me, and
that rubbed off. I learnt to play the classical guitar as
a child. I went through an electric guitar phase as a
teenager in Bath – I was in a couple of rubbish punk
bands thrashing out three chords. I then started busking.
Needs must, and I built up a classical repertoire
playing around Europe – Switzerland, Holland, Italy,
Ireland – driving around with a battery amplifier playing
in the streets and selling cds. I did that until I was
about 25.
So where did you go from there? I started getting
offered work playing in hotels and functions, playing
the songs I had learnt. I still do that as one side of my
business: you’re now more likely to see me playing a
set during a dinner at Shelleys, Buxted Park Hotel or
Ashdown Park Hotel than down the Lewes Farmers’
Market, where I used to busk.
Do you do any of your own stuff? In the last four
years I’ve started to write my own music. It’s got classical
influences, but also tinges of flamenco, jazz and
Celtic music. I play on a steel string guitar. I’ve played
at the Edinburgh Festival, at Glastonbury and at the
Lewes Guitar Festival. At the Wellbeing Fest I will do
a mixture of classical tunes and my own compositions.
The two blend very well.
Can you tell us about the process of composition?
I have always been surrounded by people who compose
music but until four years ago I had never tried myself.
I did a meditation focussing on inspiration and help,
W B 1
W W W. V I V A L E W E S . C O M
Photograph: Alex Leith
and ten minutes later I picked up a guitar, and a song
just came out. The whole thing: chords, harmony, bass
line, melody. I was so terrified I didn’t do it again for
four months.
Has meditation always been a part of your music?
I’m a trained Reiki master, and I’ve always keyed into
that energy while playing, but I’d never consciously
put the two together before that.
So do you spend a lot of time composing? It’s difficult,
because I also have a lot of administration in the
two other strands of my business. I’m the agent for
over 280 guitarists (mostly classical and flamenco but
also anything from Latin bands to blues and jazz guitarists),
finding them bookings all over the country. I
also run a kind of Amazon cd sales website for all styles
of guitar music with over 3000 titles for sale. That
takes up a lot of my time – that and my family – so I
don’t compose as much as I would like.
Have you any advice for aspiring guitarists? Practice,
practice, practice. I used to practice for two or
three hours a day, doing scales and exercises or with a
score in front of me, increasing my repertoire. It can
take months to nail a new song. It’s important to get it
right, because I always play from memory.
Have you ever forgotten how a tune goes? It happens
occasionally. 99% of the time I get away with it. I
just make something up and come back into the song
at a later stage.
Is living in Lewes important to your career? Both
my guitars were hand-made in Lewes, and it’s invaluable
having the Lewes Guitar Festival on my doorstop,
which enables me to network with a large number of
international guitarists.

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viva kids
the circus is back in town...
Circus Skills at the All Saints Centre
A couple of years ago my son attended
a couple of circus skills workshops at the
All Saints and loved them. Well the good
news for him, and anyone else with a hidden
urge to juggle, stilt walk, unicycle or
even to learn aerial trapeze, is that the
circus is back in town. firecracker Circus
are running a six week course - starting
on January 8th where all of the above
skills and plenty more, including platespinning
and performance skills, will
be taught. the course is split in to two
groups, with the presumably more supple
and potentially more skilled, 7-17
year olds kept well away from the crumbling
buffoonery of the adults (or am I
just thinking about my own creaking and
aching bones?). Either way, it sounds like
fun to the Viva team and if you’re equally
tempted to learn a new skill in the new
year, then we suggest that you give katie
Smith a call on 07904 300527 or email
kittysmith79@hotmail.com
Last Call for the panto
If you’re having pangs of regret about
managing to get through the festive season
without shouting ‘behind you’ at a
couple of second-rate actors who once
appeared in the background of a late-
1980s edition of Eastenders, then panic
no more. for eight days, from Saturday
12th January, a production of dick Whittington
will be taking place at the St
Mary’s Social Centre. tickets and info
via 01273 477733.
national bug- busting day - Jan 31st
until your kids go to school you don’t really
have much to do with nits. My first
experience of the dreaded word came
at a school ptA meeting. Indeed it was
such a strong topic of conversation for
one mother, that she rode roughshod
over the agenda items (school security
was the intended topic I seem to recall)
and steam-rolled straight into it. “the
nits are back” she cried, and followed
up somewhat intriguingly with “and we
know who’s responsible, don’t we!”. being
fairly new to both the school and the
machinations of the ptA, I neither knew
whom she was referring to, or indeed
(and much to the horror of the lady in
question), had much interest in finding
out. Well a few months later, I did find
out - it appears that nits and lice spread
like wildfire, and even if you do all the
‘right things’ yourself, it takes a lot more
effort to clear 30 kids’ heads once the
epidemic arrives. to help with the task,
three annual bug-busting days have been
set up. The first takes place at the end of
January, so if your kids come home with
an information pack, don’t take it personally,
it’s a community problem apparently,
so follow the advice! right now that’s
sorted, let’s get back onto the security…
nick Williams
W W W. V I V A L E W E S . C O M 4 5

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Photograph: James Boyes
King of the Pan
Lewes manager Steve King wants more of the same in 2008
As I write this, just before Christmas, Lewes are facing their tenth away
game out of eleven. In all my time in football I’ve never heard anything
like it.
In one way, it’s easier to play away, because other teams tend to come at
you in front of their own fans. This gives us more space to play our passing
game when we do have possession, and leaves them open to counter
attacks when their moves break down. And we’ve done well. I’m proud
of our away record: we’ve got the best in the league, having won seven
games. Having said that, so many away games on the trot has been hard
on everyone. It’s not just the grind of all that travel: the players like playing
at home, because they’ve got everything they’re used to around them,
they know the pitch, and they’re playing in front of 700 home fans, cheering
them on, instead of the 17 or so we sometimes get away. It isn’t easy
for the club, either. We need the gate receipts from home games, because
that’s what pays for everything.
It was my target to be in the top five or so at Christmas, and as I write
we’re three points clear at the top of the league. So when people ask me
if I’ve got any New Year’s resolutions, I tell them I haven’t. Just to carry
on the way we’re going. Every season has a beginning, a middle and an
end, and we’ve reached the middle of the middle on top of the table.
There’s a long way to go before the end of the season, and it’s important
we carry on getting things right. Don’t expect it to be a breeze, because
in this league there isn’t much difference in the standard between the top
W W W. V I V A L E W E S . C O M
f O O t b A L L
and the bottom: every game is a
contest; every game needs guts
and effort to win it. I don’t think
there’s a team in the top three
which won’t end up losing six or
eight games.
A lot of people will be looking
at the goalscoring charts, seeing
Paul Booth at the top with
22, and thinking our league
position has been all down to
him. Boothy’s been magnificent
– most strikers would settle for
that in the whole season – but
I want to stress it’s been a real
team effort. I’m pleased with
everyone, from the front to the
back, and I wouldn’t want to single
anyone out for praise.
Finally, some good news: Siggy
(Jean-Michel Sigère) has recovered
from his long-term injury
and just needs to get a bit
of match practice now to get
up to pace. With Matt Groves
winning November Player of
the Month and Boothy on such
top scoring form, this gives me
a positive problem up front, because
I have to accommodate
having three of the best strikers
in the league in the same squad.
I don’t think any of the other
managers would mind having
that sort of problem, though.
And all three are definitely going
to play their part: it’s going
to be all hands on deck to try to
make sure the second half of our
season is as successful as the first
half has been. V
Home games in January:
5th v Basingstoke
19th v Hampton & Richmond
4 7

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Plumpton Races
Emma Roberston discovers a new vice
Like a lot of things with me, a trip to the races immediately
makes me feel like I’m in a PG Wodehouse
novel. And whilst, unlike Bertie Wooster, I’m
not exactly ‘dripping with sporting blood’ my pulse
does noticeably quicken at the thought of having a bit
of a flutter. Although I’ve never won live, as it were.
A couple of years ago I made a packet on the Grand
National, but it’s not the same buzz when you’re not
there to see it. So, for my Viva mission to Plumpton,
I decide to take some advice from expert gambler and
horse owner Steve Williams. I phone him from the
office first to check he’ll be there. ‘I’m just studying
the form now,’ he says reassuringly. Any tips? ‘Kruguyrova
on the second race’ comes the reply. I scribble
it down hastily.
When we arrive I find my ‘dead cert’ is on at 2-1, joint
favourite with Pauillac. I hesitate between them before
deciding on £5 on Kruguyovra to win. I’m particularly
proud when I find a bookie with better odds
at 9-4. Katie, (Viva designer), shares the bet with me
whilst Alex (editor) decides to go it alone with a £5
punt on an outsider, Ruairi, at 11-1. We watch the race
breathlessly from the freezing vantage point of the
stands. Kruguyrova has a good start as does Ruairi but
Pauillac is nowhere, I’m pleased to note. Then, Kruguyrova
pulls into the lead (Ruairi hangs in at about
third before dropping to fourth), and suddenly it’s the
final straight and mine’s winning easily. Ecstatically I
d Ay O u t
rush off to collect my £16.25. Not a bad start then. I
find Steve in the bar flushed with his victory - already
studying the form for the next race. There are three
horses of interest, he tells me, and suggests a forecast
bet (a bet on first and second places in the correct order).
But I decide the outlay will be too much so I opt
for £2.50 each-way on HereComestheTruth at 9-1.
Alex and Katie come in on it with me. We watch from
the rails this time - we only need second or third, I tell
myself but, unbelievably, ours wins - again. This time
the winnings are £32. It can’t continue I think. Back
in the bar Steve has won his forecast. ‘You should have
taken my advice,’ he mutters. But I’m happy with my
win. Next up, Steve picks out another three horses. I
opt for Mister Pink each way at 9-1 again. This time
it’s almost a photo-finish and ours loses by a nose.
Nevertheless, at ‘each way’ we still come away with
£7. The luck can’t possibly continue and we lose on
the next race - despite backing two. Then the hot tip
comes in, phoned in to Steve by an even-more-expert
friend of his - Running Hot, rather appropriately. We
decide to put a fiver on the nose. But it’s also second.
If only we’d gone ‘each way’. Finally our last effort,
courtesy of a tip from an unknown at the bar, goes
the same way. Still, a fabulous and informative day.
And the damage? £35 outlay, £54 back. I’m hooked.
When’s the next one? V
Jan meetings at Plumpton: 6th and 14th
4 9
Photograph: Katie Moorman

Photographs: Alex Leith
Southease
Alex Leith visits a well-connected hamlet
The first time I went to Southease, a few years ago, I
asked a villager if he could point out where the village
pub was. “The Black Lamb?” he replied, pointing to a
sloping grey roof the other side of the church. “It’s over
there.” I headed thirstily towards it, only to realise he
hadn’t finished. “But you won’t get a drink there,” he
shouted behind me. “It’s been closed for 400 years.”
“It would be nice to have a pub,” says Adrian Orchard,
a nurseryman who has been living and working in the
village since 1991, when I tell him this story. “But the
central focus of the village’s social life is actually the
church.” Adrian is giving me a tour of Southease, and
we are standing in front of the aforementioned building,
which dates back at least to 966, and is one of three
churches in East Sussex to boast a round tower, its spire
quaintly shingled with oak tiles. It is surrounded by lichen-covered
gravestones, and rises splendidly into the
freezing sky, set off by the moody leafless trees that
shiver behind it. One of the gravestones, I’m told, is
the subject of quite a mystery.
Adrian has been serving me cups of coffee in the beautiful
cottage round the corner he shares with his wife
Jane, and telling me about life in Southease, and the
history of the village. I learn a lot. The name means
‘south thicket’, apparently, and the Domesday Book
reveals that in 1086 ‘Sueise’ hosted quite a thriving
community, making its living from farming and fishing.
The villagers were annually assessed for 38,500 herrings
and £4-worth of porpoises. “The river used to be
a lot wider, and it is thought that there was quite a sizeable
harbour here,” says Adrian, who admits he doesn’t
know how many porpoises £4 would buy you in Norman
times. In the same period Brighton was assessed
for only 4,000 herrings, which is quite an indicator of
how important Southease once was. It now has only
30 or so full-time residents, living in 15 houses, spread
around the church and the bumpy, shapeless village
green in front. One of them is splendidly thatched.
We walk into the church, which I have been warned by
Jane ‘is as cold as an arctic tomb.’ On the wall you can
make out the remains of some 13th century wall paintings,
sadly almost faded out of existence, but immortalised
by a 1930s framed depiction hung below. I learn,
from a textbook handily left open at the right page, that
the church used to be much bigger in its heyday. ‘The
Norman church has mislaid its chancel and aisles,’ it
informs me. Adrian humours me through my lame
‘how careless’ joke and talks of the importance of the
building to the community. The several popular events
the villagers organise through the year – the plant fair
in May, the open gardens in June, and the chilli day
in August – all give a cut of their profits towards the
£60,000 that needs to be raised to mend the roof and
return to its spire its gale-damaged weathervane, as
well as for new lighting and heating.
It certainly needs the heating – it’s significantly
warmer outside as we wander into the graveyard
to check out the mystery grave. It belongs to ‘Sergeant
AJ Vaughan’, a WW2 fighter pilot who was
shot down in Kent in 1941, and buried in Southease
despite having no known connection with the village.
We are joined by Ian, something of an expert
on Southease’s most curious resident, who has discovered
that the more research he does on Sergeant
Vaughan, the more mysterious the Sergeant becomes.
Adrian gives me a lift over Southease Bridge to the
railway station, and tells me of some of the other
activities in the village. The Southeasites annually
collect together all the apples from their gardens,
it seems, and the men of the village show off their
strength of arm on a large apple press. On Saturday
nights the ‘Southease Church Cleaners Union’ meet
up together in the church to tidy the place up, sink
a few glasses of red wine, and discuss village affairs.
Simple stuff for simple folk, stranded in time in a picturesque
but nearly forgotten loop, just off the C7?
Not a bit of it. The station platform I’m left on serves
the villagers with direct trains to Lewes, Brighton and,
in the mornings, to London. This makes it one of the
most desirable commuter-belt dwelling-places around;
the best connected hamlet in the South. Not that anywhere
ever comes up on the market more than once in
a blue moon. “Once people get a property here, they
hold onto it for dear life,” says Adrian, and I can understand
why. It’s just a damn pity the Black Lamb had
to close down. V
5 1
W W W. V I V A L E W E S . C O M
V I V A V I L L A g E S

Eve Garnett
David Jarman visits the family from One End Street
Eve Garnett was born near Worcester in January,
1900. After a peripatetic childhood she studied Art at
Chelsea Polytechnic and the Royal Academy Schools.
Her connection with Lewes only began in the 1930s
when her parents moved to Kingston Ridge, but she
lived in and around Lewes for the best part of fifty
years. While staying in a guest house in the High
Street she prepared the illustrations for the charming
Puffin edition of R L Stevenson’s A Child’s Garden of
Verses. After a time in St Anne’s Crescent she bought,
in 1960, 12 Keere Street where she stayed for twentyeight
years. She died in 1991.
The Family from One End Street is a children’s book
first published in 1937, with her own illustrations.
The adventures of Mr Ruggles, a dustman, his washerwoman
wife and their seven children have proved
enduringly popular and the book is still in print. Further
adventures appeared in 1956 and Holiday at the
Dew Drop Inn in 1962, but these sequels were less
successful and Eve Garnett was sufficiently shrewd
to realise that the Ruggles household had, perhaps,
delighted us enough.
The setting is Otwell-on-the-Ouse. A map decorating
the endpapers of early clothbound editions makes
it clear that Otwell is based on Lewes. The layout
of the streets is different but the prison on the road
leading west out of town, the castle with its attendant
bowling green and car park, the railway line to
London in close proximity to the river are all very
familiar. Which Lewes street is the model for One
End Street? An illustration in the text is reminiscent
of Sun Street. Keere Street has been suggested and
St. Swithun’s Terrace has its adherents not least because
it actually is one-ended. All of which makes
it disappointing to read the text of a talk given by
Eve Garnett on one of her many trips to New Zealand
visiting her lifelong friend Lettice Loughnan to
whom, incidentally, A Family from One End Street
is dedicated.
‘I have been asked hundreds of times – is One End
Street real? Yes, it is – that is the street itself. It is in
a small fishing village in Devon near where I used to
live as a child.’
Some critics chide Eve Garnett for having a patronising
attitude to the poor which is, I think, unfair.
Others make extravagant claims for the book as a
social document; one going so far as to describe it as
‘a shot in the battle against slums,’ which is simply
deranged.
In fact it has polarised opinion right from the start.
Despite competition from The Hobbit, also published
in 1937, it won the Library Association Carnegie
Medal. Yet several publishers rejected it, one
declaring it unsuitable reading for children. Not a
view shared by Joseph Goebbels who chose ’The
Family from One End Street’ as a reading book for
German schools. V
W W W. V I V A L E W E S . C O M
L I t E r A r y L E W E S
5 3

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spam?
Unwanted emails getting you down?
For immediate I.T. assistance at the home or office,
call FREE: 0800 107 4111

Photograph: Katie Moorman
Norman Baker
On a public transport Mexican stand-off
Here are some questions about buses:
1. Why are buses on the main routes through
Lewes stopping next to a narrow pavement in East
Street rather than in the bus station designed for
the purpose?
Well, that’s because the present owners of the bus
station, who are property developers not transport
operators, insist on charging Brighton and Hove
buses in excess of £20,000 per annum to use the
bus station and the company, perhaps understandably,
won’t pay up.
2. Can’t the councils force either the bus station
owners to waive the charges, or force the bus company
to pay them?
No.
3. How come some other bus routes are in fact using
the bus station?
They are subsidised routes, and the county council
is paying the stoppage charge out of council tax
funds.
4. Why hasn’t someone provided a bus shelter on
the small piece of land next to the bus stop in
East Street (actually outside my office)?
Because the land in question is privately owned
by the people who own the old library building
(not me, by the way) and they don’t want a bus
shelter on their land.
5. What’s going to happen next?
Don’t know. It’s a kind of Mexican stand-off.
The owners of the bus station want to redevelop
the area for flats and shops and lose the bus facility
entirely, but the councils (county and district)
are insisting, rightly in my view, that any
redevelopment includes a proper bus facility for
passengers, if not here then close by, probably
behind Waitrose. If no facility is provided, then
no planning permission will be given.
6. Isn’t this a right mess?
Yes. I spent some time last year trying to sort it
out, but without much luck. Now that January’s
here, it’s probably time to have another go.
Happy New Year! V
W W W. V I V A L E W E S . C O M
C OC OL uL Mu Mn n
5 5

Tel. 01323 490085 | Design and Print
sales@zetacolour.co.uk
www.zetacolour.co.uk

Pepper’s Revolt
The leader is dead. Long live the leader
Eliot the rabbit, leader of the revolution,
was my muse, my chief advisor, my familiar
and friend. Last month’s column must
have been something of a premonition,
for following a bad cold and a heart attack
he is now dead.
As he passed through the veil he squealed
an otherworldly wail, the first time I’ve
ever heard him speak out loud. For the
first time he sounded like a rabbit. Specifically,
a dying rabbit.
I know that scream of admission to the
universe. I heard it at night when we lived
in the woods. It was the stoats claiming
one of the wild local lady bunnies Eliot
so enjoyed frolicking with, back in the
summer.
Following his death cry Eliot stretched
out as if taking flight… I thought I heard,
saw, felt… something… Then his body
went limp in my arms.
Before he fell ill we’d walked/hopped
together on one of our favourite hills.
We’d stopped by a tree to discuss the way
forward for the revolution. The answer
came: LEARN TO LOVE.
We sat down on a bench nearby built
with love by a friend for just such moments.
Eliot cuddled in my arms, me
feeling sensitive to the zeitgeist, the sun
setting over a familiar scene. We understood
what such love might feel like.
What love must feel like as we subjugate
ourselves to the will of our survival.
Governments have forsaken the people
who put them there. Global economic
meltdown, climate chaos, public disorder
and mass extinction dangle tantalizingly
as bait to our collective psychic sense of
impending fin d’everything. The fat lady’s
revving up for an aria. Only love can
save us now.
One of the last things Eliot said to me
that day as we weeded our nursery of hazel
trees at dusk was: “You’re not hearing
voices.” God bless that rabbit. His voice will continue to be heard.
I put myself at his service. In doing so I pledge my allegiance to
Spirit itself.
Spirit cannot be diminished by time, or pollution, or injustice,
or death. Spirit can be felt when we tear down the veil and take
flight beyond language, colour, thought, to the very essence of
our abstract existence: this feeling of common humanity may be
universally expressed as love.
Like his namesake, Eliot has chosen his epitaph from Four Quartets.
“The end is where we start from.”
As I plan the funeral I face an eco-spiritual dilemma. I’ve gone
vegan for a month to help save the planet. And yet the communication
of the dead tongued with fire beyond the language of the
living urges (in translation): “Eat me.” It’s a tough one.
Eliot, leader of the revolution 2006 – 2007. Long live the revolution.
V
W W W. V I V A L E W E S . C O M
C O L u M n
5 7

Names: Abi and Thomas Petit.
Business name: Gossypium – The Cotton Store.
What do you sell? Clothes and other goods made from
Fair Trade cotton.
How long have you been in business? We started
10 years ago. We spent the first two in India finding
farmers and suppliers who shared our ethical and environmental
values, then we moved here to start the
company. At first we had a stall in the Brighton market,
then we got a little shop in Lewes, which was flooded
in 2000. We moved on to the Riverside, and eventually,
six years ago, to our current shop in School Hill, in a
non-floodable zone.
Where do you get your raw materials from? Mainly
the Gujurat in NW India. We’ve done a lot of work
there and it takes five years for a cotton farm to convert
fully to organic, so we’ve stayed loyal to the area.
They have very small holdings – sometimes just an acre
or two, so being part of Fair Trade has helped them
support one another, as well as offering them technical
support and credit when they need it.
Why is it important for people to buy Fair Trade
cotton? It’s crucial – these people can hardly make a
living with their cotton farming and yet they are the
ones who look after the planet for us. Each cotton
plant reduces CO2 as it grows. Our cotton farmers are
proudly part of our supply chain rather than some invisible
toiler in the back. In fact the farmers we use have
become traders of their own product. Actually we have
broken ancient trading patterns when it comes to the
sale of cotton. We have taken Fair Trade cotton out of
the dollar market to which it was tied. The Americans
are going mad.
Anything else? There are also serious environmental
factors: there is no oil involved in the process so you
know that the production of the cotton we use has not
led to any carbon emissions.
Where do your customers come from? We must say
that our local Lewes customers are extremely important
to us. Without them we would never have got the
business going. And they have been very patient when
- as it does with a small company – stock has run out.
Instead of going to shop somewhere else they’ve come
back another day. This has enabled us to expand: we
sell all over the world now, through our catalogues and
internet site. Though we still only have one shop.
You’re not the first ethical clothing business in
Lewes… We came upon Lewes by chance when we
were looking for a base in Brighton, and knew immediately
it was perfect for us. At the same time we realised
that Clothkits was based here. The Kennedys, who
ran that business, have been supportive from the start.
They invested in us immediately and their daughter
Nula does our children’s designs. It’s nice to have such
a link with the past.
Could you do anything to be greener? We’ve completely
stopped using plastic wrapping recently – you
can see the difference on a Thursday night when you
compare our bins with the bags and bags of plastic bags
outside Monsoon and Fat Face.
But people will always pick up on things. We get shouted
at if the door doesn’t get shut immediately after a
customer walks in, because we’re heating the street.
We’ve jumped through a lot of ecological hoops to get
where we are, and just the fact that we make long life
textiles puts us in another league from the rest of the
clothing trade. On the whole we believe we’ve helped
move ethical consumerism a long way.
Is there anything you always get asked? We’re often
asked what ‘Gossypium’ means. It means ‘cotton’ in
Latin. And also we’re asked if there are any other shops
like ours anywhere. The answer is no. V
5 9
W W W. V I V A L E W E S . C O M
T R A D E S E C R E T S
Photograph: Alex Leith
Photograph: Katie Moorman

LEWES
DIRECTORY
Please note that though we aim to only take advertising from reputable businesses, we cannot guarantee the
quality of any work undertaken, and accept no reponsibility or liability for any issues arising.

h e a l t h a n d w e l l b e i n g
Acupuncture
richard Mudie 01273 684178
roger Murray 01273 473912
hanna Evans 07799 417924
Alexander technique
Adele gibson 01273 473168
Allergy testing
robin ravenhill 01273 470955
Aromatherapy
Marianna Lampard
01273 483471
baby Massage
dafna bartle 01273 470955
beauty & Massage therapist
Melanie Verity 01273 470908
bowen therapist
rita Eccles 01273 488009
Sarah yearsley 01273 403930
Chiropractor
dr. trevor Mains 01273473473
Cranio Sacral therapy
natalie Mineau 01273 470955
Counselling
Maggie turner 07944481858
Jane roe 01273 471 814
Lewes Counselling practice
01273 390331
tanya Smart 07790 979571
Counsellor & Integrative Arts
Camilla Clark 01273 483025
COUNSELLOR
Ruth M. Sheen
BA(Hons); MSW; CQSW;
Post Grad Diploma Counselling
01273 486338
the family Workshop
psychotherapy for
families and couples
01273 470805
www.thefamilyworkshop.org.uk
Cosmetic treatment
Simonne Carvin 01273 474428
dr hauschka treatments
denise gell 01273 470955
dynAMIC hEALIng VOICE
working with chakra energy
regular classes and workshops
Adrienne 07981 226 568
www.thevoiceproject.co.uk
Electrolysis and beauty
kim Cook 01273 476375
Emotional freedom technique
kathy Johnson 01273 487464
Eurythmy
Harmonizing Body, Mind
& Spirit. Kishu Wong
01 73 476439
facial rejuvenation Massage
Angie Asplin 01273 470955
homeopathy
nicki hutchinson 01273 470955
DUNCAN FREWEN BSc, Lic.
For CHIROPRACTIC or
HOMEOPATHY
At the Equilibrium Clinic
Tel: 01273 470955
Amanda Saurin 01273 479383
pat Eynon 07887 644404
hannah Scarlett 01273 480083
Sarah Worne 01273 480089
hypnotherapist
richard Morley 01273 470955
richard Slade 01273 470955
Michael Lank 01273 479397
Life Coaching
Butterfly 0800 2983798
benna Madan 01273 470842
Zara tippey 0845 4569816
Massage therapist
helen Willis 01273 242969
pam hewitt 01273 403930
Massage therapy (deep tissue)
Catherine hofmeyr 01273 470955
Medical herbalist
Sherie gabrielle 01273 473256
Meditation
Myo-Reflex Therapist (Physio)
birgitt Auer 07966 936390
nutrition
Claire hicks 01273 470955
Annie Mcrae 01273 470543
Osteopathy
Lin peters 01273 476371
Simon Murray 01273 403930
Physiotherapy and Sports
Injury Clinic
Nigel Baker
(BSc, MCSP, SRP)
Southdown Sports Club
pilates
Silvia Laurenti 01273 470955
bridgette Lee 01273 470955

pharmacys
St. Annes 01273 474645
psychotherapy
& Supervision
rosalind field
01273 40116
podiatrists
Clive Jones
01273 475000
Reflexology
“Revitalize & balance your body”
gift vouchers available
kateblackaller@yahoo.co.uk
07989 409258
Spritual & Crystal
Healing
Helen Piniger
013 3 491435
Lessons and Courses
flamenco dance classes
Saturdays mornings
All Saints Centre
Friars Walk, Lewes
Call Helena 01903 204321
DRUM AND
PIANO LESSONS
Beginners to Intermediate
Call Luke on 01273 479184
0782 8298507
Sports Massage
therapist
bill Jeffries
01273 471965
tai Chi
paul tucker
01273 470955
yoga
Anita 07764 580767
Lesley rowe 07791 521736
pregnancy yoga
Julie Archer 01273 471558
Lex titterington
07896 658353
To Advertise
with
Viva LEWES
call
01273
488882
Guitar/Songwriting lessons
Beginners - Intermediate
Many styles covered
Call Darius on 07980743830
Spanish Lessons
Call Adriana Blair
41A St. Anne’s Crescent, Lewes
01273 476982
Email: napb@fsmail.net
ImprovLab (Drop-In)
Mon 7-9pm Westgate Chapel
from Jan 14th
Playfully, collectively, moving thro’
each moment.
magletti@gmail.com
07980-434951
POETRY WRITING
New 10 wk course starts 24th Jan,
Sussex Downs College.
08452 601608
h e a l t h a n d w e l l b e i n g

espoke kitchens
hartley Quinn Wislon
01273 401648
peter rogan 01273 513478
building and Landscaping
Steve holford 01273 475485
building and decorating
Marc Cable 0773 9127901
building Maintenance
ray Shaw 01273 477636
building Services
P E G L E R
Building Services
General Building - Loft Conversion
- Renovation
01273 486776 / 07711282152
Carpentry
goodman-burrows 01273483339
phil day 07813 326130
Ceramic restorer
Carpenter, Decorator
Sash Windows Repairs
Paul Furnell
Tel: 07717 862940
Sarah burgess 01273 479099
Chimney Sweep
Mark Owen 01273 514349
Corgi gas boiler Servicing
dereck Wills 01273 472886
Electrical Contractor
robin Shoebridge
01273 515169
gardening
Sally Holder
Professional Gardener
Specialising in high quality
renovation and maintenance
tel 01 73 471786
glazier
Castle glazing 01273 472697
dave dryburgh 01273 472697
Joinery Services
parsons Joinery 01273 814870
kitchens
Landscape gardening
Woodruffs 01273 4708431
phil downham 01273 488261
Alex hart 01273 401962
painter & decorator
Steve dartnell 01273 478469
p. Moult 01825 714738
patchwork and Quilting
The Patchwork Dog
& Basket
Needlemakers, Lewes
01273 483886
plumbing & heating
plumbcare 0845 6421799
keri Lindsay & berty richer
01273 476570
removals & house Clearance
benjamin Light 07904 453825
Roofing Services
richard Soan 01273 486110
rugs & Carpets (Oriental)
tree houses
tree Surgery
TREE SURGERY
& GARDENING
Martin Ashby
T: 01273 476539
Mobile: 07754 041827
To Advertise with
Viva LEWES call
01273 488882
b u s i n e s s , h o m e & g a r d e n

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g e n e r a l s e r v i c e s
Taxis
gM taxis 01273 473737
Lewes district taxis Ltd 01273 483232
Lewes hackney Varriages 01273 474444
Len’s taxis 01273 488000
PHOENIX CARS
now with eight seater
TO BOOK CALL 01273 475 858
S &g taxis 01273 476116
yellow Cars 01273 472727
Useful numbers
Emergency/utilities
Electricity and gas 0800 783 8866
gas Emergency 0800 111 999
Water Emergency 0845 278 0845
floodline 0845 988 1188
bt fault Line 0800 800 151
Lewes Victoria hospital
01273 474153
Sussex police (non-emergency)
0845 607 0999
Crimestoppers 0800 555 111
transport
gatwick Enq 0870 000 2468
heathrow Enq 0870 000 0123
national rail 08457 484950
public transport travel line
0870 608 2608
Other
Childline 0800 1111
Citizens’ Advice 01273 473082
Lewes Chamber of Commerce
01273 488212
Lewes district Council
01273 471600
Lewes Library 01273 474232
Lewes tourist Info 01273 483448
the Samaritans 08457 90 90 90

ill’s produce Store
56 Cliffe high Street
01273 476918
beijing restaurant
13 fisher St, Lewes
01273 487 654
Casbah
146 high Street, Lewes
01273 472441
Castle Sandwich Bar
155 High St, Lewes
01273 478080
Cheese please
46 high Street Lewes
01273 481048
Carnival (Chinese t/A)
01273 474221
Circa
pelham house Lane, Lewes,
01273 471 333
dilraj
12 fisher St, Lewes
01273 479 279
LAPORTE’S
Local and Organic Food
1 Lansdown Place
01 73 478817
Lazzati’s (Italian)
17, Market St, Lewes
01273 479539
Lewes Spice
32 Lansdown place, Lewes
01273 472 493
panda garden Chinese
162 high St, Lewes
01273 473 235
patisserie Lewes
01273 483211
pizza Express plc
15 high St, Lewes
01273 487 524
Seasons of Lewes
199 high St, Lewes
01273 473 968
Spice Merchant
01273 470707
South Street fish bar
9 South St, Lewes
01273 474 710
Spring barn farm
kingston road, Lewes
01273 488450
the brasserie
Cliffe high St, Lewes
01273 472 247
the needlemakers Cafe
West Street Lewes
01273 486258
the friar
7 fisher St, Lewes
01273 472 016
yummy yummy’s
38 Western road,Lewes
01273 473366
Pubs
Abergavenny Arms
rodmell, Lewes
01273 472416
black horse Inn
55 Western rd,
Lewes,
01273 473 653
blacksmiths Arms
Offham, Lewes
01273 472 971
dorset
22 Mallinsg Street Lewes
01273 474823
Elephant & Castle
White hill, Lewes
01273 473 797
green Man
Lewes road ringmer
01273 812422
John harvey tavern
1 bear yard t, Lewes
01273 479 880
Lewes Arms
1 Mount place, Lewes
01273 473 152
pelham Arms
high St, Lewes
01273 476 149
royal Oak
3 Station Street, Lewes
01273 474803
Snowdrop Inn
119 South St, Lewes
01273 471 018
tally ho
baxter rd, Lewes,
01273 474 759
the Anchor
Lewes road ringmer
01273 812370
the brewers Arms
91 high St, Lewes,
01273 475 524
the Cock
Uckfield Road, Ringmer
01273 812040
the Chalk pit Inn
Offham rd, Offham
01273 471 124
the Juggs
the Street, kingston, Lewes
01273 472 523
the Lansdown
36 Lansdown place, Lewes
01273 480623
the kings head
9 Southover high St, Lewes
01273 474 628
the Meridian
109 Western rd, Lewes
tel: 01273 473710
the Lamb
10 fisher St, Lewes
01273 470 950
the rainbow Inn
resting Oak hill, Cooksbridge
01273 400 334
the rainbow tavern
179 high St, Lewes
01273 472 170
the Swan
30a Southover high St, Lewes
01273 480 211
Volunteer Inn
12 Eastgate Street
f o o d a n d d r i n k

M Y Y L LE EW W EES S
Jane Aiken Hodge recently celebrated her 90th birthday.
A career writing historical romances began after
her thirtieth birthday when her younger daughter
started school. Jane stopped writing novels after her
thirty-fifth was published in 2003. She started drafting
her memoirs but got bored and now she does editing
and other writing work as it arises. She’s something
of an expert on Regency women; her books include a
biography of Jane Austen.
Are you local? I was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts
[Jane’s father was poet and critic Conrad Aiken],
but my family came over to Britain when I was three
and we lived in Winchelsea. After the birth of my sister,
we moved to Rye. During the ferocious divorce
of my parents, my mother used to meet the man who
later became my stepfather, Martin, in The White
Hart, which is how I first knew about Lewes. I bought
this house, which was called the Welcome Stranger, in
1972, at auction. It has an Elizabethan bread oven in
the cellar, and was clearly an ale house handy for the
Priory. Their hops fields were near Eastport Lane. I
was told it became a doss house sleeping eighty men,
with bunks in what is now my sitting room.
What do you like about Lewes? Lewes is my patch.
The beauty of it is that you can do everything on foot.
I don’t drive, but go out every -day hunter-gathering
with my old rucksack to get dinner, often dropping
into the library, which is wonderful. I had some involvement
in lobbying to get the new one built. And
Lewes is so friendly. When I walk down the High
Street, I see batches of people I would like to talk to.
I would rather enjoy having a party and just inviting
people I like the look of. Also, it’s so interesting to enter
a house and catch sight of a lovely garden tucked
away in the back, which you never knew existed.
What’s your favourite pub? I like to go to country
pubs for lunch with my daughter or friends. The Jolly
W W W. V I V A L E W E S . C O M
Sportsman, the Rainbow, the Griffin and the Trevor
Arms are my favourites.
What’s your poison? Dry sherry and red wine. My
father passed his Wine Society shares onto me and I
get it delivered by the boxful.
Where do you shop? I use the milkman, Patel’s,
shops in the Riverside and Bill’s, and the car boot sale
and charity shops for books. I would choose Waitrose
over Tesco. I once discovered I had shares in Tesco
and demanded they be sold. I now realise, for all sorts
of reasons including shopping and e-mailing family,
how useful it would have been to have become computer
literate. But my sister Joan Aiken [also a prolific
writer. The Wolves of Willoughby Chase was one of
her books] and I encouraged each other not to.
What’s your favourite Lewes landmark? I enjoy
looking up to the castle from here, and it is lovely, but
I’d have to say the Grange Gardens by a short head.
I treat it as my garden, it’s so close, and they’ve done
so much to improve it. They have just won a national
award for good maintenance.
How would you spend a perfect Sunday afternoon?
I love walking by the sea. My favourite walk is the one
that starts by the barn up at Seaford Head, along the
cliff and down to Cuckmere Haven.
Can you recommend a good film? I loved The
Queen, but I don’t get to many films these days. They
go too fast, leaping from point to point and I don’t
hear so well. More often, I go to Glyndebourne or the
Theatre Royal.
How do feel entering your tenth decade? With the
world as it is, I feel I’ve been around long enough. It’s
not a bad time to quit, though I feel I should be out
on the streets campaigning against global warming. I
gave up my American citizenship in the Nixon era, but
if I hadn’t, I would now.
V
Photograph: Alex Leith
Photograph: Katie Moorman

Indulgence
A fine example of Georgian architecture with 16th Century origins,
The Shelleys offers the highest standards of service, cuisine and hospitality.
The Shelleys
The High Street, Lewes, East Sussex, BN7 1XS T: 01273 472361 F: 01273 483152
info@shelleys-hotel-lewes.com www.the-shelleys.co.uk

fabulous two bedroom apartments and live/work units
available in this exclusive development in the heart of
Lewes, ready Spring 2008. Outstanding views from the
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to rail and road links for both Brighton and London
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Viewing by appointment only
From £249,995 - Over 65% sold off plan
call 01273 407909 or visit www.theprintworkslewes.co.uk
enquiries
Clifford Dann
Albion House, Albion Street
Lewes, East Sussex BN7 2NF