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4
EDITORIAL
Two articles which appeared within ten days of one
another in the Times and the Sunday Times in Aug<strong>us</strong>t
painted contradictory portraits of Lewes.
The first, which described the casual racism encountered
by a mixed-race family who’d recently
moved to Lewes from Brixton, ca<strong>us</strong>ed the most
stir, and led to countless debates in town. Our take
on the matter is that the writer had a point, but he
made it rather badly.
It’s easy for a largely mono-ethnic community
(Lewes District is 98.7% white) to be blasé about its
attitude to race, and a positive reaction to the piece
would be for everybody in Lewes – however tolerant
they believe themselves to be - to examine their
behaviour, and wonder if it comes up to the mark.
That said, the tone of the piece was at best naïve,
and at worst provocative, and the whole affair left
something of a bad taste in the mouth. We would
have preferred the author to address a community
THIS MONTH’S COVER
issue in a community magazine – such as ours –
rather than tarring the whole town with a national
reputation it scarcely deserves. Norman Baker addresses
the issue in his monthly column.
A week later a piece appeared on the front page
of the Times Life section, by Ben Ward, about the
community takeover of Lewes FC which, you may
have noticed, we have been involved with. This
painted Lewes in an entirely different light – as a
go-ahead, community-driven town that does things
its own way. That’s the way we prefer to see our
town, but, again, such a reputation
depends on action, not
spin; and complacency is the
arch-enemy of action.
Enough said. Welcome to the
September issue, welcome to
the start of Autumn, and enjoy
the month…
In May this year the East S<strong>us</strong>sex Records Office
made an amazing purchase. A series of didactic
lantern slides of Lewes and the surrounding
area, derived from the Jireh Chapel archive.
These slides had not been seen by the public for
over 100 years. Among the pictures were some
images of children from the Lewes Ragged
School, an institution for the poor kids of the
town, which ran for some 70 years, until 1916.
There were also some shots, including the one
we’ve chosen for our cover, of children from the
Jireh Chapel Sunday School (from their clothes
from much more prospero<strong>us</strong> homes) during
their ‘annual treat’ at the Dripping Pan, held
every June. These kids, sitting on a bench in
front of one of the flint walls in (what was then,
as it is <strong>now</strong>) the football ground, with their tin
cups and their hunks of bread, look like they’re
having a fine old time of it. The cover design,
kept simple due to the strength of the photo,
is by Katie Moorman, who has simply added
the moniker of our magazine in the font Brock
Script, chosen, she says, ‘for its curly, calligraphic
quality’.