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Viva Lewes Issue #112 January 2016

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LEWES<br />

Wednesday 27th <strong>January</strong><br />

16:00 – 19:00<br />

EASTBOURNE<br />

Wednesday 3rd February<br />

16:00 – 19:00<br />

www.sussexdowns.ac.uk


112<br />

VIVALEWES<br />

Editorial<br />

“You are what you eat,” is the mantra of our ‘My <strong>Lewes</strong>’ interviewee this month, Tina<br />

Deubert, healthy-food cook, nutritionist and all-round good egg (of the organic, free-range<br />

and biodynamic variety, natch). Generally in <strong>January</strong>s we’ve gone down the ‘New Year’s<br />

Resolution’ route, trying out everything from colonic irrigation (I’ll never hear the end of<br />

that one) to giving up smoking. This year we’ve decided to think more about the other side<br />

of the self-improvement coin - pre-emptive health measures. And so we’ve decided on the<br />

obvious preventative-medicine-related saying as our theme: ‘an apple a day’ (with the knee<br />

jerk follow-on that’ll have sparked in your mind concerning the resultant remoteness of your<br />

GP). Which all begs the question: in this day and age when we’re being told that fat is where<br />

it’s at, and don’t drink too much of that evil orange juice – is an apple a day good for you?<br />

Over to Tina… “It’s one of the best fruits,” she says, “as long as you buy organic, because<br />

most of the nutrients are in the skin. It’s a good source of vitamin C, potassium and the antioxidant<br />

quercetin, it’s good for your cholesterol balance, and<br />

it’s high in fibre, so the sugars in it are released slowly. It<br />

may help reduce the risk of cancer, Type-2 diabetes, and<br />

heart disease. What’s more, food doesn’t get more local -<br />

you can grow them in your back garden.” Get the message?<br />

Eat. One. Now. Enjoy the issue… and Happy New Year.<br />

The Team<br />

.....................<br />

EDITOR: Alex Leith alex@vivamagazines.com<br />

SUB-EDITOR: David Jarman<br />

STAFF WRITERS: Rebecca Cunningham rebecca@vivamagazines.com, Steve Ramsey rambo@vivalewes.com<br />

ART DIRECTOR: Katie Moorman katie@vivalewes.com<br />

ADVERTISING: Sarah Hunnisett, Amanda Meynell advertising@vivalewes.com<br />

EDITORIAL/ADMIN ASSISTANT: Isabella McCarthy Sommerville admin@vivamagazines.com<br />

PUBLISHER: Lizzie Lower, lizzie@vivalewes.com<br />

directors: Alex Leith, Lizzie Lower, Becky Ramsden, Nick Williams<br />

REGULAR CONTRIBUTORS: Jacky Adams, Michael Blencowe, Sarah Boughton, Mark Bridge, Emma Chaplin, Barry Collins,<br />

Moya Crockett, Mark Greco, John Henty, Mat Homewood, Paul Austin Kelly, Chloë King, Ian Seccombe, Marcus Taylor<br />

<strong>Viva</strong> <strong>Lewes</strong> is based at Pipe Passage, 151b High Street, <strong>Lewes</strong>, BN7 1XU, 01273 488882<br />

Every care has been taken to ensure the accuracy of our content. <strong>Viva</strong> <strong>Lewes</strong> magazine cannot be held responsible for any omissions, errors<br />

or alterations. The views expressed by columnists do not necessarily represent the view of <strong>Viva</strong> <strong>Lewes</strong>.


VALUATION DAY<br />

Jewellery and Watches<br />

Wednesday 20 <strong>January</strong>, 10am to 4pm<br />

Brighton and Hove Office<br />

Bonhams jewellery specialist will be in the Brighton<br />

and Hove office to offer free and confidential advice<br />

on items you may be considering selling at auction.<br />

APPOINTMENTS<br />

AND ENQUIRIES<br />

01273 220000<br />

jenny.bouston@bonhams.com<br />

Bonhams<br />

19 Palmeira Square<br />

Hove BN3 2JN<br />

bonhams.com/hove


the ‘apple a day’ issue<br />

Contents<br />

37<br />

Bits and bobs.<br />

8-23. Ian Seccombe’s jumping apples,<br />

vox populi advice on how to cure<br />

a cold, Tina Deubert’s <strong>Lewes</strong>, the<br />

county town’s health stats, and plenty<br />

more besides.<br />

Columns.<br />

25-29. A variety of muses for our<br />

columnists: for David Jarman it’s The<br />

Bard, Chloë King cites Jon Ronson,<br />

and Mark Bridge is inspired by his<br />

indestructible cat, Rupert.<br />

In town this month.<br />

31. We meet bumblebee expert Prof<br />

Dave Goulson.<br />

33. Holocaust memorial: Tim Locke<br />

on his Kindertransport mum.<br />

35. Economics funny-man Simon<br />

Evans at the Linklater Pavilion.<br />

37-41. Art. The cinematic hoardings<br />

at the Depot, Bill Knight’s refugee<br />

39<br />

portraits in the Town Hall, John Bratby<br />

at the Jerwood, and plenty more.<br />

43. Classical music. Paul Austin Kelly<br />

on… Paul Austin Kelly, and other artists.<br />

44-45. Cinema. Timbuktu,<br />

Abderrahmane Sissako’s powerful cry<br />

from the heart.<br />

47-51. Diary dates. What’s on, in<br />

chronological order, including, of course,<br />

<strong>January</strong> being <strong>January</strong>, St Mary’s Panto,<br />

in its 68th year.<br />

53-54. Gig guide. Angaleena Presley,<br />

bringing her country blues from<br />

Kentucky to the Con Club. And plenty<br />

more from pirate folk to cool jazz.<br />

57-61. Free time. What’s on for the<br />

U16s, photo of the month by Lizzie<br />

Archer, and ice skating at the Pavilion.<br />

Food and drink.<br />

63-71. Healthy stuff this month: onglet<br />

steak in the Limetree Kitchen, a zingy<br />

soup from Cashew Catering, water<br />

Kefir from Ana Frearson, and a posh<br />

full English at Le Magasin. Plus Chloë<br />

5


the ‘apple a day’ issue<br />

64<br />

King’s food news, and reader offers<br />

from The Barley Mow and The<br />

Griffin Inn.<br />

The way we work.<br />

73-77. Simon Potter visits three<br />

different smile enhancers in the<br />

same day.<br />

107<br />

Features.<br />

78-89. My space with Trish from<br />

Specsavers, John Henty shoots<br />

from the hip, Barry Collins meets<br />

<strong>Lewes</strong> Ladies’ new medic, Michael<br />

Blencowe on herbalist Nicholas<br />

Culpeper, trade secrets from St<br />

Anne’s Pharmacy, and we visit<br />

Chailey Heritage.<br />

Business Directory.<br />

90-105. Reputable <strong>Lewes</strong><br />

businesses at your fingertips, with<br />

the spotlight on intrinsic HEALTH<br />

and the award-winning wheelchair<br />

specialists Design Specific.<br />

Inside Left.<br />

106. Four rugged cyclists,<br />

from 1894… but only one with<br />

pneumatic tyres.<br />

VIVA DEADLINES<br />

We plan each magazine six weeks ahead, with a mid-month advertising/copy deadline.<br />

Please send details of planned events to events@vivalewes.com, and for any advertising queries,<br />

contact advertising@vivalewes.com, or call 01273 434567.


IT’S TIME TO STAND<br />

UP TO SPINAL PAIN<br />

NUFFIELD HEALTH BRIGHTON HOSPITAL<br />

At Nuffield Health Brighton Hospital, we want to make sure you are<br />

living the life you love. That’s why we offer rapid access to expert<br />

assessment, diagnosis and treatment of spinal pain. Whether you’re<br />

experiencing back or neck discomfort, we have specialists that can help,<br />

at a time and date to suit you. Get back to the life you love.<br />

Nuffield Health Brighton Hospital,<br />

Warren Road,<br />

Woodingdean,<br />

Brighton,<br />

BN2 6DX<br />

01273 987 089<br />

nuffieldhealth.com/hospitals/brighton


8


this month’s cover artists: photography firm<br />

This year’s first cover comes from husband-andwife<br />

duo Helen and Andrew Perris. Aided by<br />

their small team, they run Photography Firm, a<br />

commercial photography studio based in Cooksbridge.<br />

We approached them to come up with<br />

a concept for our ‘Apple a Day’ issue and they<br />

just so happened to be working on a similarlythemed<br />

project already. Helen explains: “We’ve<br />

been working on a large series which plays<br />

around with the idea of how we can change people’s<br />

opinions on sugar. If you wrap up chocolate<br />

in shiny paper and make it look really appealing,<br />

of course everyone’s going to want to eat<br />

it.” So rather than trying to make sugary foods<br />

and sweets look less attractive, they decided to<br />

focus instead on making fruit and veg look just<br />

as exciting.<br />

The project came about in part after having<br />

three children of their own and noticing the<br />

way that sugary foods are portrayed to children<br />

in particular. But as they shoot a lot of images<br />

for stock libraries, another important factor was<br />

the current popularity surrounding the sugar issue.<br />

“We do a lot of research into current trends,<br />

using information that’s available to everybody:<br />

half of it was just reading the newspapers and<br />

half was research into what’s trending in the<br />

microstock world.” In other words, finding out<br />

what people are searching for online.<br />

The duo work on the idea generation stage together,<br />

and the chosen concept is photographed<br />

by Andrew. Helen is a graphic designer, so her<br />

next role is the retouching of the images and<br />

producing the artwork. In a lot of cases they will<br />

sell their work through agencies, so they won’t<br />

always know where one of their images will turn<br />

up. “Sometimes we do bulk private commissions,”<br />

Helen says, “but when it comes to the rest<br />

of our work we won’t know where it’s being used.<br />

It’s a nice surprise when it pops up in a blog or a<br />

magazine somewhere.”<br />

During the coming year, the team are hoping to<br />

fit in some time working on their own projects,<br />

between commissions for their clients. When<br />

they find the time, they want to start merchandising<br />

and selling some of their own work, in the<br />

form of limited edition prints, amongst other<br />

things. Helen says: “These are the kinds of projects<br />

that we look forward to working on, just for<br />

the love of art and design.” RC<br />

See more of Helen and Andrew’s work at<br />

photographyfirm.co.uk<br />

9


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25 - 27 FEBRUARY<br />

TICKETS £15<br />

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Nothing is a co-commission between Glyndebourne and the Royal Opera House<br />

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The Chalk Cliff Trust, The Bernard Sunley Charitable Foundation, The Helen Wade<br />

Charitable Trust, The Charles Peel Charitable Trust, The D’Oyly Carte Charitable<br />

Trust, RVW Trust and investment from Glyndebourne’s New Generation Programme.


Photo bny Alex Leith<br />

my lewes<br />

Tina Deubert: Cook, nutritionist, teacher<br />

Are you local? My life has taken me in a little triangle.<br />

I grew up in Newhaven, went to Germany<br />

as an au pair, then moved to Brighton. In 1987,<br />

pregnant with my first child, I moved to <strong>Lewes</strong>.<br />

It seemed like a good place to bring up children.<br />

What was Newhaven like when you were a kid?<br />

It was a great place to grow up. It was before the<br />

ring road, when it had a proper high street. I had<br />

lots of freedom and played in the countryside.<br />

Lots of beach time, too; when I was a teenager me<br />

and my best friend swam from March to October.<br />

How did you come to run a healthy-food café?<br />

[Tina’s Kitchen on the High Street] My mum<br />

let me experiment in the kitchen from when I was<br />

about eight, but advised me not to take up cooking<br />

as a profession. I did all sorts of things – from<br />

temping to doing a teacher training course, but I<br />

always loved everything about good food. For four<br />

years I ran the Farmers’ Market, then I trained to<br />

be a nutritional therapist. This job brings together<br />

everything I’ve done which I’m passionate about:<br />

I use my teaching in my healthy eating courses<br />

and workshops, advise people on their diet… and<br />

I cook and love inventing new recipes!<br />

Can you recommend any other <strong>Lewes</strong> restaurants<br />

or pubs? It’s recently been discovered that<br />

humans don’t have a gluten-digesting enzyme,<br />

which is why so many people have a problem with<br />

it. I don’t eat (or serve) any food containing gluten,<br />

but once or twice a year I’ll treat myself and have<br />

one of the best pizzas ever at The Hearth. I’m not<br />

a great pub goer, but I enjoy a drink, mostly wine;<br />

my favourite treat is a Negroni. If I want a nice<br />

informal meal out, I’ll choose Lazzati’s (Famiglia,<br />

but still Lazzati’s to us).<br />

What did you have for breakfast this morning?<br />

The same as I had for dinner last night because<br />

it was so good! Cheese and ham in a beanjack<br />

(instead of bread) sandwich. It’s best to have a<br />

savoury breakfast with plenty of protein, which<br />

helps to stabilise your blood sugar levels and reduce<br />

cravings.<br />

What’s your favourite view? On a Sunday afternoon<br />

I love walking up to Black Cap and looking<br />

over towards Kingston. I’d look over to Newhaven<br />

if the incinerator didn’t get in the way. I used<br />

to walk every day before I opened the shop; if I<br />

can get away, I love climbing to the top of the castle<br />

and looking over the roofs and gardens below.<br />

We’re members of the SAS so it’s free; I wouldn’t<br />

pay £7. You could have a mushroom Scotch egg<br />

and a mixed salad for that!<br />

What don’t you like about <strong>Lewes</strong>? The house<br />

prices. I’d like my children to be able to afford to<br />

live here.<br />

Where in the world would you live if you<br />

didn’t live here? In Cornwall. I love the sea, and<br />

wild weather. Interview by Alex Leith<br />

11


TOUR THE<br />

WINE ESTATE<br />

EAT OR STAY AT<br />

THE FLINT BARNS<br />

EXPLORE THE<br />

RATHFINNY TRAIL<br />

SHOP GIFTS AT<br />

THE GUN ROOM<br />

Rathfinny Wine Estate, Alfriston, East Sussex BN26 5TU / www.rathfinnyestate.com


its and bobs<br />

ian seccombe’s point of view<br />

“Afal y dydd yn cadw y meddyg i ffwrdd” writes the ever-more-inventive Ian Seccombe, who this<br />

month hasn’t been able to get out and about, instead taking this trick shot from inside his house, in<br />

front of a cabinet full of old <strong>Viva</strong>s. But that hasn’t stopped him keeping on theme. “Apparently the<br />

common English idiom ‘An apple a day keeps the doctor away’ has its origins in Wales.”<br />

town plaques #10: <strong>Lewes</strong> Dispensary – our first hospital<br />

For more than a century the town’s hospital has been on Nevill<br />

Road, and thousands of residents have had reason to be grateful<br />

for that local service. However, the first hospital was located<br />

at 11, High Street: a building which now has only financial<br />

connotations, being the home of NatWest Bank, across Friars<br />

Walk from Fitzroy House.<br />

<strong>Lewes</strong> Dispensary was established in 1847, funded by the Pest<br />

House charity and public subscription and soon moved to this<br />

building, emblazoning its name across the front over the top windows. Three accident beds were added<br />

in 1867 and the Victoria wards in 1888. The postcard here (from the <strong>Lewes</strong> Past Facebook collection) is not<br />

dated, but shows how [apart from the demise of the railway bridge] little this part of town has changed in<br />

a hundred years. The present hospital, named in memory of the Queen, was planned after her death and<br />

was opened in 1910. Marcus Taylor<br />

13 13


photo of the month<br />

saNta claws<br />

We thought we’d try to cheer those <strong>January</strong> blues with this picture sent to us by Robert Horscroft,<br />

who was busy in the run-up to the New Year [spoiler alert for the under-eights] in his role as Santa,<br />

for Drusillas and various other organisations. Not too busy to go for the odd walk, though, and he<br />

encountered this little creature while at Splash Point, near Seaford. “Somebody had obviously found<br />

these glasses on the beach, and decided to make an artwork out of them,” he says. And it’s quite an artwork,<br />

with the Ray-Ban-like frames over two eye-holes in the pebble, and the lobster (or is it a crab?)<br />

claw acting as a surrogate arm; if you look closely you can even see what passes for a mouth. “I take my<br />

Canon Powershot Sx500 IS nearly everywhere I go, and usually take shots of the light and the shades<br />

and the colour,” he says. “This one just fell into my lap.” There’s an epilogue to the story, too: “I put it<br />

on Facebook, and one of my ‘friends’ wrote: ‘here, those look like my glasses I lost on the beach a few<br />

days ago’. I told him where to look: I doubt if they were still there, somehow.”<br />

Please send your pictures, taken in and around <strong>Lewes</strong>, to photos@vivalewes.com. We’ll choose our favourite<br />

for this page, which wins the photographer £20. Unless otherwise arranged we reserve the right to use all<br />

pictures in future issues of <strong>Viva</strong> magazines.<br />

14


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www.VisitStAndrewsPrep.co.uk


its and bobs<br />

vox pop Frankie Watts and Keri Thomas from sussex<br />

downs college ask: How do you treat a cold?<br />

“I believe in rest and sleep,<br />

taking a mixture of fresh<br />

lemon and honey, trying not<br />

to feel sorry for yourself!”<br />

Barry Shepard<br />

“Lots of sleep and<br />

healthy organic food,<br />

keep warm and take<br />

medication as needed.”<br />

Lauren Heely<br />

“Complain a lot.”<br />

“Vitamin supplements, fresh<br />

orange, lots of rest.”<br />

Helen Norman, Clair Hemett<br />

and Frances Bell-Davis<br />

“With difficulty, sleep<br />

mostly” Maureen Messer<br />

“Fill yourself with Harveys”<br />

Sam Hall<br />

“Take it easy and take<br />

medication!” Gill Pleose


Problems at work?<br />

Trouble at t’mill?<br />

We can help<br />

Call Simon Dodds or Quintin Barry on 01273 480234<br />

to book your free half hour interview.<br />

www.lawsonlewisblakers.co.uk<br />

Suite 4, Sackville House, Brooks Close, <strong>Lewes</strong> BN7 2FZ<br />

Offices also at: Eastbourne | Peacehaven<br />

Check us out on Twitter and Facebook


its and BObs<br />

A lewes worthy’s sad demise gideon mantell<br />

Around 1840, things weren’t going well for<br />

<strong>Lewes</strong>’ great dinosaur hunter, Gideon<br />

Mantell. Previously a country doctor,<br />

he’d tried and failed to set up a practice<br />

in fashionable Brighton. In 1838<br />

he’d had to sell his fossil collection.<br />

‘His wife and elder son left him the<br />

next year and his favourite daughter,<br />

Hannah Matilda, died of tuberculosis in<br />

1840,’ biographer Dennis Dean has noted.<br />

There followed ‘months of despair’.<br />

He was also suffering increasingly from spine<br />

problems. He partly blamed the country doctor’s<br />

lifestyle – lots of riding and walking and stooping<br />

over patients’ beds. Later, in London, he’d<br />

exhausted himself tending to a demanding-butwealthy<br />

patient, while also dealing with ‘my sweet<br />

girl’s malady, which required careful dressing night<br />

and morning, often occupying an hour, and which<br />

I would not transfer to a nurse’. And then<br />

there was his carriage accident in 1841.<br />

‘His fortitude in relation to the pains,<br />

spasms and neuralgia was impressive,’<br />

according to biographer Edmund<br />

Critchley, ‘though nothing like as remarkable<br />

as his activity and enormous<br />

output of books and lectures during<br />

that period.’ However, he ‘became increasingly<br />

dependent’ on painkillers, and<br />

died in 1852, aged 62, apparently from an accidental<br />

overdose.<br />

Mantell had said that, if his spine turned out to<br />

be medically interesting, it should be donated to<br />

the Hunterian Museum, at the Royal College of<br />

Surgeons. This is odd, as its curator at the time was<br />

his great rival, Richard Owen. The spine remained<br />

there until around 1969, when, according to one<br />

source, it was destroyed ‘due to lack of space’. SR<br />

ghost pubs: #15 The Grape Vine Inn, South Parade<br />

The Grape Vine started its days in the 1840s<br />

as the ‘Tunnel Arms’. The railway had come to<br />

<strong>Lewes</strong> in 1846, and the entrance to the tunnel<br />

which runs under <strong>Lewes</strong> High Street was placed<br />

at South Parade, so the Tunnel Arms seemed an<br />

apt name for a new beer shop. However, by 1853<br />

its name had been changed to the ‘Grape Vine’,<br />

with one room selling beer, and another selling<br />

groceries. Horace Head ran it from 1879 until<br />

1892, and, despite having his greenhouse smashed<br />

by a woman he had barred, appears to have been<br />

a well-respected landlord. However, after Horace<br />

had left, the Grape Vine seemed to go downhill. It had seven landlords over the following six years, and<br />

was attracting a ‘very rough element’. Landlord Frank Woolven was heavily fined in 1904 for permitting<br />

drunkenness, and fined again just a few months later. It is perhaps unsurprising that the Grape Vine was<br />

another victim of the great <strong>Lewes</strong> pub cull of 1907. This photo (kindly supplied by John Davey) shows the<br />

Grape Vine around the time of its closure. The building was later demolished. However, it is nice to see<br />

that the modern house which stands in its place is called… ‘The Grapevine’. Mat Homewood<br />

19


photography<br />

CARLOTTA LUKE<br />

girl about town<br />

Our out-and-about photographer Carlotta<br />

Luke has been roving the district for pictures<br />

taken since our last deadline. Clockwise,<br />

from top left: Southover Grange ‘during the<br />

[Enchanted Space] light show, which was<br />

brilliant, by the way’; another image from the<br />

Grange Gardens spectacular; an art installation<br />

at the all-new Newhaven Library; and<br />

a scene from the Remembrance Day service,<br />

back in November: “I thought it was apt considering<br />

the state of the world and the MPs’<br />

vote to start airstrikes against Syria.”<br />

20


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book review: bowled over<br />

‘Let there be no doubt. For anyone interested in the history of<br />

bowls, as a game, <strong>Lewes</strong> must be their starting point.’ This is a<br />

quote from Bowled Over (the second in the excellent series of reference<br />

books Played in Britain) which is all about the ancient sport<br />

of bowling, in all its forms. The book, beautifully written and illustrated,<br />

tells you pretty much everything you might need to<br />

know about a game which was ‘first codified in 1670, long before<br />

other sports, such as football, cricket, and golf.’ One of the reasons<br />

the <strong>Lewes</strong> green is so heavily featured (it is awarded a whole<br />

chapter and there are 35 references to it, more than anything else<br />

in the index) is that it is thought to be the oldest green in the<br />

country, used for the same purpose since at least 1640. <strong>Lewes</strong><br />

Bowling Club, formed in 1753, is the equal-oldest in the country, as well, out of over 7,400 clubs. The<br />

rules of the <strong>Lewes</strong> game are unique, too, with our-very-own-shaped jacks and woods. Much more of that<br />

in the next issue, which we will dedicate to ‘<strong>Lewes</strong> at Play’. In the meantime, let there be no doubt, for anyone<br />

interested in reading up the history of bowls, as a game, Bowled Over must be their starting point. AL<br />

22


its and bobs<br />

lewes in numbers<br />

The 2011 Census questioned <strong>Lewes</strong>’s<br />

17,297 residents, of whom 83% considered<br />

themselves to be in good or very<br />

good health. 16.5% of the population, or<br />

1 in 6 people, declared themselves to have<br />

a long-term condition, lasting 12 months<br />

or more, which limited their ability to<br />

perform daily tasks. And 1,190 or 6.9%<br />

of that total felt their activities were limited<br />

‘a lot’. When asked if they provided<br />

regular unpaid care for a friend or relative,<br />

1,922 residents (11%) declared that they<br />

did. And 319 (16% of those giving care)<br />

provided 50 or more hours a week, with<br />

49 of these carers themselves suffering<br />

limits to their activities through illness or<br />

disability.<br />

spread the word<br />

This month Pearl-Imogen<br />

Leader has spread the word<br />

further than anyone has<br />

spread it before (as far as we<br />

remember). “I took November’s<br />

copy out to my <strong>Lewes</strong><br />

girls, Faith and Molly, who<br />

are staying in Melbourne,”<br />

she tells us. “This was taken<br />

at Williamstown Botanical<br />

Gardens.”<br />

Are you off anywhere for a<br />

winter break? Don’t forget to<br />

take <strong>Viva</strong> with you, and send<br />

us a picture (hint, if you’re<br />

worried about weight… just<br />

take the front cover.)


<strong>Lewes</strong> Theatre Youth Group<br />

is proud to present Robert Louis Stevenson’s<br />

Treasure Island<br />

(Ludwig) is presented by special arrangement<br />

with SAMUEL FRENCH, LTD.<br />

Directed by Tim Rowland & James Firth-Haydon<br />

Evenings on 29th Jan, 5th Feb & 6th Feb at 7:45pm<br />

Matinees on 30th Jan, 31st Jan & 6th Feb at 2:45pm<br />

Tickets cost 6gbp for children & 8gbp for adults<br />

<strong>Lewes</strong> Little Theatre , Lancaster Street, <strong>Lewes</strong><br />

Box Office 01273 474826


column<br />

David Jarman<br />

1966 and all that<br />

The most important<br />

date in this year’s Sussex<br />

calendar is probably<br />

14th October,<br />

the 950th anniversary<br />

of The Battle of<br />

Hastings. My school<br />

summer holidays were<br />

always spent in Hastings.<br />

I remember that<br />

in 1966 David Gentleman<br />

produced a set of<br />

stamps, based on eight<br />

episodes from the Bayeux<br />

Tapestry, to mark the 900th anniversary, and<br />

local mail was postmarked: ‘Hastings – popular<br />

with visitors since 1066’.<br />

Two years before, Gentleman had been commissioned<br />

to design another series, for the Shakespeare<br />

Festival that celebrated the playwright’s<br />

400th birthday. Characters from the plays were<br />

shown, flanked on one side by Shakespeare, on<br />

the other by the Queen. It caused a minor furore,<br />

because no commoner – ie non-royal person –<br />

had ever before appeared on an English stamp.<br />

The House of Commons exhibited its customary<br />

puerile attempts at humour. Questions were asked<br />

about the proximity of the Queen’s head, on one of<br />

the stamps, to Shakespeare’s Bottom.<br />

This April, it will be 400 years since the Immortal<br />

Bard’s death. Doubtless we’ll all be thoroughly<br />

fed up with him long before it’s all over, so I<br />

thought <strong>Viva</strong> <strong>Lewes</strong> should get in early. To this<br />

end, I watched Orson Welles’ Falstaff: Chimes<br />

at Midnight, a film that’s chalking up its own,<br />

fiftieth, anniversary this year. I saw it when I was<br />

about 17, and remember rather enjoying it. Now<br />

it seems risible, and I can only imagine that it was<br />

the frequent glimpses of Jeanne Moreau’s (playing<br />

Doll Tearsheet) legs that enchanted me. Welles,<br />

as Falstaff, lapses<br />

regularly into not<br />

an American, but an<br />

Irish accent, as though<br />

he was reprising the<br />

ludicrous brogue he<br />

adopted for his role in<br />

The Lady from Shanghai.<br />

It’s not just that<br />

it’s all horribly dated,<br />

it’s difficult to imagine<br />

it ever being any good.<br />

After all, Tarkovsky’s<br />

film Andrei Rublev,<br />

also set in the Middle Ages, was released in the<br />

same year as Falstaff. I saw it again recently at the<br />

BFI. It’s a work of monumental genius. Falstaff is<br />

anything but.<br />

Fortunately, the genius of Shakespeare is such that<br />

he can withstand pretty well any rubbish imposed<br />

upon him. But it’s probably best when the end<br />

product is intentionally humorous. So the musical<br />

called Dirty Dick, where the future Richard III’s<br />

opening number goes I’ve got a hunch I’m going<br />

to be King, is fine by me. Likewise the rap version<br />

that renders ‘To be or not to be’ as ‘To hang right<br />

in there, or drop right out, Hey Man! that’s what<br />

it’s all about’. Or Aki Kaurismäki’s very funny<br />

film, Hamlet Goes Business, in which Claudius is the<br />

Chief Executive of a firm that makes rubber ducks.<br />

Anyway, it was always thus. And perhaps especially<br />

in England. In 1846, Hector Berlioz went to the<br />

theatre in London. He wrote to a friend: ‘They<br />

had condescended to give us Hamlet as written,<br />

practically complete, a rare thing in this country,<br />

where there are so many people superior to Shakespeare<br />

that most of his plays are corrected and<br />

augmented by the Cibbers and Drydens and other<br />

rogues who should have their bottoms publicly<br />

spanked.’<br />

25


column<br />

Chloë King<br />

The shame game<br />

I’m outside a local<br />

women’s business networking<br />

group, smoking.<br />

One of my companions<br />

left her e-cig at home<br />

so she puffs on an OP<br />

while empathising with<br />

the other, who admits<br />

ruefully that she smokes<br />

regularly.<br />

We hurry back inside for<br />

the speeches; how great<br />

it is that we have a group<br />

to help women like us<br />

feel like ‘proper’ business<br />

people. Afterwards, the<br />

woman sat opposite, a business coach, tells me<br />

how common it is for female clients to answer the<br />

straight question ‘what do you do?’ with a meandering,<br />

‘a little bit of everything’. I’m reminded<br />

of my overused phrase: ‘I’m a bit of a Jack of all<br />

trades’ - not even a whole ‘Jack of all trades’ and<br />

certainly not ‘a real Jack of all trades’.<br />

Over pudding, the woman next to me smiles as she<br />

realises we live on the same street. I feel a pang of<br />

dismay as she says she knows the house, the one<br />

with the dog who runs amok. “I’m so sorry,” I<br />

exclaim as she recalls the time my dog crossed the<br />

road unaccompanied to issue an aggressive hello to<br />

her spaniel.<br />

<strong>January</strong>’s meant to be all about old dogs learning<br />

new tricks: I’ve already written a column about my<br />

dog Oz - no exception to the rule - so I thought I’d<br />

focus on a new trick I am unlikely to learn. Giving<br />

up fags is one thing I’m attempting, but my big<br />

resolution is less clear, and also, I think, harder to<br />

accomplish.<br />

I’ve been reading Jon Ronson’s recent bestseller<br />

So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed, which explores<br />

the stories of people whose careers have been<br />

ruined due to sustained<br />

criticism and humiliation<br />

on social media.<br />

While it’s justified to call<br />

out the likes of bigotry<br />

and plagiarism, Ronson<br />

makes a good case that<br />

the damage wreaked<br />

by public shaming is a<br />

greater punishment than<br />

those commonly issued<br />

to criminals.<br />

One of Ronson’s case<br />

studies is a psychotherapist<br />

named Brad Blanton<br />

who preaches radical<br />

honesty as a method of eliminating the state of<br />

‘permanent adolescent concern’ that many of us<br />

now live in. I guess having a life column circulated<br />

among all of your neighbours is a form of radical<br />

honesty, so in ways I’m testing out a version of<br />

Blanton’s theory. Still, what I find most interesting<br />

is the idea that worrying constantly about how<br />

we appear to others is a form of teenage shame<br />

that many of us cannot outgrow due to the shop<br />

window-like nature of modern communications.<br />

It’s also, possibly, more prevalent among women.<br />

At the networking group I look around at the pool<br />

of ambitious, talented women. Many, it seems,<br />

think success will hinge on an ability to manage<br />

social media marketing, but unhelpfully, I think<br />

that simultaneously feeds a barrier: by enhancing<br />

our need for validation.<br />

I am vocally sorry for my failings, my poorly<br />

trained dog and unhealthy habits. But being<br />

apologetic doesn’t train dogs or regenerate lungs,<br />

and it’s not just unsociable things I try to excuse,<br />

often it’s something more abstract: like not being<br />

‘proper’, or doing more than one thing. It’s time<br />

for a change.<br />

Illustration by Chloë King<br />

27


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column<br />

Photo by Mark Bridge<br />

East of Earwig<br />

Mark Bridge’s philosophical cat<br />

It was towards the end of November when my<br />

wife and I first realised that Rupert the cat wasn’t<br />

well. Instead of having a bit of food, wandering off<br />

and coming back for more, it seemed he’d been<br />

forgetting to return. And then he stopped eating<br />

altogether. His weight dropped dramatically. Even<br />

his purr withered away. Our fifteen-year-old feline<br />

friend wasn’t just at death’s door; he’d pushed open<br />

the cat flap in death’s door and was preparing to<br />

jump through. Whilst his housemate Harry was in<br />

fine form - six fully working mice brought into the<br />

house one weekend - dear old Rupert had stopped<br />

joining us on the sofa every evening and had<br />

started to hide under the hedge. We’d bring him<br />

in, he’d take himself back out.<br />

Although Rupert seemed ready to give up on<br />

life, Mrs B and I weren’t going to let him quit so<br />

easily. We tried to tempt him with his favourite<br />

foods - sliced ham, tinned sardines, buttery toast<br />

crumbs, a little bit of Victoria sponge - but without<br />

success. I even stocked the kitchen cupboard<br />

with luxury cat food. We took him to the vet,<br />

where he was injected with vitamins, steroids<br />

and an antibiotic. “He seemed a bit unhappy”,<br />

the nurse told us when she handed him back. I<br />

thought he seemed fairly relaxed. We were the<br />

unhappy ones.<br />

Unlike me, Rupert was very good at living ‘in the<br />

moment’. He didn’t care what other people thought<br />

about him. He wasn’t raging against the unfairness<br />

of everything. He wasn’t regretting a misspent<br />

youth of goldfish-eating and frog-hunting. Despite<br />

the apparent passing of his ‘best before’ date, he was<br />

happy with his lot. It felt like I was being given a<br />

valuable lesson about stoicism and the philosophy<br />

of not worrying about the future.<br />

After the vet trip, we started keeping our increasingly<br />

frail cat indoors in case he became too ill<br />

to find his way home. The next morning, when<br />

I came downstairs, Rupert was lying on his side<br />

in the middle of the floor, looking more like a<br />

poorly constructed papier-mâché model than a<br />

genuine pet. He lifted his head wearily when he<br />

heard me. At least there was still hope, I thought.<br />

Perhaps he’d like some ham. He turned his<br />

head away apologetically. Didn’t I understand<br />

anything?<br />

I fed Harry, made a cup of tea and went for a<br />

shower. When I came downstairs again, Rupert<br />

stood and wobbled over to greet me. Was that<br />

a miaow? I cracked open the emergency tin of<br />

Waitrose ‘luxurious and delicate’ cat food that I’d<br />

bought in case his appetite returned. It had. He<br />

cleared the bowl and then looked at me optimistically.<br />

In fact, he gave the distinct impression he’d<br />

like something similar for breakfast tomorrow. I<br />

think it’s his way of reminding me he’s a cat, not<br />

a philosopher.<br />

29


30


IN town this month<br />

The lowdown on...<br />

Bumblebees<br />

Professor Dave Goulson<br />

This was what first got me interested in<br />

bumblebees, 20-odd years ago: I was sitting<br />

watching bees in a park near where I lived, and I<br />

saw these bees flying up to flowers but then not<br />

landing on them, veering away at the last second,<br />

and doing that perhaps two or three times before<br />

they actually landed on a flower. I thought -<br />

what’s wrong with the ones they’re not visiting?<br />

It turns out, every time a bee lands on a<br />

flower, she accidentally leaves behind a<br />

footprint. Subsequent bees come along, and essentially<br />

they give each flower a quick sniff, and<br />

if a flower smells of a recent visit by another bee<br />

then they don’t bother landing, because that bee<br />

will have taken the nectar already.<br />

Bees do all sorts of clever things that, for<br />

their size, are pretty astonishing. They have<br />

a magnetic compass built into their brain; they<br />

can also use the sun as a compass. Certainly their<br />

navigational abilities would put people to shame,<br />

which is pretty impressive when you think that<br />

they are quite tiny and their brain is considerably<br />

smaller than a grain of rice.<br />

Bumblebees have an annual life cycle. They’re<br />

started by a single queen, who builds a nest,<br />

on her own to start with, until she’s raised her<br />

first batch of daughters. Then it grows through<br />

the spring and summer, and the nest dies off in<br />

the autumn, and only leaves behind new, young<br />

mated queens. Honeybee nests live for years<br />

and years, so they have to survive the winter.<br />

That’s why they make honey. They have to<br />

store up enough honey to provide that huge<br />

workforce with something to eat for the four or<br />

five months of the year when it’s too cold to get<br />

out and about. Bumblebees don’t go through<br />

the winter as a nest, so they don’t need to collect<br />

honey.<br />

These declines [in bee numbers], they’ve<br />

been going on probably for 80 years. The<br />

danger’s pretty obvious, in the sense that roughly<br />

a third of the food that humans eat depends<br />

upon pollinators of one sort or another, of which<br />

bees are the most important. Our diets would be<br />

very poor without the help of bees. And natural<br />

ecosystems would essentially collapse without<br />

pollinators. So it couldn’t be much more important<br />

to look after them.<br />

Am I optimistic? Well, a lot of conservation<br />

stories are really doom and gloom, and people<br />

feel helpless, because they can’t do anything<br />

themselves about polar bears, or the rainforest<br />

being felled, and so on. The nice thing about<br />

bees is that people can do something themselves<br />

to help. They can grow some bee-friendly flowers,<br />

they can not use any insecticides in their<br />

garden, they can join in citizen-science schemes<br />

to help record how well our bees are doing. If we<br />

can get enough people involved, then that really<br />

would make a difference. As told to Steve Ramsey<br />

Prof Dave Goulson is the author of A Sting in the<br />

Tale, and founder of the Bumblebee Conservation<br />

Trust. He’s speaking at Seedy Saturday, 6th Feb,<br />

Town Hall.<br />

31


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in town this month<br />

Holocaust Memorial<br />

The end of childhood<br />

“I think they could see what was going to<br />

happen,” says Tim Locke. His mother, Ruth<br />

Neumeyer, born in 1923, had been having “a<br />

very happy childhood” in the Bavarian town of<br />

Dachau. But as the 1930s progressed, things<br />

started to get difficult for the Neumeyers, one of<br />

four Jewish families in the town.<br />

“They called them Judensau (sow Jew), which<br />

is a pretty nasty insult. They got stones thrown<br />

at them. The beginning of the end was really in<br />

1937. They used to do plays in their house, all<br />

the children dressed up, they got neighbours<br />

and friends round to watch them.<br />

“They were doing a nativity play for Christmas,<br />

and while they’re doing it there was a hammering<br />

at the door and these two Gestapo people<br />

came in and said ‘aren’t you ashamed to be in<br />

the house of a Jew?’ They sent them away, and<br />

the children burst into tears, and the lodger was<br />

arrested. That was kind of the beginning of the<br />

end. It was the end of their plays, and I think<br />

for her, that was the end of her childhood, that<br />

moment.<br />

“In November 1938, on Kristallnacht, they<br />

were told by the Gestapo that they had to leave<br />

the next morning by sunrise, which was the<br />

usual thing. So they picked up their stuff and<br />

scrammed to Munich. Eventually they got to<br />

stay in various people’s attics. I don’t quite know<br />

to what extent they were in hiding.”<br />

In May 1939, the Neumeyers got Ruth and her<br />

brother onto the Kindertransport – the trains<br />

which brought around 10,000 refugee children<br />

to Britain in the ten months before the war.<br />

Ruth initially lived in London with the family<br />

of the economist Frank Paish, but spent some of<br />

the war working as a housekeeper in Cambridge.<br />

She made friends easily, and “I think she forgot<br />

her former life quite a bit.”<br />

However, she had been expecting her parents<br />

to join her in Britain at some point, Tim thinks.<br />

This didn’t happen; they’d left it too late. They<br />

were able to send brief messages, via the Red<br />

Cross, saying they were okay. In 1942, these<br />

messages stopped. She later discovered that her<br />

parents had died in concentration camps.<br />

Ruth was the kind of person who, “if it was<br />

tipping down with rain, she’d say ‘oh, I expect<br />

it’ll clear up in a moment,’” Tim says. “She had<br />

this stoical and positive outlook on things, and<br />

I think she just kind of pushed it to the back of<br />

her mind somehow. She didn’t really confide…<br />

she never said she was feeling upset; it just<br />

wasn’t her style.<br />

“But I’m sure it did have a long-term effect. It<br />

must have done. To have lost your parents at<br />

that age, and to be stuck in another country... I<br />

think she must have had to grow up incredibly<br />

quickly.” Steve Ramsey<br />

There are several events and exhibitions in <strong>Lewes</strong><br />

this month to commemorate the Holocaust. On<br />

Holocaust Memorial Day itself, Weds Jan 27th,<br />

there’s a free event at the Town Hall, with speakers<br />

including Tim Locke, as well as music and<br />

readings. Tim’s family-history blog is ephraimneumeyer.wordpress.com<br />

33


in town this month: comedy<br />

Simon Evans<br />

Funny money<br />

“Well, that’s an<br />

interesting set of<br />

assumptions you’ve<br />

made there,” says<br />

Simon Evans, the<br />

Hove-based stand-up<br />

whose niche is making<br />

economics funny. I’d<br />

been asking him about<br />

the economics of his<br />

own industry. Virtually<br />

all stand-ups are<br />

extremely intelligent,<br />

I claimed, and could<br />

be earning much more<br />

money in another<br />

field – so why don’t<br />

they? Doesn’t that say<br />

something interesting<br />

about what motivates<br />

people?<br />

“I think comedians are intelligent in certain<br />

respects. I was going to say they tend to be intellectually<br />

curious, but actually even then, they’re<br />

not always curious at all; some of them have<br />

simply observed the dynamics of human relationships<br />

and can spin endless hours of comedy<br />

which will have people roaring with laughter,<br />

just out of the ways that men and women behave<br />

with one another that are slightly different. They<br />

relate it with such gusto that it really works. It’s<br />

not necessary, and I don’t think it’s universal at<br />

all, for comedians to be particularly intelligent,<br />

and to have lots of other career options.<br />

“The other thing you have to remember about<br />

career options is they’re not really based on intelligence,<br />

they’re based on things like reliability<br />

and discipline and the ability to focus for long<br />

periods of time on fairly mundane, repetitive<br />

tasks, as you work your way up the career ladder.<br />

They’re based on the ability to make sound<br />

decisions based on research and insights and<br />

then having made those decisions, to see them<br />

through to fruition. And those are all skills which<br />

a lot of comedians<br />

might well struggle<br />

to display, either in<br />

comedy or in any<br />

other field.<br />

“So I would dispute<br />

that most comedians<br />

have lots of options.<br />

I would actually say<br />

that one of the funny<br />

things about comedy<br />

is it provides a source<br />

of income (quite often<br />

unexpectedly, a decent<br />

source of income) to a<br />

lot of people who have<br />

wondered if they’d<br />

ever find one. Maybe<br />

because they just don’t<br />

quite gel with what<br />

society expects from<br />

working life - working hours, the repetitive nature<br />

of tasks, and the quite substantial chunk out<br />

of every day that most careers demand.<br />

“There are people - Harry Hill of course was<br />

famously a doctor, Paul Sinha was a doctor,<br />

Adam Kay. But by and large, I think, there’s<br />

at least as many comedians that couldn’t have<br />

done anything else as there are that have made a<br />

deliberate sacrifice.<br />

“And if you look at somebody like Jimmy Carr,<br />

for instance, who I think did have a decent career<br />

in the marketing department of Shell - he has<br />

actually applied a lot of that nous to his career, if<br />

not actually to writing his jokes then certainly in<br />

learning how to present himself as a very marketable<br />

commodity. He’s probably one of the most<br />

financially successful comedians this country’s<br />

ever seen, and that’s probably in large part down<br />

to him being one of the few comedians who did<br />

have transferrable skills.”<br />

Steve Ramsey<br />

Simon Evans performs at the Linklater Pavilion,<br />

Sun 24th, 7pm<br />

35


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art<br />

Photo by Carlotta Luke<br />

Focus on: Depot Cinema Mural<br />

Blackboard paint on white-painted hoardings, 6x50’<br />

“It works on two different levels,” says Carmen Slijpen,<br />

the Creative Manager of the Depot Cinema,<br />

in Pinwell Road. “The first level is that people will<br />

be interested in what’s on the hoardings, and be excited<br />

week by week as more goes up…”<br />

What is on the hoardings, you’ll have noticed, if<br />

you’ve been down that way since September, is a<br />

growing series of well-designed and executed largeformat<br />

black-and-white images from the history of<br />

cinema, whether a Hollywood star, a Fellini heroine<br />

or snapshot reference to a Hitchcock thriller.<br />

“But what’s maybe more interesting is that people’s<br />

interest will be piqued about what’s going on behind<br />

the hoardings,” she continues. Hoardings being<br />

hoardings, that means building work: the old depot<br />

(built for use by the Post Office, later employed by<br />

Harveys) is, of course, being converted into a cinema,<br />

due to open in Spring 2017.<br />

The images have been created by the graphic designer<br />

Peter Bushell, and a group of volunteers<br />

culled from a film group who used to meet up at<br />

the Depot before the builders moved in. Carmen<br />

has given Peter a list of films she feels incorporates<br />

the wide range of genres that will be shown at the<br />

cinema, then he has sought out iconic and striking<br />

images of these films, upped the contrast on them<br />

to make them silhouetty, and put them on an A4<br />

grid. This grid has been enlarged onto the hoardings,<br />

and the volunteers – including Carmen herself<br />

– have painstakingly reproduced the images onto<br />

the white-painted wood, using blackboard paint<br />

(after learning acrylic runs in heavy rain). The volunteers<br />

meet on Wednesdays and Sundays; they’ve<br />

so far completed 25-30 of the 70 images planned.<br />

“It’s something you couldn’t afford to pay for,” says<br />

Carmen, “if you wanted to commission it.”<br />

You might notice I’ve been cagey about revealing<br />

exactly who is depicted in this massive artwork. It’s<br />

great fun trying to identify who’s who and which<br />

film they’ve come from, but… “We’re not giving<br />

anything away because we’re going to have a<br />

competition when the artwork is finished, offering<br />

some free tickets to people who can identify all of<br />

the films,” reveals Carmen.<br />

Alex Leith<br />

<strong>Lewes</strong> Depot Cinema/lewesdepot.org<br />

37


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The Old Forge, <strong>Lewes</strong> Road, Ringmer BN8 5NB<br />

www.theold-forge.co.uk


in town this month: ART<br />

art & about<br />

In town this month<br />

Mid-month you’ll notice a series of portraits<br />

appearing in windows up and down the High<br />

Street. The Refugee’s Gift is an exhibition of<br />

photographs by Bill Knight that, along with<br />

their captions, tell the story of 39 refugees<br />

who’ve benefitted from our long tradition<br />

of offering asylum. Arriving from recent<br />

conflict zones, or having fled decades ago<br />

from Hitler’s Germany, the men and women<br />

in the photographs have all arrived with an<br />

unstoppable determination and made positive<br />

contributions to life in the UK. Originally<br />

taken for a project with the Refugee Council,<br />

they will be on display in <strong>Lewes</strong> from 16th –<br />

30th and Bill will be speaking about the project<br />

at the Don’t Stand By Holocaust memorial<br />

event at the Town Hall on 27th.<br />

Stephanie ‘Steve’ Shirley photographed by Bill Knight<br />

Mehrad Ramazany photographed by Bill Knight<br />

The exhibition Mr Gregson Went to Work continues<br />

at Pelham House until 21st with their second<br />

annual Open Art Exhibition up from 22nd.<br />

Featuring works in a variety of media from over<br />

70 local artists, the show is partly curated by staff<br />

at the hotel and a percentage of each sale goes to<br />

support the Rockinghorse Appeal. The show is<br />

free, open daily from 9am to 9pm and runs until<br />

3rd March.<br />

Chalk Gallery take a rest for refurbishment from<br />

1st to 10th and will re-open on 11th with the<br />

raku-fired cows, pigs, sheep and horses of Mary<br />

Clarke taking centre stage.<br />

Mary Clarke John at the Olympic Marathon by Mervyn Hathaway at Pelham House<br />

39


Beautiful art, affordable prices<br />

Friends by Mary Clarke<br />

A friendly<br />

welcome awaits<br />

you at the<br />

Chalk Gallery<br />

Chalk Gallery<br />

4 North Street<br />

<strong>Lewes</strong>, BN7 2PA<br />

t: 01273 474477<br />

w: chalkgallerylewes.co.uk<br />

FREE<br />

EXHIBITION<br />

BODY, MIND AND MEDITATION<br />

IN TANTRIC BUDDHISM<br />

Until 28 February<br />

Tuesday–Sunday until 18.00, Thursdays and first Fridays until 22.00<br />

183 Euston Road, London NW1 2BE Euston, Euston Square<br />

wellcomecollection.org/secrettemple


out of town: art<br />

Holyland, John Bratby, 1961 © The Artist’s Estate The Bridgeman Art Library<br />

Just down the road...<br />

Towner presents Art from<br />

Elsewhere from 23rd; a major<br />

Hayward Touring exhibition<br />

of international contemporary<br />

artworks that have recently been<br />

collected - thanks to a special<br />

programme created by the Art<br />

Fund - by Towner and five other<br />

UK museums. Around 50 works<br />

by 27 significant artists working<br />

in a variety of media examine the<br />

ideas of global change, migration,<br />

postcolonial experiences and<br />

failed utopias. Highlights include<br />

works by Omer Fast, Imran<br />

Qureshi, Yto Barrada, Mohamed<br />

Bourouissa and Jenny Holzer.<br />

Until 3rd April.<br />

Further afield...<br />

From 30th, Jerwood exhibit Everything but the Kitchen Sink Including<br />

the Kitchen Sink; a major show of works by radical realist and original<br />

‘angry young man’ John Bratby. A founding member of the Kitchen<br />

Sink School, prolific painter, writer and enfant terrible on the British<br />

art scene during the 50s and 60s, he died whilst walking home from<br />

the chip shop in his adopted home town of Hastings, just a day after<br />

his 64th birthday. Rather than create a traditional retrospective, the<br />

Jerwood cast their nets about for privately owned works by Bratby,<br />

along with personal recollections, letters and photos. Bratby’s wife,<br />

Patti, has also been involved with the exhibition so expect personal<br />

keepsakes from his studio alongside works from his prolific career.<br />

Tibet’s Secret Temple, at the Wellcome Collection (Euston Rd,<br />

London) is inspired by an exquisite series of 17th century murals<br />

from a private meditation chamber for Tibet’s Dalai Lamas in Lhasa.<br />

Bringing together the Lukhang mural images with a unique set of<br />

objects, the show uncovers stories behind the ancient, esoteric and<br />

once secret practices depicted and their relevance to the growing<br />

interest in meditative wellbeing today. Until 28th February.<br />

41


music<br />

Classical Round-up<br />

Britten, Broughton... and bassoons<br />

<strong>January</strong> is often a<br />

quiet month for music<br />

concerts. Many<br />

of us, I suspect, are<br />

hunkering down<br />

and recovering from<br />

holiday exertions<br />

and excesses. However, for those happy to sally<br />

forth, we have a few goodies this month that will<br />

likely satisfy the need for your classical fix.<br />

First, conductor Andrew Sherman will lead the<br />

Musicians of All Saints in two premieres: the first<br />

performances of Sussex composer Barry Mill’s Bassoon<br />

Concerto, featuring soloist Ian Glen, and Julian<br />

Broughton’s Aria, with solo violin by Mr. Sherman<br />

doing double duty. They will also perform John<br />

Ireland’s Concertino Pastorale and Handel’s Concerto<br />

Grosso in F major, op6 no 2.<br />

Sat 16, 7:45pm, All Saints Centre, £10, 01273 473229,<br />

mas@lewes.uk<br />

Next, the young British cellist Ella Rundle will be<br />

featured by the Corelli Ensemble in a programme<br />

including Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings as well<br />

as his Andante Cantabile. Ms Rundle will be soloist<br />

in Spanish composer Pablo de Sarasate’s Zigeunerweisen,<br />

or Gypsy Airs. This 1878 work is based on<br />

Roma folk themes and is one of the composer’s<br />

most popular pieces.<br />

Sun 17, 4pm, Cross Way Church, Seaford, £10-12,<br />

corelliensemble.co.uk<br />

Lastly, I will take off my <strong>Viva</strong> <strong>Lewes</strong> writer’s cap<br />

and don my tenorial singing attire for a Nicholas<br />

Yonge Society recital. My pianist is the estimable<br />

Carol Kelly, who also happens to be my estimable<br />

wife, and together we will present a programme<br />

of songs by both British and American composers<br />

called A Very Special Relationship: Song Cycling the<br />

Pond, comprised of Britten’s Winter Words, Barber’s<br />

Hermit Songs, Copland’s folksong arrangements<br />

and a set of songs by Peter Warlock and EJ Moeran.<br />

Fri 22, Sussex Downs College, 7:45pm, £15, nyslewes.<br />

org.uk, or <strong>Lewes</strong> Travel<br />

Paul Austin Kelly<br />

43


Timbuktu<br />

A cry from the heart<br />

The opening scenes of Abderrahmane Sissako’s<br />

new film, Timbuktu, starkly present<br />

the brutality meted out to Mali’s traditional<br />

culture by occupying forces of Islamic jihadists.<br />

Wooden tribal statues are shot to obliteration;<br />

a terrified gazelle is chased by a truckload of<br />

heavily armed men. As Sissako explained to me<br />

during his visit to the London Film Festival in<br />

October 2014: “The gazelle is our culture; it is<br />

being hounded. It is too weak to fight and can<br />

only run. If the statues being destroyed offer an<br />

objective metaphor, this pursuit of the gazelle<br />

provides a simple vehicle for empathy.”<br />

Timbuktu, nominated for the Best Foreign<br />

Language Film at the 2015 Academy Awards<br />

and playing at the All Saints this month,<br />

portrays a place ruled by religion and a people<br />

traumatized by division. It also honours the<br />

rich and humane traditions of the ancient city<br />

of Timbuktu, and the central place that music<br />

occupies in Malian culture.<br />

The film was shot soon after the French<br />

military operation in Mali to push back the<br />

jihadists in 2013. The impulse to make the film<br />

came as a direct result of the occupation, and<br />

the crimes being committed in its wake. “The<br />

government in Bamako abandoned northern<br />

Mali, and jihadists took over as there was no<br />

social structure, no police, no order.” Yet after<br />

the liberation of Timbuktu – originally seized<br />

by Touareg separatists before their uprising<br />

was hijacked by Al Qaeda-affiliated militants –<br />

Sissako’s plans had to adapt quickly. “The idea<br />

initially was to make a documentary about the<br />

actions of hostile groups whose foreign members<br />

included mostly Libyans and Algerians,<br />

but we had to fictionalise the characters in order<br />

to preserve the safety and security of those<br />

who told us their stories. Then it was a short<br />

step to re-imagining the film as a fictional tale,<br />

but one very much born in reality.” Ironically,<br />

this move from a non-fictional mode to a fictional<br />

one allowed for a more naturalistic mode<br />

of cinema; poetic, lyrical, yet truthful.<br />

This cinematic storytelling is evident in many<br />

scenes based on actual events, such as when a<br />

market fishmonger refuses to wear gloves so<br />

as to hide her hands for modesty’s sake, daring<br />

the armed militants ordering her to do so to<br />

cut off her hands instead. Other seminal scenes<br />

are wonderfully imaginative cinematic devices<br />

to challenge, and ridicule, the draconian laws<br />

of the governing Islamists. Most memorable is<br />

the balletic portrayal of boys playing football<br />

44


cinema<br />

without a ball, thus escaping the iron justice<br />

of the jihadists. This idea arose from the bans<br />

imposed on activities from playing any sport<br />

to performing any kind of music. “This is<br />

forbidding something one cannot forbid. If<br />

you forbid someone to sing, he will sing in<br />

his head; he will sing lullabies in the ear of<br />

his child. You cannot stop him from doing<br />

that.” Sissako says that he decided to film<br />

the football game without a ball, beautifully<br />

choreographed to syncopated music, “to show<br />

resistance. That was important to me,” he says.<br />

“Art must be optimistic.”<br />

However, such optimism is extremely difficult<br />

to sustain. In one of the film’s most<br />

heartbreaking scenes, Fatoumata Diawara,<br />

the young rising star of Mali’s female singers,<br />

plays a powerful cameo as ‘la chanteuse’, a<br />

local young woman who is publicly flogged<br />

after being caught with friends simply singing<br />

and playing music. Her fierce resistance is<br />

encapsulated by her insistence on continuing<br />

to sing, louder and more profoundly, with<br />

each beating. As Sissako explains, this central,<br />

iconic scene was created late in the process:<br />

“Fatoumata heard through the grapevine of<br />

exiled Malian artists that I was shooting the<br />

film, and she contacted me, insisting that she<br />

be a part of it. We talked it through and the<br />

role of ‘la chanteuse’ was born.”<br />

Yet the film contains much ironic humour too,<br />

again using ridicule as a weapon of resistance.<br />

When singing is heard in the town, a dumbfounded<br />

jihadi assigned to root out its source<br />

calls his superiors to ask for instructions since<br />

the music he hears is a song praising Allah.<br />

This comic moment is balanced by more serious<br />

interrogations of the perversions of true<br />

faith by the militant Islamists. Tellingly, the<br />

local imam attempts to uphold the traditions<br />

of benevolent and tolerant Islam and appeals to<br />

a militant leader to refrain from such extreme<br />

brutality, asking, “Where is the mercy?<br />

Where is God in all this?”<br />

This singular moment encapsulates the bravery<br />

and timeliness of such filmmaking, as well<br />

as its authenticity. The film is performed by a<br />

mix of professional actors and local non-professionals<br />

and musicians – most significantly<br />

Ibrahim Ahmed who plays Kidane, an honourable<br />

man who accidentally kills a neighbouring<br />

fisherman in a dispute involving a trespassing<br />

cow that drives the tragic narrative, highlighting<br />

the inequity at hand when such governing<br />

authorities assume ultimate control in meting<br />

out justice. In some of the most emotionally<br />

affecting scenes, Kidane can be seen as<br />

the most contented man in the world – in his<br />

humble tent, with his loving wife and 12-yearold<br />

daughter, and his guitar. Until, that is, his<br />

world is destroyed. Yoram Allon<br />

Sun 24th, 4pm, All Saints, <strong>Lewes</strong> Film Club<br />

45


Saturday 6th February <strong>2016</strong><br />

<strong>Lewes</strong> Town Hall<br />

10am - 3pm<br />

Adults £1.00 Kids free<br />

Seed swap Talks Children’s activities<br />

Community growing projects Café<br />

Usual and unusual seeds and plants<br />

Saving our Bumble Bees -<br />

a talk by Prof Dave Goulson<br />

Pruning Soft Fruit by Tom Maynard<br />

Caring for Roses by Kevin Martin<br />

Tool Sharpening with Peter May<br />

E: seedysaturdaylewes@gmail.com<br />

www.commoncause.org.uk/seedysaturday


JANlistings<br />

sat 2<br />

Farmers’ Market. Fresh, local produce and lots<br />

of interesting stalls. Cliffe Precinct, 9am-1pm.<br />

commoncause.org.uk<br />

Theatre. The Pirates of Penzance. Touring<br />

production by Opera Anywhere of Gilbert &<br />

Sullivan’s masterpiece. <strong>Lewes</strong> Little Theatre,<br />

7.30pm, £15, £10 for u18s. Tickets from Box Office<br />

or operaanywhere.com<br />

Film. X + Y. (12) Developed by director Morgan<br />

Matthews from his own award-winning 2008<br />

documentary Beautiful Young Minds, about young<br />

British mathematicians on the autistic spectrum.<br />

All Saints, 8pm, £5.50. lewes-filmclub.com<br />

Sat 9- Sat 16<br />

Pantomime. Robin Hood. Traditional family<br />

panto, with a topical and local twist. Remarkably,<br />

they’ve been going for 68 years! St Mary’s<br />

Social Centre, Sat 2pm & 7pm, Sun 12 noon &<br />

5pm, Tue-Fri 7pm, Monday no performance,<br />

£9/£5/£3. stmaryspanto.org or 01273 477733<br />

Thu 7<br />

Sun 3<br />

Firesite Dash. Run or walk just over four miles<br />

around <strong>Lewes</strong>, visiting the firesites of the seven<br />

different Bonfire societies. Prizes and trophies to<br />

be won. Railway Land, 11.30am, £5/£4. Finish at<br />

the Snowdrop in time for Sunday lunch. firesitedash@yahoo.co.uk<br />

or 07951000048<br />

Comedy at the<br />

Con! 5th Anniversary<br />

Special.<br />

Mandy Muden, Joe<br />

Bor and Lee Hurst<br />

(of They Think It’s<br />

All Over fame) take<br />

to the stage, with<br />

MC Neil Masters. Con Club, 8pm, £7.50-£11.<br />

Tickets from Union Music, wegottickets.com or<br />

07582408418<br />

Sat 9<br />

Film. How to Change the World. Much<br />

recommended documentary about the origins of<br />

Greenpeace and a Q&A with the locally based<br />

director, Jerry Rothwell. Fundraiser for <strong>Lewes</strong><br />

District Green Party. All Saints, 7.15pm, £9/£6.<br />

imtonyr@gmail.com, wegottickets.com<br />

Sun 10<br />

Fri 8<br />

Food Market. Food and produce from local suppliers.<br />

Market Tower, weekly, 9.30am-1.30pm.<br />

Christmas Tree Collection. Real trees will<br />

be collected for recycling from the following<br />

areas; Malling, Southover, Wallands, Nevill,<br />

Houndean/Barons Down, High Street, Pells and<br />

Kingston. 10am-2pm, minimum £3, proceeds to<br />

local charity. lewesbarbicanrotary.co.uk<br />

47


<strong>Lewes</strong> District Council<br />

www.lewes.gov.uk


JANlistings (cont)<br />

Mon 11<br />

Talk. <strong>Lewes</strong> in Art. The excellent John Bleach<br />

gives an overview into how the town and its<br />

surroundings have been depicted from 1600 to<br />

1950. Bring along your own prints and paintings<br />

to share (please email in advance leweshistory@<br />

gmail.com) King’s Church Building, 7.30pm,<br />

£3/£2. leweshistory.org.uk<br />

Tue 12<br />

Film. National Diploma. (U) An accomplished<br />

fly-on-the-wall documentary follows a group of<br />

Congolese high school students as they prepare<br />

for their National Diploma exam in Kisangani.<br />

All Saints, 8pm, £5.50. lewes-filmclub.com<br />

Wed 13<br />

Tour. Behind the scenes tour of The Keep<br />

Archives, including the stores where the documents<br />

are housed and the conservation studio.<br />

The Keep, Falmer, 1pm, free. Booking essential,<br />

limited to 10 places per tour. thekeep.info/events<br />

or 01273 482349<br />

Thu 14<br />

Talk. Sussex Storms.<br />

Alan Grey, former Head<br />

of Geography and Geology<br />

at Varndean College,<br />

discusses the storms of<br />

2003/4 and their lasting<br />

impact on our local<br />

coastline. Priory School,<br />

7.30pm, £5/£2.<br />

Needlewriters: Poetry & Prose Readings.<br />

Tara Gould reads short fiction, with tributes to<br />

the late Irving Weinman, the renowned poet<br />

and author who founded the organisation. Clare<br />

Best presents new poems from Them, a sequence<br />

about two strangely compatible people who<br />

enjoy a thoroughly dysfunctional relationship.<br />

Needlemakers Café, 7.45pm, £5/£3. Tickets<br />

from Skylark or on the door. needlewriters.co.uk<br />

Fri 15<br />

Talk. Bridge Farm, near Barcombe Mills. Rob<br />

Wallace and David Millium present the latest<br />

report on the Romano-British settlement. Town<br />

Hall, 7.30pm, £4/£3, u18s free. lewesarchaeology.org.uk<br />

Sat 16<br />

Farmers’ Market. Fresh, local produce (see cabbage<br />

above)and lots of interesting stalls. Cliffe<br />

Precinct, 9am-1pm. commoncause.org.uk<br />

Wed 20<br />

Talk. <strong>Lewes</strong> in Storm and Flood. A Friends<br />

of <strong>Lewes</strong> talk focusing on the human impact<br />

of floods and the ‘great storm’ of 1987 on the<br />

people of the town, with personal reminiscences.<br />

Southover Church, 7.45pm, £3. friends-of-lewes.<br />

org.uk<br />

Thu 21<br />

Memorial event. We Won’t Stand By. Evening<br />

of poetry, song, music and drama, featuring<br />

students from Priory School. Musicians include<br />

the amazing Runamok Collective. Staged by<br />

the <strong>Lewes</strong> Holocaust Memorial Day Group. St<br />

John’s sub Castro, 7pm, £5.<br />

49


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JANlistings (cont)<br />

Fri 22<br />

Film. Difret. (12)<br />

When 14-year-old<br />

Hirut kills the leader of<br />

a gang of men who are<br />

trying to force her into<br />

marrying him, she captures<br />

the attention of a<br />

tenacious lawyer who is<br />

willing to risk everything to gain justice for her.<br />

All Saints, 8pm, £5.50. lewes-filmclub.com<br />

Sat 23<br />

Party for Patina. Ditch the Detox. Live music,<br />

DJs, cocktails, photo booth, roulette and more.<br />

Town Hall, 7.30pm, £8/£7. Tickets from King’s<br />

Framers, Si’s Sounds or on the door. patinalewes.com<br />

Sun 24<br />

Comedy. An Evening with Simon Evans.<br />

Linklater Pavilion, 7pm, £5. coordinator@<br />

railwaylandproject.org<br />

Film. Timbuktu. (15) A cattle herder and his<br />

family who reside in the dunes of Timbuktu<br />

find their quiet lives, which are typically free of<br />

the jihadists determined to control their faith,<br />

abruptly disturbed. All Saints, 4pm, £5.50. See<br />

page 44. lewes-filmclub.com<br />

Tue 26<br />

<strong>Lewes</strong> Literary Society Talk. Leading style<br />

columnist and broadcaster Sali Hughes shares<br />

her beauty secrets on and off the page. All<br />

Saints, 8pm, £10. lewesliterarysociety.co.uk<br />

Fri 29<br />

Talk. End of an era? Has globalisation passed<br />

its sell-by date? Talk by Emeritus Professor<br />

Raphie Kaplinsky, followed by discussion. Elly,<br />

8pm, £3. annabinger@btinternet.com<br />

Fri 29 & Sat 30<br />

Film. Straight Outta Compton. (15) Biographical<br />

drama about the group NWA, who<br />

emerged from the mean streets of Compton in<br />

Los Angeles, in the mid-1980s and revolutionized<br />

Hip Hop culture. All Saints, Fri 8pm, Sat<br />

4.45pm, £5-£6.50. filmatallsaints.com<br />

Fri 29 & Sun 31<br />

Film. Love and Mercy. (12A) Based on the<br />

life of musician Brian Wilson, showing two key<br />

periods in his life, during the 1960s and 1980s.<br />

All Saints, Fri 5.30pm & Sun 8pm, £5-£6.50.<br />

filmatallsaints.com<br />

Sat 30 & Sun 31<br />

Film. Everest. (12A) Inspired by incrediblebut-true<br />

events, Everest documents the aweinspiring<br />

journey of two different expeditions<br />

challenged beyond their limits by one of the<br />

fiercest snowstorms ever encountered by<br />

mankind. All Saints, Sat 8.15pm, Sun 5.30pm,<br />

£5-£6.50. filmatallsaints.com<br />

Wed 27<br />

Memorial event. Don’t Stand By. A rich mix<br />

of words, photos, films and music for Holocaust<br />

Memorial Day. Town Hall, 7pm, free. Doors<br />

6.30pm - arrive early, as last year people had to<br />

be turned away.<br />

51


gig guide<br />

gig of the month<br />

Even before you’ve listened to her music or heard her pitchperfect<br />

backstory, Angaleena Presley’s name indicates that you’re<br />

dealing with a country music star. The coal miner’s daughter and<br />

native of Beauty, Kentucky is a direct descendant of the original<br />

feuding McCoys, a former single mother and cashier at Wal-<br />

Mart and Winn-Dixie, and a member of the platinum-selling<br />

country supergroup Pistol Annies. Her debut solo album, American<br />

Middle Class, casts a bright, unflinching eye over rural life in<br />

modern America, and scored rave reviews when it was released<br />

last year. In the grand country tradition, Presley paints a bleak<br />

picture of dead-end jobs, teenage pregnancies and drug addiction<br />

through songs that are full of life. She appears at the Con<br />

Club with backing from <strong>Lewes</strong>’s The Jamie Freeman Agreement.<br />

“I have lived every minute on this record,” she says. “My mama ain’t none too happy about me<br />

spreading my business around, but I have to do it.” Sunday 24, Con Club, 7.30pm. Advance from Union<br />

Music Store: £12 (members £8). Door: £14 (members £10).<br />

january listings<br />

sat 2<br />

Shepherds Arise! Traditional Sussex folk carols<br />

and tunes. Elephant & Castle, 8pm, £6<br />

Ally Mobbs. Electronica. The Lansdown.<br />

7.30pm, free<br />

Sun 3<br />

Dance tunes session. Traditional English folk.<br />

Bring instruments. Lamb, 12pm, free<br />

John Marsh. Acoustic. Con Club, 3pm, free<br />

Open mic. Elephant & Castle, 7.30pm, free<br />

Mon 4<br />

Daphne Roubini. Jazz. Snowdrop, 8pm, free<br />

Tue 5<br />

Dance tunes session. Traditional English folk.<br />

Bring instruments. John Harvey, 8pm, free<br />

Fri 8<br />

Cam Penner. Rock ‘n’ roll folk, plus support.<br />

Con Club, 7.30pm, £10 (members £8)<br />

Sat 9<br />

Wassail. Traditional English folk, with fire and<br />

candles. Elephant & Castle, 8pm, £4<br />

Sun 10<br />

Wildwood Jack. Acoustic. Con Club, 3pm, free<br />

Mon 11<br />

Sammy Mayne. Jazz sax. Snowdrop, 8pm, free<br />

Fri 15<br />

The Captain’s Beard. Pirate folk rock. Con<br />

Club, 8pm, free<br />

Sat 16<br />

Annual Sussex All-Day Singaround. Traditional<br />

English folk. Royal Oak, Barcombe, 11am-<br />

11pm, free<br />

Sun 17<br />

Dance tunes session. Traditional English folk.<br />

Bring instruments. Elephant & Castle, 12pm, free<br />

Mon 18<br />

Quinto Latin Jazz. Featuring Raul D’Oliviera<br />

and Tristan Banks. Snowdrop, 8pm, free<br />

Fri 22<br />

Louisiana Lightning. Country rock ‘n’ roll (see<br />

overleaf). Con Club, 8pm, free<br />

53


gig guide (cont)<br />

Sat 23<br />

Just Floyd. Pink Floyd tribute act. Con Club,<br />

8pm, £5 (members free)<br />

Molly Evans. Folk singer. Elephant & Castle,<br />

8pm, £5<br />

The Reform Club. Snowdrop, 9pm, free<br />

Sun 24<br />

John Cave, Trevor & Michael Curry and<br />

Iris Bishop & Jim Ward. Folk. Westgate<br />

Chapel, 2.30pm, £5<br />

Mon 25<br />

Chris Coul. Jazz. Snowdrop, 8pm, free<br />

Fri 29<br />

The Kondoms. Rock. Dorset, 9pm, free<br />

Sat 30<br />

John Morgan. Folk. Elly, 8pm, £6<br />

Louisiana Lightning (Friday 22nd)<br />

JAN<br />

FRI & SAT<br />

@ The Con Club<br />

8 CAM PENNER<br />

A UNION MUSIC STORE PRESENTATION<br />

15CAPTAINS BEARD<br />

PIRATE FOLK BAND YARRR!<br />

16 LOOSE CABOOSE NIGHT<br />

WITH DJ’s RACHELLE PIPER, MARTIN JACKSON & SIMON PENFOLD<br />

22 LOUISIANA LIGHTNING<br />

DISTINCTIVE BLEND OF COUNTRY ROCK & ROCK’N’ROLL<br />

23 JUST FLOYD<br />

SIMPLY THE BEST PINK FLOYD TRIBUTE<br />

ANGALEENA PRESLEY<br />

24 A UNION MUSIC STORE PRESENTATION<br />

SEE WEBSITE FOR DETAILS & ENTRY<br />

54


Are you looking to<br />

make a move in <strong>2016</strong>?<br />

In the New Year there is a huge spike in<br />

property internet traffic. <strong>January</strong> shows a 27 %<br />

increase in enquiries over December year on year.<br />

source Rightmove<br />

The Forward Thinking Estate Agency<br />

oakleyproperty.com 01273 487444


With its excellent and imaginative<br />

approach, the Steiner Waldorf<br />

curriculum has gained everwidening<br />

recognition as a creative<br />

and compassionate alternative to<br />

traditional avenues of education.<br />

But just how does it feel to be a child<br />

in the classroom, soaking up this<br />

stimulating and rewarding teaching?<br />

“ The number of Steiner students attending Oxford and Cambridge is well above the<br />

National average. Universities favour Steiner school pupils because they’re great<br />

Find out for all-round yourself... thinkers and exceedingly good at their own research.<br />

“This school is a beacon of professionalism among UK Steiner schools and the<br />

children who emerge are confident, articulate, international, open-minded and<br />

grounded, lucky them!” Good Schools Guide<br />

“<br />

Find out for yourself...<br />

All welcome, please register at 08:30<br />

Tours leave at 09:00 - Closes 13:00<br />

We look forward to meeting you.<br />

www.michaelhall.co.uk<br />

Kidbrooke Park, Priory Road, Forest Row. East Sussex, RH18 5JA<br />

Tel: 01342 822275 - Registered Charity Number 307006<br />

Open Mornings<br />

Thursday 28th <strong>January</strong> <strong>2016</strong> - 08:30<br />

Thursday 3rd March <strong>2016</strong> - 08:30<br />

A Day in the Classroom<br />

Saturday 19th March <strong>2016</strong> - please book


under 16<br />

êêêê<br />

shoes on now: Brighton Pavilion<br />

Like bears emerging early from hibernation, we ventured out this week to ice<br />

skate at the Royal Pavilion in Brighton. Open every year from November until<br />

mid <strong>January</strong>, the ice rink offered us the perfect opportunity to work off some<br />

of those mince pies.<br />

At first we took to the ice tentatively, clinging onto the side like nervous fawns.<br />

Whilst my older children found their skating feet with my husband, my toddler<br />

and I made our way to the special area designated for younger children.<br />

Conveniently, the ice rink provides younger children with special ‘bob’ skates<br />

which consist of two blades, making balancing a whole lot easier. Furthermore,<br />

toddlers can cling onto a life-size ‘penguin’ skate aid which they push in<br />

front of them as they learn to skate. Meanwhile my older children soon left the<br />

safety of the sides and, despite a few tumbles, began to skate with increasing confidence around the rink.<br />

We had chosen to go at night and the pretty way in which the lights illuminated the rink made us think of<br />

a Disney fantasy-land where anything could happen. Our hour of skating passed quickly and although my<br />

toddler peaked after 20 minutes or so, the older boys were begging to come back next week and we had<br />

such a fun time that we will be happy to oblige them. Jacky Adams<br />

Open daily from 10am-10pm until <strong>January</strong> 17th <strong>2016</strong>; entry is by ticket only. Onsite café with child friendly<br />

menu. Penguin skate aids are on a ‘first come first served’ basis. royalpavilionicerink.co.uk


Explore... and experience<br />

our way of learning<br />

Junior School Open Morning<br />

12 <strong>January</strong> <strong>2016</strong> - 9:30am to 12:30pm<br />

• small classes<br />

• co-educational<br />

• emphasis on individuality<br />

• tailored learning<br />

• 3 to 18 years<br />

For more information please contact: The Admissions Secretary<br />

office@logs.uk.com 01273 472634 www.logs.uk.com


under 16<br />

êêêê<br />

FreeTIME<br />

What’s on<br />

Until Mon 4<br />

Winter Wonderland Illuminations. Animalthemed<br />

light show, synchronised to music.<br />

Drusillas Park, 4.30pm daily. drusillas.co.uk<br />

Tue 5<br />

Tiny Towner. Weekly drop-in for under 5s.<br />

Get creative and stimulate the senses with<br />

pattern, line and material. Towner, Eastbourne,<br />

10.30am-12.30pm. townereastbourne.org.uk<br />

Sat 30<br />

Art club. Castle Creatives. Take inspiration<br />

from the Castle and its treasures and explore<br />

the use of clay, past and present, and produce a<br />

piece of work to take home. For children aged<br />

8-12. <strong>Lewes</strong> Castle, 10am-12.30pm, £8. Booking<br />

essential. 01273 486290 or sussexpast.co.uk<br />

Sun 31<br />

Sat 9- Sat 16<br />

Panto. Robin Hood. Traditional family panto,<br />

with a topical and local twist. St Mary’s Social<br />

Centre, Sat 2pm & 7pm, Sun 12 noon &<br />

5pm, Tue-Fri 7pm, Monday no performance,<br />

£9/£5/£3. stmaryspanto.org or 01273 477733<br />

Fri 15- Sun 24<br />

Panto. Jack and the Beanstalk. Family fun<br />

with lots of jokes and songs. The Barn Theatre,<br />

Seaford, Fri 15 & 22 7.30pm, Sat 16 & 23 2.30<br />

& 7.30pm, Sun 17 & 24 2.30pm, £10/£7 (family<br />

ticket £30). ticketsource.co.uk/thebarntheatre<br />

Fri 29- 6 Feb<br />

Theatre. Treasure Island. <strong>Lewes</strong> Theatre<br />

Youth Group present Robert Louis Stevenson’s<br />

classic. <strong>Lewes</strong> Little Theatre, Fri 29 7:45pm,<br />

Sat 30 & Sun 31 2:45pm, Fri 5 7:45pm, Sat 6<br />

2:45pm & 7:45pm, £8/£6. 01273 474826<br />

Film. Pan. (PG) 12-year-old orphan Peter is<br />

spirited away to the magical world of Neverland,<br />

where he finds fun and danger, and ultimately<br />

discovers his destiny… to become the<br />

hero who will be forever known as Peter Pan.<br />

All Saints, 3pm, £5-£6.50. filmatallsaints.com<br />

School Open Days<br />

Tue 12, <strong>Lewes</strong> Old Grammar Junior School<br />

Wed 13, <strong>Lewes</strong> New School<br />

Wed 27, Sussex Downs College<br />

Thu 28, Michael Hall School<br />

get your<br />

tickets now<br />

Book now for the World Premiere of new<br />

youth opera Nothing. Glyndebourne, 25-27<br />

Feb, £15. glyndebourne.com


under 16<br />

êêêê<br />

young photo of the month<br />

This month’s photo was<br />

taken by 13-year-old Lizzie<br />

Archer, in Sheffield Park. We<br />

love the way she’s made it<br />

monochrome, to add to the<br />

bleak feel of the image, as this<br />

tree stubbornly holds onto its<br />

last leaves. Lizzie wins a £10<br />

book token, kindly donated<br />

by Bags of Books bookshop<br />

on South Street. Under 16?<br />

Please email your photos and<br />

age to photos@vivalewes.com,<br />

with your contact details and<br />

any comments about why and<br />

where you took the photo.<br />

‘Local<br />

Producer of<br />

the Year’ *<br />

Mays’ Farm Cart<br />

Quality meats from our pasture to your plate ‘We do it naturally’<br />

From our farm... to<br />

Riverside... to you!<br />

Grass-fed beef and freerange<br />

pork from our<br />

small family farm, plus<br />

locally-sourced lamb,<br />

chicken and game.<br />

Great prices too.<br />

RIVERSIDE<br />

By Cliffe Bridge, <strong>Lewes</strong><br />

www.riverside-lewes.co.uk<br />

*<strong>Lewes</strong> & District Round Table Fatstock Awards 2015


food<br />

Limetree Kitchen<br />

High steaks on Station Street<br />

As we’re enjoying our<br />

amuse-bouches (Nocerella<br />

Del Belice olives and crispy<br />

home-cured fennel pork<br />

scratchings) I give my companion,<br />

an old friend I’ve<br />

known since Priory School<br />

days, a choice. I’ll let her<br />

pick the most expensive<br />

item on the main course<br />

menu – rib-eye steak (£22)<br />

– if she agrees to let me use<br />

her real name in this review.<br />

There’s a bit of humming<br />

and hawing… then<br />

Caroline - Caroline Wade<br />

that is, from Barcombe -<br />

chooses the rib-eye.<br />

We’re in Limetree Kitchen<br />

on Late Night Shopping Night, and with the<br />

rain pelting down outside, it’s a fine place to be,<br />

all white-painted wood, French-themed posters,<br />

and charming service. We can tell, in fact, from<br />

the quality of the scratchings (the best I’ve ever<br />

tasted, hey) that we’re going to have a good<br />

experience.<br />

Caroline’s already sunk a pint and a half of<br />

scrumpy in the Lansdown, so she’s on water; I<br />

choose a large house red (a South African Pinotage,<br />

£4.65) and pretty soon we’re settling into<br />

our starters. I enjoy three extremely succulent<br />

medallions of salmon carpaccio (£8), served on<br />

a black slate with blobs of aioli sauce and other<br />

visually-engaging accoutrements; Caroline<br />

rather plods her way through a large cup of<br />

mushroom soup (£7). I try some of it, and it’s<br />

very tasty, actually, though there’s no chance of<br />

food envy on this course.<br />

But what about the next? I’ve gone for a humble<br />

cut of onglet, the least expensive steak on offer<br />

(£17); not because I’m a<br />

cheapskate, but because I<br />

think it’s a great cut of meat,<br />

often served with skinny<br />

frites in everyday French<br />

cafés. Skinny frites are an<br />

option today, and they arrive<br />

- along with four slices of<br />

meat - in a tin bucket.<br />

Caroline has gone for Dauphinoise<br />

potatoes with her<br />

steak (£22, did I say?), something<br />

she makes at home. It’s<br />

never a good idea, I believe,<br />

to order things you’ve<br />

become an expert at making<br />

in your own kitchen, and,<br />

indeed, I end up finishing<br />

them (yum, for the record)<br />

while she tucks guiltily into my frites. I try her<br />

steak, as well; it’s beautifully tender; but I prefer<br />

the onglet, for its rich, gamey taste.<br />

The dessert, which we have with espresso coffee,<br />

is of the great-fun variety. It’s vanilla icecream,<br />

which comes with a little jug of warm<br />

salted caramel to pour over. The game is to try<br />

to eat the mixture before the ice cream melts. A<br />

plateful of contrasts - salty-sweet, hot-and-cold<br />

– it’s gone in an entertaining flash. Talk about<br />

amuse-bouches.<br />

The chef and owner, Alex, comes to chat<br />

afterwards, and tells us about onglet. It’s technically<br />

offal, he reveals, as it’s an offcut from the<br />

diaphragm: that’s one of the reasons it has such<br />

a powerful taste. Then he heads off, leaving the<br />

evening end-game in the capable hands of the<br />

young French waitress who’s been daintily serving<br />

us all night. I pay the bill (£78.40, before the<br />

tip) and bid adieu to both her and, once outside,<br />

the well-sated Ms Wade. Alex Leith<br />

63


64<br />

Photo by Rebecca Cunningham


food<br />

Butternut squash and white miso soup<br />

John Bayley at Cashew Catering prepares a healthy, hearty winter soup<br />

My interest in cooking and nutrition really<br />

started in my late teens when, like several of<br />

my mates, I decided to become a vegetarian. I<br />

quickly realised that if I was going to keep myself<br />

healthy I needed better kitchen skills and a<br />

greater understanding of nutrition. Ever since,<br />

I’ve done my best to make sure that the food I<br />

prepare for myself and my family at home and<br />

for my customers is nutritionally balanced and<br />

nourishing.<br />

This soup is easy to make, full of protein & vitamin<br />

B and beta-carotene. I like to top it with a<br />

vegan pesto, wasabi and cashew cream, an ume<br />

and raspberry dressing and a sprinkling of shiitake<br />

crisps. This recipe serves two to four.<br />

For the soup:<br />

1kg Butternut (or other) squash<br />

2-3 onions<br />

1 clove garlic<br />

1 can coconut milk<br />

1/4 cup white miso<br />

400ml water<br />

salt (to taste)<br />

Cut the squash into big chunks and rub with a<br />

little oil. Roast the squash and the onions – you<br />

can leave these whole - in the oven at a medium<br />

heat until soft. Then peel the onions and<br />

scrape out the flesh from the squash. Liquidise<br />

them together with the garlic, coconut milk and<br />

water until the mixture is completely smooth.<br />

Gently simmer the soup for about 20-30mins<br />

to cook through that raw garlic that went in,<br />

then take off the heat. Instead of a stock I use<br />

miso paste – you can use any kind but I like<br />

white miso because it’s particularly sweet and<br />

the yellow colour blends into the dish nicely.<br />

Rather than cook the miso – because it’s a fermented<br />

food – I just stir it in at the end. Add a<br />

bit of salt to taste.<br />

The first of the topping is the pesto. This pesto<br />

has a specifically Asian twist to it - you wouldn’t<br />

want to serve it to an Italian! My reasoning behind<br />

it is that with this meal you’ve really got<br />

carbs and vegetables and fermented foods, then<br />

the pesto adds protein from the cashew nuts<br />

and green nutrition from the mix of coriander,<br />

mint and chive.<br />

If you really want to fortify the soup you could<br />

add some red lentils to give it more protein.<br />

Put 15g mint, 15g chive, 15g coriander, 60ml<br />

mild-tasting oil, the juice of one lime and one<br />

lemon, one green chilli, 10g ginger and a tablespoon<br />

of water into a food processor. Add<br />

half a teaspoon of salt, then blitz until smooth.<br />

Add 50g toasted cashews, then blend again until<br />

they are breadcrumb-sized.<br />

To make the wasabi and cashew cream, liquidise<br />

half a cup of cashews, with ¾ cup of water, a<br />

tablespoon of wasabi powder – or horseradish<br />

works just as well – and salt to taste. This makes<br />

about 8-10 servings.<br />

For the ume & raspberry sauce blend a tablespoon<br />

of ume, half a cup of fresh or frozen raspberries,<br />

a teaspoon of agave syrup, and enough<br />

water to make a smooth sauce.<br />

The shiitake ‘crisps’ need roughly two mushrooms<br />

per portion, but do as many as you fancy.<br />

Slice them to about 2mm thick and coat the<br />

slices in oil, then season. Roast on medium heat<br />

in the oven until crisp, making sure you check<br />

them and turn where necessary. If any crisp up<br />

more quickly, take those out first. Leave to cool<br />

and serve. As told to Rebecca Cunningham<br />

North Rd, 07786 226220/cashewcatering.co.uk<br />

65


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Available for rental <strong>2016</strong> WiFi <strong>Lewes</strong> owners<br />

ali@hahlo.demon.co.uk<br />

www.roussillonholidayhome.co.uk<br />

a Great British pub, a warm welcome,<br />

wonderful food & ambience<br />

New Year’s eve!<br />

Book now for great food, great music,<br />

good times & free Prosecco at midnight!<br />

Open New Year’s Day as normal<br />

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food<br />

Le Magasin<br />

The full anglais<br />

For a while Le Magasin, on Cliffe High<br />

Street, nodded to the fact that it had replaced<br />

the newsagent Moorey’s by selling newspapers<br />

– only a few mind, and I don’t remember any<br />

tabloids – from an antique cabinet. That was<br />

when they had fewer tables, I guess – nowadays<br />

they manage to pack thirty or so covers<br />

into the smallish space, which is just as well,<br />

as when I arrive there’s only one table left<br />

free. It’s Monday, it’s 11.30am, and I am starving<br />

for one of their full English breakfasts.<br />

There’s plenty to look at, as I wait to be<br />

served. A huge iron safe, for example, in<br />

the corner, begging the question who the<br />

hell managed to lift it in. A corrugated zinc<br />

ceiling decorated with silver painted leaves.<br />

Naked pendant light-bulbs reminding you of<br />

anywhere that’s opened in the last three years<br />

in Brighton. Blackboards: enough blackboards<br />

to justify a change of name to ‘L’École’.<br />

The breakfast is splendid, as I’ve been led to<br />

expect. Real meaty bacon, a proper butcher’s<br />

sausage, a perfectly poached twin egg, what I<br />

take to be sourdough toast, button mushrooms,<br />

sweet cherry tomatoes, and best of<br />

all – and I didn’t like the look of them on the<br />

menu – some new potatoes that have been<br />

boiled, cut in half, and fried in their skins. All<br />

this washed down by a second black Americano<br />

(I’d already had one while waiting).<br />

The only reading matter available nowadays<br />

is a discreet pile of <strong>Viva</strong>s – I’ve already read<br />

it cover to cover, obviously - but the food and<br />

people-watching potential are both high quality<br />

enough to fully absorb my attention. The<br />

damage? A rather posh £12.80. AL


drink<br />

Water Kefir<br />

Full of yeast and promise<br />

Fermentation’s<br />

on the rise. I’ve<br />

been advised of<br />

this by people<br />

who know these<br />

things. Apparently,<br />

fermented<br />

food and drinks<br />

(of a certain kind<br />

– I don’t think<br />

they mean beer)<br />

contain billions<br />

of cultures that<br />

are beneficial for the gut and the immune<br />

system. Ana Frearson of Fermentally has<br />

become a passionate advocate, making and<br />

selling a variety of fermented products<br />

and running workshops on how to make<br />

them yourself. I go along to her stall at the<br />

Weekly Food Market in Market Tower to<br />

meet her. Her tubs of food are in vibrant,<br />

pretty colours. I try the red beet kraut,<br />

ginger slaw and spicy Korean kimchi (made<br />

with cabbage and packed with chilli and<br />

garlic) and salty, but surprisingly delicious,<br />

kale cortido – all £4 a tub. She says they’re<br />

all simple to make – you just mix the ingredients<br />

and leave them to ferment. For this<br />

review I’ve been asked to try her new line of<br />

drinks, £2.50 for a 250ml bottle. She makes<br />

ginger beer and something I’ve never heard<br />

of, water kefir. This is made with water and<br />

kefir grains (which include a yeast/bacterial<br />

fermentation starter). The ginger beer has a<br />

slight effervescence, is vastly less sweet than<br />

most brands and has a whack of ginger that<br />

knocks your socks off. The water kefir tastes<br />

slightly sweet, with a bit of a yeasty backtaste.<br />

It’s certainly an easy way to consume<br />

something virtuous. Emma Chaplin<br />

Ana Frearson, Fermentally. Six workshops in<br />

Jan, two hours each, £25 fermentally.co.uk<br />

07900 827839


food<br />

Edible Updates<br />

FOOD<br />

Locally sourced and<br />

freshly prepared by<br />

our chefs.<br />

DRINKS<br />

A range of wines,<br />

craft beers and hot<br />

drinks available<br />

throughout the day.<br />

Forty<br />

L U N C H M E N U<br />

2 Courses £10 ~ 3 Courses £15<br />

WINKS<br />

Staying for a few days?<br />

…we have a boutique<br />

double room with<br />

ensuite.<br />

Please note this is a typical lunch menu and is subject to change<br />

due to availability of ingredients and seasonal produce<br />

starters<br />

Leek and potato soup with chicken dripping and artisan bread.<br />

Cauliflower pakoras, tandoori, tomato and coriander.<br />

mains<br />

Ginger beer battered halloumi, hand cut chips, pea purée<br />

and smokey ketchup.<br />

Fish pie, sea herbs and leaves.<br />

desserts<br />

Ice cream and sorbet - selection of the day.<br />

Caffé Gourmand.<br />

Tea or coffee with homemade treats on the side.<br />

Limetree Kitchen<br />

14 Station Street, <strong>Lewes</strong>, East Sussex. BN7 2DA<br />

Call 01273 478636 to book your table…<br />

or room.<br />

www.limetreekitchen.co.uk<br />

limetreekitchen<br />

Illustration by Chloë King<br />

<strong>January</strong>: the<br />

month cleaneating<br />

advocates<br />

have been waiting<br />

for. If you’re<br />

not cutting out<br />

alcohol, sugar,<br />

wheat, dairy and<br />

frankly anything<br />

enjoyable<br />

this month, then I don’t know what magazines<br />

you’ve been reading.<br />

Fortunately, in <strong>Lewes</strong> we have a whole load<br />

of healthy, organic, locally grown produce<br />

available all year round, including brilliant box<br />

schemes from Ashurst Organics, Barcombe<br />

Nurseries and May’s Farm Cart.<br />

At Pestle & Mortar, you can discover a cleansing<br />

brew in the form of their new Burmese<br />

green teas, or feast on a vegan Thai curry made<br />

with homemade paste, and ‘no shrimp!’ Curry,<br />

of course, is a great way to up your veggies,<br />

and fortunately, Community Chef is holding<br />

a workshop on 30 Jan, making ‘quintessential<br />

Udupi’: pure vegetarian, healing dishes from<br />

Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu’. [communitychef.org.uk]<br />

Eating well expert (and this month’s My <strong>Lewes</strong>)<br />

Tina Deubert is launching her new recipe<br />

collection this month. ‘Cards with a difference,’<br />

she says, featuring all our favourite dishes sold<br />

in Tina’s Kitchen and more; pick up in store.<br />

At the <strong>Lewes</strong> Friday Market, Ana Frearson (see<br />

page 68) sells homemade fermented vegetable<br />

pickles like sauerkraut and Kimchi. You can<br />

speak to Ana (07900 827839) about attending<br />

her fermentation workshops. ‘Such an interesting<br />

process,’ she tells us, ‘and the resulting food<br />

and drinks are so good for you.’<br />

And those still satisfied with a well-constructed<br />

sandwich, a slice of something sweet and a<br />

good cuppa on a cold day will welcome the new<br />

branch of old favourite The Runaway Café;<br />

now open on Station Street. Chloë King<br />

69


Hut Therapy<br />

Bed and (wholefood) breakfast<br />

‘Miso soup, for breakfast?’ I wonder, watching<br />

Gilly Webber stir the steamy, seaweedy<br />

broth that I’m used to seeing a bit later on<br />

in the day. Gilly is the host at Hut Therapy,<br />

a Bed and Whole Food Breakfast run from<br />

her home in East Chiltington. I’ve arrived<br />

on a brisk winter morning to sample her<br />

macrobiotic cooking.<br />

Macrobiotic, she explains, means ‘big life’<br />

and stems from oriental principles of the five<br />

types of energy: tree, fire, ground, metal and<br />

water. Tree energy comes from foods which<br />

grow upwards, so the leeks in the miso soup<br />

she’s making, or the barley which the miso<br />

is made from. Fire energy includes foods<br />

which grow outwards, like mushrooms, and<br />

ground energy comes from those which<br />

grow close to the ground, like pumpkin or<br />

squash. Metal energy covers foods which<br />

grow under the earth, like root vegetables.<br />

Water energy really speaks for itself.<br />

We sit down to our first course; the soup is<br />

accompanied by sauerkraut rolls with a tahini<br />

and white miso dip, and some steamed<br />

greens. I’ve quickly become an energy spotter<br />

and am keen to identify the types of energy<br />

found in every single ingredient in the<br />

meal. The carrots, of course, give us metal<br />

energy, while the kale, I think, is tree. But<br />

what about the seaweed? My first thought is<br />

tree energy because of the shape, but then it<br />

does grow under water, so perhaps it’s water<br />

energy? It turns out it’s both.<br />

Gilly goes along with my guessing game for<br />

a while, but really this isn’t what her cooking<br />

is about. “It’s about the balance,” she ex-<br />

70


health<br />

plains, “coming into your body and knowing<br />

which foods you need.” She has been<br />

eating this way since suffering ill health<br />

several years ago, a period of her life which<br />

made her re-think what she was eating<br />

and what she needed to be well. It’s not all<br />

about cutting out sugar, or dairy, or gluten,<br />

like many current health crazes, but rather<br />

about gaining a sense of which foods you<br />

need as you go about your life.<br />

Our second course is a millet porridge<br />

cooked with apple and topped with toasted<br />

pumpkin seeds, which I chose a few<br />

days ago from a menu of delicious-sounding<br />

options. Gilly explains that the millet<br />

is ‘grounding’ and believes that even<br />

without knowing why we choose certain<br />

foods, subconsciously we are selecting<br />

those which give us the energies we need.<br />

I’m not sure that I could have known last<br />

week, when I chose the millet, that on this<br />

particular morning I was going to need<br />

grounding. Still I really enjoy talking to<br />

Gilly because she is keen to share with me<br />

what she has learnt through her own experiences,<br />

but she’s not looking to impose<br />

her ideas onto me. I think she can tell that<br />

I’m naturally sceptical, but it’s a learning<br />

process. I think that if I had the chance to<br />

stay for an entire weekend, I might come<br />

out as convinced as she is.<br />

Rebecca Cunningham<br />

Photos by Rebecca Cunningham<br />

71


the way we work<br />

This month we asked portrait photographer Simon Potter to visit some of the town’s<br />

dentists, but not for a check-up. He’s used his natural, relaxed shooting style to capture a<br />

usually nerve-wracking scenario in an uncharacteristically welcoming light. During each<br />

visit he has asked the practitioner: what’s your tip for white teeth?<br />

simonpotter.photoshelter.com<br />

Steven Kell, <strong>Lewes</strong> High Street Dental Practice<br />

“Don’t smoke, see your dentist and hygienist regularly and follow the advice<br />

they have shared with you. If you’re not happy don’t be too embarrassed to<br />

discuss it with your dentist - everything can be sorted!”


the way we work<br />

Mhiran Patel, Albion Dental<br />

“It’s important to limit sources of staining such as tea, coffee and red wine,<br />

as well as giving up smoking for your New Year’s resolution! Discolouration can be due<br />

to a variety of internal and external factors; your dentist can advise you if and<br />

how an improvement can be achieved.”


the way we work<br />

Katie Henry, <strong>Lewes</strong> High Street Dental Practice<br />

“There are many different causes of discoloured teeth. If you have concerns about the<br />

colour of your teeth then speak to your dentist, who will be happy to discuss your options.<br />

Smoking should be avoided and frequent consumption of certain drinks such as<br />

black tea or coffee will cause more staining.”


Meet Our Team<br />

KIMBERLEY CARWITHEN<br />

Solicitor<br />

We are delighted that our Kimberley Carwithen<br />

has just qualified as a solicitor. Kimberley<br />

joined our team in September 2013 to start<br />

her training contract, having completed her<br />

studies to become a solicitor.<br />

Kimberley specialises in residential conveyancing,<br />

wills & lasting powers of attorney.<br />

Outside of work she enjoys trampolining, aerial<br />

hoop, shopping, swimming & socialising. She<br />

also enjoys travelling & tries to visit as many<br />

places as possible - when we allow her any<br />

holiday!<br />

kimberley@morgan-kelly.co.uk<br />

Our clients say<br />

Efficient, effective & helpful throughout<br />

- thank you, Kimberley & team, for your support<br />

through the sale process<br />

Local, specialist,<br />

quality & affordable<br />

solicitors<br />

www.morgan-kelly.co.uk<br />

Castle Works<br />

Westgate Street<br />

<strong>Lewes</strong><br />

BN7 1YR<br />

01273 407 970


the way we work<br />

Hakan Bystrom, St Anne’s Dental<br />

“A good daily hygiene routine, limit intake of black tea and coffee, do not smoke,<br />

see a hygienist regularly, talk to your dentist about teeth whitening”


Specsavers<br />

Store Director Trish Lofting<br />

I’ve been with Specsavers 25 years, in the<br />

<strong>Lewes</strong> branch for 13. I came from the Horsham<br />

branch with optometrist Louise Finbow and four<br />

other staff. <strong>Lewes</strong> is a loyal town, so it took a long<br />

time for us to get established, but we are now.<br />

Our customers are 65% glasses wearers, 35%<br />

contact lens wearers and we do about 120 eye<br />

tests a week.<br />

Wearing glasses has become fashionable. I<br />

only started needing to wear them a couple of<br />

years ago, but I’ve grown to like them. I’ve got<br />

ten pairs.<br />

We have about 1,200 different frames to<br />

choose from here. We are trained to help<br />

people find frames that suit their faces. I look at<br />

people and consider what I think will look good<br />

on them, but I’m not always right. There are so<br />

many subtle variations on shape these days. It’s not<br />

just round, square or oblong like it used to be.<br />

The most expensive piece of kit we use is the<br />

electronic eye chart unit.<br />

The biggest changes have been with the<br />

technology we use. We don’t take measurements<br />

manually, it’s all digital. We use an iPad for dispensing.<br />

As well as having the more traditional reading<br />

card, it simulates looking at a mobile phone, because<br />

that’s what people do these days. Customers put<br />

their frames on and we add a device we call ‘Fred’.<br />

Fred’s sensors measure pupil distance, frame size and<br />

work out whether your prescription is suitable for<br />

the frames.<br />

As part of our pre-screening procedure we do<br />

a number of tests. The auto-refractor gauges the<br />

ability of your eyes to focus. It’s a double-checking<br />

procedure and gives us an idea of your prescription<br />

before you have your eye test.<br />

We use the fundus camera for some customers,<br />

78


my space<br />

Photos by Katie Moorman<br />

particularly those over 40. It takes a photo which<br />

allows a more in-depth look at the back of the eye,<br />

looking for anything abnormal. It’s become part<br />

of the standard eye test, although you used to have<br />

to pay for it. We also do a field-of-vision test with<br />

the visual field screener.<br />

The tonometer checks pressure in the<br />

eyeballs (intra-ocular pressure), it’s the one using<br />

puffs of air. Everyone hates it, but it’s important, it<br />

helps check for risk of glaucoma. In all instances,<br />

we’re looking for anything abnormal, which indicates<br />

that the customer may need a referral.<br />

As told to Emma Chaplin<br />

79


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column<br />

<strong>Lewes</strong> Out Loud<br />

Plenty more Henty<br />

First of all – a very<br />

Happy New Year<br />

and thanks to<br />

several of you who<br />

have given my new<br />

approach to this<br />

page a ‘thumbs-up’.<br />

I don’t do names<br />

but you know who<br />

you are. As far as<br />

<strong>2016</strong> is concerned,<br />

for someone like<br />

me who was born in 1936, I have to say I view<br />

the New Year with a fair degree of trepidation.<br />

However, following my tried and tested KTTT<br />

philosophy (Keep Taking The Tablets) I<br />

popped into Boots the chemist locally in late<br />

November to purchase, in addition to the pills,<br />

one of their scribbling diaries for <strong>2016</strong>.<br />

You see, I’m not into the other sort of tablets<br />

and an A4 desk diary has been an established<br />

part of my daily routine for at least 25 years.<br />

“We don’t stock them” I was told, “You should<br />

try our big branch in Brighton – they carry<br />

those sort of things”.<br />

Not any more they don’t, as I discovered a few<br />

days later. After much searching upstairs, with<br />

the help of an assistant, we established that<br />

the Nottingham-based company had ceased<br />

to manufacture the iconic scribbler. As far<br />

as it is concerned then, I said to the woman,<br />

<strong>2016</strong> won’t happen. She laughed nervously as I<br />

headed back to <strong>Lewes</strong> and good old WH Smith<br />

in the precinct.<br />

Later in Cliffe, I enjoyed a chat with friend<br />

Caroline who told me she is concerned, like<br />

others, about cars using the road we were in,<br />

parking there illegally and causing difficulties<br />

for pedestrians - especially children. Amongst<br />

other things,<br />

Caroline would like<br />

to see improved<br />

signage in Railway<br />

Lane and she’s<br />

actively pursuing<br />

matters with the<br />

council and hopes<br />

for action in <strong>2016</strong>.<br />

As we spoke, we<br />

were passed by<br />

a sizeable 4 x 4<br />

vehicle which compounded the issue by loudly<br />

hooting at a wayward pigeon. “Bollards!”<br />

commented a cheery local woman, overhearing<br />

our conversation. At least I think that was her<br />

comment! “They’ve got ’em in Chichester –<br />

retractable ones… and they work!”<br />

Caroline’s friendly dog, Billy, was not amused<br />

either. I’m told he regularly visits local care<br />

homes and is a great favourite with residents.<br />

I love these impromptu sessions which seem to<br />

be so much a part of our lively town. In <strong>2016</strong><br />

I reckon we should create a Speakers’ Corner<br />

somewhere central – a semi-permanent soap<br />

box where locals could air their views and opinions<br />

in the true spirit of Thomas Paine.<br />

Meantime I’ll have to make do with Cliffe, and<br />

the aisles in Waitrose where numerous issues<br />

are resolved, and not always serious ones. Most<br />

recently I recall a lengthy discussion with John<br />

and Gill from Norton, close-by Bishopstone,<br />

on the varying merits of cherry or lemon drizzle<br />

cake.<br />

Finally, I have been asked to identify the<br />

smiling woman in the December issue who<br />

was walking her rescue dogs when we met in<br />

Grange Road. Thank you to Val and I don’t<br />

have the names of her dogs - yet! John Henty<br />

81


football<br />

Olivia Rowlands<br />

<strong>Lewes</strong> Ladies’ medic<br />

<strong>Lewes</strong> Ladies are used to<br />

beating the odds. Having<br />

fought their way into<br />

the Women’s Premier<br />

League, they now stand<br />

shoulder to shoulder with<br />

sides such as Tottenham<br />

Hotspur, West Ham and<br />

local rivals Brighton &<br />

Hove Albion.<br />

This season, it’s not only<br />

been the vastly superior<br />

resources of their rivals<br />

that the Rookettes have<br />

had to contend with, but<br />

a crippling injury list. At<br />

one point, the entire back<br />

four was out of action, a<br />

couple with problems that<br />

could keep them out for<br />

the rest of the season and<br />

beyond.<br />

Drafted in to bolster the Ladies physio and sports<br />

therapy section was Olivia Rowlands, who works<br />

with Debbie Bradbury to ensure the women are in<br />

the best possible physical shape. That doesn’t just<br />

mean treating players when they take a knock,<br />

but working with the players and coaches to avoid<br />

injuries occurring in the first place. “I assess the<br />

players coming in for treatment,” says Rowlands,<br />

“either injuries that have occurred during the<br />

game or it can be screening them to see whether<br />

they’re fit to play or not.”<br />

“In collaboration with the coach and the strength<br />

and conditioning coach, we then formulate a plan<br />

for return to play. We also discuss with the players<br />

about how to manage those injuries.”<br />

Rowlands says one of the hardest parts of her job<br />

is convincing players it’s not in their best interests<br />

to cross that white line on a Sunday afternoon.<br />

“Obviously, everyone’s<br />

keen to<br />

play and football’s<br />

their overriding<br />

passion. It’s about<br />

being honest with<br />

the players and<br />

saying ‘if you do<br />

continue playing<br />

with this injury,<br />

the likelihood is it<br />

will get worse’. It’s<br />

about managing<br />

those injuries and<br />

getting people<br />

back into play as<br />

soon as you can.”<br />

This is the first<br />

time Rowlands<br />

has worked in<br />

football. However,<br />

she’s used to a much riskier sport: she used<br />

to be into parkour – running, jumping and rolling<br />

over obstacles – before she settled down into<br />

a day job as a physiotherapist with the NHS. She<br />

says the breadth of the knowledge she’s picked up<br />

working at Eastbourne hospital will serve the club<br />

and its players well. “I rotate between different<br />

areas of the hospital. I’m a very general physio,<br />

but it’s a really good way to start to go into sports<br />

for the long term. I know a lot about neurological<br />

physiotherapy, I know about acute injury management,<br />

I know about respiratory problems, about<br />

intensive care and looking after spinal injuries,”<br />

she says. “All that is very important.”<br />

Given the bad luck with injuries the Rookettes<br />

have suffered this season, it probably won’t be too<br />

long before she can put all those different skills<br />

into practice at the Dripping Pan.<br />

Barry Collins<br />

83


feature: wild MEDICINE<br />

Nicholas Culpeper<br />

Better living through botany<br />

Exactly 400 years ago, in 1616, a legend was born;<br />

a rebel who partnered up with Mother Nature to<br />

revolutionise British medicine. The herbal hero,<br />

the botanical bad boy, the father of alternative<br />

medicine, ladies and gentleman I give you, Nicholas<br />

Culpeper.<br />

Culpeper did his growing up upstream in Isfield.<br />

The lanes around <strong>Lewes</strong> and the starry Sussex skies<br />

were his classroom and the hedges and the heavens<br />

taught him botany, astronomy and astrology. And<br />

he learnt about love too. In 1634 Culpeper and his<br />

Sussex sweetheart planned a secret <strong>Lewes</strong> wedding<br />

and a speedy elopement to the Netherlands. But<br />

tragedy struck when his lover’s carriage was hit by a<br />

lightning bolt en route to <strong>Lewes</strong>. She died instantly.<br />

There’s no cure for a broken heart and Culpeper<br />

left Sussex and started a new life in London. He<br />

threw himself into his work as a lowly apothecary’s<br />

assistant, cataloguing medicinal herbs on<br />

Threadneedle Street. At this time medicine was<br />

only practiced by elite physicians. They would<br />

charge exorbitant prices for their secret remedies<br />

and would not even demean themselves to talk to<br />

patients; instead requesting a sample of urine to<br />

make their diagnosis. Culpeper agreed with them<br />

on one thing; they were all taking the piss. He<br />

believed medical treatment should be available to<br />

all - not just the privileged.<br />

Setting up his own practice in a poorer part of<br />

London, Culpeper started treating 40 patients<br />

a day with herbal cures derived from English<br />

plants. Then he dropped his botanical bombshell.<br />

Culpeper published an incredible book which<br />

instructed people how to pick their own remedies,<br />

free of charge, from the hedges and meadows. The<br />

book was The English Physitian (1652, later enlarged<br />

as The Complete Herbal). His book promoted<br />

and preserved folk remedies at a time when physicians<br />

and priests were discrediting village healers<br />

and preventing them from passing along their<br />

traditional knowledge. The medical establishment<br />

was enraged and accused Culpeper of practicing<br />

witchcraft. But his book endured. In fact it’s been<br />

in continuous print longer than any other nonreligious<br />

English language book.<br />

No doubt Culpeper’s herbal remedies could have<br />

come in useful for some of you over the festive<br />

period; wild privet (for headaches), blackthorn<br />

(for indigestion), rosemary (for flatulence) and the<br />

juice of ivy berries ‘snuffed up into the nose’ (for<br />

hangovers). Culpeper also has cures for those with<br />

sore breasts, worms, itches in the ‘privy parts’ and<br />

bruises. Hey – I don’t know what you lot have been<br />

getting up to over Christmas.<br />

So start <strong>2016</strong> by raising your Nutribullets and<br />

ginseng teas to the healing properties of Mother<br />

Nature and to four centuries of Nicholas Culpeper.<br />

Michael Blencowe, Sussex Wildlife Trust<br />

Illustration by Mark Greco<br />

sussexwildlifetrust.org.uk<br />

85


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trade secrets<br />

St Anne’s Pharmacy<br />

Co-owner Debbie Baker<br />

Photos by Mark Bridge<br />

The business is run by me and Karen Smillie.<br />

We first worked together at another pharmacy in<br />

the town: Karen was the manager and I joined as<br />

a technician when I was 16. After several years I<br />

left to do my pharmacy degree but eventually we<br />

got together again and agreed that <strong>Lewes</strong> needed<br />

another pharmacy, so we put the wheels in motion.<br />

We’ve just celebrated our tenth anniversary of being<br />

in business.<br />

Being an independently owned pharmacy is unusual<br />

these days. There’s a huge amount of background<br />

work, whereas the multiples have a head<br />

office that deals with all the red tape and that sort<br />

of thing. But they haven’t got the flexibility we have.<br />

Most of our business is from prescriptions, not overthe-counter<br />

sales. It’s different for the multiples because<br />

they have a huge retail side.<br />

We buy all the drugs. A lot of people don’t realise<br />

this. So if you go into a pharmacy with your prescription<br />

and they’ve got your medication on the<br />

shelf, it’s because they’ve ordered the products and<br />

are hoping someone will need them. We can buy<br />

thousands of pounds of drugs but it comes out of<br />

our pocket. The NHS will only pay us when we’ve<br />

given a patient the medication that’s listed on their<br />

prescription.<br />

People tend to contemplate New Year’s resolutions<br />

in <strong>January</strong>, so it’s a good time of year to think<br />

about health: diet, exercise and giving up smoking.<br />

It’s relatively quiet for us, although the lead-up to<br />

Christmas is absolutely manic. Some people get in<br />

a panic about having enough medication because<br />

we’re closed for four days, which causes a horrendous<br />

workload.<br />

There’s a lot we can do to help people manage<br />

their medical conditions. Often your pharmacist<br />

can help with extra information about your prescription.<br />

We also provide a particular service called<br />

a Medicine Use Review, where patients can discuss<br />

how they’re using their medication and what problems<br />

they’re having. You can come in and have a<br />

completely private consultation with a pharmacist.<br />

I wish people would keep their medication in its<br />

original packaging. The appearance of tablets and<br />

packaging can change, which means people can get<br />

muddled up and start taking the wrong amounts.<br />

And please don’t order things you don’t need. The<br />

NHS pays for the medicine - and if it’s not used, the<br />

NHS also pays to have it incinerated.<br />

Sometimes I cringe when people come in and<br />

say “I’ve got flu”. It’s very unlikely you’d be able to<br />

walk in if you actually had flu. I’m a big fan of those<br />

fizzy vitamin tablets like Berocca if you have a cold<br />

or you’re surrounded by people who have colds.<br />

And Difflam Spray for really sore throats. But ask<br />

your pharmacist first! As told to Mark Bridge<br />

50 Western Road, <strong>Lewes</strong> BN7 1RP<br />

01273 474645<br />

87


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icks and mortar<br />

Chailey Heritage<br />

The Commandant’s caring creation<br />

There’s a story about Grace Kimmins’s benevolent<br />

scheming. It was told by her granddaughter,<br />

so it’s probably true. Kimmins was trying to buy<br />

an extra bit of land for her school, but the owner<br />

wouldn’t sell. So she waited for this big event,<br />

when the Bishop of London came down, and<br />

she got up in front of everyone and thanked the<br />

owner for donating the bit of land. And it worked.<br />

Kimmins was born in <strong>Lewes</strong> in 1870. She’s characterised<br />

as a savvy fundraiser and publicist, a<br />

determined and charismatic figure who knew<br />

what she wanted and had no doubt she could<br />

make it happen. She earned the affectionate<br />

nickname ‘Commandant’.<br />

Living in London as a missionary, working with<br />

poor people, she “realised that there were people<br />

who had disabilities who could work, but weren’t<br />

being given the training, so they were being<br />

marginalised,” says Chailey Heritage Foundation’s<br />

chief exec, Helen Hewitt. “That’s why she<br />

created the Heritage. She came from London<br />

with seven young men who were disabled. She<br />

decided they should be taught a trade.”<br />

This was in 1903. The school was founded in a<br />

decrepit former workhouse, with a leaky roof and<br />

a rat problem and no gas or electricity. The boys<br />

were taught carpentry, and then Kimmins used<br />

her connections to get them apprenticeships.<br />

Admitting girls from 1908, Chailey Heritage<br />

grew until, at one point, it had four sites in the<br />

village and an outpost at Tidemills. The curriculum<br />

shifted away from carpentry and bootmaking<br />

and needlework. As more of a focus on<br />

medical care developed, operating theatres were<br />

built, and children were cared for on nurse-run<br />

wards.<br />

The original building, the former workhouse, is<br />

still there. Part of it houses the charity’s offices,<br />

and does feel a bit ancient, with its low beams<br />

and narrow corridors. But the rest of the building<br />

is a modern-looking and immensely well<br />

equipped ‘Life Skills Centre’, for disabled adults.<br />

The school itself is in the latter style; it even has<br />

a wireless ‘wheelchair-guidance system’ in the<br />

corridors, with anti-crash technology.<br />

Nowadays the school deals with much more<br />

complex disabilities than in Kimmins’ time. Of<br />

the 78 current students, more than half need<br />

medically-assisted eating; the vast majority are<br />

‘non verbal’. And yet, the founder’s basic idea –<br />

to prepare students for as independent a life as<br />

possible – is still the school’s ethos.<br />

“We’re committed to their lives being as fulfilling<br />

as they can possibly be, to help them fulfil<br />

every bit of their potential,” Hewitt says. “For<br />

some, maybe it’s the blink of an eye that says<br />

they understand, and they want this rather than<br />

that - for them that’s an achievement, because<br />

they’ve been able to make a choice.<br />

“If you imagine someone with cerebral palsy,<br />

who doesn’t have very much physical control,<br />

but actually has a lot of ability; if the school can<br />

provide the mechanism, whether it’s through<br />

Eye Gaze [eye-tracking computer software], or<br />

a communication book, or even making them<br />

comfortable enough so that they can concentrate<br />

on learning, then that’s absolutely massive.”<br />

Steve Ramsey<br />

89


usiness news<br />

On a small industrial estate at the edge of Ringmer<br />

is a company that proudly claims to produce<br />

the widest range of wheelchair platforms<br />

and recliners in the world. For example, they<br />

make a portable device that tilts a patient in a<br />

wheelchair, enabling that person to receive dental<br />

treatment without being transferred onto a<br />

dentist’s couch. And there are motorised chairs<br />

that’ll adjust to fit bariatric patients weighing<br />

over 50 stone, making it easier for medical staff<br />

to transfer and treat people on a single piece of<br />

equipment. It means undignified and potentially<br />

dangerous hoists can be consigned to the past.<br />

The company was born from a project at the<br />

University of Brighton. Richard Fletcher was<br />

leading the MSc Product Innovation and Design<br />

course when a London hospital asked for<br />

help designing a wheelchair recliner platform.<br />

Not only did Richard’s solution win an award,<br />

it led to the creation of his own business almost<br />

16 years ago. He’s CEO of Design Specific Ltd,<br />

working with a dedicated staff of five who cover<br />

all technical aspects as well as marketing and<br />

support.<br />

In its way, Design Specific is a very traditional<br />

firm. Every new product starts with a pencildrawn<br />

sketch. Components are ordered from<br />

local suppliers where possible, with all assembly<br />

– including circuit boards – taking place on<br />

site. Yet the results are perfectly suited to<br />

21st-century medicine. Instead of inconvenient<br />

cables and noisy motors, there are silky-smooth<br />

castors, rechargeable batteries and quiet<br />

hydraulic lifts. What’s most notable about the<br />

products is how attractive they are. “We like to<br />

make things that look good”, Richard explains.<br />

“You can have style as well as function.” Meanwhile<br />

John Walters, Design and International<br />

Marketing Manager, talks about a compliment<br />

he was paid at a European trade show. “The<br />

Germans said ‘It looks German’. That was high<br />

praise, as far as I was concerned.”<br />

Last year, Design Specific won the coveted<br />

Award for Business Innovation during the<br />

<strong>Lewes</strong> District Business Awards. The company<br />

sells its products around the world, so why<br />

did it enter a local competition? “I don’t chase<br />

awards”, Richard tells us. “It was for everyone<br />

here. These guys work hard, they put a lot in. I<br />

wanted to give their efforts an airing.”<br />

And what’s planned for <strong>2016</strong>? Richard points to<br />

the motorised ‘fifth wheel’ hidden underneath<br />

their latest bariatric conveyance chair. At the<br />

moment it’s ordered from Germany but will<br />

soon be replaced with a home-grown design.<br />

“They use cams; we’ll be using linear drives.<br />

We’ve done a lot of sketches.”<br />

Mark Bridge<br />

Design Specific, Caburn Enterprise Park, The<br />

Broyle, Ringmer, 01273 813904<br />

The <strong>2016</strong> <strong>Lewes</strong> District Business Awards<br />

will launch in March. Celebrating excellence<br />

in local business, it’s free to enter and open to<br />

organisations of all sizes and sectors. It’s an opportunity<br />

to give your staff the recognition they<br />

deserve, boost your company profile and - if<br />

you’re shortlisted - enjoy a jolly good night out.<br />

Speaking of awards (and good nights out), our<br />

congratulations to the winners of the 2015 Fatstock<br />

Awards. Prizes went to May’s Farm Cart<br />

for Local Producer, Bone Clothing for Business<br />

of the Year and Mary Masters for Personality of<br />

the Year. Over £8,000 was raised on the night<br />

for Southover Counselling and MIND.<br />

90


DIRECTORY<br />

Please note that though we aim to only take advertising from reputable businesses, we cannot guarantee<br />

the quality of any work undertaken, and accept no responsibility or liability for any issues arising.<br />

To advertise in <strong>Viva</strong> <strong>Lewes</strong> please call 01273 434567 or email advertising@vivalewes.com<br />

Directory Spotlight:<br />

intrinsic HEALTH<br />

Ruth Wharton, Biodynamic Cranial<br />

Osteopath and Naturopath;<br />

Jak Measure Licensed Homeopath<br />

and Cease Therapist; Sally Galloway<br />

Nutritional Therapist and<br />

Naturopathic Chef.<br />

RW: We’d known each other for a<br />

long time, and, as established <strong>Lewes</strong><br />

practitioners, had the shared vision<br />

of creating a dynamic space where<br />

we can practise in the heart of our<br />

town. We treat people of all ages, sometimes<br />

whole families. The reception is also open for people<br />

to buy homeopathic remedies as well as green<br />

juices and healthy ready meals to take home.<br />

JM: For me homeopathy is an art as well as a science,<br />

balancing the holistic health of mind, body<br />

and spirit. Having an ongoing dialogue with each<br />

patient allows me to address their needs at that<br />

moment and avoid being too prescriptive.<br />

One size doesn’t fit all.<br />

SG: Nutritional Therapy is about<br />

treating the causes of symptoms, and<br />

I am as interested in the individual’s<br />

cellular health as well as what they<br />

have in their fridge. It’s never too late<br />

to be healthy; it’s the body’s default<br />

setting. Everyone can start by drinking<br />

more water, avoiding processed<br />

foods and eating more greens. They<br />

really are a profoundly rich food source.<br />

RW: We all share the view that the potential for<br />

wellness is inside us and – given the right approach<br />

– we can empower people to draw this out. Used at<br />

its best, all of what we do is preventative.<br />

Lizzie Lower<br />

Tuesday to Saturday, 32 Cliffe High Street<br />

01273 958403, intrinsichealthlewes.co.uk.<br />

91


home


home<br />

PVC Windows<br />

Timber Windows<br />

Aluminum Windows<br />

Doors and Conservatories<br />

coloured glass splashbacks<br />

Give your kitchen a touch<br />

of colour this summer!<br />

Call for a free, no obligation quote!<br />

(01273) 475123 www.lewesglass.com


home<br />

CP <strong>Viva</strong> <strong>Lewes</strong> Ad (Qtr Pg)_62 x 94mm 18/02/2011 1<br />

Colin Poulter<br />

Plastering<br />

Professional Plasterer<br />

Over 25 years experience<br />

All types of plastering work<br />

and finishes undertaken<br />

FREE estimates<br />

Telephone 01273 472 836<br />

Mobile 07974 752 491<br />

Email cdpoulter@btinternet.com


home


home


home<br />

Handyman Services for your House and Garden<br />

<strong>Lewes</strong> based. Free quotes.<br />

Honest, reliable, friendly service.<br />

Reasonable rates<br />

Tel: 07460 828240<br />

Email: ahbservices@outlook.com<br />

AHB ad.indd 1 27/07/2015 17:4


home & garden<br />

1<br />

Global<br />

Gardens<br />

Design,<br />

Restoration &<br />

Landscaping<br />

Jack Plane Carpenter<br />

Nice work, fair price,<br />

totally reliable.<br />

www.jackplanecarpentry.co.uk<br />

01273 483339 / 07887 993396<br />

Mobile 07941 057337<br />

Phone 01273 488261<br />

12 Priory Street, <strong>Lewes</strong>, BN7 1HH<br />

info@ globalgardens.co.uk<br />

www.globalgardens.co.uk<br />

alitura<br />

landscape and garden design<br />

01273 401581/ 07900 416679<br />

GGS1.001_QuarterPage_Ad_01.indd 1 design@alitura.co.uk<br />

12/11/10 18:24:51<br />

www.alitura.co.uk<br />

Services include<br />

- Garden Design & Project Monitoring<br />

- Redesign of Existing Beds & Borders<br />

- Plant Sourcing<br />

Call us for a free consultation<br />

Kate Sippetts<br />

Designer Gardener<br />

www.InspiredPlanting.co.uk<br />

come & see us at<br />

the farmers’<br />

market<br />

to lewes and<br />

surrounding areas<br />

info@fromthewood.com www.fromthewood.com<br />

The<br />

Gardeners<br />

Guild<br />

REGISTERED<br />

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RHS hort & BA hons


gardens<br />

health & wellbeing<br />

Stella Joy Round 11.15 <strong>Viva</strong> Ad.qxp_66 12/11/2015 09:<br />

Joy of Movement<br />

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pre and post natal<br />

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20 Valence Road <strong>Lewes</strong> 01273 476371<br />

Holistic dance &<br />

movement for health<br />

A guided class combining simple, flowing and easy to<br />

follow steps with mindful movement for adults of all ages,<br />

fitness levels and experience. Feel balanced, connected<br />

and energised as you find your own natural way of<br />

moving in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere.<br />

First taster class £5 (please book)<br />

<strong>Lewes</strong> - Thursdays 10.30 - 11.30am<br />

Cliffe Hall, St Thomas a Becket, Cliffe High St, <strong>Lewes</strong> BN7 2AH<br />

5 classes for £40. New term from 7th <strong>January</strong> <strong>2016</strong><br />

Call Stella on 07733 450631<br />

Email: stellahomewood@yahoo.com<br />

www.stellahomewood.com


health & Well-being<br />

OSteOpathy & Cranial OSteOpathy<br />

Michaela Kullack & Simon Murray<br />

Experienced, Registered Osteopaths<br />

Like us on<br />

Facebook<br />

River Clinic<br />

COMpleMentary therapieS<br />

Acupuncture, Alexander Technique, Bowen Technique,<br />

Children’s Clinic, Counselling, Psychotherapy,<br />

Family Therapy, Herbal Medicine, Homeopathy,<br />

Hypnotherapy, Massage, NLP, Nutritional Therapy,<br />

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open monday to Saturday<br />

For appointments call<br />

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Brooks Road, <strong>Lewes</strong> BN7 2BY<br />

email: info@lewesosteopathy.com<br />

www.lewesriverclinic.co.uk


health & wellbeing<br />

Iyengar Yoga<br />

SUBUD, 26a Station St from 11 JAN 16<br />

Beginners + General<br />

Mon 5-6.30pm / Tue 9.30-11am<br />

Wed 9.30-11am /Thurs 6.30-8pm<br />

Intermediate : Mon 6.30-8 / Thu 5-6.30pm<br />

Noticeably improve flexibility,<br />

stamina, mental & physical wellbeing<br />

Ali Hahlo : 01273 479170<br />

ali@hahlo.demon.co.uk<br />

www.hahloyoga.co.uk<br />

Release trauma and live in freedom<br />

Neil del Strother<br />

Senior Journey Practitioner (Dip Psych, MA)<br />

To book an appointment or for further information visit<br />

www.journeyhealing.com or call 07746 103700


lessons and courses<br />

WHAT WE OFFER<br />

THE SONG SCHOOL<br />

Singing Lessons – all ages and stages<br />

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ABRSM exam centre for Grades 1 – 8<br />

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VOICE THERAPY<br />

Singing Rehabilitation therapy programmes<br />

LECTURES, MASTERCLASSES & COURSES<br />

Exploring the collaborative voice between Art & Science<br />

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CANTO VOICES<br />

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For more information please visit:<br />

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<strong>Lewes</strong> House 32 High Street <strong>Lewes</strong> BN7 2LU<br />

Tel: 01273 442362 (answerphone)<br />

Singing Lessons<br />

Experienced voice teacher - DBS checked - Wallands area<br />

www.HilarySelby.com<br />

07960 893 898


other services<br />

Seeking Cartoonist<br />

hello@vivamagazines.com<br />

2 Bed High Street Flat<br />

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Newly refurbished<br />

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available soon, for details call 07947 453860


other services<br />

cars<br />

www.andrewwells.co.uk<br />

We can work it out<br />

• BUSINESS ACCOUNTS AND TAX<br />

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Andrew Wells_<strong>Viva</strong> <strong>Lewes</strong>_AW.indd 1 25/06/2012 09:05


inside left<br />

smooth operator<br />

There were two big revolutions in the design of the bicycle, and they both took place just before this<br />

picture – entitled ‘Mr Jefferies and friends on machines’ - was taken, at the back of Reeves studio, on the<br />

High Street. This was some time in 1894.<br />

The first was the invention of the ‘safety bicycle’, as opposed to the penny farthing, on which both<br />

wheels were the same size, and a chain joined the pedals to the back wheel. The basic shape of bicycles<br />

has changed very little since. The second was the development of the pneumatic tyre, which increased<br />

the top speed of the bicycle by a third, and made it a considerably more comfortable riding experience.<br />

The chap on the right of the picture – the one with the smile, which we’re presuming is Mr Jefferies<br />

– has got pneumatic tyres on his bike, the other two haven’t, they are still on ‘boneshakers’. In fact the<br />

right-hand bike, according to cycling history expert Ian McGuckin, is “quite a swanky machine, with a<br />

chain guard, and quite a complicated front brake. The other two [bikes] are fairly generic, and both have<br />

cushioned tyres (a last attempt by the makers to stave off the rise of pneumatics).” The fourth man has<br />

no bike at all; he is in the classic pose of the time-trial assistant, holding the rider back until the clock<br />

starts ticking. Time-trialling was a British invention, as simultaneous racing was banned on public roads,<br />

and so cyclists took to competing against the clock.<br />

Notice that the four chaps have all got cap badges on, and that they are dressed in similar gear. This is<br />

very much the cycling club gear of its time, with jackets, and knee length socks over the trousers – very<br />

different from today’s light-weight Lycra. Which racing club the chaps belong to is a mystery: Chris<br />

Martin, archivist of the <strong>Lewes</strong> Wanderers, tells us that the original incarnation of that club (which folded<br />

before WW2, reformed shortly afterwards, and is still going strong today) was founded in around 1894,<br />

but did not have a shield-shaped badge. We assume these gentlemen must have been based in or around<br />

<strong>Lewes</strong>, or they wouldn’t have been using the Reeves studio. If anyone could shed any light on the matter<br />

we’d be much obliged. Picture courtesy of Reeves, 159 High Street, 01273 473274/edwardreeves.com<br />

106

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