Viva Brighton Issue #41 July 2016

FRESH
on Brighton’s restaurant scene
OPENING ITS DOORS JULY 2016
64 King’s Rd, Brighton, BN1 1NA
www.thejetty-brighton.co.uk @JettyBrighton TheJettyBrighton

vivabrighton
Issue 41. July 2016
EDITORIAL
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What sort of criteria do you put on your wish-list, when you’re
considering a holiday destination? A beach, maybe? Some nice
inland countryside to explore? Plenty of choice when it comes to
eating out? Lots of historic monuments to visit, as well as museums
and galleries? A variety of cultural possibilities to keep you
entertained in the evening? A good chance that you’ll get a lot of
sun? Well, congratulations, you’re in the right place. The theme
of this issue is ‘holiday at home’.
OK, I know, I know. Half the fun of being on holiday is about being somewhere different from
the place you live, whether that’s a familiar haunt you return to every year, or an unknown
destination you want to explore. And the idea of spending your hard-earned week or fortnight
off in the streets of your own city doesn’t quite cut the mustard.
And yet… Every weekend is a holiday of sorts, and we’re lucky that our city, and its beautiful
environs, is chock-full of interesting and invigorating leisure-time activities. When your
home-town is lapped by the sea, it would be mad not to jump into it every now and again,
wouldn’t it? The Downs are never more than a few minutes away… how daft would you have
to be not to get to the top of one of them every so often? Ditto restaurants, ditto museums,
ditto visiting the shops in North Laine and the Lanes. Take advantage of the summer, in other
words, home and away. Enjoy the issue…
THE TEAM
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EDITOR: Alex Leith alex@vivamagazines.com
DEPUTY EDITOR: Steve Ramsey steve@vivamagazines.com
ART DIRECTOR: Katie Moorman katie@vivamagazines.com
PHOTOGRAPHER AT LARGE: Adam Bronkhorst
EDITORIAL ASSISTANT: Rebecca Cunningham rebecca@vivamagazines.com
ADVERTISING: Anya Zervudachi anya@vivamagazines.com, Nick Metcalf nickmetcalf@vivamagazines.com,
Hilary Maguire hilary@vivamagazines.com
PUBLISHER: Lizzie Lower lizzie@vivamagazines.com
CONTRIBUTORS: Alexandra Loske, Amy Holtz, Andrew Darling, Ben Bailey, Chloë King, Di Coke, Holly Fitzgerald, Jay Collins,
Jim Stephenson, JJ Waller, Joda, Joe Decie, John Helmer, Julia Zaltzman, Lizzie Enfield, Martin Skelton and Nione Meakin
Viva Brighton is based at Brighton Junction, 1A Isetta Square, BN1 4GQ
For advertising enquiries call 07596 337 828. Other enquiries call 01273 810 259
Every care has been taken to ensure the accuracy of our content. We cannot be held responsible for any omissions, errors or alterations.

See Your City IN
a Different Way
Take the open top City Sightseeing bus from
the seafront and explore Brighton like a tourist.
Local residents get a 10% discount off
a 2 day tour only ticket.
See www.buses.co.uk
for terms and conditions.

CONTENTS
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Bits and bobs.
8-23. The story behind this month’s
colourful cover, by Philippa Stanton;
why ‘Ranji’ is on the buses; a trip to the
Lion and Lobster; Barnado’s charity;
JJ Waller’s take on our latest theme:
‘holiday at home’. Oh, and the usual
regulars, too.
Photography.
25-31. Jonathan Hyde spent eight
months photographing life on the Undercliff.
Here are the remarkable results.
54
58
My Brighton.
32-33. Tony Tree, fashion photographer
in the swinging 60s, then for 20 years an
Argus man.
Columns.
35-39. Lizzie Enfield recalls a holiday
in her back garden, Amy Holtz talks
parental visits, and John Helmer drives
his wife crazy.
26
74
In town this month.
41-51. Ben Bailey interviews Soft Walls,
rounds up the best of the Brighton-band
music scene, and looks at the science
behind Dr Who; Patrick Marber discusses
his adaptation of Strindberg’s Miss Julie;
Nione Meakin checks out the Jam Tarts;
Julia Zaltzman tries to get some blood out
of a Pee Wee Ellis stone; and we take an
immersive trip down Something Street.
Art & lit.
53-57. MG Leonard on Beetlemania, Ian
Hodgson’s contribution to the Chestnut
Tree Big Heart Auction, and Ian Potts, a
watercolourist with a difference.
....5 ....

CONTENTS (CONT)
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Makers, shops and designers.
58-65. Flower-crown making at Cult
Milk, Chelsea Flower Show-awardwinning
garden designer Julia Sergeant,
vision on at Specky Wren and our
sweet-n-sour local ice cream man Seb
Cole of Boho Gelato.
The way we work.
67-73. Adam Bronkhorst visits a buzzing
Brighton Racecourse just hours
before the turf action starts.
91
82
Food.
74-83. Sourdough pizza at Franco
Manca, how to make doughnuts with
Glazed, lunch and coffee at Pelicano,
goats cheese at the Green Welly in
Ditchling, ice cream at Marocco’s, food
news with Chloë King, trade secrets
with Bardsley’s and Father Jerome,
Catholic priest and charity chef.
Features.
85-91. Memories of the 1992 rave at
Plumpton Bostal, dog boarding with a
difference at House of Hugo, bespoke
prefab houses from Boutique Modern,
we try a Bongo a Go Go Japanese
camper van and urban rambling with
Cara Courage.
Sport, health and fitness.
93-97. Bike it Ben, Brighton’s ‘Bike
Officer’ from Sustrans, the making of
Sussex Sharks Twenty20 promo film,
and a day out at Stanmer Park.
63
Inside left.
98. Otto Pfenninger, pioneering colour
photographer, on Brighton beach in
August 1906.
....6 ....

Designed by:
SAT 13 th &
SUN 14 th
AUGUST
10am - 5pm
“Step back in time, in Style, at Firle Vintage Fair”
Buy your ticket & vintage bus ride from www.firleandcountry.co.uk
Vintage bus available on & off site from Lewes Bus Station every 30 minutes.
Return ticket including entrance fee £10 plus online booking fee.
Entrance Pre-booked £5 / On the door £7. CHILDREN UNDER 10 FREE
Firle Park, East Sussex, BN8 6LP
Facebook.com/firlevintagefair/ firle_vintage_events @firlevintage
pinterest.com/firlevintage

THIS MONTH’S COVER ARTIST
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“Objects are a massive thing in my life; I feel really
emotionally attached to them,” says this month’s
cover artist, Philippa Stanton. “I used to love watching
Bagpuss - maybe that’s where it came from! I just
never want them to feel like they’ve been forgotten.”
Philippa’s collections of unusual and vintage
objects are often the subject matter of her hugely
popular Instagram feed (check it out at @5ftinf)
which now has over 480,000 followers.
The objects she’s used to illustrate this month’s
‘Holiday at Home’ theme include: a 1950s map of
all of the theatres and cinemas that were in Brighton
and Hove at the time; a series of photographs,
mocked up as Polaroids, beside the camera which
was given to her brother in 1981 (and which she’s
finally managed to get her hands on); a magnifying
glass, which belonged to her grandfather, and a
teapot made by a close friend, who is no longer able
to throw pottery after suffering a stroke. Each piece
has its own story.
“I bought the cup and saucer especially for the image,”
she says. “I
very rarely buy
something specifically
for a photograph,
but I was
thinking of places
like the Mock
Turtle and Blackbird
Tea Rooms
– they always
have that blue
and white china
and I didn’t have
any.” The flowers bring in an essence of summer,
but they are also used to give softness and texture,
Philippa explains: “Particularly if you’ve got lots of
objects, which are quite hard, in a way, flowers - and
a cup of tea - give that sense that there’s a human
being around.”
The composition of the photograph subtly reflects
the different layers which make up Brighton as a city:
“Without the colours that the map brings, the image
would be quite dark. Like that Brighton has this dark
underside to it which locals see and feel – and which
I love – but then it has all these brightly coloured
....8 ....

PHILIPPA STANTON
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things on top. I wanted to include both sides.”
Another side to Philippa’s work – particularly in her
paintings – is synaesthesia: the ability to ‘see sound,
taste and smell in shape, colour and texture’. “I
might do a painting of the taste of a gin and tonic,
or of the smell of a perfume or coffee,” she explains.
“That’s not about an emotional response, it’s about
showing something which is in my head that I can’t
put across in words.” Photographs like this one are
not supposed to be a representation of a particular
sense, she says, but “with my photography I can’t
escape how connected I am with the senses.”
Interview by Rebecca Cunningham
See more of Philippa’s work at 5ftinf.com
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BITS AND BOBS
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SPREAD THE WORD
ON THE BUSES #15
RANJI (Route 12, 22 & 25)
Thanks to our readers,
we’ve racked up
a few air miles this
month. Penny Calley
picked up her VB38 at
the station on her way
to Heathrow and 48
hours later was settled
by the pool in Johannesburg
to catch up on
some quality reading. ‘Imagine my amusement’
she wrote ‘that the issue was all about ‘Home’! It
was great to take a bit of home with me.’
Suffering with ‘vista fatigue’ whilst cruising up
the Dalmatian
Coast from Dubrovnik
to Split,
Sue Hart rested
her eyes a while
on VB40. No
doubt contemplating
her decision to Brexit, or not, or just stay
on the boat indefinitely.
Ned & Millie Lawrenson took their VB40 all the
way to Reykjavik
and manged
to catch up on
what’s what back
home in-between
whale watching,
bobbing about in
the Blue Lagoon
and inspecting
tectonic plates.
It’s holiday season
so don’t forget
to leave room
for us in your
case. Send your
pics to hello@vivamagazines.com
The eminent
Guardian critic
Neville Cardus
called him ‘the
midsummer
night’s dream
of cricket’. Legendary
England
captain WG
Grace suggested
that there
wouldn’t be another batsman like him for 100
years. His nickname was ‘Prince’, as he was the
disinherited heir of an Indian state. He was cited
by James Joyce in Finnegan’s Wake. Ranjitsinghi,
or ‘Ranji’ to his many friends and fans, was about
the most exotic celebrity in the country, around
the turn of the nineteenth century. He was the
first non-white player to represent England. And
he played his county cricket for Sussex, in Hove.
Legend has it that Ranji invented his (then) unorthodox
style of batting (hitting the ball late, so
it went behind him, to confound the opposition
field placings) after having his left boot nailed to
the ground in practice, to try to correct a fault in
his stance. ‘The late cut’ is now a part of every
good batsman’s repertoire.
As captain of Sussex CCC he also introduced a
number of other interesting innovations to the
game, such as the frequent change of bowlers,
and fielding practice between games. Sussex were
not one of the best sides in the land, but Ranji
was certainly one of the very best batsmen, regularly
scoring two or three thousand runs a season
and finishing among the top three in the country.
When Ranji batted, according to Cardus, ‘a
strange light from the East flickered in the English
sunshine’.
Alex Leith
Illustration by jonydaga.weebly.com
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BITS AND BOBS
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CHARITY BOX #4: BARNARDO’S
Name: Olly Davidson.
What do you do? I’m the Team Manager at Barnardo’s Brighton and Hove
Supported Lodgings. We arrange for young people - aged 16 to 21 - to stay
with hosts in their homes. Some are care leavers who, for various reasons,
can’t stay where they are living. Others are homeless.
Who can be a host? Anyone with a spare room, who lives within 20 miles
of Brighton and Hove. There’s no set profile; you could be a couple or a
single person, with children, grown-up children or no children, working
full-time, part-time or not at all – what we really want is a mixture.
How do you match a young person with a host? We talk to them first,
and tell them a bit about the home. Then we can introduce them, and give
them a chance to get to know the host and see the house. They might have dinner together or stay over
for a night – we take it at their pace.
And how long does a placement last? There’s no set time agreed – it really depends on the situation.
The intention for each young person is that when they leave, they’re ready to live independently, so that
includes finding work, or getting into college or training, as well as things like learning to cook and set a
budget, and building up their confidence.
What support do hosts receive? We assign a key worker to each placement and offer training,
as well as a 24-hour support service, and hosts get a weekly allowance to help with expenses.
Interview by Rebecca Cunningham. brightonlodgings@barnardos.org.uk. 01273 412010
FIRLE VINTAGE FAIR COMPETITION
Win a VIP day out at Firle Vintage Fair, a weekend of
vintage fun, cherry-picked decorative interiors, fashion,
antiques and artisans. There are swing jazz bands and
Charleston dancing, croquet and champagne on the
lawn in true country fashion at beautiful Firle Park on
13th and 14th August.
Enter our truly swellegant competition for a chance
to win: entry for four people; return vintage bus from
Lewes bus station; a Firle Vintage Summer hamper for
four and a horse-and-carriage ride around Firle Park.
Email your name and address with Firle Vintage 2016 in the subject line to hello@vivamagazines.com
or look out for our tweets. Enter by midday on 1st of August 2016 for a chance to win. The winner will
be drawn whilst we sip on a gimlet, at cocktail hour. Good luck!
Adult tickets pre-booked online £5, on the door £7. Children under 10 years free. Vintage shuttle bus
available between Lewes and Firle on both days by advance booking only. firleandcountry.co.uk. For T&Cs
please see vivamagazines.com.
....12....

BITS AND BOBS
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JJ WALLER’S BRIGHTON
The good thing about holidaying at home is more time to dig around and find
unusual events and shows to visit. Brighton and Hove have so many. I made this
picture when visiting an International Reborn Babies Convention [ultra-realistic
dolls] at Brighton Racecourse. JJW
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BITS AND BOBS
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DI COKE’S COMPETITION CORNER
This month our fabulous competition prize is a
family day ticket to England’s Medieval Festival
at Herstmonceux Castle, worth £46. Held over
the Bank Holiday weekend (27-29th August),
the festival features an array of wonderful events
typical of the era, theatrical performance and
excellent traditional and modern music.
To take part in this month’s challenge, we’d like you
to create your own castle. It could be a sandcastle,
a drawing, a Lego castle, or even a cardboard
castle! Use your imagination, and share your entry
on Twitter, Instagram or the Viva Brighton
Facebook page using the #VivaBrightonComp
hashtag. Alternatively, email your entry to
competitions@vivamagazines.com before 28th
July 2016. The most creative entry will feature in
the September issue and win a family ticket for a
day of the winner’s choice. Terms and conditions
can be found at vivabrighton.com/competitions
– the competition is open to all ages, but a child’s
entry must be submitted by an adult.
Find out more at englandsmedievalfestival.com –
plus if you show this page at the festival you can
receive £2 off gate ticket prices.
COMPETITION WINNER
In the May issue we asked readers to tell us about their dream festival line-up. We loved the concept of
‘The Psychedelic Jelly Experience’ submitted by Jim Radford, featuring these headline acts:
• Kurt Cobain (RIP)
• The Daft Punk Beatles
• James Brown, with backing from The Mos Eisley Cantina Band from Star Wars
Jim’s unusual entry won him a pair of tickets to Funk The Format in Hove Park!
Di Coke is very probably the UK’s foremost ‘comper’, having won over £250,000-worth of prizes. For winning
tips and creative competitions, check out her blog at superlucky.me and SuperLucky Secrets book.
....14....

VALUATION DAY
Art and Antiques
Tuesday 12 July
10am to 4pm
APPOINTMENTS
AND ENQUIRIES
01273 220000
hove@bonhams.com
VENUE
The Courtlands Hotel
19-27 The Drive, Hove
BN3 3JE
RARE MEISSEN MODEL
OF A FALCON CIRCA 1728-30
Estimate £21000-25000
bonhams.com/hove
Prices shown include buyer’s premium.
Details can be found at bonhams.com

JOE DECIE
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£10 EYE TEST AND 10% DISCOUNT
VALID UNTIL 31ST JULY 2016
COOL AFFORDABLE NHS WELCOME
THE OPEN MARKET, 1-2 MARSHALLS ROW, BRIGHTON, BN1 4JU
01273 911191 info@thespeckywren.co.uk www.thespeckywren.co.uk
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BITS AND BOBS
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Painting by Jay Collins
PUB: THE LION AND LOBSTER
There was quite a bit of consternation among
Lion and Lobster goers when, in April 2014, it was
announced that the Sillwood Street pub had been
sold to the City Pub Co from London, for (wait for
it)… 4.5 million quid. Would the new owners try to
change it into something a little more ‘normal’ to
maximise the revenue from the place?
‘The Lobster’ was much loved for its eclectic
nooks and crannies, with at least seven different
areas to sit in, on three separate storeys, each with
a different atmosphere, whether you wanted to
chat (and smoke) al fresco, enjoy more intimacy in
a dark cubby-hole, watch live sport, eat pub grub,
or dine à la carte in the fancy restaurant. The
Chelsea-based company wouldn’t try to repaint
the building’s exterior anything other than lurid
pink, would they? Or get rid of the weird collection
of artworks all over the walls? Or replace the
madcap pub sign with something a little more
sensible looking?
Thankfully the answers to those questions, I glean
from a midday, midweek visit in June, appear to
be no, no, and no. CPC promised to leave the
pub as it was when they bought it (off former The
Bill actor Gary Whelan), and they seem to have
fulfilled that promise. Tuesday being Tuesday I
consume a fine steak sandwich all alone on the
suntrap top-terrace, remembering all the fun I’ve
had in the place, over the years, with just an occasional
cringe.
A brief history: The pub is one of Brighton’s
oldest, first registered as The Olive Branch in
1839. A picture from the James Gray collection
shows it offering ‘Hotel Accommodation’ in
1939, which explains all the nooks and crannies
upstairs. In 1988 the place had a change of name,
becoming The Rockingham. This attracted a
mixed clientele – it was a student haunt on one
side, and a gay bar on the other. At the weekend
the punters could flit over the road after hours to
The Caves basement nightclub. The Caves is long
gone, but there’s not much need to find anywhere
to go onto after the modern-day Lobster is shut,
unless you’re hoping to drink into the wee hours:
it’s open till 1am Monday to Thursday, and 2am
Friday and Saturday night. Which is a good thing
for the new owners: it’ll take a lot of pints to pay
back that £4.5 million. Alex Leith
....19....

BITS AND BOBS
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MYSTERY OBJECTS OF THE PAVILION
WILLIAM ALEXANDER. PAINTING A PICTURE OF CHINA
Watercolour of Peking by William Alexander, c1793. Private collection.
Photo: Martyn Gregory Gallery, London
The Chinese style of the Royal Pavilion’s interior
owes much to one man who never even saw the
building. Artist William Alexander produced many
images which shaped the vision of China that can
be found in the Pavilion.
Alexander was born in Maidstone in 1767. In 1792,
at the age of just 25, he was given the opportunity
of a lifetime: he was chosen to accompany
Lord Macartney’s embassy to China as a junior
draughtsman. The aim of the Macartney embassy
was to negotiate fairer and better trading conditions
in China for the British, but it turned out to
be a diplomatic failure, with the embassy hurriedly
leaving Beijing months before they had planned to
depart. However, the images of China that Alexander
produced on the two-year journey were a new,
reliable and exciting glimpse into Chinese life,
art, landscape, architecture and customs. Like no
artist before, Alexander shaped the West’s image of
this far-away country. Some contemporary artists
had visited China, but none of them were able to
venture far inland. Westerners, even those working
for the East India companies, were restricted to
certain trading ports and times outside the city
gates of Canton.
Despite gaining unprecedented access to inland
China, there were also some disappointments
for Alexander. He was not allowed to join the
ambassador’s party on their trip to Jehol, north of
Beijing, to meet the Emperor. Instead, he was confined
to a building in Beijing, surrounded by high
walls, without permission to move around freely
in the city. He also missed out on a long journey
overland from Hangchow to Canton, having been
told to continue the journey via the sea route.
In all, Alexander made over two thousand sketches
of China during his stay there. Some of these were
exhibited at the Royal Academy after his return.
Many of them were also reproduced as prints and
used as illustrations in books about China, thus
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BITS AND BOBS
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Chinese figures by north staircase of the Royal Pavilion, inspired by William Alexander.
© Royal Pavilion & Museums
reaching a very wide audience. His images were
used in the first official account of the embassy,
written by George Staunton, secretary to the
embassy, and published in 1797. But Alexander
also published a number of his own books,
mostly descriptive volumes documenting Chinese
costume and scenes, illustrated with full-page
hand-coloured engravings after his drawings, for
example The Costume of China (1805).
His pictures also influenced the decorative arts.
From at least 1815 onward Frederick Crace, one
of the interior decorators of the Royal Pavilion,
used Alexander’s images as inspiration for a number
of decorations in the palace. Examples can be
seen on the walls and the central chandelier of the
Music Room, and the staircase landings, where we
see architectural structures and figures lifted from
his illustrations.
Today Alexander is a relatively obscure artist,
perhaps because his work is associated mostly with
print culture, but his images of China are well
known, and his works are in private and public
collections all over the world. An 80-page diary he
kept during his journey to China survives in the
British Library collection.
Alexandra Loske, Art Historian and Curator, The
Royal Pavilion
Alexandra will give a talk about William Alexander
on 1st September 2016 at 12pm. Music Room,
Royal Pavilion. Free with admission.
brightonmuseums.org.uk
Illustration from Alexander’s book The Costume of China (1805)
© Royal Pavilion & Museums
....21....

Summer 2016
David Bomberg:
A Sense of Place
9 July - 11 September
Landscape works by one of the
pioneers of early modernism.
Image: David Bomberg, Valley of La Hermida Picos de Europa,
Asturias, Spain, 1935. Image courtesy Museums Sheffield.
© The Estate of David Bomberg. All Rights Reserved, DACS 2016
Some Are Nights Others Stars
23 July - 25 September
Michael Armitage, Ruth Claxton,
Tiffany Chung, Siobhán Hapaska and
Isaac Julien.
Image: Isaac Julien, Green Screen Goddess (Ten Thousand Waves),
2010, Endura Ultra photograph, 180 x 239.8 x 7.5cm. Courtesy the artist.
East Sussex Open 2016
23 July - 25 September
Emerging and established artists from
across the East Sussex region.
Image: Dominic Bradnum, The Devil + Idle Hands, 2015, oil on canvas
(detail). Courtesy the artist.
Devonshire Park, College Road, Eastbourne, BN21 4JJ
+44 (0)1323 434670 townereastbourne.org.uk @townergallery

BITS AND BOBS
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MAGAZINE OF THE MONTH: HUNGRY EYE
Whatever kind of holiday we
have this year, one thing is for
sure. It’s not going to be a holiday
at all if it’s just the same as
our normal lives. For all their
advantages – we don’t have to
decide what to take with us, for
a start – that’s why holidays at
home can be such a challenge.
How do you avoid sliding into
the old routine?
Just recently, a woman in our
shop had spent a week photographing
Brighton. She’d walked
her home town every day looking for things she
hadn’t seen before - a building, a small street,
something on a wall, a display in a window, an interesting
face or some colours that looked good
together - and photographed them. No fancy kit,
just her smartphone. It was, she said, like being in
a new place.
In her honour, we are suggesting you might look
at Hungry Eye this month. It’s a mag for filmmakers
and photographers. It’s about
the people who take photographs
and make films as well as the images
themselves. There’s nothing
highfalutin about it, either;
it reads like a conversation in
the pub. It’s full of great – but
not arty-farty great – images,
too. The kind that can make you
think ‘I’m going to make an image
like that today’. I mean, just
look at the cover. A pavement,
a wall, two legs, a great pair of
boots and a careful eye. Brilliant.
If we go away for a break we take photographs
all the time because so much seems different. But
home can be different, too, if we stop looking at it
through the same eyes that we’ve used for the past
months of work. If you are staying home this year,
your luck is in. One single issue of Hungry Eye - just
£8.99 - will help you be in a new place for at least
some of the time. Happy holidays!
Martin Skelton, Magazine Brighton, Trafalgar Street
TOILET GRAFFITO #18
We can’t help but worry about this angstridden
sitter. What is it they’re struggling to
be free from? We can but wonder.
Were they declaring Brexit sympathies?
Stuck in a loveless relationship? Seeking a
more existential release? Or just struggling to
get out of the cubicle?
Whatever the ties that bind them, we hope
they’ve found their freedom.
Last month’s answer: Hove Place.
Send your photos of Brighton toilet graffiti to
hello@vivamagazines.com
....23....

Willem Sandberg, spread from nu2 (now 2), 1968
Free exhibitions
April – August 2016
Willem Sandberg from type to image
The People’s Pavilion Our First 80 Years
Peter Blake Alphabets Letters and Numbers
#dlwpsummer
dlwp.com
01424 229 111

PHOTOGRAPHY
..........................................
Jonathan Hyde
Undercliff walker
It’s an odd thing, living in a city
that is a holiday destination for
so many. Where do we go for our
holidays at home? Fortunately,
Brighton isn’t short of choices
when you want to get out and
about - photographer Jonathan
Hyde spent the best part of a year
documenting life on the Undercliff
Walk, with remarkable results.
What drew you to the Undercliff
Walk to take these photos?
I’ve been a regular visitor to this area over the
years, and this unique landscape had become an
instinctive place to retreat to from the city. It’s so
tranquil, considering its proximity to the centre of
town. The connection to Brighton with the Victorian
and Edwardian era of great industrial follies
like the ‘Daddy Long Legs’ was very intriguing to
me, though this is a modern promenade, built as
sea defence but serving also as an elongated park,
creating a unique set of activities along the course.
How long were you photographing there for
this work? I would visit once or twice a week,
walking or cycling, for eight months. It was important
to visit in all weathers despite my own strong
aversion to photographing in the rain and wind!
Did you find that you were meeting the same
people? A perfect balance really. I soon made
friends with locals who either worked in the cafés
or walked the path daily, mostly alone. As a solitary
person myself it’s probably this aspect of the
Undercliff that most attracted me - lone wanderers
amongst such a vast set of landscapes and
colours. Subsequently it was a great opportunity
to approach strangers and discover their stories,
some of whom I never decided
to photograph. It’s a great reminder
how much knowledge
local populations hold; folklore
and facts that are perhaps not
written down, only shared
amongst these communities
over generations.
The work seems as much
about the landscape of the
cliffs and the walk as it is
about the people you met.
Was this deliberate? Yes indeed, the two are
inseparable in this project. The Undercliff Walk,
with its huge concrete causeway and its long line
of granite boulders below, is entirely artificial. But
the man-made sculpting and preservation of the
chalk cliffs has formed something of an open-air
museum. Together they form a false impression
of strength and permanence. This artifice, in stark
contrast with the power of the ocean, creates a
beautiful tension. Some visitors may never contemplate
that juxtaposition, especially on a calm
summer’s day, but experience it the morning after
a storm, or even better rushing back to the city
with slate-gray clouds looming, and you’re immediately
reminded of how temporary this place is.
What did you do with the images? This project
culminated in an exhibition along with a filmmaker
friend, Abigail Toll, on the Undercliff Walk
itself in Rottingdean. The attendance of so many
local people, Brightonians and passers-by, created
an incredibly special atmosphere.
Interview by Jim Stephenson of Miniclick.
jonathanhyde.format.com
miniclick.co.uk
....25....

PHOTOGRAPHY
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....26....

PHOTOGRAPHY
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....27....

PHOTOGRAPHY
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....29....

PHOTOGRAPHY
...............................
....31....

Photo by Adam Bronkhorst
....32....

INTERVIEW
..........................................
MYbrighton: Tony Tree
Photographer
Are you local? I’ve lived here all of my 71 years. I
was brought up in the Lewes Road area. Went to
Fawcett School. It was a brutal institution. They
said I wouldn’t be able to become a photographer
so I went to night school to train to be a photographic
technician. Then I got a job as a tutors’
assistant at Brighton College of Art. So I got my
training second-hand.
Where did you go from there? In those days
nobody looked at qualifications, they looked at
your work. I walked round London knocking on
doors. I had a spell in an ad agency, then I got a
job at Vogue. Worked for a year with David Bailey,
and for a spell with Helmut Newton. It was all
trips to Paris, and Cannes, and Monte Carlo.
So you moved to London? I did for a year. But
I used to come back in the evening, just to walk
by the sea. I decided I’d be happier commuting.
In the early seventies I went freelance. I worked a
lot with the journalist Angela Wigglesworth, taking
portraits of Sussex artists. Poets, potters and
painters. What we didn’t sell to the nationals, we
flogged to the Evening Argus. In 1976 they offered
me a job. Thought I’d try it for a year or two.
Stayed there for 20.
It was a bit different from the current Argus…
It was a thriving regional paper, coming out four
times a day, and selling 150,000 copies. The offices
were bang in the centre of town. Half the time we
were in the pub: the guy who ran the picture desk
ran the Kensington, too [now White Rabbit]. The
team spirit there was superb. There was never a
day I didn’t want to go into work.
And it won Paper of the Year… In 1984. I was
drinking in the Grand till 2am the night the bomb
went off. I think it woke me up. The thing was,
all the press facilities for the nationals were in
the Brighton Centre, which was shut for security
reasons. So all the pictures that went round the
world went through us.
What pub do you go to now? I don’t drink any
more. You’re more likely to find me down the
Friends’ Meeting House. I left the Argus after it
moved to Hollingbury - it wasn’t the same after
that - and I spent a year photographing all the
different religious denominations in the city.
The Quakers made such an impression on me, I
became one.
Do you still take photographs? When a job suits
me, but never for commercial reasons. I was inhouse
photographer at Charleston Farmhouse for
a few years, and have more recently been doing a
similar job at Farley Farmhouse - ‘Home of the
British Surrealists’ - in Chiddingly.
Can you recommend a restaurant? We used to
go to all the best ones in the Argus years - French
bistros like Le Grandgousier - but now I just like
simplicity. So on my birthday recently we went to
The Regency Restaurant. You can get traditional
fish and chips, there, but they also do fresh catch
of the day.
When did you last swim in the sea? Last year.
My grandson pulled me in. For exercise I walk
round the city. Every time I don’t take my camera,
I regret it.
If you didn’t live in Brighton, where would you
live? The day I stop living in Brighton they’ll put
me in the Bear Road Cemetery. AL
....33....

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一 伀 圀 伀 倀 䔀 一
䤀 渀 琀 攀 爀 挀 栀 愀 渀 最 攀 愀 戀 氀 攀 樀 攀 眀 攀 氀 氀 攀 爀 礀
愀 渀 搀 愀 挀 挀 攀 猀 猀 漀 爀 椀 攀 猀
䴀 漀 搀 攀 爀 渀 ˻ 漀 甀 爀 椀 猀 栀 攀 猀 愀 渀 搀 最 椀 昀 琀 猀
䘀 愀 猀 栀 椀 漀 渀 ᤠ 猀 ǻ 渀 椀 猀 栀 椀 渀 最 琀 漀 甀 挀 栀 攀 猀 昀 漀 爀 圀 漀 洀 攀 渀
䌀 漀 䌀 渀 漀 琀 渀 愀 挀 琀 愀 琀 挀 樀 琀 愀 洀 䨀 䨀 攀 䀀 猀 䨀 䀀 樀 䘀 䨀 樀 氀 䘀 愀 甀 氀 愀 渀 甀 琀 渀 ⸀ 椀 琀 ⸀ 椀 愀 琀 渀 愀 搀 渀 搀 洀 洀 攀 渀 攀 琀 渀 椀 漀 琀 椀 渀
漀 渀
嘀 椀 瘀 愀 䈀 爀 椀 最 栀 琀 漀 渀 昀 漀 爀 愀 氀 愀 甀 渀 挀 栀 攀 瘀 攀 渀 琀 椀 渀 瘀 椀 琀 攀

COLUMN
.............................
Lizzie Enfield
Notes from North Village
The summer of 1977 had little to recommend it
– the firemen went on strike, The Brotherhood of
Man got to number one and the Queen’s Silver Jubilee
t-shirt (a gift that had to be worn) brought me
out in a rash.
On top of which, my parents had the bright idea of
holidaying at home.
No sitting in a traffic jam to Cornwall, with four
children and a greyhound in the back of a Mini
Clubman. No being forced to swim in order to
‘earn’ an ice cream. No battling with windbreaks
and hunkering down for the day because “we’re on
holiday!” No walks to St Enedoc Church to find the
kneeler with the rabbit tapestry. No picking mussels
off the rocks and boiling them up to make the most
disgusting ‘pâté.’ No. My father decided we would
be holidaying at home.
An oxymoron surely? But he’d thought it through:
borrowed a huge tent and dedicated a whole weekend
to transforming bags of metal poles into a vast
Meccano edifice, ready to be draped and covered
with inner and outer tents. He pitched it in the back
garden, expelling children and dogs from the house
for the entire summer and telling us that the money
not spent on renting a cottage in Cornwall would be
spent on outings to nearby attractions (that not one
of us can recollect visiting) and meals in the local
pub, so unremarkable they’ve not gone down in the
annals of family history either.
What I do remember is that, while we sat in the tent,
a succession of decorators slapped fresh emulsion on
the walls of our bedrooms and there was talk of putting
the house on the market - which offered further
evidence, were it needed, that this was not a holiday
but a banishment.
But, as the sands of time sift, that particular nonholiday
became the one that stood out from all the
others. The Cornish forays have blended into each
other: “Was that the year Joe came with us?” “Was
it that time we saw dolphins?” “Which year were
there all the ladybirds?”
The only one that we all remember clearly is “the
year we camped in the back garden.”
Strangely, the family holiday that my own children
seem set to talk about for years to come is also one
that we never had - and it’s proof, too, that you
wouldn’t get away with suggesting a holiday in the
back garden anymore.
The holiday we talk about was the end result of perennial
‘what I did in the holidays’ task, completed by
youngest son.
“Paris sounded wonderful,” his teacher said to me
afterwards.
“Paris?”
We hadn’t been to Paris, or anywhere else besides.
It was only Easter.
But said son, made anxious by classmates’ tales of
Disneyland, or at the very least the Lake District,
had made up a holiday we never had. We’d been up
the Eiffel tower, sailed down the Seine, eaten snails
and all caught frogs.
Sometimes holidays at home are the best ones…
Illustration by Joda, jonydaga.weebly.com
....35....

COLUMN
...........................................
Amy Holtz
The truth is, I’m a Minnesotan
The girl is walking, quickly,
ahead of a middle-aged
man and woman that’re
fanning themselves with a
leaflet. Wherever she goes,
they follow like ducklings,
weaving in and out of the
careworn clothes and French
Bulldogs on Sydney Street.
The woman’s nostrils flare. It
seems she’s caught wind of a
particularly ripe pair of dungarees. She touches
the man’s arm and for a moment, they’re the
picture of unity in their mutual bewilderment –
before scurrying after the girl, whose pace has
quickened.
Suddenly, the girl at the front turns, her septum
piercing swaying with the motion. They’ve fallen
behind as they stepped off the pavement and
into the path of an irate cyclist on a fixie, who’s
dinging his bell as furiously as it’s possible to
ding a bell.
She sighs. Waits. Mumbles something into the
ground. She puts on that look of pained exasperation,
once worn by the parents of a lagging,
sobbing child. Now she wears it, with unpractised
frustration.
There is something so delightful about graduation
season. And something so intimate about
inviting your parents, or whoever you love, who
knew you back when, into your ‘now’ world.
Especially when your world is Brighton.
They’re everywhere, these lumpy groups – clogging
up the arteries of The Lanes, squinting at
the menu at Pinocchio, wandering into the path
of speeding taxis, lamenting
‘Brighton prices’. Their
offspring are all Brighton –
practiced dodgers of tourists,
except, now, they’re shepherding
the tourists. Most
stand a little ways off, arms
crossed - or feeling the walls
for a trap door to swallow
them and take them back to
the White Rabbit, away from
these uncouth louts in their polo shirts and spectacles.
Instead they’re stuck watching their dad
fog up the window of Choccywoccydoodah, then
wipe it off with the sleeve of the beige jacket he’s
had since 1983 thinking, ‘Something’s not right
here – how are we possibly related?’
The word ‘graduation’ derives from the Latin
‘gradus’, which means degree – but I like that
it also means ‘step’. Steps are underestimated
after your first ones; but you have to step away
from your families and homes, get tattoos, make
friends, spend three years trying to shake everything
your parents taught you. There’s vexation,
but there’s also pride in towing them along, and
through, the new life you’ve made for yourself.
Pride and worldliness that lasts forever – or at
least until you move back in with them.
For now, it’s bittersweet to watch this step
forward; the couple trails the girl they’ve already
lost – the girl wary of looking behind in case she
glimpses her future – a future desperately trying
to catch up with her.
But hey, at least when it does catch up, it’ll probably
buy her dinner.
....37....

吀 爀 愀 渀 猀 昀 漀 爀 洀 礀 漀 甀 爀 栀 漀 洀 攀 眀 椀 琀 栀 漀 甀 爀 昀 椀 渀 攀 猀 琀 焀 甀 愀 氀 椀 琀 礀
匀 㨀 䌀 刀 䄀 䘀 吀 洀 愀 搀 攀 ⴀ 琀 漀 ⴀ 洀 攀 愀 猀 甀 爀 攀 椀 渀 琀 攀 爀 椀 漀 爀 猀 栀 甀 琀 琀 攀 爀 猀 ⸀
琀 ⸀ ㈀ 㜀 アパート アパート アパート 㠀 㐀 ㈀
攀 ⸀ 挀 漀 渀 琀 愀 挀 琀 䀀 戀 攀 氀 氀 愀 瘀 椀 猀 琀 愀 猀 栀 甀 琀 琀 攀 爀 猀 ⸀ 挀 漀 ⸀ 甀 欀
眀 ⸀ 眀 眀 眀 ⸀ 戀 攀 氀 氀 愀 瘀 椀 猀 琀 愀 猀 栀 甀 琀 琀 攀 爀 猀 ⸀ 挀 漀 ⸀ 甀 欀

COLUMN
...........................................
John Helmer
Driving her crazy
Illustration by Joda, jonydaga.weebly.com
“Your husband doesn’t drive,” said the sculptress
to my wife, in a tone that combined
sympathy (for her) with scorn (for me).
“Could you teach him?” The sculptress was
also a driving instructor.
“I’m not sure anyone can,” she said, tilting
her finely modelled profile towards the
downlighters. “For the past half-hour he’s
been banging on to me about how much he
hates cars. Despises them. Hates car parks,
motorway service stations, Jeremy Clarkson,
the whole thing. Unfortunately, you have to
want to drive in order to learn how to drive.”
Boy, did I get it in the neck for that.
You see the problem is, I promised my wife
that I would learn to drive. It was during the
heady period of euphoria and uncharacteristic
optimism that followed the
publication of my first novel. You think
you can do anything. Everything. I’d
started a new job, I’d started a second
novel (getting up at 5am to work on
it) and I was taking driving lessons
in the evenings. At first it went well.
I learned three-point turns, roundabouts,
swearing at other drivers
with my fingers and moaning about
not being able to park. And then,
just as the instructor was about to
put me in for the test, I started falling
asleep at the wheel. I had too much
going on. Something had to give.
“So the novel is more important to
you than learning to drive?”
said Kate.
“The novel is more important to me than
life itself.”
“More important to you than your wife’s
happiness?”
“Let’s not get jesuitical about it… Look, I
promise that I’ll learn to drive as soon as the
novel is finished.”
People talk about the difficult second
novel. By the time my wife bumped into
the sculptress-stroke-driving-instructor at
that party, I’d been working on mine for ten
years. In the meantime my publisher had
lost interest, my agent had died, I’d had a
whole marketing career and progressed to
consultancy work. One of my freelance gigs,
ironically enough, was designing factory
tours for Jaguar Land Rover (they sacked me
when they found out I couldn’t drive).
And then, after a further five years of toil at
the wordface rather unexpectedly...
“The End,” I wrote.
“Brmm, brmm,” hinted Kate.
“Yeah but is it really worth it now, I mean –
pretty soon we’ll all have driverless cars?”
“Just learn to drive.”
I applied online for a new provisional driving
licence (they’d invented the internet since I
got the first one). It’s here in my wallet now,
with my other cards. Every now and again I
come across it when I’m paying for a train
ticket, say, or buying bike accessories. Any
day now, I say to myself. Any day.
In the meantime, I’ve started another novel.
....39....

LOCAL MUSICIANS
..........................................
Ben Bailey rounds up the Brighton music scene
BECHDEL
Fri 8, Café Noor, 8pm, £donations
Dedicated to female experimental
musicians, this
new bi-monthly night brings
improvised noise, sound art
and spoken word to the cosy
environs of a Hanover café. This second instalment
sees Postcards from the Volcano, Jo Burke and The
Zero Map supporting seven-piece ensemble The
Larsens (that they’re named after a specific type
of feedback loop should give you an indication of
their intentions). Comprised of vocalists aided and
abetted by amps, synths and various gadgets, The
Larsens have a line-up that reads like a supergroup
of super-talented local women. Alongside artist Ingrid
Plum (pictured) and singer-songwriter Tabitha
Smith, the group includes members of several
notable Brighton bands such as Bunty, Bloom and
The Woo!worths. Should they exceed the sum of
their parts, this will be something special.
BEATABET SEASON #1
Sat 9, Rose Hill Tavern, 7pm, £5
Now that the Rose Hill has
reopened, with some of the
Beatabet Collective behind
the bar, it was only a matter
of time before the pub started doing something
like this. Known for their events fusing art, visuals
and music, principally held at the old Blind Tiger,
Beatabet are now promising a new night of “experimental
groove music, electro-acoustic invention
and psychedelia.” Brighton’s Man Ray Sky head the
bill, fusing the warped aesthetics of My Bloody Valentine
and Sonic Youth with krautrock rhythms and
euphoric electronic sounds. Liberez and Stephanie
La Force provide support; the latter adding poetry,
improv and soprano opera singing into the mix.
WILL RENE + ANDY HALLIDAY
Sat 16, Marwood Coffee Shop, 8pm, £3
This acoustic show features two solo performances
from the frontmen of two quite different, but
equally interesting, Brighton trios. Will Rene, last
seen singing with Last Chance Dance Band,
claims Jacques Brel and Mount Eerie among his
influences, but neither are reliable references for his
style of jaunty alt pop. With a natural yet distinctive
singing voice, Rene buries his darker side beneath
the surface of his songs, letting the lyrics do the
dirty work while the tunes keep it sweet. Andy
Halliday of Flash Bang Band, on the other hand, is
more likely to give you catchy and kooky choruses
with the energy of his psych pop outfit. We’ve not
heard much from either band for a while, hopefully
this isn’t their way of telling us they’ve split.
CLOUD
Sun 31, Prince Albert, 8pm, £4
Featuring members of
Electric Soft Parade,
Brakes and Becky Becky,
Cloud combine shoegaze
and krautrock tendencies
alongside classic influences like New Order and
Hawkwind. Their second EP, which came out this
time last year, consists of six primarily instrumental
tracks, the shortest of which clocked in at just over
seven minutes. Those of their songs that do feature
vocals bring to mind the enigmatic crooning of Joy
Division’s Ian Curtis. With an emphasis on audiovisual
elements, each show they do (and it must be
said, they don’t play that often) involves meticulously
planned visuals to match the mood of the
music. Support comes from Sleeping Creatures and
Kosmos 954, both fellow travellers in Brighton’s
growing psychedelic/krautrock scene.
....41....

SuSSex Symphony orcheStra
malcolm arnold elgar vaughan williamS
four ScottiSh danceS cello concerto Symphony no 3 'paStoral'
cello SoloiSt pavloS carvalho conductor chriStopher Braime
7.30pm Saturday 16th July
all SaintS church, hove
ticketS £15, ConC & nUS £12, Under 16 £3. from www.SSomuSic.co.uk
匀 愀 琀 甀 爀 搀 愀 礀 アパート
琀 栀
☀ 匀 甀 渀 搀 愀 礀 アパート
猀 琀
䨀 甀 氀 礀

MUSIC
.....................................
Soft Walls
Dan Reeves and the three Bezzes
As well as running a record
label and playing guitar for
indie rockers Cold Pumas,
Dan Reeves also finds time
to make his own music as
Soft Walls. We chatted to
him ahead of his show at
the Green Door Store this
month to find out how he
keeps it all together.
What sort of music do Soft
Walls make? I’d say it’s moderately
depressing, psychedelic postpunk.
A lot of it has a ‘motorik’
quality, by which I mean I allow
a drum machine to play the same
thing for about seven minutes and
record over it. I like repetition.
Is that what you’ll be doing at
the Green Door Store? I’ll be
playing on my own, live-looping keyboards and
guitar lines and trying to not push the button that
stops everything and leaves me looking like an utter
idiot. I’m also going to ask all of the members
of the Soft Walls live band to join me on stage, not
playing instruments but dancing like Bez from the
Happy Mondays. I think I might get about 50% of
them to agree.
What’s it like being in two bands? Does one
satisfy on a level that the other doesn’t? Yes!
Cold Pumas is on the most part a very collaborative
project and 90% of the music is written when
the four of us are in a room together. We’ll often
start with nothing and if we’re lucky will stumble
upon something interesting and it blooms from
there. In the past we’ve played the same note over
and over again for about 20 mins staring blankly
at the walls and no blooming occurred. I’d say I
take more of a backseat in Cold Pumas whereas
for Soft Walls I write and
record everything on my
own and then teach the
band what to play. I like
both processes!
You also run the Discx
records. Is it getting
easier to run a small label
these days? It’s easy
to put things out digitally
and the resurgence of people
buying tapes means you can
put things out for a very low cost
which is great. Also, it’s a lot easier
for people to look you up online
if they are interested in a band or
the label. Obviously the downside
is that you’re in a sea of other tiny
(probably great) labels and sometimes
it feels like you’re screaming
into the void. Also, I LOVE vinyl, but the delayed
turnaround time and prohibitive cost of pressing
things can be a real pain in the butt, and certainly
makes things less fun and impulsive. Regardless of
all that, I love doing it and don’t think I can stop.
It’s got to a point where I don’t really question my
motives anymore, it’s just what I do. As long as
there are bands I like that want me to release their
records I’ll keep going.
How do you keep all this going on top of a day
job? It’s difficult! I’m certainly not the best at doing
this but I try to get through what I have to do.
Sometimes that means I might not get back to people
for ages and I feel terrible about that – but I
have a job, a family and two bands as well as the
label so if I don’t prioritise, everything becomes a
huge mess. Oh, and caffeine. Interview by Ben Bailey
Soft Walls play the Brighton Noise all-dayer on Sat
2nd July, Green Door Store, 2pm, £5
....43....

MUSIC
.....................................
Moulettes
Extremophile rock
Rumour has it an article in New Scientist
inspired your latest album, Preternatural…
Hannah: It was called ‘Deep Life’ and it was about
extremophiles – creatures that live in very extreme
situations. There’s this particular kind of nematode
worm that lives three to four kilometres underground,
under lots of pressure with loads of heat,
no sunlight, no oxygen; none of the things that
you’d think they need, but there they are. It started
the quest of looking at various creatures and drawing
out themes. Each song uses the creature as a
kind of mouthpiece.
Ollie: The front cover is an amalgamation of all the
creatures on the album.
It’s a fabulous cover! Hannah: You know the Salvador
Dali skull – where you look at something
and each time you look you draw more out of it?
That’s how we wanted the album to be; there’s lots
of detail in the music and the lyrics, it is a piece of
work that rewards perseverance.
There’s a myriad of different influences in this
album... Ollie: We were always doing different
things to folk music, but it’s a label that’s stuck
with us. We’ve always wanted to push the rock and
progressive side, but never tried to create a specific
genre on record. What would art be like if people
tried to do what they liked all in one go? That’s
what feels right when you embark on a creative
process but there’s external forces saying ‘Don’t
do that, that’ll sound rubbish’. I hope that’s what
people can hear from Moulettes – something new
that’s a mixture of everything that came before.
Hannah: One thing I really liked about Preternatural
was getting into the character of whatever creature
we were writing about and letting that dictate
how the song came out. There’re different moods
because each song is specific to the creature, guided
by themes we were exploring. The opening
track Behemooth is quite bombastic for example;
it’s about this massive, mysterious mammal that’s
just kind of hanging around at the bottom of the
Pacific making huge noises.
What are Moulettes fans like? Ollie: My favourite
gig is an all-ages show; the guy who made our t-
shirts said his kid has been listening to nothing but
the record and his 13-year-old did a skateboarding
montage to one of the songs on the album. Young
kid, skateboarder and dad – all enjoying the record
together – that’s the best.
Is Brighton your spiritual homeland? Hannah:
There’s a great scene of musicians here – the last
record we had a whole orchestra and we pulled in
lots of musicians all from Brighton – some legends
like Arthur Brown and Herbie Flowers, Dan
Smith. Some friends of ours have just taken on
the Rose Hill Tavern; I have a lot of faith they’ll
use their massive amounts of creativity to make it
work. There will be studio space and leftfield art
without profit being the overriding driver.
Ollie: I love Brighton. Caroline Lucas is great –
we’re big fans of hers, and the liberal attitudes to
different kinds of people. There’s so much creativity
in this town - it’s like art cake. Amy Holtz
Preternatural, £9.99. moulettes.co.uk
....44....

MUSIC
.....................................
Jam Tarts
Chief Tart Li Mills
I launched Jam
Tarts just under
12 years
ago after running
Baby Jam,
a baby music
group for parents
who wanted
to sing something
– anything
– other than Hop
Little Rabbits.
We got everyone
doing The Sex Pistols’ Anarchy in the UK, as
well as YMCA.
Over the years it’s morphed from a community
choir into something more professional. I audition
potential singers and we tend to just fill places
as and when we need someone in a particular section.
But people very rarely leave.
The biggest part of my job is finding songs I
like and arranging them into songs the choir can
sing. I’m not interested in straight covers so I’ll either
put masses of harmonies into a piece or turn it
into something completely different. We do Kaiser
Chiefs’ Every Day I Love You Less and Less…but as
a tango.
Sometimes people challenge me directly on a
song. One of the choir members bet that I couldn’t
arrange anything from Tom Waits’ Frank’s Wild
Years album. I thought, I’m not having that, and
arranged Telephone Call from Istanbul.
One of our most ambitious songs is a crazy a
cappella version of Joy Division’s She’s Lost
Control but the most musically challenging was
a classical piece we did one Christmas – Morten
Lauridsen’s O Magnum Mysterium. It sounded fab
but none of us is a classical singer.
I’ve not been
singing for as
long as people
tend to assume.
I did a degree in
music as a flautist
but there was
hardly any work
at that time because
everyone
and their dog had
taken up the flute
thanks to [Irish
virtuoso] James Galway. I only started singing because
I didn’t have enough to do playing the flute.
I get frustrated if I permanently have my back
to the audience so I have to go off and perform as
well as directing. I have a punk doo-wop duo called
The New York Dollies and I’m about to launch
a new band called Suburban Death Twitch with
three of the Jam Tarts.
One of Jam Tarts’ most popular songs is There
Is A Light (That Never Goes Out) by The Smiths.
We’ve sung it at lots of funerals and it often touches
a nerve for audiences. Songs affect everyone
in different ways. Often in rehearsals there’ll be
someone crying.
I found out recently that people’s heartbeats
synchronise when they sing together. I also
learned that song lyrics are stored in a different
part of your brain to speech so people who have
had a stroke or who have dementia can still sing
songs. It doesn’t seem to help me, though. I often
mouth the words to songs while I have my back to
the audience and I get them wrong far more frequently
than the choir does.
As told to Nione Meakin
The Old Market, 8th July at 7.30pm
....45....

MUSIC
....................................
Uptown Funk
Pee Wee Ellis
Why the nickname ‘Pee Wee’ – where did it
come from? When I was young, I was hanging out
with older guys who played jazz, and I was really
small, you know!
Are the blues in your blood? Yeah, of course! I
was first introduced to the blues when I lived in
Florida by the general population and the environment
where I was hanging around.
And why the saxophone as your instrument of
choice? I love the sound!
How did you happen to start performing live
with the James Brown revue in the 1960s?
Well a friend of mine called me, who was himself
playing with James Brown, and he said “they need a
saxophone player”, and “do I want a job?” So I said,
“yeah”, and luckily it paid enough money that it
meant I could afford to play jazz for a living.
What was it like to co-write with James Brown
during his definitive era, because you co-wrote
some of the late 60s soul classics, didn’t you?
Yeah, I did, but it’s kind of hard to explain. I mean,
it was a job!
Really? You saw co-writing with James Brown
as just a job? Well, yeah! It was just another day
at work!
You were also at one time the musical director
for legendary singer Van Morrison – is that
again just being at work? Yeah, that’s what I do!
I guess having always been surrounded by musical
legends it’s just not something you focus
on... No, I focus on me! [laughs]
Well let’s focus on you then! You have many
musical hats - saxophonist, composer, arranger,
band leader - which do you like most? It’s all
combined, it takes all of it to make one whole thing.
Your own albums in the 1980s are recognised
as having defined a new version of jazz-funk –
can you explain how it was different? It’s called
‘smunk’ – smooth-funk – but if you don’t know I
can’t tell you! [laughs]
Why? It’s very difficult for me…
Because you don’t like talking about it or it’s
hard to explain? Both.
So you’re a modest man Pee Wee! Oooooh, I
don’t know about that!
What can we expect to see from your upcoming
performance? I’m bringing a new outfit called
the Pee Wee Ellis Funka Nova Quartet, which is a
mixture of bossa nova and funk.
You have an incredible musical history – what
part are you most proud of? My time with Van
Morrison, my time with James Brown, my time
with Esther Phillips… I’m proud of most of it.
What is your favourite memory as a musician?
It’s all been a labour of love, but there was a concert
in Belfast with Van Morrison that stands out. Someone
threw a beer can on stage. Van stopped the
band and said “if that happens one more time we’re
going home”. It didn’t happen again.
If you could do it all again, what would you do
differently? I would marry the wife I have now the
first time! Julia Zaltzman
Ropetackle Arts Centre, Shoreham, 9th July, 8pm
....46....

TOM
JONES
LIVE
Sunday17th July 2016
The 1 st Central County Ground,
Hove
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SUSSEXCRICKET.CO.UK | BOX OFFICE: 0844 264 0206 | TOMJONES.COM
by arrangement with Live Nation
Subject to licence

SCIENCE
.....................................
Doctor Who
The how and why
Doctor Who novelist Simon Guerrier
and public astronomer Marek
Kukula are in town this month to
talk about regeneration, time travel
and their new book, The Scientific
Secrets of Doctor Who.
What were you hoping to achieve
with the book? Simon: We hope
it’s a fun, entertaining book that
makes you see the world - and
Doctor Who - in a new way. I was
keen it should appeal to people who,
like me all those years ago, would
never have touched a science book,
thinking it all too boring and difficult, as well as to
people who know their science.
What kind of things will you talk about?
Simon: After our talk we’ll be taking questions
from the audience about science, Doctor Who
and the science of Doctor Who. How do we build
a TARDIS? Can we regenerate? How does the
sonic screwdriver work? Pah, those are much too
easy! We’re hoping the audience can beat us. The
trickier, the stranger, the better.
On average, do you think the show has educated
people or filled our heads with nonsense?
Simon: It was certainly set up in 1963 to
have an educational element. In those days, the
Doctor traveled with two school teachers – a science
teacher and a history teacher – and along the
way they’d explain things like how condensation
works. I think today the show aims to be purely
‘entertainment’, and would be shy of claiming any
sort of educational value. But it’s full of big ideas
that are worth exploring further.
Marek: I’m not so bothered about whether Doctor
Who teaches people facts – it’s more important that
it gets people curious about the universe around
them and makes them start asking
questions. Is time travel really
possible? Can bodies regenerate?
What would happen if you fell into
a black hole? Science is more about
asking questions than learning facts.
Having said that, I once passed
a history test because of things I
learned from a Doctor Who story…
What first sparked your interest
in science? Marek: As a child I
was curious about everything in
the natural world, from plants and
animals to rocks and galaxies. Early
on I realised that science was the best way to find
the answers to my questions.
Simon: I’ve written for BBC Books since 2005, but
Marek suggested it would help me write the space
bits of my Doctor Who stories if I did an astronomy
night class. So I did, and - unlike at school - I
worked really hard and got an A*. One homework
for that course led directly to the plot for a story.
Has Doctor Who ever got it right with its
predictions? Marek: The 1966 story The War Machines
featured a supercomputer that could communicate
with other computers down the phone
line. We now take the internet for granted.
Simon: My favourite is that Planet of the Daleks
(1973) imagines a strange alien planet with volcanoes
- but of ice, not hot lava. That was just fantasy
when the story was made, but we now know
of cryovulcanism (ice volcanos) on several moons
in the Solar System, and on Pluto. But Doctor Who
also gets it wrong: in the 1970s, it predicted Britain
having its own space programme, with rockets
apparently launching from the home counties.
Interview by Ben Bailey
Sallis Benney Theatre, Sat 16th July, 7pm, £7
....48....

THEATRE
.....................................
Patrick Marber
Adapting Miss Julie
In 1995 Patrick Marber, already
well known for his comedy
performances on the TV
and radio, revealed another,
formidable string to his bow. In
that year he wrote and directed
Dealer’s Choice, which was a big
West End hit. He also wrote
an adaptation of Strindberg’s
1888 play Miss Julie, ‘After
Miss Julie’, which cemented
his reputation as one of the
country’s top-rung playwrights.
We caught up with him after
the latest production of After
Miss Julie went on tour…
Why did you think it was
relevant to write an adaptation of Miss Julie,
back in 1995? The version was commissioned
by Simon Curtis at the BBC. It was for a series
called Performance. The relevant thing for me was
that Simon said I could direct it if I wrote it.
Interestingly that is the year of Lars Von
Trier’s Dogme set of strictures, which share a
lot of similarities with Strindberg’s ‘Scandinavian
naturalism’… Cool.
Would you call yourself a naturalist? Not really.
I'm not that interested in 'realistic' speech.
It’s a play about class and upward and downward
mobility… Yes. But if that sounds a bit dry
it's also about love and sex and betrayal. And it
has some animals in it.
Tell us about setting it on the eve of the 1945
General Election? Strindberg's play is set on
Midsummer's Eve. In Sweden this is a night of
joy, dancing and letting the spirits run free. We
English have no exact equivalent in our calendar.
So I felt that this particular night in 1945 when
the war was over and Labour took power might
provide something that relates to the Swedish
precedent.
Did you consider setting it
in any other period of time?
How relevant would a 2016
version be? Once I had 1945
I felt ok with it.
How faithful were you to
Strindberg’s play? Quite.
But not consistently.
Why did the play take so
long to get to the stage?
We did it on TV in 1995 and
then the Donmar Warehouse
premiered it on stage in 2003.
It's not that long!
Did you have anything to
do with the set-up of the
current production? Various approvals and I
went to a couple of rehearsals. But I spoke quite
a bit to the director Anthony Banks and I'm very
happy with the production.
Helen George is quite a household name…
how important is it to have star names in
theatre nowadays? It depends on where you're
doing the play. For a touring production it's
pretty important.
How did it go down in Bath? Did you see it?
It went really well in Bath. I saw it in Guildford
and hope to see it in Brighton too.
Last year you had three plays on at the same
time at the National Theatre – an unprecedented
occurrence. How did that feel?
Thrilling and dreamy.
Do you think that Strindberg would do a good
job of setting Dealer’s Choice in the fin-desiècle
era? Yes! I wish he were around to have a
crack at it.
Interview by Alex Leith
After Miss Julie, Theatre Royal Brighton, Mon
4th-Sat 9th July
....49....

䜀 漀 漀 搀 䌀 儀 䌀 䤀 渀 猀 瀀 攀 挀 琀 椀 漀 渀 刀 愀 琀 椀 渀 最

THEATRE
.....................................
Something Street
‘A sort of immersive theatre thing’
I’m about to try to review an experience without
giving away very much at all about the experience
in question. Here goes…
We arrive at the temporary chipboard structure
that popped up a few weeks ago on Madeira Drive,
and we’re 15 minutes late. I’ve come with my boyfriend
George, who is a bit confused about the
whole situation, because all I’ve told him is that
we’re going to a ‘sort of immersive theatre thing’
at a place on the seafront which is ‘sort of outdoors
but in a room, I think’. The ‘immersive theatre
thing’ is the first performance of Something Street,
and I really don’t know any more about it than that.
Everybody else is waiting in groups of about ten
outside the building – five groups in total – each
led by a ‘time-keeper’. We hurry over to our group,
who are all watching our time-keeper, Josh, in a
way that suggests he has just said, or is about to say,
something important. I guess it was the former, as
we are immediately led inside.
Each group is taken into a different room, each
room set up as a different scene in a different era,
with a different set of characters. In the room we
see a snippet of a story, we get to know a tiny bit
about the characters, and then we move on to the
next. It’s always New Year’s Eve. Some scenes are
funny, some are sad. In some scenes we – the ‘audience’
– stand back and watch, in others we become
like extras in the play. As we enter each room, we
have no idea what’s coming.
But then I think that’s the point. You can try to follow
the connections between the characters and
the storylines, or whether you’re watching five
little stories play out or whether it is, in fact, all
part of one big story. But ultimately, it doesn’t matter.
What matters is the common theme that runs
through the performances. But I can’t give away
the theme.
And at the end, all of the groups join together for a
big, noisy, joyous celebration, which almost makes
me forget that it’s June and the sun is shining.
I can’t say very much more without revealing much
too much, because going in with no idea what to
expect is the best way to go in, in my experience.
I can say that it was unlike any other performance
I’ve watched. The emotional scenes are especially
captivating, in that you’re standing right ‘on stage’
next to the actors. And there is some particularly
well-scripted comic relief in between. Looking
back, I wonder if I would have had a completely
different experience if I’d been in one of the other
groups, going through the stories in a different order.
But I’d better stop there. RC
somethingstreet.co.uk
....51....

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㈀ 㜀 アパート 㤀 㔀 㘀 ㈀ 㜀

LITERATURE
....................................
MG Leonard
Beetlemania
I meet author MG Leonard
for coffee at the Seven Dials
Small Batch. It is fair to
say she is a touch frazzled.
Having just returned from
the Hay Festival and after
a whirlwind three months
since the publication of
her children’s book Beetle
Boy it is easy to understand
why. Let’s say the meteoric
success of her book has been
unexpected.
Maybe, though, it shouldn’t
have been. After all she
was discovered by Barry
Cunningham, the man who
brought JK Rowling to the world. When Cunningham
called Leonard to talk about publishing
her book, she didn’t know who he was: she had to
google his name whilst they were on the phone.
The book has sold staggeringly well since
publication and has already been published in
25 countries. Leonard cannot quite get her head
around the fact that this is happening to her.
“I thought it would take years,” she says. “I’m a
nobody. I’m not David Walliams, I’m not Julian
Clary... I was confused by it and I just don’t
want to ruin it.” But as Leonard is keen to stress,
“this is not about me, in any way shape or form.
It is about the beetles, which is why I am not
ashamed to promote it.”
Repulsed from childhood by all insects – “if
anything landed on me I’d do a heebeejeebee
dance” – Leonard wasn’t the likely author of a
book about beetles and their vital importance.
However, after noticing that
she couldn’t find much at all
written about the subject, the
former band manager and
actor, who lives in Brighton
with her partner and two
kids, recognised this as her
opportunity to talk about issues
she is passionate about:
climate change and nature.
Leonard understands that it
is the significance of these
issues in the book which has
led to its success. “There is
an underlying fear of climate
change because we can’t
control it, and it is the kind
of thing that builds into an anxiety about what is
happening to the planet. We can’t really address it
on a day-to-day basis, and we begin to feel quite
powerless. And then, if you have children, you
begin to have this sense of guilt about what your
children will inherit. Parents feel this and want
their children to learn about it.”
Though the book is not ostensibly about climate
change, it is about nature, and it is through the
beetles that Leonard hopes to educate children
so they begin thinking about the environment
and the climate at a young age. “Children are
so protected from nature nowadays, they are
actually afraid of it. They will not be able to save
or make changes unless they’re actually engaged
with it... so I wanted to write a book that would
make children, when they’ve read it, go outside
and see a beetle and know what the beetle is and
what role it plays in the world.” Holly Fitzgerald
....53....

ART
....................................
Ian Potts
English watercolourist with a European sensibility
“It’s fair to say that watercolour painting hasn’t
featured very much in discussions about the state
of contemporary art,” says Michael Tucker, former
Professor of Poetics at the University of Brighton.
Yet Tucker is co-curating a retrospective exhibition
of the watercolours of a former colleague of
his, the late Ian Potts, from July 30th to August
21st, in the University of Brighton gallery.
We’re in Potts’ studio, in the studio-attic of the
Lewes home he lived in from the late sixties until
his death in 2014. It is full of paintings, large and
small, all in the same inimitable style: there are
group studies, cityscapes and landscapes, capturing
settings from all over Europe. They all have a
striking calm about them, and a sense of humanity.
They are unmistakably of the same hand.
“There have been important watercolour exhibitions
recently at the Tate and the V&A, but for
most of Ian’s career, the medium was deeply
unfashionable,” Tucker continues. “But he was
never worried that he wasn’t of his time. It’s worth
saying that watercolour has a great English tradition,
with the likes of Turner and Cotman, and
more recently Ravilious and Burra. Ian knew the
history of the medium. His challenge was to move
it forward. Lots of art forgets history. He saw his
....54....

England, Hastings (detail)
obligation to make it fresh.”
Tucker, who has written and/or contributed to
books on such distinguished British painters as
Alan Davie, Andrzej Jackowski and Ian McKeever,
obviously liked Potts enormously: they were colleagues
at the University for over 20 years, and his
descriptions of the man and his work are full of
positivity: he is “generous-minded”, he “had an affirmative
spirit”, he “said yes to life”. “The impact
of his work,” he says, “comes from the spirituality
and poetic sense of something quiet amid the
hurly burly of modern life.”
Potts’ paintings, I’m told, are widely collected (including
in the Ashmolean, and the V&A), and as
well as giving the Brighton public a first chance to
see a major retrospective of Potts’ work, this will
also be a selling exhibition, with paintings costing
from £500. All the works, for me, share a calm
respect for space. “He never got lost in detail,”
concludes Tucker, “and always gave you room to
breathe… Once you’ve seen a body of Ian Potts’
work, you know when a painting is an Ian Potts.”
Alex Leith
University of Brighton gallery, July 30th-August
21st. An accompanying catalogue, with design input
from UoB students and many colour plates, includes
contributions from from Christopher Le Brun,
President of The Royal Academy, William Packer
(former art critic for the FT), and Michael Tucker.
England, Torver Beck, Lake District
....55....

ART
....................................
Graduate Art Show
‘The world beyond our mind’
Here’s a taste of what to expect from this year’s edition of the University of Brighton MA in Fine Art
graduate show, taking place at the Gallery on Grand Parade from 9 – 16th July. This installation is by
Caleb Madden. “Humankind has finally managed to make an indelible mark on the world beyond our own
mind,” he writes in his catalogue text. “Well done us.”
SUNDAY 17 TH JULY
11am - 6pm
BRUNSWICK SQUARE
HOVE
FREE ENTRY
Enjoy a summer’s day in historic Brunswick
Square Gardens and The Regency Town
House for an exhibition of high quality but
affordable work by local artists.
/BrunswickTownArtFair
@brunswickfair
brunswicktownartfair
brunswicktownartfair@outlook.com

ART: FOCUS ON
....................................
Ian Hodgson
Wing and a Prayer, Graphite on paper, 65x85cm
Big Heart Charity auction (normally £800-£900)
This drawing is based on the Peace Statue,
which straddles the border between Brighton and
Hove. I’ve always been drawn to it because of the
realistic way in which the wings were sculpted. It’s a
figurative piece, obviously, but I’ve tried to capture
something beyond reality, as if the angel is in the
process of taking off. As if it’s come alive.
I use blocks of graphite, on paper. I don’t know
any other artist who works exactly like this. It’s a
very versatile medium as you can draw fine lines or
turn it into powder. I often emboss or sandpaper
the paper as well, in order to create more texture.
Restriction is the key: if I allowed myself colour, I
think my work would become kaleidoscopic.
When I choose a subject I do many different
versions until I’m satisfied I’ve captured what
I’m after. Sometimes the best version is the first
one I do; sometimes the subsequent attempts lead
me somewhere different entirely. Usually only a
few versions go up for sale. The others – however
similar they are – will end up in the recycling.
I like working with music on, either Radio 6 or
Spotify. My studio is in my flat and I work alone. I
used to work in a shared studio, and I enjoyed the
company, but this way I get much more work done,
because I don’t waste time chatting. I never get lonely.
Influences? It’s difficult to say. I love Egon
Schiele. Or, more locally, Antony Micaleff, who’s
doing very well. And Chloe Piene.
A picture to hang on my desert island palm tree?
I honestly can’t think of one. I wouldn’t need anyone
else’s work, I’d be too busy creating my own, even if
that was just stick marks in the sand.
Chestnut Tree is a very worthy charity, helping
kids with terminal illnesses have a more comfortable
and fulfilling life, so I was very happy to donate
this one-off piece to the Big Heart Auction. AL
View the auction gallery at the Dome from 1st-5th
or online at bigheartauction.co.uk; there you’ll find
how to bid on eBay from 1st-9th July.
....57....

CRAFT
....................................
Cult Milk
Flower crowns at Patterns
Arriving at Patterns on the late May Bank
Holiday is like arriving at a really well-organised
children’s party: there are balloons on the door,
the atmosphere has a mellow buzz, and stepping
inside, we see the other guests are all cheerfully
occupied with various activities. Except that these
people are all grown-ups: some are fashioning
kaleidoscopes out of toilet-roll tubes, some are
making jewellery and some are sewing shorts from
recycled silk scarves. This is all because, today, the
venue is playing host
to Monthly Milk,
a day of creative
workshops curated by the all-female arts collective
Cult Milk. The event comes to Patterns on the
last Sunday (or Bank Holiday Monday) of every
month, and there’s always a different selection of
workshops, costing £2-£5 each.
Three of us from the Viva team have come along
to try out the Flower Show workshop, run by Katie
Kearns, who is going to be teaching us to make
our own flower crowns. She prepares each of us a
length of wire, wrapped in floristry tape, while we
pick out our flowers. Lizzie goes for a peach and
pink palette, while (Viva’s) Katie picks out a delicate
selection, complemented by a good amount of
foliage. I look at the heap of flowers I’ve gathered
on the table in front of me and decide that – meh,
we can’t all be tasteful.
Katie (K) shows us how to fix flowers onto the
wire using floristry tape, which starts off like ribbon
but, once the warmth of your hands touches
it, becomes lightly adhesive. She has suggested
that we think about our composition before we
start, but I’m already going with my first length
of tape.
I start with my biggest flower - I’m not good with
botanical terminology, but I’m referring to the
oversized orange bloom in the middle (see left) -
....58....

CRAFT
....................................
and realise that flowers are very delicate and I’m
very clumsy. It loses a handful of its petals, but no
matter, I go straight onto the next. Other people
around the table are chatting, but I’m completely
absorbed, squashing flower after flower onto my
crown. A few times I think I’m finished, but then I
spot a gap and cram in another few stems. I could
probably keep going all afternoon, but I notice that
everyone else is finishing, so I try to wrap things up.
I put the crown on my head – it feels like it weighs
several kilos – and think to myself (out loud) that
it’s possibly the most beautiful thing I’ve ever
made. The three of us can’t stop grinning. “I’m
going to wear this all the way home!” I announce,
striding out onto Marine Parade. A few passers-by
give me funny looks - it is a Monday afternoon and
I’m wearing a flower crown, on my own. Maybe
I’ll just wear it in the house... Rebecca Cunningham
Katie runs pop-up flower workshops across Sussex.
flowershowpresents.co.uk
....59....

DESIGN
....................................
Juliet Sargeant
Modern Slavery Garden designer
Designer Juliet Sargeant travels daily from her
home in Rottingdean to her quaint woodenframed
workshop in Alfriston. The journey, she
tells me over a coffee there, is one of her ‘working
labs’. “There’s a lovely meadow verge, with
oxeye daisies and mignonettes, but in amongst
the wild flowers I would expect to see, there are
irises, too.”
Juliet has been subject to a lot of media attention
lately as a result of her Modern Slavery Garden
winning both a Gold Medal and the People’s
Choice award the RHS Chelsea Flower Show.
The centrepiece of her garden is an oak tree –
representing the one at Holwood, under which
William Wilberforce and William Pitt resolved
to abolish the slave trade. Around it are oak
saplings, grown at a safe-house in Southampton
by survivors of modern slavery.
Juliet created the garden in collaboration with a
Sussex-based campaigning group. “[The team]
are passionate about the issue of modern slavery,”
she says. “Some were involved in the Modern
Slavery Act 2015… they were just trying
to think of another innovative way of engaging
people with the issue.”
Despite being welcomed from application
to awards, the Modern Slavery Garden has
created some ripples at Chelsea. Some are asking
whether it’s appropriate to discuss such a
troubling topic in a setting people come to for
‘a nice day out’. At this, Juliet is defiant. “There’s
no reason why when you step into a garden you
have to turn your brain off.”
“For me, gardens are an art form, the same as
painting or sculpture or architecture… You
know Picasso’s Guernica about the Spanish Civil
War? There’s absolutely no reason why a garden
can’t do the same: express feelings, provoke
thought, and discussion about a serious issue.”
It was surprising to learn from Juliet that there is
a long history of gardens having meaning - from
the hortus conclusus to Lord Cobham’s gardens
at Stowe. Sargeant, a trained psychiatrist, is most
inspired when challenged to marry her view of
gardens as art with her interest in health and
wellbeing.
“Gardens are good for us and good for society
as a whole… there’s so much evidence now
emerging that the more greenery, the better for
everyone. That’s where, I think, designers in
particular need to push the envelope a bit and
....60....

DESIGN
....................................
start saying, “Hey, this isn’t just a matter of growing
a few cabbages or some pretty flowers, there’s
more to this.”
When Juliet was named by the press as the first
black designer to win at Chelsea, she says it led
to another ‘kerfuffle’. It’s a title she didn’t seek
out, and initially was hesitant to endorse. “Then
I thought, given the opportunity, I probably
ought to speak about it because it is something
I have noticed. In our industry, there’s very little
diversity… I just think it’s a shame. It’s a shame
that we’re not using the resources that society has
to offer in the variety of people and the variety of
perspectives that there are.
“The culture of gardens hasn’t really changed
that much. It is changing, but in the same way we
need to push garden designs, we need to push the
culture of gardens as well - into the 21st century,
which is where we all live, not the 18th.”
Chloë King
modernslaverygarden.com
....61....

wealden
PEVENSEY CASTLE
FOOD & WINE
FESTIVAL
16 & 17 July 2016
11am to 7.30pm
PEVENSEY CASTLE
East Sussex BN24 5LE
wealdenfestivals.co.uk
FREE Park & Ride from Stone Cross
Nurseries BN24 5ET throughout
the weekend of the festival
it’s
food it’swine it’s
music

BRIGHTON MAKER
....................................
Boho Gelato
Seb Cole, flavour raver
What’s the difference
between gelato and ice
cream? Gelato is lower in fat,
lower in sugar, lower in air
and higher in milk solids than
ice cream. It’s traditionally
made with milk and cream,
whereas ice cream is made
using cream and eggs. The
reason I like gelato better
is because you get a more
intense flavour.
When did you start
experimenting with your
flavours? Right from the
beginning. My background
was in cocktails and wine, and
other than cocktails ice cream
is the most creatively limitless
medium. But the problem
with cocktails is that you limit
yourself to adults, and you’re
restricted to using other people’s
products as ingredients.
With gelato you can start completely from scratch,
so you could add liquorice or banana or herbs or
even savoury flavours like blue cheese. My personal
thing is sweet and savoury combinations - I
love sweet and salty popcorn, or bacon pancakes
with maple syrup, or peanut butter and jelly - so I
try to choose flavours which work with sweet and
savoury, like cheese with honey and pears.
Have people become more open to the
weirder flavours since you opened? When we
opened people definitely went for the more traditional
flavours and turned their noses up at our
Strawberry & Basil. But that’s changed, though
whether that’s because our palates our changing,
or because we’ve built up a reputation for our
unusual flavours, I don’t know.
Have you developed a method
for creating new flavours
or is it still a case of trial and
error? It’s a bit like making
cocktails - once you know
your theory, you don’t tend to
get it wrong too often. We’ve
developed our own theory of
recipe-making, but you always
need to tweak them, so it’s a
two-part process. The first part
is mathematical and theoretical,
the second part is palate-based.
We’re always tasting and tweaking
the mixes, and recording
what we’ve done, so we rarely
muck things up.
Are your flavours influenced
by what’s going on in the rest
of the foodie world? We do
make gelato for a lot of different
businesses and that gives
us new ideas, like the Indianinspired
flavours we made for
Curry Leaf Café or a root beer sorbet we made
for a burger restaurant. But we’re influenced by all
sorts. I might be on a train eating a pain au raisin
and think, what flavours are in here? Raisins,
butter, apricot…
Why open a second shop so close to your first?
The new shop on Ship Street is a little bit more
for the tourists. We still won’t be doing the standard
vanilla, Stracciatella, mint chocolate chip…
and the gelato for the new shop is being made in
our kitchen in Newhaven. That frees up the machines
here so we can go even crazier experimenting
with new flavours! [At the time of printing Seb
says the new shop will open on July 1st. Visit 31
Ship Street to see if he’s right.] RC
bohogelato.co.uk
....63....

STYLE
....................................
Specky Wren
Update your facial furniture
How often do you change your glasses? I’ve had my
current pair for years now, and before that I had a
pretty similar style, and before that... I’ve got so used to
seeing myself wearing this shape of frame that when I
go to the opticians, I tend to look past everything else
and head straight for more of the same.
David Carmichael at Specky Wren says that this is
pretty common. He’s offered to give three members of
the Viva team a style makeover, as far as our eyewear
is concerned. “There are lots of subtleties involved in
choosing a pair of glasses,” he says, “but there are four
main aspects that we look at to help you choose.”
The first is the fit: “how they sit on the bridge of the
nose, where they rest on the ears. Ideally you want to
be looking through at least the top third of the lens, so
the frames shouldn’t sit lower than that.” But it’s also to
do with the aesthetic fit, so how the tops of the frames
line up with your eyebrows - the glasses shouldn’t
cover them - and the width of the frames.
“The second thing is the compatibility of the frame
with your lenses. Different prescriptions warrant different
frames so, as an example, with a higher prescription
you don’t want a lens that’s too large, and with varifocals
the compatibility will be different too.”
The next factor is taste. “In Brighton there is a huge
range of personalities and tastes,” says David, “so we
try to keep a variety of designs across our price ranges.”
Which brings in point four: the budget. For the purposes
of this exercise we’ve decided not to factor the
price tag into our decisions, but as a guide the frames
here start at £39, including standard lenses, and go all
the way up to £1000 for a top-of-the-range pair with all
the trimmings.
After an extensive trying-on session, guided by David
and two of his optical experts, Sara and Maya, we each
pick out our three favourites. The result? We’ll let the
photos speak for themselves… Rebecca Cunningham
1-2 Marshalls Row, thespeckywren.co.uk
....64....

STYLE
....................................
....65....

See how our hospice care is helping
local children with life-shortening
conditions and their families enjoy
every little moment together at
chestnut-tree-house.org.uk
#ChestnutLittleThings
Registered charity no. 256789

THE WAY WE WORK
This month, Adam Bronkhorst has been up to Brighton Racecourse just as
preparations get underway for a big race day. Some of the subjects are locals;
others travel across the country during racing season. We asked all of them:
What’s your favourite local day out?
adambronkhorst.com | 07879 401 333
Claire Goodenough, Travelling Head Lad
“I have friends in Penrith who have a guest house there. It is just a beautiful part
of the country and I love spending time there at the end of the season.”

THE WAY WE WORK
David Verco, Jockeys’ Valet
“I rarely get a day off during the summer, but if the weather was nice,
a wander by a river somewhere and a nice pub lunch.”

THE WAY WE WORK
George Hill, Clerk of the Course
“A day at Arundel Castle.”

THE WAY WE WORK
Anthony Molnar, Executive Head Chef
“I love the atmosphere at the beach, picnics around the old pier, drinks and live music
around the bars - and Hove Park is a fantastic place to while away the day with the kids.”

THE WAY WE WORK
Kerren Marshall, Freelance Camera Operator
“I’d say a simple day at the beach and the Pier with my husband and two children.
They have great imaginations so we have plenty of fun, and I love a good homemade picnic.”

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THE WAY WE WORK
Curtis Doyle, Groom
“My favourite day out would be travelling to the coast.”

FOOD
...........................................
Marrocco’s
Better gelato than never
The best way to beat the notorious queues for an
ice cream at Marrocco’s is to go midweek, in term
time. Even though it’s a hot hot, sunny day (it’s 22
degrees centigrade) I only have to wait about five
minutes before getting my order in. A one-scoop
stracciatella for me, pistaccio for my friend Johnny
(both in a cone) and limone for his son Indi, in a
tub. Indi is eight. I ask them to put a flag on his
ice cream. It is an Italian flag. It is, in case you’re
wondering, an inset day at his school.
My camera is out of batteries so, having moved
the flag to my ice cream, I ask Johnny to take a
picture with his iPhone. Johnny is a perfectionist,
so he needs about six takes to get the shot right,
which means there’s melted ice cream all over my
hand before I get to taste it. No matter.
Marrocco’s, in case you haven’t been, is a familyrun
Italian restaurant which is just like a million
family-run restaurants in Italy, ie bloody marvellous.
They make ice cream like Joe Dolce* woulda
liked it, and while there are some ‘fun’ flavours
– bubble gum, anyone? – the trad ones are best.
Stracciatella was always my favourite, a milky base
with lumps of dark chocolate in it, which add both
taste and texture to proceedings. Yum. Next time
I’m back it’ll probably be the weekend and I’ll
probably have to queue for ages, but it’s always
worth it. Alex Leith
*Early eighties pop reference for the over 40s

Food & Drink directory
ADVERTORIAL
The Westbourne
The Westbourne is a rarity, a
truly independent freehouse.
The bar features an everchanging
range of excellent
craft beers and cask ales
from exciting breweries, with
proper cider showcased in
the Cider Shack. There is a secluded garden,
perfect for the summer gin menu and a serious
Sunday roast offer, all delivered by a friendly,
passionate team.
90 Portland Road, Hove, thewestbournehove.co.uk
Polygon Pop-up
Polygon Pop-up will be back
in the ribot premises in Seven
Dials throughout June, July
and August. Polygon create a
platform for chefs and breweries to run pop-up
events from street food, fine dining, beer pairings,
wine pairings and supper clubs. This year
they will collaborate with 64 Degrees, The Set,
Plateau, Troll’s Pantry, Guerilla Grill, Brewdog
and many more! The opening night will be on
June 3rd, with Baby Bao and the Polygon Bar.
ribot, 1 Buckingham Place, 07544 822589
Edendum
Edendum is a slice of Italy
transported to Brighton, with
authentic flavours, fragrances
and freshly-cooked recipes that will give you
a chance to discover some less known Italian
dishes, a selection of Italian wines and artisan
beers. A part of our menu will change according
to the time of year, so our recipes always use
seasonal ingredients. A brand new lunchtime
offer is now available!
Italian & genuine: better eat better.
Photo by Restaurants Brighton
69 East Street, 01273 733800, edendum.co.uk
MAW
MAW Pop-up restaurant
is open Thursday, Friday
and Saturday nights serving
an eight-to-ten course
tasting menu by chef Mark
Wadsworth, in the heart of
the Lanes.
£40 per person and BYO.
Bookings through tabl.com
Also open as a café during
the day, closed Mondays.
14 Brighton Square, maw-restaurant.co.uk, 07812 700138
Terre à Terre
‘Big and Bravas, Brekkie in
a Bun, Sweet and Savoury,
Run Rarebit Run, Arepas,
Patatas a Scrunch and a Munch, Grapple our
Granola it’s time for Brunch!’
Terre à Terre is now open for ‘BrunchyLunchy’
daily from 10am–1pm, where diners can pick
from a selection of hearty brunch dishes from
‘Brunchy Rosti’ to ‘Big Muffin Butty Buns’ or
enjoy tea or coffee with a sweet side like Pastel
de Nata. Dishes start at £6.
71 East Street, 01273 729051, terreaterre.co.uk
The Better Half
The Better Half pub has
put the heart and soul back
into one of the oldest public
houses in the city, just off
Hove seafront. There’s a
superb wine and spirits list and some great ales
and ciders on offer, as well as a hearty and wholesome
menu to enjoy, making the best of local
ingredients. The Better Half is relaxed, friendly
and easy-going, making all feel welcome and
comfortable when you visit.
1 Hove Place, Hove, 01273 737869, thebetterhalfpub.co.uk

FOOD REVIEW
...........................................
Franco Manca
It’s all about the dough
Surf & Ski operated between
1981 and 2016 on
Church Street opposite
Dockerills, and in all that
time I never noticed that
the building looked like a
gigantic wood-fired pizza
oven. The first time this
thought comes into my
head is the first time I enter
the building in its new
incarnation, as Franco Manca Sourdough Pizza
restaurant. I’ve been looking forward to this.
Franco Manca started up in Brixton Market in
2008, and immediately gained a brilliant reputation
from locals as a pizzeria that really cared
about its food, from the high-quality sourdough
base, to the locally sourced ingredients on top.
They offered a limited menu, and their pizzas were
a good couple of quid cheaper than you’d have
expected. They maintained a no-table-booking
policy, and pretty soon the chain became famous
for the queues round the block in peak hours.
Owner Giuseppe Mascoli, having opened ten more
branches, sold up in March last year, for £27 million,
to Fulham Shore, run by David Page, of Pizza
Express and Gourmet Burger fame. This is a man
who knows how to expand a chain – now there are
21 Franco Mancas. The Brighton franchise is the
first outside the capital.
Here’s what I notice when I walk in. They’ve spent
a fortune on the décor, from the jumbled-tile floor
to the steel-clad ceiling. The place is lit by theatrestyle
spotlights. An open-plan kitchen dominates
the room, so you can see the pizza makers doing
all that flipping and spadework. In pride of place
is a vast bee-hive of a
wood-fired oven, multicoloured,
like the floor.
All the staff, I soon realise,
are from Italy. A trip to
the toilets upstairs reveals
another floor of (empty)
tables. I’m on my own, but
it being just past noon on
a Monday, there’s plenty
of space, and I’m given my
own table in the corner.
There are six different pizza choices on the menu,
and another two on the specials board. I go for a
Meat Special which includes cured ‘coppa’ ham,
cantarelli mushrooms, wild rocket, mozzarella and
tomato’ (£7.95). To put this into price context the
Margherita costs £5.90. I order a ‘buffalo mozzarella
and free-range British-cured bresaola’ to
start, as well. And a ‘No Logo’ lager.
The beer is nicely sharp and cold. The mozzarella
is creamy, and goes well with the salty bresaola.
The pizza, when it comes, is of the 12”, spongycrusted
variety. The crust tastes nearly as good as
the topping, and the topping, with its four-way
mix of tastes and textures, tastes great. I wonder
how an Italian friend of mine, something of a pizza
aficionado, would judge it. Positively, I reckon.
It’s certainly in the top 10% of pizzas I’ve eaten
in Brighton. By the time I leave, the whole of the
ground floor has filled up.
So will I queue up on a Friday evening for a
Franco Manca pizza? Frankly, no: I’d rather go
somewhere I could be sure of getting a seat. But
will it cheer up future rainy weekday lunchtimes?
Without a doubt. AL
....77....

Photo by Lisa Devlin, cakefordinner.co.uk
....78....

RECIPE
..........................................
Doughnuts!
Does anything smell quite as appetising as a fresh doughnut? James Brightmore
of new coffee and doughnut shop Glazed shares one of his recipes…
I always wanted to run my own coffee shop but
I knew I had to do something a bit different, so I
was trying to find somebody local who could supply
us with fresh doughnuts every day. I realised
that wasn’t something you could get in Brighton,
so about a month before we opened we learnt how
to make them ourselves. All of the doughnuts we
sell now are vegan, but this is a non-vegan recipe
to try at home.
Mix together 470g flour, 85g sugar, a pinch of
nutmeg and a pinch of salt.
Heat 27.5g butter in a pan until it melts, then add
260g milk, an egg and 27.5g oil, and mix together.
Warm the mixture to about 33-45°C – the temperature
that the yeast is most likely to become
active. Pour the wet mixture into a stand mixer
with a dough hook attachment and add a 7g sachet
of activated yeast. Let it sit for ten minutes, until it
starts bubbling up and gets a foamy layer on top.
Then put the mixer on at a low speed and combine
together with the dry ingredients.
Next, turn the mixer up to a medium-high speed.
The dough will start to become quite sticky, and
after a while it starts pulling itself away from the
edges of the bowl and forms a ball in the middle –
this will probably take about 15-20 minutes.
Take the dough out and put it on a floured board,
and start kneading it back together, trying to get
lots of air into it. Then put it in a mixing bowl,
cover and leave it to prove. If you’re doing this at
home, you could leave it for three or four hours,
but we tend to leave it overnight and come back to
it in the morning.
After proving, the dough will be quite sticky again.
Take it out and put it on the board again, with
more flour, and repeat the same process, trying to
get plenty of air into the dough.
Get a rolling pin out and roll it to about half an
inch thick. You can put a couple of books at either
end to keep the rolling pin level.
Using pastry cutters – or anything else round – cut
out about 12 circles, or you can use a smaller cutter
to make mini-doughnuts. Then use something
smaller again to cut out the middles. Once you
have your doughnut shapes, put them onto baking
trays, leaving plenty of space in between them, and
leave them to prove for another couple of hours.
Heat a couple of litres of whatever oil you want
to use in a big pan. We use olive oil, because it’s
better at higher temperatures than vegetable
oil – it doesn’t soak into the dough as much. The
temperature is key; if it’s too low, they take too
long to cook and they go all soggy. The oil needs
to be consistently at 170°C. When we first opened
we were cooking in a pan and we used a thermometer
to make sure it was hot enough. Now we have
a deep fat fryer which is much easier.
Fry for about a minute and a half on one side, and
when you can see the hole in the middle is turning
golden all the way up to the top, flip it over and
cook the other side. Get a fifty-fifty mixture of
icing sugar and cinnamon, and then just roll the
doughnut around in it. Or you can experiment
with whatever flavours you like – these three are
peanut butter, chocolate with coconut and raspberry.
As told to Rebecca Cunningham, photo by Lisa
Devlin, cakefordinner.co.uk
Glazed, 25 Ditchling Road
....79....

FOOD
...........................................
The Green Welly Café
Goats cheese and fig tart in Ditchling
Let's face it, we're not exactly short of places to spend a sunny day
out in Sussex, but Ditchling is amongst my favourites, with its duck
pond, charming shops and (seriously good) museum. On my latest
visit, looking for a stop for sustenance, I notice the recently opened
Green Welly Café, at the crossroads.
Inside, I find the space has been elegantly refurbished, with wooden floors, filament light bulbs and
sage-green paintwork (or should that be welly-green?) The menu treads a comforting line between
wholesome and holiday. Freshly made salads, frittatas and tarts, and home-baked cakes and cookies
adorn the counter. Everything looks good and so I hedge my bets with the Green Welly Special; a trio
of savoury tart, salad and a soup taster (£7.50) with a coffee.
It’s a glorious afternoon so we find a seat in the courtyard garden where the first megawatt sunshine of
the year is bouncing off the brick walls. It would be the perfect place for a snooze but I’m soon served
a wonderfully light goats cheese and fig tart - all whipped filling and crisp filo pastry - with a generous
spoonful of kale, chickpea and cranberry salad on the side. It’s served with a perfectly sized portion of
spring vegetable soup and is sufficiently virtuous to allow for some of those cakes and cookies. I spot
the Welly Afternoon Trio on the menu - ‘a delicious combination of sweet treats’ - and make a mental
note to schedule my next visit around tea time. Lizzie Lower
thegreenwellycafe.co.uk/01273 841010
Photo by Lizzie Lower
....80....

FOOD
...........................................
Pelicano
Sourdough toasties in Sydney Street
The Dumb Waiter on Sydney Street always reminded me of
Brighton past: a slightly tacky greasy spoon place with graffiti on the walls. There was more than a whiff
of the late eighties about the place. I loved it.
A year ago it was replaced by Pelicano, which does artisan cakes, sourdough toasties, and coldbrew coffee.
It’s oh-so Brighton 2016. It’s taken me a year to venture into the place.
The longer I spend in the suntrap of a garden, eating a selection from the mountain of temptations they
have to offer on the counter, the more I come to realise… it’s improved.
My ham cheese and rocket sandwich (£4.50), toasted and cut in two, really hits the spot, with great
contrasts in taste and texture; on every bite the cheese is reluctant to depart the mother sandwich entirely,
leaving a bridge of strings between mouth and hand. The spinach filo has a pleasant heft to it, and gives
me one of today’s five. And the coffee, served in an aeropress jug, is fruity, as you’d expect from filtered
freshly ground Ethiopian beans. You can also help yourself to a milk bottle of water, from the dumb waiter
the last place was named after, a nice touch. I’m with Rebecca, who’s on a no-carb, no-sugar diet thing, but
I still manage to get food envy. Or coffee envy, actually: she orders a coldbrew coffee, which comes in a
little beautifully labelled hip-flask-sized bottle, and she gets to pour it over ice cubes in a tumbler. I have a
taste: wow. On a sunny day in the near, near future, I’ll be back for more. AL
Brighton Marina
OPENING 25TH JULY
Visit our brand new Bella and get
a free starter or dessert on us!
The Broadwalk, Brighton Marina Village, Brighton, BN2 5ZB
Your name:
Your signature:
bellaitalia.co.uk
Free starter when purchasing a full price main meal. Only available at Bella Italia Brighton Marina
until 25 August 2016. Not valid with any other offers.
....81....

FOOD
...........................................
Edible updates
It’s my first time as VB Edible Updates reporter
but I’m consoled by the fact I’m not the only new
kid on the block. One of the most exciting recent
additions being the Brighton launch of social
enterprise The Casserole Club, which aims to
combat loneliness through the sharing of meals.
Other newbies include The Green Kitchen
on Preston Road - joining The Plant Room on
Brighton Square in our roster of vegan eateries.
Bake Out in Hove is our freshest bakery and new
family business The Great British Charcuterie
Co. will be opening at the Marina this month. At
the time of writing they have an active crowdfunding
campaign that says they intend to cure
their own charcuterie for sale alongside other
British-made artisan meats, cheeses and wines.
It opened back in April but I’m excited about
the Old Tree Brewhouse Café at FIELDBTN,
specialising in ‘botanical
drinks, sprouted and
fermented food’. Head
over for Aeropress coffee, wholesome breakfasts
and lunch, and naturally brewed drinks made at
SILO and on the premises. Indie micro-roastery
Pharmacie are also joining the brewvolution
(sorry) with their new craft ale Mashed & Wired.
In other news, The Coal Shed reopened on
9th June sporting a swish makeover by Hove’s
DesignLSN. The Curry Leaf Café is taking
transport caff to a new level with an app aimed at
commuters. Nyetimber are new naming partner of
the i360 Sky Bar and - for those who prefer things
a bit more down to earth - on top of their new
community kitchen, The Bevy is offering home
delivery for Sunday Roasts. Chloë King
Send your food news to chloe@vivamagazines.com
you order
online and
Sussex we deliver
farm to your door
sourced:
Veg & fruit
Meat & charcuterie
Milk, cheese & yoghurt
Juices & cordials
Raw honey
Oils & vinegar
Sussex beer & wine
Locally packed small batch spices
See detailS on our webSite:
www.finandfarm.co.uk

TRADE SECRETS
...........................................
Roy Brown
Bardsley’s of Baker Street
How long has Bardsley’s been selling fish and
chips in Brighton? The original shop on Upper
Russell Street - where Churchill Square is now -
opened in 1926. It was beautiful round there, rows
of fishermen’s cottages, but they pulled it all down
to accommodate the new shopping centre. After
they closed the shop, the family opened their own
restaurants, one in Upper North Street, one in
Upper Gloucester Road, one in Gloucester Road
and another one in Kemptown.
When did the shop on Baker Street open?
We’ve been on these premises for over 50 years.
Once my wife’s parents sold their shop on
Gloucester Road, this one came up for sale. It was
just the central unit and it only had seating for
about eight to twelve people, but they gradually
took over the shops either side and had it all
redesigned. We’ve still got the old range - that’s
more than retro! It’s about 55 years old and it still
has some original Formica on it, but we take good
care of it.
What’s your first memory of being in this
shop? Burning my hand! It was my first day and
my father-in-law told me, ‘if you drop anything,
just leave it to fall – don’t try and pick it up.’ But I
dropped the scoop and went straight to pick it up...
My whole hand swelled up like a big bubble.
Is Bardsley’s still family-run? We do have some
extra staff now, but all of the cooking is done by
my son or my wife or myself.
How has it changed since you started working
here? Well, I’m now getting the grandchildren
of the people who used to come in when I first
started! We had a wet fish shop next door where
we had so many different kinds of fish that we just
started experimenting with different flavours; now
we do pretty much every kind of fish – cod and
haddock, English plaice, Cornish skate, sea bass,
mahi-mahi…
Where does your cod come from? It’s Norwegian
line-caught. That’s not really something we
push on our menu, but it’s just much better quality.
And we’re probably the only fish and chip shop
in the country doing black cod, which tastes like a
cross between cod and halibut. It lives so deep that
it can only be caught when it migrates, so you can
only get it from January through to March.
Describe the perfect chip. A Bardsley’s one!
We actually did a sort of competition on The One
Show; the winner of Masterchef came in and made
twice-cooked chips with truffle, polenta chips with
grated parmesan and thrice-cooked chips in duck
fat, and the customers had to choose which chips
were the best. His chips were lovely, but ours won.
Interview by Rebecca Cunningham
....83....

RAVE
...........................................
Mathew Clayton
Plumpton Bostal Rave, 1992
A couple of years ago Mathew Clayton was walking
in the Downs with an old school friend when
he came across a familiar-looking spot. “We realised
that it was where we had participated in a rave, years
ago, which was probably the best party I’d ever been
to,” he says.
The date he’d last been there was Saturday 1st August
1992, and Mathew, after a night in the pub with
his friends in their home village of Hassocks, had
piled into a car, having heard rumours of a party
somewhere in Plumpton. “I thought it was a house
party,” he says. “When we got to the Half Moon,
we were directed on foot up Plumpton Bostal – the
party was over the other side. It must have been an
hour’s walk.”
When they found a handful of people round a fire,
and thought they’d wasted their time. “Then we
saw a stream of people coming over a ridge, and we
went to where they were coming from, and looked
into the coombe below, and there must have been
2,000 people dancing to House music blaring out
of a huge sound system.” They didn’t leave until the
next morning, at 10am; the party continued until
Monday, when it moved to Brighton Beach.
“When we found ourselves back in the same place,
over 20 years later, all the memories came flooding
back,” he continues. “It made me think about all the
people there. How did they get there? And what
happened to them? I decided to write a book, looking
to answer those two questions.”
Mathew, an editor and writer, started by contacting
Felix Dickinson, who organised the rave, and who
went on to become a successful DJ. He found out
that the party took place on land owned by Felix’s
mother, with permission of Plumpton Agricultural
College, who were leasing the land from her. That
there were two different sound systems there, DIY
from Nottingham, and Tonka from Brighton. That
the police were aware of the party – a helicopter was
hovering above throughout the night he was there –
but did little to try to stop it.
“This was in the very early days of mobile phones,”
says Mathew. “People weren’t trying to record the
event on their cameras. In fact I can only find a
handful of pictures of it. The party now just exists in
the memory of those who were there.”
Mathew was at a crossroads in his life at the time,
and he realises that, as most of the people there were
of a similar age to him, that must have been the case
with many of them, which is why he’s wondering
what became of them all. “I suspect most of them
came from around Brighton,” he says, “and a lot of
them will still be around.” If you attended the rave,
and would like to tell Mathew the circumstances
of your being there and what became of you afterwards,
contact him at mathewclayton@ymail.com.
Alex Leith
....84....

COMMUNITY
...........................................
Father Jerome Lloyd
Cherubic chef
“People often comment on
the length of my beard. They
wonder why I don’t trim it, or
use products. I have to explain
that it’s actually a vehicle
against vanity!”
Father Jerome Lloyd, looking
like a jovial, juvenile WG
Grace in a cassock, is a Bishop
in the Old Catholic Church,
which split from Roman Catholicism
in the 19th century,
and he spends much of his
time in pubs. We convene at
The Regency Tavern. In the
basement, beneath the rococo
bar, is the tiny chapel in which
Jerome delivers Latin Mass every morning. Once
the laptop and camera, providing online broadcasting,
are off, he heads to the pub cookhouse,
to oversee Cherubs Kitchen, a project that’s truly
making a difference for the homeless of Brighton.
“I used to work at the Salvation Army drop-in
near The Level, and I took over the catering for
a while. Some homeless folks said ‘Can we help?’
and I said ‘Absolutely’. You can tell from the way
someone chops an onion, that they’ve had previous
experience, and when I talked to them they’d say
‘I used to work in catering and I’d really like to
again’. Every time I rang to try and get them work,
though, nothing came back.”
Then the landlord at The Regency Tavern mentioned
to Jerome that their kitchen franchise was
up for grabs.
“I thought about how I could join it all up, and
Cherubs Kitchen emerged: we provide workplace
opportunities for homeless people who want to get
back into or start in catering. We’re non-profit,
and part of the Governmentsponsored
apprentice scheme:
if an apprentice does three
months, the Government pays
them for a year, provided they
fulfill numeracy and literacy
requirements. After a year
they’ve an NVQ qualification
and they can stay on or leave
and hopefully work in another
kitchen. A Somalian refugee,
who came to the UK at 14 after
seeing his parents macheted to
death, is with us at the moment,
and we take turns coaching him
in English and Maths.”
A second Cherubs Kitchen has
opened, at The Mad Hatter pub in Kemptown
(formerly The Rock), and further funds for charities
will be raised in August when Jerome hosts a
musical event on Hove Lawns in Zippo’s Circus
Big Top. Sadly, one of his creations won’t be appearing.
“I used to play a character, Dame Margot Hamilton,
who was like Hinge & Bracket rolled into one.
There are a couple of videos of her on YouTube.
When I became a Bishop, though, she had to
retire, because of the beard. Also, I’m not sure I
could manage the falsetto now.
“Some people do look a bit askance. It’s a cliché,
but I think ‘What would Jesus do?’ In the gospels
you don’t see him hanging out with the Pharisees
and the high priests of the temple. He’s with
the publicans, the sinners, the prostitutes, the
untouchables, the unclean, the lepers. Not that I’m
suggesting for a moment that everyone who goes
into a pub is unclean!” Andy Darling
cherubskitchen.com
....85....

MY SPACE
....................................
House of Hugo
Doggy heaven
What is House of Hugo? We’re a doggy day care,
mainly. We look after about 40 or 50 dogs a day. But
we’re also a boutique doggy hotel, with rooms for ten
to twelve dogs at a time. Other dog carers outsource
services like hydrotherapy, grooming and training, but
we’ve got everything under one roof.
Which dogs need hydrotherapy? Leon is our
fully-trained hydrotherapist; he specialises in pre- and
post-op therapy, and treating dogs with spinal injuries
or arthritis. We have our own hydrotherapy pool here
with a jet stream for the bigger dogs to swim against.
And lots of the dogs use it just for fun and fitness!
What’s a typical day like for a hotel guest? We get
up at about 6.30-7am and take the dogs down to the
feeding rooms. Then they have a bit of chill-out time,
before they come into the 10,000-square-foot indoor
play arena. They’ll spend most of their day there,
playing and socialising and just ‘speaking dog’. By the
end of the day they’re pretty wiped out! We put them
to bed between 8.30 and 9pm, and every room has a
TV which stays on until 11pm.
Do all of the rooms have double beds? Four of
them do! When we started we had designed all of
the rooms with beds in them, but over the years we
started to get little puppies and tiny Chihuahuas and
Dachshunds staying with us, who found it hard to
jump up onto the bed, so we developed our ‘Hugopods’,
which are these little beds they can crawl into
themselves.
How do you choose suitable roommates? We
watch their behaviour during the day to see which
dogs they’ve been hanging out with in the play area,
and then we match them based on their energy and
their behaviour.
How do you know if a newcomer will get on with
the other dogs? We’ll always assess a new dog’s be-
....86....

MY SPACE
....................................
haviour and introduce them to a small group
first, to see how confident they are. Then we’ll
gradually introduce a few more dogs at a time.
And we have a strict no bullying policy – it’s
one strike and you’re out! But you can see that
it works; some of the dogs just lie down and
have a nap in the middle of all that commotion
and they would never do that if they were
feeling threatened.
Do you get any particularly high-maintenance
guests? Dogs are like people’s babies,
so a lot of the time they worry more about
their dogs than their children – I’m terrible,
I’m constantly thinking about my dogs, all the
time! So sometimes they’ll say ‘they must have
this blanket to go to bed with’ or ‘they must
eat this as soon as they wake up’, but I think
that’s nice! Rebecca Cunningham interviewed
Matt Henderson Rood
houseofhugo.com
....87....

BRICKS AND MORTAR
...........................................
Photo by Formatt Design
Boutique Modern
Tailor-made prefab homes
Photo by Angus Bruce
In a factory, on an industrial estate in Newhaven,
grand designs are coming together. They’re actually
coming together. Whole homes are being built,
room by room, to exacting standards and excellent
environmental performance, before being carefully
wrapped and delivered ready to be plumbed in
and the lights switched on. “We can even hang the
curtains, if that’s what the customer wants,” Dick
Shone, founder of Boutique Modern, tells me.
Dick set up the volumetric construction company
seven years ago after reading about people who
were downsizing to live in caravan parks, and
realising that many of his friends' retirement pots
were tied up in houses which they’d outgrown.
His grand design was to combine the security and
communal aspects of traditional retirement developments
with beautifully designed buildings that
you could leave whilst going off travelling. The
housing equivalent of “ditching the people carrier
and returning to the two-seater sports car”.
So, taking his love of mid-century Californian
architecture, and his knowledge of pre-fabricated
product design, he hired an old warehouse in
Lewes and built the first prototype. Then he
invited along all the people that he thought would
be interested and overnight he found a backer
to fund further projects. They’ve since built 30
homes - sited from Ullapool to Nice.
The designs are constantly evolving, with new materials
and technology affording excellent thermal
and acoustic insulation. An early project, situated
on a Scottish sea loch, was built in Newhaven in
16 weeks, clad in Siberian Larch, craned onto the
site in eight sections and made weathertight the
same day. It comfortably withstands the battering
of 130-mile-an-hour winds and Dick still receives
letters from house guests congratulating him
on the build quality and, occasionally, ordering
their own. Other projects have included a rooftop
extension in Camden, adding a storey in a single
day. Another rooftop extension in Hove will afford
a couple a sea view and, in Battersea, an extra
bedroom was installed in the time it took the
homeowner to give birth to its future occupant.
Their latest project, Boutique Homes at Old Mill
in Chiddingly, is an eleven-unit retirement community
of Dick’s original imagining, which comes
complete with site management and concierge
service. The homes employ clever heat-exchange
technology that, in turn, uses the solar energy generated
onsite to both clean and heat the air. I meet
its next occupant, Ann, a former property developer.
She was initially attracted to the concept and
the quality and has enjoyed being able to stipulate
every last detail of her volumetric build. By the
time you read this, her new home will have been
carefully positioned onsite and she’ll be enjoying
the views of the Downs from her white leather
Eames chair. Lizzie Lower
boutiquemodern.co.uk/boutiqueparks.co.uk
....88....

WE TRY...
...........................................
Bongo a go go
Japanese camper van
We’re trundling happily through
Sussex in our camper. Not our
inherited 1982 VW - that one’s still
on the drive about £400 away from
becoming roadworthy. We need to
fix the pop-top, as we discovered
on a recent trip to Hastings when
we had to pull over twice to secure
it. Oh, the flowering gorse by the
lay-by near Eastbourne is so very
beautiful.
No, this one is a Bongo we’ve
hired from Nicky Atkinson at the
brilliantly named Bongo a Go Go.
Nicky started her business four years
ago, soon after she discovered that
Bongos - compact Japanese pop-top
campers - offer the perfect liberation
for her and her young son.
She now runs a small fleet from
Shoreham, which she hires out
mainly to holidaymakers and
‘lifestyle buyers’ – people looking to try before they
invest in their own mobile home. My husband and I
are just that kind of people, although unconventionally,
our campervan chose us.
Nicky is knowledgeable and enthusiastic. She recommends
Bongos as a reliable and economical alternative
to the trendier VWs, which, reading between the
lines, are either hugely expensive, or prone to leaving
you hanging by the side of the road. Bongos are wellequipped
and easy to drive – ours is automatic – and
they sleep a family of five at a squash-and-a-squeeze
(but less so if you utilise the awning).
The booking process is simple. Nicky provides clear
instructions and supplies all the essentials including
eggs, bread, tea, cooking and washing utensils. She
also facilitates a number of optional
extras - barbecue, awning, dog - that
make preparation stress-free. Nicky
walked me through how to use the
Bongo’s features and the deposit,
insurance and roadside cover, all
ready to go within an hour.
She recommends Stoneywish
highly – it’s an easy walk to Ditchling
village. Stoneywish is also a nature
reserve - perfect for people who like
things simple.
Trees to climb and makeshift swings
keeps our daughter content for
hours. She makes friends with other
kids, also overjoyed with the likes
of a rope ladder and some curious
lambs. We’re allowed an open fire
and so we cook baked potatoes in tin
foil and steak on the barbecue. Fresh
water and clean toilets are provided
but other than that, it’s just a place to
enjoy life’s basics. We’re surprised to find that many
of our neighbours are also locals, popped out for a
24-hour getaway.
Waking up at Stoneywish after a cosy night in the
camper, we brew tea in a jiffy on our integrated
hob and gobble egg sandwiches. I, in particular, am
lamenting the lack of drama in this narrative.
Oh, it has all been so very, very, nice indeed. We play
and wander, admiring the buttercups and purpleflowering
grasses, and then, we get in the van to go
home to find I deadened the car battery - from leaving
the radio on silently and charging my iPhone –
the only two hateful permalinks to the world beyond.
What fools. Chloë King
bongoagogo.co.uk
....89....

WALK
...........................................
Urban Ramblers
Keep off the grass
One sunny Sunday
at midday, a group of
strangers gather at Passacaglia
on Brighton
seafront. That’s the
curving, rust-coloured,
iron sculpture between
the piers. Created by
Charles Hadcock in
1998, it was the first
piece of work commissioned
for an ambitious
seafront regeneration project and it’s the first
stop on a public-art themed walk with the Brighton
& Hove Urban Ramblers.
Weighing in at 20 tons, and five metres high when
installed, it was dismantled for repair in 2004 before
being reinstated without its top curving section. Upkeep,
you see, is just one of the challenges faced by
public art(ists) and its commissioners but the Passacaglia
repairs have done nothing to diminish its
popularity with the kids that clamber up its slopes
and hang from its edges.
Over the next three hours we take in much of the
city’s public art – both council sanctioned and more
guerilla in its origins. Bruce Adams’ Kiss Wall; Hamish
Black’s hugely popular Afloat (aka the Doughnut);
the regenerated New Road; the graffiti walls
of the North Laine; the intricate concrete castings
by Sarah Arnett at the Level; and Lucy Williams’ kaleidoscopic
signage for the Open Market, amongst
others.
This is just one of 14 urban rambles each year and,
whilst they’re not all guided, this one is led by former
BHCC Head of Arts Donna Close. She’s joined (serendipitously)
by Steve Geliot, an artist who has himself
created public art works in the city, and together
they provide an illuminating commentary on the
politics and practicalities
of public art, and
what it tells us about
the city’s cultural policy
and civic ambition.
Not all the walks have
such purpose. Some
are just for the love of
the place. Set up by
Cara Courage in 2014,
Brighton & Hove Urban
Ramblers is for
people interested in exploring Brighton and Hove
on foot. “The only rule is” Cara tells me, “we have to
walk on pavements”. Born out of her love of architecture
and an academic interest in what she terms
‘social practice placemaking’ (think Turner Prize
winners Assemble), her ambition is to get people
more engaged in their built environment and how
it works.
My fellow ramblers are an unlikely cohort but conversation
is easy and insights freely shared. “I get a
lot from that,” Cara says. “People go on to look into
things more deeply and get involved. In that way, the
walks themselves are a type of placemaking. They’re
also a lot of fun.”
So it’s not only an enjoyable Sunday jaunt but an act
of political engagement (with ice creams). The gentlest
of protest marches. “Brighton is a great place
for people getting together and changing things”
Cara says. “We’re going to have a lot of building going
on in the city over the next five to ten years and
Brighton will look incredibly different.”
Joining the urban ramblers is one way to get involved
in the conversation.
Lizzie Lower
Find Brighton and Hove Urban Ramblers on Facebook
or meetup.com
....91....

CYCLING
...........................................
Bike it Ben
Brighton’s ‘Biking Officer’
I meet Ben Sherratt,
known to thousands of
schoolkids and parents
throughout the city as
‘Bike it Ben’, outside
the SeaLife Centre.
I’ve arranged to cycle
along the Undercliff to
Rottingdean with him
and interview him about
what he does.
Ben is one of those guys
with energy to spare,
which is a good thing, as
he’s single-handedly responsible,
as Brighton and Hove Biking Officer, for
encouraging the kids from 60 different schools to
get on their bikes as much as they can. He works for
Sustrans, the sustainable transport charity, on the
Bike It project, funded locally by the Public Health
team in Brighton and Hove City Council.
They’ve got themselves a star. How about this,
for energy to spare? In order to set a challenge to
schoolkids, a couple of years back he cycled round
Stanmer Park for a total of 48 hours, riding 385
miles off road and climbing “the equivalent height
of Mt Everest plus Mont Blanc”. This was a world
record, and by the end of it he was having hallucinations.
“The idea was to get each school to beat the
total, so if a kid rode for an hour we added that to
the total accumulated by the other kids, until they
beat me. It was the idea of trying to beat a world
record that motivated them.”
This is just one of many ideas Ben has devised
to motivate kids – and also, where possible, their
parents – to get onto the saddle, either for fun or
getting from A to B. “We are countering physical
health problems, such as obesity, and associated
mental health
problems, by
encouraging kids to
be more active,” he
says. “Sometimes
they are resistant
to it at first – one
child started crying
because they’d
never sweated
before and they
didn’t know what
was happening.
But very soon
they get to love it.
Cycling really stimulates your endorphins.” He sees
previously unfit teenagers’ fitness levels go through
the roof remarkably quickly. “When they get fitter,
they sleep better, and there are all sorts of benefits
to that.”
Sustrans is responsible for the National Cycle
Network and works with local authorities in providing
space to cycle and walk. When there is money
left over from a project, Ben uses it to buy bikes for
schools. This helps schools to give everyone access
to bikes and, ideally, make cycling part of their PE
curriculum. He also teaches kids bike maintenance,
and how to stay safe on the road, and points them
towards taking the Bikeability tests.
Ben reckons that he meets 10,000 parents and kids
every year, which means that he has become quite
a famous character round town: in the hour we
spend together (we cycle back together, too) there
are plenty of cheery waves aimed in his direction.
He doesn’t know how many people he’s influenced
to make cycling part of their day-to-day life, but it’s
got to be in the thousands. And I reckon he deserves
‘local hero’ status for that. Alex Leith
....93....

Join the Sussex Family
at this season’s
NatWest T20 Blast
#SUSSEXFAMILY
HOME FIXTURES
Wed 1st June
SHARKS VS
SOMERSET
6.30pm
Fri 3rd June
SHARKS VS
SURREY
7.00PM
Fri 10th June
SHARKS VS
KENT
7.00PM
SUN 26tH June
SHARKS VS
GLOUCESTERSHIRE
2.30PM
FRI 1st JULY
SHARKS VS
MIDDLESEX
7.00PM
FRI 15TH JuLY
SHARKS VS
HAMPSHIRE
6.30pm
THURS 28TH JuLY
SHARKS VS
GLAMORGAN
6.30pm
All fixtures take place at
the 1st Central County Ground
County Ground, Hove apart
from Gloucestershire which is
at Arundel Castle
Buy tickets now at sussexcricket.co.uk/tickets
or call 0844 264 0206

CRICKET CAMPAIGN
...........................................
Six Appeal
Pleece and co’s Sussex Sharks promo
The last time we met Gary Pleece in
these pages, he had just published the
graphic novel Montague Terrace, with his
brother, Warren. The brothers enjoyed
cult fame in Brighton and beyond in the
late eighties/early nineties with their
self-published graphic zine Velocity, and
have continued to work together on
graphic novel projects.
Gary’s main job, nowadays, is in marketing:
he runs his own company, Pleece
and Co, based in North Laine, running
campaigns for the likes of West Ham
United, Chestnut Tree House, the NHS
and, as of 2010, Sussex County Cricket
Club. Once again this summer the company
is busy, in its own words, ‘bringing
six appeal to Sussex CCC’.
This year, as last, Pleece & Co is focussing
its campaign on a short film, which
will attempt to woo new supporters
to the club’s Twenty20 fixtures. This,
of course, is the shortest and most
spectacular form of the game, with more
mass appeal than the longer versions,
with plenty of thumped sixes, and
stump-flying bowl-outs.
Last year the campaign won the ECB
Business of Cricket Award (the BOCA,
the industry’s equivalent of the Oscar)
for marketing and communication, for a
campaign which centred on a two-minute
film starring Gary’s son, Herbie. The
campaign was aimed at 40-plus men who
remember playing cricket on the beach,
and listening to it on the radio, in the
days of Gordon Greenwich and Imran
Khan. In the film Herbie morphed into the England and Sussex
cricketer Luke Wright, turning his cricket dream into reality.
This year’s campaign is focussing on attracting families to the
County Ground. “It’s a real family occasion,” says Gary, “which
will appeal as much to grandfathers who have loved cricket
all their lives, as to younger kids for whom Twenty20 is their
first taste of the game,” he says. The new film stars two actors,
a 70-year-old man playing the grandfather of a 13-year-old
girl, whose separate journeys to the match, where they will be
watching a Sussex Sharks game together, forms the meat of the
narrative. “To highlight the fact that the County Ground serves
the whole of the county the grandfather is coming from Eastbourne,
on the train; the girl is walking, from Churchill Square.
We make sure we get plenty of iconic images of Sussex and
Brighton into the film.” Luke Wright again appears: you can see
it on the Sussex CCC website.
“Making these films has made me realise just how much work
goes into every single shot,” says Gary. “I can only imagine how
difficult it would be to make a 90-minute feature film. I don’t
know how Woody Allen does it.” He did, however, have some
useful experience to call on. “Story-boarding a film is actually
easier than story-boarding a graphic novel,” he says. “It’s a very
similar process.” Talking of which, the Pleece Brothers’ latest
comic will be a reworking of their old Velocity stories, updated
for the 21st century, which “should be out by the end of the
year.” Alex Leith sussexcricket.co.uk
....95....

Photos by Alex Leith
....96....

DAY TRIP
...........................................
Stanmer Park
Hippies, hothouses and an accommodating yew
“On the other side of the church there are some
yew trees you can go inside,” says the girl with the
toddler I meet while exploring the graveyard in
Stanmer Church, and I decide to check them out
afterwards. The church is a thin-spired flint affair,
built, I’ve learnt, in the 18th century, after a fire
burnt down the Saxon original. The door’s locked,
unfortunately, but a recce of the gravestones reveals
a section reserved for the Pelham family, the
Earls of Chichester who used to live in the manor
house round the corner.
I’m on a day-trip to Stanmer Village, a place I’ve
been through many times – mostly on my bicycle
– but never stopped at for any length of time, apart
from our 2015 Viva Christmas party, which we
celebrated splendidly in the aforementioned mansion,
now a fairly upmarket restaurant/bar, which
by the time you read this will be run by Proud, of
Proud Cabaret fame.
I see a sign for Stanmer Organics, and walk up a
zig-zaggy track which eventually leads me into
a strange world of rather ramshackle allotments,
hothouses and other green-finger spaces. A man
with long hair and a beard wearing nothing but
a pair of cut-off jeans walks past me; further evidence
of the hippy nature of the space is signalled
by a tepee in one allotment, and a totem pole in
another. A woman who is cooking, al fresco, offers
me an onion bhaji, with yoghurt. What can I say? I
say ‘yes’… then I come across the ‘Earthship’ (see
Viva #35).
On the way back I encounter the village museum,
an oddball collection of countryside relics including
some vintage lawnmowers and an old gypsy
caravan, which you can climb into, so I do. Next
door there’s a ‘vintage brocade market’. You know
when you realise you’re having such a good time
you wish the person you loved most was with you
to share it? I get a surge of that.
This all piques my hunger, so I move on to the
crowded café, and order a ‘buck rarebit’: mustardy
cheese on wholemeal toast with a perfectly
poached egg on top, washed down with a cup of
tea. After which I explore the village’s nursery, a
selection of greenhouses selling potted plants and
flowers at very reasonable prices, watered by a
friendly girl with pink hair. And then Plumpton
College’s palm house, splendidly occupied by
exotic multi-hued plants, a mini-me of the Kew
Gardens version.
I finish off with an espresso in the expansive suntrap
garden of Stanmer House, then realise I haven’t yet
checked out the yew trees. They are magnificent
affairs, much older than the church they guard,
and, fifteen stone and six foot two, I could easily fit
inside one. I’ll be back in Stanmer on a sunny day
soon, with a picnic, and my fiancée. AL
You can get to Stanmer Park on the ‘Breeze up
the Downs’ 78 bus, Saturdays, Sundays and Bank
Holidays
....97....

INSIDE LEFT: BRIGHTON BEACH, AUGUST 1906
...............................................................................
This image was taken by professional photographer Otto Pfenninger, in August 1906,
and is one of the very first ‘colour’ photographs taken in the town. Swiss-born Pfenninger
was a pioneer of colour photography, who built his own single exposure camera, improving
on an 1899 patent by compatriot inventor JW Bennetto, which used three separated
plates in different colours, red, yellow and blue.
He was based, and lived, in 79 West Street. This is one of a series of colour photographs
he took around Brighton that summer, most of them around the seafront, not far from
his studio. This one was taken under the Palace Pier (now, of course, called Brighton
Pier). A manuscript exists of Pfenninger’s talk to The Brighton and Hove Natural History
and Philosophical Society, on 6th December 1907, in which he describes just how his
camera worked: should you be interested in deciphering it, it is easily findable on Google;
good luck to you.
Around the turn of the century Brighton was in decline, with the Daily Mail calling it an
‘unenterprising, unattractive and outdated holiday resort’ but the building of the Pier in
1899 had helped turn matters around: soon the structure was attracting two million visitors
a year, then as now a magnet for visitors coming off the trains. Many of the children
enjoying paddling in the water, immortalised by Pfenninger’s shot, will, we assume, have
come down from London for the day. Plus ça change. AL
....98....

eeze up...
to the Downs...
kids go
free!
See leaflets
for details
77
Breeze up to Devil’s Dyke, Stanmer
Park or Ditchling Beacon by bus!
For times, fares, leaflets and walk ideas:
Visit brighton-hove.gov.uk/breezebuses
Phone 01273 292480
Or visit traveline.info/se to plan any bus or train journey
5886

Brighton & Hove
High School GDST
Reg charity no 306983
for girls aged 3-18
www.bhhs.gdst.net
01273 280170|enquiries@bhhs.gdst.net
please see our website for scheduled events
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