Viva Lewes Issue #128 May 2017

128
VIVALEWES
EDITORIAL
My family arrived here in 1969, and my mother
assures me that I was taken to Lewes’ Odeon, on
Cliffe High Street, on a couple of occasions, though I don’t remember them. It was shut
down in 1971 and sat derelict for a decade, with ‘SHAME’ written across its façade, which
is how I do recall it. The shame was twofold. One, that such a beautiful art deco building (see pg
106) should be left empty and rotting; and two that Lewes, the prosperous County Town of East
Sussex, shouldn’t have a cinema to its name.
It wasn’t all bad. Of course Brighton has always been well served with cinemas, and in particular
the fabulous Duke of York’s. And, once the All Saints was up and running, a roll-down big
screen was purchased, with the Lewes Film Club putting in a 30-year stint and a couple of other
operations showing second-run movies. But still…
Over the years many people have talked about opening a new cinema, but nothing has come to
fruition. Finally, after over a quarter-century, a plan has come off, thanks to the generosity of
benefactor (and Chair of Trustees) Rob Senior, and the hard work of Creative Director Carmen
Slijpen and her team.
The opening of the cinema on May 27th will be, I’m pretty confident in saying, the most
exciting cultural event in Lewes since we started this magazine over ten years ago. To celebrate
the occasion we’ve commissioned a cinema-related cover from artist Rachel Clark, and made
the theme of the magazine ‘going out’. We trust your excitement about the new facility is as
great as ours. Enjoy the issue…
THE TEAM
.....................
EDITOR: Alex Leith alex@vivamagazines.com
SUB-EDITOR: David Jarman
STAFF WRITER / DESIGNER: Rebecca Cunningham rebecca@vivamagazines.com
ART DIRECTOR: Katie Moorman katie@vivamagazines.com
ADVERTISING: Sarah Jane Lewis, Amanda Meynell advertising@vivamagazines.com
EDITORIAL / ADMIN ASSISTANT: Kelly Hill admin@vivamagazines.com
PUBLISHER: Becky Ramsden becky@vivamagazines.com
DISTRIBUTION: David Pardue distribution@vivamagazines.com
CONTRIBUTORS: Jacky Adams, Michael Blencowe, Sarah Boughton, Mark Bridge, Emma Chaplin,
Barry Collins, Daniel Etherington, Mark Greco, Anita Hall, John Henty, Mat Homewood,
Paul Austin Kelly, Chloë King, Lizzie Lower, Carlotta Luke, Richard Madden, Steve Ramsey and Marcus Taylor
Viva Lewes is based at Pipe Passage, 151b High Street, Lewes, BN7 1XU, 01273 434567. Advertising 01273 488882

THE 'GOING OUT' ISSUE
CONTENTS
Bits and bobs.
8-22. Robert Senior’s Lewes, Cheeky
in the Chapel nights out, a very furry
hat, a reed sculpture in the Railway
Land and Viva’s adventures in New
Zealand and Thailand.
45
Columns.
25-29. David Jarman investigates a
case of library vandalism, Chloë King
feels offal, and Mark Bridge declares
independence.
'White Mischief' by Jo Lamb
On this month.
31. Daniel Rachel on how Rock
Against Racism changed the shape
of British music… and British race
relations, too.
33. (Britain's Got) Talented singer
Richard Hadfield performs at Every
Sort of People Festival.
35. Brighton Festival brings
Monteverdi to Glyndebourne.
37. Our very own Shirley Collins,
‘the secret Queen of England’, plays
21
Brighton Dome.
39. Deborah Levy, at the Charleston
Festival, on the enduring literary
legacy of Virginia Woolf.
41-49. Art. Sarah Grace Harris’
cyanotypes at the Martyrs’, Eileen
Agar at Jerwood, and whatever else
is hanging on a gallery wall near you
in May.
50-55. Diary dates. What’s on where
and when including the final Lewes
Film Club offering, an Icelandic tale
of two feuding brothers.
57. Classical music round-up, with
Paul Austin Kelly.
59-61. Gig guide. The Con Club goes
from strength to strength: this month
it’s Shriekback and Wreckless Eric.
63-67. Free time. Wassup for the
U16s, what to pack at festivals, and
how a Lewes girl raised over £1000
(and counting) for charity… with
some hair clippers.
5

REAL ALE AND STEAM TRAIN
HARVEYS RAIL
ALE EVENING
on 23rd June
Special bus service from
Lewes to Sheffield Park Station. £5pp
Visit website for times
Other Rail Ale evenings
on May 19, Jul 21, Sep 22

THE 'GOING OUT' ISSUE
Food.
69-75. Ethiopian food courtesy of the
Feature Kitchen, lamb cutlets at the
building formerly known as Stanmer
House, nutritious nettle tips from
organic guru Daphne Lambert, and
what’s on the culinary horizon from
Chloë King.
The way we work.
77-81. Guy Buckland takes his camera
behind the scenes at Glyndebourne
Opera House.
Features.
82-91. It’s all about getting out this
month: Richard Madden ups another
Down, Michael Blencowe tracks
swifts, Carmen Slijpen lays out the
manifesto of the new cinema, John
Henty remembers the good old days
at the pictures, Anita Hall explores
the benefits of socialising, Pat
Hennessy explains the rise of the Con
Club, and Stefanie Fischer takes us
round the Depot.
Business news.
93. A whole load of openings this
month, including the new cinema,
Southover Grange and the Pells Pool.
Inside left.
106. The Odeon Cinema,
Lewes, back in 1935.
106
Photo: John Maltby, Cinema Theatre Association Archive, cta-uk.org
VIVA DEADLINES
We plan each magazine six weeks ahead, with a mid-month
advertising/copy deadline. Please send details of planned events
to admin@vivamagazines.com, and for any advertising queries:
advertising@vivalewes.com, or call 01273 434567.
Remember to recycle your Viva.
Every care has been taken to ensure the accuracy of our content.
Viva Lewes magazine cannot be held responsible for any omissions, errors
or alterations. The views expressed by columnists do not necessarily
represent the view of Viva Lewes.
Love me or recycle me. Illustration by Chloë King
7

THIS MONTH’S COVER ARTIST: RACHEL CLARK
Cliffe Bridge, Lewes
This month’s cover was designed by artist and
designer Rachel Clark. Despite being “a true
Lewesian”, growing up in Lewes and spending
much of her time here, Rachel created this image
of the almost-finished Depot Cinema from her
second home in the Netherlands. “I’m so used to
drawing on location,” she says, “I generally prefer
it because you get more of a feel for a place. But
on this occasion drawing from photos worked
well.” The Viva team visited the site in late
March to take some photographs of the building
from different angles. “I did a couple of roughs;
one was from the front of the cinema, which was
more like the architects’ visuals and for the other,
which I decided to develop into the final image, I
referenced a photograph because I preferred the
perspective.”
Once Rachel had chosen which sketch to
reference, she produced the image as a linocut. “I
really enjoy linocut prints. The boldness of the
medium is really eye-catching. You can linocut
anywhere - if you work small you can even print
at home. It’s nice trying out different approaches
too: different printing techniques have different
merits and you get different effects. I like
screen printing, lithography, and etching - I’ve
been doing some non-toxic etching recently
(without acid or chemicals so it’s better for the
environment) and you get exciting effects. These
correspond more with my drawings which I post
regularly on my website blog and on Instagram.”
The majority of Rachel’s work is in children’s
book design. She spent years working for
Random House in London before going
freelance. “I’ve always worked in publishing and
specialised in children’s book design. I really
enjoy collaborating with other people - with
illustrators and editors in particular. When I was
8

The De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill
St Nicholas Church, Amsterdam
Café in Copenhagen
working full time for publishers I’d always fit in
my own work, however since going freelance I’ve
increasingly been doing more of my own work,
including taking part in exhibitions, selling work
through my online shop and applying my prints
to stationery.”
“I’ve always loved drawing, and Amsterdam,
creatively, is a really good place to visit. It has
some amazing galleries - you’ve got the Stedelijk
and the Van Gogh Museum - and it’s really fun
and friendly. The Netherlands is a small country
so you can travel around very easily, and easily
get to neighbouring countries. Travel inspires me
and I try to sketch on location wherever I visit.
When I draw I step away from everything and
get lost in my own little world.”
Interview by Rebecca Cunningham
See more of Rachel’s work at rachelclarkart.com or
on Instagram: @rachelclarkart
The Old Steine, Brighton
Airport Wait
9

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Photo by Alex Leith
MY LEWES: ROBERT SENIOR
CHAIR OF TRUSTEES, THE DEPOT CINEMA
Are you local? I’m from Lancashire originally,
moved to London in the 1970s. I came here with
my wife, Sarah, and three daughters around the turn
of the century. Sarah knew Lewes because her sister
had lived here, and it ticked a lot of boxes. A quaint
old town near the sea, surrounded by countryside,
with a brewery. I didn’t know about Bonfire before
we arrived but I am now a Southover monk.
It was a town with no cinema, until you invested
a lot of money in our new one… From the day
we arrived everyone talked about one. It seemed an
obvious thing to do, to put something back into the
community. I’ve also set up the Chalk Cliff Trust
which supports local causes. More people should do
these things.
What’s your day job? I’m the founder of the
global market research publisher Euromonitor
International.
What’s your favourite pub? The Lewes Arms; a
gang of us congregate there every month, and that’s
where we take visitors. But the Brewers, at the top
of my street, is a friendly, regular pub, and when
I’ve got a lot of work to do I’ll go up there and get
through it over a couple of pints.
And your poison? Harvey’s, mainly. I got to know
[Head Brewer] Miles Jenner when we bought the
building off them. Though in the Depot we’re not
going to sell Harvey’s exclusively, we’re keen to
stock beer from the local microbreweries as well.
What’s your favourite Lewes restaurant? We go
to the Pelham Arms sometimes and ate in Aqua recently,
and that was fine. But one reason we’re opening
a restaurant at the Depot is that Lewes - for
a town full of foodies - doesn’t have a very strong
restaurant culture, and we want to help change that.
Tell us about a perfect Sunday... In the summer
it’s hard to beat a walk on the Downs and a pub
lunch, maybe followed by some Scandi noir. If it’s
raining, I could do worse than spend a day watching
films, I love silent movies.
When did you last walk up a Down? Two weeks
ago we walked part of the Seven Sisters trail. My
wife loves cycling and she was complaining that I
never went with her, so I bought an electric bike.
And now I get a lot more exercise, because I’m not
put off by all those hills. You still have to put effort
in, mind: it’s not like riding a moped.
Who’s your favourite film director? Orson
Welles, who made five or six brilliant films. I also
love Westerns; I’m a big fan of spaghetti but also
Sam Peckinpah. The Wild Bunch blew me away in
the 60s - the villains were also the heroes; I’d not
seen such bloody violence before.
Where would you live, if not in Lewes? I’d say Las
Vegas, but Sarah wouldn’t quite agree. Maybe we’ll
spend some time in Italy one day and the families
can visit. Puglia is pleasant.
Interview by Alex Leith
11

BITS AND BOBS
WHERE DID YOU
GET THAT HAT?
WDYGTH went on holiday
this month, all the way to the
Isle of Wight. The Hedleys,
from Malling, ventured
into the lemur enclosure at
Amazon World Zoo Park
when this little guy took
a liking to Daryl and his
snapback, so much so it
took ten minutes to coax
him down. No lemurs were
harmed in the making of this
CHARITY BOX #14: CHEEKY IN THE CHAPEL
Hi Soraya! What is Cheeky in the Chapel? It’s a ‘cheeky’ night
out. A club night in the atmospheric Westgate Chapel that raises
money for a great project.
How did you come to set it up? The Oyster Project is a disability
self-help charity. Radio Lewes is one of their projects, I do a weekly
show called Pass It On. It’s Lewes’ Desert Island Discs. Having gained
so much from it, I wanted to give something back, so came up with
this fundraising idea.
Where does Cheeky in the Chapel take place? We light up
the whole venue. The bar is in the chapel, the library the chill-out
room. It’s a fun night out for anyone who enjoys dancing. It’s near
home and it starts and finishes early, so for self-induced curfews, it’s ideal. You can even sneak last orders on
your way home, or actually get to bed before midnight having danced your socks off.
What can people expect? R&B, funk, soul, disco, reggae, indie, ska, pop. There’s no DJ. Great visuals that
work well with the music. Cash-only licensed bar.
What's the dress code? Anything goes. Dress up or not. It’s your night.
What gets you on the dancefloor? Curtis Mayfield, Move On Up.
When are they held? Every other month. There's a break for summer, but we're back in October.
Who goes? 30 and upwards. Emma Chaplin interviewed Soraya Cotwal
Next one is Sat 10th June, Westgate Chapel (by the bottleneck), 7-11pm, £5 in advance, £6 OTD.
facebook.com/cheekywestgate or tickets.oysterproject.org.uk
Photo by Emma Chaplin
13

PHOTO OF THE MONTH
REEDY STEADY GO
A very reedy photo of the month this time; of
course this image was taken on the Railway
Land, Lewes’ beautifully soggy nature reserve.
It was taken by Christopher Hards, while out
for a walk with his dog on a sunny Sunday late
in March. “I thought it looked so in keeping
with the natural surroundings as it was made
of the reeds, and yet it stood like a gateway to
the island beyond,” he says. “I think it is great
that someone has gone to the effort to produce
a natural and beautiful thing from what was
essentially old discarded reeds cut down from
the year before.”
We did a little bit of research to find the background
to this little piece of land art, which
we discovered was made last year. The artist
Sally Christopher masterminded it with the
help of the Nature Corridors group of adults
with learning disabilities and the Priory Forest
School group.
This is a good place to point out that the Railway
Land Trust hosts a number of events this
month, including a Dawn Chorus bird walk
(May 7th, at 4.30 in the morning!) a workshop
teaching how to make decorations with willow
and tissue (May 7th, 2pm) and Bee Sunday
(May 14th, 2pm, railwaylandproject.org).
Please send your pictures, taken in and around
Lewes, to photos@vivamagazines.com, or tweet
@VivaLewes, with comments on why and where
you took it, and your phone number. We’ll
choose our favourite for this page, which wins
the photographer £20, to be picked up from
our office after publication. Unless previously
arranged, we reserve the right to use all pictures
in future issues of Viva magazines or online.
15

BITS AND BOBS
TOWN PLAQUE #26
While we count down the days to the opening of the Depot, this
month we recall Lewes’ first purpose-built cinema. It is marked
by the only historic plaque in the town to be located indoors, in
the lobby of 25-26 High Street, there being no suitable place on
the outside of this much-redeveloped site. Located in a building
that had once been a girls’ school, and boasting an unlikely timbered
frontage, the Cinema de Luxe was opened in 1912, and had
490 seats, all on one level. In the late 1920s it was equipped with
a sound system and in 1934 the rear of the roof was raised and a balcony was fitted, which increased the
seating capacity to 620. Many a Lewes senior will recall the Saturday matinees there.
The Cinema de Luxe was closed on 11th May 1963 and the building lay derelict for several years before
being demolished. It is now offices above a shop and restaurant. Marcus Taylor
LEWES IN NUMBERS
Going out in or from Lewes offers many choices: pubs and restaurants, culture, seaside, hills or countryside,
by train, foot, bus or car. A recent national survey shows that 19 out of 20 people spend money on leisure
activities, including holidays. And average spend is around £200 a month. What do we like to spend this
on? Eating out (85% of those surveyed), coffee shops (73%) and drinking in pubs and bars (70%), as well
as in-home leisure (77%) and culture and entertainment (75%). This sector accounts for £117 billion in
revenue nationwide, and 7.4% of UK GDP, and is growing at nearly twice the speed of the retail sector.
Sarah Boughton
GHOST PUB #31: THE BEE HIVE, 12-13 CLIFFE HIGH STREET
Another long-forgotten pub, the Bee Hive was situated in the Cliffe, opposite
the Gardeners Arms. In 1841 the property was occupied by a widowed tea
dealer called Mary Heseltine. However, ten years later it was being used as
a beer shop by Harriett Vinall, and by the 1870s this was known as the Bee
Hive. Despite the Gardeners Arms, the Cliffe Tavern, the Castle Inn and the
Bear Hotel on its doorstep, the Bee Hive was able to survive. Cliffe High
Street was an incredibly busy thoroughfare at that time, and the numerous
pubs in the area reflected this. However, the Cliffe has always been prone to
flooding. In November 1875, when it continuously rained for almost two weeks, the elderly landlord of the
Bee Hive, Edward Wix, ‘narrowly escaped drowning’ as he descended into his cellar only to find himself in
deep water. Henry Newnham was the Bee Hive’s final landlord. Although he grew up in the Cliffe, Henry had
run the Market Cross Inn (now the Smugglers) at Alfriston before moving to the Bee Hive in 1896. With the
steady removal of public house licences in Lewes, the Bee Hive’s days were numbered, and in 1913 its licence
renewal was refused. It is easy to miss this beautiful old building as you walk along the Cliffe. For many years
it was Clark Brothers fruiterers, and it is now a lighting shop. Mat Homewood
17

®
BITS AND BOBS
LOCAL LITERATURE
The latest issue of the quarterly
Frogmore Papers, a collection
of poetry published in Lewes,
came through our door, with a
slightly sinister cover featuring
two painted crows - or maybe
rooks - who seem, in some
way, to have shattered their
way through the fourth wall.
I particularly enjoyed Rachael
McGill’s two-page bawdy satirical
vignette Dawn.
Another publication barely fitted
through our letterbox: the hardback
edition of Lewes-based
crime fiction novelist Lesley
Thompson’s latest, set in West
London during two different
time zones, 1987 and 2016. It’s
called The Dog Walker, and it’s
one of her ‘Detective’s Daughter’
series: of course it features
a grisly murder, and of course,
Thompson being Thompson,
it’s characterised by credible
protagonists communicating in
believably colourful dialogue.
Finally, the latest from the
Lewes press Life², named
Manifesto for Life. Written by
Richard Docwra, it works on
the principle that even if you are
powerless to change the way the
powers-that-be run the world, at
least you can empower yourself
by leading your life in an honourable
and community-spirited
way [lifesquared.com].
Plenty to look forward to in this
column in the June issue. For
example, Frogmore Press’s Watermarks,
an anthology of texts
about wild swimming edited by
Tanya Shadrick, and also some
new titles from local publishers
Snake River Press, including
a reprint of Eleanor Farjeon’s
much-loved A Sussex Alphabet.
Alex Leith
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GOOD
AT
BEING
YOURSELF
Singing, dancing and acting classes
for 4 - 18 year olds, where students
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stagecoach.co.uk/lewes
lewes@stagecoach.co.uk
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PHOTOGRAPHY
CARLOTTA LUKE
THE DEPOT CINEMA
Carlotta has been the official architectural
documentary photographer for The Depot
Cinema since June 2015, and here’s a
chronological narrative of the progress that’s
been made. Clockwise from top left: The
original Depot before work started; scaffolding
goes up… note Julian Bell’s murals on the wall;
the interior is ready for panelling; the glass
entrance doors go in; the exterior knapped
flintwork is complete. By the time our next
magazine comes out, the place will be showing
films! You can see many more Depot pics on
Carlotta’s website carlottaluke.com.
21

BITS AND BOBS
SPREAD THE WORD
It seems half of Lewes is on New Zealand’s Kaiteriteri beach. Here’s Wenda
and Alan ‘Brad’ Bradley and Sarah Bayliss and Mick Hawksworth checking
up on what’s happening at home. Next time we’ll give them a copy each.
Barney Edgely took us to
the Baan Matao Mothership,
in Mae Mut, Thailand. He
originally went out there to
do some voluntary work...
but he might have decided
to stay. Can’t say we blame
him. Don’t forget to take us
with you on your travels and keep spreading the word. Send
your pics to hello@vivamagazines.com Lizzie Lower
CLOCKS OF LEWES #6: GLYNDE PLACE GATE
Going out from Lewes for a hike or bike ride,
you may well find yourself passing Glynde Place.
The current house was built in 1568 but in the
late 18th century Richard Trevor, Bishop of
Durham (died 1771), "pimped it", in the words of
Francis Brand, the 7th Viscount Hampden. This
involved reversing the house's configuration,
adding Trevor heraldic wyverns and building the
grand gate with its clock tower, replete with lead
cupola and golden orb.
The exact date of the tower clock is uncertain,
but its workings are marked with the name
of William Hooker, a Cliffe clockmaker who
repaired it in 1825. It was Hooker who had added
a minute hand to the St Thomas church clock
in 1817, but the Glynde clock remains of the
one-handed style, historically common but less
familiar now.
The clock still tells the time, the gold leaf hand
and Roman numerals clear on a dark face, providing
an easy time-check for anyone passing. Chris
Arnold, who runs the Glynde Estates, winds the
clock three times a week and says it's currently
running fast, "over a weekend about eight minutes".
Though before Christmas it was running
three minutes slow. Such eccentricities, surely, are
one of the pleasures of historic timepieces.
Daniel Etherington
Thanks to Lord Hampden and the Glynde Estate
Photo by Daniel Etherington
22

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COLUMN
David Jarman
Peggy in the middle
In his memoir Love
is Where it Falls, a
sublimely silly title,
Simon Callow tells of
his first meeting with
the (very) theatrical
literary agent, Peggy
Ramsay. It took
place at her offices
in Goodwin’s Court,
off St Martin’s Lane.
Callow wasn’t expecting, or even necessarily
wanting, to meet Peggy Ramsay herself, but
when, having trekked up three flights of stairs,
he opened the door bearing the agency’s name,
there she was.
“Hello”, I said, “I’m –”
“I know exactly who you are dear” she said. “Tell
me”, she continued, as if resuming a conversation
rather than beginning one, “do you think
Ayckbourn will ever write a really GOOD play?”
This encounter took place in 1980, and
Ayckbourn’s Woman in Mind, which the Lewes
Little Theatre is putting on this month (13th-
20th May), opened in Scarborough in June 1985
and came to the Theatre Royal in Brighton in
August 1986. So perhaps by then, Peggy Ramsay
would have conceded that Ayckbourn had indeed
written a really good play. Or perhaps not.
Peggy Ramsay lived in Redcliffe Square, but
she also had a weekend bolthole in Brighton. A
plaque on her house at 34 Kensington Place, very
near the station, was unveiled in 2009 by Simon
Callow. Of all Ramsay’s illustrious clients, I
suppose the most famous was the playwright Joe
Orton. It’s fifty years ago this year that Orton
was killed by his partner, Kenneth Halliwell, who
committed suicide immediately after. Orton and
Halliwell are also remembered for the 1962 court
case in which they were found guilty of defacing
hundreds of Islington
Library books.
Halliwell also used
pictures removed from
the books to decorate
the walls of their Noel
Road flat. Islington has
put up another plaque
on that property.
Islington Museum
owns 43 of the library
book covers defaced by Orton and Halliwell,
and there are always a few on display. Postcards,
as well, which strikes me as all rather odd. Now
the museum has acquired a collage screen made
by Halliwell. Peggy Ramsay commissioned
Halliwell’s collage screens; this one was donated
by her estate to a charity auction in 1999. It’s
not on display at the moment, but the librarian
assured me that it would be again in the summer,
once they had got through their Spanish Civil
War exhibition.
In Love is Where it Falls, which, incidentally,
I picked up from the book rack in the waiting
room on Platform 3 at Lewes Station (I pitched
my voluntary contribution at £1 plus a handful
of loose change), Simon Callow describes Peggy
Ramsay’s voice ‘as beautiful and expressive as
any actress might hope to possess: perfectly
modulated, feathery light and caressing, then
suddenly rough and emphatic, but never when
you expected it… “I always thought”, she said
liltingly, “how touching it was that when Ken and
Joe couldn’t find anyone else to f**k, they would
f**k each other”.’
Fortunately for Brighton Library, Ramsay was
unsuccessful in luring Orton to Brighton. As his
diaries reveal, he was having nothing to do with
slum dwellings tarted up with a coat of plaster.
Quite right too!
Photo by Alex Leith
25

JENNY FRY MEMORIAL LECTURES
EMF Aware Sussex Present:
The Hidden Cost of Convenience;
Revealing the Detrimental Effect(s) of~
PULSED MICROWAVE RADIATION
(Mobile Phones, Masts, WiFi etc.)
On Health, Well-Being & States of Mind - Wildlife and the Environment
Speakers:
Prof. Olle Johansson (Neuro'Scientist)
Dr. Erica Mallery-Blythe
Brian Stein CBE
With Special Guest Speaker
Debbie Fry (Jenny Fry Memorial Lecture)
Sunday 11th June at 12 Noon until 6.30pm
Tickets £10
All Saints Centre, Friars Walk, Lewes, BN7 2LE
Refreshments available ~ Water, Juices & Fruit.
Please feel free to bring your own picnics & flasks!
Tickets available from:
Union Music Store, 1 Lansdowne Place, Lewes - Tel: 01273 474053
The Tourist Information Centre, High Street, Lewes - Tel: 01273 483448
For more information or enquiries please contact
brightonbobby@gmail.com - Bob - 01273 726401
Peter Gane - 01935 423002
~~~~~~~~~ EMF AWARE SUSSEX ~~~~~~~~~

COLUMN
Chloë King
More brain than brawn
When I’m invited to learn
how to cook calf brains with
a Michelin-starred chef
named Merlin Labron-
Johnson, my competitive
nature peaks. I gleefully
imagine the tales I could
tell to make vegetarians
recoil and hard blokes feel
like pansies. Then the time
arrives to do the thing, and
I feel a little churning in
my stomach that is not the
result of hunger.
Calf brains, I discover via the nutritional
database that is Wikipedia, are high in
cholesterol and a rich source of omega-3. They
are popular in France where, like delicate white
fish, they are traditionally cooked in beurre noir
and capers. This, strangely, makes sense once
you taste brain. Unlike most offal, it has a mild,
creamy taste and barely-there texture.
You don’t often come across brains in England
(and post-Brexit, I don’t expect this to change
fast). Merlin’s restaurant, Portland, serves them,
and along with nose-to-tail eating in general,
they are making a small comeback. Still, only in
smart places.
Strange really: the more upmarket you get
gastronomically, the more likely you are to be
fed gizzards. But at least you’ll be told, so you
can get all macho about it. I’m not certain what
is less appealing: the unidentifiable ground meat
in your average frankfurter or the unavoidable
whole organ of a young animal?
Still, I find my primary association with brains is
the image of Hannibal Lecter feeding Krendler
his last meal - not a helpful picture to take to
the table.
Half a calf brain serves
one, handsomely, and my
portion has been soaked
overnight in milk to
remove impurities, then
lightly poached. The
brain, looking like brain,
is dusted in flour and
plopped into a hot pan of
butter to cook. It’s at this
stage that I let go my cool,
as I grasp at the organ with
my hand, only to find it
almost mindfully trying
to escape. In it goes, browning nicely. I’ll be
dressing it with a rich jus of veal stock, capers
and lemon juice and serving the whole lot on
crunchy sourdough toast.
The brain cooks in a flash so there’s little time
to ponder. Soon, I’m faced with the finished
dish: bouncy and glistening. I tuck in, slowly,
making a point not to wolf it down, as is my
wont. I’m not certain whether this is because
I don’t want others to know that I am greedy
and uncomfortable, or because I really want to
experience these brains.
It strikes me that much of the time, people go to
great lengths to disguise what they are eating.
From those who only eat chicken in popcorn
form, to those casually blending up a storm to
Annabel Karmel or Anna Jones.
While all cooking is designed to make
ingredients more palatable, for all eaters it’s
pertinent to confront what we try to avoid when
eating - which is, so often, the source of our
food or how it’s produced. While eating these
brains, I can’t escape the fact of what they are
and what I am doing, and that in itself is an
important thing to think about.
Illustration by Chloë King
27

T R E A T M E N T R O O M S
䐀 漀 氀 瀀 栀 椀 渀 猀 伀 瀀 琀 漀 洀 攀 琀 爀 椀 猀 琀 猀 Ⰰ 䐀 漀 氀 瀀 栀 椀 渀 䠀 漀 甀 猀 攀 Ⰰ アパートアパート 䴀 甀 猀 琀 攀 爀 䜀 爀 攀 攀 渀 Ⰰ 䠀 愀 礀 眀 愀 爀 搀 猀 䠀 攀 愀 琀 栀 Ⰰ 刀 䠀 㘀 㐀 䄀 䰀
㐀 㐀 㐀 㐀 㔀 㐀 㠀 㠀 簀 眀 眀 眀 ⸀ 搀 漀 氀 瀀 栀 椀 渀 猀 漀 瀀 琀 漀 洀 攀 琀 爀 椀 猀 琀 猀 ⸀ 挀 漀 ⸀ 甀 欀
伀 瀀 攀 渀 椀 渀 最 琀 椀 洀 攀 猀 㨀 䴀 漀 渀 ⴀ 䘀 爀 椀 ⠀ 攀 砀 挀 ⸀ 圀 攀 搀 ⤀ 㤀 ⸀ ⴀ 㜀 ⸀アパート 圀 攀 搀 ☀ 匀 愀 琀 㤀 ⸀ ⴀアパート⸀

COLUMN
East of Earwig
Close to the borderline
Photo montage by Mark Bridge
I'm no John Simpson, sadly. I cannot claim much
expertise on world affairs. Just as regrettably,
I'm no Rageh Omaar, the journalist who became
known as the 'scud stud' when the Iraq War
started in 2003. It's a shame because I reckon an
alliterative upbeat nickname - perhaps 'the Ringmer
reporting Romeo' - would suit me. But, as so
often happens, I'm digressing.
The last few weeks have seen an assortment of
potentially world-changing events passing into
history. The UK triggered Article 50 of the Treaty
on European Union, starting a countdown to
leaving the EU. Michael Howard suggested that
our country could go to war with Spain. And the
USA launched an attack against Syria, prompting
a critical Russian response. (At the time of writing,
nuclear conflict with North Korea is pending.)
To top it all, my editor emailed me to say that this
month's magazine would have an overall theme of
'going out'.
The more I thought about it, the more it seemed
a good idea for us Ringmerites to take this advice
literally. It was time for Ringmer to go out, to
declare independence from Lewes District, from
East Sussex and from England. We could isolate
ourselves from world events and enjoy a bucolic
existence, erecting hay-bale barricades on the
B2192 and issuing our own hand-knitted passports.
But would this be a good idea - or would we
be opening ourselves up to the risk of attack?
Yes, seriously. Our location and our natural
resources would almost certainly make us an
economic threat to those living down the hill in
Lewes. Tired of drinking café cortado and eating
sour-dough sandwiches, Lewesians might want
to raid Ringmer's allotments for fresh fruit and
vegetables. When Harvey's Best bitter became
too familiar, the Lewes warriors would be heading
for Turners Brewery. Our prized local landmarks,
such as the sewage works, would become military
targets. And we've got an undefended pond, too.
We villagers would be ready, naturally. The first
wave of attackers would be repelled by frenzied
geese from the Raystede sanctuary, where our
fighting force would have been readied with a
special sugary diet of stale doughnuts. Next, the
gin-drinkers of Ringmer would use their collection
of hedgerow-harvested sloes to pelt the incoming
army. Pity the poor soldier that inadvertently
swallowed one. And if any pecked, bruised,
dry-mouthed fighters remained, we'd switch the
Glyndebourne wind turbine into reverse and blow
them back down the road.
Of course, all this conflict could be avoided with
negotiations and some friendly cross-border
arrangements. Instead of a battle, we should celebrate
our heritage by having a traditional grumble
and then hosting a celebratory street party that
would match the joy of VE-Day. Come on, Lewes
– you can provide the beer and the organic salad.
And we'll promise not to invade.
Mark Bridge
29

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ON THIS MONTH: LITERATURE
Daniel Rachel
Author, Walls Come Tumbling Down
“It hasn’t seemed to have crossed
into public knowledge,” says
Daniel Rachel, “which is amazing
seeing as what a massive
effect it ended up having.”
He’s talking about a string of
“appalling racist comments”
which Eric Clapton made during
a gig he was performing in
Birmingham, in August 1976.
The aftermath of Clapton’s outburst
is the starting point of Rachel’s
painstakingly researched
book Walls Come Tumbling Down,
subtitled ‘The Music and Politics
of Rock Against Racism, 2 Tone
and Red Wedge’.
Photographer Red Saunders reacted by publishing
an open letter, signed by various associates,
reflecting their disgust. “The crucial line,” says
Daniel, “was ‘We want to organise a rank-andfile
movement against the racist poison in rock
music’”. Those interested were urged to write in
to an address headed ‘Rock Against Racism’. A
movement was born.
RAR’s remit was to organise gigs with “black
and white bands on the same stage, performing
separately, then jamming together at the end of
the evening”. They also launched a magazine,
Temporary Hoarding, which espoused “[progressive]
political views stretching beyond the issue
of racism”.
The late seventies was a bleak period for young
Britons to be growing up in. “Margaret Thatcher
won leadership of the Conservative Party, then
the election, and the country started suffering
from the brutal savagery of her government’s
policies.” The National Front was on the rise. As
a release from all the political and racial tension,
“the first generation of black kids growing up as
British subjects and disenfranchised
white kids started looking
to reggae and punk music.”
These two musical styles came
together at RAR gigs with
pairings such as Hersham punks
Sham 69 and Southall reggae
band Misty in Roots.
“Over a sixteen-year period
politics were to the fore in a
way that had never happened
before in pop music,” continues
Rachel. Influenced by RAR, in
1978 Jerry Dammers formed the
Specials, a punk-influenced ska
band with both black and white
members, and the 2 Tone label, an umbrella for
other likeminded bands. In 1985 protest singer
Billy Bragg started up Red Wedge, joining with
Paul Weller and Jimmy Somerville to play gigs
in aid of the Labour Party. In 1986 Dammers
formed Artists Against Apartheid, in solidarity
with black South Africans.
Walls Come Tumbling Down, taking its title from
Paul Weller’s Style Council anthem, takes us
through this period through the eyes of over 100
interviewees Rachel has tracked down - anyone
who was anyone in the movement - including
Red Saunders, Neil Kinnock, Billy Bragg and
Jerry Dammers. At 560 pages it’s a hefty read,
but it’s beautifully structured, as a vivid picture
emerges of how Rock Against Racism not only
helped shape the politics of a generation; it also
influenced the sound of the music they were
listening to. Nice one, Eric. Alex Leith
Daniel Rachel speaks at the Phoenix Centre,
Lewes, 8pm, Mon 8th (Labour Party open meeting,
free) and Waterstones, Brighton, 7.30pm, Wed 10th
(with June Miles-Kingston and Juliet de Valera, a
Brighton Festival/City Reads event, £5.90)
31

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ON THIS MONTH: MUSIC
Every Sort of People festival
Bill topper Richard Hadfield
You won Britain’s Got Talent
in 2014! I was contacted
via YouTube and asked to
be part of a boy band called
Collabro. We sang in a pub
together, it went really well,
and we decided to take the
next step. We entered Britain’s
Got Talent, and won it.
What had you been doing
for a living? Busking and
labouring.
How did you find the judges
of BGT? It was unreal. It was
like seeing waxworks at Madame
Tussauds when we went
on stage and looked out at Simon
Cowell, Amanda Holden,
David Walliams and Alesha
Dixon. There was a lot of
pressure. We were berated for only being together
a month. But then they heard us sing and loved us.
We won, and got the big cheque and the chance
to perform at the Royal Variety Show, where we
met Wills and Kate, Ed Sheeran and Bette Midler.
We went on to do a UK sell-out tour, then got a
record contract with Simon Cowell.
But after that you fell out with the rest of the
band? There was tension and pressure. We’d been
chucked in the deep end, and I stopped enjoying
it. So I jumped ship and went solo. It was a weight
off my shoulders, quite literally, because I stopped
comfort eating, went to the gym and lost four stone.
What’s your singing background? I really
enjoyed musical theatre at school (Hurstpierpoint
College), and had a part in Les Misérables. I grew
to love swing and jazz and had singing lessons.
My teacher Derek Austin played piano for Frank
Sinatra.
Who do you admire? Chet
Baker, Burt Bacharach,
Sinatra of course.
The Festival is at the
Dripping Pan. Are you a
football fan? Honestly, I’m
more of a rugby boy. I’ve
spent a lot of time at Lewes
Rugby Club. But growing up
in Brighton, I’m pleased the
Albion are doing really well.
Are you still local? I live
in London now but I love
coming down to East Sussex.
That breath of fresh air
you get as you cross into
the county. Lewes is a stunning
town. My brother got
married at the castle, and I
busked on Cliffe Bridge sometimes.
What led you to perform at the (accessible)
Every Sort of People festival? I’ve got a connection
with Culture Shift, the organisers. They put
on great events, and when they asked me to perform
at this, I thought it sounded incredible. I’ll
be bringing along my four-piece band and singing
pop songs with a jazz setting. Emma Chaplin
Richard is performing alongside Lewes legends
including Arthur Brown, Tongue and Groove, Lola
Hepper Britten and Super 8, as well as emerging
bands from Starfish Music and 69X, Fresh Tracks
DJs. Plus community organisations such as Stay Up
Late and Diversity Lewes, food, bars and more festival
fun for everyone. Sat 13th, noon-8pm. Tickets
£10/6 online or from The Laurels. Children under
7 free. Lewes FC, the Dripping Pan, Mountfield Rd.
cultureshift.org.uk
33

ON THIS MONTH: CLASSICAL
I Fagiolini
Monteverdi’s lesser-known vespers
There’s a book from 1950
called ‘Monteverdi: Creator
of Modern Music’. What’s
the basis for that claim? Do
you agree? Well, it's a great
title for a book... The more
you look at the music of his
time, the more you realise he
was one of many. Historically,
the reason we still perform
his music is that it's just better
than his contemporaries,
rather than the fact that it's
more modern. His first opera
wasn't the first opera, but it
was the best. His advanced
harmony wasn’t as advanced as Gesualdo, but his
more sparing use was perhaps more telling and
less affected.
I’ve seen Monteverdi described as ‘a kind of
figurehead of the avant-garde’ of the time.
How challenging was his music to 17thcentury
ears, and how did people react to it?
In that it was very successful and it was absolutely
tonal, I'd say it wasn't challenging in the way that
atonal music was in the 1920s, for example. He
didn't invent new textures as such, and everything
that he did write was beautifully laid out, so that it
sounded sweet to the ear. He was a fabulous craftsman.
There was a well-documented incident with
a theorist challenging some of his madrigals - but
the challenge was about Monteverdi's technique
and whether it followed old-school rules, rather
than the quality of his music. Elsewhere, he was
held by other musicians in the highest possible
regard, as far as it ever gets discussed.
It must have been quite exciting to have been
Monteverdi in the later part of his career; it
was the early days of modern
opera, a format which apparently
suited his talents. And
it sounds like he was famous
and successful enough to
just focus on that, if he’d
wanted. So why did he carry
on making church music?
He probably didn't see it that
way, still trying to get money
out of his erstwhile employers,
the Gonzagas [the ruling family
in Mantua]. And remember
that the first commercial opera
house didn't open until 1637, six
years before he died. He carried
on with church music because he was a priest, and
his official position was as maestro at St Mark’s
[in Venice], the most prestigious musical position
in Europe. However, we can't really say when he
composed most of the pieces in the concert we're
performing: only that they were published in 1641.
Some may date back as far as the 1590s.
Apparently his 1610 vespers are often performed,
and these later ones aren’t. Why? The
1610 vespers were published in a volume with
little motets between the psalms, and thus make
a nicely balanced ready-made modern concert.
With this later volume, there are choices to be
made - the director has to do a bit more work! It's
habit, though. The 1610 has been performed and
recorded for decades now. Perhaps this recording
will shift the balance.
Steve Ramsey interviewed Robert Hollingworth
Robert directs I Fagiolini. Their new CD, on Decca,
is Monteverdi: The Other Vespers. They’ll perform
a concert with the same title at Glyndebourne on
Sun 7th. See brightonfestival.org
Photo by Keith Saunders
35

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ON THIS MONTH: MUSIC
Shirley Collins
‘The secret Queen of England’
Shirley Collins’ face is a picture of wry scepticism
when I ask her what she thinks of the musical
genre ‘nu-folk’. “I mean, it’s all there in the spelling,
isn’t it?” she says. “For me real folk music is all
about songs handed down through the generations.
You can’t just write a song, and then call it
a folk song. It’s rather like building a Mock Tudor
House and calling it medieval.”
Shirley is currently riding the crest of a remarkable
revival. Her first album for 38 years, Lodestar, has
been given a host of five-star reviews, as have the
concerts she’s been doing to promote it, in venues
such as the Barbican, and The Sage. A documentary
about her life – The Ballad of Shirley Collins – is
in post-production. She’s busy writing her memoirs
for publication. And she’s looking forward
to something of a homecoming gig at the Dome,
which is being billed as one of the highlights of
Brighton Festival.
I say ‘something’ of a homecoming because while
Shirley spent a lot of her adult life in Brighton,
she’s lived in Lewes for the last 14 years: she loves
the place, and “will never live anywhere else.”
We’re sitting in her cottage on New Road, where
Lodestar was recorded. “I wasn’t confident about
my voice,” she says. “I didn’t want to record in
front of some young producer in a recording studio
in London. I wanted a more familiar setting.”
One problem about making a comeback is that
everyone who interviews asks her why she stopped
being successful in the first place. I’m no exception,
so she has to go through the tale of how her
second husband, Ashley Hutchings, left her, and
how she was so distraught she lost her singing
voice. “Nothing would come out, or sometimes
just a croak. I’m cross with myself, looking back,”
she says. “I shouldn’t have been heart-broken. I
should have been angry.”
Left with two children to bring up she had no option
but to retire from singing and work at a series
of jobs to make ends meet. She was not entirely
forgotten, though. “David Tibet, from Current
93, urged me to sing again. At first I refused, then
I refused again, then I agreed but failed to turn
up, and finally I did it.” Her 2014 reunion gig, at
the Union Chapel in London, was the start of the
renaissance.
In the hour we spend together Shirley tells me a
million things: about her time in America in the
late 50s collecting songs; about the humiliation she
felt when she lost her voice, about how she found
her house in Lewes and fell in love with the town.
Finally I take her picture in the back garden and
as I leave she thanks me for my time. “My time?
You’re the one the BBC are calling ‘The secret
Queen of England,” I say, and she looks bashfully
proud of herself, which is a lovely look.
Alex Leith
Shirley Collins, The Dome (Brighton Festival), Sun
14th May, 7.30pm
Photo by Alex Leith
37

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ON THIS MONTH: CHARLESTON FESTIVAL
Haunted
Deborah Levy on Virginia Woolf
Your Charleston
Festival talk Hauntings
is about the influence
of Virginia Woolf’s
To The Lighthouse
on your Booker Prize
shortlisted novel Hot
Milk. What do you find
most inspiring about
Woolf’s writing? Woolf
is one of our greatest
writers, and in some
ways, the most daring,
skilled and bold - especially
her time-travelling, shape-shifting novel,
Orlando. To the Lighthouse is a book that requires
all our attention and it rewards the reader in aces.
It is her most autobiographical book, in which
she collides, in a master stroke of formal innovation,
the devastation she felt at the death of her
mother, with the devastation of World War 1.
Your autobiographical essay Things I Don’t
Want to Know was commissioned as a response
to Orwell’s Why I Write, but it also
reflects Woolf's A Room of One’s Own. How
so? The book reflects on the life of a female writer,
and so of course, the mighty Virginia Woolf
walked with me as I wrote it, alongside Orwell.
They both paused to smoke a roll-up on this
walk - they were keen smokers of tobacco. Woolf
did not have a formal education, Orwell went to
Eton and later worked unhappily as a colonial
servant of the British Empire, but they were
equally sharp observers of the dominant issues of
their time. In A Room of One’s Own, Woolf advised
women not to 'write in a rage' because 'She will
write foolishly when she should write wisely. She
will write of herself when she should write of
her characters. She is at war with her lot.' Woolf
is suggesting that to
write in anger is to risk
losing complexity and
nuance. That’s a hard
call because sometimes,
it’s when we’re angry,
that we hear ourselves
for the first time. I don’t
comment on this, except
to note that the narrator
of Things I Don’t Want to
Know, is in a rage and at
war with her lot.
You are currently
travelling, and your writing often deals with
themes of exile and displacement. Is it creatively
important to conjure feelings of being
cast away? It is creatively important to be cast
away from rigid ideas about who we are and what
we’re supposed to be like. So my books often
explore shifting cultural and sexual identities.
My story collection, Black Vodka, is a road trip
through Europe - the stories are set in Prague,
Rome, London, Vienna, Barcelona. My new
book, The Cost of Living, is set in South America
and Britain.
What are you most looking forward to coming
home to this summer? As my books get
translated into other languages, it does involve
me in quite a lot of travel. When I return home
I look forward to family, friends, tea, cheddar
cheese, brown bread, the plants on my balcony,
my bicycle and the budding of spring.
As told to Chloë King
Levy speaks twice at the Charleston Festival: Heralding
the Hogarth Press, 19th May, 12pm; Hauntings,
20th May, 11.30am. deborah-levy.com Things
I Don’t Want To Know and Hot Milk are published
by Hamish Hamilton
Photo by Sheila Burnett
39

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April 29-30 & May 6-7
Open 10am - 6pm
christian funnell
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spring upholstery
camper knits
emily jolley
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joy fox
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jonathan alden
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ON THIS MONTH: ART
Eileen Agar
Bride of the Sea
In Eileen Agar’s
autobiography,
A Look at My
Life, a chapterheading
asks: ‘Am
I a Surrealist?’ It
was a question
that had been
causing her mild
bemusement
for over half a
century, since examples of her work had appeared
in the International Surrealism Exhibition which
opened at the New Burlington Galleries in June
1936. Agar commented: ‘one day I was an artist
exploring highly personal combinations of form
and content, and the next I was calmly informed
I was a Surrealist.’ Perhaps Agar was one of the
artists Conroy Maddox had in mind when he
refused to take part in the exhibition, ‘because
many of the British artists weren’t Surrealists at
all.’ Eileen Agar resisted all labels, and, though
subject to obvious influences, her work remained
firmly sui generis. The art critic Andrew
Lambirth, who co-authored Agar’s autobiography,
described her as ‘a painter of playful seriousness’.
That sounds about right. Certainly, her relaxed
attitude to both her life (‘I’ve enjoyed life, and
it shows through’) and her numerous loves (‘I
just sleep with them if I want to. I don’t do it
otherwise’) suggest that the Surrealist issue didn’t
cause her many sleepless nights.
Bride of the Sea is a one-room show devoted to
Eileen Agar that runs at the Jerwood Gallery in
Hastings until 4th June. The exhibition is one
of the gallery’s ‘In Focus’ series, in which a work
from the Jerwood collection (in this case, the
1969 Pigeon Post) is displayed alongside loans
from public and private institutions. So, for example,
her portrait
of Dylan Thomas
from the Tate is
supplemented
by photographs
from the Tate’s
Agar archive. The
inspired selection
of work has a
twofold purpose.
Firstly, thematic
links are explored. So Bride of the Sea (1979) is
complemented by Butterfly Bride (1936). The
Jerwood’s proximity to the sea is referenced by
Fisherman (No. 100 in the 1958 London Group
Show, priced at £60). I suppose the photographs
of Eileen Agar feeding the pigeons in St Mark’s
Square, Venice that are in the Tate archive would
have provided a rather too obvious connection
with the keystone painting Pigeon Post. Secondly,
there are excellent examples of Agar’s work at
all the crucial stages of her artistic development:
the revival inspired by her discovery of Tenerife
in the early 1950s after the years of depressed
wartime inactivity (‘on the whole the war did
not inspire me, and I longed to get it over and
done with’), the stylistic reinvention of the 1960s
(‘In 1965 I found inspiration in a new medium –
acrylics. I have never gone back to oil since.’)
Eileen Agar published her autobiography when
she was eighty eight, but her story is certainly not
an example of that comforting delusion: ‘you’re
never too old’. The picture that gives the exhibition
its title: Bride of the Sea, was painted in the
year Agar reached her eightieth birthday on December
1st, 1979. She wrote: ‘Ridiculous! I feel
more like fifty and I had no desire to celebrate
the event. There were many more important
things to do.’ David Jarman
Pigeon Post, 1969 © The Estate of Eileen Agar, The Bridgeman Art Library
41

FRIDAY FLOWERS
Garden Inspired, delivered
in water, to your door
£20 plus £4.99 local delivery
Locally grown flowers
wherever possible
Free delivery on first two
orders with code viva17
www.bainsandwood.com

ON THIS MONTH: ART
Focus on:
This is Cosy
by Sarah Grace Harris
Cyanotype, using found objects,
paper and tea, 50x30cm, £180
Who’s lost these things, and who’s found them?
All sorts of people have ‘lost’ them. I’ve either
found them in charity shops, or friends and family
have given them to me after finding them in the
backs of drawers. I found the children’s gloves in
an antiques centre. Everyone who knows me knows
I’m happy to be given doilies.
What do you do with the objects to get this
effect? These are cyanotypes. It’s a photographic
process whereby you coat paper in a particular
mix of chemicals, allow it to dry, place objects
over it and when exposed to the sun it will create a
blue-tinged negative image of the object. It’s how
blueprints are made. I then soak the print in tea to
vary the colour. I use different types of paper, also
‘found’ in all sorts of places.
It’s been sunny recently! I’ve been very busy. I
keep a close eye on my weather app, because the
paper takes a couple of days to dry, and I want to be
ready for when the sun is out.
I’ve read in your artist’s statement that this
work is influenced by two different groups of
women from the past… Yes, the Gee’s Bend community
was a group of black women in Alabama in
the 1920s who used to make patchwork quilts and
suchlike out of offcuts of denim - the only material
that was available. And also the Northern Japanese
art of ‘Boro’, which is mending and patching garments
to make them last through generations; the
women who did this were only allowed to wear
blue, black or grey as vibrant colours were reserved
for the rich, so the garments were different shades
of blue. Both cases involved collaborative efforts
between women, which really struck a chord.
So this is a collage? Yes. Each item is cut out and
pinned onto a board using an entomology pin, so
the paper can curl and move within its box.
Have any other artists influenced you? The
starting point of this whole process was an exhibition
I saw in the V&A a few years ago called
Camera-less Photography. Two artists in particular
were of influence, Adam Fuss and Susan Derges.
Which work of art would you take with you to
your desert island? Alexander Calder’s beautiful
mobile called Snow Flurry.
Interview by Alex Leith
Martyrs' Gallery, 5th-28th May
43

2 nd - 4 th June
10:30am - 5pm daily
Firle Place
A27, Nr Lewes BN8 6LP
Fine Art ~ Antiques ~ Decorative Accessories
30 Stands in the 18th Century Riding School
Furniture, Ceramics, Jewellery, Glass, Silver, Bronzes, Paintings
Gardenalia & Statuary
on the Lawns
Detail from ‘Berwick, Alciston & Firle’
by Frank Wootton, courtesy of E. Stacy-Marks Ltd
Vi £1 va
discount on
entry
TV Experts Mark Stacey, Henry Nicholls & Ben Cooper (Appraisals from 2pm, £3 each for charity)
Free Flow Tours of the House daily, Noon - 4.30pm, £5 with a Fair Catalogue (normally £9.)
Details & Complimentary E-Tickets via www.penman-fairs.co.uk
Fair entry £3:50 includes Catalogue Enq: 07774 850044
Venue
92
Experience the extraordinary atmosphere of the Sussex home of the Surrealists
Lee Miller and Roland Penrose whose friends and guests included Picasso,
Leonora Carrington, Man Ray and Miró. We open to visitors on Sundays offering
50 minute guided tours, exhibitions in our gallery and a sculpture garden to explore.
farleyshouseandgallery.co.uk
Farleys House & Gallery
Muddles Green, Chiddingly
East Sussex, BN8 6HW
Tel: 01825 872 856
Open to visitors every Sunday from April - October
2017
Farleys Gallery Admission Free
Exibition from Lee Miller’s New York Studio
10.00 am - 3.30 pm

ART
ART & ABOUT
In town this month
'Looking for Gold' by Jo Lamb
Prolific painter and designer Jo
Lamb describes her painting
process as ‘a continual duel with
oneself. I will go back to a subject
and almost “chew it”.’ St Anne’s
Galleries is exhibiting Another
Day in Paradise, a solo exhibition
of her recent work, from the
13th. The canvases in the show
are as bright, bold and brave as
ever but, she remarks, ‘my work
is not about lovely fluffy stuff; it
might be more interesting than
that’. Until the 28th.
Originally a printmaker, Rachel Brooks Read has recently
gravitated towards representational painting and drawing,
creating works, in acrylic and inks, of figures, flowers
and interiors: subjects that she describes as possessing
‘an inner life and lending themselves to symbolism and
interpretation’. She’s the featured artist at Chalk Gallery
until the 13th, followed (from the 14th) by the abstract
expressions of Ursula Stone. [chalkgallerylewes.co.uk]
'A Small Procession' by Teresa Winchester
Italian Interior by Rachel Brooks Read
The exhibition of paintings
by Susie Monnington and
photographs by Carlotta Luke
continues at Pelham House
until the 23rd, then, from the
24th there’s a new show of prints
from Teresa Winchester,
who is inspired by stories and
storytelling, alongside the floral
and landscape paintings of Jane
Wateridge. Continues until the
4th of July.
Lost And Found, an exhibition
of cyanotypes by Sarah Grace
Harris, is at Martyrs’ Gallery
from the 5th until the 28th.
What’s a cyanotype? See pg 43.
45

BECKY BEASLEY
OUS
29 April - 9 July 2017
townereastbourne.org.uk @TownerGallery
Towner Art Gallery
College Road, Eastbourne
BN21 4JJ, 01323 434670
Image: Becky Beasley, Sedum Joy (Double Grave) 2002/2017

ART
Out of Town
VALUATION DAY
Jewellery and Antiques
Tuesday 23 May
10am to 4pm
Bonhams specialists will be at The Courtlands
Hotel to offer free and confidential advice on
items you may be considering selling at auction.
APPOINTMENTS
AND ENQUIRIES
Tim Squire-Sanders
01273 220000
hove@bonhams.com
Ever wonder who made the huge cormorant
sculpture in Newhaven Harbour? Or the
giant pineapple gates at the bottom of
Brighton’s West Street? It was local sculptor
Christian Funnell, and his latest project
is about to be installed at Splash Point in
Seaford. The Shoal is a 36-metre installation
that will extend along the jetty with seven
giant metal mackerel benches swimming
towards the sea. Partially funded by local
people (you can sponsor an inlaid fish
engraved with your own message) everyone’s
invited to the launch party at 12.30pm on the
1st of May. Then take a load off as you relax
on a mackerel whilst enjoying the spectacular
views of the chalk cliffs and Seaford Bay.
[theshoalseaford.com]
You can see more of Funnell’s work at his
South Heighton home, The Old Forge,
which has an Open House on two weekends,
April 29th-May 1st and May 6th/7th, from
11am-6pm. Go along and see his work and
that of 14 other artists and makers whilst
enjoying a cream tea in the wild spring
garden. [theoldforgeopenhouse.com]
VENUE
The Courtlands Hotel,
19-27 The Drive, Hove
BN3 3JE
AN AMETHYST AND GOLD BANGLE
Estimate: £2,000 - 3,000
plus buyer’s premium and other fees *
bonhams.com/hove
* For details of the charges payable in addition to the final hammer price
please visit bonhams.com/buyersguide

FIRLE PLACE OPENING 2017
28th May 2017 - 28th September 2017
(Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday) 2-4.30pm
The delightful Tearoom and Terrace are open to non-visitors
without charge on the above dates from 12.30pm - 4.30pm
Please visit our website for more information and to
find out details about Weddings, Private Functions,
Clay Pigeon Shooting, Firle Church & Village
Firle, Nr Lewes, East Sussex, BN8 6LP
01273 858567 | www.firle.com
E V E N T S 2 0 1 7
The Garden Show at Firle Place
Fri 21 st , Sat 22 nd & Sun 23 rd April
Firle Place Antiques Fair
Fri 2 nd , Sat 3 rd & Sun 4 th June
Firle Vintage Fair
Sat 12 th & Sun 13 th August
Firle Place International Horse
Trials & Country Fair
Sat 19 th & Sun 20 th August
Bonfire Societies Championships
Saturday 26 th August 2017

ART
Further afield
It won’t have escaped your notice that there’s more than one huge arts festival
going on in Brighton. Aside from the large array of visual arts to enjoy as part
of the Brighton Festival and Fringe, there’s also the Artists' Open Houses
festival too. Over 1,200 artists exhibiting in upwards of 180 venues on 14
trails over four weekends. Do the maths. Brighton’s about to get very busy. We
suggest you pick up a copy of Viva Brighton to help you navigate the month.
Heads by Samantha Staf at Artists Open Houses Festival
'For Joy' by Jessica Zoob
If it’s serenity you seek, visit the open studio of Jessica Zoob
at Banff Farm, near Ringmer, on the 6th & 7th and the 20th
& 21st (or other times by appointment) and rest your eyes on
her abstract dreamscapes. [jessicazoob.com]
More peace awaits you at Borde Hill’s historic gardens,
where the annual Garden Sculpture Exhibition launches on the
12th. Figurative and abstract sculptures by artists working in
bronze, resin, stone, metalwork and ceramics are set amongst
the plants. All works are for sale. [bordehill.co.uk]
In six rooms at Towner Gallery, St
Leonard’s-based Becky Beasley has created
installations inspired by the work of another
local artist, Eric Ravilious. OUS explores
her ongoing interest in the qualities of space,
flatness, light, abstraction and nature in his
work, as well as his creative friendships. Until
the 9th of July. [townereastbourne.org.uk]
Speaking of escape, The Baron Gilvan (aka
Chris Gilvan-Cartwright) will be in residence at
the suitably quixotic Rottingdean Windmill at
weekends throughout the month. Setting up his
studio to create ‘magnificent paintings, drawings
and animations investigating psychological
dream worlds through automatism and intuition’,
Snowball Down A Mountain is an invitation to
enter the world of his imagination. If you’re brave
enough. Saturdays & Sundays 1-4.30pm.
The Baron Gilvan
Keith Tyson’s Turn Back Now and Eileen
Agar’s Bride of the Sea (see pg 41) continue at
Jerwood Gallery but both end on the 4th of
June. Best go quick.
[jerwoodgallery.org]
The Outside Art Now by Becky Beasley,
49

MAY listings
Photo by Mary Motley
MONDAY 1
Lewes Garland
Day. Children’s
garland competition
in the Gun
Garden (9.45am).
Procession and
dancing from The
Knots of May and
Long Man Morris
Men starting at
10.30am in the
Gun Garden and proceeding to various locations
in town.
FRIDAY 5 & SATURDAY 6
Film: Collateral Beauty (12A). All Saints,
5.45pm (5th) and 8pm (6th), from £5.
FRIDAY 5 & SUNDAY 7
Film: The Birth of a Nation (15). All Saints,
8pm (5th) and 5.30pm (7th), from £5.
SATURDAY 6 & SUNDAY 7
WEDNESDAY 3
Gardening. More impact, less effort. Lewes and
District Garden Society talk with Alison Marsden.
St Thomas à Becket Church Hall, 7.30pm, £3.
THURSDAY 4
Comedy at the Con. Leo
Kearse, John Meagher, Steve
Gribbin. Con Club, 7.30,
£8/£10.
Hats off for Summer.
Clothing, hats and flowers.
15% off all purchases, plus
music and fizz. Darcey
Boutique, Cliffe High Street,
9.30am-5.30pm, free.
Film: Live by Night (15). All Saints, 5.15pm (6th)
and 8pm (7th), from £5.
SUNDAY 7
Baldwins Travel
Cruise Fair. Meet
reps from cruise
lines and operators,
and speak to consultants.
Pelham
House, 11am-3pm,
see baldwinstravel.co.uk/events.
MONDAY 8
WW1: Lother’s Lambs and the Boar’s Head.
Dr Chris Kempshall will examine the events of
30/6/1916 and explain how men from East Sussex
gave their lives in an attempt to ensure success for
the first day of the Battle of the Somme. King’s
Church building, 7pm for 7.30pm, £2/£3.

WEDNESDAY 10
Volume Control. Daniel
Rachel, author of 'Walls Come
Tumbling Down' opens a
Lewes Labour discussion on
whether music still has the
power to change politics for
the better (see pg 31). Phoenix
Centre, 7.30pm, free.
Ruskin and the Pre-Raphaelites. Talk on Ruskin’s
support of the brotherhood. Uckfield Civic Centre,
2.15pm, £7 (members free).
THURSDAY 11
Sussex Modernism. Talk with curator and lecturer
Dr Hope Wolf exploring the lives and works of
modernist artists, writers and communities that
came to Sussex in the early and mid-twentieth
century. The Keep, 5.30pm, £3.
FRIDAY 12
Film: Dark Horse (PG). All Saints, 8pm, £5.
SATURDAY 13 – SATURDAY 20
Woman in Mind. Lewes Theatre Group’s
performances of the Alan Ayckbourn play. See
lewestheatre.org.
SATURDAY 13
Every Sort of People festival. Inclusive community
festival featuring live music, DJs, art, food, fun
activities and more. The Dripping Pan, 1pm-8pm,
£6/£10 (under 7’s free). See pg 33.
First swim at the Pells. First dip after the winter
closure. Pells Pool, 12pm, see pellspool.org.uk.
Happy Hour. Jonathan Brown’s darkly comic oneman
show. All Saints, 7.30pm, £8-£10, somethingunderground.co.uk.
BOOK ONLINE
TO SAVE
15%
ENDS MIDNIGHT
7 JUNE
The South of England Show is celebrating
its 50th anniversary this year and it’s
going to be the best Show ever!
Thrilling new main ring entertainment · parades &
displays of prize-winning livestock · showjumping
& equestrian events · street entertainment · live
music stage · food & drink · acres of shopping ·
fairground… and much more!
Visit seas.org.uk for full details on this unmissable
countryside day out for the whole family.
Adults £21; Seniors/Students £19; Under 16’s FREE *
South of England Showground, Ardingly RH17 6TL
#SoEShow
www.seas.org.uk/booking
*when accompanied by a paying adult
51

Lewes
Little
Theatre
THE HOME OF
LEWES THEATRE CLUB
WOMAN IN
MIND
By Alan Ayckbourn
Directed by Tony Bannister
Saturday 13 May - Saturday 20 May 7:45pm
excluding Sunday. Matinee Saturday 20 May
2:45pm.
£12/Members £8
www.lewestheatre.org
Box Office: 01273 474826
COLLATERAL BEAUTY 12A 95mins
Friday 5th 5.45pm & Saturday 6th 8pm
Retreating from life after a tragedy, a man questions the
universe by writing to Love, Time and Death.
THE BIRTH OF A NATION 15 120mins
Friday 5th 8pm & Sunday 7th 5.30pm
US historical drama, based on the true story of Nat Turner,
who led the 1831 Southampton County Slave Rebellion.
THE LEGO BATMAN MOVIE U 104mins
Saturday 6th 3pm
A cooler-than-ever Bruce Wayne must deal with the usual
suspects as they plan to rule Gotham City, while discovering
that he has accidentally adopted a teenage orphan.
LIVE BY NIGHT 15 129mins
Saturday 6th 5.15pm & Sunday 7th 8pm
Ben Affleck writes, produces, and stars in this adaptation of
Dennis Lehane's sprawling crime novel centering on the
prodigal son of a prominent police chief, and his gradual
descent into the criminal underworld.
SING U 108mins
Saturday 20th 3pm
Receiving two Oscar Nominations in 2017 including Best
Animated Feature Film. With an all-star cast Sing follows a
community of animals taking part in a singing contest.
WOMAN
IN MIND
By
AlAN AyckBOurN
DIrecteD By
tONy BANNIster
LA LA LAND 12A 128mins
Saturday 20th 5.15pm & Sunday 21st 7.45pm
Dominating the 2017 award season with multiple awards
won including Best Actress, Best Director & Best Original
Music at the Oscars, BAFTA’s & Golden Globes. La La Land
is a musical comedy about the relationship between a jazz
musician and an aspiring playwright.
MANCHESTER BY THE SEA 15 134mins
Saturday 20th 8pm & Sunday 21st 5pm
Winner of Best Actor - Oscar, BAFTA & Golden Globes
2017 and Best Screenplay - Academy Award & BAFTA. After
the death of his older brother Joe, Lee reluctantly returns
to Manchester-by-the-Sea to care for his nephew and is
forced to deal with his past. Bonded by the man who held
their family together, Lee and Patrick struggle to adjust to a
world without him.
Info & advance tickets from the All Saints Centre
Office, the Town Hall, High Street, or
www.filmatallsaints.com
All Saints Centre, Friars Walk, Lewes, BN7 2LE
01273 486391

MAY listings (cont)
Charity Book Fair. Raising funds for Paws and
Claws animal rescue. Town Hall, 10am-4pm, 50p.
SUNDAY 14
Bee Sunday. Celebrating all things bee-related,
and examining how we can help them thrive.
Linklater Pavilion, 2pm-5pm, free.
‘A performance
of unwavering
and revelatory
intimacy’
êêêêê Guardian
Food Rocks. Street food and artisan produce,
pop-up bars and music. Cliffe High Street, free.
Kathryn Rudge song recital. Schubert, Tosti and
Elgar. Glynde Place, 4pm, £30 (under 16s £15).
FRIDAY 19 – MONDAY 29
Charleston Festival. For details of events see
charleston.org.uk/festival. See page 39.
FRIDAY 19
A Headstrong Club discussion: Rethinking
Transport. Stephen Joseph (executive director
of Campaign for Better Transport) will speak on
getting a better transport system that works for
everyone. Elephant and Castle, 8pm-10pm, £3.
Shirley
Collins
Lodestar
Live
Sun 14 May, 7.30pm
Brighton Dome
brightonfestival.org
01273 709709
brightonfestival
brightfest
53

Southease Open Gardens Fair
3 & 4 J U N E 2 0 1 7 , 1 2 . 3 0 - 5 P M
Come and see the delights of 5 charming Village Country Gardens centred
around the Ancient Church and Village Green. See beautiful flora and fauna,
great variety with favourite and unusual plants - the Giant Elephant Garlic, the
Corylus Avellana Contorta to different Clematii and Roses, Trees and Shrubs.
• Entry £6 per person (U11s free) • Free Car Parking
• Seaford Silver Band and other musical entertainment
• Food for lunch, homemade cakes, refreshments
• Variety of garden craft stalls including plant/ flower sales
• Children's Sunprinting Workshop (£5) to book ring 01273 514174
All proceeds go to the Church Fabric repair and general funds. Our Church is a 1000 years old and
this year we are going to be able to re-roof to ensure the Church remains open for all to enjoy.
For more information and booking workshops, visit www.southeasevillage.info
5MAY
MUSIC EVENINGS
@ The Con Club
BRING BACK THE WOLF
11 CARTER SAMPSON
12 THE LONG HAUL
13 SLIM CHANCE
17 WRECKLESS ERIC
18 KATHRYN ROBERTS & SEAN LAKEMAN
19 FOGHORN STRINGBAND
21 HOTFOOT SPECIALS BIG BAND
26 SHRIEKBACK
27 THE BEVIS FROND
28 SHOOGLENIFTY
SEE WEBSITE FOR DETAILS AND ENTRY
Friendly cats and kittens
seek loving homes
Lewes, Seaford & District
Cats Protection
(BN6-10 & BN25-26)
Call 01273 515605
For neutering services for your own
For neutering services for your own
cat, call 01273 813111

MAY listings (cont)
Crossing Borders. Early, Baroque and
Modern Music from the Pastores Ensemble.
Anne of Cleves’ House, 7.30pm, £5. Contact
annacrabtree1@hotmail.com.
SATURDAY 20 & SUNDAY 21
SUNDAY 21 – WEDNESDAY 31
La Traviata. Tom Cairns’ 2014 staging of Verdi’s
opera. Glyndebourne, times and prices vary, see
glyndebourne.com.
TUESDAY 23
Lewes Death Café. Conversations on death and
dying. The Ram Inn, Firle, 7pm-9pm, optional
donation.
WEDNESDAY 24
The Lost Theatres of Brighton. A talk by author
and local historian Christopher Horlock. The
Keep, 2.30pm, £3.
Film: La La Land (12A). All Saints, 5.15pm (20th)
and 7.45pm (21st), from £5.
Film: Manchester by the Sea (15). All Saints,
8pm (20th) and 5pm (21st), from £5.
SATURDAY 20 – SATURDAY 27
Hipermestra. The UK’s first production of the
rarely seen opera by the influential baroque composer
Francesco Cavalli. Glyndebourne, times and
prices vary, see glyndebourne.com.
SATURDAY 20
May Fayre. Traditional fair with games, local
crafts, music and talks. Food available and Harvey’s
beer. Priory Park, 10.30am-4pm, £2.50.
Official Pells opening. With newly returned paddling
pool. See pellspool.org.uk.
India Revisited. Lewes Think Tank talk with Revd
Dr Andrew Wingate, a former teacher in India.
Christ Church, 7.30pm-9pm, free.
THURSDAY 25 & FRIDAY 26
Walk in event. Regulation 14: Public Consultation
on the Draft Lewes Neighbourhood Plan. See
lewes4all.uk.
FRIDAY 26
Travels in Central America: Birds, Lakes and
Mayan Ruins. Illustrated talk with Lewes Footpaths
Group. Cliffe Church Hall, 7.30pm, free
with welcome donations.
Film: Rams (15). All Saints, 8pm, £5.
SATURDAY 27
What to grow on chalky soil. Session at Lewes
Community Allotment. 2pm-4pm, contact Sarah to
book a place flourishloap@gmail.com.
55

GLYNDE PLACE
CONCERT SERIES 2017
BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists
Kathryn
Rudge (mezzo-soprano)
with
James
Baillieu (piano)
Schubert Tosti Elgar
Quilter Coates Murray
Novello Britten Bridge
24 June - Beatrice Rana (piano)
29 July -Eivind Holtsmark Ringstad (viola)
4pm, 14 May 2017
Tickets & info:
glyndeplace.eventbrite.com
May Concert
Mozart
Overture Cosi fan tutte
Rodrigo
Concierto d’Aranjuez
(Soloist Paul Gregory)
Dvorak
Symphony No. 7
Friday 19th May 7:30pm
Lewes Town Hall, Fisher Street entrance
Info, tickets and prices visit:
www.lewesconcertorchestra.org
Because every life is unique
…we are here to help you make your
farewell as personal and individual as possible,
and to support you in every way we can.
Inc. Cooper & Son
42 High Street, Lewes
01273 475 557
Also at: Uckfield • Seaford • Cross in Hand
www.cpjfield.co.uk

ON THIS MONTH: CLASSICAL
Classical round-up
Overtures, oboes and oratorios
Music in May begins with a recital by
violinist Ellie Blackshaw and pianist
Yoko Ono. Blackshaw has performed
regularly with New Music Brighton
and has been a big promoter of Sussex
composers. Japan-born Yoko Ono
has performed round the world. Sun
7, 3pm, St Michael’s, free
The Lewes Concert Orchestra will offer Rodrigo’s
Concierto d’Aranjuez played by guitarist Paul Gregory.
The concert will open with Mozart’s Overture to Cosí
Fan Tutte and finish with Dvorak’s Symphony No. 7. Fri
19, 7.30pm, Town Hall, £10-12
19th Century chamber music is on the bill for the
Laplace String Trio who will present works by
Beethoven, Haydn, Schubert, Brahms and Richard
Strauss. Guest singers will be Sue Mileham, Jane
Money, Tim Wilcox and Andrew Robinson. Sat 20,
5.30pm, St Laurence Church, Falmer, free
The Corelli Ensemble’s music director
Maeve Jenkinson will provide the solo
part in Bach’s Violin Concerto in A minor,
and oboist Owen Dennis will play
Finzi’s Interlude for Oboe and Strings.
Other works include Handel's Concerto
Grosso Op. 6 No. 12 and Mendelssohn’s Sinfonia 10
in B minor. Sun 21, 4pm, St Pancras Church, £10-12,
under 18s free
There is a unique opportunity this month to sing
Michael Tippett’s moving oratorio, A Child of Our
Time. It will be presented as a day-long choral
workshop by conductors John Hancorn and Nicholas
Houghton, and pianist Nancy Cooley. The day will
end with an informal performance of selections from
the piece. Sat 27, 10am to 5pm, Sussex Downs College,
£20, workshops@musicsussex.org.uk PAK

live music
Chris difford &
glenn Tilbrook
from squeeze
Los pacaminos
featuring Paul young
nine below zero
kathryn Williams
noble jacks
the mountain
firework company
boutique
camping
night market
with over 200
shops
16-17-18 June
groombridge place
fashion tent &
catwalk
healing meadow
enchanted
forest
secret
illuminated
valley
entertainment &
workshops
sensational
street food
An innovative, eclectic & unique festival that
brings together the latest trends in shopping, gastronomy &
lifestyle alongside a sensational array of musical talent
curated by Chris Difford from squeeze & union music store
joyfestival.co.uk

GIG GUIDE // MAY
GIG OF THE MONTH: SHRIEKBACK (FRI 26TH)
After 25 years of studio confinement, postpunk
art-pop icons Shriekback are returning
to the stage, much to the delight of their
long-standing fan base. The new(ish) line
up now boasts eight members, still including
originals Barry Andrews (ex XTC) Carl
Marsh (ex Gang of Four) and Martyn Barker,
and they are kicking off their foray back in to
live gigging with a warm-up at the Con Club
in May. The band have received requests to
play live again for years, and after an incredibly
successful Kickstarter campaign, they are
ready to take their diverse catalogue and electric on-stage chemistry back on the road. There are currently
four live dates lined up for the UK with plans to follow them with gigs in Europe and America. So, remarkably,
it’s first stop Con Club, and next up the Shepherds Bush Empire on 3rd June…
MONDAY 1
Jack Stephenson piano trio. Jazz. The Snowdrop,
8pm, free
TUESDAY 2
English dance tunes session - bring instruments.
Folk. John Harvey Tavern, 8pm, free
MONDAY 8
Andy Panayi. Jazz flautist/sax player. The Snowdrop,
8pm, free
THURSDAY 11
THURSDAY 4
The Hot Club of Belleville. Vintage Hot
Swing. Pelham Arms, 8.30pm, free
FRIDAY 5
Bring Back the Wolf. Folk. Con Club, 8pm, free
Scuffle/The Sticks/ Sweet Williams. Proceeds
to Starfish Youth Music. Elephant and Castle,
8pm, £3/£5
SATURDAY 6
Rosie Hodgson & Rowan Piggott. Folk.
Elephant and Castle, 8pm, £6
SUNDAY 7
English dance tunes session. Folk. The Lamb,
12pm, free
Hunter Muskett. Acoustic/electric harmonies.
Elephant and Castle, 8pm, £7 advance from
Union Music/£8 on the door
Carter Sampson. Country. Con Club, 7.30pm,
£9/£11
FRIDAY 12
Geoff Rob CD Launch. Celtic/Spanish guitar
from the talented Lewes-based strummer.
Glynde Church, 7.30pm, £8
The Long Haul. Country/Americana. Con
Club, 9pm, free
59

GIG GUIDE // MAY (CONT)
SATURDAY 13
Slim Chance. Folk rockers from Ronnie Lane's
old band. Con Club, 7.30pm, £15
The Market Street Band. Blues/Jazz covers.
Snowdrop, 9pm, free
SATURDAY 20
Mark Morriss (of The Bluetones). Westgate
Chapel, 7pm, £15
Lynne Heraud & Pat Turner. Folk. Elephant &
Castle, 8pm, £7
MAY 22
Jazz Quinto. Latin jazz with Terry Seabrook.
The Snowdrop, 8pm, free
TUESDAY 23
Lewes Favourites tunes practice session. Folk.
Elephant & Castle, 8pm, free
Mandy Murray & friends. Irish Folk. Elephant
and Castle, 8pm, £6
Maxïmo Park. Geordie indie rockers. De La
Warr, 7pm, £20
Skarlettos. Ska covers. King's Head, 9pm, free
SUNDAY 14
Splash Point Jazz Club. Neal Richardson trio.
Westgate, 4pm, £10 (kids free)
Open Space Open Mic. Music, poetry and
performance. Elly, 7.30pm, free
MONDAY 15
Art Theman. Jazz saxophonist. The Snowdrop,
8pm, free
WEDNESDAY 17
Wreckless Eric. Veteran punk rocker, back from
the States. Con Club, 8pm, price tba
THURSDAY 18
Kathryn Roberts and Sean Lakeman. Folk
duo. Con Club, 7.30pm, £12
FRIDAY 19
Light Zeppelin. Acoustic covers. All Saints,
8pm, £8
FRIDAY 26
Shriekback. See Gig of the Month
SATURDAY 27
Sam Walker. Multi-talented multi-instrumental
indie. The Lansdown, 7.30pm, free
The Bevis Frond. Psychedelic Rock. Con Club,
7.30pm, £14 adv
A Boy Named Sue. Trad Folk. King's Head,
9pm, free
SUNDAY 28
Schooglenifty. Celtic Fusion. Con Club,
7.30pm, £16/£18
Jump Session. Swing/Jive DJ set. The Lamb,
4pm-8pm, free
MONDAY 29
Terry Seabrook Trio. Piano-led jazz threesome.
Snowdrop, 8pm, free
Putting on a local gig? Please send all the details to admin@vivamagazines.com
61

“Kindergarten children are
extremely well supported
to acquire the skills and
capacity to develop and
learn effectively.
The contribution of the
provision to the children’s
well-being is
outstanding.”
Ofsted (SIS)
Early Years Open Morning - 13 th May 2017
Please book online or contact us.
www.michaelhall.co.uk/early-years-open-morning
email: contact@michaelhall.co.uk or tel: 01342 822275
Kidbrooke Park, Priory Road, Forest Row. East Sussex, RH18 5JA
Registered Charity Number 307006
Got a
spare room?
THE UNIVERSITY OF SUSSEX
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Interested? Contact us today
E housing@sussex.ac.uk T 01273 678220

FREETIME UNDER 16 êêêê
WEDNESDAY 3
Theatre: Titus Andronicus. Shakespeare’s
Roman tragedy, performed al fresco, by the
Lewes Youth Theatre. Priory Ruins, 5pm and
8pm, £5/3.
SATURDAY 6
Film: The Lego Batman Movie
(U). Computer-animated superhero
comedy. All Saints, 3pm, from £5.
MONDAY 8
Tales for Toddlers. Activities nurturing
creativity, communication and confidence for
children 18 months to 5 years. De La Warr,
10.15am-11am & 11.15am-12pm, £1.
WEDNESDAY 10
Table top sale. Nearly new clothes for children.
South Malling School, 10am, £1.
SUNDAY 14
We Are Family. Mini family festival with 80s
and 90s house party classics, including DJs,
soft play and games. Town Hall, 3pm-6pm, £12
(under 3s free).
Cinderella and the Fairy
Slugfather. 30-minute
storytelling show with puppets.
Christ Church, 3.30pm, £5
(£15 for family of four) contact
Sally for more info puppetsall@yahoo.co.uk.
SATURDAY 20
Film: Sing (U). All-star animated movie
following animals taking part in a singing
contest. All Saints, 3pm, from £5.
FRIDAY 26 & SATURDAY 27
The Adventures of Jason and the
Argonauts. Lewes Theatre Youth
Group’s performance of the ancient
myth, adapted by Phil Willmott.
Lewes Little Theatre, 6pm (26th),
2pm & 6pm (27th), £4/£6.
SATURDAY 27 – MONDAY 29
Michelham Bowmen Living History Camp
& Archery Competition. Have-a-go archery
on the South Lawn. Archery competition is
restricted to registered participants. Michelham
Priory, see sussexpast.co.uk.
Wild Wood Weekend. Family event including
tree climbing, theatre performances, woodland
trail and various other activities. Wakehurst,
10am-5pm, price included in admission.
SUNDAY 28
The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Stage play with
puppets adapted from Eric Carle’s book of the
same name. De La Warr, 1pm & 3pm, £10/£12.
MONDAY 29
Morning Explorer access hour. Exclusively
for families with additional needs. Lewes Castle,
10am-11am, regular admission applies.
TUESDAY 30
Herbs and Scents.
Drop in and explore
the plants in the herb
garden. Make a herb
bag and some soap to
take home. Anne of
Cleves, 1pm-4pm, price
included in admission.

êêêê
YOUNG PHOTO
OF THE MONTH
Another semi-abstract picture in this slot! “I took this
picture of a colour reflection at Raystede on the 5th
April 2017,” says Bailey Nelson, aged 14. “I took it
because I loved how the colours reflected in such a
strong and bright way and the little speckles dancing
around the main beams,” she continues, before getting
philosophical, as well as poetic. “I also chose it because
it was very calming and it made me realise we all see the
world in different colours.” Very true, Bailey, especially
as one of our photo judges is colour blind!
Under 16? Please send your pictures to
photos@vivamagazines.com with your name, age, and a
sentence about when, where, and why you took it.
Chestnut Tree is the
children’s hospice for
East Sussex, caring
for children with lifeshortening
conditions
and their families. We
know there are more
families in Lewes who
need our care, and
we need your help to
reach them.
Whether you choose
to do a sponsored walk,
hold a coffee morning,
host a game or quiz
night, when you put
your Hands Up! to
fundraise we’ll help you
every step of the way.
Hands Up!
to Fundraise
Registered charity number: 256789
Volunteer | Donate | Fundraise | Participate | Shop
www.chestnut-tree-house.org.uk/handsup | 01323 725095

for life’s little adventures
Children’s clothes 0-10yrs
New Spring & Summer Collection
194 High Street, Lewes
East Sussex, BN7 2NS
01273 476646
SHOES ON NOW:
SUMMER FESTIVALS
êêêê
Over the last few years we’ve taken our brood to several summer
festivals and reckon we’ve picked up a few tips along the way:
1. Choose family-friendly festivals like Camp Bestival or
Elderflower Fields both of which have dedicated activities for
children, a glut of food tents and music for ages 4-80.
2. Routine: Some families abandon routines the moment they
arrive but we try to stick roughly to our usual routine, meals at regular times and an awareness of bed time
even if it happens at 11pm rather than 9pm.
3. Light: Never underestimate the value of a torch. Reading at night, stumbling out to locate the toilet, telling
ghostly bedtime stories or navigating your way to your neighbour’s tent in the dark. They’re essential.
4. Safety: Ensure your children follow a few safety rules. For us, it’s never go into the tent of someone you
don’t know; if you go to the toilet in the middle of the night take an adult with you; check in with us at meal
times; and for our youngest child who is only four we get a cheap t-shirt made up with our phone number
on it. He also carries a piece of paper in his pocket with details of our tent’s location just in case the mobile
reception isn’t working.
5. Food: I have three boys so know how snacks can really make or break a festival experience. Go large with
the marshmallows, generous with the Haribos and purely indulgent with the chocolate biscuits. Soon you’ll
be everyone’s favourite festival mum. Jacky Adams

FREE
ENTRY
Newhaven Fort Presents
Farmers
& Makers
Locally sourced Sussex suppliers
at Newhaven Fort
Sunday 4th June
Sunday 9th July
Sunday 6th August
10:00 am - 4:00 pm
Finest food, drink, art, design and craft market, supporting
emerging and established local artisans and producers.
The events will feature specially selected specialists, who
source, grow, rear, bake, make and create the products they
sell, which ensures their goods are unique, original and
designed to inspire.
For further information and market pitch enquiries
email: info@waveleisure.co.uk or call 01323 493061

êêêê
CHARITY CUT
We were contacted by young photographer Joe
Puxley, 15, who sent in this portrait of his friend
Emma Fossella, to help her raise money for the
Teenage Cancer Trust. Emma,
very boldly, had her head shaved
in order to publicise the cause.
She was aiming to raise at least
£950, the price of a teenager
to go on a weekend retreat:
when we went to press she had
raised 114% of that target. So
far, that is: her account is open
until the end of May, so if you
feel like contributing, feel free,
at justgiving.com/fundraising/Emma-Fossella.
Thanks, Joe, for a great picture, and well done
Emma for raising all that cash.
Immerse yourself in Wakehurst’s
wonderful woodland festival
Woodland crafts | tree climbing | storytelling | archery
27 – 29 May
Ten minutes’ drive from Haywards Heath
For details visit kew.org/wildwood

Aqua is a wonderful independent family run restaurant
serving fresh, seasonal dishes for every occasion.
BELLINI TIME
2 for 1 Sparkling Bellini cocktails
All Bellinis are £7.50
Served from noon to 7pm every day.
LUNCH & EARLY DINNER MENU
2 Courses £10.95 or 3 Courses £12.95
Served Monday to Saturday 12-7pm
TRADITIONAL SUNDAY ROAST
£11.95 Served all day Sunday
2 Courses £14.95 | 3 Courses £16.95
A choice of striploin of beef, slow roasted belly of pork
or chicken with homemade Yorkshire pudding, roast
potatoes, seasonal vegetables & all the trimmings.
NEW CHILDREN’S MENU
2 Courses & a drink £6.95
* Prices subject to change
The Old Courthouse, Lewes, BN7 2FS
Tel. 01273 470 763 | lewes@aqua-restaurant.com | www.aqua-restaurant.com
@aquaitalia
/aqua_restaurant
/aquaitaliarestaurant

FOOD REVIEW
The Feature Kitchen
Addis Ababa in your own back garden
“He said he was from
South Sudan,” says my
mum, down the phone.
“He was a very nice
chap.” And: “There’s
lots of bits. I don’t know
how you’re going to
heat it all up.”
I’m staying the weekend
at her house in
Kingston, but I’m out
and about on Saturday
evening, and she’s been left to collect and pay for
what will be Sunday’s lunch. The ‘bits’ are the
April menu from The Feature Kitchen, a new
takeaway delivery service, run by food author
Jacob Folio Todd, the ‘nice chap’.
It’s an enterprise based in Lewes; Jacob is planning
to invite a series of locally based chefs
from around the world to cook up a menu based
on their cuisine, which will be delivered on
Saturdays. Every month will feature a different
country: in April it’s Ethiopian food, devised by
Genet & Abeba, from Addis Ababa.
When I get home the fridge is packed full of
little labelled Tupperware boxes containing
exotic foodstuff. The labels say things like ‘misir
wat’, and ‘yebigir alicha’ and ‘ye-abesha gomen’.
There’s a little slip of paper with translations, in
this case ‘a rich spicy red lentil sauce flavoured
with Berbere spice mix’, ‘small pieces of lamb
stewed with onions and finished with turmeric’
and ‘braised spring greens with mild green chilli’.
In all there are eight different items, as well as
vast stretches of ‘injera’, translated as ‘Ethiopian
fermented staple, an aerated flatbread’ which is
soft and spongy and rolled into sausage shapes.
Sunday is about as hot as April days can get, so
we opt to eat in
the garden. My
mother – usually
quite adventurous
in her food
tastes – has opted
to have fish and
chips, however
nice the chap was,
so Rowena and I
are left with three
portions to get
through. The microwave comes into its own and
my wife’s eyes grow in anticipation as I bring
steaming dish after steaming dish to the table.
We’ve tried out the Ethiopian restaurant in
Baker Street in Brighton, so we know what to do.
The knife and fork is useful for cutting things
like chicken and hard-boiled egg, but the most
important utensil is the injera, which you use to
grab morsels of food from the various dishes,
to make little parcels. It’s messy, in our inexpert
hands, but it’s fun. My mother looks on for a bit
before opting to return to her book inside.
There’s a cabbagy dish that neither of us take to,
but other than that, everything is delicious. The
doro wat, cooked in a rich, (not overly) piquant
red Berbere sauce - one of the key ingredients to
cooking in this part of East Africa - is outstanding.
The whole process is educational, as well as
extremely tasty. It’s also all rather exciting. I
haven’t a clue what nationality Jacob is planning
to bring to our tables in May, but I’m eager to
find out.
Alex Leith
£12 per person, vegetarian menu also available.
07876655664 / thefeaturekitchen.co.uk /
info@thefeaturekitchen.co.uk
Photo by Rowena Easton
69

70
Photo by Rebecca Cunningham

RECIPE
Nettles
Medicinal chef and nutritionist Daphne Lambert
I just love the natural flow of things, of
what nature provides us. There is an abundance
of nettles in the spring and early
summer, rich in calcium, iron, potassium,
silicic acid, vitamin C & K, but you can
also preserve them they can nourish you
all year round!
May is really the last chance to pick nettles.
It’s good to be eating lots of them
if you’re someone that’s prone to having
seasonal allergies. I’d say nettle juice is
pretty amazing, but if you’ve got a family
of six with young kids, most of them
aren’t going to be drawn to a nettle juice,
even if you combine it, so part of what I
do is about how you take these ideas into
everyday life.
Nettle powder’s brilliant because you can
just hide it and people don’t know it’s in
their food, that’s what I used to do as a
strategy for little kids! You can actually
make your food far more mineral-dense by
adding some nettle powder. Over the last
50 years the minerals in our food have depleted
so much because of the way we farm
- some minerals for example have depleted
by 50-60% (according to government
figures) - so we are very deficient in minerals
in our diet now. You could put nettle
powder into anything that you bake; I’ve
put it in rye bread, and pancake mixture.
I’ve also used the powder in smoothies.
Lots of smoothie recipes will tell you to
put in some kind of vitality powder but
very few of them are grown in this country,
so I’d say make your own nettle powder
rather than using one from the other side
of the world. Nettles you could easily dry
on a sunny windowsill, just snip the top
seven leaves off the stem and lay them out
on newspaper. Always pick them before
they’re going to seed - once they’re beginning
to seed I wouldn’t use them at all.
If you make any soup with green leaves,
you’ve got to blanch the leaves rather
than actually cook them in the body of the
soup, or you’ll destroy the chlorophyll.
One of the most important reasons for
eating dark green leaves is the chlorophyll,
which is both cleansing and rejuvenating,
so you need to plunge the nettles into
boiling water for 30 seconds, strain them,
keeping that water, because that’s where
most of your minerals will be by now, and
then plunge the nettles into cold water
- that’ll set the chlorophyll. And into the
nettle water, you can put some onions and
a potato and some vegetables and a couple
of herbs and whatever else, and boil that till
it’s tender, then blend the lot together with
the nettles. Very simple, and incredibly
nourishing.
As told to Rebecca Cunningham
Daphne will be in conversation at the
Subud Centre on Sat 13th. Living Food,
tickets £10, via Eventbrite
71

The Pelham arms
HIGH ST • LEWES
A Great British pub, a warm welcome,
wonderful food & ambience
LEWES
FARMERS’
MARKET
Lewes’s first
Smokehouse
in a Pub!
Best Burgers for Miles
Simply Amazing Sunday Roasts
Great Venue for Celebrations
A SLICE OF SUSSEX
1ST & 3RD SATURDAY OF EACH MONTH
CLIFFE PRECINCT 9am - 1pm
www.commoncause.org.uk
OPENING HOURS
Monday
Bar 4pm to 11pm
Tuesday to Thursday
Bar 12 noon to 11pm
Food 12 noon to 2.30pm & 6 to 9.30pm
Friday & Saturday
Bar 12noon to Midnight
Food 12 noon to 2.30pm & 6 to 9.30pm
Sunday
Bar 12 noon to 10.30pm
Food12 noon to 8pm
GET IN TOUCH!
T 01273 476149 E manager@thepelhamarms.co.uk
@PelhamArmsLewes
pelhamarmslewes
Book online @ www.thepelhamarms.co.uk

FOOD
Stanmer House
Al fresco à la carte
The header of this piece is misleading, really, because there is
no such thing as Stanmer House anymore, the place has been
rebranded Proud Country House, Stanmer Brighton. It’s been
taken over by Alex Proud, the gallerist, cabaret owner, newspaper
column writer and all-round entrepreneur.
It’s an April day that would be considered lovely in July so we decide to sample dishes from their à la carte
menu while sitting in the garden, a very beautiful spot to sit. About two thirds of the tables are full; a series
of buskers perform covers. This could be annoying, but it’s not, because they’re pretty high quality buskers.
We both start with Asian spiced seared marinated tuna (£7): I follow this with red chicken curry (£13), and
Rowena goes for lamb cutlets (£17). When they both arrive I realise I’ve made a mistake: nothing wrong
with my curry (which comes with lychees and water chestnuts, and pitta rather than rice) but the cutlets
look delicious, and come with some perfectly cooked Dauphinoise potatoes. And taste delicious, too: I get
to chew on the bones.
No offence to the musicians, but the main entertainment is watching the odd assortment of waiters going
about their business. There’s lots of pointing, and standing around, and conflabs, and it makes me wonder
why there were so many of them, and why, with that being the case, we were asked to stand in a queue at the
bar to order. No matter: next time I’ll ask for burger and fries (£12), which, it must be said, looked amazing.
Alex Leith
Photo by Rowena Easton

倀 攀 氀 栀 愀 洀 䠀 漀 甀 猀 攀 䄀 昀 琀 攀 爀 渀 漀 漀 渀 吀 攀 愀 猀 䔀 砀 瀀 攀 爀 椀 攀 渀 挀 攀 猀
倀 攀 氀 栀 愀 洀 䠀 漀 甀 猀 攀 䄀 昀 琀 攀 爀 渀 漀 漀 渀 吀 攀 愀 昀 漀 爀 ㈀ 瀀 攀 漀 瀀 氀 攀 昀 漀 爀 ꌀ㈀ 㐀 ⸀ 㤀 㔀
倀 攀 氀 栀 愀 洀 䠀 漀 甀 猀 攀 刀 漀 礀 愀 氀 吀 攀 愀 昀 漀 爀 㐀 瀀 攀 漀 瀀 氀 攀 昀 漀 爀 ꌀ 㐀 㤀
䔀 渀 樀 漀 礀 愀 渀 䄀 昀 琀 攀 爀 渀 漀 漀 渀 吀 攀 愀 眀 椀 琀 栀 愀 最 氀 愀 猀 猀 漀 昀 倀 爀 漀 猀 攀 挀 挀 漀 ℀
嘀 愀 氀 椀 搀 䘀 爀 椀 搀 愀 礀 Ⰰ 匀 愀 琀 甀 爀 搀 愀 礀 Ⰰ 匀 甀 渀 搀 愀 礀 ⸀ 匀 攀 爀 瘀 攀 搀 戀 攀 琀 眀 攀 攀 渀 アパートⴀ 㔀 瀀 洀
眀 眀 眀 ⸀ 瀀 攀 氀 栀 愀 洀 栀 漀 甀 猀 攀 ⸀ 挀 漀 洀 ⼀ 搀 椀 渀 椀 渀 最 ⼀ 愀 昀 琀 攀 爀 渀 漀 漀 渀 ⴀ 琀 攀 愀
爀 攀 挀 攀 瀀 琀 椀 漀 渀 䀀 瀀 攀 氀 栀 愀 洀 栀 漀 甀 猀 攀 ⸀ 挀 漀 洀 ㈀ 㜀 アパート 㐀 㠀 㠀 㘀
匀 琀 ⸀ 䄀 渀 搀 爀 攀 眀 猀 䰀 愀 渀 攀 Ⰰ 䰀 攀 眀 攀 猀 Ⰰ 䈀 一 㜀 唀 圀

FOOD
Edible updates
Oh yes, festival season is here and Middle Farm’s own Pookhill Spring
Cider is now on sale. The first of their 2016 vintage is pressed at the
farm from organically grown Dabinett cider apples, slurp!
Lewes Food Market are welcoming back Mesto and their divine Cretan
single estate olive oil (double slurp!), and Calcot Farm, whose fine
charcuterie is made in Ashurst, near Steyning.
Also at the market: Brighton’s Pirate’s Pantry, a cool new enterprise
turning would-be food waste into tasty chutneys, preserves and cordials. Plus, a range of fruit and veg
smoothies and savouries from YouJuice, also from Brighton, promise a healthy start to the day.
Food Rocks Lewes is back on 14th May with their tempting array of street food. The Feature Kitchen
storm into month two: offering limited edition African-Carribean takeaway on weekends 5th, 12th &
19th May (see pg 69). And another takeaway service is in the offing soon, this time from Tina Deubert,
who would like to hear your thoughts - pop into Tina’s Kitchen for details of her prize draw.
The Bluebell Railway ‘Rail and Ale’ events, I can heartily recommend: a truly special attraction, plus
Harvey’s, on May 19th. Pelham House are teaming up with Breaky Bottom to offer an extra special
cream tea for two on their terrace at £24.95. To finish, two Community Chef workshops promise to jazz
up your summer cookery skills and impress your barbecue guests: gluten free ferments on 13th May and
flatbreads and fillings from around the world (25th May). Chloë King
Illustration by Chloë King
CNM
TRAINING SUCCESSFUL PRACTITIONERS
COLLEGE OF
NATUROPATHIC
MEDICINE
CHANGE CAREER
Train to become a…
Nutritionist Herbalist Acupuncturist
Homeopath Naturopath Natural Chef
Postgraduate Courses and Short Courses also available
Colleges throughout the UK, Ireland, Finland, USA
Part time and full time studies
01342 410 505 www.naturopathy-uk.com
Attend a FREE
Open Evening
at CNM Brighton
or CNM London
75

keen as...
...from start to finish
Nutshell:spaces. Imaginative ways of making homes more
interesting, practical and different.

THE WAY WE WORK
You might be familiar with Guy Buckland’s work from billboards, fashion glossies
or the sides of buses. One of his specialities is taking revealing portraits: we asked
him to take a day out of his busy schedule to go behind the scenes at Glyndebourne
Opera House. He asked his subjects: what is your favourite opera?
guybucklandphotography.com
Ian Julier, Senior Librarian
Favourite opera: Wagner’s Ring Cycle – that’s four so I suppose it’s cheating! It’s
probably the greatest musical work for the stage ever written.

THE WAY WE WORK
Catriona Shepard, Receptionist
Favourite opera: It’s an absolute no-brainer – our production of Saul was just knockout,
the most extraordinary piece of theatre.

THE WAY WE WORK
Roger Needham, Driver
Favourite opera: Probably Saul because of the incredible set and the size
and diversity of the cast – I thought it was magnificent.

Hats off
for Summer
at
L E W E S
Darcey has joined forces with
wedding florist Darling Buds of
Sussex and milliners Lomax &
Skinner to showcase all that’s
glamorous and gorgeous about
the summer season.
On Thursday 4th May we will
be offering 15% off all Darcey
purchases, plus a free glass of
fizz. Shop for summer clothes,
hats and flowers, and enjoy live
music from Alison David.
Thursday 4th May,
9.30am-5.30pm
11 Cliffe High Street, Lewes
01273 474 667
www.darcey.co.uk

THE WAY WE WORK
Kevin Martin, Head Gardener
Favourite opera: Eugene Onegin which was only the second opera I ever saw.
It has a big chorus, lots of scene changes and lovely music.

COLUMN
Photo by Richard Madden
Walkies
#3 Plumpton Half Moon Pub Circular
It’s a beautiful day and Spring has most definitely
sprung. Blossom is exploding on the trees and wild
flowers are everywhere. My wife Sarah and I, with
Todd in the back, are bowling along the road at the
base of the Downs towards Plumpton and I'm waxing
lyrical about the dandelions in the fields.
“It’s as if Jackson Pollock had flicked egg-yolk
yellow paint all over a canvas of emerald green,” I
pronounce grandly. This in turn reminds me of a
poem by Andrew Marvell. “You know, the one about
a ‘green thought in a green shade’”. But I soon
realise I’ve lost my audience.
Sarah is more worried about Todd getting dehydrated
as he has a history of getting a gippy tummy
from questionable water sources. After parking
up, we dutifully offer him some finest Evian water
decanted into vintage tupperware but Todd is having
none of it. He wants to get on with it and can’t
understand our obsession with sticking water under
his nose. Instead, a couple of naughty doggy treats
go down much better and we are finally on our way.
But, oh dear, what now? We are only halfway up
Plumpton Bostall when I collapse in a heap, grabbing
my foot. Todd thinks this is an invitation to
cover my face in a slobbery tongue-fest and I am
soon rolling around doubled-up in pain and laughing
uncontrollably at the same time.
Despite my rufty-tufty self-image, over recent years
I have developed an embarrassing susceptibility to
gout. It’s an affliction that attracts pain and mockery
in equal measure despite my attempts to persuade
friends that alcohol consumption has nothing to do
with it. “It’s all down to the uric acid in sardines,” I
tell them. “But you never eat sardines,” they annoyingly
reply.
Removing my boot and casting a professional eye
over my foot, Sarah notes that that there is no
swelling (she’s not a Bowen therapist for nothing)
and therefore is unlikely to be gout. While I silently
pray no other walkers will suddenly appear and get
the wrong end of the stick, Sarah stretches me out
and twangs muscles up and down my leg which has
me crossing my eyes in a curious mixture of pain
and pleasure.
As if by magic, the stabbing pain in my foot is soon
gone and we complete our circuit along the top of
the Downs and back to the pub in a haze of Springinduced
euphoria.
“You know, Jackson Pollock was a true genius,” I try
again as we arrive back at the car. But my words are
drowned out by the sound of glugging and slurping.
This time Todd is downing his Evian water with
true gusto. Richard Madden
Map: OS Explorer: 122. Distance: 3 miles. Terrain:
Steep climb on to the Downs with easy walking at
the top. Start/End: Half Moon Pub, Plumpton. 01273
890253. Directions: Follow the Plumpton Bostall
path opposite (left) from the pub on to the Downs
and then east for a mile along the top, circling back
before reaching Black Cap.
82

FEATURE: WILDLIFE
Swifts
Support your local superheroes
Illustration by Mark Greco
These are certainly uncertain times. Who knows
where this planet is heading? But at the start
of May I shall be looking to the sky for a sign
of reassurance: the return of the Lewes swifts
from Africa. Ted Hughes expressed it perfectly:
“They’ve made it again / Which means the
globe’s still working, the Creation’s / Still waking
refreshed, our summer’s / Still all to come”.
Swifts may not look like much, they’re basically
two wings and a mouth, but it’s hard to explain
their abilities without making them sound supernatural.
Swifts are all about flying. They feed,
scream and mate in the air and bathe in the rainclouds.
At night they switch off half their brain,
switch on cruise control and fall asleep amongst
the stars. If they had their way they would never
come down. But there’s one little flaw in their
plan: eggs don’t float. So, for just a few weeks
of the year, they begrudgingly swap the open
skies for a cramped nest under the eaves where
they raise their young. The problem in recent
years is that most of these little gaps have been
lost to renovations and modern architecture.
The destruction of their homes is one of the
reasons why swift numbers have fallen. They are
refugees on the wind.
A group of local volunteers, determined to
ensure this iconic bird remains a part of our
Lewes summer soundtrack, have started the
Lewes Swift Supporters. The group have already
been working with local residents keen to
provide a nest box on their home. If you could
accommodate a swift box (or boxes) please get
in touch with us and we can assess if your house
is suitable. We’ve recently worked with The
Depot and have installed some special hollow
swift nesting bricks in the cinema. You may
have caught me on Countryfile chatting to Helen
Skelton (they promised me John Craven) and
promoting Lewes as the swift-lovin’ centre of
Sussex. We’re also looking for new members to
join the group and help with surveys. And we’re
searching for some friendly builders who could
help with swift box installation.
On May 10th national swift expert Edward
Mayer will be talking about these incredible
birds in the Lecture Room at Lewes Town Hall.
The talk starts at 7.30pm. Admission is a donation
to Lewes Swift Supporters (a donation of
£5 or more will get you group membership and
a snazzy enamel badge). We’ll also be holding
‘Swift Walk and a Swift Pint’ events in July,
watching screaming swift parties before popping
in to the Lewes Arms. All details on our website:
lewesswifts.org.uk.
Let’s keep the Lewes skies screaming.
Michael Blencowe, Sussex Wildlife Trust
michaelblencowe@sussexwt.org.uk
83

COLUMN
Lewes Out Loud
Plenty more Henty
Despairing of comedy on
television and browned
off by the antics of Mrs.
Brown and ‘her’ entire
entourage, I decided
one Tuesday evening
recently to attend what
was described as a ‘comedy
night’ at All Saints
centre in Friars Walk. I
was not alone.
Comedy Beats for the 12th Man was a fund-raising
event for Lewes FC, and provided me with further
evidence that my idea to form a new society
in the town – BMWG or bearded men with
glasses – was a definite ‘goer’.
In a predominantly male audience, the beards
were there in numbers, but on this raucous occasion
the glasses concerned were full of Harvey’s
Best, which certainly helped the latter end of a
rather protracted evening.
I don’t know about you, but I’m old fashioned
enough to weary a little at being battered by barrack
room language and blokes jokily discussing
how to avoid prostate cancer.
I did win a raffle prize though. Does anyone
know (politely) what I should do with an outsize
England shirt for the year 2006? I guess it would
make a super marquee if you were planning a
party to watch European football this summer.
Comedy for me will always be the ‘Carry On’
films, the Marx Brothers, Laurel and Hardy. Cinema
in other words, and that’s why I’m delighted
we’re about to get our own multi-screen complex
in town.
Mind you, as a very small child I had to be
removed from a Classic cinema by my parents for
screaming uncontrollably
at a comic
incident on screen. As a
schoolboy, I smoked my
first cigarette in the one
and nines and ogled at
Silvana Mangano up
to her thighs in water
during the 1949 Italian
movie Bitter Rice.
At that time, to view an
‘A’ for adult picture when on my own, it was often
a case of asking total strangers to take me in.
Common practice then, but imagine it today!
When a reporter, I witnessed police horses in
the Savoy Cinema, Broad Green, as Bill Haley’s
music caused a riot during a showing of Blackboard
Jungle and I experienced ‘smelly’ cinema
(Aromarama) in New York 1964. Then there was
the spoilsport usherette in the Regal, Purley, who
regularly flashed her torch along the back row of
the stalls with the hissed warning “I don’t want
any sticky fingers!” …and that was before the
dreaded popcorn burst onto the scene.
Brief encounters this month? Curtis in Homebase
and an unsuccessful search for an ecohalogen,
screwcap bulb. Life in Lewes can be so exciting at
times. Greetings to Andy on windows, GM Taxi
Graham and smiling Geraldine. I’d also like to
credit ‘soprano sax’ man on Cliffe Bridge for his
rendition of Dizzy Gillespie’s Night in Tunisia.
I was the only person who recognised it and
he was impressed when I told him how I’d met
Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald and Oscar Peterson in
May 1958, at ‘Jazz At The Philharmonic’, Davis
Cinema, Croydon. Yes - another cinema memory!
John Henty
85

SUSSEX TILE CENTRE
Call us on 01273 281481
Unit E Rich Industrial Estate, Avis Way, Newhaven, BN9 0DU
www.stc4tiles.com

HEALTH
Senior Socialising
The importance of staying active
A full social life is
something many of us
take for granted, but
for thousands of older
people, isolation and
loneliness are commonplace.
And it’s not just a
social problem. According
to research published
last year in Psychology and
Ageing, staying active into
old age safeguards health,
with those who live a
more socially active life experiencing less ‘terminal
decline’ and greater ‘emotional wellbeing’ than
their more solitary counterparts.
Contact the Elderly echoes the findings in its latest
survey, which has just been published. Operating
throughout England, Scotland and Wales, the charity
organises monthly Sunday afternoon tea parties
for some 5,000 people over the age of 75. Its Impact
Report 2015-16 states that 77% of its ‘guests’ feel
happier after joining a tea party group, with 73%
feeling less lonely, and 90% reporting that they had
made new friends.
The organisation’s James Yelland comments: “We
are the only national charity dedicated to tackling
loneliness and social isolation among older people,
and for many elderly people Sunday is the most
lonely day of the week. Many shops are shut, public
transport may not be running, and it’s a day which is
traditionally spent with family or friends.”
“Relationships are the only real solution to loneliness,”
he continues, “so we take people who would
otherwise be alone, and we provide volunteer
drivers who pick them up and drive them home,
and volunteer hosts who give them afternoon tea.
The groups are small, so everyone can get to know
one another well, and the
majority of guests are in
their eighties and nineties
- although we have a few
centenarians too.”
Tea party venues near
Lewes include Brighton,
Haywards Heath, Heathfield
and Eastbourne.
For weekday socialising,
the Lewes House
of Friendship provides
a home from home for
older members of the community, and is open
Monday to Friday from 9.30am to 1.30pm, at its
High Street premises next to Flint Owl Bakery.
Annual membership costs £10 a year (or £15 for
couples), and activities include exercise classes, computer
training, snooker and billiards, card games
and Scrabble, and lip-reading classes - although
members can just drop in for lunch, a tea or coffee,
or to sit in the secluded garden.
Another local organisation is the Deans Senior Tea
Club, which runs free groups for older people in the
Lewes area. As well as regular trips out, members
can enjoy entertainment, art and craft sessions,
quizzes, games, and other activities.
Long-term member Yvonne Robbins says: “Since
losing my husband nine years ago and moving to a
different area, I’ve found a whole new social group
through the Tea Club. The events are always fun
and well organised, and I’ve made many friends and
had lots of new experiences. It’s made a huge difference
to me, and I would definitely recommend it to
anyone.” Anita Hall
Contact the Elderly: 01273 805451; Lewes House of
Friendship: 01273 476469; Deans Senior Tea Club:
01273 307435.
87

Pat Hennessy
General Manager, The Con Club
A lot of people still
think that’s short for the
‘Conservative Club’. It’s
not. It’s the Constitutional
Club, which is an entirely
different thing.
I’ve been working here
for two years, after eight
years at the Horse and
Groom in Brighton. We
did a lot of music there, and we’re doing a
lot of music at the Con Club. Before that I
ran a load of pubs in North West London. I
came down south for a weekend, to clear my
head, and stayed.
You might say things are looking pretty
healthy here. As we speak we’re still recovering
from three gigs
in three nights by the Sun
Ra Arkestra, all three sold
out. They were amazing.
The Con Club has hit the
radar of some really good
promoters who realise that
it’s a little gem of a place,
like Dictionary Pudding,
Steve Foster and our very
own Union Music Store. That’s why we’ve
seen the likes of Wire, Gong, Jah Wobble,
Dr Feelgood and Sharks in recent months.
That’s why Krautrock legends Faust and
American punks The Dickies are playing
later in the year.
The venue holds 250, though we usu-
Photos by Alex Leith
88

MY SPACE
ally cap it at 220. There aren’t many places
of that sort of size in Brighton, between the
Albert, which holds about a hundred, and
Concorde 2, which is about six or seven
hundred. But people also come from all the
towns round Lewes, because they can avoid all
the hassle of going into Brighton. Somebody
came all the way from Northampton to see
Sun Ra Arkestra.
There are around 350 Con Club members
and they still get money off their drinks, and
discounted tickets to gigs. But one of the first
things I did was to change the licence, meaning
that anyone can come in now, and use
it like a pub. You wouldn’t know it from the
front, but there’s a lovely garden in the back.
We’re a free house. Of course we sell Harvey’s
Best. We also sell Long Man Brewery
beer. We’ve got a kitchen, but we don’t do
food, as a rule, apart from special occasions.
It’s a very versatile space: we have comedy
nights, ukulele practice sessions, weddings…
My favourite Con Club gig moment?
When Chris Spedding [of Sharks] started
playing his guitar, it made the hairs on the
back of my neck stand up.
And yes, it’s true. Our stage did once belong
to Cliff Richard. As told to Alex Leith
lewesconclub.com
89

BRICKS AND MORTAR
The Depot Cinema
Architect, Stefanie Fischer
“It’s designed beyond the requirements of building
regulations with an eye to achieving best practice,”
says Stefanie Fischer, of Burrell Foley Fischer, responsible
for designing The Depot Cinema. Which
is architecture-speak for ‘we’ve pulled all the stops
out to make it extremely sustainable and accessible.’
I don a hard hat, hi-vis jacket and steel-toed boots
and Stefanie shows me around what is still a busy
building site, exactly six weeks before the first
screening. She answers the obvious question with
some confidence. Yes, they’re on track to be open
to the public on schedule (May 27th). The main
delay was caused by council quibbles about parking
which, she reveals, didn’t take into consideration the
sort of people who use Picturehouse-style cinemas.
She escorts me into a building that is really taking
shape, pointing out each of the three screening
rooms, the educational workshop and its ‘breakout’
space, the bar restaurant, the mini bar, the ticket
office, which bit of the outside space will be orchard
and which will be wild meadow. She shows me the
fine flint work ‘The Flint Man’ has done, and which
of the roofs will have grass on it.
You get the feeling that the architect-client relationship
has been better than normal, and that BFF
have been given support to be ambitious with their
plans. Her company is a veteran of scores of other
cinemas and arts building designs, she tells me,
citing the Picturehouse in Exeter, Norwich Cinema
City, Harbour Lights in Southampton, the Rio in
Dalston, the Ciné Lumière in London and a few
more. She says each project has been very different
from the one before it, but that this one – needing
to blend in with a lot of surrounding listed buildings
to the sensitive requirements of the South Downs
National Park - took a lot of planning time indeed.
The three screening rooms, housed in the shell
of the original Depot building, have already been
carpeted, as I look round, but are yet to have
their “very comfortable Quinette Gallay” seats
installed. The rooms are named after the colour
of their screens. The Purple Screen (140 seats) is
the highest-spec one with the Dolby Atmos sound
system; the Blue Screen (130) and the Black Screen
(30) have to settle for Dolby Surround Sound.
Workmen are tacking artwork onto the wall: digital
reproductions of figure paintings the artist Julian
Bell daubed on the Depot walls when it was his
studio. In the foyer, Stefanie tells me, will hang a
large print by Stephen Chambers, Big Country.
The first ever screening will be a private one for
Stefanie and the team involved with the construction
of the building. She doesn’t know which film
will be on (“that’s for Carmen to decide”); ideally
she would sit in a central seat at a 60-degree angle
from either side of the screen, which offers the ‘best
optical experience’. When I tell her I always sit at
the front she tells me that there will be footstools
in front of those seats. That, for me, is the icing on
quite a cake. Alex Leith
90

TRADE SECRETS
Carmen Slijpen
Creative Director, Depot Cinema
Photo by Alex Leith
The Depot Cinema will open to the public on
May 27th, with a crazily mixed weekend of films,
before we move into a normal week of programming
on Tuesday 30th.
Lewes Community Screen is the charity that
runs the Depot, an arts venue with a responsible
and sustainable outlook; we are set up to serve the
whole community with a diverse range of films. We
will also run a café-bar-restaurant, and an educational
workshop space.
We have three screens that will be in use all week,
from 2pm to beyond 10pm for the main programme,
with specialised screenings some mornings,
too. We’re aiming to show between five and
ten different films a week. The café/restaurant will
be open for breakfast, and until the cinema closes.
We will programme a mixture of mainstream
movies and arthouse movies. It’s important to
point out that Star Wars-type blockbusters cost a lot
more than other films, and usually insist on having
long runs, so in the interest of keeping a diverse
programme we will probably book such movies
after their first run.
For me the magic of the cinema comes out
when you watch a film with other people. I rarely
laugh in front of the TV on my own, for example,
laughing as part of an audience is a tremendous
feeling. We hope that many people will consider
watching films in the cinema more frequently.
The Depot is a high-spec cinema. Screen One is
equipped with a 4K projector and a Dolby Atmos
sound system, which creates the ultimate immersive
experience currently available in cinemas. More and
more films are mixed in Dolby Atmos, and I aim to
show this off as much as I can, because subtle sound
can be very evocative and stir deep emotions.
We’ve worked hard to be fully accessible, with
everything on the ground floor and central viewing
positions for wheelchair users, dementia-friendly
screenings, braille signage throughout the building,
infra-red hearing loops etc.
We will include a good deal of ‘Cinema+’ in the
programme; this means Q&A sessions with directors,
workshops connected with films, event-related
seasons, etc. I’m also interested in using cinema as
a spark for social change, working with Amnesty,
refugee groups and Transition Town Lewes, etc.
Our restaurant manager spent 25 years in New
Zealand, and he’ll introduce ‘Australasian’ cuisine
to Lewes. We’ll source seasonal, locally produced
food. 50% of all the drinks will be organic; the rest
biodynamic or locally produced. We’re hoping to
pull in cinema goers, of course, but also people
coming just to eat or drink.
The onus is on trying things out, being progressive,
daring, looking forward and not being afraid
to make mistakes. And of course, not to lose sight of
the main reason we’re here: entertainment. It’s all
very exciting.
Interview by Alex Leith
91

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BUSINESS NEWS
Of course the biggest bit of business news in May
by far is the opening of our spanking new cinema
– The Depot – with its restaurant, bars and
other facilities. As we went to press we learnt the
pricings of tickets, which are generally lower than
the equivalent in Brighton cinemas. On Sunday to
Thursday tickets cost £6 in the day, and £8 after
5pm. On Friday and Saturday tickets cost £9 all
day. Students, concessions and kids' tickets cost
£4. A year’s membership will set you back £40 but
that includes four free tickets, £1 off any film you
see that year, and 10% off food and drink (though
not in conjunction with other offers).
We were also told some of the releases in the
opening weekend, the range of which gives an
indication of the breadth of programming we
can expect to see in the future. Films include
60s classics (Jean-Luc Godard’s Le Mépris, see
right) Oscar winners (La La… sorry, Moonlight)
foreign language drama (The Handmaiden, Elle,
The Salesman) documentaries (The Eagle Huntress,
Life, Animated) superhero scifi (Logan) and
kids’ films (Peppa the Pig, Beauty and the Beast).
See you there.
It’s a bit ‘after the Lord Mayor’s Show’, but
the other big opening to report on is actually a
re-opening, of Southover Grange, which sees
its first wedding, since shutting for long-term
refurbishment, on April 29th. Why are we telling
you this in Business News? The facilities will also
be available for private hire.
We were interested to note that, despite the old
Lloyds Bank building on the High Street looking
as dowdy as ever, Côte have started advertising for
staff: hopefully the presence of the French-themed
restaurant – under the same management as Bill’s
– will bring some footfall that way, because the
closure of Dome hairdressers has left even more
empty premises at the west end of the top of town.
Last chance gulch if you want to enter the Lewes
District Business Awards, which you have to do
by 5pm on May 5th. We are proud to be sponsoring
the Culture, Leisure and Tourism Award.
Finally, a few shorts. If you need to know
somewhere your friends can stay if there’s no
room on the couch, a new independent collective
has started, called Short Stay Lewes, offering
bed and breakfast accommodation in and around
town. And good luck to Kit and Kaboodle, a
Lewes-based ‘online retail emporium’ selling
high-quality gentlemen’s clothing. One of the two
gentlemen running the business is Gustav Temple,
editor of The Chap magazine, which should tell you
much of what you need to know about the style of
clothes on offer. And finally, it’s May, so it’s time
for Pells Pool to open, on May 20th. Check their
website for details of times and prices: please note
10am starts and early morning swim options.
Got any business news? Please send to
alex@vivamagazines.com
Brigitte Bardot and Jack Palance in Le Mepris
93

DIRECTORY
Please note that though we aim to only take advertising from reputable businesses, we cannot guarantee
the quality of any work undertaken, and accept no responsibility or liability for any issues arising.
To advertise in Viva Lewes please call 01273 434567 or email advertising@vivamagazines.com
a & s
aerials & satellites
OAP
DISCOUNT
www.asltd.co.uk
*Subject to conditions & availability
WE WILL BEAT ANY PRICE
We pride ourselves on the quality and price of our work.
“We Try Harder.”
Family Run Business
Covering the area
for over 50 years
• All TV AERIALS & Satellite TV
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Directory Spotlight:
Angela Wadman, The Silent Stylist
I'm not just about hair. I'm a
freelance personal stylist and
hairdresser working mainly
within a ten-mile radius of
Lewes. I specialise in cutting
and creating ‘hair up’ styles for
all occasions.
I call myself ‘The Silent
Stylist’ because I prefer to be
quiet and focused, offering
a calm and relaxed experience
for all of my clients. I only use
Aveda and certified organic hair products.
Many middle-aged women feel invisible and
disillusioned when it comes to knowing what to
purchase and wear, whatever their lifestyle.
My creative talents lie in knowing how to put
together various looks, seeking out notable
and distinctive accessories that
give a strong look to an otherwise
plain outfit, be it a beautiful scarf
or striking jewellery.
I also provide a wardrobe
declutter service and arrange
an allocated time for tailored
shopping trips, aiming for a
stress-free experience. Prior
to shopping or decluttering, I
provide an initial consultation of
30 to 45 minutes, where I can get
an idea of my client’s requirements.
I keep an eye on seasonal trends but don't adhere
to full-on high-street fashion. Investing in
quality pieces needn't be costly in the long term.
Interview by Mark Bridge
07973 290824 / wadmanangela@gmail.com
95

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CP Viva Lewes Ad (Qtr Pg)_62 x 94mm 18/02/2011 17:
Colin Poulter
Plastering
Professional Plasterer
Over 25 years experience
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Jason Eyre
Painting and Decorating
jasoneyre2@gmail.com
07766 118289
01273 858300

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Nina Murden, the Lewes Seamstress
- Bespoke curtains and Roman blinds
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totally reliable.
www.jackplanecarpentry.co.uk
01273 483339 / 07887 993396

GARDENS
Global
Gardens
Design,
Restoration &
Landscaping
HEALTH AND WELLBEING
Mobile 07941 057337
Phone 01273 488261
12 Priory Street, Lewes, BN7 1HH
info@ globalgardens.co.uk
www.globalgardens.co.uk
alitura
01273 401581/ 07900 416679
S1.001_QuarterPage_Ad_01.indd 1 design@alitura.co.uk 12/11/10 18:24:51
landscape and garden design
www.alitura.co.uk
Services include
- Garden Design & Project Monitoring
Counselling in Lewes
Lizzie Gilbert (BACP)
bereavement, depression, anxiety
07951 850129
lizziegilbert@thecounsellingloft.co.uk
- Redesign of Existing Beds & Borders
- Plant Sourcing
Call us for a free consultation
Doctor P. Bermingham
Retired Consultant Psychiatrist. Retired Jungian Psychoanalyst.
Assc Medical Psychotherapy. Psychodynamic psychotherapy for
depression. Supervision for therapists.
drpbermingham@gmail.com
MINDFUL LIVING
Meditation and awareness in daily life
inspired by Buddhist teachings
Monday evenings at Linklater Pavilion
triratnalewes@gmailcom 07759777301

HEALTH AND WELLBEING
River Clinic
OSteOpathy
& Cranial
OSteOpathy
Michaela Kullack & Simon Murray
Experienced, Registered Osteopaths
COMpleMentary therapieS
Acupuncture, Alexander Technique,
Bowen Technique, Children’s Clinic,
Counselling, Psychotherapy, Family
Therapy, Herbal Medicine, Homeopathy,
Hypnotherapy, Massage, NLP, Nutritional
Therapy, Life Coaching, Physiotherapy,
Pilates, Reflexology, Shiatsu
Therapy rooms available
To renT
Open Monday to Saturday
01273 475735
River Clinic, Wellers Yard,
Brooks Road, Lewes BN7 2BY
email: info@lewesosteopathy.com
www.lewesriverclinic.co.uk
like us on Facebook
Central Lewes based
practice offering
Psychotherapy, Counselling,
Psychology and Functional
Medicine
We work with individuals, couples,
families, adolescents and children
SUN PROTECTION
We are at last seeing some beautiful weather
which we hope you are getting out to enjoy.
Don't forget your sun protection the sun's
rays can be strong despite the cooler air
temperature, but make sure you also get
enough exposure to make your vitamin D -
see NHS Choices for advice on vitamin D
and sun protection.
The pollen levels are high please ask for
advice at the pharmacy for treatments that
may suit you if you are affected.
Finally thank you all for your support we are
very pleased to say we achieved 99% on our
patient satisfaction questionnaire and we have
also secured some additional funding which
means we will be able to continue to offer a
valued service to our customers.
Psychotherapy (UKCP registered)
Sam Jahara, Transactional Analyst
Individuals, Couples & Groups
Mark Vahrmeyer, Integrative Psychotherapist
Individuals & Couples
Angela Betteridge, Systemic Psychotherapist
Couples, Children & Families
Dr Simon Cassar, Existential Psychotherapist
Individuals & Couples
Clinical Psychology
Jane Craig, HCPC reg.
Individuals, Couples & Groups
Nutritional & Functional Medicine
Tanya Borowski, IFM-certified, DipCNM, mBANT
01273 921355
The Barn, 64 Southover High Street, Lewes, BN7 1JA
www.brightonandhovepsychotherapy.com
Appointments Monday to Friday and Saturday mornings

HEALTH AND WELLBEING
Ruth Wharton Viva Advert 3.17 AW.qxp_6 31/03/2017 09
CLIFFE OSTEOPATHS
complementary health clinic
Anthea Barbary
LicAc MBAcC Dip | Hyp GQHP
Both acupuncture and hypnotherapy
are a gentle, safe, effective and natural
way of helping many conditions such
as IBS, pain, fertility issues, menopausal
symptoms, anxiety, stress, panic
attacks, addictions, insomnia,
headaches and many more.
I have 20 years of experience as a
therapist, 15 of those in Lewes.
For more information, or for a 20
minute free consultation, please
contact me on:
07981 491942
antheabarbary@gmail.com
www.antheabarbary.com
RUTH
WHARTON
ba (hons) bsc (hons) Ost Med dO
Nd Msc paediatric Ost
BIODYNAMIC
CRANIAL
OSTEOPATH
ruthwhartonosteopath.com
SALLY
GALLOWAY
ba (hons) dip Nat Nut CNM
MbaNt CNhC reg
NUTRITIONAL
THERAPIST
Other therapies
alsO available
fOr MOre details see:
intrinsichealthlewes.co.uk
CLINIC SPACE
available
INTRINSIC HEALTH
01273 958403
32 Cliffe high st, lewes bN7 2aN
OSTEOPATHY
Mandy Fischer BSc (Hons) Ost, DO
Steven Bettles BSc (Hons) Ost, DO
HERBAL MEDICINE & REFLEXOLOGY
Julie Padgham-Undrell BSc (Hons) MCPP
PSYCHOTHERAPY
Julia Rivas BA (Hons), MA Psychotherapy
Tom Lockyer BA (Hons), Dip Cound MBACP
ACUPUNCTURE & HYPNOTHERAPY
Anthea Barbary LicAc MBAcC Dip I Hyp GQHP
HOMEOPATHY, COACHING, NLP
& HYPNOTHERAPY
Lynne Russell BSc FSDSHom MARH MBIH(FR)
01273 480900
PERSONAL STYLING/MAKEOVERS
WEDDINGS ETC…
Certified organic products
Aveda products
Contact Angela:
07973 290824 | wadmanangela@gmail.com

HEALTH AND WELLBEING
SUBUD CENTRE,
UPPER HALL
26a Station Street
Lewes, BN7 2DB
Mondays: 17.30 - 18.30
£8, all welcome
07899 043 440
anniecheadlesyoga@outlook.com
facebook | anniecheadlesyoga
䰀 甀 渀 挀 栀 琀 椀 洀 攀 挀 漀 渀 猀 甀 氀 愀 琀 椀 漀 渀 猀 椀 渀 琀 栀 攀 䰀 攀 眀 攀 猀 䄀 爀 攀 愀
猀 甀 猀 猀 攀 砀 挀 氀 椀 渀 椀 挀 愀 氀 愀 攀 猀 琀 栀 攀 琀 椀 挀 猀 䀀 最 洀 愀 椀 氀 ⸀ 挀 漀 洀
猀 甀 猀 猀 攀 砀 挀 氀 椀 渀 椀 挀 愀 氀 愀 攀 猀 琀 栀 攀 琀 椀 挀 猀 ⸀ 挀 漀 洀
neck or back pain?
Lin Peters - OSTEOPATH
VALENCE ROAD OSTEOPATHS
for the treatment of:
neck or low back pain • sports injuries • rheumatic
arthritic symptoms • pulled muscles • joint pain
stiffness • sciatica - trapped nerves • slipped discs
tension • frozen shoulders • cranial osteopathy
pre and post natal
www.lewesosteopath.co.uk
20 Valence Road Lewes 01273 476371
䠀 䔀 刀 䈀 䄀 䰀 䤀 匀 吀
䬀 礀 洀 䴀 甀 爀 搀 攀 渀
䈀 䄀 䠀 漀 渀 猀 䐀 椀 瀀 倀 栀 礀 琀
圀 攀 愀 瘀 椀 渀 最 眀 攀 氀 氀 渀 攀 猀 猀 琀 漀 最 攀 琀 栀 攀 爀
眀 栀 愀 琀 攀 瘀 攀 爀 礀 漀 甀 爀 愀 最 攀 ⸀
倀 爀 椀 瘀 愀 琀 攀 挀 漀 渀 猀 甀 氀 琀 愀 琀 椀 漀 渀 猀
愀 瘀 愀 椀 氀 愀 戀 氀 攀 戀 礀 愀 瀀 瀀 漀 椀 渀 琀 洀 攀 渀 琀 ⸀
䌀 漀 渀 琀 愀 挀 琀 㨀
㜀 㜀 㠀 ㈀ 㔀 ㈀ 㠀 㘀
欀 礀 洀 ⸀ 栀 攀 爀 戀 猀 䀀 最 洀 愀 椀 氀 ⸀ 挀 漀 洀
Psychotherapy
& Counselling
UKCP and BACP-Registered Psychotherapist
Psychotherapy offers a safe, private place to talk.
I am an experienced, qualified therapist following
a strict code of ethics. Lewes-based.
First session concession
Call Kate Hope on 07794 308989 or
visit www.katehopetherapy.co.uk
The Cycling Seamstress
Vanessa Newman
OTHER SERVICES
Alterations, repairs, tailoring & hair cutting
07766 103039 / nessnewmantt@gmail.com

OTHER SERVICES
LESSONS AND COURSES
www.andrewwells.co.uk
We can work it out
• BUSINESS ACCOUNTS AND TAX
• MEDIA AND THE ARTS
• CONTRACTORS AND CONSULTANTS
• FRIENDLY AND FLEXIBLE
T: 01273 961334
E: aw@andrewwells.co.uk
FREE
initial
consultation
Andrew M Wells Accountancy
99 Western Road Lewes BN7 1RS
adrianapdeblair@gmail.com
Andrew Wells_Viva Lewes_AW.indd 1 25/06/2012 09:05
advertise in the
DIRECTORY
for as little as
£25 a month (+ VAT)
advertising@vivalewes.com
01273 434567
Singing Lessons
Experienced voice teacher - DBS checked - Wallands area
www.HilarySelby.com
07960 893 898
ENGLISH TUITION
Experienced teacher in Lewes.
Support for individual students at KS3.
Enjoyment of English + building conndence and skills.
Call Penny: 01273 470652/07843 261292

CARS
LOOK OUT FOR
VIVA BRIGHTON ISSUE 51
Cover design by Fiona Hewitt

INSIDE LEFT
PICTURE PALACE
Imagine how excited the people of Lewes must have been in 1934, when this magnificent
Art Deco building appeared in town, offering a state-of-the-art space for 900 people at a
time to watch movies. It was a far cry from the Cinema de Luxe up the road, open since
1912, and renowned for its dinginess.
This picture was taken by John Maltby, who was commissioned by chain-founder Oscar
Deutsch to take pictures of the interior and exterior of every Odeon in the country, at
that point numbering in the thirties. The date, you can see from the sign on the façade,
is July 1935. The main film is The King of Paris. The interior picture shows an unfussy,
uncluttered space with comfortable-looking seats and funky patterns on the walls.
By 1971, when the cinema closed down, the seats – as many readers will be able to
remember – were no longer comfortable. Despite several campaigns to reopen the place,
it remained derelict until 1982, with, for many years, the word ‘SHAME’ daubed on
the façade. Then the building was demolished, and replaced with a red-brick mini-mall.
Lewes hasn’t had a purpose-built cinema since. Until now, that is.
Thanks for help finding this picture to Ruth Thompson, whose book Reel Lewes is published
on 22nd May, and will be on sale at The Depot and beyond. Alex Leith
Photo: John Maltby, Cinema Theatre Association Archive, cta-uk.org
106

1 Malling Street, Lewes, BN7 2RA . 01273 471 269 . alistairflemingdesign.co.uk