Viva Lewes Issue #139 April 2018

#139

“A VERY
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COUNTRY LIFE
“ONE WORD:
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139
VIVALEWES
EDITORIAL
The theme of this month’s issue
is ‘The Word’, and we’ve collected together a fine mini-anthology of Lewesian poets, and
children’s authors, and reading groups, and bookbinders and language teachers and so on and
so forth. Apologies to the many we’ve left out: it’s a very literary-minded town.
In our ‘The Way We Work’ section we always ask the subjects of the photos a theme-related
question: this time we ask them two, ‘what was your favourite book as a child?’ and ‘what’s
your favourite word?’ The latter is a particularly hard one to answer, partly because, unlike
the former, it’s not something you might have already decided (like your favourite band, or
composer, or colour, or Bond).
A straw poll in the office throws out some interesting choices. One of us couldn’t decide
between ‘bubble’, ‘cushion’ or ‘yellow’. Another chose ‘corybantic’, which was the first I’d
heard of that one. A third said “it’s a swear word, I’m afraid: ‘bollocks’.”
Which led to a subsidiary question: how would you choose a favourite word, anyway? Because
you like the sound of it? Its etymology? Its connotations? Its usefulness? The fact it makes
you feel clever when you say it? I went for a knee-jerk first-thing-in-my-head word, and
‘griddle’ came out, who knows why? Perhaps because of its Anglo-Saxon earthiness; perhaps
because of the sort of stuff you cook in it. Anyway, what’s yours?
The last words in this column we’re writing upside down because - spoiler alert - they are the
answer to Carlotta Luke’s photo quiz on pg 25:
Station St, Station St, School Hill, Malling St, West St/Market St.
Enjoy the issue…
THE TEAM
.....................
EDITOR: Alex Leith alex@vivamagazines.com
SUB-EDITOR: David Jarman
DEPUTY EDITOR: Rebecca Cunningham rebecca@vivamagazines.com
ART DIRECTOR: Katie Moorman katie@vivamagazines.com
ADVERTISING: Sarah Hunnisett, Amanda Meynell advertising@vivamagazines.com
EDITORIAL / ADMIN ASSISTANT: Kelly Hill admin@vivamagazines.com
DISTRIBUTION: David Pardue distribution@vivamagazines.com
CONTRIBUTORS: Jacky Adams, Michael Blencowe, Sarah Boughton, Mark Bridge, Emma Chaplin,
Daniel Etherington, Mark Greco, Anita Hall, John Henty, Mat Homewood, Chloë King, Dexter Lee, Lucy Limage,
Lizzie Lower, Carlotta Luke, Richard Madden, Chris Mason and Marcus Taylor
PUBLISHER: Becky Ramsden becky@vivamagazines.com
Viva Lewes is based at Pipe Passage, 151b High Street, Lewes, BN7 1XU, 01273 480131. Advertising 01273 488882

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'THE WORD' ISSUE
CONTENTS
Bits and bobs.
The story behind this month’s Well &
Good cover (10-11); what performance
poet Ella Dorman-Gajic thinks of Lewes
(13); Lewes authors’ April offerings (16);
Norman Baker’s latest LP (22); Carlotta
Luke’s ghost lettering (25), and the usual
rainbow gathering of hats and snaps and
clocks and plaques and pubs.
Columns.
David Jarman gives us the silent treatment
(27) and Chloë King discovers that plasticfree
life ain’t so easy (29).
On this month.
It’s all about words… or the lack of them.
Historian Kathryn Hughes tells us about
Victorian body parts (31); Andy Freeman
directs the timely Cold War musical
Chess (33); gender-fluid Shakespeare
performances by Sussex Downs drama
students (35); terrace chanting at the Pan
(37); silent Hitchcock at Depot (39); and
saying it with flowers at the Firle Garden
Show (41).
25
Photo by Carlotta Luke
Matt Bodimeade
47
Art.
What’s on the gallery walls, including
a fab new show at St Anne’s Gallery, a
collective effort at Martyrs’ Gallery and
Nichola Campbell at Chalk (43-45);
Penguin art director John Hamilton and
his culturally savvy Essentials series (46-
47); Axel Hesslenberg snaps the literary
greats at Charleston (48-50), and brush
letterer Jessie Moane (53).
Listings and Free Time.
Diary dates: what’s on, where and when,
including our very own John Henty’s
‘Raymond Briggs’ Sofa’ (55-59); Classical
round-up (61); Gig Guide, including the
welcome return of the legendary Sun Ra
Arkestra (63-64), plus live and tight stuff
for the U16s in Free Time (65-68).

'THE WORD' ISSUE
Food.
New Japanese options at Lemongrass
(71); an adaptation of an Alexandre
Dumas pudding (72-3); gorgeous
goodness at Wild Alchemy (75), and food
news from Chloë King (77).
78
The way we work.
Emma Auwyn captures four children’s
authors in their writing spaces, and
she asks them all: what’s your favourite
word? (78-81).
Features.
Lewes is spoilt for choice with book
groups (83); Rachel Ward-Sale’s
Photo by Emma Auwyn
bookbinding business (84-5); Todd on
the Cooksbridge trail (87); Michael
Blencowe sees a parrot at the Pells (89);
Olympic physio Dan Nicholls (91); how
to be a greener cleaner (93); the all-new
interior of St John sub Castro (95);
John Henty, loud and proud (97), and
another round of openings and closings
in Business News (99).
72
72
Photo by Sam Bilton
Inside Left.
Today’s vape-shop is yesterday’s
tobacconist (114).
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@vivamagazines.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
6

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THIS MONTH’S COVER ARTISTS
This month’s cover artists are Natasha
Baker and Ollie Aplin, who are partners
in both senses of the word. They run
their design business – Well & Good -
from a studio built in the back garden
of the house they share with their dog,
Henry, in Lewes.
“The name of our company reflects our
business ethos,” says Ollie, who mainly
deals with the digital aspects of their
work. “It’s design done well, for the
greater good,” explains Natasha, who
trained as an illustrator, and who takes
the role of art director. “We love to
work with clients who have a positive
impact on the lives of others.”
One of their most recent projects is for
a charity called Small Green Shoots. “A
group of young people (young shoots)
are leading a new campaign to promote
positive mental health” explains Natasha.
“The young shoots are our clients.
It’s great to be working directly with
the young people who are at the centre
of the campaign” says Ollie. Though,
they reveal, they sometimes had to consult
an online slang dictionary to decipher
their feedback.
Which takes us to their interpretation
of this month’s theme, ‘The Word’.
“We wanted to do something typographical,
but for there to be an illus-
10

WELL & GOOD STUDIO
tration element in it as well,” says Natasha.
“We wanted to use British Sign Language
to reflect our ‘well and good’ company
ethos and combine that with a bright palette
to reflect spring,” continues Ollie,
“and for the design to be inclusive and
have an interactive element to it. We hope
some people will be trying to sign ‘Viva
Lewes’ at home.”
The couple moved to Lewes in February
after two years in an out-of-the-way cottage
in Chiddingly; before that they were
based in Brighton. One project that has
spanned both those moves is MindJournal,
a beautifully crafted journal for men
to jot down their thoughts and feelings,
with motivational prompts to help the
reluctant scribbler. “It was crowd-funded
by Kickstarter, and led to a book deal with
Penguin,” Ollie says. “We’re working on
the third edition now.”
They’re busy then; but how difficult is
it, you’ve got to wonder, to juggle a 24/7
work-and-play relationship? “That’s what
we get asked the most!” says Natasha.
“My friends say: really? I couldn’t do that!
But it actually works really well, because
we’re able to be 100% honest about what
we think of each other’s work.” “You can
be BRUTAL,” adds Ollie. “But it works:
it makes us both better at what we do.
And, luckily, living and working together
doesn’t make us want to kill one another.”
Alex Leith
wellandgood.studio / 01273 569110
11

Cock-a-doodle-doo
at Middle Farm
Wake up to springtime
Farmshop, butcher’s shop,
bakery, tearoom, plant sales
and Open Farm
Middle Farm, Firle, Lewes, East Sussex BN8 6LJ
01323 811411 info@middlefarm.com www.middlefarm.com

Photo by Poppy Gray
MY LEWES: ELLA DORMAN-GAJIC, PERFORMANCE POET
Are you local? My family moved to Lewes
when I was eight, and then, after a year or so, to
Kingston. I went to Priory, and the college in
Lewes. Now I’m studying at UEA in Norwich,
but I still come home for the holidays. I
definitely consider Lewes to be home.
Did living in Lewes help mould you into a
performance poet? Lewes Little Theatre was
fantastic, I was given some great opportunities
there which taught me a lot about acting. I
played Anne Frank in a production about her,
and was Juliet in an all-female production of
Romeo and Juliet. The Performing Arts and
English course at Sussex Downs was also really
good; it gave me a lot of confidence in devising
my own theatre. But it was the Brighton
spoken word scene which inspired me to start
performing my own poetry. I developed my
writing at Access to Music college, and am
involved in Poets v MCs. I’m this year’s Young
Writer in Residence at the Broken Silence
Theatre, whose Artistic Director is from Brighton.
I hear you recently performed in the
Edinburgh Fringe… I won a Pebble Trust
Talent Grant that enabled me to put on a spoken
word theatre piece, Did I Choose These Shoes, at
Brighton Fringe in 2016, with two friends. Then
I continued developing the show at university,
raised some money on Crowdfunder, and then
took it to Edinburgh the following year. We did
all our own promotion and marketed the hell out
of it. We were so happy with the response.
Is it hard to come back to Kingston after all
that? I find it funny that people are preoccupied
about fences going up. But so much has changed!
There’s a new shop and pizza place in the village,
which I’ve ended up getting a job at.
What’s your favourite Lewes pub? Definitely
the Lanny [Lansdown]. There’s always a friendly
face there, and you can play your own music. I
generally drink Heineken there; I’m afraid I’m
not an ale drinker. My father and sister are big
fans of Harvey’s, though.
And restaurant? It’s a pity that Laporte’s has
closed down, that was fantastic. I should know, I
worked there for three years. I’ll always support
independent businesses in Lewes, because that’s
what gives the town its special flavour. I like the
Limetree Kitchen, I’ve been there a few times.
When were you last up a Down? The last
time I was home, in January, I guess. I’m forever
walking over Juggs Way to Lewes. It’s a lovely
walk, especially up past the windmill.
Where do you think you’ll end up living?
I don’t like London as a city, but it’s so well
connected I’ll probably end up living there to
follow my career as a poet/playwright. Brighton’s
a possibility, too. Living abroad isn’t really an
option, but if I could I’d live in Berlin… or
maybe I'd go to Barcelona, where the weather’s
a bit better.
Interview by Alex Leith
13

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PHOTO OF THE MONTH
SIX LEGS GOOD
We had what might be called a ‘bumper’ response to this competition this month – as always
happens when it snows – so a number of people will be feeling disappointed when they see
this page. Particular commiserations to Sue Fasquelle, who sent us a funny-ha-ha shot of the
War Memorial angel’s freezing feet. The winning shot was taken between the two recent cold
snaps, by Jo Loader, on her Motorola G5 phone, while she was ‘walking my dog Max up on
Malling Down’. “The winter sun was setting on a clear and chilly late afternoon in February,”
she explains. “We usually walk up to the dew pond at least once a day. Early mornings and
evenings are the best time to get a great view over Lewes, as the light is amazing. This photo
however, was taken looking the other way - the sun casting perfect shadows of us as we trotted
down the hill to home.” We were very taken with the balance of the picture, the intriguing
way you have to study it to work out what the shadows in foreground are (six legs), and the
amazing colour of the top half of the picture. “The grass was actually grass colour, but the sun
lit it up a golden turmeric,” says Jo, who works as a theatre designer, but might have been a
poet. Or a photographer, for that matter. “I don’t have a proper camera but I do take lots of
pictures on my phone. It’s got a really good lens: when my friends with iPhones take pictures
of the same things as I do, mine come out better.”
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

BOOKS AND BOBS
LOCAL LITERATURE
LEWES AUTHORS
Lewes resident Lesley Thomson is
most famous for her 2007 thriller, set
around Tide Mills, A Kind of Vanishing.
She also authored the award-winning
The Detective’s Daughter, which
introduced private eye (and successful
cleaning business owner) Stella Darnell
to the world, a specialist in warming
up long-cold cases. Thomson’s
latest novel – The Death Chamber, published
in April – is the third book in
the Detective’s Daughter series: Stella
gets involved in a murder case centred
around the Cotswold village of
Winchcombe. While investigating the
disappearance of one teenage resident
of the village in 2000, the police had
found the remains of another, who’d
gone missing in 1977. Stella moves to
the village 17 years later to try to solve
the double mystery. Was the murderer
of the first girl responsible for the
disappearance of the second? Are they
still at large in the village? And, if so,
will they take kindly to a part-time
detective snooping around the place?
It’s page-turning stuff, as you’d expect;
Thomson has a good ear for dialogue,
and creates believable and very human
characters.
Elisabeth’s Lists, another Lewesresident-authored
book which spans
different generations, is a rather
more serious affair. Lulah Ellender
inherited a book of hand-written lists
collated by her maternal grandmother,
Elisabeth Young, who died long before Lulah was
born. The lists are seemingly mundane: a register of
eggs laid by her hens in wartime Surrey; invitees to
a 1950 garden party in Berkshire; dishes that she is
able to cook. But, together with diary
entries and photographs, they help
Lulah unravel the extraordinary life
of a troubled woman, the daughter of
an ambassador who was brought up
in 30s Peking and continued a life of
living in foreign capitals – Rio, Beirut,
Paris – after marrying a diplomat.
Lulah’s growing understanding of the
hopes and desires of her grandmother
opens her to a greater understanding
of human nature, and helps her come
to terms with her own life’s problems.
Finally an apology to Pierre Hollins,
who dropped a copy of his novel
The Karma Farmers onto my desk in
September, where it got irredeemably
buried for months until a clear-out just
before deadline. When I finally picked
it up and started reading it, I found it
hard to put it down. It starts, like many
adventures, outside Brighton’s Clock
Tower, following two love-struck
anarchic millennials - a young hipster
and his mohair-hoodied girl - into
Waterstones where they secrete copies
of a radical political manifesto he’s
written in among the regular books.
This act has unforeseen consequences:
pretty soon two extremely violent
occultists pitch up at the couple’s flat,
to find the writer alone in bed, obsessively
recounting the hashish-related
argument three days before that led
to his girlfriend storming out of the
door, not to return. Phew! I’m still on
page 33 and, for simplicity’s sake, I’ve missed out
the car-crash death of a recently retired detective in
his brand-new Jag. This book has the rollercoaster
savviness of a Bad Seed on Crazy Mouse. AL
16

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BITS AND BOBS
MUSIC REVIEW: STAYING BLUE
Our favourite former MP usually demonstrates his musical
prowess as lead singer of his band ‘The Reform Club’. To date
they have released two albums (Always Tomorrow and Never
Yesterday) and frequently play live gigs in Lewes, but of late
Norman is branching out and has recorded his first solo album
Staying Blue, due for release on April 6th. Don’t let the name fool
you: the record comprises eleven tracks which span an eclectic
range of genres, from blues to jazz, folk to country, there’s even a
sea shanty in there for good measure (Shipping Forecast, complete
with its very own music video). ‘Norman can write a song and
sing the heck out of it. This album showcases elite musicianship
and really enjoyable song writing’ says Angel Air Records, who
the album is being released through. Favourite moments are It Cuts No Ice, a catchy country tune with a fair
stab at an American accent to boot, and a lovely acoustic folk number Perhaps. The album will be available
online and at Si’s Sounds, where £2 from each CD sale will go to TRINITY and Rehoming Lewes.
Mr Baker will play a special ‘stripped down’ version of the album at a gig at Bus Club Pizza on 6th April at
8.30pm, where Rev Jules Middleton of TRINITY will also say a few words. Kelly Hill
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BITS AND BOBS
SPREAD THE WORD
Here’s Alice Cyr again, longtime
friend of our very own
John and Sylvia Henty. In her
second appearance on this page,
Alice is enjoying VL next to the
ice sculptures at the Kwanlin
Dun Cultural Centre, by the
Yukon River (at a temperature
of minus 19!)
She’s just turned 83 but Alice
likes to keep busy… In her
accompanying email to the
Hentys she explains how she’s
‘got several things on the go at
once’… amongst them a trip to
Anchorage and to Newfoundland,
Montreal and New York.
At the other end of the temperature
scale here’s Ethel Coleby,
a South African care worker
who’s latterly been working in
Kingston, enjoying the sunshine
with her feet in the pool, in her
back garden in Pietermaritzburg,
KwaZulu-Natal, South
Africa, reading November’s
Viva. The photo was taken by
her grandson Bradley; Ethel’s
back in Blighty this month.
Got a trip planned yourself?
Take your latest Viva, and send
your photos with a few words
about your trip to hello@
vivamagazines.com
OPTICIANS AND CONTACT LENS PRACTITIONERS
223a High Street, Lewes
Tel: 01273 472360
www.wilsonwilsonandhancock.co.uk

PUBS AND BOBS
TOWN PLAQUE #37: THE JIREH CHAPEL
Jehovah Jireh – meaning ‘God will provide’ was the name given to the place
mentioned in Genesis where God provided Abraham with a lamb to sacrifice
in place of Isaac, his son.
Jireh often stands alone to represent divine provision. Few places of worship
can have so consistently preached The Word – the fundamental Christian
message – more insistently and for longer than this chapel, which has stood
in Cliffe for over 200 years. Previously Calvinistic Independent, it is one of seven chapels of the Free Presbyterian
Church of Ulster in England. The chapel and the Huntingdon Tomb close by was declared a World
Heritage Site in 1952 and is Grade 1 listed by Historic England. Its interior has some beautiful woodwork
and a distinctive layout. If a chance comes up to see inside, take it.
Badly damaged in the Great Storm of 1987, it was rebuilt with flats integrated into its side. Marcus Taylor
LEWES LIBRARY IN NUMBERS
Lewes has had a public library since 1785, initially in private houses and moving to Fitzroy House in 1863
where it remained until 1955. It then moved to premises on the corner of Albion Street and East Street, into
a building originally designed as a School of Art, which had closed in 1934. Finally, the library moved to
purpose-built premises just off Friars Walk in 2005.
The current library was designed to contain a stock of 61,000 items. It has 12 public computer terminals, and
an additional 3 specifically for children and young people. It is open 5 days a week, and supports 5 or more
weekly activities, from story time to computer help. Lewes is one of 24 libraries (and 1 mobile library) across
East Sussex. Sarah Boughton
GHOST PUB #42: THE SPREAD EAGLE, 23 CLIFFE HIGH STREET
The Spread Eagle had a short, but eventful, history. From 1826 no.23 Cliffe
High Street had been owned by a tailor called Povey, who ran his business
from there. However, during the 1850s and 1860s this building became the
Spread Eagle beershop. William Thorpe ran this establishment for many years,
and in 1857 he was summoned to court for allowing a riot to occur. In fact the
chemist next door stated that ‘since Thorpe had kept the house there had been
continual riots.’ Thorpe himself was involved in the rioting that night, and it
was not the only occasion he was in court for fighting. Amazingly he remained
in charge of the Spread Eagle for many years, leaving around 1865 to run a
beershop in Fletching. In 1867 George Moore was charged with breaking four
panes of glass at the Spread Eagle, whilst in a state of ‘elevation’. On his arrest
he was found to have a loaded gun on him. He boasted that he would never allow a policeman to take
him. However, the Sussex Advertiser noted that PC Elsey had ‘very little difficulty in securing him’. Shortly
after this episode, the Povey family returned to 23 Cliffe High Street to run their tailoring business. They
remained there until as late as the 1970s, with the passageway running through the side of the building being
known as Povey’s Passage. One can still see that passageway today. Mat Homewood
20

ANNA CAMPBELL
As we were going to press we heard about the
tragic death of 26-year-old Lewesian Anna
Campbell in Syria.
Anna decided in May last year to go to Syria
to fight for an all-female unit of the Kurdish
army against ISIS. When that unit was transferred
to another front, after Turkish forces
commenced an offensive against the Kurds in
Northern Syria, it appears that Anna ignored
advice from her comrades to return home,
opting to continue fighting alongside them.
Anna was the daughter of former Viva columnist,
the late Adrienne Campbell, and her
husband Dirk Campbell, who has also contributed to the magazine. We’d like to pay tribute to Anna’s
enormous bravery, and send our sincere condolences to her family and friends.
21

BITS AND BOBS
CLOCKS OF LEWES #17: RINGMER VILLAGE HALL
Words. Ringmer Village Hall has
the name of the venue in upper
case on one of its two grand
gables. On the other is a clock
face. Words play a further role
here, with a plaque immediately
below the clock. This tells us that
‘This clock was erected 20th November
1984 in memory of Miss
Dorothea Courthope Spinster
and Benefactress of this Parish 1952 – 1982.’
Local historian John Kay explains, ‘1952 was when
she moved to South Norlington House, Ringmer,
not when she was born. She spent her youth in
London and then, after her father's retirement, in
Wadhurst & Ticehurst.’ Full name Emily Mary
Dorothea Courthope, she was born in London, in
December 1887, though her
family was from Sussex.
The village hall itself dates
from 1891. Previously, there
was a charity school on the site.
When education became compulsory
in England in 1880, this
proved too small and the new
school was built down the road.
A donation from Dorothea
enabled an extension to the hall in 1974. After her
death, her remains were cremated; there's a memorial
at St Mary Ringmer. The clock was installed
in 1984 and it forms part of a wonderful array that
encircles Ringmer Green: St Mary, the millennium
clock, the cricket pavilion.
Daniel Etherington, with thanks to John Kay
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BITS AND BUDS
GARDEN SHOW TICKET COMPETITION
The Garden Show returns to Firle from Friday 20th
to Sunday 22nd of April, and we’ve got three pairs
of tickets, or three family tickets (please state which
you want) to give away to three lucky winners of this
competition.
The annual show is a springtime jamboree celebrating
all things garden, including: specialist growers, artisan
and craft designers, homewares, garden furniture,
fashion and country food. There’ll be a funfair, birds
of prey, archery, face painting, jester juggling, puppet
shows and a pirate treasure hunt.
To go into the draw for the tickets, please send the
answer to this question to admin@vivamagazines.com
by April 10th; please address the message ‘Garden
Show Competition’. Which spring flower has the
Latin species name ‘tulipa gesneriana’? For Ts and Cs
please see vivalewes.com. Good luck!
• Antique and new jewellery
• Silverware
• Watches
• Repairs
• Valuations
23

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PHOTOGRAPHY
CARLOTTA LUKE
GHOST SIGNS
Ghostly reminders of Lewes’ commercial past
are writ large on walls around town, and Carlotta
Luke has been collecting them up, to fit her
photo column in with this month’s theme. And
so, clockwise from top left, we have: the proud
sign of a former printer; a cigarette advert for
a brand that no longer exists; a notice for an
‘engineer and general smith’; the lettering
announcing the premises of a coal merchant,
and a former sports shop. But can you name the
streets the signs are in? Answers on pg 3.
carlottaluke.com
25

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COLUMN
David Jarman
Silence is golden
Two recent outings to the cinema both seemed
to relate to this month’s Viva theme of ‘The
Word’, albeit in diametrically opposed ways.
The one thing that Ingmar Bergman’s Scenes
from a Marriage and Abel Gance’s 1927 silent
epic, Napoléon really have in common is their
immense length. Bergman’s film clocks in at 168
minutes, but what I saw was a special screening
at the BFI of the original, much longer version
made for Swedish TV. This has a total running
time of 296 minutes. It started at one o’clock
on a Saturday afternoon with an introduction
by the Russian director, Andrey Zvyagintsev,
in London to promote his new, magnificently
bleak film Loveless. With a one-hour break in the
middle, and a 15-minute breather towards the
end, we were eventually allowed to return to our
homes shortly after 7.30.
Very little happens in this study of the marriage
of Johan and Marianne, played by Erland
Josephson and Liv Ullmann. There are a couple
of minor characters, but Johan and Marianne
completely dominate the drama. In two of the
six 50-minute TV episodes they are the only
characters. And what do they do? They talk.
You might say it’s ‘words, words, words’ all along
the way, but the densely detailed scripts are so
lifelike and the acting so brilliant that the whole
thing was totally riveting.
Napoléon was an even longer film, but equally
absorbing. It was shown at the Depot on
Sunday, 18 February. And even though it runs
for 333 minutes it still only takes Napoléon
Bonaparte’s story up to 1797. The only
problem with this silent film were the
words – the intertitles, translated into
English. (I say the ‘only problem’, although
personally I would have preferred it to
have been screened without the Carl
Davis score. I agree with David Thomson, citing
Gilbert Adair’s plea, derived from the screening
policies of Henri Langlois, that ‘silent pictures
should stay silent’. And perhaps the introductions
to silent classics should be silent as well.) But back
to those intertitles, sometimes unintentionally
funny, sometimes just bathetic.
So a key character is introduced along the lines
of ‘beautiful, if amoral, she was a woman of easy
manners and a talented musician’. A tavern scene
begins with the announcement: ‘At the Moulin
du Roy where politics is King’. Or perhaps that
should have been ‘Emperor’. Elsewhere we are
informed: ‘A game of chess was bound to attract
two strategists like Bonaparte and Hoche’. This
could easily be the caption to a Glen Baxter
cartoon. Returning to his native Corsica,
Napoléon learns of a dastardly plot to sell the
island to Perfidious Albion. “What will you do?”,
he is asked. “Take action, mother”, his reply.
Still in Corsica, but in more reflective mood,
‘He went every day to discuss the future with
his friend, the ocean’. Back in Paris, he puts the
fruits of those discussions into practice. “What
is that noise?” someone asks. “It is Bonaparte
entering History again”, they are told.
Still, a great film
which I’d never
seen before.
Thank you Depot.
27

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COLUMN
Chloë King
...ditches plastic
If you’d told teenage me
that by my mid-thirties
I’d get cheap thrills from
accepting disposable coffee
cups at the supermarket I’d
have said, “don’t be stupid”
through a cloud of Camel
smoke. Yet, here I am, my
takeaway beverage having
reached new experiential
heights.
It’s unnecessary. It’s antisocial.
It feels as though I’m
clutching on to a tiny bit
of that wonderful pre-Blue
Planet devil-may-care consumer satisfaction.
A local campaign group called Plastic Free Lewes
is gaining momentum. They have meetings, posters,
ideas. As I write there’s an online discussion
about whether to build or borrow a recycling
machine that functions like an apple press for
Waitrose ready meal cartons.
The group formed in January, after a rallying cry
screening of Plastic Ocean at the Depot. The initial
thought was to target something specific but, Lewes
being Lewes, it soon became clear we wanted a
multi-pronged attack. There are now eight subgroups
looking at ways to tackle plastic waste from
different perspectives: from schools and supermarkets
to drinking water and waste disposal.
Whatever they’re doing, it’s catching. On the
school run, I see parents stand around Hannah’s
Van holding neon bamboo cups from Popsicle. I’m
just about keeping myself suitably charged from
my Bodum cafetière to ensure that four-monthold
doesn’t sleep for more than two hours at a
time. Except she has tonight, so I’m writing this
with my head next to her cot to make sure she’s
still breathing.
She had her vaccinations today and unhelpfully
she slept through what
should be her second dose
of Calpol. I inspect the
sticky single-use syringe
and wonder what the
future may hold. By 2025,
will Boots stock giant vats
of Calpol that desperate
parents can help themselves
to from a tap? It will be like
Willie Wonka’s chocolate
factory care of big pharma.
Our bathrooms will look
pretty. We can store our
analgesics in bevelled-edge
recycled glassware from Flint.
The long and short of this is how helpless one
feels when confronted by such a huge systemic
problem as waste plastic. A carrier bag is easy to
substitute, but it’s hard to find data measuring
the impact of the plastic handles in the jute bag
you replaced them with. A poster for Plastic Free
Lewes says we’ve produced more plastic in the last
ten years than we did in the previous century. The
more you inspect the objects around your home,
the more overwhelming becomes the thought of
going without.
Is Zero-Waste living something like bivouacking
in consumer society? Dependent on insider
knowledge, hacks and tricks to circumvent or
replace the products like Calpol? I find Facebook
groups abuzz with questions from eager converts
exclaiming things like, “I love reading, but it feels
like such a waste of paper”. Still, over weeks, I find
this nagging guilt is subtly altering my behaviours.
I rebooted my veg box; bought lentils in a paper
bag; rediscovered ebay and ponced my auntie’s
Soda Stream. One thing I realise, however: it’s
not enough to buy cloth nappies, you need to use
them too.
Illustration by Chloë King
29

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ON THIS MONTH: LITERATURE
Victorians Undone
Author-historian Kathryn Hughes
“We have this slack idea
that the Victorians were so
very prudish and po-faced
and out of touch with their
bodies, that they didn’t
really exist between their
chins and their toes.” So says
Kathryn Hughes, author of
biographies of George Eliot
and Isabella Beeton, who
has just seen her latest book,
Victorians Undone, published
in paperback.
“This was far from being
the case. The reality was
that they were living five to a room… working on
factory benches, walking on ever-more crowded
pavements, so their noses were constantly jammed
into their neighbours’ armpits.”
It follows that the Victorians must have been hyperaware
of the bodies around them, she argues. And,
of course, of their own. So what we perceive of as
prudery and decorum is merely etiquette: “methods
of speaking and carrying yourself in order to negotiate
situations which would otherwise have been
unbearably embarrassing.”
The book has five sections, each of which focus
on the body parts of different Victorians, eminent
or otherwise. Thus we have chapters entitled
‘Lady Flora Hastings’ Belly’; ‘Charles Darwin’s
Beard’; ‘George Eliot’s Hand’; ‘Fanny Cornforth’s
Mouth’, and ‘Sweet Fanny Adams’. Each section,
by focussing on the protagonist in question’s
body part, attempts to explore what it felt like to
be them, in the sort of warts-and-all detail that
historical accounts would normally by-pass.
The five sections have been boiled down from
a shortlist of twenty. “I worked on one section
- about the fact that Elizabeth Barrett Browning
was mixed race - for
a year,” she says, recalling
her fascination of realising
that this carried little social
stigma in Barrett Browning’s
lifetime; it wasn’t until the
latter half of the century
that attitudes on race became
less progressive. “But
the chapter didn’t make the
cut, because I realised the
story had already been told.
I wanted my stories to be
fresh and from completely
new sources.”
The book was eight years in the making, which
means that while Hackney-based Kathryn was
researching the Victorian trend for growing
enormous beards – think Darwin, think Tennyson,
think Ruskin - all the young hipster men around
her started sporting their own. “I find it absolutely
fascinating that it seems like a different world, but
actually it’s not,” she says, “and it’s that balance
that makes it so appealing.”
All this required countless hours in archives and
museums, fishing for salient facts she could use in
her stories. “Nothing beats that feeling [of finding
something]. You find yourself squealing with
joy, and then you realise that you shouldn’t have,
because of where you are.” And she was constantly
surprised by what she found. “Human passions
and emotions were pretty much the same then as
they are now, of course. But they are expressed in
different ways through different codes and behaviour.
It’s very interesting, just when you think you
recognise everything, the Victorians throw you a
curve ball and it’s a different world altogether.” AL
Kathryn is the last guest in the Lewes Literary Society’s
2017/18 season, All Saints, April 24th, 7.45pm
31

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ON THIS MONTH: MUSICAL
Chess
Political pawns
It’s 1984. US president
Ronald Reagan is
cracking jokes about
bombing Russia.
There’s political tension
between West and
East. The CIA and the
KGB are spying on
each other. And Chess,
an allegorical musical
about international
rivals, has just been announced by the unlikely
triumvirate of Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus
and Tim Rice. Their concept album heads into
the top 40 and the subsequent West End show
opens in 1986.
Three decades later, the musical is about to be
revived on the London stage... but not before
Lewes gets its own production, courtesy of the
LOS Musical Theatre company. Andy Freeman,
who’s directing the local version, allays any
worries about the plot. “You don't need to know
about the game of chess”, he tells me. “If someone's
coming along, expecting to be confused by
‘Knight to Bishop's Pawn Three’ or something
like that, they're not going to be.”
Although the story is packed with comparisons
between chess playing and political machinations,
it’s actually a love story connecting
American chess whizzkid Freddie Trumper, his
assistant Florence Vassy, Russian champion Anatoly
Sergievsky and the family he’s left at home.
“It's a love triangle that pretty much spreads
into a love square, if you can have such a thing”,
Andy explains. “Underlying everything is the
partisanship of the Americans, of the Russians,
and the puppet-masters pulling the strings of
their players.”
Back in the 1980s, the Cold War was a genuine
threat to peace and
the Berlin Wall was
dividing that city.
Does Chess still have
relevance to the 21st
century? “There is
always something going
on somewhere in
the world where one
country is playing off
against another”, Andy
says. “Big countries, big organisations, they still
use their athletes, their chess players, whoever, to
their own ends.”
The music has also aged well, thanks to the
partnership of Benny and Björn – best known
as the guys from ABBA – and the storytelling of
lyricist Tim Rice. “There's some cracking stuff
in it, some beautiful music”, Andy explains. “It's
picked up the flavour of the 80s but there's other
stuff there that would sit happily in any musical
written today. Some of the choral pieces are
almost classical.”
As well as singing the praises of the performers,
Andy is equally enthusiastic about Liz Allsobrook’s
“stunning” set design. “We're doing it
as a black stage, which is one of my trademarks,
and we've just got white cubes that we will move
around – half a dozen big ones, half a dozen little
ones – they can be beds, they can be tables, they
can be a desk in a TV studio or whatever. For
the first time we also have this whizzy backdrop
that is a flexible LED screen.”
And what about that rival production from English
National Opera? “I shall go and see it. See if
they can get anywhere near ours. We don't feel
threatened!” Mark Bridge
Chess runs from 10th – 14th April 2018 at the
Town Hall. losmusicaltheatre.org.uk
33

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ON THIS MONTH: THEATRE
L-R: Georgia, Maya and Sergio
Shakespeare...
...but not as you know it
“I’ve downloaded a playlist of what Hamlet
would have listened to, and it gets me into the
mood of what it’s like to be him.” So says Sussex
Downs Performing Arts student Maya Cooper,
who is playing the lead in Shakespeare’s most
performed tragedy, at The Old Market this
spring. So what would the Danish Prince have
listened to, if he lived in the iPhone era? “It’s all
a bit depressing,” continues Maya. “This morning…
Digital Druglord.”
I’m sitting in a classroom at Sussex Downs’
Lewes campus, with Stan (Andrew Stanley), a
Performing Arts lecturer, and three students,
each playing a role in the three Shakespeare
plays showing on consecutive nights at The Old
Market in Hove, April 24th-26th. Sergio McKellen
is playing Ferdinand in The Tempest, and
Georgia Cudby is playing Lear in Lear.
Note the lack of ‘King’ in that last title. Seventy
percent of the students on the course are female,
which gives the three lecturers, each of whom
is directing one of the plays, the chance to play
around with genders when assigning roles. “It
makes the role very interesting,” says Georgia.
“If you think about Lear as a mother, then she
breaks the unbreakable maternal bond with her
daughters, which is very powerful.” “Hamlet being
female makes the affair with Ophelia very interesting,”
says Maya, “and perhaps explains some
of Polonius’ hostility towards the relationship.”
Sergio auditioned for Miranda as well as Ferdinand,
and would have happily played either part.
“I see Ferdinand as being under a spell the whole
play through,” he says. “First he’s under a literal
spell from Ariel, then he’s in love with Miranda.
That’s how I’m interpreting the role. I love The
Tempest, it’s my favourite Shakespeare play. I love
its fantasy and magic.”
As you can imagine, the students are 100%
committed to getting what they can out of the
experience, hence Maya’s Hamlet playlist. To get
into character Sergio finds himself miming his
lines on the bus in the morning (“everyone looks
at me oddly”); Georgia recites her lines to her
dog. And they’ve all grown to love Shakespeare’s
work. “I used to hate Shakespeare when I studied
it in English at school,” says Maya. “But as soon
as you get to perform his work, you understand
it better and you realise how great it is. The
stories are amazing, the characters are so real,
and the language is so rich.”
The plays are the culmination of the students’
two-year Performing Arts course, and playing at
The Old Market, in front of a paying audience,
is quite a challenge. “Earlier in the year the
students had to perform pantomimes at up to
three primary schools a day,” says Stan. “This is
a completely different side of acting, it’s teaching
them a whole new set of skills.” “When you can
do Shakespeare,” says Georgia, neatly finishing
things off, “you can do anything.”
Alex Leith
The Tempest, April 24th; Lear 25th, Hamlet 26th
at 7pm, tickets £5/£4 theoldmarket.com
35

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ON THIS MONTH: FOOTBALL
Come on you Rooks!
Chanting at the Pan
The thought of a
Lewes Ultra doesn’t
exactly strike fear
into your average
seasoned hooligan.
But even at The
Dripping Pan, we
have an ‘element’, a
small batch of singing
veterans, ready
to spit bars to get
behind the boys in red and black.
I have started a fair few chants in my ten years on
the terraces. Some of the best are the most idiosyncratic.
There Is a Light that Never Goes Out was
a firm favourite in those desperate twilight years
when the club seemed to be hitting the wall, until
someone rightly pointed out that the late noughties
were painful enough as a Lewes fan without
throwing in additional Morrissey.
Of course, there have been many rough and ready
chants giving it large to the away contingent or
one of the opposition players expecting a 9.5 from
the Russian judge for a spectacular front somersault
on the edge of the penalty area. Most are
unrepeatable here, or else my asterisk key might
pass out.
“Oh when the Rooks, go steaming in, Oh when
the Rooks go steaming in, I wanna be in that number”
goes another famous tune, albeit with Lewes
variations such as “Oh when the Rooks are laying
their eggs” or “Oh when the Rooks s**t on your
car” - it's rather educational, and only a David Attenborough
narration away from being a product
of the BBC’s Natural History Unit.
My favourite ever Lewes match also coincides
with my favourite banterous exchange with away
fans. Losing 2-0 after fifteen minutes against
high-flying Dover
Athletic on Boxing
Day 2009, the
heavily refreshed
Athletic fans were
singing a festive
“Jingle bells, jingle
bells, jingle all
the way. Oh what
fun it is to see Dover
win away”. By
half time we were winning 3-2… “Two-nil and
you f****d it up”. We won 6-2.
Over 70 Barrow fans made the trip down in 2007
and delighted us with their world famous “Shoes
off if you love Barrow”. You haven't lived until you
have seen a couple of dozen Cumbrian stalwarts
waving their size nines at the footie.
Given that the Rooks are back on the up, seemingly
heading towards promotion, this creates new
challenges. Many new faces have turned up, whilst
a decade of turmoil has seen many depart. This
season, despite an electric atmosphere as Darren
Freeman’s boys put in a wonderful shift, the singing
has been more subdued.
Spooky, a fan who has been there through thick,
thin and non-existent, still tries to rev up the
crowd in the Philcox but a gentrified club leads
to a gentrified (and slightly sanitised) repertoire
of safe options. “Come on you Rooks”, “Come on
Lewes” and “Lewes”. It's like Mary Whitehouse is
in charge.
Things will change. Newly emboldened supporters
will take up the mantle and sing ditties
that confuse and confound, delight and distress,
surprise and make you smile. It's not terribly sophisticated
but it's artistic expression. “Come and
join us over here…” Chris Mason
Photo by James Boyes (Chris Mason centre of pic in blue t-shirt with pint)
37

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ON THIS MONTH: CINEMA
Film '18
Dexter Lee's cinema round-up
Alfred Hitchcock’s film career started as far back
as 1920, as a film-title designer, and by 1922 he’d
graduated to being a director. His early works are
rarely screened, but Depot Cinema are bucking
that trend in April. First up, on April 1st we’ve got
his full-length directorial debut, The Pleasure
Garden (above), a 1925 silent movie in which you
can play spot-the-future-Hitchcock-motif. It’ll
be shown at the Sunday 2pm slot on Screen One,
which is becoming something of a club for film
aficionados. On Tuesday 3rd there’s The Lodger,
a 1927 murder-hunt movie, the first to feature
Hitchcock in a cameo role, which is accompanied
by a live score on piano and violin; on the 8th
(Sunday 2pm again, see you there, guys) we’ve got
Blackmail, made in 1929 and often cited as Britain’s
first talkie. Imagine how exciting an event that must
have been in its time. Fits our theme, too.
Easter Monday (2nd) is World Autism Awareness
Day, and there are activities for children on the
autistic spectrum, and their siblings, before and
after the screening of Peter Rabbit (1pm); in the
evening there’s an autism-friendly singalong screening
of The Greatest Showman, to which everyone
is welcome.
The ‘Every Picture Tells a Story’ strand invites
viewers to watch a film and afterwards join a discussion
about the way it’s been adapted from the book
it was based on: this month (4th) it’s Gentlemen
Prefer Blondes, starring Jane Russell and Marilyn
Monroe, both at the height of their acting powers.
Oscar winning short film The Silent Child, about
a girl who can’t communicate until she learns to
sign, is being shown on the 16th. Which is a good
point to remind everyone that on Mondays all the
Depot’s films (if they come with that facility) are
caption screenings, meaning both the dialogue and
audibles (‘telephone rings; ‘Beethoven plays in the
background’, etc) are titled.
Back to that Sunday afternoon slot: starting on the
22nd, with The Good, the Bad and the Ugly,
there’s a trilogy of Sergio Leone ‘Spaghetti Westerns’.
Once Upon a Time in the West follows on
the 29th, with A Fistful of Dynamite providing
an explosive finish on May 5th. This film, aka Duck,
You Sucker, set in early twentieth-century Mexico,
is often given the ‘underrated’ tag, by those in the
know. All three films, of course, feature scores by
Ennio Morricone.
We’ll finish with mention of three hard-hitting
documentaries. The Island and the Whales (from
4th) takes the viewer to the Faroe Islands looking
at the annual slaughter of whales by the locals.
Even When I Fall (20th) and Namaste (25th),
meanwhile, are both set in Nepal: one looks at the
traumatic homecoming of a group of kidnapped
youngsters; the other sees a British doctor, Kate
Yarrow, following the difficult journeys made by
people seeking medical attention in the Himalayas.
There’s a Q&A with Kate afterwards.
39

ON THIS MONTH: GARDEN SHOW
A cut above
Say it with British flowers
“People are interested in the
provenance of their food: in
where their meat was reared
and where their vegetables
were grown. But somehow
when it comes to flowers, it
hits a blind spot,” says Sussex
flower nurseryman Ben Cross.
“Did you know that 90% of
flowers bought in the UK
were grown outside it, in
places like Colombia, Kenya
and Cambodia, then filtered
through Holland?”
Ben’s family have been growing
flowers in West Sussex
since the 30s, and their Crosslands
Flower Nursery has
been at its current site, in Walberton, since 1957.
“We grow many different types of Alstroemeria,
or Peruvian Lily,” he explains, as we walk between
beds full of fresh-smelling upright green plants
inside a large greenhouse, one of a number in the
three-acre nursery. Those in flower have been
harvested earlier in the day, he explains, then finds
a flower head that's since revealed itself, a little
burst of tiger-striped pink and yellow.
“There used to be a lot of flower nurseries round
here, because the climate and soil are perfect
between the Downs and the sea,” he continues.
“When my great grandparents started the business
up, Britain was pretty much self-sufficient in
flowers. Then came the rise in the supermarkets,
and the figures have inverted. This is the only
year-round nursery in Sussex producing a full
colour range.”
Ben has become something of a spokesman for the
industry, giving explanatory tours of his nursery
and talks at garden shows to educate people about
the benefits of buying local: “if
you buy from us you know that
the people who cut the flower
stems will have been paid a decent
wage; you know the flowers
- and their packaging - won't
have been sprayed with chemicals
to keep them from wilting
while they are being shipped
around the world. What’s more
home grown flowers are likely
to have bigger, more robust
heads and be more vibrantly
coloured. They are also likely to
stay fresh for much longer after
you buy them.”
I get a whistlestop tour of the
whole operation, which is a
remarkably simple affair. In its heyday it employed
up to 30 people; nowadays Ben has six people
working for him. With the traditional supermarkets
tending to shun British products, Ben has had
to find new outlets: “people who care about where
the flowers come from, basically,” he says. “As
well as many independent florists, there's a stall
in the Brighton and Hove vegetable market I sell
to; the ethical supermarket HISBE in Brighton
stock them; Spitalfields Market still deal in British
flowers; we're selling more and more to individual
clubs and pubs and private businesses.” His flowers
go UK-wide, and it's not surprising word is
spreading: “you don't have to pay any more for the
guarantee of freshness, quality and sustainability
you get from a local product. British flowers rock,
basically.” Alex Leith
Ben will be talking about the British Cut Flower
industry at the Garden Show at Firle Place, 1.30pm
Sunday 22nd (show starts Fri 20th) / thegardenshowonline.com.
Also see pg 23.
41

Axel Hesslenberg
Capturing Charleston
Last year was my tenth year
photographing the Charleston
Festival. I always liked to
read, and this combination of
literature and the house and
the garden attracted me. You
don’t have to be a Bloomsbury
aficionado to feel that it’s a place
of great creativity. The authors
who come to speak really
connect with the place. They
are quite often used to working somewhere alone,
locked away, but to see them in the green room,
sitting around the kitchen table chatting with
other writers... it’s a special atmosphere, a great
place to be a fly on the wall.
Once I meet them I begin to think where
I’d like to photograph them. The house is
very important and makes for an incredible
backdrop, so I usually photograph in landscape
format to ensure that it’s included. I can’t tell you
everything about the history of the house, but
visually I know it very well.
I’ve photographed actors, artists, writers and
performers at Charleston. You get wonderful
rewards working with creative people. One of my
favourite portraits is of Tom Stoppard. I wanted
to photograph him in Duncan Grant’s studio
because he creates plays, starting with a blank
page and filling it, like an artist. I photographed
Ian McEwan in the library against the beautiful
black wall. It made sense to photograph him
surrounded by books. Colm Tóibín appears
brooding in his portrait, looking directly into
the camera, but he’s a consummate entertainer,
a wonderful storyteller. I photographed the
Canadian author Madeleine Thien in Vanessa
Bell’s bedroom because she was moved by Bell’s
life and work. She was quite in awe, touched by
the house. Another favourite was
Richard Ford (below right). He’s
one of America’s best authors
but a quiet, well-spoken man.
His quietness comes across in
the image.
There are often a lot of
people around, and I have to
carve out the opportunity.
The image of Fiona Shaw
(above right) was made with ten
people around her in the small kitchen. I stole
the photo in a moment when she was framed
against the grey door. I like to photograph in the
kitchen. There is an old fridge that I like to use
as a backdrop for what I call ‘British icons’. I’ve
photographed the likes of Alan Bennett, Joanna
Lumley and Maggi Hambling there.
I have been particularly impressed with the
older generation of writers. They have a great
deal to say and stories that are grounded in
experience. PD James was so active and engaged,
to think that she has since left us is strange.
As well as the portraits, I have tried to capture
what is special about the festival. It’s about the
audience and the person on stage who holds their
attention, and the whole world is there to discover
because the subjects are so varied. At the book
signing table it’s wonderful to see the authors
engaging with their readers. I’ve seen six or seven
school kids standing there with Ali Smith and
she says, ‘ask me a question’. Sure, they ask ‘what
is your favourite book?’ but the conversation
leads somewhere else. There are these great story
tellers in this special environment and you don’t
have to be in awe. As told to Lizzie Lower
See more of Axel’s works at thepebbles.com. The
29th Charleston Festival runs from the 18th to the
28th of May. charleston.org.uk/festival
42

PHOTOGRAPHY
Photos © Axel Hesslenberg
Richard Ford, Charleston Festival 2017
Fiona Shaw, Charleston Festival 2015
43

Photo by Sam Moore
John Hamilton
Penguin Essentials Art Director
20 Years of Penguin Essentials at Ditchling
Museum of Art + Craft is a collection of 100
book covers brought together by esteemed Art
Director John Hamilton. The show runs until
29th April, in partnership with their Elizabeth
Friedlander exhibition that includes her ornate
re-workings of the Penguin logo for the
publisher’s 25th Anniversary.
The Essentials were never intended as a formal
body of work, says John, but reviewing them in
curating the show has revealed something of a
‘holding look’.
The full collection of over 150 titles grew out of
his idea to bring special editions of modern literary
classics to a new generation of book buyers.
They encapsulate the major overhaul John has led
at Penguin since he joined twenty years ago - a
period of change that offered the chance to throw
away the design conventions of his predecessors.
“When I started, they basically said: ‘you’ve got
a free hand to do what you want,’” says John. “I
looked at the backlist - Kerouac, Orwell - it was just
mind-blowing. I thought, how do we sell this to a
new young audience?”
The answer was to pair famous titles with young,
punky artists and designers whose work John found
in magazines like ID, The Face and on album covers.
A commission for design agency Intro off the
back of their work for Primal Scream helped to
consolidate the approach. “I thought, this is the way
forward,” says John. “I sat down with my designers
and said, ‘we’ve got to do this differently.’”
The net was cast wider and wider, to include
tattooists and street artists like Banksy and Cleon
Peterson. “The internet,” says John, “for me, it was
like a painter having four colours and then all of a
sudden 200.”
“I wanted to press buttons with a whole new
audience, so we got Stanley Donwood when he was
doing OK Computer, and Banksy…”
The cover Banksy created for Nick Cave’s And
the Ass Saw the Angel features a reworking of the
Penguin logo exhaling flames that John just slipped
through the eight-person approval process.
44

ON THIS MONTH: ART
Banksy
UNGA
“In 20 years of Penguin it’s probably one of my
finest moments - it’s such a good brand, you can
play with it.”
I ask whether the artists read the books but,
surprisingly, John tells me he didn’t encourage
it. “I wanted to take the narrative out… The
idea was to get something eye-catching, iconic,
immediate.”
“If you’re going to someone like Banksy or Intro,”
he says, “I can’t give them a brief, because that’s
not what they do. All I can say is that I can tailor
where I think we should be pitching our ball.”
The unsung skill of a great Art Director is
finding the right person for the job, which, for
John, is usually someone with an individual
and challenging style. “I want a cover to look
completely unique,” he says. “If it was going
to look like a book jacket, I’d get a book jacket
designer to do it.” Chloë King
ditchlingmuseumartcraft.org.uk
There will be ten new Essentials published by
Penguin on the 7th June.
Angie Lewin
45

Now We Are 7
present
CHAN GE
DIS RUPT
Jules Mitchell
Katy Oxborrow
Louise Michele Evans
Lyn Dale
Marie Ford
Nikki Davidson-Bowman
Stephanie Grainger
Saturday 7 – Friday 27 April • 12–5pm • Thu–Sun
Private View • Friday 6 April • 6pm
This exhibition is sponsored by a generous donation from the Chalk Cliff Trust
www.martyrs.gallery

ART
ART & ABOUT
In town this month
In 2016, women’s art collective Now We
Are 7, made up of artists Lyn Dale, Nikki
Davidson-Bowman, Louise Michele
Evans, Marie Ford, Stephanie Grainger,
Jules Mitchell and Katy Oxborrow, set
out on an experimental journey. The artists
made one piece of work which changed
hands until each artist had contributed towards
each piece. The resulting works, reflecting
themes of female identity, diversity
and transition, are on show in Now we are
7: Change and Disrupt at Martyrs' Gallery
from the 7th until the 27th of April, (12-5,
Thu–Sun). The collective will be discussing
the exhibition and the process of creating
the work at Towner Gallery on the evening
of Wednesday 28th, at Eastbourne's
monthly EXCHANGE event.
Matt Bodimeade
Nikki Davidson-Bowman
Miriam Forster
Brighter days are officially ahead. We can tell because
St Anne’s Galleries have hung their Spring
Show. Expect new works from Paul Newland, Jo
Lamb and Tom Benjamin, who has recently been
painting en plein air at Hope Gap and Newhaven
Harbour. Alongside the series of 'Sussex B road'
paintings by Nick Bodimeade are local landscapes
by his brother
Matt, and new to
the gallery this year
are Darius Smith,
whose vibrant paintings
incorporate elements
of mixed media,
and the abstract
works of Miriam
Forster. Open Saturdays,
Sundays and
Bank Holidays until
the 13th of May.
47

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We welcome commissions of all sizes and budgets.
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Photographic & Giclée Printing
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01273 708222
info@spectrumphoto.co.uk
spectrumphoto.co.uk

ART
In town this month (cont)
JOHN WILLIES
COUNTRY
KITCHENS
Chalk Gallery features the work of
Nichola Campbell, whose paintings express
both the atmosphere and the essence of the
natural world around her. She works both
on location and in her studio in Newick,
using light-fast inks or watercolours. Her
most recent work is inspired by landscape,
gardens and forests, their colours and
atmosphere captured in her ink paintings
of treescapes and her collages inspired by
spring. Both will be on display at Chalk
Gallery from the 9th until the 29th April.
HANDMADE & HAND-PAINTED
FITTED & FREESTANDING
SOLID WOOD KITCHENS
Preparations are underway for Artwave’s
25th year but you’ll need to be quick if you
want to be a part of the
action. Registration
to join one of
the artists' trails
(across the
whole of the
Lewes District)
closes on the
6th of April.
To sign up visit
artwavefestival.org
BRIGHTON
SHOWROOM
126 CARDEN AVENUE, PATCHAM
BRIGHTON BN1 8NE
Tel: 01273 562943
WWW.JOHN-WILLIES.COM

ART
Out of town
Chalkpit, an exhibition of work by eight local artists, will be at
the newly refurbished coach house in Glynde Place, where
Jacky Misson has recently been artist-in-residence. She has
been collecting stories and memories from people in the village
who remember when the local chalk pit was still active (it was in
use from the 1840s right up to the 1980s). The exhibition takes
place over the weekend of the 14th and 15th of April and there
will be a Q&A session with the artists on the Saturday evening.
Everyone (including children) welcome. (11am - 6pm, free.)
Wren’s living quarters, UK 1944 by Lee
Miller © Lee Miller Archives, England,
2018. All rights reserved. leemiller.co.uk
Farley’s House and Gallery opens on Sunday the 1st of April. As well
as visiting the extraordinary house, leave some time to take in the exhibitions
in the gallery next door. More Light – a selection of previously
unseen and overlooked images from the Lee Miller Archives and The
Penrose Collection – will be on display for the entirety of the 2018
season. Machinations - an exhibition of moving artworks made from
salvaged materials by Johnny White – is displayed alongside, until the
13th of May. [farleyshouseandgallery.co.uk]
Inhabit, a conceptual installation of paintings,
sculptures and prints from the Towner collection,
invites the visitor to experience ‘immersive
environments’ as they move through the gallery.
Works by Edward Bawden, Gertrude Hermes
and Duncan Grant are included, and newly
acquired prints by Patrick Caulfield and paintings
by Wilfred Avery will also be on display.
The gallery is currently accepting submissions for
the 2018 Sussex Open, bringing together the
best artists - at every level of their career - from across East and West Sussex. This year Towner are
introducing a new initiative, the Sussex Open Commission Award. The selected artist will receive
an award of up to £1,000 to develop their project which will then be presented as part of the Sussex
Open exhibition. Visit the website to find out more and submit your application by the 30th of April.
Photo by Alison Bettles
Immerse yourself in the mind of Brighton Festival guest
director David Shrigley in Life Drawing II at Fabrica in
Brighton from the 14th. Pick up paper and pen and become
part of the artwork as you join a life drawing class
with Shrigley’s nine-foot-tall sculptural model as your
muse. Your drawing then becomes part of the continuing
exhibition. (Until the 28th of May.)
50

VALUATION DAY
Jewellery and Pictures
Tuesday 24 April 2018
10am to 3pm
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
01273 220000
hove@bonhams.com
VENUE
The Courtlands Hotel,
19-27 The Drive, Hove
BN3 3JE
CECIL KENNEDY, A
SUMMER BOUQUET,
OIL ON CANVAS
£12000 - 18000 *
bonhams.com/hove
* Plus buyer’s premium and other fees. For details of the charges payable in addition
to the final hammer price, please visit bonhams.com/buyersguide

DISCOVER
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sessions are affordable in time and
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*expires 31st April
yurtacademy.com

TRADE SECRETS
Jessie Moane
Brush letterer
What do you do? I mainly do hand lettering,
using a brush pen or a normal paint brush and
working in ink or watercolour. I recently started
working with an iPad Pro and an Apple Pencil,
and I use an iMac for the rest of my processes.
How did you come to specialise in lettering?
I’ve always been interested in design. My day
job is as a magazine and graphic designer for a
publishing company. I studied design through
school, from Art at GCSE to Graphic Design at
university, and from there I just loved working
with typography. I tried out a few hand lettering
styles, but I’m left-handed, so finding a way to
work with calligraphy was tricky. A few years’
practice making gifts for friends and family got
me to where I am now.
Which products do your designs appear on?
Greetings cards and prints, currently. I’d like to
create a range of wedding stationery as my next
challenge. I do quite a lot of custom work for
people as well, which I love doing!
What kinds of commissions do you get? Funnily,
my most common commissions are tattoos. I
get lots of requests for words written in my ‘happiness’
font, which I created a few years back; the
client sends me the word they want and I send
back a design. Most of them find me through Instagram
or Pinterest. I’ve also just launched a new
product, a baby/child birth detail print, which
originally a lot of people used to ask me to create
as a custom piece. It was getting so popular as a
commission that I’ve added it to my shop.
Where do you work? Mainly from home, working
around my 11 month old. As and when he
sleeps I try to get some work done!
What inspires your wording? My inspiration
tends to come from quotes that I think will
resonate with other people, as well as myself. I
have prints of quotes by Dumbledore and Roald
Dahl, which are really popular. They’re a great
reminder that, even when times get tough, it’s
only temporary and to keep on going.
Does your writing come out looking that
beautiful first-time? Not at all! It takes a good
few tries at each word before I find a version I
like. For each word, I write it out over and over
again, covering two sides of A4 paper. Then I
look over them all to see if there is one that I
would be happy to use. If not, I start again.
What’s your favourite word (visually)? ‘Castello’.
I wrote this for a client’s wedding venue,
‘Castello del Trebbio’, and I just loved how it
looked and the flow of writing it. RC
jessiemdesign.co.uk
53

Lewes
Little
Theatre
The Home of
Lewes Theatre Club
Dial M for Murder
Written by Frederick Knott
Directed by Derek Watts
Saturday 12 May - Saturday 19 May 7:45pm
excluding Sunday. Matinee Saturday 19 May
2:45pm.
£12/Members £8
www.lewestheatre.org
Box Office: 01273 474826
THE SEVEN AGES
OF SHAKESPEARE
Sunday 22nd April. Doors 7pm, starts 7.30pm
Join The Bard Buskers in
celebrating the anniversary
of William Shakespeare,
journeying his life through
a selection of live
performances from
the complete works.
Accompanied with
live and atmospheric
music on the Harp,
the night promises to
be one to remember.
The All Saints Centre, Friars Walk, Lewes, BN7 2LE.
Tickets £8/£5 conc available from Lewes Town Hall &The All Saints Centre
(01273 486391) and www.wegottickets.com
All profits go to the Mayors Charities.
DIAL
MWRITTEN BY
FREDERICK
KNOTT
DIRECTED BY
DEREK
WATTS
FOR
MURDER

APRIL listings
THURSDAY 5
World Poets - William Wordsworth. Lecture/
performance with readings. The Lewes Arms,
6.30pm, £12.50.
Comedy at the Con. Russell Hicks, Juliet
Myers, and headliner Ian Moore with MC Neil
Masters. Con Club, 7.30pm, £8-£12.
TO FRIDAY 13 APRIL
Chris Watson: No Man’s Land. Site-specific
celebration of the sounds, rhythms and music
of the world’s seas and oceans. Attenborough
Centre, times and prices vary, see attenboroughcentre.com.
TUESDAY 3
Life drawing. Drop in session every other Tuesday,
drinks available from bar, bring your own
materials. Lewes Arms, 7.30pm, £5.
The Group. A club for unattached women and
men aged 50+. Not a dating agency. A pub in
Lewes, see thegroup.org.uk.
FRIDAY 6
The Street Names of Lewes. A Friends of Anne
of Cleves talk by John Davey. Anne of Cleves,
7.30pm, £8 (£5 members), contact annacrabtree1@hotmail.com.
SATURDAY 7 & SUNDAY 8
Jumbo Jumble Sale. Supporting St Peter and
St James Hospice and South Street Bonfire. All
Saints, 11am-5pm (Sat) and 10am-2pm (Sun),
50p entry on Saturday only, Sunday free.
SATURDAY 7 – SUNDAY 13 MAY
WEDNESDAY 4
The Butterflies
of Sussex. Michael
Blencowe
of Sussex Wildlife
Trust (and
Viva) talks about
Sussex butterflies'
decline
and conservation,
and exotic
visitors from Europe. St Thomas' Church Hall,
7.30pm, £3, see lewesgardensociety.weebly.com.
The Paint Club @ Fuego Lounge. Eat, drink
and paint. Fuego Lounge, 6.45pm, £24.50.
Arlington Bluebell Walk & Farm Trails. Open
daily 10am-5pm, bluebellwalk.co.uk.
SUNDAY 8
Food Rocks. Street food, pop-up bars and live
music. Cliffe High Street, 10am-4pm, free.
Raymond Briggs' Sofa. Viva columnist John
Henty presents a radio play adapted for the stage.
Pelham House, 7.30pm, £10 from Tourist Information
Centre and Bonne Bouche.
55

APRIL listings (cont)
Image from the Ian Everest Collection
MONDAY 9
Tales from the Riverbank. Ian Everest presents
old photos and cine film that offer a glimpse of
some of the less well-known aspects of riverside
life in the Ouse valley between Lewes and the sea.
King’s Church, 7 for 7.30pm, £3 (£1 members).
20 years on… what future for the Northern
Irish Peace process? On the eve of the 20th
anniversary of the Good Friday
Agreement, Lewes Labour host a
discussion on Brexit and the border
with Mary Hickman, founder of the Irish Studies
Centre and Tom Griffin, former Irish World
political editor. Phoenix Centre, 7.30pm, free.
TUESDAY 10 – SATURDAY 14
Chess. LOS Musical Theatre present a tale of
love and scheming politics, centred around a
chess tournament. See pg 32. Town Hall, for
times and prices see losmt.org.uk.
WEDNESDAY 11
The Arts of Japan: Highlights of Japanese Art
and Culture. Illustrated talk charting the
development of key aspects of Japanese art. Uckfield
Civic Centre, 2pm, £7 (free for members).
Perfect
THE
DAY OUT
LIVE MUSIC STAGE OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES GARDENING
ANIMAL BARN FOOD & DRINK MAYPOLE DANCING
ACRES OF SHOPPING DONKEY RIDES FAIRGROUND
6 & 7 MAY BANK HOLIDAY
BOOK TICKETS ONLINE & SAVE 10% seas.org.uk/booking
South of England Showground, Ardingly, West Sussex RH17 6TL
Under 16s FREE with paying adult Dogs welcome 9am – 5pm
seas.org.uk
01444 892700
@SouthEngShows
56

APRIL listings (cont)
THURSDAY 12
Welcoming in the
Wheatears. A Sussex
Wildlife Trust walk to spot
and learn about one of the
year’s first migrant birds
to return to Sussex from
Africa. Meet at the bridge on Cliffe High Street,
10am, free to members, donations requested.
FRIDAY 13
Film: The Disaster Artist (15). American biographical
comedy-drama based on non-fiction
book of the same name, which chronicles the
making of Tommy Wiseau's 2003 The Room,
widely considered to be one of the worst movies
ever screened. All Saints, 8pm, £5/£2.50.
SATURDAY 14
Middle Eastern Dabke/Celtic Ceilidh. In
aid of the Enthum Foundation, set up following
work by volunteers in the Calais Jungle in
2016, who are in the process of opening a home
for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children, in
Eastbourne. Firle Village Hall, 7pm-11.30pm,
£25 (includes special vegetarian Eritrean dinner).
WEDNESDAY 18
What Is Virtual Reality?
A talk from leading
VR specialist and Lewes
resident Sam Watts about
where it came from, where
it is now and where it’s going, with a hands-on
series of demos afterwards. Elly, 7pm, price tba.
57

LEWES FRIDAY FOOD MARKET
Fridays 9.30am-1.30pm
buy local - eat seasonal - feel good
lewesfoodmarket.co.uk
CHRIS WATSON
An audio journey through the sounds, rhythms
and music of the world’s seas and oceans…
01273 678 822
attenboroughcentre.com
Pay What You Decide tickets available

APRIL listings (cont)
FRIDAY 20
Mud Glorious Mud - the Bridge Farm 2017
Excavation. Lewes Archaeological Group talk
with Rob Wallace and David Millum, giving their
annual update on the excavation of this important
Romano-British settlement site at Barcombe.
Lecture Room, Lewes Town Hall, 7.30pm, £2/4,
free for under 18s.
Headstrong Club talk and discussion. Alison
Pike on the limits of parental influence on a
child's development. Elly, 8pm, £3.
FRIDAY 20 – SUNDAY 22
The Garden Show at Firle. Firle Place, 10am-
5pm daily, £7-£3. See pg 41.
works. All profits go to the Mayors Charities. All
Saints, 7pm for 7.30pm, £8/£5.
TUESDAY 24
What’s your gut feeling? Functional health
workshop with nutritionist and functional medicine
practitioner Tanya Barowski. Tanya’s clinic
and store, Needlemakers, 7pm, £25.
Lewes Death Café. Discussion group. The Ram
Inn, Firle, 7.30pm, all welcome.
Victorians Undone: Our Ancestors’ Embarrassing
Bodies. Talk with Kathryn Hughes,
historian, journalist and the author of muchadmired
biographies of Mrs Beeton and George
Eliot. All Saints, 8pm, £10, see pg 31.
WEDNESDAY 25
Arts & Crafts Market in the Old Georgian
Riding School. Part of the Garden Show at
Firle, this is an area set aside for local artists and
makers. Firle Place, 10am-5pm daily, £7-£3.
SATURDAY 21
Lewes Electric Car Show. See a variety of cars
and meet their owners, with talks and information
on recharging and other issues. Hosted by
Transition Town Lewes and Ovesco. Harvey's
Brewery rear yard, 11am-2pm, free.
SUNDAY 22
The Seven Ages of Shakespeare. The Bard
Buskers celebrate the anniversary of William
Shakespeare, journeying his life through a selection
of live performances from the complete
Namaste, a Himalayan
Journey. Screening with
Q&A of the documentary
in which Dr Kate Yarrow
uncovers the incredible
challenges facing doctors
working in rural areas of Nepal, and follows some
of the dangerous journeys patients have to endure
to reach basic healthcare. Depot, 8pm, £9/£4.
FRIDAY 27
Lewes FC Quiz Night. General quiz, four people
per team maximum. Optional meal-deal £10,
must book in advance. Dripping Pan, 7.45pm, £2.
Film: The Levelling (15). After the 2014 Somerset
floods, a young woman returns to the family
dairy farm following the death of her younger
brother. All Saints, 8pm, £5/£2.50.
SATURDAY 28
Natural Alternatives at the Menopause. Workshop.
St Mary’s Church Hall, 10am-4pm, £50.
(concessions on request) see chantry-health.com.
59

east sussex
BACH
c h o i r
J S BACH
mass MASS in IN
B MINOR
Director - John Hancorn
Sat 21st April 2018
Town Hall,Lewes
eastsussexbachchoir.org
GLYNDE PLACE
CONCERT SERIES 2018
BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists
Mariam Batsashvili (piano)
Saturday 7pm, 12 May 2017
Listz•Mozart•Schubert
Tickets, info and other events - glyndeplace.co.uk
2 June -Thibaut Garcia (guitar)
7 July -Andrei Ionita (cello)
House Open
May & June - We, Th, Su & BH Mo
Aug -26&27 Sep - 1 & 2 for Artwave
EAST SUSSEX
COMMUNITY CHOIR
Dame Felicity Lott Soprano
Shona Knight Soprano
Paul Austin Kelly Tenor
The Corelli Ensemble
Leader: Maeve Jenkinson
Nicholas Houghton Conductor
MENDELSSOHN
Hebrides Overture (Fingal's Cave)
Hear My Prayer (O for the wings of a dove)
Hymn of Praise (Lobgesang)
SATURDAY 5 MAY, 7.30PM
LEWES TOWN HALL
Tickets £12 (under 19s free)
APR
Tickets available from
Lewes Town Hall (office),
Lewes TIC
(Tel: 01273 483448)
or on the door,
subject to availability
LEWES
@Con Club
1,2 SUN RA ARKESTRA
12 65 COMEDY NIGHT
HANGEE V + SPACE AGENCY
THE MEKONS
14 VERA VAN HEERINGEN
15 BAD MANNERS
20THE DOCTORS
27GOOFER DUST
28 LOOSE CABOOSE NIGHT
29 TALITHA RISE
SEE WEBSITE FOR ANY CHANGES DETAILS AND ENTRY

CLASSICAL MUSIC
SAT 7 TH , 7.30PM
Almathea. Klio Bonz on flute and Siobhan Swider
on harp perform works by Piazzolla, Shankar,
Mills, Debussy, Thomas, Marais and Mozart.
Westgate Chapel, free with ticket from Si’s Sounds or
oysterproject.org.uk
SUN 8 TH, 3PM
St Michael’s First Sunday. (Apart from Easter
Sunday that is). Ashworth and Rattenbury Guitars
(duet) playing Praetorius; Mozart; Granados;
Machado, and Glass. St Michael’s Church, free with
retiring collection
SAT 21 ST , 7.30PM
East Sussex Bach Choir. The ESBC are joined by
the Baroque Collective Singers in a performance
of Bach’s Mass in B Minor, composed a year before
his death and never played in its entirety in his
lifetime. Town Hall, £20/£15. eastsussexbachchoir.org
SUN 22 ND , 4.30PM
Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and
Dance Bar 4 Quartet. Advanced students from
the TLC play Beethoven's Quartet Op.18 No.4 and
Tchaikovsky’s Quartet No.1, as well as works by
Sarasate, Arvo Pärt and Turina. St Michael’s Church,
£12/9/U18 free
TUES 24 TH , 9PM
Brighton Film Quartet (pictured above). The
piano quartet perform Soundscape, a specifically
composed soundtrack complimenting big screen
visuals by local filmmakers. A Fringe hit in the
Royal Pavilion at last year’s Festival: ‘think Einaudi
with attitude; Nyman on a night out.’ Depot
Cinema, £10. lewesdepot.org
SUN 29 TH , 11AM
Quatuor Arod. Internationally acclaimed violin
quartet play Haydn’s String Quartet in G Minor
Op. 74 No. 3 ‘Rider’, Benjamin Attahir’s Al Asr and
Beethoven’s String Quartet in E minor Op. 59 No.
2 ‘Razumovsky’. Attenborough Centre, University of
Sussex, £18.50/16
SUN 29 TH , 4PM
Corelli Ensemble.
Special guest,
international cellist
Sebastian Comberti
plays Boccherini’s
Cello Concerto no. 3
in G. The Corelli
Ensemble perform
Mozart’s Eine Kleine
Nachtmusik and
Barber’s Adagio
(which featured
in Platoon and The
Elephant Man, and continues this season's theme of
Music from the Movies). St Pancras Church, £12/10/
children free. corelliensemble.co.uk
61

GIG GUIDE // APRIL
GIG OF THE MONTH:
SUN RA ARKESTRA
For those who missed the chance to see them raise the
roof of the Con Club last year, legendary jazz troupe Sun
Ra Arkestra are back for two nights this April. Prolific surrealist
jazz giant and self-proclaimed extra-terrestrial from
Saturn, Sun Ra led his Arkestra for much of his life and
career. After his death in 1993, the band played on under
the capable direction of alto saxophonist and long-term
member Marshall Allen, who is approaching his 94th birthday. The Arkestra play a phenomenal range
of jazz and put on a spectacular show, with up to 15 of the 24 current members on stage at any one time.
Lorenzo Ottone sums it up pretty well in his review of their three-night residency in Lewes last year ‘the
biggest instrumental delight you could possibly experience’. The first of the two shows has already sold
out, so get in there quick! Sunday 1 & Monday 2, Con Club, 7.30pm, £25 adv Kelly Hill
SUNDAY 1
Folk in Adur. Contemporary folk, Americana
and blues. Westgate, 4pm, free (ticketed) see
oysterproject.org.uk
SUNDAY 1 & MONDAY 2
Sun Ra Arkestra. Jazz and blues. Con Club,
7.30pm, £25 adv
MONDAY 2
Simon Savage. Tenor sax. Snowdrop, 8pm, free
THURSDAY 5
Björn and the Brothers of Rhythm. Vintage
hot swing. Pelham Arms, 8.30pm, free
FRIDAY 6
Norman Baker. Playing a stripped-down set of
his new album. Bus Club Pizza, 8.30pm, free
The Hangee V + The Space Agency. 60s
garage & surf. Con Club, 8pm, free
SATURDAY 7
Session with Roger Stamp & friends. Folk
(Irish, English, World). Elly, 8pm, £6
SUNDAY 8
Open Space Open Mic. Music, poetry and
performance. Elly, 7.30pm, free
MONDAY 9
Oli Howe Trio. Jazz. Snowdrop, 8pm, free
THURSDAY 12
The Mekons. Arty post-punk Peel faves. Con
Club, 7.30pm, £14 + booking fee
SATURDAY 14
Contraband. First event in the new ‘Seaford Sessions’
series. Seaford Little Theatre, 7.30pm, £10
John Crampton. Blues & bluegrass. Lansdown,
7.30pm, free
Foxglove Trio. Folk (Welsh). Elly, 8pm, £6
Vera Van Heeringen Trio. Americana/roots/
bluegrass. Con Club, 7.30pm, £12
SUNDAY 15
Bad Manners. Ska with Buster Bloodvessel &
Co. Everybody now: ‘Ne Ne Na Na Na Na Nu
Nu...’ Con Club, 7.30pm, £20 + booking fee
>>>
62

GIG GUIDE // APRIL (CONT)
MONDAY 16
Vasilis Xenopoulos and Alex Eberhard. Jazz.
Snowdrop, 8pm, free
FRIDAY 20
The Doctors. Folk rock. Con Club, 8pm, free
SATURDAY 21
Bad Bad Whiskey. Skifflebilly. Lansdown, 8pm, free
John Conolly. Folk from the man who wrote Fiddler’s
Green. Royal Oak, 8pm, £6
MONDAY 23
Sue McCreath. Jazz vocals. Snowdrop, 8pm, free
FRIDAY 27
Goofer Dust. Blues. Con Club, 8pm, free
SATUDAY 28
Loose Caboose night. 60s soul, northern, R&B,
Latin & jazz.
Con Club,
7.30pm, £5
Dandelion
Charm.
A Radio Lewes
Live recording/streaming.
Westgate, 7pm,
free (ticketed) see oysterproject.org.uk
Nick Dow. Folk (English trad). Elly, 8pm, £6
SUNDAY 29
Talitha Rise. Folk. Con Club, 4pm-6pm, free
MONDAY 30
Quinto featuring Raul D'Oliviera, Tristan
Banks and Terry Seabrook. Jazz. Snowdrop,
8pm, free
WANT A DIFFERENT SUMMER?
Host an international student and earn money
Good rates of pay
Students of various ages
and nationalities
Short stays 2-6 weeks
between June & mid-August
We require new homestay providers in Lewes
within walking distance of Sussex Downs College.
Hosts should be ideally located in Neville,
Landport, Wallands, Town Centre, Southover,
Winterbourne, Cliffe or Malling.
For further information:
Accommodation.lewes@sussexdowns.ac.uk
Half-board or self-catering
SUSSEX DOWNS
COLLEGE
Mountfield Rd,
Lewes BN7 2XH
03030039940

Sheffield Park Station TN22 3QL
Branch Line Specials
Come along 18th-20th May and see some
little engines doing what little engines do best!
Lots of trains so hop on and off all day
Visit of ‘Tornado’
25th - 29th May - 60163 ‘Tornado’ will be visiting over
May Bank Holiday Weekend. Enjoy a Teddy Bear’s Picnic
on board -bring Teddy along too! Booking essential
TrackFest 2018 - tickets now on sale!
A must for all music fans! The first ever ‘TrackFest’ will be
held at Horsted Keynes on 16th June! Headline acts
already confirmed ‘Modern Romance and The Jive Aces
Visit the website for more details of how to book
www.bluebell-railway.com 01825 720800
Early Years
Open Morning
12th May 2018
09:30 - 12:00
Please register online
contact@michaelhall.co.uk
Alternatively, book in
for a Private Tour
contact@michaelhall.co.uk
or call 01342 822275
www.michaelhall.co.uk/school-open-days
Kidbrooke Park, Priory Road, Forest Row. East Sussex, RH18 5JA
Tel: 01342 822275 - Registered Charity Number 307006

UNDER 16
FREETIME êêêê
TO MONDAY 2
Mad Hatter's Tea
Party. Bluebell Railway
event at Kingscote
Station with hatter’s
tea party, children’s
adventure hunt, giant
games, small animal
farm and competition
for the maddest hat.
bluebell-railway.com.
find the treasure, come in your pirate costume
to be part of the adventure. Musical play for all
the family. All Saints, 11.30am & 2.30pm, see
gokidmusic.com.
Spring Greens. Drop in for hands-on activities
based around springtime, with embroidering
flowers and herb-bag making. Anne of Cleves,
1pm, price included in admission.
TO SUNDAY 15
Peter Rabbit Goes Wild. Two weeks of Peter
Rabbit-themed fun for the Easter holidays,
with games, crafts and storytelling inspired by
Beatrix Potter’s tales. Wakehurst, see kew.org/
wakehurst.
THURSDAY 5
Knights and Dragons. Stories about castle
knights, armour to try on and lots to make,
including a dragon mask and a castle tower, for
four to eight-year olds. Lewes Castle, 10.30am
& 2pm, £5 per child.
MONDAY 9
BEATRIX POTTER TM © Frederick Warne & Co., 2018
SUNDAY 1
Dirk Scheele in concert. Dutch children’s
entertainer with his own daily music television
programme performs a very special concert.
Depot, 11am, £3.
TUESDAY 3
Wild Family Day Out. Activity packed day for
all the family, run by Circle of Life Rediscovery.
Woodland site near Laughton, 10am-3pm, see
circleofliferediscovery.com.
A Pirate Adventure Show.
Captain Al needs a crew to
help follow the clues and
Morning Explorer: Dragons. For families with
additional needs including a story with special
tactile objects to feel, a chance to try spinning
wool on a wheel, garden games and audio
described tours. Lewes Castle, 10-11am, regular
admission price applies, contact 01273 405734
to book.
TUESDAY 10
Spinning Yarns. Drop
in and listen to the tale
of Rumpelstiltskin,
tell your own fairy
tales and have a go
at spinning wool. All
ages welcome. Anne of
Cleves, 1pm, price included in admission. >>>
65

FREETIME
êêêê
THURSDAY 12
Dinosaurs and Dragons. Creative holiday
workshop with clay. For children aged four
to eight. Lewes Castle, 10.30am, £5 per child,
booking essential, call 01273 486290.
SATURDAY 28
Lewes
STEMfest.
Fair showcasing
Science,
Technology,
Engineering, and
Maths research
and activities for
the whole family.
See pg 68. Lewes Town Hall, 12pm-3pm, free.
Spread Your Wings and Fly. Interactive
family fun exploring the science of flight
with Director of Brighton Science Festival,
Dr Richard Robinson, followed by singalong
showing of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
Fundraiser for Patina. All Saints, 2.30-4.30pm
(workshops) 5.30pm (film), £4 for each event,
£6 combined, contact patinalewes@gmail.com.
Open to the public for five days only:
Friday 30th March
Saturday 31st March,
Monday 2nd April
Saturday 7th April
Sunday 8th April
Opening times 12 noon - 4pm. (Please do not come earlier for health and safety reasons.)
FREE ENTRY (donations welcome to the RABI charity). Refreshments available in the farm shop.
A275 OOam, Lewes BN7 3QE / 01273 478265 | www.ooamfarmshop.co.uk
66

SHOES ON NOW: WORD OF THE DAY
êêêê
Our family has always had a
love of words and reading to
the children is one of the deep
pleasures of parenting. We
especially love it when the children
slip a particularly colourful
word into conversation, telling
us our stories sound ‘apocryphal’
or that one of their brothers
is being ‘rambunctious’.
One way we try to foster a
love of words is by developing
our equivalent of ‘Word of the
Day’. Using the Internet, we download five interesting
words each week, often around a theme
such as ‘sport’ or ‘emotions or feelings’. Then
each weekday evening over dinner we introduce
the boys to one of the new words and encourage
them to use the word in
context. Each child has to say
a sentence which includes the
new word.
There are lots of websites
online that will help you with
generating word lists or you
can simply create your own.
On Sunday lunchtimes we
often give the boys a quiz to
check how many of the words
they have remembered during
the week.
Over time the boys are beginning to love language
for its own sake, for the way the new words
feel in their mouths and for how much easier it is
to win an argument with your siblings when you
have a more expansive vocabulary. Jacky Adams
Peter Rabbit
goes wild
Enjoy garden games and wild
adventures this Easter holiday
30 March – 15 April 2018
For details visit kew.org/wakehurst
BEATRIX POTTER
© Frederick Warne & Co., 2018.
67

êêêê
YOUNG PHOTO
OF THE MONTH
“I took this photo when we were going
to Queen's Park in Brighton when it
was snowing in March,” writes Romaine
Dawson, who’s 9. “It made me laugh, so
I borrowed my dad’s phone.” It made us
laugh, too, Romaine, and it’s won you a
book token! Well done for spreading this
cheeky smile further afield than the ‘artist’
who created it could ever have imagined.
Under 16? Send your pictures to photos@
vivamagazines.com, with a message about
where, when and why you took it, and you
could see it in this space. The winner gets a
£10 book token from Bags of Books in Cliffe.
LEWES STEMFEST
Lewes STEMfest is one of a family of STEMfests
across Sussex. It’s supported by STEM
Sussex, an organisation which aims to make young
people aware of all the different opportunities
there are within Science, Technology, Engineering
and Maths, by linking them with local people
who work or study in these fields. A number of
volunteer STEM Ambassadors in Lewes, from
astronomers to engineers to people working in life
sciences, felt that there were too few opportunities
for children and their parents to understand how
exciting and rewarding the STEM subjects can be.
We decided to launch a fun and inspiring event
in Lewes, to give young people the chance to meet
some real scientists and engineers and find out
what they do. The event is aimed at all ages – last
year we had visitors aged 5-75! There are two key
influencers on young people and their outlook on
STEM subjects: their teachers and their parents.
That’s why we think it’s so important for parents
to come along with their children, so that they
can be made aware of both the fun aspects and the
opportunities within STEM industries.
There will be a number of scientists and
engineers at the event, both male and female.
Many more girls and women are now choosing to
study and work in STEM fields, but the shift has
not been as rapid as we’d like. Girls and boys need
the opportunity to meet role models in those fields
and think ‘that could be me’. As told to Rebecca Cunningham
by Bronagh Liddicoat
Lewes Town Hall, Sat 28th, 12pm-3pm
68

C 48
M 37
Y 33
K 14
#888a90
C 13
M 91
Y 86
K 3
#cd332a

Fresh and
Seasonal Sussex
Produce
LEWES
FARMERS
MARKET
Creating stronger
communities and
a more sustainable
local economy
Find out more about
the food you buy, direct
from the farmers and
producers
www.commoncause.org.uk
1st & 3rd Saturday
Every Month
9am-1pm, Cliffe Precinct
Cliffe
Precinct
Lewes
delicious
food from...
ethiopia, sri lanka,
mozambique, nigeria,
trinidad & tobago, kenya
northern thailand and more...
plastic-free packaging |
vegan options
www.thefeaturekitchen.co.
info@thefeaturekitchen.co.uk // 07876655664

FOOD REVIEW
Lemongrass
Turning Japanese... but staying Thai
You no longer have to
go to Brighton to eat
sushi, and I’m not just
talking about Waitrose.
Lemongrass, the Thai
restaurant on School
Hill have added a
Japanese twist to their
menu, and brought
in a sushi chef, with a
couple of decades of
experience behind him.
Said chef has got
his own little space,
where you can see him making the sushi, which
is a nice bit of theatre. My wife Rowena and I
arrive at 7pm on a mild Friday evening in March.
We’re not Japanese food experts, but we’re both
Moshimo regulars, we’ve both tried making our
own sushi, and we’re interested to see if this restaurant’s
Japanese fare is going to be high-quality
enough to ensure our regular custom.
The menu gives you plenty of choice: we decide
to have a few small dishes and see if there’s room
for anything else later. And so we order a Wakame
Salad (seaweed, citrus and sesame seed, £4.50) a
portion of deep-fried soft-shell crab (£7.95) and,
most enticingly of all, a ‘Tokyo’ assortment of
hand-made sushi, including four California Rolls,
four Tempura Futo Rolls, and four Black Spider
Futo Rolls (£16.95 for all 12). I get a bottle of
Asahi, Ro sticks to water.
First up, the soft-shell crab, which comes lightly
battered and in a black pepper sauce: a delicate
hit. Then comes the seaweed, moister than we
expected. The citrus tang sets off the milder seaweed
taste, and the texture offers an interesting,
slippery crunch.
When the waiter (Ahmed, incidentally, who used
to work at Shanaz)
brings the sushi, on
a black slate, we are
silenced for a good
few seconds. They are
plump, and colourful,
and topped with caviarlike
tobiko roe (which,
I later learn, comes
from flying fish). The
rice is cooked just
right: there’s a stickiness
about it and you
can see the individual
grains. They’re big: of the two-bite, rather than
the one-bite variety. And they taste just great, full
of crab and avocado and spring onion and drizzled
with marie rose and teriyaki. I believe they are the
most exotic thing I’ve ever been served in Lewes.
We’re sated, but not finished, as greed takes over:
we order another round of dishes: exquisite gyoza
(pan-grilled dumplings, £6.95, cooked beautifully
so the bottoms are crunchy), some miso
soup (£3.90) and a bowl of unajyu (grilled eel on
steamed rice, £17.95), washed down with warm
sake (£5.95) which comes in little ceramic bottles.
Luckily a film at the Depot we’ve bought tickets
for halts the feeding frenzy: this could have gone
on all night.
We went to town, then, but you don’t need to.
The multi-course Japanese experience is a great
special occasion option, (we’ll definitely be back
soon) and a very welcome addition to Lewes’
rapidly changing restaurant scene. But it’s reassuring
to know we can still pop in for a bowl of Pad
Thai, too, at under a tenner. Or, for that matter,
some crispy prawn panang with fresh chilli & lime
leaves. Alex Leith
01273 486696
71

72
Photo by Sam Bilton

RECIPE
Crème au Café Blanc Renversée
Sam Bilton runs Repast, specialising in recreating historic dishes for modern
diners. To fit our ‘The Word’ theme, here’s one from 19th-century French
novelist Alexandre Dumas’ Grand Dictionnaire de Cuisine.
I'm a food writer specialising in food history, and
also a supper club host. This all comes together in
my bi-monthly supper club – Repast – in which I
find old recipes and put a modern slant on them. I
call it 'historical dining – with a twist'. The suppers
– for 8 to 12 people – take place in my home on
the outskirts of Haywards Heath.
Sometimes I go back as far as Roman times, and I
have to use a lot of imagination because the recipes
take some deciphering. The ingredients might
be written down, but not always the quantities or
cooking methods. Medieval and Tudor recipes can
be quite demanding, too.
Luckily Alexandre Dumas' great cooking
dictionary, published posthumously in 1873, is
fairly detailed. I’ve combined two of his recipes
– Crème Renversée and Crème au Café Blanc, to
recreate a retro classic from my childhood, crème
caramel, infused with coffee and spices. This will
be the dessert at a Repast Supper Club in May,
and will complement the seafood dishes on the
menu, like prawn and tomato bisque, also from
Dumas’ book.
Dumas was most famous for novels like The
Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers, of
course, but the last book he wrote – having retired
to Brittany for a year for the purpose – was his
cooking dictionary. Sadly, he didn't live to see it
published; happily, you can still enjoy the fruit (or
in this case pudding) of his labours.
For four people you will need to crack (not grind)
2 tbsp of espresso beans and 4 cardamom pods
with a pestle and mortar, then place them in a
saucepan with 2 strips of orange peel and 450ml
whole milk. Bring to the boil and leave to infuse
for at least 1 hour.
To make the caramel put 80g caster sugar and
1 tbsp cold water in a saucepan. Cook over a
medium heat until it caramelises, then add 2 tbsp
hot water and stir until combined. Divide the
caramel between 4 ramekins swishing it around the
sides to coat the interior. Strain the infused coffee
milk through a fine sieve into a clean saucepan.
Add 50g golden caster sugar then bring to the boil.
Meanwhile blend 4 large eggs with 1 tsp vanilla
extract and 2 tbsp rum in a large jug. Pour the hot
milk over the egg mixture then divide the custard
between the caramel-lined ramekins.
Place the custards in a roasting tin filled with
boiling water until it comes to around two thirds
of the way up the ramekins. Bake at 140°C for 20
minutes or until just set. Take the ramekins out of
the water, then allow to cool before chilling.
To serve the Crème Renversée, briefly dip each
ramekin in a bowl of very hot water then run a
knife around the edge before quickly tipping the
custards out onto a plate. These are perfect with
some chocolate biscuits on the side.
As told to Alex Leith
repastsupperclub.co.uk / Sam is also co-host,
with Chloë King, of Cook the Books
(@cookthebooksUK) a themed monthly meetup
in the Lewes Arms where participants bring a
cook book and something they've made from it,
and everyone shares the food. It’s free to attend;
everyone is welcome.
73

Welcome to the Royal Oak.
A smart, contemporary pub in the heart of the town.
We have a fantastic range of real ales, premium beers and
spirits and a great selection of wines available by the glass.
Our kitchen provides small plates, sharing boards and hearty
bowls, with a focus on locally sourced produce.
The Function Room can host up to 60 guests and boasts its
own bar. It is available for private hire, parties and meetings.
We even have a secret little garden hidden out the back.
www.RoyalOakLewes.co.uk | 01273 474 803 | 3 Station Street, Lewes BN7 2DA
Monday to Saturday - 1200 to 2200
Wood fired pizzas using the best
Neapolitan and local ingredients.
Eat in or take-away.
Book:
Visit:
01273 470755
Eastgate Lewes BN7 2LP
(above the old bus station)

FOOD
Wild Alchemy
Gut feeling
Bone broth might not sound very appetising –
somebody in marketing should come up with a
more appealing name – but it’s said to be bloody
healthy, and, I can tell you, the stuff Lucie from
Wild Alchemy makes – with bits of garlic and ginger
and parsley in it – is delicious. It comes in a cup,
and you drink it: it tastes like Bovril, only natural.
That’s my day’s protein sorted.
I was considering a cheese toastie for lunch when
I was told that Lucie was bringing round some
‘samples’ of her products, so I ended up going
down a rather healthier route. Have I ever had a
more nutritious meal? I also wolf down a packet of
kale crisps, which are crunchy and cheesy-tasting
(though vegan) and extremely moreish. Vitamins A,
K and C: tick, tick and tick.
Those are washed down with a bottle of ginger and
turmeric kombucha (as opposed to the pomegranate,
lemongrass and ginger version, which I opt to
take home to my wife, alongside a bottle of coconut
kefir, and some chocolate). This is mighty refreshing
and mighty tangy. I read about it on the internet
as I finish it off – it’s fermented tea, basically. It’s
thought by its fans to have multiple health benefits,
particularly for the gut: good bacteria, and all that.
Whatever the case, the ginger and turmeric in it
packs a positive punch. Yum. Alex Leith
Lucie has a stall at both the Friday and Farmers’
markets, and she sells her kombucha in the Brighton
outlet Youjuice. You can also buy direct from her –
07833 525327 / wildalchemyfood.com
75

free entry
Lewes
fulfil
your
foodie
desires
Join us on
cliffe high
street
on the
second Sunday
of every month
for a mix of sensational
street food
artisan produce
pop up bars
& live music
foodrockssouth.co.uk
2018 DATES
8 April
13 May
10 June
8 July
12 August
9 September
14 October
11 November
19 December
food
rocks

FOOD
Illustration by Chloë King
Edible Updates
First up, I’m fizzing about
Amanda Saurin’s
new beverage label
Fierce Botanics.
Her all-natural
small-batch tonic
water, flavoured with
rose, lemon, elderberry,
juniper, cinchona bark and
spruce, is available to buy at AS:AP on Western
Road and Symposium. I can’t wait to try, perhaps
with a Sussex gin, like Seven Sisters, now
the days are brighter.
The café landscape continues to shuffle, and we
welcome Carafe. The new independent coffee
shop on Station Street sells homemade pastries
and Hasbean coffee. Regulars take note; it looks
like we’re still waiting for a Turkish restaurant.
Perhaps the Prezzo premises would be a good
spot? The Lewes branch is among 94 restaurants
set for the chop. We wish all the best to
their friendly staff, but the question remains,
could we now have too few pizzerias?
Lemongrass now offers sushi as well as Thai
food that is attracting good comments.
The Cheese Please premises will become a
branch of boutique Brighton chain Bagelman,
and Station Street caterers Delish are moving
on. Their home-cooking will be missed.
In other news, soon is a perfect time to visit
Bluebell Farm Shop and Cookery School in
Arlington, when their neighbouring forest trail
will be resplendent with bluebells.
[bluebellfarmhousekitchen.co.uk]
You might also refresh your skills at baking
expert Emmanuel Hadjiandreou’s Sourdough
Masterclass at Lewes Community Kitchen
(14th & 15th); at Daphne Lambert’s Living
Food Day on the 7th or her Fermentation
workshop on the 8th. [greencuisinetrust.org]
Chloë King
The Pelham arms
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77

THE WAY WE WORK
Once upon a time we asked Emma Auwyn to photograph a selection of the
many children’s writers and illustrators who’ve made Lewes their home.
And she asked them two questions: what was your favourite book as a child,
and what’s your favourite word?
auwyn.com
Miriam Moss
Favourite word: Gurtle - a made-up family word for gentle delight.
Favourite book: I had many favourites, from Grimm's Fairy Tales to Elidor to Agatha Christie.

THE WAY WE WORK
Will Mabbit
Favourite word: Tromboning.
Favourite book: My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George.

THE WAY WE WORK
Matt Carr
Favourite word: Probably 'sponge' or 'flabbergasted' - just ridiculous when you think about it.
Favourite book: I didn’t read much as a kid but it would’ve been the Buster or Whizzer and
Chips then Roy of The Rovers or 2000 AD annuals. Or Winnie The Pooh.

THE WAY WE WORK
Leigh Hodgkinson
Favourite word: 'spoon'. I love double 'o's and it is such a happy sounding word
to say, and represents comfort and joy (as you eat soup and puddings from it).
Favourite book: The Enormous Crocodile by Roald Dahl.

LITERATURE
Get into reading
Lewes book groups
As anyone who has
thought about joining a
Lewes choir will know,
there are a large number,
and they are very different.
The same is true of
book groups. Not all take
the ‘reading’ bit seriously.
Some are more focused on
extending the opportunity
for playground conversations,
enhanced by wine, and offer a lot of mutual
support. Many have been established for years.
Lewes has many intelligent, opinionated readers,
and in some groups, discussion is taken seriously
with the expectation that you’ve read all of the
chosen text. Most aren’t ‘open’, but some are. The
Get Into Reading group every Tuesday afternoon,
for example, welcomes everyone, so I go along.
It’s been running for nine years, in Lewes Library,
led by retired University of Sussex lecturer Christine
Cohen Park. Her role was funded initially,
but once that ended, she carried on voluntarily.
They read each book aloud, taking turns, stopping
for discussions, tea and cake.
I arrive to find them reading Rose Tremain’s
Restoration. I ask if it’s ok to interrupt to ask some
questions, and they say they are fine with that.
These answers came from various members of
the group:
Are there ‘rules’? ‘There is no right and wrong
opinion, everybody's views have equal weight.’
‘Everybody is welcome.’ ‘We always finish with a
poem, because that has a resolution.’
Why do you come? ‘I didn't do that much reading
and I stuck to genres I knew. Here, I read
books I wouldn't have chosen. It's an education.’
‘I arrived in Lewes not knowing a soul, and I’ve
made new friends.’
‘Having a leader,
an ethos and some
structure is helpful.’
‘If the protagonists
are going through a
crisis, sometimes we
share our own. The
themes of the book can
draw things out. It’s
supportive. Someone
with ME came and lay on the carpet for part of
the time. And once, we went to the house of a
member who wasn't well enough to come.’
Who chooses the book? ‘Christine makes the final
decision. Each book needs to work well being
read out, although there is some discussion.’
How long does it take to get through each
one? ‘It depends on how much we talk about it!’
How do you feel about reading out loud? ‘It’s
fine, even though I felt nervous initially. You don’t
have to read out loud.’
Where do you source your copies? ‘60% from
the library, who are brilliant.’ Emma Chaplin
Get Into Reading, upstairs at Lewes Library, 2.30-
4.45pm every Tuesday, free, all welcome. Just turn
up or contact Christine christinecohenpark@yahoo.
com, 01273 480650 / Lewes Short Story Club, run
by Holly Dawson. Monthly, free, held in the back
room of Lewes Waterstones. Three stories are read
aloud, and this is followed by a lively discussion.
Everyone gets a photocopy of the stories. lewesshortstory.co.uk
/ Cook the Books, organised by
Viva’s Chloë King, comprises sharing of different
dishes brought by people inspired by recipes in
their favourite cook books. Meets monthly. cookthebooks.club
/ U3A has a fortnightly Book Circle,
see u3asites.org.uk
Photo by Emma Chaplin
82

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Rachel Ward-Sale
Lewes bookbinder
We’ve been in the Star Brewery building since
1992, in three different studios. The first space
was too small because there were four of us working
in it. Then two people left and the second
space became too big. This one’s just right. I work
alongside Jill Prole, we’re both sole operators,
working under the umbrella ‘Bookbinders of
Lewes’. We share jobs out: we each have regular
customers but sometimes it depends who answers
the phone, or who’s there when a customer pops
round, as they often do. We never fight about it!
We do all types of one-off and limited edition
hand-binding jobs, whether that’s a simple gluing
job or something much more complex. We do
a lot of repairs of people’s favourite books that
are falling apart. Then there are artists’ books,
memoirs, theses and documents… up to top-end
fine leather binding.
People say ‘hasn’t digital been damaging to
your business?’ but it’s been good to us really,
because people can print one or two copies of
their book – memoirs are a good example - and we
can bind them together. Bigger companies won’t
usually do such small jobs.
The Star is a great space because there are so
many interesting makers with small businesses
to chat to. Everyone’s in the same boat. I used to
work from home, but I’ve got too much equipment
now to ever contemplate going back to that,
and I’d miss the company.
84

MY SPACE
A lot of our equipment, like the nipping
presses, is Victorian. A lot of stuff went on
the market when printing went digital in the
eighties. Other machines include the guillotine,
the board cutter and the blocking press. Tools
include hammers and scissors and weights and
decorative tools for adding gold leaf to leather
work. We need to get in supplies of paper every
month. We use good quality acid-free paper in
all sorts of different colours.
We’ve always got jobs on the go. We never run
out of things to do here. But it’s difficult for anyone
to get into bookbinding nowadays because
they’ve closed down all the full-time courses, and
people have to either do part-time courses so
they can only study part time, which is why we
have started running part-time classes.
You need to be a patient person to be a
bookbinder. And you need an eye for detail. We
have to be able to concentrate on the job, but we
do listen to music while we work: world music,
or jazz. And The Archers. We used to listen to the
show on the radio but now we play it on iPlayer
so we can pause it when the phone rings. In that
way we don’t have to turn the radio off and miss
what happens… As told to Alex Leith
Bookbinders of Lewes, 01273 486718, Mon-Fri
10.30am-4pm
Photos by Lucy Limage (@lucylimage)
85

ADVERTORIAL
A DAY IN THE LIFE OF YHA SOUTH DOWNS
Up with the lark for a 7am start and
ready to cook breakfast for a group
of 40 enthusiastic 7 year olds; they’re
staying with us while exploring the
South Downs Way and all it has to
offer. We can accommodate up to 76
people in our variety of rooms which
include little wooden pods over
looking the Downs and premium bell
tents with log fires. With breakfast
over, there’s just enough time for a
quick coffee before getting the café
ready to open at 10.
It’s a bright, sunny day so we look forward
to welcoming plenty of walkers
and cyclists from their adventures
on the South Downs Way and the
cycle path from Lewes to Newhaven.
Some will even have walked from our
hostels in Brighton, Eastbourne and
Truleigh Hill so will be really hungry
when they get to us! Dogs are always
welcome, so hopefully they’ll bring
some four-legged friends too.
There’s a lunch meeting in the
upstairs conference room so
everything’s in the oven for the buffet
booked for 1pm. With freshly topped
up teas and coffees, the attendees all
look energised.
As its Saturday we’re gloriously busy
and it’s lovely to see long-standing
customers return for our Cuppa and
Cake deal – just £3.50. This is always
a happy place to work and it’s at this
time of year that we start looking for
seasonal staff to join the YHA family
and see us through the busy months.
Next up, we prep for the evening
meal and welcome guests back from
their day’s adventures.
If you think this might be the place
for you, pop in for a Cuppa and Cake,
book yourself an overnight stay, pop
in to see what we’re about or drop us
an email at southdowns@yha.org.uk.

COLUMN
Walkies
#14 Over the rainbow
Sarah and I have been in Africa. Yes, do try and
get over it. We did indeed miss the icy blast from
the east. We have tans to die for and everybody
hates us but, hey, that’s life. Happily, Todd is still
over the moon to see us. Presumably we still
smell the same, which in my case isn’t much to
shout about.
To celebrate our return, we’ve barely set foot
on England’s green and pleasant land before
the three of us take to the fields and woods near
where we live, joined by Sarah’s six year-old
niece, Cordelia. Our route takes us from the
Rainbow Inn in Cooksbridge to nearby Barcombe
Church, before heading north, and then
west, over the fields.
Ancient history lies lightly buried in this part
of Sussex. In a field near Barcombe Church
are the recently excavated remains of a Roman
villa while a branch of the Sussex Greensand
Way, a Roman Road, runs east/west along the
escarpment above Cooksbridge. And spookily,
Deadmantree Hill, which runs uphill from the
pub, is reputed to be haunted by the ghosts of
dead soldiers killed during the Battle of Lewes
in 1264.
On a more light-hearted note, as we make our way
along the footpath that runs parallel to the Roman
Road, I find myself humming Over the Rainbow
from the Wizard of Oz which I watched again
for the first time in 40 years on the plane home.
Cordelia has seen it recently too and wants to
know whether the lions in Africa are as cowardly as
the one in the film. I reply that, after being charged
by one on a walking safari, Sarah and I are firmly of
the opinion that the answer is “No”.
Clearly in a reflective frame of mind and doubtless
thinking of Judy Garland’s adorable little dog, Toto,
Cordelia then says: “Auntie Sarah, do you think
there are dogs in heaven?” “Of course there are,
sweetheart” replies Sarah reassuringly. “But how do
you know?” asks Cordelia looking troubled.
“Because we’re in heaven right now,” says Sarah.
“Todd’s a dog and he’s in heaven running around
in the fields. Spring is on the way. You and me
and Richard are having a wonderful walk, we’ve
got a great view of the Downs and we’re in
heaven too.”
“Oh dear,” says Cordelia after a few moment’s
silence. “That’s very sad. I suppose we must all
be dead then.” Richard Madden
Map: OS Explorer OL11. Distance: 4.5 miles. Terrain:
Farm tracks, fields, stiles, woods, side roads,
fields again. Directions: From the pub, take the
footpath along the farm lane heading south-east
and over the fields to Barcombe Church. Then
follow a maze of footpaths north and then west
beside the Roman Road before heading south
along the side road towards Cooksbridge. Cut
back along the path over the fields to the pub.
Start/Finish: The Rainbow Inn, Cooksbridge
(sadly closed).
87

WILDLIFE
Illustration by Michael Blencowe
Rose-ringed Parakeet
Excuse me while I kiss the sky
One of my favourite quotes from The Simpsons
comes from Springfield’s vet: “I love animals. I
spend my life saving them and they can't thank me.
Well, the parrots can.” No animals are more famed
for their ability to talk than parrots (apart from that
dog on That’s Life! who could say ‘sausages’). Sure,
their ‘talking’ is more mimicry than witty afterdinner
conversation – a feathered echo chamber
– but whether they’re chanting ‘pieces of eight’ on
a pirate’s shoulder or swearing in front of Auntie
Ethel we humans have been entertained by their
backchat for centuries.
There are around 400 species of parrot. Their
native range encompasses pretty much everywhere
south of the Tropic of Cancer. For us Brits their
beautiful plumage embodies the exotic; the mystery
and excitement of faraway lands. So imagine my
surprise when, on my first visit to Lewes many years
ago, I saw a parrot flying round the Pells.
The rose-ringed (or ring-necked) parakeet looks
ridiculously out of place amongst our comparatively
drab starlings, pigeons and crows. With its garish
green plumage and red beak it stands out like a
clown who has gatecrashed a funeral. And with that
squawk – that incessant, demented squawk – there’s
no ignoring it.
South-east England’s parakeets are among the
world’s most northerly parrot populations: but
how did they get here? Some believe they made
their great escape from an East London film
studio in 1951 after starring alongside Bogart and
Hepburn in The African Queen. Others claim that
the parakeets were set stone free by Jimi Hendrix
who liberated them from their plastic cage in his
girlfriend’s London flat. I rather like the idea of
American sixties icons being responsible for the
spread of non-native species across the UK. Perhaps
Sonny and Cher smuggled grey squirrels in through
customs under their furry waistcoats or a touslehaired
Bob Dylan secretly sneaked some mink out
of the stage door of the Albert Hall in ’66.
The truth is with tens of thousands of parakeets
being imported into the UK it was no surprise
that a few slipped their chains and flew the coop.
Since the end of the sixties these free spirits have
been recreating the Summer of Love across the
capital. Forming feral colonies the parakeets have
filled the air with their joyous, intolerable screeching
and squawking; sounds that would make Hendrix
and Dylan proud. And as for free love, their blatant
fornicating in London’s parks has led to a parakeet
population explosion. Surely it’s only a matter of time
before the rose-ringed parakeet moves into suburban
Sussex. One day they’ll be flying wild, vibrant and
free around our gardens and gawping at us through
the kitchen window as we stand there trapped in our
repetitive lives. Who’s a pretty boy then?
Michael Blencowe, Sussex Wildlife Trust
89

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⸀
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but enables you to celebrate the life of your loved one as you wish.
(We also offer a Simple Funeral at £1,995 plus disbursements if you
prefer to attend the Crematorium for a more traditional service).
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Lewes
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uckfield@rgreenfs.co.uk

HEALTH
Dan Nicholls
Myth-busting physio
Dan Nicholls is a man of many medical hats:
he is an advanced practitioner in the NHS, a
visiting lecturer at Brighton University, teaching
human anatomy in the cadaver lab, and he's
worked as a physio for the British Basketball
team, British Swim team and England Athletics
as well as 2012 London Olympics and 2014
Commonwealth Games.
He also finds time to manage Motion Physiotherapy,
a clinic at the Southdown Sports
Centre. But don’t expect to find him there if you
read this before April 16th: he’ll be on Australia’s
Gold Coast, working once again with Team
England at the Commonwealth Games.
Physiotherapy is for everyone, and not just pro
sportspeople, of course, and I’ve asked to meet
Dan in his clinic, shortly before he sets off to
Oz, to bust a few myths around back pain.
“Myth number one,” he asserts: ‘Pain equals
damage’. The level of pain experienced is rarely
proportional to the amount of injury sustained
to the back. Pain is far more complex than
this; the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy
acknowledge pain levels are a reflection of how
threatened each human perceives itself to be.
For example, past experiences, general health
factors, beliefs, sleep, stress and exercise levels
as well as psychological wellbeing, all play important
parts in how much pain each individual
might experience”
“Myth number two: ‘a scan will show me what’s
wrong’. Again, not necessarily true. Scans correlate
poorly with symptoms of low back pain;
additionally, research has shown that people who
don't have low back pain have disc bulges, disc
degeneration, disc protrusions and facet joint
degeneration. These things are down to normal
ageing: wrinkles on the inside. This does not
mean all scans are irrelevant, but the conversation
after a scan is critical, contextualising it
with normal findings in a pain-free population.
To give you an example in a recent survey, of
3,110 over-50s who felt no back pain, 80% were
shown in scans to have disc degeneration, and
36% had disc protrusions.”
“Myth number three: ‘I have a back injury, so I
should avoid exercise, especially weight training’.
Again, not true. Studies have shown positive
benefits of exercise and high load resistance
training. The right sort of training can result in
making your back more robust. Most importantly,
select a form of exercise you enjoy.”
Dan’s work with professional teams is about
preventing injury as well as treating it, but his
clients at Motion Physiotherapy predominantly
come to him with existing injuries. Enough of
the myth busting: what should I do, I ask him,
to make sure I don’t have to visit his clinic again,
this time as a patient? “The answer’s
in the name of the clinic,” he
says. “Keep moving. Here’s
another stat: the average
adult spends 70% of
their waking hours
sitting down. Movement
can be viewed
as medicine, and like
all medication you
need to get the dosage
right. Motion is the
potion.” AL
Dan runs Motion Physiotherapy
(01273 480630)
with his wife Penny; it’s
business as usual
in April for
her.
91

THE 2018 SPRING / SUMMER COLLECTION
52 Cliffe High St . Lewes . 01273 471893
www.barracloughs.net/wm
Barracloughs the Opticians Lewes are proud to incorporate
FIND YOUR FEET
PODIATRY &
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- Fungal Nail advice
- Diabetic Foot
- Rheumatology
- Wound care
- Nail Surgery
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- Corn & Callus removal
- In-growing Toenails
- Verrucae
- Biomechanics
52 Cliffe High Street . Lewes . 01273 471893
www.fyfpc.co.uk
Facial
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Thousands of men and women receive wrinkle
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a more natural and rejuvenated look.
Steven Kell and Fay Jones have attended Professor
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It is very important to discuss your goals and
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Our consultations are held at Lewes High Street
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60 High Street Lewes East Sussex
01273 478240 | info@lewesdental.co.uk

HEALTH
Coming clean
How green is your house?
Parabens, phthalates,
triclosan,
ammonia, chlorine,
sodium hydroxide
and butoxyethanol
don’t sound like
chemicals anyone
would want to
mess with outside
of a laboratory, yet
all are commonly
found in household
cleaning products. And while manufacturers claim
minimal exposure is unlikely to cause harm, there
is a growing body of studies that would disagree.
Earlier this year, Norway’s Bergen University
linked chemical-based cleaning products with
reduced lung function, likening prolonged use
to ‘smoking 20 cigarettes a day’; while, in 2016,
a study by the National Centre for Atmospheric
Science found the artificial fragrance limonene
reacted with oxygen to form dangerous levels of
formaldehyde.
According to the US Environmental Protection
Agency, the air in the average house is two and a
half times more polluted than that outside. Hardly
surprising, then, that the country’s Environmental
Working Group estimates that we are routinely
exposed to 62 chemicals in our homes.
It’s a problem that Liz Impey and Vicki Bates are
already tackling. Founders of The Green Cleaner
in Brighton, they use only environmentally
friendly products and are passionate about reducing
chemicals in the home.
“There is so much evidence that cleaning products
can damage your health, with many linked to
respiratory problems and even cancer,” says Liz.
“We work from the premise that if you don’t have
to use chemicals, then why would you? There are
so many great natural alternatives available. You
don’t have to use
something with a
skull and crossbones
on it. Even if you
just swap existing
products for natural
ones, that’s great -
although, you can
save money by going
back to basics and
making your own.”
For those who fancy
some DIY, Liz recommends a few key ingredients.
“White vinegar is the basis of lots of cleaning products,”
she explains, “as it contains acetic acid, which
is great at cutting through grease and grime. You
can water it down and add lavender essential oil to
give a nice smell. Soda crystals are more heavy duty
and can be used to clean ovens or added to washing
powder to halve the amount used.”
Other multi-purpose must-haves on her list
include bicarbonate of soda, lemon juice and citric
acid (tips and recipes can be found on her company’s
website). “I’d also advocate using an e-cloth.
They aren’t the cheapest, but they are amazingly
good and really long-lasting.”
Another way to ‘green’ your house is to literally
introduce some green. “House plants have been
proven to clean the air,” Liz asserts. “Boston ferns,
ivy and peace lilies are especially good. You can
also freshen the air by burning essential oils - although
some should be avoided during pregnancy
or around animals.”
Whatever steps you take, you’ll be in good - and
growing - company. “We’re only small, but we’ve
noticed increased interest in green cleaning as
people become more aware and health conscious,”
observes Liz. “It’s definitely a growing trend. I’d
say, just give it a go.” Anita Hall
thegreencleaner.co.uk
93

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

BRICKS AND MORTAR
St John sub Castro
A ‘new life’ for the Victorian church
As a nearby resident, I’ve watched with interest the
progress of the recent three-year building project
at St John sub Castro. The external and internal
repair work and creation of a modern, practical
interior began after TRINITY was successful in
securing restoration funding from the Heritage
Lottery Fund and English Heritage.
The current church was built in 1840 on a site of
considerable historical interest, a natural promontory
overlooking the Ouse. There’s evidence it may
have once been used as a Roman camp; a church
with Saxon origins stood here from at least the
11th century. Increasing local residential development
in the Pells area led to its demolition in 1839
to make way for a larger structure.
“It was an appalling decision,” says Rev. Dick Field,
TRINITY Associate Vicar, who I’ve come to speak
to, along with Stuart Billington, who is in the process
of creating a website about the church’s history.
“We’d call it an act of vandalism today,” says
Stuart. They tell me that the original church (one
of the first in Lewes) was located in the centre of
the churchyard, oriented in the conventional way,
with the altar at the east end. The entrance was
from Church Row, next to a large mount, which
was levelled to make space for the new church.
This was built with the altar to the north, due to
the topography of the site.
There are clues to the past, if you know where to
look: the Saxon arch, stones referencing the Danish
prince/anchorite, Magnus. TRINITY manage
the churchyard in a way that supports wildlife,
but it needs more attention, and there are plans
to raise funds for this. Meanwhile, however, St
John sub Castro’s interior is utterly transformed,
as I discover when I am shown round by Rev Jules
Middleton.
It’s always had a wonderful acoustic, great for
classical concerts, but it used to be draughty, with
the ceiling painted in 1960s yellow and orange
Battenburg-like squares. Now it’s warm, modern,
welcoming and bright. The pews are gone and it
feels open, with fresh, clean lines and the lovely
new oak floor. Even the lamb-and-flag weathervane
has been re-gilded, and the building is now
protected by a lightning conductor.
I phone lead design architect for the conversion,
Peter Pritchett, who explains: “Our aim was to
alter, restore and refurbish it to the requirements
of the present generation, in a sympathetic and
respectful way to the current listed building and
its history.” This involved negotiating with many
bodies, including Historic England and the Victorian
Society. “Eventually, we got consent from
everyone, and we have enhanced the interior space,
whilst increasing comfort and adding facilities,
such as improved toilets, a kitchen and a community
café, which is hoped will open after Easter.”
Now it’s a church that’s also suitable for seven-day
use, which means TRINITY St John sub Castro
will see, as Peter puts it, “a new life”.
Emma Chaplin
Photo by Emma Chaplin
95

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COLUMN
Lewes Out Loud
Plenty more Henty
There’s a track entitled Word Power on an early
Spike Milligan LP in which he is interviewed by
actor Valentine Dyall. Spike plays the part of a
man called Bert who has acquired a love of words
through stealing a copy of Webster’s Dictionary from
a bomb-damaged house.
On a No. 38 tram to Woolwich Arsenal, Bert tries
out his new interest on the conductor seeking his
fare. “Perspicacity!” he shouts at the man, only
to be instantly thrown off. It has to be a Milligan
story, of course, but I recalled the incident when
preparing these 500 words.
Words have always played an important part in my
quixotic life (there’s a good example) and currently,
a favourite form of relaxation is to complete one of
the many codewords that appear in most publications
on a daily basis.
It amazes me that the compilers are able to
produce such teasers unendingly, using all letters
of the alphabet. Who are these people, I wonder,
and could they be part of a cottage industry here
in our own town, hidden perhaps behind curtained
windows in out of the way twittens?
There’s another wonderful word for you and how
about this one – highlighted in our illustration?
I came across it very recently and immediately
rushed to my Webster’s or Concise Oxford to find out
more.
Imagine my astonishment when I discovered that
our modest garden houses thousands of examples
of pangolins. Yours too, I guarantee, because the
common woodlouse is an insectivorous mammal
whose body is covered with horny, overlapping
scales. It rolls into a protective ball when in danger,
as do all pangolins. I bet my wildlife colleague,
Michael, knew that already, but for me it was
a revelation and another word to try out on an
unsuspecting bus driver.
Plenty of words about town this month and amusement
too in the wintry conditions encountered
for a spell. Was my friend ‘soprano sax man’ being
ironical as he played Summertime on the Cliffe
Bridge as a vicious easterly wind cut right through
shoppers?
Thousands of words on sale in Boon Book shop on
School Hill when I popped in to hand a poster to
owner, Vivienne. It was my first visit, I am ashamed
to say, and I loved the cosy interior and massive
range of remaindered books on sale. A browser’s
paradise if ever I saw one.
The poster? Well you should find one in this edition
and also around town. My radio play Raymond
Briggs’s Sofa is being presented for one night only
in the Pelham House Hotel on Sunday, April 8, at
7.30pm. It’s in aid of the Mayor’s charities. Tickets
are £10 and I can promise an evening of laughter
and surprises. Special guests, a talking sofa, all in
what I can only describe as stand-up comedy for
sit-down people. Don’t take my word for it though,
do join us. It would be great to welcome Viva readers.
Password is pangolin! leweshentys@waitrose.
com. John Henty
97

BUSINESS NEWS
I’ve realised that builders working on High
Street refurbs keep themselves amused by answering
the inevitable question ‘what’s going in
there, then?’ with a variety of made-up answers.
So I’m taking with a pinch of salt the answer I
got when asking just that to a high-viz-vested
chap working in the building at the top of Station
Street that was until recently Santander.
“Ann Summers,” he said. So there you go.
Further up the High Street, a builder was more
forthcoming about the work being done to what
used to be the Lloyds cash-point cubbyhole. As
reported in this space a few months ago, it’s an
extension to Shanaz.
Most of the churn in the town is about eateries
this month. Station Street is worthy of particular
mention: the Turkish coffee shop, Charade,
where Tash Tori used to be, seems to be a place
for real coffee aficionados: I tried a Turkish
coffee which came in a fabulously ornate lidded
container, and tasted superb. Meanwhile down
the bottom, Delish are shutting down after
seven years of selling pastries, pies and other
well-cooked savouries: as yet we have no news
of a replacement.
It’s a period of firsts for Lewes: our first pintxos
bar (see VL#138) followed by our first sushi
restaurant (though don't worry Lemongrass
are still doing Thai, see pg 71) followed by our
first dedicated bagel house. Bagelman have
been trading in Brighton since 1996; their fifth
outlet (and the first outside the city) is where
Cheese Please used to be. Mine’s a Reuben, in
an onion bagel, please.
Anyone who sees an empty space where Fisher
Street Frames and Fleurie used to be, don’t
despair. The two shops, joined at the hip, are
both moving to another side-by-side pair of
spaces, in the basement of the Needlemakers.
Framer Andrew tells me he’s not changing the
name of his company. He also tells me what’s
most likely to fill the space that he’s relinquishing,
then swears me to silence, dammit.
Opposite the station, Surelock Solutions are
shutting up shop, but locksmith Alan Peters
will be going mobile with the same contact
details. And the vape shop next door is going
to be replaced… by another vape shop. So we’ll
still get some interesting smells round there.
Finally, we attended the launch of the 2018
Lewes District Business Awards in the Depot
on March 13th, and we’ve happily agreed to be
on the judging panel again this year. There are
14 categories (Company of the Year, Best Independent
Retailer, Best Green Business etc) and
if you would like to nominate your company
for any of the awards, you have until April 30th
to do so. Visit lewesbusinessdistrictawards.
co.uk for details of all the categories and how to
enter. Good luck! Alex Leith
98

DIRECTORY
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To advertise in Viva Lewes please call 01273 434567 or email advertising@vivamagazines.com
a & s
aerials & satellites
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DISCOUNT
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*Subject to conditions & availability
WE WILL BEAT ANY PRICE
We pride ourselves on the quality and price of our work.
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Family Run Business
Covering the area
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• All TV AERIALS & Satellite TV
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• All European & multi-national
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• Extra phone points
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Authorised
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01273 461579
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• Digital TV aerial upgrades & service
• TV, DAB, and FM aerials
• Extra points
• Communal systems
• Aerial repairs
• Satellite TV installs and service
• SKY installs
• Discreet fittings e.g. listed buildings, thatch roofs, flats
• European systems serviced and installed
• Gutters cleared • CCTV installed
WE FIT BIRD DETERRENTS
WE CAN BEAT ANYONE ON QUALITY AND PRICE
Free discount • over 39 years experience • OAP discount
Open 7 days a week • Fully guaranteed • Same day service
Freephone: 0800 0323255
Tel: 01273 617114 Mob: 07920 526703
We specialise in TV wall mounting
We can beat anyone else’s price on a like for like basis
www.1strateaerialsandsatellites.co.uk
PAUL FURNELL
- Carpenter
- General Building
- Renovation works
Based in Lewes
t. 07717 862940 e. paul.lee.furnell@gmail.com

HOME
G L E N N H E N R Y
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Loft conversion and
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Extensions and renovations
Project management with
18 years’ experience
Previous customer
references available
Professional service
PAINTING AND DECORATING
SERVICES
FAST, CLEAN AND RELIABLE
AT THE RIGHT PRICE
Glennhenrybuilding@gmail.com
Mobile 07787912297
Office 01323 845612
01825 891238
07976 316911
www.thebuildteam.co.uk
info@thebuildteam.co.uk
LTD
Aluminium wondows, doors,
lantern roofs and bi-folding doors.
We are a building company specialising in residential
extensions, refurbishments, loft conversions
and conservation work on listed buildings.
We pride ourselves on paying attention to detail,
using bespoke materials and bringing projects
in on time and on budget.
Contact us for a free quote and please
visit the website for more info:
www.stjamesbuilding.co.uk
01273 499 641 / 07780 964 608
Trading in your area for over 30 years
We guarantee all our products, installation and service
for the best doors, windows & conservatories
CLARKS GLASS LTD
Unit 10, Ringmer Business Centre,
Chamberlanes Lane, Ringmer, BN8 5NF
For your FREE no obligation consultation call us now on:
01273 814077
www.clarksglass.org.uk

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OVER 30 YEARS EXPERIENCE
FREE estimates on all types of
plastering work and finishes.
TELEPHONE: 01273 472 836
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Plumbing & Heating
Design & Installation
Bathrooms/Kitchens
Plumbing/Heating
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Free estimates & Advice
T: 01273 487 565 M. 07801 784 192
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Chartered Building Surveyors
• Building Surveys • Defect Analysis
• Project Management • Dilapidaaons
• Historic Building Specialists • Party Wall
Contact us for friendly professional advice
01273 840608 | www.gradientconsultants.com
Jason Eyre Decorating
Professional Painters & Decorators
jasoneyre2@gmail.com
07976 418299/07766 118289

HOME
Project1/NEWSIZE_Layout 1 18/01/2012 14:59 Page 1
Curtains | Roman Blinds | Soft Furnishings
Now stockist of Ian Mankin fabrics -
100% Natural fibres, woven in Lancashire.
01273 470817 | 07717 855314
TheLewesSeamstress.co.uk
Handyman Services for your House and Garden
Lewes based. Free quotes.
Honest, reliable, friendly service.
Reasonable rates
Tel: 07460 828240
Email: ahbservices@outlook.com
Jack Plane Carpenter
Nice work, fair price,
totally reliable.
AHB ad.indd 1 27/07/2015 1
www.jackplanecarpentry.co.uk
01273 483339 / 07887 993396
Painter Michael Webber
Colour Consultant
Domestic & Trade. Interior & Exterior
michael.webber6@yahoo.co.uk
01273 890779 | 07880 558 556
07784053679
tom@tbacc.co.uk
thebuildingandcarpentryco.co.uk
P I C K U P V I V A B R I G H T O N
C O V E R B Y F I LT H Y M E D I A

GARDENING
Global
Gardens
Design,
Restoration &
Landscaping
For
20% off
quote
VIVA
Richard Gilmore
Gardener Available
Beds, borders, pruning and tidying
01273 814 926
National Diploma Horticulture
Mobile 07941 057337
Phone 01273 488261
12 Priory Street, Lewes, BN7 1HH
info@ globalgardens.co.uk
www.globalgardens.co.uk
RHS
GS1.001_QuarterPage_Ad_01.indd 1 12/11/10 Gold medal 18:24:51
Winners
Real gardeners for all your gardening needs.
From a one off blitz to regular maintenance.
07812 028704 | 01273 401962
brookhartservices@gmail.com
www.brook-hart.co.uk

OTHER SERVICES
COMPETITIVE
PRICES
FLO TYRES
& ACCESSORIES
EXPERT
ADVICE
O N E S T O P S H O P F O R P R E M I U M , M I D R A N G E A N D B U D G E T T Y R E S
We also stock vehicle batteries, wiper blades, bulbs and top up engine oils.
LOCAL INDEPENDENT RETAILER.
TYRES. BATTERIES. BULBS. WIPERS
FROM STOCK WHILE YOU WAIT.
FREE TREAD & WEAR CHECKS.
PUNCTURE REPAIRS.
WHEEL BALANCING.
WHEEL ALIGNMENT.
Flo Tyres And Accessories
Unit 1 Malling Industrial Estate, Brooks Road, Lewes, BN7 2BY
Tel: 01273 481000 | Web: flotyres.com | info@flomargarage.com

OTHER SERVICES
HEALTH & WELLBEING
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
The Cycling Seamstress and hairdresser
For Prom dress alterations
& prom hair contact me.
Andrew Wells_Viva Lewes_AW.indd 1 25/06/2012 09:05
07766 103039 / nessnewmantt@gmail.com
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
Working with
we are offering free advice
on healthy lifestyles
倀 爀 甀 刀 漀 眀 渀 琀 爀 攀 攀
䌀 愀 爀 攀 攀 爀 䜀 甀 椀 搀 愀 渀 挀 攀
眀 眀 眀 ⸀ 瀀 爀 甀 爀 漀 眀 渀 琀 爀 攀 攀 挀 愀 爀 攀 攀 爀 最 甀 椀 搀 愀 渀 挀 攀 ⸀ 挀 漀 洀
• Eat welll • Move more • Drink less
• Be smoke free • Lose weight
If you are looking to quit smoking, lose
weight or get more active we can advise and
signpost you to services to support you. Also
look at NHS CHOICES for further advice and
ideas on healthy lifestyle and exercise.
www.oneyoueastsussex.org.uk
(Closed between 1-2pm)

Ruth Wharton Viva Advert 3.17 AW.qxp_6 12/05/2017 10
RUTH
WHARTON
ba (hons) bsc (hons) Ost Med dO
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BIODYNAMIC
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Other therapies
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fOr MOre details see:
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Dr. Simon Cassar (UKCP Reg.)
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CLIFFE OSTEOPATHS
complementary health clinic
Tom Lockyer
BA (Hons). Dip Couns, MBACP
Counselling and
Psychotherapy
Natural Alternaaves
at the Menopause
Workshop 28th April in Lewes
& 1:1 Appointments at The Cliffe Clinic
I offer a professional, conndential counselling
service for individuals and couples.
Through the creation of a safe, supportive,
mindful space, my clients deepen their
self-awareness and compassion together
with a psychological resilience that allows
them to better manage the stuff of life.
To understand and make sense of how we
nd ourselves where we are right now, and
how we might imagine writing a new
chapter in the story of our lives.
I am happy to answer any questions you
may have about the way I work. Call 07711
265642 or tom@sussextherapyworks.co.uk
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)
HERBALIST
Kym Murden
BA Hons Dip Phyt
Weaving wellness together
whatever your age.
Herb & Health Workshops
Visit:
kymmurden.com
Appointments 07780 252186
New Yoga Class
With Suzy Daw
Yoga Teacher & Physiotherapist
Scaravelli Inspired Yoga
Monday Mornings: 10.30-12pm
at the Subud Centre, 26a Station Street, Lewes
Beginners welcome as well as those experienced
£12/10 per class or 6 weeks £66/54 (term time only)
For information contact Suzy on 07939 580743
suzydawyoga@gmail.com | suzannadawyoga.co.uk
01273 480900

HEALTH & WELLBEING
Doctor P. Bermingham
Retired Consultant Psychiatrist. Retired Jungian Psychoanalyst.
Assoc. Med. Psychotherapy. Open ended psychodynamic
psychotherapy for depressive illness. Supervision for therapists
drpbermingham@gmail.com
GOOD HEALTH FROM THE INSIDE OUT
Why have a colonic?
Do you suffer from weight issues, bloating,
constipation, food cravings, IBS, allergies or fatigue?
ARCH Therapist with over 15 experience
01273 477030 | www.sussexcolonics.co.uk
Arts Counsellor - Tara Canick MCGI, BACP
The Family Room @ The Montessori Place
Lewes Road, Easons Green, TN22 5RE
For adults & children from £10 per session
(No previous art experience necessary)
07792 600903 – www.tara-canick.co.uk
Joy of Movement Classes
Holistic Dance / Mindful Movement for
Women of all ages and fitness levels.
Great for beginners.
Tuesdays & Thursdays 10.45am - 12pm
First class free (please book)
Stella 07733 450631
www.joyofmovement.co.uk
Acupuncture, Alexander Technique, Bowen
Technique, Children’s Clinic, Counselling,
Psychotherapy, Family Therapy, Herbal
Medicine, Massage, Nutritional Therapy,
Life Coaching, Physiotherapy, Pilates,
Shiatsu, Podiatry/Chiropody

Directory Spotlight:
Richard Burrows, Latin teacher
How long have you been a
Latin teacher? About 15 years.
I used to teach at Priory. But
I’m far from being retired.
Now I do regular evening
classes in the Nutty Wizard,
the occasional private lesson,
PGCE teacher training at
the University of Sussex, and
‘twilight’ classes at Varndean School…
It’s very popular now! Since Michael Gove
put it in the EBacc. After three years of learning
a modern language – how to find their way
around a supermarket and suchlike – students
think it’ll be more interesting getting stories
from the Cambridge Latin Course about death
and mayhem and families getting engulfed in a
volcanic eruption.
Why do adults want to learn a dead language?
They tend to fall into two camps. Latin held sway
in the intellectual life of Europe
for many centuries, and some
students are interested in the
cultural impact it had on our
history and heritage. Others
are interested in examining
the roots of modern European
languages.
But is Latin useful? I think that
Latin sentences are so complex – every word needs
a lot of attention to make it fit – that an understanding
of Latin becomes a wonderful tool for
helping the brain to work with words. It trains you
to be careful with words, and respectful of them.
Do you read Latin for pleasure? Can’t say I
do! But I love working with a class, teasing out
the meaning of a sentence. That’s the greatest
pleasure in it. AL
To enquire about lessons contact Richard at
allburrows00@gmail.com
GUITAR LESSONS
with Guy Pearce
For all ages and abilities. Fully CRB checked
• Lessons and Grades in Electric and Acoustic guitar.
• Mobile Tuition
• Guitar restringing service.
07504173888
guypearceguitarlessons@gmail.com
Ages 16 and up from an experienced, qualified teacher
Contact: Lucinda Houghton BA(Hons), AGSM (GSMD), FRSM
Kingston, Lewes (Ample parking)
07976 936024 | canto-voice.org

LESSONS AND COURSES
GARAGES
Singing Lessons
Experienced voice teacher - DBS checked - Wallands area
www.HilarySelby.com
07960 893 898
EXPERT
ADVICE
I N C O R P O R A T I N G F L O T Y R E S
INDEPENDENT GARAGE
CELEBRATING 12TH YEAR
SERVING LOCAL COMMUNITY.
ALL MAKES & MODELS
COMPETITIVE RATES
QUALITY PARTS
HIGHLY SKILLED TECHNICIANS
www.mechanicinlewes.co.uk
info@flomargarage.com
Units 1-3 Malling Industrial Estate, Brooks Road, Lewes BN7 2BY
Vehicle Servicing, Repairs and MOT Service: 01273 472691
www.mechanicinlewes.co.uk | info@flomargarage.com

INSIDE LEFT
SMOKE HOUSE
This is the second time in a row we’re showing
the proud owners of a tobacconist/newsagent
standing outside their shop, this time at 48
Cliffe High Street. The photo was taken over
50 years earlier than last month’s: the caption
in Reeves’ archive reads ‘Mooreys, c1906’. Of
course a little bit of research means we can be
much more specific than that. The ‘Chamberlain
Celebrations’ headline on the newspaper
board refers to the 70th birthday celebrations
for Joseph Chamberlain, held in Birmingham;
the ‘Zulus routed 547 killed’ describes a massacre
of tribesmen in what is now South Africa,
by British troops. Both events occurred on 8th
July 1906, so we can perhaps place this picture
as being taken the day after, a Monday.
Among the wares advertised in the window are
‘Flor de Dindigul’ cigars, another pointer to the
influence of the Empire on everyday life: these
were made from tobacco grown on a plantation
in the southernmost province of India.
We can also identify the people in the picture.
On the right, standing at the entrance of
Greens Passage, is Howard Moorey, then 42
years old, listed in the street directory as the
owner of the shop. On the left is his wife Caroline,
four years his senior, and their daughter
Dorothy, 11. The Mooreys have every reason
to look proud, because they were an upwardly
mobile couple; Howard’s previous career had
been as a basketmaker, like his father Trayton;
Caroline’s father was a labourer. For reasons
unknown, the Mooreys moved their shop a few
yards down the street to number 50 soon after.
Anyone who’s been here more than 10 years
will remember that the newsagent at no. 50 that
was replaced by Le Magasin had retained the
name ‘Mooreys’.
Howard Moorey, here displaying a wicker
delivery barrow with his name on it, died aged
58 in 1922; his wife outlived him by twenty
years, taking on the running of the shop. We
can imagine the couple would be interested to
learn what became of their shop after they left
it. In their time dentist CF Clarke ran his business
there, succeeded by Hamilton Brown, who
advertised his trade (remembers Mick Symes)
with a chair and wire-driven drill in the window.
Most latterly it was Southdown Antiques,
before becoming a vape shop, Smoketronics,
early last year… which brings us pretty much
full circle back to the tobacconist. AL
114

Lewes Landlords:
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from September 2018.
• No fees or commission
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