Viva Lewes Issue #140 May 2018

BITS AND BOBS
TOWN PLAQUE #38: FOUNDRY LANE
It is hard now for those who have lived here for a few
decades, never mind those newly-arrived or visiting,
to grasp what an industrialised little town Lewes was
until relatively recently. The last century saw breweries,
cement works, iron foundries, chemical works,
quarrying and ship-building – to name the most obvious.
The town immediately after World War II was
recently described as being ‘dusty, smoky and grey’ by
one of our historians, Graham Mayhew.
Cliffe, alongside the river, had most of these activities
and associated pollution and this little street beside the Gardener’s Arms led to the municipal gasworks, adding
both a dominant visual feature and a distinctive odour to the lower parts of town.
No longer obvious, or indeed visible at all in many cases, but nevertheless a vital part of the town’s history,
recalled by this, one of the first plaques put up. Marcus Taylor (who is the Secretary of Friends of Lewes – not its
Chairman, as recently and mistakenly described)
GLYNDEBOURNE COSTUME IN NUMBERS
The 2018 Festival season at Glyndebourne starts in mid-May, with 6 productions running over 75 performance
days. Glyndebourne costume team grows to around 35 people during the Festival, and also employs
4 wigmakers. For productions, the wardrobe staff include 4 maintenance and repair staff, 3 laundry assistants
and 20 dressers. In one show this year – Saul – there are 20 corsets to be laced in 9 minutes, and the 44 period
dresses have to be steamed after each show.
Glyndebourne also tours annually each autumn, with the 2017 tour performing in 5 English towns and cities,
presenting 3 productions over 24 performances. The tour used 210 performers, 140 musicians, 70 production
staff and technicians and 92 boxes of makeup. And, for Hamlet alone, they required 30 litres of ‘blood’
and 25 litres of white makeup powder.
01273 471647
15 Malling Street Lewes BN7 2RA
Private view Saturday 19th May 2-5pm
www.keizerframes.com
25