Viva Lewes Issue #148 January 2019

ON THIS MONTH: FESTIVAL
Lewes Winter Speakers
A feast of speakers
Former teacher Marc
Rattray is the force
behind the Lewes
Speakers Festival,
which he first
started back in 2011,
inspired, he tells me,
by the Charleston
Festival and Hay
Festival. “I began by
running a speakers’
society at the school where I worked – that gave
me a taste for it. Then, I started a public one in
Lewes in the summers. I also had a background
in events – so knew something of what I was
doing. It grew from there.”
This January, on the programme, are speakers
as prominent as Simon Jenkins, Peter Hain,
James O’Brien and Yasmin Alibhai-Brown.
(On a light note, I was drawn to the idea of
Lynne Truss’s ‘Constable Twitten’ – though
the Brighton described is not one we would
recognise in 2018: ‘Brighton, 1957. Inspector
Steine rather enjoys his life as a policeman by
the sea. No criminals, no crime, no stress.’)
So, how are speakers chosen? Marc laughs.
“People often assume the programme is
carefully crafted, and of course it is to an
extent. But the reality is you have to ask an
awful lot of very busy people: they’re either
available or they’re not.”
He’s pleased with this January’s line-up of
sixteen. “Yes, it’s quite a strong programme,
and this year there’re also a couple of new
things I’d like to highlight: we’re doing a
wine-tasting, from the Fine Wine Importers in
Lewes; and we’re also incentivising a younger
audience. Any university or school student
who’s interested in attending should email us
in advance and we’ll
set aside half-price
tickets.”
The Speakers Festival
has grown over the
years: Marc now also
orchestrates them
in Chichester and
Winchester. So why
did he start in Lewes?
“For one thing, it was
local”, he says. “But it’s also a great setting. The
people in Lewes are politically active. Some
festivals shy away from that, and end up solely
‘literary’. No need in Lewes.”
I wonder if this is the moment to raise the
vexed question of Katie Hopkins’ inclusion a
year ago? “It was very unfortunate”, Marc says.
“If the festival stands for anything, it stands for
free speech – and she was on the schedule to
talk about her autobiography, not politics – but
I didn’t anticipate the ensuing violence, and it
was awful. It was organised violence brought
into the town – although of course, some locals
did also turn out to demonstrate.”
The Speakers Festivals are all about stimulating
discussion, he says. “They’re a great forum
– people leave really stimulated, and that’s
what it’s all about. Of course, there’s a charged
atmosphere in the UK at the moment: we all
know this. But events like ours are about getting
people to discuss things in a reasonable way.
Hopefully they help.” Charlotte Gann
25th, 26th and 27th in the All Saints. All
Festival passes cost £75 and individual event
tickets £12.50. If you buy 2 or more tickets
together they are £11 each, or £10 for each
for 3. There are various other pricing
options. lewesspeakersfestival.com
35