10 - Viva Lewes

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

2 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

� �� 

�� 

� �� 

� �� 

� �� 

� �� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

��

Issue 59. August 2011. 

VIVALEWES contents 

7. Bits and bobs. Tomb with a View, Where did you get that hat? Book & CD reviews. 

21. Events. Diary dates 

24. Lewes in History. Speed Trials 

27. My Lewes. Viewing Lewes from the point of view of a taxi driver, Gina Marshall 

29. Photo of the Month. Glamour on a �oat at Lewes carnival 

30. Interview. Professor Lord Peter Hennessy 

33. Listings. Covering the plethora of events taking place around Lewes during August, 

55. Lewes at Work. Adam Chandler photographs some local mechanics on the job 

61. Bricks and Mortar. The fascinating past of the Riverside building 

63. Wildlife report. The wild, darting bad boy of the sky, the swift 

65. Camping. Matthew De Abaitua talks about noise etiquette 

67. Food. Dining on the Bluebell Railway, Erika’s moveable feasts and Bill Collison’s last column 

77. Cycling. Hiring a bike in Friston Forest, getting around Lewes, and further a�eld with the Lewes Wanderers 

83. Shopping. Shanks’ pony 

85. Slow Sussex. Tim Locke reveals the secrets of Eridge Rocks 

86. Viva Villages. We revisit Falmer, which now has a �ipping huge football stadium 

89. Odd socs. On the trail of the Lewes Footpaths Group 

91. We try out... Community car and gliding 

95. Sports. Pre-season Lewes FC friendly & Corinthian cricket 

99. Columns. Our regulars, John Henty, Beth Miller, David Jarman and Norman Baker 

107. Trade Secrets.Thérèse Wilson, head of retail at St Peter and St James Hospice 

130. Inside Left. The day the engine exploded at Lewes Station 

EDITOR: Emma Chaplin emma@vivalewes.com 

DEPUTY EDITOR: Chloë King chloe@vivalewes.com 

SUB-EDITOR: David Jarman 

EXECUTIVE EDITOR: Alex Leith alex@vivalewes.com 

STAFF WRITER: Steve Ramsey 

DESIGNER: Katie Moorman katie@vivalewes.com 

ADVERTISING MANAGER: Steve Watts steve@vivalewes.com 

ADVERTISING SALES: Lisa Bullen lisa@vivalewes.com 

PUBLISHER: Nick Williams nick@vivalewes.com. 

Viva Lewes is based at Pipe Passage, 151b High Street, Lewes, BN7 1XU 

For information about advertising or events you would like to see publicised, call 01273 488882 or e-mail info@vivalewes.com 

Every care has been taken to ensure the accuracy of our content. The Viva Lewes Handbook cannot be held responsible for any 

omissions, errors or alterations. 

3

4 

EDITORIAL 

When we discovered that Lewes has a particularly 

interesting car history - speed trials used to be held 

on the Downs in the 1920s - we were left with an 

ethical dilemma. In these times when, quite rightly, 

there is a great deal of concern over climate change 

and our over-dependence on fossil fuels, how can we 

write enthusiastically about fast cars without seeming 

to be petrol heads? Because truthfully, we’re far 

from Jeremy Clarkson types at Viva. The most common 

form of staff transportation is Shanks’ pony. It 

would be churlish to deny that motor vehicles are 

useful, and more than that, can be beautiful, although 

it seems more socially acceptable to admire 

the cute curves of a well-preserved vintage car than 

the sleek aerodynamics of a high performance Lamborghini. 

But whose heart, truthfully, doesn’t beat 

a little faster at the thought of driving around Sus- 

THIS MONTH’S COVER 

sex back roads in an open top car? The latent ‘poop 

poop’ speed-loving spirit of Mr Toad can lurk in the 

most unexpected places. But rather than have an issue 

celebrating the invention of the internal combustion 

engine, our answer has been to have a more 

general transport theme. Trains, planes and automo- 

biles. Plus we’ve included 

cycling, walking and buses. 

And gliding too. And 

frankly, looking into all of 

these has ended up being 

rather fun. 

Feature photo 

by Daisy Martin 

With the theme this month being transport, we 

fancied a dynamic cover. And that’s exactly what 

we’ve got. It’s always a pleasure to work with our 

old friend and collaborator, Neil Gower, and 

we sense he rather enjoyed creating this image. 

When we told him about the Lewes in History article 

on speed trials on the Downs, he had a think, 

then came back with the suggestion of a lovely red 

Jaguar XK120 powering up the Motor Road. “It’ll 

be very textured and ‘noisy’. Think a bastard child 

of Sybil Andrews and Edvard Munch,” he explained. 

Our minds boggled a little at that, but we 

could get exactly what he meant when we saw this 

wonderfully energetic design. In the background, 

you can see Lewes Castle and the Harveys ‘Cathedral’, 

with Mount Caburn behind and the Ouse 

snaking along below. The swifts he’s included are 

the theme of Sussex Wildlife’s Michael Blencowe’s 

piece this month. We initially wondered if they 

were �ying away from the speeding car, but upon 

reading what Michael has to say about them, it 

seems more likely they are racing along for the 

sheer joy of it. For more of Neil’s work, check out 

www.neilgower.com

6 

Just one of our 

smart ideas. 

One of the smart ways we attract buyers is with our 

National Open House Day. 

It’s a day when participating sellers open their doors to 

registered and interested buyers from 11am – 4pm. 

This event heightens buyers’ interest and attracts new 

prospective buyers. Our last Open House Days resulted 

in offers in excess of £42 million all from over 2,000 

viewings on more than 700 participating properties. 

Our next National Open House Day will be on Saturday 

1 October 2011, so if you wish to know more call 

Lewes 01273 475411, Horsham 01403 246790 or 

Chichester 01243 832600 today or visit struttandparker.com 

struttandparker.com

WHERE DID YOU GET THAT HAT? 

Jane Humberstone is wearing 

a wide-brimmed hat with 

a straw braid that was purchased 

some years ago in a 

market in the French ski resort 

of Morzine. I met Jane 

on her way to a rehearsal at 

the All Saints where she plays 

cornet in the local brass band 

(Lewes Glynde and Beddingham). 

Joe Knight 

GARDENING TIP #4 – LATE DEVELOPERS 

For gardeners, spring and ear- 

ly summer arrive with a tidal 

wave of enthusiasm, lush foli- 

age and bucketfuls of colour. 

By August, the season’s youth- 

ful exuberance has given way 

to middle age, and gardens 

(and gardeners), can feel a lit- 

tle jaded. 

This needn’t be the case as 

there are many plants that 

are late developers, providing 

just the tonic for late summer and autumn. These include many 

perennial cottage-garden favourites such as rudbeckias, echina- 

ceas, heleniums, asters and monardas, that burst into bloom in 

August and continue �owering through to October. Perhaps 

the most spectacular blast of colour at this time of year is from 

dahlias. Originating from South America, they are recently, and 

deservedly, back in fashion. With their many forms and colours, 

there is something for everyone to enjoy. Some are tastefully 

restrained in sophisticated hues, whilst others are simply outra- 

geous and riotously �amboyant. The perennial border types are 

very free-�owering, providing cut �owers from now until the 

�rst frosts. If the soil is well prepared, and you help them set- 

tle in with regular watering, new plants can still be planted out 

at this time of year, �lling gaps and adding a vibrant splash to 

fading borders. Gardens are full of drama, and as they say, “the 

show must go on”. Matt Woodruff of Woodruff’s Yard. 

LEWES ON TWITTER 

BITS AND BOBS 

Twitter works well for breaking big news 

and small. On Thursday 14th July, the �rst 

steam train for 50 years picked up passengers 

from Lewes station. Like others, we 

spotted this only through Twitter. Duly 

alerted we headed down. Soon pictures 

were being shared. Timetables consulted. 

Videos posted. And we got our pic for that 

day’s web mag. Twitter – it’s not just there 

for revolutions. 

Photo by Nick Williams 

LEWES IN QUOTES 

Hastings 1066 – Lewes 1264 

A poem written by Charles Fleet in 1884 

Sacred to freedom, Sussex, is thy soil; 

Yet fatal too. Hither, from Stamford Bridge, 

Did Harold haste, nigh spent with battle toil, 

To meet the Norman on his own sea-ridge – 

To meet and fall: since which disastrous day 

Only on serf and master fell the salt spray 

Of English seas, till the strong-working spell 

That lurks in English air on Northmen fell, 

And Montfort led the Barons thro’ the weald 

To strike for Freedom in a Saxon �eld. 

Then �rst the ‘prentice bold’ of London 

town 

Trod the soft verdure of the Sussex Down, 

And that ‘vile victory’ at Hastings won 

On Sussex soil, at Lewes, was undone. 

7

Photo by Emma Chaplin 

IAN SECCOMBE’S POINT OF VIEW 

BITS AND BOBS 

AW432, a 10 horse-power two-seater 1904 Vulcan, heads south from Ansty on the B2036 during the 2009 

London to Brighton Veteran Car Run. Every November the Run commemorates the Emancipation Run of 14 

November 1896, which celebrated the passing into law of the Locomotives on the Highway Act. This raised 

the speed limit for ‘light locomotives’ to 14 mph and abolished the requirement for these vehicles to be preceded 

by a man on foot. 

SMOKE HOUSE 

If you like your food smoky, then David Stechler, who runs 

The Smokehouse Lewes, is an excellent person to visit. In 

fact, you might have caught a whiff of his work when standing 

on the London-bound platform of Lewes Station, since his 

garden backs onto it and that’s where he smokes his almonds, 

cashews, garlic, salmon, trout and mackerel. He does this 

using oak chips inside a refurbished �ling cabinet. His �sh 

comes from Terry’s in the Riverside, his garlic is sourced from 

France, and his nuts are from In�nity Foods. He also makes 

pâté with the smoked mackerel. Both the Real Eating Company 

and the Pelham Arms use his produce. You can buy his superbly aromatic and �avoursome goods from 

both the Friday morning Lewes Weekly Market in the Market Tower near the Needlemakers, as well as at the 

monthly Farmers’ Market, on the Precinct, mornings of the �rst Saturday of every month (in August, on 6th). 

9

10 

��

Photo by Stephen Cassidy 

PROMS IN THE PADDOCK 

Lewes’ take on the proms is a relaxed affair in the 

Paddock Field, where you can have a picnic, wander 

round socialising, or enjoy a barbecue. There’s also 

a tombola, swing boats, and a temporary sweet shop 

on site.This year, male barbershop choir The Sussex 

Harmonisers make their Proms debut, while the 

ever-popular LGB Brass return with their rousing 

mix of classical standards. Expect literal �reworks 

when they play the 1812 Overture. 

Sat 6th August, 5pm, £7/3 from Elephant and Castle, 

Harveys, F. Richards, Gardeners Arms, Lewes Arms or 

the Con Club, contact@promsinthepaddock.co.uk 

ANIMAL MAGIC 

TRAVEL LOG 

THE NEW SLIDE 

BITS AND BOBS 

“Three changes of train will get you to Moscow and 

six changes will get you to Istanbul”, says ‘Travelman’s 

Travel Log website, a mine of information about travel, 

which is Lewes-focused, but also has some great advice 

for longer journeys. Travelman digests the vastly 

complex rail ticketing system, explaining how to save 

money with advance/off-peak tickets, ‘ticket splitting’, 

railcards, and so on. Wisely, he suggests “If you have 

to travel peak times...get someone else to pay!” There’s 

also plenty of detail about bus services, and loads for 

walkers, drivers and cyclists. One section explains how 

to get to local schools cheaply, another says how to 

make the holiday budget go further, and a third deals 

with travelling to and from hospital. 

www.travelloglewes.co.uk 

Local folk fans Tom Redman (from Lewes) and Matt Quinn 

(from Portslade) both took the folk and traditional music course 

at Newcastle University, where they formed The New Slide. 

The band is building quite a reputation, playing traditional tunes 

from England and French Canada, as well as some originals. 

Sat 13th, All Saints Centre, 8pm, £7-4 on the door or from Union 

Music, 474053 or www.thenewslide.co.uk 

At Rodmell’s Summer Show you’ll see classic cars, a brass band, and a range of birds of prey. There’s a ‘best 

scarecrow’ competition, but we aren’t sure whether the birds will be judging it. Plus a photo contest and a 

fun dog show. Categories include Prettiest Bitch, Best Veteran (over seven years), Best Youngster (under 18 

months), and Dog Most Like Handler. (Sat 20th, 2pm, £1, children free, dog show 2.15pm, £1 per entry). 

There’s another dog show the following week at the Firle Place Horse Trials and Country Fair (Sat 27th-Sun 

28th). One lucky owner will be rewarded for having ‘the dog the judge would most like to take home’. 

The unusual pricing system means it’s £10 for a car-full of people to get in, however many that may be. Once 

inside, you can have a go at archery, or get your face painted. Please don’t get it painted in red, white and blue 

expanding circles though. The horse trials will include some Olympic hopefuls showing off their skills at dressage, 

show jumping and cross country (‘similar to a triathlon for horses’, apparently). 11

Sunday 18th September 

�� 

Visit our website for fantastic hospitality packages from only £50 

2nd Prize 

An overnight stay in 

the seductive Myhotel 

in Brighton, including 

welcome cocktails and 

full English breakfast. 

�� 

01273 890 383 

�� 

�� 

* Advance sales close on Monday 12th September, ticket price on the day is £16 

Best Dressed Child hild ld 

A prize of a life time, me me, 

to be a zoo keeper 

for the day 

at Drusillas 

Park. 

One enclosure 

£10 £1 in advance* 

Join us for our 10th Anniversary 

Ladies Dayat Plumpton Racecourse 

for Fun, Fizz and Fashion! 

1st Prize 

MSC Cruises are giving 

away 7 nights, full board, 

Mediterranean Cruise on 

the MSC Yacht Club for two 

adults. Including return 

flights from London Gatwick 

and local transfers. 

“Best Dressed Lady” 

Competition 

3rd Prize 

A ‘full’ pamper 

package at one of 

Burgess Hill’s premier 

salon’s. 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

Best Dressed Man 

Hot air balloon ride 

courtesy of Go 

Ballooning

STREET NAMES OF LEWES #37 THE MOTOR ROAD 

The private track on Landport bottom, which begins just off the A275 Nevill Road, is commonly known as the 

Motor Road. It now leads to some houses, such as the converted grandstand, which relate to the fascinating 

era when Lewes had a thriving racecourse. This closed in 1964, and these days, not everyone will know why 

the track is called the Motor Road, unless they’ve just read Mike Ward-Sale’s Lewes in History piece (p24). In 

this he explains that every summer from 1924 to 1939, speed trials used to take place along the track, involving 

top-end racing cars. Driving at such speed was obviously a risky business, and large crowds would gather on the 

Downs to watch. According to Mike, the trials were usually held on the ‘uphill’ section of Motor Road (which 

is also called Race Hill). 

TOMB WITH A VIEW #6 

Brighton’s Extra-Mural Cemetery is just the place for 

a stroll, where noise from the Vogue Gyratory System 

disappears into the glorious Victorian panoply of death. 

Just over 130 years ago on 4th July 1881 the cemetery 

was crammed with over 5,000 people - ‘every class of 

society’ - with 20 constables to keep order. They packed 

themselves around a newly-dug grave, sited on a slight 

rise to ensure greater visibility, while those who couldn’t 

get in watched from the parochial cemetery next door. 

A hearse and pair, and three further carriages, delivered 

the cof�n covered with white wreaths to the Chapel, and 

the Mayor and Councillors came forward to meet it. After 

the burial the police orchestrated an orderly �le past by spectators. Today you can just make out the words on 

the memorial - ‘What I do thou knowest not now but thou shalt know hereafter’. What other response could there 

have been from Frederick Isaac Gold’s widow? Ten days before, her husband had made his weekly business trip to 

London, catching the 2 pm train from London Bridge to Preston Park. Alone in a small carriage, he had fought back 

when confronted by Percy Lefroy Mapleton, with the result that Mapleton both stabbed and shot him, throwing 

his body out in the Balcombe Tunnel and stuf�ng Gold’s watch into his shoe. So much for the funeral. The inquest, 

followed by Mapleton’s capture, trial and execution at Lewes Prison, was the summer sensation of 1881. Lydia Gold 

herself ‘fell asleep’ in February 1910 and is buried with her husband: ‘Until the day and the shadows �ee away.’ 

Lindsey Tydeman 

OUTDOOR SHAKESPEARE 

Two light-hearted takes on Shakespeare can be seen this month. Brighton Little 

Theatre is staging the comedy The Merry Wives of Windsor at the Castle 

from the 17th to the 20th. They’ve moved the action to the 1920s; as their 

website explains, ‘the play has a zany light-heartedness which �ts the period’. 

(6.30pm, £12/10, 777748) 

Oddsocks Productions has taken on a more daunting challenge: to make Macbeth 

funny. They played Hamlet for laughs last year, casting Paul Daniels as 

the ghost of the Prince’s father. He appeared on stage as a hologram. Apparently, 

they’re planning something even more spectacular for their slapstick 

take on the Scottish Play. Oddsocks’ UK tour �nishes at Newhaven Fort on 

the 23rd. (7.30pm, £12.50/9, 517622) 

BITS AND BOBS 

13

EnjoyÊLewesÕsÊonlyÊfoodÊhallÊ 

withÊbeautifulÊriversideÊviews 

AskÊusÊforÊyourÊ5%Ê 

RiversideÊPrivilegeÊCardÊ 

TheÊnewÊRiversideÊRoomÊ 

CliffeÊBridge,ÊLewesÊBN7Ê2REÊÊ 

www.riverside-lewes.co.uk 

TreatÊyourselfÊtoÊbreakfast,Ê 

lunchÊorÊteaÊoverlookingÊ 

theÊriverÊOuseÊinÊJaineÕsÊ 

NEWÊRiversideÊRoomÊ 

atÊTheÊRiversideÊCafŽÊBar

SPEAKERS FESTIVAL 

On 5th and 6th August at the All Saints Centre, the �rst ever 

Lewes Speakers Festival is taking place, featuring some remarkable 

and internationally acclaimed journalists and authors. We 

interview Lord Hennessy on page 30, and the impressive line-up 

of other speakers includes: Ion Trewin, biographer of Alan Clark, 

Sandy Gall, Mark Henderson and Yasmin Alibhai-Brown. For 

more information see www.lewesspeakersfestival.com. Ticket 

line 0844 8700887. Part of the festival’s pro�ts will go to charity. 

TWO TRIATHLONS AND A SPONSORED WALK 

BEAUTIFUL BEER FOR A BEAUTIFUL GAME 

BITS AND BOBS 

AGE UK INFO SERVICE 

Age UK in Lewes have a great information 

service for older people. If you pop by the 

shop on Cliffe High Street any weekday 

between 10am and 1pm, you can get free, 

con�dential, advice on anything from pensions, 

the NHS and social care to bills, family 

problems, and housing. You don’t need 

to make an appointment, but if you want to, 

call 01424 426162. If you have a few hours 

to spare, charity shops are always keen for 

volunteers. Cancer Research is particularly 

short of people at the moment, so please let 

them know if you’d like to help out. 

Seaford’s annual triathlon on Sat 13th includes four events of different dif�culties, including a ‘fun’ quarterlength 

version - or you can just watch from the beach. A week later on 20th, Ringmer Community College hosts 

a children’s triathlon, with several different distances depending on age. You need to sign up online in advance. 

Or you could try the Hike4Hospices Walk. This starts at Lewes Town Hall, and goes west along the South Downs 

Way for 43 miles in six stages over Sat 20th and Sun 21st. Last year’s event raised £32,000 for Sussex hospices. 

Beer & football; a match made in heaven. Or so 

you’d think until you look at what’s on offer at most 

stadiums. Big-money sponsorship by multinational 

brewers ensures that the terraces of the top clubs are 

pretty big on �zz and low on taste. 

The new Amex Stadium at Falmer is bucking the 

trend and banking on the good taste of Brighton & 

Hove Albion fans when it comes to liquid refreshment, 

however. The football club has agreed deals 

with Harveys and Dark Star to ensure that the awardwinning 

Sussex breweries’ cask ales, as well as some of 

their bottled beers, are always available. 

BHAFC chief executive Martin Perry said: “The real ale drinkers amongst our fans have been quite vociferous in 

their requests that the club serve at least one traditional real ale alongside the usual array of beers on sale at most 

stadiums. We have taken that on board, and have already agreed that both breweries will have at least one cask 

offering.” Dark Star managing director Paul Reed added: “I think they’ve made a great choice of beers. Harveys 

and Dark Star create a very different style of beers and between us we can cater for a wide variety of tastes.” 

To be fair, the Dripping Pan has long led the way in real ale and football matches, with at least one Harveys cask 

ale on the bar at every game. As a beer fan though, I’m really excited by the Albion’s plans to source guest beers 

brewed near away fans’ teams. Who knows, it might even tempt me to �nally go and watch a game! 

Tony Leonard, Landlord of the Snowdrop Inn 

15

CD REVIEW: STELLA HOMEWOOD 

I had the pleasure of hearing Stella Homewood in the �rst of what will 

be a monthly Union Music Store gig at the Lansdown. Indeed, she 

opened the evening, and listening again to those songs and more on her 

new album, Ordinary Day, it seems even more �tting that she did. Originally 

from Lancashire and now resident in Lewes, Stella has a long track 

record as a performer in both folk and jazz, touring and performing with 

groups since 1994. This solo album sees a return to the English folk 

tradition with 11 of her own songs. Her voice had a purity and beauty, 

with echoes of Lewes’ own Shirley Collins and the soaring tones of Joni 

Mitchell. The songs themselves draw on images of nature harking back 

to early English folk, but with a sense of a deeper truth underneath. 

Available from Union Music Store and Skylark. Rob Read 

BOOK REVIEW: FREE RADICALS 

BITS AND BOBS 

Free Radicals is an attack on the ‘myth of the rational, logical scientist who 

follows a clearly understood scienti�c method’. The myth is the result of 

a successful branding exercise, Brooks argues, to make science seem like a 

robotic way of generating undeniable facts. In reality, science is a lot more 

messy, and scientists are prone to normal human �aws like jealousy, impatience, 

and arrogance. 

It the style of Malcolm Gladwell, Brooks starts with a seemingly irrelevant 

story about LSD-taking hippy Stewart Brand, who in 1965 started campaigning 

for NASA to photograph Earth from space. This is linked, through 

plenty of fascinating stories, to the main point of the book: scientists ignore 

the rules. 

Rather than using the standard method, many pioneering scientists come up 

with ideas through ‘drugs, dreams, visitations and visions’, and try to prove 

them by ignoring inconvenient data, or ‘fudging’ it to �t the theory. 

Some scientists bypass ethics committees, or test theories by experimenting 

on themselves. Even after the experiments, there can be endless in�ghting 

about whose theory is right. Well-established scientists often hold back progress by ridiculing new ideas from 

bright young upstarts. Brooks seems to conclude that this is a good thing: important discoveries have been 

helped, not hindered, by scientists’ bad behaviour. Whether or not you agree with the conclusion, there are 

enough quirky stories in Free Radicals to make it well worth reading. 

BOOK REVIEW: OLIVES AND BARBED WIRE 

Sue Beardon, Lewes-based Patricia Cockrell and David Mitchell (not that one) 

spent three months in 2010 as volunteers for the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme 

in Palestine and Israel. Their work involved monitoring and reporting on 

violations of human rights. On their return, they have written a thoughtful and 

informative book, Olives and Barbed Wire, about their experiences. 

17

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

FREE EVENT 

Introduction To Meditation 

Come and learn a simple yet profound method 

for settling your mind and finding contentment. 

Saturday 17th Sept /10.30am to 4pm 

Limited places so book your free place now ! 

01622 205 500 or south.downs@rigpa.org.uk 

Rigpa South Downs Lewes 

The Mallings Business Centre,112 Malling Street, Lewes, BN7 2RG 

Reg. charity no. 279315 

��

Illustrations by Joanna Boyle 

GUERRILLA CRAFT 

K I D S L I S T I N G S 

Guerrilla Craft will teach teens a variety of 

craft skills, focusing on innovative ways to 

customise clothes. 

The three day-long workshops will be informal, 

and encourage students to experiment 

with their own ideas. One session will focus 

on using ‘found materials’ one wouldn’t normally 

think of attaching to clothes, such as 

builders’ plastic and bubble wrap. Hopefully 

not meat, though. 

Wed 10th- Fri 12th, Lewes Castle Education 

Room, 10am-3.30pm, £20/day or £50 for all 

three (materials are provided, so booking is 

essential), guerrillacraftlewes@gmail.com or 

07905 042867 

INTREPID THEATRE 

Intrepid is a good name for a theatre company 

preparing to stage Peter Pan in a week, using 

a group of 5-12-year-olds. 

The company’s week-long workshops are always 

popular, as they let kids get involved with 

all parts of setting up the show. The morning 

sessions focus on acting, while afternoons are 

reserved for crafts, including costume and set 

design. Parents and friends will be able to see 

the results of the kids’ efforts at the grand performance 

on Friday afternoon. 

There are two workshops in Lewes, one starting 

on the 1st, another on the 22nd. Southover 

Church Hall, 9.15am—3.15pm Monday-Friday, 

£130 per child (£100 for siblings), 01273 

476226 or of�ce@intrepidinspires.co.uk 

(If you miss out on a place, Intrepid’s also run- 

ning a Saturday morning series of classes at 

the All Saints Saints Centre, starting in September.) 

TRAIN & CAR DAYS OUT 

The Bentley Wildfowl and Motor Museum 

hosts a marvellous collection of 

vintage cars by Lamborghini, BMW, and 

Bentley, as well as several that look a bit 

like Brum. 

Visitors might want to bring a birdwatcher’s 

guide. The site hosts around 125 of 

the world’s 147 wildfowl species, including 

Australian black swans. There are 12 

acres of wood to explore, by foot, or on 

the miniature train. (Open daily, 10.30am 

- 5.30pm, £8/7/6, 01825 840573, http:// 

www.bentley.org.uk/) 

For a more comprehensive rail experience, 

head to the Lavender Line in Is- 

�eld. On Bank Holiday Monday (29th), 

Sun 7th and Sun 28th, steam trains will be 

running the picturesque two-mile circuit 

through Little Horsted. 

Diesel trains will be in action on other 

Sundays, as well as every Wednesday and 

Thursday of the month. They go every 

half hour from 11am to 4.30, and if you’re 

lucky (or is that unlucky?), you might see 

one of the Line’s ghosts: the lady in white 

or the drunken gamekeeper. 

There’s plenty more to see, including a 

steam-era café, a Grade II-listed signalbox, 

a model railway, and a 

conservation area, with 

wildlife posters telling 

you what to 

look out for. 

(£8/7/5, 01825 

750515, www. 

lavender-line. 

co.uk) co.uk) 

19

AUGUST 2011 

DIARY DATE S 

Mon 1st: Roman Roadshow. Fishbourne Roman Palace brings some of its treasures to the castle for 

an afternoon of hands-on activities.Lewes Castle, 1pm-4, free with admission 

Tues 2nd: Meet Mistress Joanna. Every Tuesday this month at Anne of Cleves you can meet the 

House’s Tudor resident, and drink tea in the garden. Anne of Cleves House, 2pm-6, free with entry, 

sussexpast.co.uk 

Wed 3rd: Mosaic Making. Expert craft tips at one of the Castle’s two workshops for all abilities. 

Materials are provided, and you should end up with something to take home. Lewes Castle, 10.30am- 

12.30pm or 1pm-3.30, £20 (booking essential), get.making@gmail.com 

Thurs 4th: Spinning. Find out more about spinning, and see people hard at work on the Battle of 

Lewes Tapestry. If you miss it, there’s another two weeks later, and other spinning events at the Castle 

on the 10th and 24th. Anne of Cleves House, 2pm-6, free with entry, sussexpast.co.uk 

Thurs 4th and Thurs 18th: Newhaven Fort Family Days. Adults can enjoy guided tours of the Fort, 

while kids try quiz trails and craft workshops. Newhaven Fort, 10.30am-pm, free with cost of entry 

Sat 6th: St Anne’s Church book sale. Proceeds to the church restoration fund.. St Anne’s Church, 

10am-2pm, free, 474964 

Sat 6th: Glynde, Beddingham and Firle Fete. Top-notch fête with all the trimmings, including, of 

course, a hog roast (or vegetarian alternative). Glynde Rec, 12-5pm, free, 07751 445115 

Sun 7th: Ladies Stoolball. Teams from Glynde, Firle and Beddingham play stoolball to celebrate a 

new book by Andrew Lusted (more in #60). Glynde Cricket Ground, 2.30pm, free 

Tues 9th: Animal Art. A family day where kids can help make a huge ‘mini-beast hotel’, and make 

something arty to take home. A similar event two days later is just for 8-12s (10am-3pm, £10). Booking 

essential. Raystede, 10am-2pm, £7, 01825 884061 

Sat 13th: St Anne’s Open Day. Lewesians continue to refuse to be ‘druv’ over the future of St Anne’s. 

Here people can discuss various proposals. St Anne’s, 10-4pm, free 

tel: 01273 517333 

bespoke metalwork for indoor & outdoor rooms 

� www.pmfdesigns.co.uk 

� info@pmfdesigns.co.uk

DIARY DATE S 

22 

AUGUST 2011 

Sat 13th: The Great Sussex Duck Race. Plenty of local businesses have sponsored rubber ducks for 

Arrow FM’s charity race down the Ouse through Lewes, throughout the day. jmarris@treeofhope.org.uk 

or 01323 470108 

Mon 15th -Fri 19th: House of Friendship Open Week. A sample of the range of activities the HOF 

run. On Monday there’s a slide show featuring old photos of Lewes. Then music-themed events on the 

next two mornings, with a gentle exercise class on Thursday and a talk on Raystede animal sanctuary 

the following day. House of Friendship (208 High Street), 10.30am (11am Mon), free, 476469 or www. 

houseoffriendship.org.uk 

Tues 16th: Battle of Lewes Information Day. A Battle of Lewes-themed tour of the Castle will 

include a workshop and battle-related activities.Lewes Castle, 10.30am-12pm or 2pm-3.30, free with 

admission 

Wed 17th: Finger Puppets This drop-in session making tiny medieval knights, princesses, and dragons. 

Materials included. Lewes Castle, 10.30am-1pm, £2 per puppet 

Wed 17th: Mantell and dinosaurs. A talk on Gideon Mantell at the Castle will feel all the more real 

as visitors get a rare chance to handle real bones from an iguanodon, the dinosaur Mantell famously 

identi�ed. Lewes Castle, 2pm-4, free with admission 

Sat 20th: Joel White. The award-winning Lewes-based singer-songwriter will be playing with his 

band, performing original songs and covers. All Saints Centre, 8pm, £10, 07810 668871 

Tues 23rd: Caring for Small Creatures. A hands-on family day at Raystede with lots of contact with 

small, mainly furry, animals. Raystede, 10am-2pm, £7, 01825 880461 

Thurs 25th: Castle Games. A range of kids’ events going on in the Castle garden. Lewes Castle, 1pm- 

4, free with admission 

Fri 26th: Beer and Skittles. Harveys has decided to make good use of the traditional bowling track 

at The Royal Oak in Barcombe, for a light-hearted evening of skittles, with country wines and a buffet 

provided. Royal Oak, Barcombe, 7.30pm, £23 (members £18), www.harveys.org.uk 

www.commoncause.org.uk 

Saturday 6th August 

Cliffe Precinct 

9.00am - 1pm

Helen 

Oakley 

Partner, 

Lewes Office 

Your property 

could well be 

your most 

valuable 

single asset 

Make sure it’s in good hands 

Piddinghoe £525,000 

• A charming Grade 2 Listed 300 year old cottage • 2 reception rooms 

& garden room • Bespoke kitchen handcrafted by current vendor 

• Dual aspect master bedroom with en-suite • 3 further bedrooms 

and family bathroom • Charming south westerly aspect Garden 

Kingston £525,000 

• Detached flint & brick built bungalow • Master bedroom with en-suite 

shower room • Two further bedrooms & family bathroom • Dual 

aspect 23' L shaped lounge/dining room • Kitchen, conservatory & 

feature sun room/pool • Detached single garage & off road parking 

Lewes £475,000 

• Newly built semi detached town house • Situated in a central location 

• 3/4 bedrooms & 2 bathrooms • Contemporary kitchen/breakfast room 

• Rear courtyard garden & off road parking • New 10 year guarantee 

Lewes Town & Country Office T 01273 487444 

14a High Street, Lewes, East Sussex, BN7 2LN

2 4 

lewes speed trials 

Big crowds, cutting-edge cars, and glamorous drivers 

Lewes’ equestrian race track was in its heyday 

one of the finest in the country, but it is less well 

known that the Motor Road, on the edge of the 

course, was the venue for a series of events that 

were for a brief period in the 20s and 30s, just 

as much an integral part of Lewes’ sporting life. 

The Speed Trials, involving cutting-edge racing 

cars that also competed in glamorous venues 

such as Le Mans, took place at regular intervals 

every summer from 1924 to 1939, with up to 

2,000 fans attending meets. 

With the possible unrecorded exception of 

the first trial, they were usually held on the 

‘uphill’ section of Motor Road or Race Hill, as 

it was also known. The course ran towards the 

Lewes Racecourse grandstands, behind the old 

chalk pits, with the starting line close to the 

A275 Nevill Road, near to what we know as 

the bottom end of the Borough/Nevill firesite 

marching track. 

As with the Brighton Speed Trials, there was 

a long association with the Kent and Sussex 

Light Car Club and its associates. In common 

with the Madeira Drive venue, the event was 

well located, on a fairly straight piece of road, 

which could also be easily closed off for racing 

purposes. An added advantage was the fact 

that there was a parallel track (now a footpath) 

meaning that vehicles could make their way 

back to the paddock without interfering with 

the main racetrack. 

Other idiosyncratic differences were the incline 

and late weasel left hander, some way up the 

road (and just past the finishing line). This 

added a test of nerve to the proceedings, when 

the highly tuned machines were on full song 

and suddenly had to negotiate a bend, when 

they were at their most vulnerable. Don’t forget, 

these cars were running on cross-ply tyres, 

not radials - another world, another era. 

The road was also steep enough to put mechanical 

pressure and strain on the car engines and 

provided some great thrills for the local fans. 

The races were well documented in the two 

well-read national motoring magazines Motor 

Sport and The Autocar, and a plentitude of 

photographs have survived of the trials, many of 

which have been collected in the comprehensive 

record of the events, Speed on the Downs, by 

Jeremy Wood (which you can order from www. 

lewesspeedtrials.co.uk). They show enthusiastic 

groups of behatted men, women and children 

standing behind (and occasionally sitting in 

front of) a single-rope fence designed to keep 

them off the track. 

The events took place four times a year and had 

an enviable reputation amongst the more well 

heeled practitioners of the back-to-front flat 

cap sports car fraternity. This does not mean 

however that the back-of-the-shed brigade were 

excluded. In those days, more down-market 

petrol-heads could get a look-in, with Austin 

Sevens, and the like, competing with each 

other as enthusiastically as the more up-market 

marques. As with all things English everyone’s 

car had its own class category. 

But inevitably the event will be remembered 

for its association with the legendary names 

of a period in which mechanical innovation 

and development were regarded as a matter of 

national pride. 

There were some memorable entries, wins and 

visits. Fame and achievement can be timeless 

and deservedly so. The dashing Dick Nash set 

the pace in the early years of the meets, driving 

cars with nicknames such as ‘The Terror’ and 

‘The Spook’; Nash set five course records in 

the 20s and early 30s. One of his biggest rivals

was Adrian Conan-Doyle, son of Sir Arthur, a 

spendthrift playboy living on the proceeds of 

his father’s estate, who also gained fame as a 

big-game hunter. 

One man, Jack Lemon Burton, drove his birthday 

present, a Bugatti Type 37A, to a triumphant 

�rst place at Lewes in Sept 1932. The idea 

of watching a Type 37 being pushed to the limit 

is something of which dreams are now made. 

The following year saw the legendary French/ 

Italian designer and test engineer Jean Bugatti 

attend the races. The Speed Trials were now at 

the top of their game. 

Another legend, Bill Boddy, then editor of 

Motor Sport, was also notably successful, with 

LEWES IN H ISTORY 

Peter Clark in a 1.5-litre HRG (previously driven at Le Mans) courtesy of Ferret Fotographics 

a third-place run in his 1497cc HRG sports car, 

on the 4th September 1937 [Bill sadly died during 

the research of this piece]. Two years later 

the great Sydney Allard played a starring role 

with a class win in July 1939. 

By then, of course, storm clouds were looming 

in Europe, and the last race meeting at 

Lewes took place on August 19th of that year, 

barely two weeks before Neville Chamberlain 

announced his declaration of war against Nazi 

Germany, after the invasion of Poland. As 

Jeremy Wood concludes in his book ‘Lewes 

was very much a course for its time, and could 

not have existed in a more regulated post-war 

world.’ Mike Ward-Sale 

25

CHRYSTAL by Sandra Blow RA | Framed size: 81 x 82.5cm | £1500 - 20% OFF SUMMER 

SALE 

UP TO 50% OFF MIRRORS, PHOTOFRAMES AND FRAMED ARTWORK AT 

57 High Street, Lewes, East Sussex BN7 1XE | Telephone: +44 (0)1273 481020 

SANDRA BLOW RA | SIR TERRY FROST | BARBARA HEPWORTH | SONIA DELAUNAY 

W W W . K I N G S F R A M E R S . C O M

Photo by Emma Chaplin 

m y lew es 

Profession: Proprietor of GM taxi company. I’ve 

been running my own business for nine years, but I’m 

still a driver, and have been for fifteen years. My dad 

was a cab driver in Lewes too. 

What do you drive? A black Peugeot 407. My cab is 

also the family car. 

Who have you had in the back of your cab? I’m not 

sure I’ve had anyone famous. My drivers have. We’re 

very busy at the moment because of Glyndebourne, we 

take an awful lot of people there. I’m wondering if the 

new Amex stadium will make a difference to business. 

What is the hardest part of being a taxi driver? 

Being patient with drunks. One most important thing 

we do for some people is listen to their problems. 

Obviously what’s said is kept ‘in the car’. We’ve got a 

lot of elderly customers who call us because they like 

to get out and have a good old chat. 

How do you deal with difficult customers? When 

they get in the car, you work out what sort of person 

they are. If they seem difficult I tend to keep quiet and 

don’t try to talk to them. I’m a good judge of character, 

definitely, you have to be. 

Are you local? Yes, I live in Landport and I’ve lived 

in Lewes all my life and brought up my kids here. I’ve 

never lived anywhere else. 

Are you Bonfire? Yes, I’ve been a member of Cliffe 

for twenty years. We do it as a family. 

What do you like about Lewes? It’s friendly, it’s 

home and it’s safe. Everybody knows one another. 

There’s not a stranger in Lewes. 

What don’t you like? I don’t think there’s anything. 

gI NA M A R SH A L L 

I’ve never had a problem. This is all I’ve ever known 

and I really like it. 

How do you get on with the traffic wardens? Normally 

fine, but there was a time a driver had taken an 

old lady to the bank, and he got out to get the wheelchair 

out of the boot for her, and he was ticketed. 

What’s your favourite place? I love the country 

lanes of Barcombe. You get amazing views. When 

you’re driving a cab you don’t see the world around 

you so much, but when you walk, there’s an amazing 

difference. 

What’s a good night out for you? I don’t get much 

time to go out, but I do love seeing a show. Mamma 

Mia was brilliant. 

Waitrose, Tesco (or Aldi when it opens)? Tesco. I’m 

not sure how well Aldi will do. 

Do you read a newspaper? We’re too busy, I don’t 

get the chance. But when I can I like to keep up with 

what’s going on around me with the Sussex Express, 

the Argus and Lewes News. 

How would you spend a perfect Sunday? Houseworking! 

I’m away from it so much during the week, I 

like to get it in order. But I can be working until 4am 

Fridays and Saturdays, so I rest in the morning to get 

a bit of energy first. 

What did you have for breakfast? Just a coffee. I 

have the odd croissant when it’s bought for me. 

Recommend somewhere to eat out. I like sausage 

and mash in the Real Eating Company. 

And a film? I love Harry Potter. I’m hoping to see the 

last one soon. EC 

2 7

Bedding, Bed Linen & Accessories 

While stocks last. Offer ends 6th August 2011. Not valid with any other offer. 

The Bedroom 196 High Street Lewes 01273 480333 

buy online www.thebedroomlewes.com 

426U

DANCING QUEEN 

P H OTO OF TH E MONTH 

For a few weeks now our ‘photos of the week’ column in the web magazine has been graced with pictures by 

Xavi Buendía, who captures moments of Lewes life through an interesting �lter: that of his being an outsider, 

looking in. Xavi is originally from Barcelona. 

“I don’t focus on obvious, touristic subjects,” he says. “I like to focus on the everyday, which Lewes people might 

not notice as they see it all the time.” 

In this case, however, the subject is rather out of the ordinary: the annual Rotary-Club-organised carnival that 

colourfully and noisily bustles its way through town every July. 

“I took about eight pictures of this woman dancing on the truck,” he says. “Most of them were close-ups. This 

was by far the best because you can see the Downs really clearly behind her and the crowd in the foreground 

acts like a frame. I knew it would be a good photo as soon as I took it.” 

“I did a little bit of work on Photoshop to improve it,” he continues. “I corrected the light, and made a circle 

around her to make her sharp, while blurring the area beyond that to dramatize the depth of �eld.” Xavi uses a 

Nikon D90 with an 18-105 lens, and employs a variety of methods on Photoshop to stylize his shots. 

You can see more of Xavi’s work pretty much every week at www.vivalewes.com or on his �ickr site (google ‘xdb 

people �ickr’). 

Send your pictures to alex@vivalewes.com. We publish the best in our ‘photo of the week’ column in www.vivalewes. 

com, and choose our favourite in this slot, which wins the photographer £20. Unless otherwise arranged we reserve 

the right to use all pictures received in future Viva Magazines Ltd publications. 

29

PETER HENNESSY 

Steve Ramsey meets a fairly secret statesman 

Clangclangclangclang! I really hope that’s not 

a �re alarm. I’m interviewing Professor Lord 

Peter Hennessy in �ve minutes. A building 

evacuation is the last thing I need, particularly 

as the building in question is the Houses of 

Parliament, and it would take quite a while. 

Fortunately, it’s just the division bell. Lord 

Hennessy arrives, and explains that he hasn’t 

ever heard the �re alarm. He imagines it must 

sound ‘like a banshee’s wail’, to distinguish it 

from the horrible tone of the division bell. 

We head to his of�ce in the Lords, where I 

get out my two dictaphones. One jams almost 

instantly. I press the wrong button on the other, 

playing Lord Hennessy an excerpt from the 

Beatles song Little Piggies, which I’d recorded 

earlier to test the machine. 

I quickly sort it out, and press on. We have loads 

to get through; Hennessy has had his phone 

hacked, and spoken to someone who may well 

have saved the world. He’s an academic, Orwell 

Prize-winning writer, and peer. And he only has 

�fteen minutes to spare. 

Hennessy hands me a thick book; Anthony 

Sampson’s Anatomy of Britain Today. He 

received a copy as a sixth form prize in 1965, 

and fondly recalls how it, along with Samuel 

Brittan’s Treasury Under the Tories, “aroused 

an interest which has never been dampened” in 

the secret workings of government. 

“[Sampson] was an eye opener into a world 

that intrigued me, about what really goes on, 

in terms of how the country’s run. Not just 

government but industry, city, all that...Because 

even if you read the newspapers every day, as 

I did and have done since 1956 ... you don’t 

normally get a sense of what I later called ‘the 

hidden wiring’ beneath all this stuff, keeping it 

going.” 

Before he studied the hidden wiring as an 

academic, he wrote about it as a journalist. 

Sometimes his stories were based on classi�ed 

information leaked by government insiders. 

This didn’t please the Home Of�ce, which 

would occasionally tap his phone, legally. Hennessy 

didn’t mind though: “Quite often I was 

warned about this by the people who’d helped 

me...and so I wouldn’t use the home phone; I’d 

have to �nd a non-vandalised telephone box 

somewhere in the vicinity of where I lived. But I 

wasn’t bothered; it was all done properly under 

Home Of�ce warrants, and as long as I knew, I 

never got resentful about it ... It was only when 

there was a special leak inquiry going on after 

something I’d written.” 

This hasn’t happened recently, though. For 

his book The Secret State, he waited for the 

relevant documents to be made public. Some 

“were so sensitive they were kept back longer 

than [the standard] 30 years”. This makes the 

book “an example of what I call ‘catch-up’ history, 

or, more sensationally perhaps, ‘now it can 

be told’ history”. 

The Secret State describes Whitehall’s preparations 

for nuclear war, which were incredibly 

detailed. There was even a plan to save Britain’s 

most important artworks by moving them to 

quarries in North Wales and Wiltshire. 

Whitehall may have been worried about nuclear 

war, but how much danger were we really in? 

“Oh it was very considerable. We were much 

more perilously placed at the time of the Cuban 

Missile Crisis than we realised at the time. It 

came very close indeed. Kennedy ... didn’t know 

that on the island of Cuba already were the 

warheads for the tactical nuclear missiles, which 

would have been used on the American forces if 

they’d invaded from the sea, as they landed on

INTERVIEW 

the beaches, and that the authority for using them 

was delegated to the Russian commander on the 

island.” 

Less than a week after the Cuban Missile Crisis, 

there was another near miss. British spy Gervase 

Cowell answered his phone; the caller blew air 

into the receiver three times and hung up. The 

same thing happened a minute later. This was 

a message in Soviet defector Oleg Penkovsky’s 

secret code. It meant that the Soviets were about 

to launch a nuclear strike. The message was fraudulent. 

Penkovsky had been taken prisoner and 

forced to reveal the secret signal. Miraculously, 

Cowell guessed what had happened, and decided 

not to order retaliation. 

Hennessy says: “Gervase Cowell - what a great 

man he was... I’ll never forget hearing him say 

that. It was a conference at the national archives at 

Kew, this very quiet voice reliving that moment in 

the basement of the British embassy in Moscow, 

that immensely perilous time. ‘And what did you 

do, Mr Cowell?’ I said. Gervase: ‘Nothing’.” 

Hennessy didn’t want to talk about politics, but 

as he’s showing me out, I can’t resist asking, off 

the record, what’s the worst decision he’s seen in 

all his time following affairs of state. Of course, I 

can’t tell you what he said, but if you really want 

to know, there’ll be a Q&A session after his talk 

on The Secret State at Lewes Speakers Festival 

(Sat 6th, All Saints Centre, 3.15-4.30pm, £12.50- 

£10, 0844 8700 887). 

Photo by Steve Ramsey 

31

sarah edmunds legal 

making law simple 

3 2 

We work... 

Fast, friendly, approachable 

and reliable solicitors 

offering specialist advice in 

a cost effective manner 

sarah edmunds legal 

Lewes Castle Works, Westgate St, 

Lewes, East Sussex, BN7 1YR 

Uckfield 87 High Street, Uckfield, 

East Sussex, TN22 1RJ 

Specialist, quality & affordable 

legal services including: 

• Residential conveyancing 

• Wills & Estate Planning 

• Lasting Powers of Attorney 

• Probate 

• Commercial leases 

• Debt recovery 

We offer 

• Free home/office visit 

• Extended office hours (evenings & weekends) 

• Same day service guarantee 

• 4 hour call back guarantee 

T 01273 407 970 

E info@sarahedmundslegal.co.uk 

www.sarahedmundslegal.co.uk

Photos by Chloë King 

W W W. V i Va L E W E s . C o M 

baNger raCiNg 

Chloë king goes trackside 

I first saw the bangers last August Bank Holiday 

with a family friend in his eighties; he loved ‘the 

stocks’ as a young man, and was excited to relive the 

spectacle. We had a grand day out, the place was 

packed, and we left smiling, our ears ringing and 

hair smelling. 

This time it’s a Wednesday night and although 

the ample, grass car park seems half full, the arena 

looks half empty. Spedeworth Motorsports, in its 

fiftieth year, has regular fixtures in eight tracks 

across the UK. The racers meet at Arlington on 

Wednesday evenings throughout the summer, and 

of their main venues, it’s here that the audience is 

‘closest to the action’. 

Aside from the ticket price – £12 full, £10 concessions, 

and £6 for kids aged 5-14 – passing through 

the gate is like going back to a time when everyone 

knew how to put things together. On the outdoor 

and the sheltered terraces, most people have set 

themselves up comfortably in camping chairs, but 

being unequipped, I pay an extra quid to sit in the 

grandstand. 

Round the back is a licensed clubhouse, and takeaway 

vans that fill the air with the scent of bangers 

and chips. I’m distracted from the sight of a man 

gorging on mayo by the sound of the Ministox 

driving onto the starting lines. Each race formula 

has its own rolling start tune, and every one sounds 

like something off a hairy fairground ride or a borderline 

children’s TV show from the 70s. The kids 

m o t o r r a c i n g 

love it, and there are lots of them here. 

It turns out this evening’s meet is for the trainees. 

There are many different race ‘formulas’ for all 

levels of drivers and various vintage and modern 

cars, so each week’s programme is slightly different. 

The Ministox are reconditioned 1000cc Minis 

meticulously sprayed in bright colours, for boy and 

girl racers aged 11-16 to ‘cut their teeth’. From the 

off, the cars scream round the track to an excited 

commentator, and the atmosphere is thick. 

After the Ministox come the Rookie Rods: a ‘lowbudget, 

non-contact’ formula class of Novas, Fiestas 

and Corsas. The flame-haired boy in front of me 

is kitted out in full clobber and enjoying the noise, 

but it’s a few years yet before he can have a go. 

Tonight’s third and final group are the Bangers: 

write-offs of course, lovingly resurrected as racers. 

Unlike the ‘Nationals’, this racing formula is limited 

contact, but even so there’s enough one-on-one 

to engulf the track in thick smoke, and when they 

crash near the barrier my heart is in my mouth. By 

the end of their third race tonight, only a few bangers 

drive off unaided. I stand by the entrance to the 

pit as the sun sets, watching them rumble off the 

track, drivers beaming from ear to ear. 

This ritualistic and exhilarating event has retained 

the allure of danger, and, it’s clear from the first 

that this is a way of life. In an age when cash and 

pampering has turned mainstream sports soft, 

banger racing remains intoxicatingly real. 

3 3

Real 

Wood 

Floors 

Specialists in hardwood flooring. 

Professional fitting service. 

Visit one of our showrooms. 

OPEN TUESDAY-SATURDAY 

10AM-5PM 

34 

ANTARES 

www.antarespsl.com 

14 Sussex Road, Haywards Heath, West Sussex RH16 4EA 

Tel: 01444 416892 

4 Market Lane, Lewes, East Sussex BN7 2NT 

Tel: 01273 473498

RAFT RACE 

The Battle of Southease Bridge 

Rob Williams, a dry-lining contractor, is in Lewes 

Rugby Club’s raft race team, competing this year for 

the second time. He is also involved with organising 

the event through Lewes Round Table. 

What was last year’s race like? It was interesting. 

We decided it would be a great event to take our 

overseas players on, and they thought it was the best 

thing ever. We had a few beers on the way, had a 

great time. We came last and did a bit of swimming 

in the river... 

Did you get hit by any eggs? Loads, but it’s all part 

of the fun. 

Have you got any defence strategies for this 

time? No, not really, just to throw as much stuff 

back as possible. 

So you’ve got a supply of eggs... De�nitely, this 

year we’ve built a beer fridge and an egg/�our cupboard 

on the raft. 

When you arrive at Southease bridge, it gets a 

bit dangerous, doesn’t it? There’s 300 people waiting, 

and you drift round the corner, and then you 

see all these people, there’s just silence, silence and 

then carnage and all you can do is just drift into it... 

That’s quite fun; breaks up the journey anyway. 

Did you see any spectacular failures last year? 

I’ve been safety of�cer for the raft race for about 

eight years, and I’ve seen some pretty bad rafts. One 

was made out of ladders, which really wasn’t very 

good. They had a very strict, I don’t know what he 

was, a scoutmaster or something, ordering these 

WWW.VI VA LEWES .CO M 

RAFTING 

poor teenagers about, and it was the worst raft I’ve 

ever seen. It didn’t make it. 

How did you build your raft? We haven’t really 

started yet; we’ve done about one afternoon. Basically 

it’s two hulls. We’ve put a frame on it, and 

then we’re going to bond it with �breglass, and then 

spend two weeks tarting it up. 

Where did you get the materials? The hulls are 

from eBay, they cost ten quid, and the ply’s from my 

yard. 

I don’t suppose you’ve tested whether it �oats 

yet... No. That’s part of the fun for the day. It’s what 

we did last year. We got stuck in South Street. We 

were about an hour late and didn’t know whether it 

was going to �oat until the last minute. We’ve always 

got a bit of gaffer tape on hand. 

Have you got some fancy dress in mind? We’re 

not quite sure yet, but there’s a theme of children’s 

toys and we’ll be partaking, with some lurid coloured 

out�ts. 

Are there any teams that take it really seriously? 

All of them apart from us! They did the winners’ 

presentation before we �nished up last year... There’s 

about four teams that race properly every year, and 

then people like us who don’t take it too seriously. 

Interview by Steve Ramsey 

It might be too late to sign up (check on 01825 722225 

or stuart@stuart-walker.co.uk), but you can always 

watch (and throw cake ingredients). The race starts on 

the Ouse by South Street at 1.30pm on Sunday 14th. 

35

36 

“A superb out�t” 

Chambers UK Directory 

A&R. You & Yours 

Our roots lie in providing services 

to individuals and helping them 

with the legal issues they encounter 

throughout their lives. 

Family Law Services | Residential Conveyancing 

Employment | Wills & Estate Planning | Probate 

Trusts | Personal Taxation | Powers of Attorney 

www.adams-remers.co.uk 

Tel: 01273 480616 

Of�ces in Lewes & London 

Clients throughout the country


CiNema rouNd-up 

Dirty drive-in 

Going to the pictures is one of my favourite activities. 

I like to feel immersed in the film, cocooned 

in the darkness. But there are other, interesting, 

alternatives to going into a cinema. Anyone who 

has watched Grease, Back to the Future III, or even 

The Flintstones, knows how significant drive-in 

movies are in American culture, especially as part of 

nostalgic reflections about the 1950s. On Saturday 

6th, you can have the drive-in experience in your 

own backyard. Or rather Plumpton Racecourse. It 

sounds a rather more mellow and leafy venue than 

where I saw Pulp Fiction, which was in an industrial 

expanse of tarmac in downtown Oakland, California. 

It was amazingly atmospheric, if frankly terrifying. 

We kept the car doors locked throughout. 

You won’t need to lock your doors at Plumpton 

Racecourse, and the film isn’t scary either. They are 

showing the 1987 sexual awakening classic, Dirty 

Dancing. It has an early 1960s setting, some filthy 

dance moves and upbeat music. And being wellknown 

is perfect, since you don’t go to a drive-in to 

watch the film as such. The visual/sound quality is 

never going to be brilliant (you hear the soundtrack 

by tuning the car radio). But it’s a fun place to go 

on a date. Drive-ins always had a reputation for encouraging 

louche behaviour, labelled as they were, 

‘passion pits’ by the press. 

You can take your own picnic, although there will 

also be a licensed bar and food stalls. Gates open at 

7pm, with the film starting at about 9pm, depend- 

c i n e m a 

ing on when the sun sets. Tickets £25 per car for 

advanced booking, (maximum 5 per car), £30 per car 

on the day (subject to availability). 01273 890383. 

Another event suitable for film goers in search of an 

alternative experience is the special sleepover event 

at Newhaven Fort featuring a showing of Night at 

the Museum. This also takes place on Saturday 6th. 

The Fort is a wonderful dramatic setting, drenched 

as it is in history. Night at the Museum is an 

entertaining family film from 2006, featuring Ben 

Stiller. His character, Larry Daley, begins a new job 

as night guard at the New York Museum of Natural 

History, only to have a taxing first shift when the 

statues and animal exhibits come to life and start 

causing havoc. There’s excellent silly diorama fun 

from Steve Coogan and Owen Wilson, as well as 

good turns by Robin Williams on horseback and 

Ricky Gervais as the pernickety museum director. 

Watch out for the naughty monkey too. 

The evening begins at 7pm and will include a 

barbecue and a spooky tour of the Fort. Night at 

the Museum will be screened at 9pm, with popcorn. 

During the evening there will also be an animation 

workshop with a chance to make an animated film. 

Breakfast and a goodie bag will be provided in the 

morning. Spaces are limited, tickets are £45 each 

and must be booked in advance by calling 01273 

517622. Children should be aged between 8-14 and 

accompanied by an adult (maximum 4 children per 

adult). Emma Chaplin 

3 7

3 8

Jeremy oveNdeN 

A Lewes-based Italophile 

Young Lewes-based tenor Jeremy Ovenden has 

established himself as one of the premier Mozart 

singers of his generation. His new CD, Mozart: An 

Italian Journey is out now on Signum Records (to be 

reviewed next month). 

Jeremy, with your new CD you’ve created a really 

interesting homage. What’s this journey about? 

My mission was to have the listener discover how 

the young Mozart developed as a composer. I have 

to admit I wasn’t sure what to expect – he wrote 

Sposa Cara when he was only 12 years old! But these 

obscure arias are real gems and I’m thrilled to have 

included them on the CD. 

Are there differences between Mozart’s early 

compositions for tenor and his later ones? The 

early tenor arias are definitely higher than the later 

compositions and also more florid. Also, the orchestration 

became more complex as he gained experience 

and perfected which instruments worked well 

with the tenor voice. 

I notice that the repertoire on the CD is only 

from Mozart’s Italian operas. I chose Italian 

repertoire because of my affection for the country 

where I lived for 5 years and where my career took 

off. I am also fluent in Italian, which puts me at ease 

with the language and allows me to colour the words 

appropriately. I still sing a lot in Italy and enjoy going 

back but Lewes is now home. We fell in love with it 

in 2006 when my wife (singer Miah Persson) and I 

were walking in Southover Grange and saw a young 

guy playing the guitar to his girlfriend under a tree. 

We both said, “This is the place to live.” 

I see from your calendar that you’ll shortly be 

singing in Germany. Is it very different working 

there? Opera is in the blood in Italy. As a result the 

audiences are knowledgeable and expectations are 

extremely high. I remember singing at La Scala with 

Riccardo Muti conducting and looking up to the gallery 

where the famous loggianisti stand and thinking, 


c l a s s i c a l m u s i c 

don’t muck up now. I didn’t, but you feel the pressure 

there more than in any other country. Singers are 

nervous before taking bows for fear of being booed. 

The UK is much more polite and in Germany they’re 

more critical about German repertoire. 

You studied voice with the great Nicolai Gedda. 

How did you benefit from that relationship? 

Gedda was and still is an inspiration. I always sang 

amazingly well in my lessons with him. I think just 

his presence and hearing his voice made me imagine 

I could sing anything. Recreating it at home was 

another matter altogether but it made me realise that 

without a solid technique there was no chance of 

being a singer. 

Advice for young singers? Remember the voice is a 

wind instrument. Singing is all about supporting the 

voice with the breath. Don’t overcomplicate; placing 

the voice and supporting the sound is what it’s all 

about. It’s taken me 20 years to work that out. 

And what’s on your iPod that you think would 

most surprise us? Mika. Love him. He’s a mixture 

of Freddie Mercury and George Michael. He was 

also classically trained at Music College and you can 

hear it. Paul Austin Kelly 

3 9

4 0 

A great rate 

with no hidden 

surprises. 

Exclusively 

available at your 

local YBS agent: 

34-36 High St, Lewes 

01273 957 780 

www.ybs.co.uk 

* The account year is based on the anniversary of the account opening date. † AER stands for the Annual Equivalent Rate and shows what the interest would be if interest 

was paid and added each year. This will enable you to compare more easily the return you can expect from your savings over time. Interest is paid annually or monthly. 

Gross means before the deduction of income tax. The tax rate applicable will depend on your personal circumstances. Communications may be monitored/recorded. 

Yorkshire Building Society is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority. Registered No. 106085. Yorkshire Building Society, Yorkshire Drive, Bradford 

BD5 8LJ. Rates correct at 15/06/2011. YMA 3482 www.ybs.co.uk 

• Berghaus • Brasher • Columbia • Merrell • Reef • Sprayway • Teva 

We are a specialist shop offering clothing, footwear 

and equipment for walking, hiking and camping, 

as well as lifestyle clothing and footwear. 

www.outdoorshoplewes.co.uk 

10 Cliffe High Street Lewes - 01273 487 840 

Now that’s 

fair & square 

2.25 %Gross p.a./ 

AER 

Variable † 

Clear & simple 

New Triple Access Saver 

Save from £100 to £2 million in this 

passbook account. 

Add to your account whenever you want to. 

Make withdrawals or close your account on 

any three days in each account year.*

lewes book fair 

Fact or fiction? You choose 

Once every few months, just before 10am on a 

Saturday, a small queue forms at the Fisher Street 

entrance of Lewes Town Hall. On first inspection 

this assembly might seem entirely respectable: a 

polite concatenation of beige middle age. But look 

closer, and you’ll glimpse a fevered anticipation in 

their eyes… 

They’re queuing for the Lewes Book Fair, a staple 

of the local bibliophile’s calendar. Held five times a 

year, the fair is a chance for book hounds to peruse 

the wares of a variety of secondhand booksellers, 

big and small, all hawking books on subjects as varied 

as topography, history, local interest and nature, 

not to mention fiction – first editions and paperbacks 

a-plenty – poetry and assorted paraphernalia. 

If it’s the printed word you’re after, the Lewes Book 

Fair caters to all. 

Set up by Lewesian John Beck in 1992, the fair 

began on a twice-yearly basis with twenty stallholders. 

These days it’s more like forty, with between 

400 and 500 punters attending each fair from as 

far afield as London and Southampton, as well as 

Lewes and elsewhere in Sussex. The most recent 

event, in May, was typically crowded; an hour in 

it became tricky to navigate the two long aisles of 

stalls there were so many people poring over old 

tomes. But I did spot a signed first edition of Conan 

Doyle’s 1891 historical adventure The White Company 

(£500), a very scare first of David Nobbs’s The 

Death of Reginald Perrin (£165) and, more in my 

price range (so of course I bought ’em), a book club 

edition of John Gardner’s first Bond novel Licence 


l i t e r a t u r e 

Photo by rachel day 

Renewed (a steal at two quid) and an early printing 

of Dennis Wheatley’s innovative 1936 crime fiction 

dossier Murder off Miami (£6). 

The Lewes fair is just one of many such independent 

events held up and down the country every 

weekend – on average sixty per month – but having 

attended a good number in other parts of the UK, 

I can report that ours remains among the best. I 

asked John – who runs the fair with his daughter 

Melanie and friends, and who is an avid book collector 

himself – why that is. 

“I think Lewes is still popular as we regularly get 

good footfall and bargains are always to be had,” 

he told me. “The book trade is suffering from the 

internet and e-books, but fortunately many buyers 

still like the tactility of a book, which to many is a 

piece of art in its own way. Also, by having the book 

in your hand you can better judge the condition and 

‘value for money’ if one is a collector.” 

John’s dream is to instigate a Lewes Book Week, 

based around the fair but featuring “book readings, 

book signings and talks on the literary heritage that 

Lewes has. Hay-on-Wye have a very successful annual 

event, which is well hyped, and Hay is a place 

with no real literary history at all. So Lewes has a 

great advantage in many respects.” 

Indeed it does. I feel a campaign coming on… 

Nick Jones 

The next Lewes Book Fair, as ever in association 

with local cat rescue charity Paws & Claws, takes 

place at Lewes Town Hall, Fisher Street entrance, 

on 6th August, 10am. 

4 1

art& 

about 

Our bumper arts coverage, 

and new look, this month has 

been inspired by the return 

of Artwave. The open studios 

extravaganza boasts many 

exhibitions, but here we have 

selected some of our highlights, 

and we urge you to pick up 

a free guide in town and get 

stuck in to the rest. It is, after 

all, a rare opportunity to meet 

the many creatives living in 

Lewes District in their ‘natural 

habitats’, and studio spaces, we 

think, are often just as artful as 

the works created in them. 

from the 

artist’s studio 

St Anne’s Galleries 

St Anne’s smart High St 

premises couldn’t be much 

more different from your 

typical artist’s atelier, but 

they’ve still found a clever way 

of getting the open studio vibe. 

For one weekend only, this 

exhibition presents ‘new and 

favourite paintings, print and 

sculpture personally selected by 

all of its gallery artists.’ Many 

artists will be on hand to talk 

about their work, which sounds 

like a fine opportunity to 

meet some of our town’s most 

celebrated creatives. As well 

as the wonderful Jo Lamb, St 

Anne’s represent Julian Bell and 

Nick Bodimeade, whose lovely 

shed studio is pictured. 

Aug 27th-28th, 10-5pm 

surrealist 

Camera 

Westgate Chapel 

The biggest name exhibiting 

during Artwave has to be 

the husband of Lee Miller 

and mid-century art star Sir 

Roland Penrose. Usually one 

has to make the trip to the 

couple’s former home at Farley 

Farm for a glimpse into their 

extraordinary life. For the festival 

however, a selection of Penrose’s 

photographs, curated by his 

son Antony Penrose, author of 

The Boy Who Bit Picassso, and 

Farleys Yard Trust Director Ian 

Chance, will be in the Hibbert 

Room. This exhibition of early 

photographs taken on Penrose’s 

travels are said to ‘metamorphose 

everyday appearances into 

startling dream-like images’. 

Aug 27-29th, 11– 5pm 

LOOK OUT FOR: Viva contributor Lyndsey Smith’s work at Chalk Gallery, and The Way We Work 

photographer Adam Chandler at The Hive throughout August. The Chalk Gallery also have three 

talented new artists in the co-op: a warm welcome to Frances Knight, Sue Collins and Paul Allen. 

© Lee Miller Archives, England 2011. All rights reserved.

alex 

bamford 

Pelham House 

We are enthralled by Alex 

Bamford’s long exposure 

photographs, which seem to 

turn even the most familiar 

Sussex land and seascapes 

into visions of another world. 

Shooting mostly at night by 

the light of a full moon, Alex 

exposes for periods of three 

to ten minutes. His favourite 

subjects include capturing 

movement and abstraction 

with artificial light and soft 

seas interrupted by hard, 

architectural lines. Also check 

out the work of two playful 

visual storytellers: paintings 

with a flash of Dubuffet by John 

Harmer and characterful papier 

mâché sculptures by Emily 

Warren. Aug 25th-4th Oct 

maria 

rivens 

Print Room 

Although the Print Room 

on North Street isn’t strictly 

a gallery, they do have some 

high-calibre graphic artists 

exhibiting, often working in 

print-based media and collage. 

Throughout August it’s the 

turn of Maria Rivens, who 

creates detailed, fantastical 

narratives from found images 

gleaned from a cornucopia of 

sources. Rivens, who trained in 

3D design at Brighton in the 

eighties, is also a professional 

jeweller, and manages to inject 

depth into paper collage. Hers is 

a hallucinatory dreamworld that 

alternates between technicolour 

nightmare and high camp. We 

like it a lot. 

Aug 10th-11th Sep 

george 

robertson 

A r t & A B O U t 

Hop Gallery 

George Robertson’s remarkable 

oil paintings show the 

mysterious details hidden in 

the Sussex landscape. Taking a 

close eye to the edges, he reveals 

abstract forms and elegant lines 

among simple hedgerows. Also 

at the Hop during Aug is the 

finale of the Open Exhibition of 

works by 60 Sussex artists (until 

Aug 7th), and a solo show by 

last month’s cover artist Nick 

Orsborn. Like Maria Rivens, 

Orsborn works equally well 

as a jeweller and watercolour 

artist. In his signature, almost 

impossibly cheerful palette, 

Orsborn’s dances, holidays, 

parades and parties tell stories 

infused with light humour. 

Aug 13th-21st & 27th-8th Sep 

LOOK OUT FOR: Group Show 12th-26th Aug and Landscapes and Flowers by Colin Merrin and 

Sarah Burges, 27th-11th Sep, at Lansdown Gallery. For more Artwave, try Ian Owings’ dramatic skies 

at the Old Bakehouse, Malling Street, and Upper Lodge, Ringmer for ‘6 Artists and an Orchard’.

keizer_advert:Layout 3 1/7/11 12:32 Oddsocks Page 1 ad:Layout 1 7/7/11 12:29 Page 

•Comprehensive 

framing service 

•Exhibition frames 

•Box frames 

•Gesso frames 

•Gallery 

•Monday - Saturday 

10.00am - 5.30pm 

•Collection and 

delivery 

Keizer frames 

Hand finished picture framing 

and original art 

Contact Simon Keizer 

01273 471647 

info@keizerframes.com 

www.keizerframes.com 

Pastorale Antiques, 15 Malling Street, Lewes BN7 2RA 

Newhaven Fort 

Tuesday 23rd August 7.30pm 

Tickets: Adult £12.50, Concessions £9.00 

Telephone 01273 517622 to book in advance 

www.newhavenfort.org.uk

I’ve been at Paddock Studios about 10 years, but 

I got lucky with a house in Lewes with a studio at 

the back, and I’ve decided to leave. I’ll miss Peter 

Messer dreadfully but my new studio has better 

light, and I’ll be able to work whenever I want. 

My security has been this studio. All my things 

are here, it’s absolutely chock-a-block! 

Every time I used to sell a piece of work, I 

would buy a robot, but then people started giving 

me things. 

The angels and plastic virgins make me think of 

a factory with crazy things on the floor - I think 

that’s so weird - but they are an expression of people’s 

faith, so you shouldn’t knock them… Someone 

in Lewes gave me a whole load of cars, and I have a 

new collection of candles that are fun to paint. 

This is the first time I’ve made a concentrated 

effort to paint the toys. I’m of a mind that whatever 

you do, you do for a while, and then you’ve 

done it. 

I can’t resist a book. I’ve taken to reading stuff 

like Lhasa the Holy City, about Spencer Chapman 

going round Tibet in a Morris Minor in the 

1930s: in a pair of horn-rimmed glasses, with a 

brownie camera and a prayer book. I love vintage 

travel books, the more extreme, the more ‘hopeless 

English traveller meets whatever’, the better. When 

I was first married I lived in Kenya for a while, it 


my spaCe - Jo lamb 

a r t s t u d i o 

probably goes back to those days. 

Sometimes I have to concentrate so hard on a 

painting I can’t listen to music. Other times I listen 

to African music, rather raucous rock or opera, 

it depends. There’s nothing better than being in my 

studio, listening to really loud rock music and dancing 

around with a paintbrush. 

I think the meat is a very good painting. I did 

it just after my partner died, I was asked to do an 

exhibition and just said yes, not thinking. I shut 

myself in my freezing studio painting fish and meat, 

watching it all disintegrating… I’ve always been 

very fond of it, but it’s never sold and I don’t know if 

I will sell it now, it reminds me of that time... It was 

just white paper on a bench, two pork, two lamb, 

bacon, chuck steak and a chicken, delicately going 

off in the kitchen, in January. 

I always say I should have a separate studio for 

Fluffy. I can’t reconcile that about myself, I don’t 

know if I’m a painter or an illustrator. I began 

painting Fluffy because Robert had a thing about 

Joseph Beuys’ Dead Hare. It started as a piss take - I 

hate ‘art blurb’ - but they’ve become a way of sort of 

talking to myself. 

This Artwave will be my last. I am showing at St 

Anne’s Gallery with Jane Merfield in October (8- 

16th), but when I get my new studio I won’t open it 

up, so this is the last. It’s a bit sad. Chloë King 

4 5 

Photo: Chloe King

4 6 

recent works by: 

Get Felt, Simon Keizer, Penelope Kenny, Alvaro Petritoli, 

Anne Schulte, Laina Watt, 

Peter Messer limited edition prints from The Fine Art Company 

and much more! 

Pastorale Open Studios 

15 Malling Street, Lewes BN7 2RA 

27th August - 11th September 

open weekends 10-5 

Located at the end of Cliffe High Street, in the Pastorale 

Antiques courtyard, next to the Buttercup Café 

artwave 2011 

The visual arts festival 

for Lewes district 

August 27 to September 11 

www.artwavefestival.org

foCus oN: 

pierced vessel by alyosha moeran 

How much is it going for? About £650. 

How did this piece come about? I like the idea of trying to pare something down to see how fine you 

can get it. It is about exploring the idea of fragility. Stone represents solidity and permanence through 

time. I wanted to make something the exact opposite of that. 

What is it made from? Slate. 

How long did it take? If I kept at it, I could do it in a few days. But it’s best to work at it on and off over 

several weeks, otherwise I’m more likely to break it. 

What was the technique? Hand tools, an angle grinder and lots of sanding discs. 

How do you think sculpture is perceived? People tend to see sculpture as installation work, something 

abstract, which they may find visually challenging and difficult to ‘understand’. 

My work covers a spectrum between craft and sculpture. My practice as a carver involves many different 

aspects of stonework and I prefer not to make too much of a distinction between art and craft. I 

make public art, tables and fireplaces, ‘impractical bowls’ and ‘acoustic sculptures’ and I feel that they 

are all connected. 

What inspired you to be a stone carver? I was a student at Cambridge, where I loved the gargoyles at 

King’s College and the ribbed vaulting in the chapel. I also love the British Museum, the marble statues 

in the Greek section, how the marble was carved to look and feel transparent. 

How did you learn your craft? I trained as an architectural stonemason at the Building Craft College 

and later studied restoration stone carving at the City and Guilds London School of Art. I had a stint 

as a volunteer stonemason at the National Trust before ending up as an assistant to the sculptor Hamish 

Horsley. I worked with him on the carvings at the Tibetan Peace Garden at the Imperial War Museum. 

What skills do you need to be a good stone carver? Hand skills and patience…lots of it. 

What’s your favourite piece of public art? Can I include my own? A relief carving on the side of a 

wall at Batley Health Centre with a pierced window. 

Alyosha Moeran shares a studio with Guy Stevens. This is open for Artwave weekends, beginning 27th 

August. Upper Stoneham Farm, BN8, just outside Lewes, near Earwig Corner www.alyoshamoeran.co.uk 


a r t 

4 7

I N A U G U R A L E X H I B I T I O N 

A selection of members of the newly formed group 

ARTflow are showing their work at the recently opened 

Lansdown Gallery 

Lansdown Place, Lewes, BN7 2JT 

www.lansdowngallery.co.uk 

Fri 5th - Thur 11th August 2011 

Daily 10.00 to 5.00 - Sun 11.00 to 5.00 

Late night Friday 5th August until 8pm 

Viv Cecil 

Corina Thomas 

Mary Beaney Julie Snowball 

Kate Sayers 

Jill Emslie Ben Ecclestone 

www.ar tflowsussex.co.uk 

ARTflow-Viva Lewes Ad.indd 1 22/6/11 15:08:10

foCus oN: 

sefura holding a portrait of her husband 

by Jenny matthews (2009) 

Can you tell us the circumstances surrounding 

this picture? I’ve been going to Afghanistan since 

1988 either for aid organisations or on self-funded 

trips. I’m particularly interested on the effect conflict 

has on women. I was working for Care International 

in Kabul, visiting widows. Kabul is a city of widows, 

who find themselves in a very difficult position, because 

they have lost their breadwinner, and there’s a 

stigma against women working. The caption of this 

picture reads ‘The Taliban killed my husband in 2001. 

He was in the military. I have four daughters and two 

sons. Five months after I was widowed, my daughter, 

who had been engaged since she was three months old, 

disappeared. She was 16. The family of her fiancé was 

furious. They demanded two daughters in her place. 

There was nothing I could do.’ 

Your photographs are being exhibited in the former home of Lee Miller, who was herself a war 

photographer. Was she a big influence? Her photographs were very strong, and she was working at a 

time when it was a hundred times more difficult to do this sort of job than it is now. Using a film camera 

meant she had to develop all her photos, of course, and as a result the shots are much more considered. 

But I’m actually much more amazed about the dispatches she wrote from the front. It’s incredible that 

in such an atmosphere, she was able to be so coherent. She must have been such an extremely feisty 

young woman. She could have had a very easy life but she went off and chose the hard route. 

It’s rare for women to cover wars… More and more women are doing so, but I think they do it a little 

bit differently, going for the quieter detail behind the scenes. I think the Guardian’s Maggie O’Kane 

was a big influence on me, in the way she examined the lives of women during wartime. Behind the 

‘bang bang’ there’s a hell of a lot going on, that doesn’t otherwise get understood. 

Which conflict zones have you been to? Nicaragua, Rwanda, The Congo, Afghanistan, the Libyan 

border, Iraq, Iran, Sri Lanka, Uganda, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Gaza, Palestine… do you want me to go on? 

Rwanda was particularly harrowing. I went there just before the genocide and afterwards I went back to 

find the people I had photographed, and found they were all dead. I returned to the country many times 

after that collecting the testimonies and photographing survivors. 

To keep going back to places like that shows remarkable courage. Is it… addictive? I suppose you 

could say it’s addictive, if that’s the right word. It’s interesting to look at what happened to Lee Miller. 

After all that conflict she witnessed in WW2, she went to rural Sussex, and had to try to reinvent herself. 

The only alternative to this is propelling yourself towards the next big thing. 

What picture would you hang on your desert island palm tree? Picasso’s Guernica. It’s a bit obvious 

but what could be more amazing, and a stark reminder of life beyond the idyll? 

Jenny Matthews Women and War, Farley Farm House Barn Gallery, Chiddingly, Aug 7th-Sept 4th, open 

days 7th, 21st Aug and Sept 4th. For info on tours ring 01825 872856. 


p H o t o g r a p H y 

4 9

50 

Probably the biggest and sunniest beer garden in Lewes 

“The King’s Head is a real gem. It looks great, the 

food is exemplary, and the prices are realistic... 

with chefs prepared to take the time and trouble 

to create great dishes with real British heritage.” 

Andrew Kay 

9 Southover High Street��Lewes��East Sussex��BN7 1HS 

Tel: 01273 474628 email: thekingshead.lewes@yahoo.co.uk

AUGUST MUSIC LISTINGS 

MON 1ST 

Diego Parada Trio. Jazz. Snowdrop, 8.30pm, free 

WED 3RD 

Tab & Ben’s Acoustic Session. Snowdrop, 9pm, free 

THUR 4TH 

So Last Century String Band. Acoustic/folk. Snow- 

drop, 9pm, free 

Los Chacareroso. Latin guitar. Pelham Arms, 

8.30pm, free 

FRI 5TH 

Cat�sh Kings. Rock ‘n roll. Con Club, 8pm, 

£4(members free) 

The Elevators. Electric blues. Volunteer, 8pm, free 

SAT 6TH 

Tenek. Alt./Electro. Con Club, 8pm, £6 (members 

free) 

The Contenders. Blues. Snowdrop, 9pm, free 

Starlite Beatles. Tribute act. Royal Oak, 8pm, free 

Band of 2. Celtic music. John Harvey Tavern, 8pm, 

free 

SUN 7TH 

Big Birthday Bonaza with DJ Claire Karaoke. Volun- 

teer, 7pm, free 

MON 8TH 

Andy Mackintosh. Cannonball Adderley tribute. 

Snowdrop, 8.30pm, free 

WED 10TH 


THUR 11TH 

Ultraswing Trio. Django Reinhardt tribute. Pelham 

Arms, 8.30pm, free 

FRI 12TH 

Fat Belly Jones. Ska/soul. Con Club, 8pm, £4 (mem- 

bers free) 

Trip Wire. Eclectic covers. Volunteer, 8pm, free 

SAT 13TH 

G I G G UIDE 

John Crampton. Blues guitar. Snowdrop, 9pm, free 

Radio Kings. Covers. Royal Oak, 8pm, free 

SUN 14TH 

Tracey Savage and Paul Diello. Acoustic. Con Club, 

3pm, free 

Shauna Parker Band. Americana. Volunteer, 5pm, 

free 

MON 15TH 

Jack Kendon. Jazz trumpet. Snowdrop, 8.30pm, free 

WED 17TH 


THUR 18TH 

The Djangonauts. Gypsy jazz. Snowdrop. 9pm, free 

Monica Acevedo Trio. Latin jazz. Pelham Arms, 

8.30pm, free 

FRI 19TH 

A.K.A. Rock covers. Con Club, 8pm, £4(members 

free) 

A Bad Attitude. Volunteer, 8pm, free 

SAT 20TH 

Porchlight Smoker. Bluegrass. Snowdrop, 9pm, free 

Joel White. Singer/songwriter. All Saints Centre, 

8pm, £10 

Kangaroo Juice. Eclectic covers. Royal Oak, 8pm, 

free 

Greg MacDonald. Singer/songwriter. John Harvey 

Tavern, 8pm, free 

SUN 21ST 

Keep The Faith. Acoustic covers. Con Club, 3pm, 

free 

excluding Friday & Saturday evenings & Sunday lunchtime* 

MON 22ND 

The Org. Jazz. Snowdrop, 8.30pm, free 

WED 24TH 


>>> 

51

AUGUST MUSIC LISTINGS 

THUR 25TH 

After the Woodshed. Snowdrop, 9pm, free 

No Dough Boys. Western Swing. Pelham Arms, 

8.30pm, free 

FRI 26TH 

Star�sh Starfest. Con Club, 8pm 

Davesons. Rock ‘n roll. Volunteer. 8pm, free 

SAT 27TH 

The Water Tower Bucket Boys. Bluegrass. Union 

Music Store, 3pm 

Jumbo Gumbo. Zydeco. Snowdrop, 9pm, free 

The Mimics. Rock covers. Royal Oak, 8pm, free 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

Hewden Hire 

TESCO 

Store 

TESCO 

Petrol 

Station 

G I G G UIDE 

SUN 28TH 

Shauna Parker and Brian Powell. Acoustic country. 

Con Club, 3pm, free 

Ice Cream Bikinis, John Harvey Tavern, 7pm, free 

MON 29TH 

Imogen Ryall. Jazz singer. Snowdrop, 8.30pm, free 

WED 31 


Thanks to Francesco Andreoli, whose Lewes gig 

videos can be seen at www.youtube.com/user/ 

LewesMusic 

a 

Tunnel

AUG 

5 

6 TENEK 

& THE LAST CRY 

12 

FRI & SAT 

@ The Con Club 

CATFISH KINGS 

ROCK’N’ROLL BOOGIE WOOGIE 

FAT BELLY JONES 

JUMPIN’ SOUL & SKA 

19 A.K.A. 

FEMALE FRONTED ROCK COVERS 

26 STARFEST 

STARFISH 

AUG 

7 

14 

21 

28 

Acoustic Sundays 

@ The Con Club 

Sorry No Music 

TRACEY SAVAGE 

& PAUL DIELLO 

HARMONIOUS COVERS & CHANSON FRANCAIS 

KEEP THE FAITH 

ACOUSTIC ROCK COVERS 

SHAUNA PARKER 

& BRIAN POWELL 

ACOUSTIC COUNTRY MUSIC 

L E W E S 

Events 

RESTAURANT / HOTEL / MEETINGS / WEDDINGS 

25th August 2011 

Artwork on show by night-time 

photographer, Alex Bamford 

and painter, John Harmer. 

26th August 2011 – AustralianWine BBQ 

Come and sample the �ne wines from 

the D’Arenberg Estate, and enjoy some 

paired BBQ food – Tickets £30 per person 

available from reception 

25th September 2011 

Wedding Fair 11am – 4pm 

Come and see Pelham House set for a 

perfect wedding, and �nd inspiration from 

our suppliers to help add the �nishing 

touches to your day. 

Lazy Summer Sunday O�ers 

Every Sunday our Lunchtime Grill Menu 

is available, with Alfresco Dining 

in our south facing garden over looking 

the Downs. Sunday Evenings we o�er 

a 3 course Dinner, Bed and Breakfast for 

only £52.50 per person, or Bed and 

Breakfast for £35.00 per person. 

Please refer to our website for further details. 

St. Andrews Lane. Lewes. East Sussex BN7 1UW 

t. 01273 488600 e. sales@pelhamhouse.com 

www.pelhamhouse.com

5 4 

C O M P U T E R S 

We repair Laptops, 

PC Systems, iPhone screens, 

and Games consoles 

Iconic Computers offers you a wide range of selected laptops 

ranging from student laptops to business laptops. Home visits and 

FREE collection also available. 

FREE INSpECtIoN | No FIX, No FEE 

01273 476914 

www.iconiccomputers.co.uk 

Cliffe Shopping Arcade, Cliffe High Street, Lewes, East Sussex BN7 2AN

THE WAY WE WORK 

This month’s instalment of The Way We Work, featuring mechanics, is by the �ne art and 

wedding photographer Adam Chandler. Adam has a show coming up in September Lewes 

in Wonderland, which will be previewing at The Hive for August Artwave. You can see 

more of his work at www.adam-c.com and www.adamchandlerphotographer.com. 

Name: Ahmed 

Garage: North Street Garage 

First car: “A silver-coloured Toyota Yaris, a beautiful, reliable car.”

name: Harry 

Garage: Morris road 

First car: “a gold austin Metro” 

t H E Way W E W o r K

t H E Way W E W o r K 

name: Martyn 

Garage: Flomar 

First car: “it was a Mark 1 Vauxhall astra, how exciting, it was poo-coloured brown!”

STACKS OF CHOICE 

Lewes 218 High Street. Tel 01273 407 690 

5 8 

©2011 Specsavers. All rights reserved.

t H E Way W E W o r K 

name: tony Vine 

Garage: Just Mots 

First car: “Ever? it would have been a Hillman Husky, 1950 or something like that, grey.” 

5 9

6 0


riverside 

It’s just a rumour that was spread around town 

It is commonly thought that the Riverside Centre 

was built as Albion Russell’s shoe factory. That 

Russell’s business boomed to become the national 

retail chain Russell and Bromley. We like it when 

little old Lewes ‘punches above its weight’ like this, 

but we also thought the Riverside would be a good 

fit this month, because its past reflects the rise of the 

motoring age. 

In 1905, it was home to Ouse Engineering Works, an 

iron foundry that diversified into the field of ‘steam 

road cars’ and motor repairs. Until the 40s it was 

Martin’s Garage, where ‘bodies were first fitted to 

Model T Ford cars’. Then it housed Becks Hire Cars. 

But after a little digging, we were diverted from our 

theme by the discovery that the origins of the Riverside 

aren’t so clear. In fact, even after a good few 

days with our noses buried in dusty documents, we 

found no precise date of the build, nor any evidence 

of a connection with Mr Russell. Thankfully for us 

though, we did find plentiful tales of booze, madness, 

enterprise and loss… 

As far back as 1620, the area was part of a grand 

estate known as Bridgefoot, comprising a manor, 

coalyard, wharf and four acres. It was the home of a 

string of highly successful merchants, and a couple 

who were not so successful. Richard Cardin, shipper 

of arms and wine to ports as far off as Barbados, fled 

to London after his business collapsed and fire ravaged 

his property. His successor also went bankrupt. 

In 1833, the wealthy Quaker Burwood Godlee 

purchased a wharf, warehouse, counting house and 

outbuildings, of which we think the Riverside was 

b r i c k s & m o r t a r 

part. Godlee was a master of local ventures on the 

grandest scale. He built and launched a 120-tonne 

seagoing ship, The Lewes Castle, on the banks of 

the Ouse, and also constructed a drawbridge across 

the river. 

It is quite probable that after his grand ideas had 

been realised Godlee remained landlord until his 

death in 1882. We do know, at least, that Lewes 

Wharf was in use by a timber merchant in 1839, and 

that there was a ‘carpenter’s shop and store’ on the 

site in 1856. 

Until c.1887 the Riverside site was occupied by 

CA Wells of Etna Iron Works. Wells acquired 

the property in 1869, fully kitted with gas works, 

engine room, boiler house, smiths’ and fitter’s shops, 

a pattern loft, lathe room and foundry. His poor 

predecessor, an iron founder named Henry Attwood 

Thompson, went mad after only two years at the 

property, which his executors sold. 

Albion Russell did build his business from Lewes. 

He acquired 187/88 High Street (now Tourist Info) 

and two cottages behind in 1861 and stayed for 

many years. Before that, his workshops were behind 

Baxter’s at No. 37. And it was from here that he 

secured lucrative contracts with Lewes gaol during 

the Crimean War. 

In the directories, however, there is only one 

mention of Russell at a loose address. In 1895, he’s 

listed as Honorable Secretary of the Ouse Angling 

Preservation Society, ‘High St’… but that’s not quite 

evidence of the grand factory master... 

Chloë King 

illustration by: Lyndsey smith 

6 1

OFFHAM 

FARM SHOP 

Less food miles = more food smiles... 

NOW 

OPEN 

ENJOY ZERO FOOD MILES KNOWING THE ANIMAL WELFARE IS SECOND TO NONE 

u Home made and home produced quality food 

a Additive free beef, lamb and pork 

t Eggs, jams, honey, cakes, pies, drinks and sandwiches 

The Harmer family at Offham Farm has been producing conservation grade, 

additive free produce for hundreds of years. The farm has two large sites of 

special scientifi c interest and is in the higher level stewardship scheme. 

This means that the Pedigree Sussex cattle and Southdown sheep are farmed 

carefully to benefi t wildlife and the environment, while producing exceptionally 

well fl avoured, quality meat. 

Coming 

soon! 

Pony trekking 

on the South 

Downs 

The farm also has it’s own hens, pigs and bee colonies and the 

family and farm staff make fantastic cakes, pies, fl ans, pastries, 

sandwiches, sausages and much more. 

Also bread, milk, cheese, ice cream and vegetables from 

neighbouring farmers. 

abdegtuabdegtuabdegtu 

Offham Farm, Offham near Lewes, East Susssex BN7 3QE. Tel: 01273 478265

Photo by derek Middleton 

There’s something about swifts that makes me 

think of a certain genre of 50s B-movies. You 

know the type of film - motorcycle gangs, all 

chrome, leather and attitude, terrorising small 

town America. 

Our own rebels cruised into town in May and 

have been turning our heads skywards for the 

past few months. They had a non-stop, long 

haul flight from Africa; not that this trip bothered 

them. Swifts are all about flying. We’re 

talking about a bird that spends almost all its 

life in the air. They feed in the air, sleep in the 

air and, yes madam, they even do that while 

they’re up there too. 

For me, the swift is the only bird that takes 

pure, unadulterated pleasure in flying. Other 

birds fly out of necessity but swifts seem to fly 

for the hell of it, screaming with delight at the 

top of their little swift lungs, a shrill cry that is 

forever associated with English summers and 

earned them the name ‘devil birds’. 

By the time you read this, a new generation 

of Lewes swifts, born in a roof cavity, would 

have crawled to the nest entrance and bravely 

launched themselves on their first flights. And, 

man. What a first flight. They may not land 

again for two or three years! For these ‘teenage’ 


swifts 

Screaming two-winged rebel teenagers from hell 

swifts the skies of Europe and Africa will be 

their playground – nothing will tame them. 

Well, not until they meet a suitable partner 

and decide to settle down in a roof of their own 

somewhere. 

But don’t let this image of domestic bliss fool 

you- there’s no taming these Wild Ones. 

On warm, summer evenings they will slip away 

to join other local swifts and form ‘screaming 

parties’ – gangs of them acrobatically blazing 

across the Lewes skyline – the novelty of being 

airborne never seems to wear off. And let’s face 

it – if you and a few of your mates woke up this 

morning to find that you could all fly you’d 

go screaming down Cliffe High Street every 

evening too. 

If you were lucky enough to have swifts nesting 

in your roof this year I’d like to hear about 

it – please email me details (michaelblencowe@ 

sussexwt.org.uk). 

Michael Blencowe 

Michael will be leading wildlife walks in the 

Lewes area in August and giving a (highly) illustrated 

talk on ‘The Butterflies and Moths of 

Lewes’ at the All Saints Centre (17th August, 

7.30pm). See more details on his shiny, new website 

leweswildlife.org.uk or call 07827830891. 

w i l d l i f e 

6 3

6 4 

6 5

Little warning signs and polite notices are the 

ruin of many a good campsite. The camp manager 

needs the will power not to put up a little sign 

every time someone transgresses. Signs proliferate 

and before you know it, the laundrette has one, 

warning against the washing of dog baskets in the 

sink. And then your campsite is ruined. 

Different rules apply at camp. “Camp regulations 

should be as few as possible but firm and consistent,” 

notes a pamphlet issued by the Ministry of 

Education in 1951 advising on the organisation of 

group camps. But what are those regulations? And 

can all of them be written down on little signs? 

For example, I recently stayed at a campsite where 

there could easily have been a sign that read: 

“Please do not drunk drive to the toilets at midnight 

in your nightie. Even if it is raining.” 

These days, people arrive at a campsite expecting 

some kind of holiday. It is no such thing. 

Consumerism creates an outrageous sense of entitlement 

that camping, reliant on self-sufficiency, 

preparation and patience, cannot meet. During 

an interview with a campsite owner, one of the 

staff confessed that a yurt occupant complained 

that their hot water bottle was too hot. I offered to 

draw up the little sign myself: 

“Yurt occupants: you’ll get what you’re bloody 

well given.” 

Once you start making signs, it’s hard to stop: 

“Couples: Arguments about whose bloody idea it 

was to camp in the first place should be confined 

to your car.” 

Actually, all sites could benefit from - 

“Warning: tents do not afford aural privacy.” 

Not that either marital arguments or their opposite 

bother me (“Polite notice: Campers are 

advised to get out of their sleeping bags before 

attempting intercourse.”) In fact, I regard the 

campsite as a laboratory for studying the modern 

relationship. At Glastonbury Festival, I missed 


CampiNg etiquet te 

‘Tents do not afford aural privacy’ 

Photo: Matthew de abaitua 

c a m p i n g 

all the bands and had to find my entertainment in 

other people’s marriages. I’d never seen a grown 

man sent back to his tent to change his undies 

before. 

“Men: please change your undies DAILY. Or when 

the occasion DEMANDS.” 

The main bone of contention is noise. I used to 

play music on little speakers but everyone hates 

it, no matter how trendy or ambient the playlist. 

Most campsites have signs suggesting times for 

silence. More accurate would be: 

“Campers please refrain from sharing theories 

about what really happened on 9/11 after 1am.” 

And, 

“No cackling.” 

Then there is snoring. It is acceptable to complain 

about the obscene snoring of other campers to 

their face the morning after. Apparently. All I 

can do is shrug. However I have made a little sign 

suggesting that: 

“It is not acceptable to climb into the tent of a 

snorer and press a pillow over their face.” 

As I have always found that disturbs my deep and 

sonorous sleep. Matthew De Abaitua 

Matthew De Abaitua’s The Art of Camping: The 

History and Practice of Sleeping Under the Stars is 

published by Hamish Hamilton and is out now. 

6 5

Photos by Chloë King 

This is a story about time travel. It is also, probably 

the only full-page food review I will ever write 

about a pasty. 

My journey begins online, perusing the Bluebell 

Railway menu. The place always reminds me of 

a photo of my grandmother and me drinking 

fluorescent orange juice in the eighties, and these 

catering options are already taking me back to the 

days of Five Alive. 

The choice of full English, fish and chips, ploughman’s 

or a Sunday carvery sounds honest, but I 

opt for ‘Rail and ale’, which has a whiff of mystery 

about it. I pay for two tickets over the phone and 

they arrive on the doormat the next morning, 

along with a letter on headed notepaper that looks 

terribly proper. 

The directions and times seem so oblique, I ask my 

dining partner to translate them, and together we 

decide to drive to Horsted Keynes for the 5.30pm 

train. The alternative would be a bus from East 

Grinstead station at 6pm, to join at Kingscote, 

which would allow for much more ale, but it all 

sounds like a bit of a palaver. 

Horsted Keynes’ filmic quality is clear the moment 

we arrive at the station. The village website 

declares proudly that it appears on TV ‘in one 

shape or form almost every week’. The most recent 

feature shot here was Woman in Black starring 

Daniel Radcliffe, which is due for release next 

February. 

Impeccably clean and green, the station shows 

off Victorian engineering in all its splendour, but 


bluebell railway 

Hunger on the Wealden Express 

f o o d 

without much of a smell. We walk through the 

entrance, adorned with a garland of fresh flowers, 

and are met by the chatter of our fellow passengers, 

regular sorts who appear cheered by the 

novelty of it all. 

At the bar we exchange tokens for a pint of ale 

each, and take a stroll up and down the sun-dipped 

platform. We find seats on the steam train, which 

leaves at 5.45 sharp, chugging its secret little path 

through the countryside. 

The on-board ale car boasts a selection of three 

‘brights’ at £2.50 a pint, including Harvey’s Olympia, 

Hammerpot Pale Ale and W J King Fool’s 

Gold. This is the life. 

We disembark at Kingscote, which with its gloss 

paint and red geraniums is equally idyllic, and 

there’s enough time for a leisurely cigarette - but 

heavens not within the station - before we make 

our way to Sheffield Park. 

By the time we roll in, my stomach is rumbling in 

time with the machinery. I find a table outdoors 

and my friend joins the queue to get our grub. 

What he returns with is a healthy portion of Cornish 

pasty, chips and baked beans, which I eat with 

relish as we watch hot air balloons float above us at 

a distance I believe I could reach. This really is the 

most magical pasty I have ever eaten, and at £22.50 

it is also the most expensive. But combined with 

the travel, free pint and the jazz band that greets 

us at Horsted Keynes on our return, it feels like a 

half-shilling bargain. Chloë King 

Bluebell Railway 01825 720800 

6 7

6 8

a moveable feast 

f o o d 

When we first moved to Lewes, we would go religiously 

every Saturday to a place which sold what we 

regarded as the best sausage and bacon baguettes. 

When that place shocked us by changing hands, 

we resorted to making our own at home. Every 

Saturday. 

So sampling the locally sourced offerings from 

Moveable Feasts, Erika Pratt’s food wagon at the 

Lewes monthly market, had a lot of emotional 

memory riding on it. And, let’s deliver the good 

news up front, it didn’t disappoint. 

With the sausages and bacon frying away, and 

sweetly caramelising onion, baps piled high and 

proper condiments up front, the initial impression is 

strong. Choice of white or brown rolls, right amount 

of crispiness on the bacon, sausage arrayed with 

tomato sauce, we were quickly provisioned. 

We had planned to carry them napkin-bound to the 

Railway Land and breakfast there, but too tempted 

we simply found the nearest bench and tucked in. 

And the result transported me back to our first days 

in Lewes – and forward to a long run of similar days 

ahead, munching away and watching the market 

spring into action. 

We now also had an 8-year-old food critic in tow 

– originally a sausage man like me, now a bacon convert 

– whose comments have been known to make or 

break an establishment. His verdict: “the best bacon 

sandwich ever”. 

Moveable Feasts also cater at Lewes FC – one of very 

few non-league ground to offer stilton burgers, we 

imagine – and are shortly to introduce to the Pan 

that staple of the terraces, the pie. MyPy indeed. RR 

6 9 

Photo by rob read

7 0

all good thiNgs 

A recipe for a beautiful rose-strewn cake makes for a fitting flourish as Bill Collison 

hangs up his pinny and writes his final column for Viva Lewes 

It’s coming up to five years since I wrote my first 

column for Viva Lewes (beetroot, in case you’re 

wondering) and since then we have pretty much 

run the gamut of seasonality, and then some. 

I’ve really enjoyed sharing recipes and ideas with 

you and I’ve written about strawberries and spices, 

asparagus and apples, breakfast, lunch, picnics 

and barbecues. I’ve written recipes for pancakes 

and tarts, stews and burgers, jams and chutneys. 

But I think five years of listening to me blather 

on is enough for any loyal reader and it’s time to 

let someone else pick up the gauntlet (or wooden 

spoon). 

I’ve worked with some great photographers, 

most recently Chelsea Wescott, an 18 year old 

whose eye and enthusiasm will carry her far. 

This month’s picture was taken by Dan Jones and 

features in the recent Bill’s cookbook from which 

the recipe is taken. 

I thought it would be fitting to end on a high with 

a beautiful and easy-to-bake-and-assemble cake 

which nicely sums up my attitude to food and 

cooking – relatively stress-free but always worth a 

double-take, with the devil in the detail. 

With space at a premium here, I’m just going 

to suggest that first off you bake three Victoria 

sponge cake layers, using your favourite recipe. 

For the rose-cream filling: 

150ml double cream 

2 tsp rosewater 

4 tbsp raspberry jam 


150g fresh raspberries 

For the rose glacé icing: 

175g icing sugar 

2 tbsp warm water 

2 tsp rose water 

To decorate: 

a handful of fresh raspberries 

roses 

icing sugar, to dust 

With all three cakes cooled and ready to go, whisk 

the double cream until it stands in soft peaks, 

adding the rosewater as you go. Lightly fold in the 

raspberry jam to create a ripple effect. 

Slather one of the cakes with half of the cream 

mixture and scatter with raspberries, slightly 

crushed. Top with the second cake, spread more 

cream and raspberries over this and top with the 

third. 

For the pink glacé icing, mix together the icing 

sugar, water and rosewater, and stir in the juice 

from a few crushed raspberries until it’s all looking 

gloriously pink. Drizzle the rose icing across and 

don’t worry if things are looking a little tipsy. 

Allow jam, cream, berries and icing to slide if they 

want to – within reason. 

Arrange the roses, dot with rose petals and the 

remaining raspberries, and dust with icing sugar. 

If you have a cake stand, now’s the time. 

Picture by Dan Jones, taken from Bill’s the cookbook, 

Cook Eat Smile, published by Saltyard Books 

f o o d 

7 1

72 

ELEGANTÊTARTS 

CLASSICÊCROISSANTSÊ& 

TRADITIONALÊFRENCHÊBREAD 

�� 

� �� 

�� 

�� 

5ÊSTATIONÊSTREET,ÊLEWES 

TELEPHONE:Ê01273Ê483211 

�� 

�� 

OPENÊONÊSUNDAYÊ-ÊFREEÊSUNDAYÊDELIVERYÊSERVICE*

Polish Menu: Pierogi, Bigos, Goulash 

Freshly Squeezed 

LEMONADE 

Strawberry Pierogi & fresh cream 

Sausages are now on the menu! 

full breakfast everyday from 9.30 

KIELBASA 

Honey and Madzia 

Facebook: Baltica Lewes 

145 High Street, BN7 1XT 

www.baltictrader.co.uk 

meals oN wheels 

n i b b l e r 

A happy combination of food and transport - the 

Nibbler was pleased to hear about a new Lewes venture 

called the Pop-Up Co-op. It is an ethical coffee 

and market stall, selling home-baked breads, pastries 

and sandwiches, and has been created by someone 

already well known for his excellent baking skills, 

Owen Postgate, alongside his friend Matt Baker. It 

will operate on Friday Food Market days and their 

specially built bike trailers will be used to deliver 

sandwiches to businesses in Lewes all week. Meals 

on Wheels indeed. If you’re a barrister in a hurry, 

you might be pleased to know that Beckworth’s, 

opposite the law courts, are now pre-preparing some 

sandwiches as well as making them up on the spot. 

Having enjoyed many a refreshing cup of Earl Grey 

in their lovely ‘secret’ outdoor area, the Nibbler is 

sorry to hear that the lady who has runs the Garden 

Room Café has retired. We hear rumours that the 

café might be being taken over, and being turned 

into a bistro by a new partnership, one of whom 

is Xavi Buendia (see page 29). Round the corner, 

Laporte’s, who also have the most delightful garden 

out the back, are celebrating their fifth birthday. 

Many happy returns. Their French toast is spoken 

of in hushed tones of reverence. Meanwhile over in 

Ringmer, May’s village teas have begun every Friday 

morning from 10-1pm in the Village Hall, with 

home-made cakes and scones. They will also serve 

afternoon teas in other venues (07818 848485). 

Finally, the Nibbler is pleased to hear about the 

opening of a new farmshop in Offham, run by the 

Harmer family, who are selling home-produced lamb 

and beef and lots of other goodies, made by them 

(sausages, flans and cakes) and from neighbouring 

farms. Food news? Email thenibbler@vivalewes.com 

7 3

7 4 

WHO IS YOUR SOLICITOR? 

We are a local and independent legal resource for individuals and businesses. With decades of 

experience to put at your disposal, we forge lasting solicitor-client relationships on the strength of 

our practical, sympathetic and personal approach. 

We can guide you through the breakdown of your marriage or perhaps you have lost a loved one 

and need practical help with settling their estate. We can organise your power of attorney or 

discuss inheritance issues or the drawing up of your will. All your domestic and commercial 

property needs are looked after here too. Our small business service specialises in dispute 

resolution, debt recovery, business start-ups, contracts and terms and conditions, as well as 

business purchases and sales. We offer a free first interview. 

Convenient free parking is available at our riverside office in the heart of Lewes. 

Telephone 01273 405900 www.astburys.co.uk Falcon Wharf, Lewes

JAM OR CURD SHORTBREAD 

Tasty snacks for long journeys 

Going on holiday this summer? Need something to snack on when you are sitting in the car, or on the 

plane or train? Why not help your parents? While they are throwing clothes into cases, you could have 

fun making these shortbread sandwiches for the journey. Choose your favourite jam or lemon curd to 

dollop in the middle, bake and then pack them in a tin. They are particularly good with some fresh fruit. 

Happy travels! 

Makes: 42 little squares 

250 g unsalted butter 

110 g golden caster sugar 

capful vanilla extract 

350 g plain �our 

(and a little extra for 

sprinkling on the table) 

2 tablespoons milk 

4 tablespoons raspberry jam 

or lemon curd 

Turn the oven on to 190C/375F/gas mark 5. Cut 

a piece of baking paper to �t across the bottom of 

a 20cm square baking tray or use the butter paper 

and rub a little butter over the inside of the tray 

Put the butter, sugar and vanilla into a bowl and 

using a wooden spoon beat together until soft and 

creamy. This helps to beat air into the mixture so 

it will become �uffy and pale in colour. 

Add the �our and milk and stir until the mixture 

comes together to form a ball. You can do this with 

your hands or a wooden spoon. 

Break the dough in half and push half into the tin 

and then use your hands to �atten the mixture so 

that it covers the bottom of the tin. 

Spoon the lemon curd or jam on top and then use 

the back of the spoon to spread it evenly over the 

shortbread. 

Sprinkle some �our over the work surface and roll 

the other half of shortbread to �t on top of the jam 

or lemon curd. 

You might need to ask a friend or someone in your 

family to help you lift the shortbread onto the curd 

or jam to cover. 

Bake for 18-20 minutes until golden and cooked. 

Carefully take out of the oven, they will be really 

hot so leave to cool – don’t touch! Then cut into 

42 squares. If you know your maths that will mean 

cutting the square into seven strips and then cut 

each strip into six squares, to make 42. Pack into a 

tin and away you go. 

Amanda Grant. Photo by Susan Bell 

KIDS’ FOOD 

75

7 6 

Southdown Sports Club 

in the heart of Lewes 

A healthy sports environment. Come and 

enjoy the excellent facilities, get fit and make friends. 

Tennis • Lewes Hockey Club • Netball • Squash • Gym 

Leisure • Pilates and Yoga classes • Physiotherapy clinic 

Call: 01273 480630 

Southdown Sports Club, Cockshut Road, Lewes, East Sussex BN7 3PR 

Email: sec@southdownclub.org.uk Web: southdownclub.org.uk

SEVEN SISTERS 

CYCLE HIRE 

Two wheels good 

I blame the Anglo-Saxons. Building 

Lewes on a hill may have 

made sense to get the jump on 

their medieval enemies, but it has 

made cycling literally an uphill 

struggle for their descendants. 

Talk about short-sighted planning. 

For all the sterling efforts 

of the Ouse Safe Cycle Network, 

biking in Lewes remains a 

pursuit for the committed. However, 

if like me, you get weary 

on Winterbourne Hollow and 

burned out on Bradford Road, 

it may come as a relief to realise 

that the Seven Sisters Cycle 

Company in Friston Forest offers 

a less demanding alternative. 

The Seven Sisters Company (just 

beside Cuckmere Haven) has 

been going since 1991, and for 

the last �ve years has been run 

by Simon and Caroline Godin. 

I hadn’t been there for a decade 

at least and was struck by how 

much they’ve spruced it up. The 

bikes are better than I remember 

too. Forget about old-fashioned 

sit-up and beg three-speed jobs 

that weigh a ton. These are proper 

mountain bikes you can lift 

with your little �nger and which 

carry all tree roots and bumps 

before them. My seven-year-old 


WE TRY OUT 

companion was quickly kitted out with a rather cool Dawes Rocket and 

a helmet that instantly rendered the duck one she has at home “juvenile” 

(though throwing around a word like that she might have a point). 

Luckily the Seven Sisters people also sell bike accessories and, at the 

end of each summer, second-hand ex-rental bikes too. Actually sales and 

rentals seem to be only part of it these days and the menu also includes 

repairs, lessons, guided rides and even children’s parties. 

Pleasingly, Friston Forest itself has not changed at all. There is a proper 

mountain biking trail for the more adventurous, and a �atter, ‘family’ 

one for those who prefer a sedate meander. The latter is perfect for 

child riders (and out-of-practice adults) to gain con�dence. We enjoyed 

a perfect summer afternoon in one of the most gorgeous parts of what is 

a ravishingly beautiful bit of Sussex. We even saw the green phone box 

that BT threatened to sully with red paint a few years back. A red phone 

box! Perish the thought. 

Best of all was the moment when we �nished our ride and realised the 

Exceat Farmhouse Restaurant was no more than twenty yards away. 

So, fancy an afternoon on one of the most enjoyable inventions of the 

19th century, your green views unsullied and a full afternoon tea within 

staggering distance? What are you waiting for? 

Simon Godin’s top tips for a perfect cycling afternoon. 

Dress in appropriate clothes. It gets hot and humid in the forest. 

Bring water and remember to drink it. 

Use your gears. It’s not Keere St but there are still a few hills waiting 

for the unwary. 

John McGowan 

The Seven Sisters Cycle Company is open seven days a week. Bikes cost 

£5 per hour with a minimum two-hour rental and a whole day for £25. 

01323 870 310. www.cuckmere-cycle.co.uk 

77

Apple Pressing 

at Middle Farm 

Juice your excess apples, pears or grapes 

20lbs of washed fruit will yield one gallon of pure, healthful 

juice, which can be frozen in prime condition for up to a year... 

or fermented into your very own cider, perry or wine. 

We charge £2.80/gallon (62p/litre) plus containers, or feel 

free to provide your own clean plastic bottles. 

Please contact us for a pressing appointment 

on 01323 811324 or 01323 811411 

or email us on info@middlefarm.com 

Please note: We do not press dirty or badly damaged fruit, which may pose a potential health risk

CyCliNg 

iN l e w e s 

A map makes it easy 

I’d cycled since I was a teenager, 

for fun and for getting around. It 

was just a normal part of my life, 

and when we moved to Lewes 16 

years ago I was delighted to find it 

surrounded by a marvellous network 

of quiet country lanes, with some of 

the best off-road riding in England 

on the South Downs. The local 

councils then thought Lewes was too 

small and too hilly for bikes to be 

much use. But it’s perfectly possible 

to get around town by bike, and if 

you haven’t tried a bike for a decade 

or three you’ll find modern gears, which comes out by Offham church, from where you can follow lanes 

brakes and lights are in a different to Barcombe. For the South Downs, take the bridle path up to the left 

league from the unreliable equip- of the road to the old racecourse, then turn right to Black Cap and 

ment you probably remember. Ditchling Beacon. 

Lewes now has two cycle shops, To get started you’ll need to decide what kind of bike you want. Espe- 

and some streets seem to have bikes cially for children, it’s worth avoiding ultra-cheap models, which can 

chained outside every other house. be offputtingly heavy. Hybrid bikes blend features of traditional and 

It’s a sight that would have pleased mountain bikes and have useful items like lights, mudguards and racks 

Elisabeth Howard, the veteran included. Electric bikes have developed amazingly, and might be the 

campaigner who was my first contact solution if your hill-climbing ability is limited. 

in the Lewes cycling world. She en- Despite all the technological advances, chains and brake cables still rust, 

couraged some of us to put together so aim to store your bike under cover. A sturdy cable or D-shaped lock 

a route map and article for Lewes will deter opportunist thieves and modern tyres have fewer punctures 

News, which eventually turned into (tip: carry spare inner tubes so that you don’t have to try to glue a patch 

the 2008 Cycle Lewes map, paid on while you’re out). You can also get training in cycling confidence and 

for by a Lewes District Council air cycle maintenance, from local cyclist Mike ‘onyerbikemike’ Bray and 

quality initiative. 

from Bike for Life in Brighton. 

The idea of the map is to encourage More hints and tips on cycling in and out of town, cycling with 

cycling by showing where Lewes children, cycling and trains and background on local issues such as 

cyclists actually go. For example the long-awaited Ringmer cycle path are on the Cycle Lewes website 

New Road provides a very useful cut – please do get in touch if you would like to help to develop this as an 

across from the Pells to Westgate. organisation. Anne Locke 

A good way out of town – though Cycle Lewes map free from Tourist Info or www.cyclelewes.org.uk; oth- 

it can be muddy – is north from erwise contact Anne on 475381. Cycle training www.onyerbikemike.co.uk, 

the bottom of Landport, on a track 07740 947 892 or www.bikeforlife.org.uk, 676278 or 07982 230881 


c y c l i n g 

7 9

GET YOUR BIKE 

READY WITH A 

SUMMER SERVICE 

at�LEWES CYCLE SHACK 

With summer quickly approaching its’s a 

perfect time to get your bike ready for those 

summer days out with a full bike service. 

Keeping your bike fully serviced can save you 

a lot of time and effort further down the line, 

so let us take care of your bike, so you don’t 

have to. 

We can also help with the right clothing, 

equipment and accessories for all your 

summer adventures. 

Lewes Cycle Shack - 

Your local store for 

bikes, clothing, accessories, 

bike servicing and more... 

�� 

�� 

��

LEWES 

WANDERERS 

Riding on the chain gang 

While cycling over Bo Peep on the 

way to a Lewes Wanderers ‘chain 

gang’ training session, I see a 

waiting police car. A truck labelled 

‘Royal Engineers Bomb Disposal’ 

pulls up, and two fatigue-clad men 

step out. Of course, my journalistic 

instincts kick in, and I, er, leave 

without asking what’s going on. I 

regret this on the way down the 

hill, and decide to call the police 

tomorrow to get the story. 

I arrive at the Golden Cross Inn 

a little after 6pm, and chat with 

a friendly group of Wanderers, 

including Rob Pelham. He explains 

how the chain gang works. Wanderers 

cycle in a line, with about a 

wheel’s length between each rider. 

The person in front absorbs most 

of the wind, making it 20-30% 

easier for the people behind. 

To make it fair, members of the 

gang swap positions regularly, Rob 

says. When the person in front is 

tired, they �ick their right elbow 

out, as a signal (“it looks professional”). 

The people behind then 

overtake, in formation, and the �rst 

rider joins back on the end. 

We split into gangs of four and set 

off on the seven-mile route. I join 

the so-called ‘slow group’. Though 

I exercise regularly, their pace still 

has me out of breath within a few 

hundred metres. 


WE TRY OUT 

Photo: Unknown Wanderer 

As I told the Wanderers before we started, my dad was worried I might 

crash and cause a pile-up. Club chairman Chris Martin notices I’m 

lagging behind a bit, and assumes I’m being cautious. He tells me not 

to worry; it’s safe to get closer to the person in front. I try to explain: 

“It’s kind of [gasp] hard to keep up [gasp] anyway”. Chris offers to 

slow the guys down, but I don’t want to spoil their training session. I 

somehow keep up, much to the displeasure of my legs and lungs, which 

are threatening to go on strike. 

Near the end of the �rst lap, Rob says it’s time to “use up whatever 

we’ve got left in the tank”. He shoots off with another Wanderer, while 

Chris and I hold a steadier pace. We regroup at the pub car park for a 

quick rest. 

Our chain gang is working fairly well, and the position-swapping 

seems quite smooth. However, Chris says I’m wasting energy by slowing 

down too much when I’m being overtaken. Rob suggests I should 

change gear more often. The second lap feels easier, partly because I’m 

following their advice, but also because I’m on a huge endorphin high. 

We average about 20mph for the two laps. I do a more leisurely �nal 

half-lap with Chris, who tells me about his recent 24-hour race. My 

�fty-odd-minute workout, though enjoyable, is enough for me. I ride 

home, exhausted. 

I call the police newsdesk in the morning. Someone had seen an 

unexploded shell; “not an unusual occurence by any means”. The shell 

was empty. I hadn’t missed a big story. I also managed not to cause a 

pile-up, so it was a pretty sucessful evening. Steve Ramsey 

The Wanderers do a ‘club run’ every Sunday morning, and a range of 

events and competitions throughout the year. 

See www.leweswanderers.co.uk 

81

Come upstairs at Riverside 

haberdashery, fabric 

and knitting yarns 

the linen basket 

home textiles, nets 

and curtain fabric 

Riverside Art 

& Framing 

12-16 Riverside, Cliffe Bridge, 

High Street, Lewes, BN7 2RE 

01273 473 577 / 01273 470 705 

Opening Hours 

Monday – Saturday / 9.30am – 5.30pm 

Market Street, Lewes, East Sussex BN7 2NZ 

Tel: 01273 478877 

www.twinkletwinkleonline.co.uk 

toes 

Exciting New Range 

of Boots, Shoes and 

Accessories now available 

at Twinkle Toes, Lewes. 

Available in shoe sizes 3 – 8. 

TT_VIVALEWES_Aug11_1stDraft.indd 1 19/07/2011 13:11

shaNks’ poNy 

s H o p p i n g 

This transport business is all very well, but 

what if there’s nothing but your feet between 

you and the open road? Well you’ll need nice 

shoes, of course. Intersport has a good range 

of trainers and those Fitflops which claim 

to hone and tone; and across the road The 

Outdoor Shop sells proper walking boots. 

For the chap who likes a little bit more flam 

with his boyance, Paul Clark offers some 

snazzy patterned flip-flops, and Wickle for 

Men (down the stairs next to the main shop) 

has funky trainers. New shoe and accessory 

shop Twinkle Toes in the Needlemakers has 

a fine range of sandals, but their big summer 

must-have is a pair of pumps. These come in 

all colours from pink to leopard-skin at £25. 

They also stock foot-cream and a rainbow 

of nail varnish colours. Sassy Shoes (next to 

Cancer Research) has great sandals such as 

stylish-yet-comfy ones from Rohide, and a sale 

that runs till the end of August. A&A Nails 

on the High Street do luxury pedicures, with 

the bonus of getting your dry-cleaning done 

at the same time (they share the premises with 

Laceys). Taylored Nails in the Cliffe also offer 

an array of pedicures, starting from a basic one 

at £7.50. For the next level of prettifying Tizz’s 

have a tray-full of toe-rings. And for the more 

practical purchases St Anne’s Pharmacy can 

supply no end of pumice stones, nail clippers, 

gel inserts and blister plasters. Beth Miller 

8 3

Christmas Shopping in Lewes 2011 

Yes, yes - we know it’s just the beginning of the 

summer holidays, but planning has already started 

for this year’s festive shopping events in the town. 

Building on the huge popularity of the Chamber’s 

annual Late Night Shopping evening in early 

December, which has now been running for 

more than 25 years, the Chamber is looking 

into widening the event to enable the regular 

Friday Food Market in the Market Tower and 

the monthly Farmers’ Market in the Precinct to 

participate and to show off their festive goods as 

part of a three day festival of all the great produce 

and wares that are local to Lewes. 

Final decisions on dates and on the detail of 

activities are still to be made, but a 3 day event in 

December 2011 might look something like this: 

Thursday Evening: Late Night Shopping evening 

Friday Morning: Festive Friday Food Market 

Friday Evening: Lewes Town Christmas Party 

buffet by the stall holders from the Friday and 

Farmers’ Markets as well as other local producers, 

music from local performers and decorations from 

local shops. 

Saturday Morning: Festive Farmers’ Market 

What we’re looking for now are: 

expressions of interest from local shops, producers 

and performers, suggestions for good causes for 

which we can raise money during the festival 

and offers of help to organise the events. 

And here’s hoping we don’t get snowed off again 

this year! 

Contact the Chamber of Commerce to let us know if 

you’d like to take part: 

www.leweschamber.org.uk 

secretary@leweschamber.org.uk 

01273 488212 (answerphone) 

84 

84 

Could you be 

our new 

Community 

Governor? 

South Malling CE School is looking for 

someone with a sporting or creative 

background to join our governing body 

team as a Community Governor. 

Being a governor gives you the chance to 

make a real difference in your community. 

If you�d like more information on what the 

role involves, please don�t hesitate to 

contact us. We look forward to hearing 

from you! 

Joanna Wunsch, Clerk to Governors, e-mail: 

clerktogovernors@southmalling.e-sussex.sch.uk

Photo: Tim Locke 

TIM LOCKE’S DAY OUT 

ERIDGE ROCKS 

Parts of Sussex’s High, wild Weald have the knack 

of looking not at all like Sussex. The uninitiated 

might �nd the Ashdown Forest looks more 

Yorkshire than the South East. And Eridge Rocks 

don’t quite look as if they belong here either. 

I’ve mentioned them to several seemingly welltravelled 

Lewesians who admitted they’d never 

heard of them. It’s an easy bus ride from town – 

the frequent buses towards Tunbridge Wells take 

you there in 50 minutes – get off at the bus stop 

at Eridge Green, just north of Eridge station on 

the A26. Take the lane by the bus stop, signposted 

Park Corner, and in a couple of minutes you reach 

the Sussex Wildlife Trust sign by a small car park 

and gate into woodland; just beyond the gate the 

rocks immediately appear. 

The rocks create a mini cliff of strange little 

ledges and niches, a haven for rare mosses and 

liverworts, as well as bamboo which was planted 

hereabouts and has gone rampant. Close to the 

gate venerable graf�ti carved on a rock records 

the planting of the �rst trees here in 1811. My 

book Slow Sussex & South Downs National Park 

describes one of my favourite of all Wealden 

walks (from either Boarshead or Eridge Green) 

– nine miles, taking in both sets of rock outcrops 

and some delicious country in between – including 

views over Eridge Lake and Bowles Rocks, the 

birdlife of Broadwater Warren RSPB reserve, and 

plenty of opportunities for leisurely picnicking on 

the way. Newcomers are in for a treat. 

Slow Sussex & South Downs National Park (£14.99) 

www.facebook.com/SlowSussex 

85

falmer 

Threatened by seagulls

Photo by alex Leith 

I meet Melanie Cutress, the 

Chair of Falmer’s Parish Council, 

at Falmer station’s car park. She’s 

agreed to give me a guided tour 

of the village. It’s Friday 15th July, 

the day before the first match 

at the 22,000-capacity Amex 

Stadium, and the vast structure, 

a kind of shiny Frank Gehry-like 

affair with wild curves, looms 

over us as we shake hands. 

Melanie has lived in Falmer for 

30 years, and almost exactly that 

period of time has passed since 

my previous visit to the village 

proper. That was a trip to The 

Swan, very soon after the A27 

was widened and Falmer was 

effectively split in two: Falmer 

North, where the pub is; and 

Falmer South, where you can find 

the church and village pond. 

“The road widening was in 1978, 

before I came to live here, so it 

wasn’t my fight,” says Melanie, 

who was part of the team which 

contested the location of the 

stadium in the village, over a 

period of six or seven years. 

There have been plenty of other 

fights, for Falmer residents, over 

the last fifty-odd years, what with 

the construction of the teacher 

training college (now Brighton 

Uni) in the 50s, the arrival of 

the University of Sussex in 1961, 

the increase in traffic due to the 

construction of the Brighton 

by-pass in 1988, and finally the 

stadium, first mooted in 2001, 

and subject to two national-level 

public enquiries. 

We cross the bridge over the 

roaring road, and stop by Falmer’s 

pond and church. ‘Falemere’ is 

recorded in the Domesday Book, 

I learn, and as ‘mere’ means 

‘dark pool’ it’s probable that 

the pond has been there at least 

since Saxon times. It’s a beautiful 

sight, reflecting the crenellated 

19th-century church in its rippled 

surface, and dominated by an 

enormous willow sitting on an 

island in the middle. It attracts 

a surprising number of visitors, 

I’m told. We watch an old couple 

attempting to feed a graceful 

family of geese with bread out of 

a Tesco bag, but only succeeding 

in sating the appetites of a 

determined mob of seagulls. The 

scene somehow encapsulates the 

village’s current predicament. 

I was brought up in Kingston, 

where my parents still live, 

so Falmer is an old next-door 

neighbour, of sorts. I’m rather 

shocked, then, to realise that I’ve 

never visited this spot before, and 

know next to nothing about the 

village. Over the next half hour, 

I learn a lot. The population of 

Falmer is about 120, I’m told, 

in 70 houses, of which half are 

rented. 26 of these buildings 

are listed, and you can see why: 

there’s a fine array of sturdy flint 

affairs, handsome rather than 

pretty, in an L-shape either side 

of the church. There is also a 

magnificent medieval thatched 

barn, hidden from view, tucked 

behind the church and reputed to 

be the largest in Sussex. 

We move to a bench in Melanie’s 

front garden, and she tells me, 

over tea and biscuits, about the 

long, drawn-out battle against 

the football club, which cost the 

parish council £60,000 (on top 

of the £250,000 spent by Lewes 

District Council). She’s fairly 

sanguine about the whole affair, 

now, and seems to have come to 

terms with her new neighbours, 

v i v a v i l l a g e s 

though she remains apprehensive 

about what life will be like when 

the matches start. She’s worried 

about the noise, and the traffic. 

She thinks the stadium to be 

an ‘attractive modern building 

of very good design’, though, 

and doesn’t think it jars with its 

environment, except from one 

stretch of the Woodingdean 

Road, where it ‘looks like a 

spaceship that’s been dumped in 

some fields’. 

We say goodbye, and I wander 

round taking pictures, and have 

lunch in the pub, where I chat 

to mother-and-son owners 

Linda and Martin, who were 

gobsmacked last year when they 

were told, after the death of 

the pub’s long-term landlord, 

that he had given it to them in 

his will. They are determined 

to make a good go of it, but 

unsure as to how much the pub 

will be affected by the arrival of 

the stadium, and the home and 

away fans it will attract, from as 

far afield as Leeds, Cardiff and 

Middlesbrough. “We can’t make 

it go away,” says Linda. “So we’ve 

got to make the most of the 

situation.” 

I walk to the station, over the 

Woodingdean Road, a process 

made much easier than it would 

have been a few weeks back by 

the installation of a new set of 

traffic lights, to facilitate traffic 

flow to the stadium. On the way I 

make two purchases, one of which 

makes me feel rather guilty: four 

shiny apples from the farm shop 

of the edge of the village, and, 

dropping down the valley to the 

bustling-with-workmen stadium, 

two tickets for the next day’s 

match. Alex Leith 

8 7

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

Free 

Estimate 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

88 �� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

Free 

Estimate 

�� 

�� 

ORANGE BADGE 

MOBILITY SERVICES

ODDSOCS 

#11 LEWES FOOTPATHS GROUP 

What is the Lewes Footpaths Group? We’re a 

walking group based in Lewes. 

Do you walk every week? We have up to six 

walks a month, either on Sundays or midweek. 

The majority of them are half-day walks, about six 

miles, though we do also do some longer walks; up 

to nine or ten miles. 

Do the walks still go ahead if it rains? Of 

course! We walk in all weathers. 

How many people turn up to walk? Somewhere 

between 10 and 25. We frequently stop for a pub 

lunch or picnic at the end, but that’s entirely 

optional. 

What’s your favourite walk? I think everybody 

loves the walk to Blackcap on the Downs. 

What else do you do? We have two or three 

coach outings each year which incorporate a walk, 

but there’s also a place of interest [like a National 

Trust site], so those who can no longer walk can 

join in. We also organise a New Year Lunch, and 

holidays for our members. A group’s just come 

back from Derbyshire. 

Is there anything else worth mentioning? 

Well, we’re a nice friendly club. People are always 

welcome to join us on a walk to try us out before 

becoming members. 

Annual membership is £5, or £8 for a family. Life 

membership is £50. Contact Janet 475867 or membershipsecretary@lewesfootpathsgroup.org.uk. 

For 

a list of upcoming walks, see www.lewesfootpathsgroup.org.uk/live. 

Lewes Footpaths Group has 

brought out three books of walks, available for £4 

each from Tourist Information. 

89

9 0

Photo by shelley trussell 

I haven’t owned a car since my ancient VW Polo 

blew up 18 months ago. I didn’t replace it because I 

figured that as I lived three minutes walk from the 

office and could use the train or bus for my regular 

trips to Brighton, I could cope without. Anyway, 

when I did own a car, it was often just ‘abandoned’ 

near the Pells, collecting leaves, bird droppings and 

the occasional broken wing mirror. The big ‘need’ 

issue of shopping could be dealt with by regular 

‘small shops’ and the occasional home delivery, 

whilst holidays/visits to parents could be handled via 

occasional car hire. Generally this works, but ‘unplanned’ 

trips and bad weather days (frequent this 

summer) lead to grumblings, and sometimes full-on 

doubts about the no-car policy. Luckily, however, it 

looks like there may be a handy solution right on the 

doorstep… 

Commonwheels Car Club is a joint venture between 

the company and Lewes District Council. When 

you join, as well as being able to book the two Lewes 

cars when they are available, you also get access to 

the Car Club fleet in other towns across the country. 

The idea is simple. They provide cars in central 

locations, and their members use them when they 

need them. I start with a visit to their website, and 

discovered via their car-cost calculator, that my previous 

(I thought modest) usage had cost me around 

£4,000 per year. Which is a lot of cash to be a target 

for passing rooks and seagulls. I feel my ‘might join’ 

tipping over to a ‘must join’. So I do. The initial 


CommuNity Car 

The wheel deal 

w e t r y o u t 

stage takes a few days, including an on-line application, 

DVLA licence check and a joining fee of £25. 

Once registered, they send you a smart card and 

you’re off. 

For my maiden voyage, I book two hours and plan a 

‘useful’ trip. As our washing-machine blew up a few 

days earlier, the most useful thing I can think of is 

a trip to the laundrette in Ringmer. We also plan 

to use the time to stock up on heavy stuff - tins, cat 

litter etc. Despite the fact that the postman hadn’t 

arrived with my smart card, Commonwheels are 

able to remotely open the vehicle for me, and bang 

on time, I am in a new Ford Fiesta, heading off to 

collect my partner Shelley, and the washing. The car 

is great (from the inside you can’t see the less than 

subtle branding) and as we load up the boot, the 

postman arrives, enabling us then to open and close 

the car as intended by flashing the smartcard on a 

window reader. Within our two hours we achieve all 

our tasks, even managing to nip out to Southease to 

bring Viva’s designer Katie and her urgently needed 

computer back to the office. Two trouble-free driving 

hours later, I have re-joined the carless, but am 

walking with a smile on my face, knowing that next 

time I need a car, a quick trip online would easily get 

me one, because I’m in the Club now you know… 

Nick Willliams 

A 2 hour trip cost £13.25 (£8.50 hire charge plus £4.75 

for 25 miles usage at 19p per mile) 0845 602 8030 

www.commonwheels.org.uk 

9 1

Remember to bring: 

• Packed lunch* 

• Swimming kit 

• A change of 

clothes 

• Plenty to drink 

• £1 for the lockers 

• Sensible footwear 

HOLIDAY PLAY SCHEME 

Get yourself sorted! 

Please do not bring: 

• Mobile phones 

• Handheld games 

• Toys of value 

*Lunch boxes should adhere to our Packed Lunch Policy 

8-11yrs 

Monday to Friday 8.30am – 5.30pm 

Ofsted registration number: EY403683 

Lewes Leisure Centre, Mountfi eld Road, Lewes 01273 486000 

PRICE: 

Full Day - £18.50 

Half Day - £9.25 

(8.30am-1pm or 1pm-5.30pm) 

ACTIVITIES INCLUDE: 

• Swimming for all 

• Arts & Crafts 

• Climbing Wall 

• Trampolining 

• Dance Mats 

• Roller Booting 

w w w . w a v e l e i s u r e . c o . u k 

Wave Leisure is a not for profi t charitable trust

Photos by Rob Read 

I grew up watching John Noakes undertaking all 

kinds of derring-do. Valerie Singleton, as fabulous 

as she was, tended to remain on the Blue Peter 

couch. So when Jim Ball of the East Sussex Gliding 

Club contacted us to say the club struggles to persuade 

women into the cockpit, having a go seemed 

the right thing to do, even though I was terri�ed. 

And so we arrive in Ringmer on a sunny Sunday 

afternoon and turn into the air�eld car park just 

beyond Raystede. Jim greets us and we clamber into 

his car. “The weather conditions are perfect”, he 

explains as we drive round to the other side of the 

�eld, passing an elegant white glider. “That’s the 

one you’ll be going in.” My stomach lurches, and 

even more so when I sign a consent form. Steve, 

the deputy-chief �ying instructor, will be �ying 

the plane that tows my glider up (you can also be 

launched via the winch – much the same principle 

as a kite). My instructor is Terry, who will sit 

behind me, operating the dual controls. Everyone is 

friendly and encouraging. 

Jim helps me into a parachute, which is heavier than 

I expect. I clamber into the cockpit (not an elegant 

procedure, I’m glad I heeded his advice and wore 

trousers) and get strapped into the bucket seat. In 

front of me is a dashboard of instruments, a joystick 

and foot pedals, which he suggests I don’t touch. 

Jim shuts the roof and Terry climbs in behind. 

Steve starts his engine and taxis forward. The blue 

rope linking us tightens and we start moving too, 


GLIDING 

Two wings and a prayer 

WE TRY OUT 

faster and faster over the grass until we both take 

off. Terry keeps the glider on an even keel as we 

climb, heading slowly and steadily up to 2,500 feet. 

The views around us are astounding and I’m experiencing 

con�icting emotions. Anxiety every time 

a thermal makes the glider ‘sink’ slightly and pride 

at my courage in doing this, although my mouth is 

dry. As we approach Lewes, the plane releases us 

and I worry we’ll plummet. We don’t, of course, 

although we do slow down a little. Then Terry 

suggests I try my hand at steering. I take the joy 

stick and manoeuvre it gently, as instructed. The 

glider is very responsive and we turn a full circle. 

I’m pleased I tried it, but also happy to hand control 

back. My favourite part is looking down and seeing 

beautiful Lewes below. We spot the �eld where 

Rock in the Bog is taking place, at the green of the 

Pells pool and my house nearby. The pattern made 

by the Heart of Reeds looks amazing from the air. 

We head back to the air�eld and land, safe and 

sound. I clamber out to help guide the tractortowed 

glider back to the right place, still wobbly but 

very proud of myself. Motherhood made me riskaverse, 

and I feel I’ve proved something by doing 

this, despite, or perhaps because of the fear. And 

the Sussex Gliding lot are a lovely bunch. None get 

paid, but they are huge enthusiasts, keen to encourage 

more people to get involved. 

Emma Chaplin 

Trial lesson £90. www.sussexgliding.co.uk 

93

THERE ARE BLOCKS... 

...AND THERE IS BLOQUE 

The Bloque bathroom suite from Chandlers Bathrooms. 

RRP £1,625 inc VAT, Our price £893.75 inc VAT 

Chandlers Bathrooms...simply inspirational! 

bsy_Viva_128mm For more x information 90mm.qxd contact 19/12/07 us: 01273 16:35 479956 Page 1 www.chandlersbathrooms.co.uk 

Family Law Specialists 

To arrange a free 

initial interview 

and advice call 

01273 480234 

Blaker, Son & Young 

S O L I C I T O R S 

211 High Street, Lewes BN7 2NL 

www.bs-y.co.uk 

• Divorce and Separation 

• Financial Settlements 

• Children 

• Property Disputes 

• Pre-Nuptial Agreements 

Professional and honest 

legal advice since 1830 

BUILD ON OUR REPUTATION

playiNg 

away 

A Rooks road trip 

“Who is the number 11?” I am asked for the tenth 

time as Lewes’s impressive winger puts in a pinpoint 

cross. “Jardini” I respond, consulting my notes. I really 

have no idea who he is or where he has come from. 

Welcome to the world of pre-season friendlies. 

We headed off to St Neots with our cups overflowing 

with hope for the new season. Even the torrential 

rain could not dampen our spirits. Football was back, 

and that meant a purpose to our Saturday afternoons. 

Whilst the Hunts Post Community Stadium was no 

Dripping Pan it was pleasant enough for the start of 

the return of the King. 

Manchester United can keep their American tour, 

Spurs their visit to South Africa. For us Rooks fans it 

was all about the Cambridgeshire/Bedfordshire borders. 

We had hope, and on seeing the new Lewes kit 

we had joy. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, 

so it was a bold move to suggest we would be the AC 

Milan of the Ryman Premier based on our new strip. 

You could sense the pride the players had pulling on 

their shirts, imagining this was how it felt in the San 

Siro. 

We reacquainted ourselves with a beer on the terraces, 

Greene King IPA not quite hitting the same spot that 

Harveys does. Fifteen minutes in hope turns to familiar 

realisation that we were not watching the great 

Rossoneri as St Neots took the lead. Shoulders sag 

as we remembered the painful times from last season 

when one often became two or three. We didn’t even 

have to say a word when just that happened. St Neots 

2 Lewes 0. It was going to be a long nine months. 

But then again it was only a pre-season friendly. The 


Photo: stuart Fuller 

first game that many of the eleven Rooks had played 

together. So let’s cut them some slack. We are Lewes! 

We won’t be Druv. 

And then it happens. A ball is played to the left, Jardini 

slips inside his marker and smashes the ball home. 

St Neots 2 Lewes 1. We are on top as the half time 

whistle blows. 

Time to change ends. Each team has half a dozen subs 

to make in the second period but the Lewes tempo 

isn’t affected at all. Substitute Merchant has a shot 

from distance, the keeper can only parry it and Draycott 

taps the ball in. GOAAAAAAAAL. We are Lewes, 

we’re going to win the league. 

Could it get any better? This is pre-season after all. 

Anything and everything can happen. A Jardini run, 

jink, cross and Draycott heads home. St Neots 2 

Lewes 3. Lewes have scored three for first time in nine 

months. 

The clock ticks down. Confidence has replaced hope. 

When the final whistle goes it is not joy we display, 

but an indignant self-assurance, as if to say we knew 

we would win all along. 

The season is underway. Our exile from football has 

been quashed. Life can return to normal on a Saturday 

once again. 

It turns out our new hero is actually Nic Ciardini and 

not Jardini. The handwriting on the teamsheet would 

make a doctor’s look good. Still, it’s only pre-season. 

Stuart Fuller theballisround.co.uk 

August Home Fixtures: Wed 24th vs Met Police, 

7.45pm. Sat 27th vs Billericay, 3pm 

f o o t b a l l 

9 5

9 6

CoriNthiaN 

CriCket 

Thinking outside the box 

I am very fond of Malcolm, the progenitor and 

obsessive captain of our occasional cricket team, 

but I did become slightly concerned about the 

future arc of our relationship when, shortly after 

he founded the team, he started sending me texts, 

often late at night, asking me for my shoe size, my 

inside leg measurement, and a whole range of other 

vital (and mildly embarrassing) statistics. It was 

only after some time that he divulged to me that 

he was spending his spare moments scouring the 

internet and local sports shops for cheap cricket kit. 

When he saw a bargain, he would try to marry it up 

with one of the squad; hence the odd requests for 

personal information. In truth, given our enormous 

range of bizarre shapes and sizes, I imagine it would 

have been a much greater challenge to go out and 

find something that would not fit at least one of us. 

The nadir came when I arrived home one evening 

to find a plastic bag hung on my front door containing 

an early birthday present from Malcolm. It 

looked like a hammock for a pet hamster, but the 

packaging informed me that it was in fact a ‘cricketer’s 

support’. Admittedly, I had complained a few 

weeks before that, when batting, even wearing two 

pairs of underpants failed to keep my box in place 

properly, sometimes leaving me with what appeared 

to be a third kneecap halfway down one thigh, a 

(frankly disappointingly) long way away from its 

intended contents. 

I had not just volunteered this little piece of 


s p o r t 

personal information to the team willy-nilly, as it 

were, but rather had deployed it to parry the lighthearted, 

yet valid, criticism of my dismal attempts 

to run between the wickets, which were said to be 

reminiscent of Danny DeVito’s portrayal of the 

Penguin in Batman Returns. I confess, there had 

been times when I was at risk of being lapped by my 

batting partner. 

This accoutrement, claimed Malcolm, was the 

answer to my problems. But to me it looked like 

something that normally would only be worn by a 

much younger, fitter man, who also had a six-pack, 

a litre of extra virgin olive oil rubbed all over his 

twitching muscles, and an inebriated hen party 

screaming for more. Damn it, the thing even had 

a pocket at the front where the ladies could shove 

their moist £20 notes. 

I found myself somewhat perplexed. Should I, a 

middle-aged married man, be receiving specialist 

underwear as a gift from another middle-aged 

married man? And, if so, what was I meant to give 

him in return for his birthday later in the year 

that could adequately express (a) my gratitude, 

and (b) my firm conviction that a line had to be 

drawn somewhere and I definitely did not want him 

buying me any more foundation garments in the 

future? And, most perplexing of all, given that he 

had not sent one of his usual texts, how on earth did 

he know that it would fit me? 

‘Plum’ 

Photo: rob read 

9 7

Offer lasts until 1st September 2011

heNty’s 20 

A score’s worth of car booty 

First – a friendly word of warning for any month of 

the year. Unless you’re planning to sell from your 

car or van at Lewes car boot sale on a Sunday morning, 

don’t be tempted to take your own transport 

and park close-by. 

Just because it is a Sunday morning makes no difference 

to the security firm whose favourite sport 

is clamping vehicles and then having a bit of barmy 

banter with anyone who cared to join in. Great 

fun for onlookers but not if you’re the owner of a 

trapped vehicle. 

With transport as the Viva Lewes theme this 

month, I decided to visit the car boot near Waitrose, 

on foot, to see what the famous Viva ‘Score’ (a 

monthly £20 to spend) might produce. End result, 

riches galore – although my wife might not agree. 

Whether buying or selling though, it’s best to get 

there early according to my friend, Peter Tree, 

who’s been involved with the Lewes operation for at 

least ten years. Today, house-clearance is his forte 

although, as I have discovered, Pete is a classic case 

of not what you know but WHO you know. And 

when I say “who” I mean The Who – legendary 

rock musicians led by Roger Daltrey. 

In the early 1960s Pete was closely associated with 

the group and even got drummer, Keith Moon, a 

‘desk job’ before the boys hit the big time. But what 

does Pete have of interest today? 

Well, for 50p there’s an old accounts book which 

was clearly the property of a carpet fitter who travelled 

all over the country – probably in the 1930s 

– servicing cinemas and major theatres. 

Wonderful detail, the Odeon, Leicester Square, 

for example, represented a contract worth £23. Our 

anonymous fitter’s hourly rate was one shilling 

and fourpence (just over 6p). In today’s money I’ve 

£19.50 left so let’s see what else I can find - although 

it’s bound to sound a bit like a Spike Milligan shopping 

list. 

A pound each then for dog tripe sticks, a single 


a n t i q u e s 

cotton sheet, four ‘vintage’ war comics, a bag of 

potatoes, 10 tea cakes and a pack of muffins. A 

Swiss penknife cost £2 and so did a Noddy doll 

and 30 pullets eggs. 16 pool balls (boxed) from a 

man in Lower Bevendean were £4 and I could have 

purchased new books about Jedward and Jordan 

for £1 each but I didn’t. A squeezy Guinness bottle 

to ‘relieve stress’ was 50p and I turned down a free 

video of West Ham United. 

For regular readers to this page, you should know 

that I did not see any signs of a dongle and a Brief 

History of Stephen Fry in four volumes was just 

too heavy to carry home – well, that was my excuse. 

And anyway, I’m trying to save money at the moment 

because I would like to buy Brighton Pier 

from the Nobles Organisation. 

Not because I like the structure (which I do) but 

because, under my ownership, it would revert to its 

original name the Palace Pier. I’ll be at the August 

Book Fair on the 6th at Lewes Town Hall – in 

the foyer – and I’ll take with me the carpet fitter’s 

accounts book for you to look at and my final £1 

purchase, The Extraordinary Story of Lassie – the 

ultimate shaggy dog story. What do you mean 

‘barking’? John Henty 

9 9

Photo by daisy Martin 

‘Shocked, so I am,’ I said. ‘I’m terribly sorry,’ 

Grange Girl replied. It’s not often I get Grangey on 

the back foot so I pressed my advantage. ‘Shocked 

to the core.’ ‘All right, don’t overdo it.’ 

‘But fancy you getting the 28 for the first time 

without consulting me.’ ‘I don’t know what I was 

thinking. You are the Bus Oracle.’ ‘Can I presume 

that your failure to properly plan your expedition 

resulted in disaster?’ Grangey stared at her toes. 

‘It did.’ She looked so mortified that I softened. 

‘Tell me all about it.’ Turns out Grangey had made 

the basic schoolboy error of thinking that the bus 

station was the correct place to catch the bus. ‘Oh 

Grangey!’‘I know. How could I be so stupid?’ 

Luckily a helpful bus driver pulled up outside 

Waitrose, saw Grangey loitering confusedly on the 

wrong side of the street, and gently signalled to her 

by yelling, ‘Oi luv!’ 

Grangey darted across The Most Tricky Road To 

Cross In Lewes and, weeping with humiliation and 

relief, managed to buy her city saver. There was no 

further incident. 

‘Well Grangey, if only you’d come to me,’ I said, 

fixing her with a Paddington hard stare. ‘I could 

have told you that the bus station is owned by a 

development company who are struggling to get 

planning permission to turn it into shops. That 

they wouldn’t let Brighton & Hove buses use the 

station for anything less than twenty grand and 

buses had to drop people off precari- 


beth miller 

And if you get it wrong you’ll get it right next time 

c o l u m n 

ously on East Street, The Narrowest Pavement 

In Lewes, but that they have seen reason and the 

bus now stops there en route to Tunbridge Wells, 

though not on its westbound journey.’ 

Grangey sighed. ‘Yes, but I probably wouldn’t have 

remembered any of that. In fact I’ve already forgotten 

the beginning.’ 

‘All you have to remember is: next bus trip, speak to 

me. Promise?’ 

Grangey crossed her heart and hoped to die, and 

there we left it. Her to go home and brood over her 

rare error; me to hop smugly on the next 28 that 

juddered to a halt outside the British Heart Foundation. 

Twenty minutes later I was in a city where a 

banner announced a Festival of Shopping. I joined 

in with a whoop. 

Later I easily caught a 29 from outside M&S, and 

drifted off into a self-satisfied reverie about how 

much I knew about public transport. I awoke with 

a start to find that we were going the wrong way, 

heading through the Cuilfail Tunnel at great speed, 

rather than towards the prison. Apparently, explained 

the driver when I shouted at him, this was 

to avoid some silly roadworks. I would have enjoyed 

the irony of having to get out at the bus station 

had I not been so cross. I trudged home all the way 

across town, avoiding passing Grange Girl’s door. 

I’m sure she wouldn’t have gloated, 

but I couldn’t take the risk. 

1 0 1

1 0 2

david 

JarmaN 

good old Sussex by the sea 

Michael George was born in Wales and read English 

at University College, Oxford, but much of his 

career as a publisher and freelance photographer has 

been spent in New York. His first solo exhibition, 

Manhattan, took place there in 1981, and he went on 

to become a naturalised American citizen. Back in 

England, he has settled in Cooden, which is rather 

like David Hockney exchanging California for 

Bridlington. So it is appropriate that Michael York 

has provided the foreword to George’s latest book of 

photographs, Sussex by the Sea, for although resident 

in California ‘for the past almost 40 years’, he 

also has deep roots in Sussex – prep school in Hurstpierpoint, 

holidays with grandparents at Telscombe, 

honeymooning in Brighton and many visits to his 

parents in Lewes (they lived on St Martin’s Lane). 

It ought, perhaps, to be pointed out that Michael 

George has found so much to fascinate and inspire 

his artistic eye in his local surroundings, that all 

166 photographs in Sussex by the Sea are taken in 

East Sussex. Broadly speaking, the narrative of the 

book follows the coast from Rye to Brighton with 

occasional forays inland to favourite spots such as 

the tea gardens at Litlington, Bateman’s and Herstmonceux 

Castle. Lewes is represented not only by a 

panoramic view of the town from the castle keep but 

also by more intimate details; two front doorways on 

Abinger Place, a study of Castlegate House (home to 

the poet and expert on bicameral legislatures, William 

Wyndham). 

It is this combination that informs the whole book. 

In Bexhill, for example, stunning photographs of the 

De La Warr Pavilion are complemented by scenes 

from the annual Spring Fair at St George’s United 

Reform Church and a newspaper placard in Sackville 

Road (‘School Dinner Lady Killed by Wasp’). 

Michael George provides an incisive commentary 

that never distracts from the actual photographs; informative 

but not drily so. I was aware, for example, 


Photo of beachy Head courtesy of Michael George. book available at skyLark and Kings Framers 

c o l u m n 

of the epitaph that Spike Milligan intended for his 

own gravestone, but I was unaware that the Celtic 

Cross tombstone in Winchelsea’s Parish Churchyard, 

which marks the last resting place of the 

‘godfather of alternative comedy’, really does bear 

the legend ‘I told you I was ill’. The inscription is, 

however, in Gaelic, since the Diocese of Chichester 

refused permission for it to be in English. 

The whole book abounds in delightful contrasts; 

sumptuously beautiful landscape studies and seascapes 

nestling alongside photographs of Brighton 

and Eastbourne beaches that confirm one’s gut 

instinct that the average English physique should 

seldom be allowed to be anything short of fully 

clothed. Double-page spreads allow for some witty 

juxtapositions. A polychrome ceramic roundel in 

high relief, one of several such roundels designed by 

Gilbert Bayes for Hastings’ White Rock Theatre, 

that depicts an ancient warrior, helmeted and breastplated, 

stripped for combat with sword purposefully 

outstretched, is matched by two youngsters on the 

beach in baseball caps, their spades deployed to 

similarly determined effect in the early stages of 

sandcastle construction. 

Sussex by the Sea is dedicated to the photographer’s 

mother, Mrs Megan George. A Bakewell tart that 

she baked, depicted on page 65, looks scrumptious! 

(Monterey Press, £25, www.montereypress.co.uk) 

1 0 3

Trains, and boats and planes, they mean a trip to 

Paris or Rome... so went the old Billy J Kramer hit, 

though accessing Paris by boat may have been a 

little unusual. 

But the song did reveal a certain truth, namely that 

travelling can be as much fun as arriving. Let me 

qualify that. It depends how you travel. Personally, 

I’ve always disliked air travel, and not just for 

carbon reasons. There is something faintly absurd 

about this clumsy heavy metal shell, filled with rows 

of compliant people, taking to the air. It may have 

been exotic and romantic to fly fifty years ago, but 

now it’s just a trudge, though the crew on board still 

act as if the frisson of excitement exists, as it did in 

the 1960s when so many girls wanted nothing more 

than to be an air hostess. For me, the idea of being 

strapped in for hours and force-fed various bits of 

plastic food at regular intervals to keep you occupied 

most certainly does not appeal. 

At least with a car there’s a certain flexibility. You, 

after all, control the schedule, even if the open roads 

with breathtaking scenery used in car adverts never 

seem to exist in reality. And there are undoubtedly 

cars with a certain style, a touch of panache. We all 

have our favourites but for me, there was nothing to 

beat the Triumph Herald. I got through about six of 

them. Lovely cars, though they were always breaking 

down or developing faults, it has to be said. I 

confess sadly that these days I do prefer the comfort 

and reliability of a modern car. 

Then there’s the bicycle, and the exhilaration of 

freewheeling downhill with the wind in your hair, 

or at least over your scalp. But then cycling up 

School Hill or Station Street is certainly less fun. 

Which brings me to the train, for me easily the 

most civilised way to travel (except perhaps on a 

train from Victoria to Lewes in the rush-hour). You 

can get work done, plug in your laptop, read a book, 

wander through the carriages, pick up a cup of tea. I 

have to travel a lot these days in my role as transport 

minister, and I always travel by train if I can. The 


NormaN baker 

...on the train 

c o l u m n 

great thing is, the more you do so, the more you 

can make the system work for you – the optimum 

routes, the shortest journeys, the cheapest tickets, 

the best place to stand on a particular platform, and 

so on. I am of course highly delighted to have had 

my transport portfolio expanded recently to include 

rail performance and contract monitoring. 

It is an exciting time for rail, with the country 

embarked on the biggest rail investment programme 

since the Victorian era, and passenger numbers 

higher than they have been since 1929, with a 

network half the size. Slowly the network is growing 

again. Do I see light at the end of the Lewes-Uckfield 

tunnel? 

But I can’t finish this piece without enthusing about 

the first steam train to set off from Lewes since 

1967, the recent excursion from here to Ely. As 

some will know, I blagged a trip on the footplate for 

part of the journey, and what a fantastic experience 

it was too. What a magnificent creature a steam 

train is, powering along at 60mph up to Haywards 

Heath and Redhill, ever hungry for coal, a big beast 

responding to the lightest touch of the controls. I 

have encouraged the company that ran the special to 

return to Lewes as soon as they can! 

1 0 5

106 

Affordable legal advice for businesses and individuals 

High quality, practical and personal 

Contact Patrick Hole on 07986 996836 

Visit www.gordonsols.co.uk for further information 

Gordons is the trading name of Gordons Partnership LLP, a limited liability partnership registered in England and Wales with number OC 307353. 

Gordons’ registered office is at 22 Great James Street, London WC1N 3ES where a list of members’ names is available for inspection. 

Gordons is regulated by The Solicitors Regulation Authority www.sra.org.uk.

Photo by alex Leith 

tr a de secr ets 

Tell us about the hospice. The hospice movement 

aims to enable people with terminal illnesses to live 

the last part of their life with dignity. St Peter & St 

James is a very positive place for residents and day visitors. 

The day centre offers a wide variety of courses 

and activities, including massage, painting and talks. 

Patients also have access to physios, consultants and 

doctors offering advice, help and reassurance. It’s 

often an empathetic experience for our patients, who 

meet other people with similar life-limiting diagnosis. 

Who works there? We employ seven community 

nurses, who support the patients and their families. 

It must be expensive to run. This year we need 

to raise over £1.8 million to keep the hospice going 

(more than £5000 per day), and only receive a small 

percentage of this from government sources. 

Who pays? Everything at the hospice is free at the 

point of service for our patients, so we need to raise 

the money ourselves. 

And that is where your role comes in. As head 

of retail I’m responsible for our trading activities, 

including our shops, Christmas card sales and vintage 

china hire service. 

China hire? We often receive beautiful china, but 

rarely a full set, so we started hiring out mixed sets for 

parties and functions. We cater for up to 400 for tea 

and 100 for dinner. Prices start from £1.50 a setting. 

How many shops do you have? Five, including 

two in Lewes. Our High Street shop opposite the 

Law Courts has been running 12 years, whilst our 

T HéR è SE W IL SON - S T pET E R & S T JA MES 

furniture & home shop behind Waitrose opened just 

over a year ago. 

Who organises your stock? Initially everything goes 

to our warehouse before being delivered to the shops 

by our five-strong delivery team. They also deliver 

goods to their new owners, and take any lower quality 

goods to be recycled, another great way to raise funds. 

Any delivery problems? We ask people to measure 

things carefully before purchase. Lewes has narrow 

doorways, and we’ve had a number of instances where 

it’s been impossible to get things in the house. 

Any unusual or expensive items? People are incredibly 

generous - and we sell a lot of high quality jewellery 

and watches. Higher value items sometimes go to 

auction - recently some beautiful Lalique glass sold 

for several hundred pounds, and a nineteenth century 

grandfather clock in the region of £1000. 

If someone has something they want to donate... 

Ring our donation line on 01444 470205. We will then 

schedule a collection. 

Any fundraising activities coming up in Lewes? 

Fundraising is key for us, and on Sat 3rd Sept we have 

a ‘Cruise on the Ouse’ Family Fun Day at the Anchor 

at Barcombe from 11 – 3pm. 

Most unusual question? 

Q) Have you seen my cat? 

A) A few months ago a young cat somehow managed 

to ‘escape’ in our van, but after a few days we were 

able to trace it to our warehouse and reunite it with its 

owner! Interview by Nick Williams 

1 0 7

a d v e r t o r i a l 

A R k A: COMINg TO LEW ES 

Famous ARKA Original Funerals, whose main 

base is in Brighton, is coming to Lewes, and will be 

established at Lewes’ very own ‘Ceremony Shop’ on 

Lansdown Place, working with the celebrants of Light 

On Life, Peter and Belinda. 

Cara Mair, co-founder of ARKA, believes that as they 

have worked so successfully with Light On Life for 

over six years now, creating truly fitting funeral ceremonies 

for people within the Lewes Community, it 

feels only natural to have a more permanent presence 

in Lewes to be on hand if funeral support and advice 

is needed. 

ARKA is the country’s leading ecologically aware funeral 

company and is committed to supporting people 

throughout the whole funeral process. There are many 

steps between a death and the funeral and families can 

be involved with as much or as little as they wish. 

Please come and meet with us at The Ceremony Shop. 

We will be really pleased to meet with you and answer 

your questions. 

The Ceremony Shop is a welcoming calm space where 

o r i g i n a l f u n e r a l s 

we can meet and gently guide you through all the 

arrangements needed for a natural funeral. Every 

member of our team is sensitively trained and experienced 

to discuss woodland burial and cremation, biodegradable 

coffins, unique methods of transport, how 

a body is looked after in an environmentally conscious 

way and the importance of a personal ceremony. Our 

wonderful celebrants and interfaith ministers create 

fitting religious, spiritual or non religious ceremonies. 

To celebrate ARKA coming to Lewes we are organising 

a day at the All Saints Church, Lewes, on 27th 

August, in this interactive, hopefully fun, day which is 

going to be called ‘bringing death to life’ we hope to 

give insight into natural ways and natural choices. 

ARKA is a small independent funeral company, ensuring 

our professional standards are kept high and our 

costings are transparent and competitive. 

If you have any questions or wish to discuss your own 

plans please ring us on 01273 766620 or 01273 476696 

or why not come into the shop to pick up our leaflets 

and guides.

Grandparents have an important role to play in 

the upbringing of their grandchildren 

Unfortunately due to family arguments and parents who may want to cut off contact 

with former partners and family members grandchildren can often lose contact with their 

grandparents. 

It is important for children to know their grandparents to learn about themselves and their 

family background. Suddenly losing contact with grandparents can cause distress to the 

children involved. In such circumstances all efforts should be made to negotiate with the 

parents with the welfare of the child being the paramount consideration. As a last resort, if 

negotiations fail, grandparents should be aware that they can in some circumstances make 

an application to Court. 

In the majority of cases grandparents will need to obtain permission from the Court before 

they can make an application to have contact with their grandchildren. As the law stands at 

the moment there is no presumption in favour of grandparents obtaining permission. When 

deciding whether or not to grant permission the following factors will be considered: 

1. The nature of the application. The Court will need to consider whether the motivation 

behind the application is in the child’s best interest. 

2. The grandparent’s connection with the child. 

3. Any risk that there might be of the application disrupting a child’s life to such an extent 

that the child would be harmed. With this in mind the Court need to consider the level of 

disharmony between the grandparents and the child’s parents. 

If permission is granted then whether or not the application to have contact with the 

child is successful will depend on the following: 

A. The ascertainable wishes and feelings of the child concerned 

(considered in the light of his/her age and understanding). 

B. The child’s physical, emotional and educational needs. 

C. The likely effect on the child of any change in their circumstances. 

D. The child’s age, sex and background and other relevant characteristics. 

E. Any harm which the child has suffered or is at risk of suffering. 

F. How capable the grandparents in question are of meeting the child’s needs. 

The Family Team at Mayo Wynne Baxter have successfully represented grandparents and have 

advocated the need for children to have contact with their grandparents. 

We always aim to resolve matters amicably. 

If you would like some further advice on this issue please contact 

the Family Team on 01273 223220.

DIRECTORY 

Please note that though we aim to only take advertising from reputable businesses, we cannot guarantee 

the quality of any work undertaken, and accept no responsibility or liability for any issues arising. 

To advertise in VivaLewes please call Steve on 01273 488882 or email steve@vivalewes.com 

LEWES 

1 1 1

HOME 

south downs sweeps 

Rob Mortimer 

Lewes 01273 470202 07788 675264 

rj.mortimer@yahoo.co.uk 

fully certificated & insured 

south downs sweeps 

Rob Mortimer 

Lewes 01273 470202 07788 675264 

rj.mortimer@yahoo.co.uk fully certificated & insured

What do you do when your 

technically capable son is at 

university and the computer 

system he has managed, fixed 

and periodically upgraded 

ever since he was 11 years old, 

stops working, and you are a 

technophobe? Some local, immediate 

and trustworthy help is 

required, and I make the call to 

a new computer fixing and retail 

company - Iconic. 

I explain the problem as best 

I can: the computer had been 

failing to start up first time 

for a month or so, but now 

perpetually cycles through the 

starting up bit, giving various 

options of which even the ‘start 

Windows with last known good 

configuration that worked’ does 

not work. I don’t tell them in 

my layman’s language of the 

computer’s repetitive sick frog 

sounds. 

“Well,” says the upbeat person 

on the end of the phone, “we are 

very busy but we will endeavour 

to get someone out today.” 

I get a call a short while later 

saying that someone called 

James would arrive at 3pm. A 

smartly dressed young man 

in black, not obviously geeky, 

arrives promptly, carrying a 

b u s i n e s s t r y o u t . . . 

iCoNiC 

Computer sales and repairs 

laptop bag. I express my fear 

that the problem “might be 

terminal”. He cheerily dismisses 

this saying “Most things can be 

fixed one way or another”. I lead 

him to the computer in a corner 

of my bedroom, and consider 

what a personal thing it is, your 

computer, a bit like a diary. 

James makes me feel at ease, as 

he quickly and calmly sets to 

work, explaining what he is doing. 

He asks, “Have you tried to 

do a Windows repair?” Errr... 

We move on to back-ups. I feel 

rather pleased with myself; I 

bought an external hard drive 

during my degree, after a stern 

talk from my son, and have 

periodically backed up my work. 

“Well” James says “this is very 

good news, lots of customers 

may not back up, and this can 

cause upset”. A diplomatic description 

I think. Yet he assures 

me that 98% of the time data 

can be recovered, although it 

can up to two days because it is a 

lab service. He cites a university 

student who did not back up, 

who they helped recover data. I 

feel quite smug at this point. 

“I’m going to try to see if we 

can repair from disc”, and he 

pulls another disc out of his bag: 

“This can fix minor problems.” 

However, after 5 minutes, 

he suggests it might be more 

serious, “I am going to take 

your hard drive out and plug 

it into my laptop’. Apparently 

the problem is likely to be a 

corrupted operating system, or 

hard drive or Ram failure. 

The ‘blue screen’ thing appears 

– something I know signifies 

serious computer problems, and 

a place my son had forbidden me 

to venture. 

It is only a short while later 

when he announces: “It’s looking 

like we need to scan the 

computer overnight.” The frog 

is definitely ill. James unplugs 

and takes the patient away. The 

next day I get the call: “I am 

afraid your computer has multiple 

sector hard-drive failure.” 

I realise then that it’s terminal 

and there’s nothing for it but to 

replace said frog with prince. 

We discuss various options and 

I decide to go into their shop 

to sort out my future computer 

with Josh, who is most patient 

and helpful. In no time at all I 

am sorted! 

Nina Murden 

Iconic Computers 01273 476 914 

www.iconiccomputers.co.uk 

1 1 3

Home 

Sussex Building Consultancyþ 

ARCHITECTURALþ 

SERVICESþ 

Extensions / Renovations / Improvements� 

Listed Buildings / New Build� 

Party Wall Agreements� 

Planning / Building Regulations� 

Planning Supervision / Project Management� 

FREE initial consultationþ 

CALLþ 

477088þ 

Ollie 

Ed the plumber. 

T. 07941 615 594 

From leaky taps 

to solar systems 

and everything 

in-between. 

bespoke metalwork for 

indoor & outdoor rooms 

01273 517333 

info@pmfdesigns.co.uk 

www.pmfdesigns.co.uk 

ADVANCED PLUMBING SYSTEMS 

4 WINDOVER CRESCENT, LEWES BN7 1DP 

bespoke furniture 

carpentry 

Clark p a i n t i n g & d e c o r a t i n g 

info@ollieclarkfurniture.co.uk 

f u r n i t u r e www.ollieclarkfurniture.co.uk 

lewes 

est 1994 

01273 479909 

07876 069681

Home 

1 1 5

Home

SOUTHDOWN 

SASH WINDOW 

SERVICES 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

For�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

Colin Poulter 

Plastering 

Professional Plasterer 

Over 25 years experience 

All types of plastering work 

and finishes undertaken 

FREE estimates 

Telephone 01273 472 836 

Mobile 07974 752 491 

Email cdpoulter@btinternet.com 

HOME 

CP Viva Lewes Ad (Qtr Pg)_62 x 94mm 18/02/2011 17: 

117

Home 

Qs Electricalþ 

24/7 fair price emergency serviceþ 

Lighting consultation & designþ 

Rewires and upgradesþ 

Testing and inspectionþ 

Small jobs with pleasureþ 

Free energy efficiency adviceþ 

& discounts on installationþ 

Kevin Moore 07837814235þ 

Member of the National Association� 

Lantern Ad2009 Viva 18/3/09 17:44 Page 1 

of Professional Testers and Inspectors� 

simply stunning 

roof lanterns 

Want to transform a dark 

and gloomy space in your home? 

The design solution could be a roof lantern from 

Parsons Joinery. To create a room which is bathed in 

natural light whilst providing a stunning architectural 

feature and dramatic views of the sky above… 

call us on 01273 814870 

www.parsonsjoinery.com 

Parsons Joinery are now FENSA registered. 

Please refer to our website or call us for 

further information.

Global 

Gardens 

Design, 

Restoration & 

Landscaping 

Mobile 07941 057337 

Phone 01273 488261 

12 Priory Street, Lewes, BN7 1HH 

info@ globalgardens.co.uk 

www.globalgardens.co.uk 

Whether you have a 

small garden or a larger 

project to undertake, we 

offer fully trained, 

experienced and 

insured Arborists to carry 

out a range of tree and 

hedge cutting services. 

Iain Palmer RFS Cert.Arb. 

07727 678040 

01273 275726 

thearborbarber.co.uk 

info@thearborbarber.co.uk 

GARDEN 

Free advice 

Free quotation 

The Arbor Barber 

Professional Tree care

CARS

Home 

w e b u i l d a n d r e pa i r 

f l i n t wa l l s a n d s p e c i a l i s e 

i n a l l t r a d i t i o n a l 

f l i n t w o r k t o c o n s e rvat 

i o n s ta n da r d s 

Any enquiries please call: 

07951 917 212 or find us at 

www.theflintwallcompany.co.uk 

bUSINESS NEWS 

Photo by daisy Martin 

Back in Motion, the chiropractic clinic, established 

in 2003, has changed hands. The new team based 

at 33 West Street are now Gitte Steffensen, and her 

husband Derek Allen, both experienced chiropractors, 

with more than 25 years combined chiropractic 

knowledge. They describe their main goal as 

providing ‘relief to the disorders affecting the joints, 

nerves and muscles of the body’. If you’re still not 

sure this is for you, they are currently offering a free 

initial screening appointment so that you can discuss 

the services on offer and see if they might be of use 

to you. Call 01273 473473, or email info@back-inmotion.com 

for further details. 

Last month we mentioned that Antares, who 

specialise in real wood flooring, had opened up in 

the town. If you’d like to visit the showroom you’ll 

find them at 4 Market Lane - (at the top pf the 

Needlemakers car park. More info via 01273 473498, 

or visit www.antarespsl.com 

We’d also like to welcome Lewes Glass to town. The 

company based on the Malling Industrial Estate offers 

‘traditional and contemporary glazing solutions’. It’s 

part of Johnsons Glass Ltd, who hae traded for over 

thirty years in the Seaford area. More details. 01273 

475123. 

Arka Original Funerals are opening up at 18 

Lansdown Place, in what until now has been 

the ceremony shop. They offer a wide range of 

ceremonies, from traditional services through to 

woodland burials. They also provide ministers and 

celebrants. For more details meet them at their 

‘Bringing Death to Life’ event at the All Saints Centre 

on Aug 27th. www.arkafunerals.co.uk 01273 476696 

Nick Williams 1 2 1

HEALTH & WELLBEING

tr a de secr ets 

How long has your business been in town? We set 

up in May 2000, after a year researching and planning, 

in our current location at the bottom of Station 

Street opposite the recently re-opened Lansdown. 

Herbert Scott Financial (now in St Anne’s House) 

were the previous tenants. 

Why did you set up in Lewes? I’ve always loved 

the town’s location. The ability to just stroll on to 

the Downs is a great pleasure (very handy as we have 

an extremely active cocker spaniel), plus it has great 

places like the Pells Pool and the Lewes Arms. 

Describe Equilibrium: A multi-disciplinary clinic 

based around prevention rather than cure. Our ethos 

is maintaining good health, rather than fixing the 

broken. We aim to be both preventative and supportive. 

We provide a full time reception service and aim 

to represent our practitioners in as professional a way 

as possible. 

How did you get involved in the health & wellbeing 

industry? I started Shiatsu training in the early 

1980s, which involved looking at one’s own health, 

and I also trained in Tai Chi, a martial art primarily 

taught as, and good for, health, balance and posture. 

How many treatment rooms do you have? We have 

four rooms in Equilibrium on Station Street. 

What treatments are on offer? We currently offer 

32, primarily specialising in bodywork, including 10 

different types of massage, acupuncture, hypnotherapy 

and allergy testing. A full list is available on our 

website, www.equilibrium-clinic.com. 

pAU L T UCk E R : E QU IL IbR I U M 

And you’ve now got a studio space as well? For a 

while we’d noticed an increasing demand for larger 

classes and workshops, and were lucky to find a fantastic 

studio space at the end of Cliffe High Street (33). 

It’s a 1000sq ft space with a new floor. It’s perfect for 

our needs and I feel very lucky to have found it. 

How is business this year? Thanks to the studio, 

we’ve been able to increase the number of yoga and 

pilates sessions we can offer, as well as the numbers in 

each class (up to 35). So fingers crossed, we’re on track 

for a great year. 

Who does what at Equilibrium? A fantastic group 

of people who as well as being great professionals, 

have also in many cases, become great friends. Many 

of our original therapists are still with us, and this 

stability of therapists and staff means a lot to both 

us, and our regular clients. I run the structure of the 

business, providing physical things like the rooms 

themselves, the furniture and coach rolls, plus we also 

staff the reception, and advertise the availability of the 

services on offer at the clinic. 

How are your social media skills? We’ve run an 

active website for a number of years, and over the 

past couple have become actively involved with both 

Facebook and Twitter - @EquilibriumHC. 

Any new initiatives planned? From September, 

we’re looking to introduce a loyalty card. 

Any questions you’re regularly asked? 

Q) Do you offer home or in work visits? A) Yes we do. 

Interview by Nick Williams 

1 2 3

HEALTH & WELLBEING 

124

neck or back pain? 

Lin Peters & Beth Hazelwood 

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 

�� 

HEALTH & WELLBEING

HealtH and wellbeing lessons and courses 

Restore natural balance 

to your life 

Naturally healthy drug-free treatments, 

courses & workshops: 

Acupuncture Allergy Testing Animal Healing 

Aromatherapy Chinese Herbs Cranio-sacral Therapy 

Feldenkrais Homeopathy Hypnotherapy Life Coaching 

NLP Massage (Deep Tissue, Holistic, Hot Stone, Indian 

Head, Pregnancy, Baby, Sports, Thai, Ayurvedic) Nutrition 

Organic Facials Reflexology Shiatsu Shamanic & Spiritual 

Counselling Yoga Pilates Reiki Tai Chi 

...Gift Vouchers & Pamper Days too! 

01273 470955 

16 Station Street, Lewes BN7 2DB 

www.equilibrium-clinic.com 

EQ_VivaLewes_FP_ad_AW.indd 1 19/5/10 20:00:15 

otHer services 

DO MY LAUNDRY! 

No, really. I’m offering £20 a week, 

cash, for two loads, washed and 

dried, plus five ironed shirts, you pick 

up/drop off in Southover. Nice little 

earner? Start of a business? 

Text 07949 138951.

OTHER SERVICES 

digital suite ~ service centre ~ free parking 

15 Audio 

Churchward Court 

15 Western Road 

Lewes 

East Sussex 

BN7 1RL 

Lo-Call for a demo: 08448 22 11 15 

www.15audio.co.uk

�� 

�� 

�� 

OTHER SERVICES 

�� 

Servicing the needs of your home and workplace 

Ditch your Chores - Increase your free time 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

Call: 0845 054 3808 www.ahcsuk.com 

129

INSIDE LEFT 

ENGINE TROUBLE 

In the Sussex Express, Tuesday 30th September 1879, the headline read: ‘Alarming explosion at Lewes Railway 

Station’. On the previous Saturday, the fast London to Hastings train had stopped at Lewes at just past 

3pm. It was running ten minutes late. As passengers, including local MP William Christie, climbed aboard 

the busy carriages, guard Alec Fraser was talking to the platform inspector, Mr Hayden. The 31-year-old 

driver, William Rookwood, had just bought a bun from the basket of the refreshment vending lad called 

Funnell. The whistle blew but suddenly there were signs that something wasn’t right. The Express reports ‘a 

blinding rush of steam, clouds of dense black smoke, a dull sullen deafening sound not unlike the discharge 

of an immense piece of ordnance’. The engine, number 174, had burst and was ‘wrecked’. The door to the 

smoke box had been blown away, and the wheels twisted off the rail. The stoker lay across the tracks on the 

London down platform. Worst of all, on top of a carriage behind the front guard’s brake lay an ‘indistinguishable 

mass’. This was the driver, ‘frightfully mutilated’. A ladder was found and a medically trained passenger 

climbed up to discover Rookwood barely alive. Brandy was administered, but he died. The traumatised stoker 

was taken to the In�rmary with multiple injuries including a fractured skull. 

The shocked refreshment boy was covered in black soot, his basket full of pebbles from the track and glass 

from broken lemonade and spirit bottles. The Sussex Express reports that a large number of passengers, 

‘especially the female portion’ were severely alarmed. 

How had this tragedy occurred? Tom Reeves was told by Norman Cousins after a talk he gave that the safety 

valve had been tampered with, set for 140psi instead of 120psi, and that there was some speculation that it 

might have been an attempt on the life of the MP. But no de�nitive conclusion was reached as to how it happened. 

Thanks to Edward Reeves photographic studio (473274). 

130

10 - Viva Lewes

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?