10 - Viva Lewes

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