Advance Warning - May Day starts in April!

May Day falls on Monday 1st May.  So Jack-in-the-Green weekend starts in April.
Morris dancers will be in town April 28th - 30th and the procession will be on 1st May.

The Morris Dance Eucharist will be in St Clements, 10am, Sunday April 30th.

Old Town Carnival Week

Event Entry Forms available now in the Parish News or from Hastings History House.

They should be available online shortly

More walk booklets from David Clarke

Available from Hastings History House, 21 Courthouse Street, Hastings, TN34 3AU

No. 6 - Pub Walks.... £3.99

No. 7 - 1066 William's Way .... £3.00

New Cemetery Stories

I was recently in Barley, doing a bit of historical research, and discovered that the one time rector, Dr. Samuel Lee, a fascinating man - http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/lee_scholar/lee_scholar.htm
and Dr. Vores (see Recent Stories, below)  were brothers-in-law .  “And her brother-in-law, the Reverend Thomas Vores, then of Park Chapel, Chelsea, and afterwards of St Mary's, Hastings, thus expressed himself:--'Dr Lee is confessedly the first Orientalist in England, probably in  Europe. He has unwearyingly devoted his wondrous attainments to the defence of the great and blessed truths of God's pure Word, and God has called you, dear sister, to the honourable office of being a helpmeet to such a man.'”

• Beck, Samuel - "Prisoners' Friend" Quaker, responsible for building of Halton Mission Hall, and his daughter, Susannah Rickamn Beck, who was trainin to be a minister in India when she died, and granddaughter,Agnes Beck.
• Jenkins, Brigadier General Noble Fleming -"In a time of peace he had died a soldier's death, so they gave him a soldier's funeral"
• Pelham, James (Great church and municipal worker) & Maria (A Loss to the Poor of St Leonards)

Recent Stories

• Bridges, Ada & Henry, of whom little is known, and their son Eric, who died in action on 29th January, 1917 

• Vores, Rev. Thomas & Elisabeth Plomley - for 33 years incumbent at St Mary-in-the-Castle

New Book - Making History in Pevensey by Alan J Starr

£7.99 (plus p&p if applicable)
Available from Hastings History House, 21, Courthouse Street, Hastings TN34 3AU

A Pier Without Peer by Steve Peak

Includes history of St Leonards Pier
Available at the History House, 21 Courthouse Street, Hastings, TN34 3AU

£14.99 Paperback edition

Petition - Ensure the British fishing waters are returned to the UK post Brexit

Please note:  We are not political and are not promoting this; as it so nearly concerns Hastings we are advising you of the opportunity to sign if you are so inclined.

In the 1970s Edward Heath betrayed our fisherman and our coastal communities with the Common Fisheries Policy. A leaked report now shows that the EU wants to retain control over the fish stocks in British waters. 

We call on Parliament to ensure these waters and fish stocks return to Britain

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/185827

Group visit by coach to Hythe Organized by Hastings & St. Leonards Society in association with Hythe Civic Society.

Date: Wednesday 19 April

Cost per seat on coach: £12 (Number of places restricted to 28 persons.)

To book contact Steven by e-mail (pompress@hotmail.co.uk)

Payment instructions will be given when booking received.

Pick ups from 8.45 – 9.15 a.m.: Silverhill, Warrior Square, Hastings Town Centre, Hastings Old Town, Ore Village.

Arrive in Hythe for 10.45 a.m.
Depart Hythe at 4.00 p.m.

Itinerary (provided by Hythe Civic Society):

10.45 a.m. -  Arrive at Town Hall for tea/coffee and biscuits
Introductory talk on Hythe Civic Society, Cinque Ports and Town Hall building

11.30 a.m. - Depart for short walk to St. Leonard’s Church for tour of Church and Crypt (visit to Crypt incurs charge of £1 per person)

12.20 p.m. - Lunch break (bring packed lunch or use one of the several restaurants/pubs in Hythe town centre).

2.00 p.m. - Meet at Town Hall for guided walk around Old Hythe

3.30 p.m. - Walk ends. Time at leisure until depart at 4.00 p.m.

All welcome.

 

All change!

Help Save the Cyril & Lillian Bishop, and enjoy yourself at the same time!

Tourist Infomration, 20th January – St Mary in the Castle - £8.50 tickets from Muriel Matters’ House

Council offices renamed Muriel Matters House

http://www.hastings.gov.uk/press_media/archive/2016/pr_20161219/

Hastings Borough Council offices on Hastings seafront have been renamed Muriel Matters House.

The building formerly known as Aquila House has undergone massive refurbishment over the last 18 months creating bright, new, modern offices and a welcoming Tourist Information Centre. Not only has the building had a top to toe makeover the council has also recently purchased the building, saving money on future rental outgoings.

The council now receives an additional income of £135,000 p.a. from renting out parts of the town hall and Muriel Matters House. In addition, the council is making a net saving of £75,000 p.a. from purchasing the building rather than paying rent. The total of £210,000 p.a. will help to meet the massive funding reductions the council is experiencing and assist in protecting the services it delivers.

To mark the fresh start the council have renamed the building Muriel Matters House.

Calls for 2017 to be the ‘Year of the Village Green’

The Open Spaces Society, Britain’s oldest national conservation body, has called on local authorities and developers throughout England to make 2017 the Year of the Village Green, by voluntary registering their land as greens.

The society urges developers to include registered village greens within their sites so that local people have a guaranteed green space for recreation which is preserved for ever. It also urges local authorities to register their own land so that even if it is sold, it is protected.

Kate Ashbrook, the society’s general secretary, said: “The registration process is simple; the only requirements are to provide proof of ownership, obtain the consent of any leaseholder or chargeholder, complete a form and send it to the commons registration authority (county or unitary council).

“Once the land is registered as a town or village green, it is protected by nineteenth-century laws from development or encroachment, and local people have rights of informal recreation there. “So if a planning authority considers that a developer should offer a mitigating benefit to the neighbourhood, it can insist that the developer registers part of its site as a village green.

Read more at: http://www.hastingsobserver.co.uk/news/calls-for-2017-to-be-the-year-of-the-village-green-1-7754338

Thomas Brandon and Celia Brett - Friends of Hastings Cemetery

Someone has pointed out that Thomas Brandon Brett was born one hundred years ago this year, so this is to pay tribute to him.

EE M34 - Thomas Brandon and Celia Brett

In Remembrance of

Celia

66 years devoted wife of

T B Brett

Born May 23rd 1821

Died October 19th 1900

__________

Also of Thomas Brandon Brett

Husband of the above named Celia Brett

For many years proprietor

Of the St Leonards and Hastings

Gazette and writer of

Local History

Born May 30th 1816

Died April 4th 1906

__________

"Honour thy Father and thy Mother

That thy days may be long in the land

that the Lord, thy God giveth thee"

Cemetery Update

New Stories:

• The Blomfield Family - missionaries in Jamaica, the sons were famous Hastings Photographers; buried in three separate plots (one lost to grass).

View from the FoHC/OHPS bench

Recent Stories

• Dibley, Johnathon & Emma & William Dengate - local contractor, his daughter and son-in-law
• Furley, William Deey very little known
• Phillips, Charles Henry Leigh died aged 8, his father was Charles, but which of the 45 - 50 Charles Phillips in Hastings at the time?
• Phillips, Frederick Charles - fisherman, drowned