The front virtual row - Hurst Festival Comedy Night

By David Tingley

I don’t mind admitting it, I am a fan of stand-up comedy. I often find myself perusing the comedy section of BBC Sounds – with my go-to guilty pleasure being Tim Vine – so against this background, I was delighted to see the comedy night of Hurst Festival had survived the Covid treatment.

Better than that, here was a comedy club I could be part of the front row. In practical terms there was a 20 or so of us on a Zoom call providing the real laughter track – with the output being broadcast to YouTube simultaneously.

Local comic Stephen Grant was MC for the event, live from his home in Hassocks. There is something fantastic about seeing Stephen gigging on home turf. The jibes about the poshness of different ends of College Lane, and references to the nearby gossip groups providing a rather less than exciting reality of what the village is talking about online! I always think it’s easier to take any comedic critique from someone who lives here.

Technically it was a pretty slick operation. Well, if you ignore the dropout of headline act Chris Turner midway through his set. The irony of the guy connected from Colorado having a worse internet connection than those of us in rural Sussex felt quite enjoyable I must admit!

Jo Caulfield

The acts were terrific with many of the gags centring around lockdown. Maff Brown performed his set from his home in South London, Jo Caulfield came live from Edinburgh and, as described, Chris Turner was behind his computer screen in the USA.

I hadn’t seen Chris before but his special talent for creating raps on the subjects suggested from the audience was impressive. He had to weave in, among other things, Novichok cocktails, internet dating and Daryn’s cat litter.  Chris included reference to an Airbnb in New York where the owner had an 18 year old diabetic cat ‘aim the proper way’ – which was hilarious!

All in all, it was a great evening and felt more like a comedy club than I had imagined. Just to complete the night I paid my wife £20 for the two beers, and sat in the car on the drive for half an hour afterwards!

You can watch the whole set here, on YouTube.

https://www.hurstfestival.org/box-office/donate

https://www.paypal.me/sgcomedy

Hurst Open Studios weekends - 2018

Where you can find artists in Hurstpierpoint 

Hurstpierpoint Open Studios will take place over two weekends in September during the Hurst Festival.

There will be 26 artists at 13 venues  around the village displaying their work, which includes paintings, photography, textiles, stained glass, furniture, sculptures and jewellery.

You can meet the artists and enjoy the wonderful variety of work on display, and maybe treat yourself, or someone else, to a unique piece of artwork. Refreshments will be available at two venues during the first weekend and at one venue during the second weekend.

‘Art making is a way of experiencing peace’ is a quote from artist Melanie Circle. With this quote in mind and a theme of ‘Peace’ running through the Hurst Festival, the Open Studios artists have each produced a piece of work in their own interpretation of ‘Peace’. These will be on display in shops around the village for the two weeks prior to the Open Studios.

The Open Studio venues will be open on 15th/16th and 22nd/23rd September from 11am to 5pm and will have blue and white balloons at the entrance. Please note two venues will only be open on the first weekend. 

Details of venues (with a map) are in the Hurst Festival brochure and on posters and flyers in shops in the village and in the library.

Discover more about the group online at: www.hurstpierpointopenstudios.com or search Facebook for Hurstpierpoint Open Studios.

Festival time in Hurst - Hurst Festival

The opening day of the Hurst Festival is known as  Community Day and features just about everything being available at no cost. Just part of the fun is the Treasured Transport Parade through the village and ending on the Recreation Ground on South Avenue. Everybody can be part of this, enjoying the spectacle! Alongside this, many art exhibitions will open their doors including Hurst Open Studios (see more on page 10), Herbie Flowers Photography and The Dene Art in Holy Trinity Church. Plus, also on this day, there is the free Gig Inn the Garden at The New Inn from 4pm.
     The Festival is a registered charity and is run by a committee of 12 hard-working volunteers and seven trustees. “We also have an army of residents who willingly work as stewards for the Festival,” Margaret goes on to say. “These folk do a great job in signing up for when they are available and will do various tasks including running the bar, the box office and managing the many venues.”

Full article available on pages 16/17.

September is a month when the village becomes a hub of all things artistic and creative! Yes, the Hurst Festival kicks off on 12th September and there is loads to see and do.
     Hurst Festival was started 11 years ago when a small group of locals, including Michel Olszewski, Kevin & Margeret Carey, Bob Sampson, Shaughan Parish and Steve Whitehead, got together to trial a one-day event in the Village Centre. Five hundred people attended that first test and they launched straight into an annual two week festival the very next year.
     “We always wanted the Festival to become something which was renowned locally and had its own slot in the village calendar. So we started as we wanted to go on, with a full two week programme of events and with the starting weekend being the second week in September,” Margaret Carey explained.
     At its heart the Festival is all about making the arts, of all kinds, accessible to the whole village community. The committee is always seeking to keep costs as low as possible for all events during the 16 days and is very grateful to its sponsors for their financial commitment to enable this. For instance, the Hurstpierpoint Community Charity has given £5,000 every year and the Hurstpierpoint & Sayers Common Parish Council has also significantly contributed annually as part of its encouragement for the Festival, along with many other businesses and individuals.