Hurst Life Blog

St Lawrence Fair weekend 2024 picks a green theme

By Lona McDonald

We’re looking forward to a fabulous St Lawrence Fair weekend this year - keep the date free, the Fair will be held on Saturday 6th July, with many of the usual events leading up to it. Follow us on social media, and also our website, to keep up to date with all the latest news: www.stlawrencefair.co.uk

Following our AGM in October, we would like to welcome back many of our previous committee members who are staying with us for another year, extend a very warm welcome to our new committee members and offer heartfelt thanks to our outgoing committee members who have put in so much over the last few years to make the Fair the success it is.

We’re very happy to confirm that the Executive Committee for 2024 are unchanged, and planning is already underway for this year’s events:
Co-Chairs: Nic Stenning and Rachael Babister
Treasurer: Simon Winnard
Secretary: Lona McDonald

The Fair is organised by a small committee of around eight volunteers, with a few additional non-committee volunteers, without whom we couldn’t do what we do. As always, we would welcome anyone who would like to get involved and to any extent - from helping to put posters up to advertise events, to being more involved with any of our sub-groups or helping out on the day… and many other things. If you would like to find out more, drop us an email at stlawrencefair@gmail.com - we’d love to hear from you!

And finally…after a broad public poll and a vote which included representatives from many of the groups who regularly enter our procession, we’re thrilled to announce the theme for 2024... HURST GOES GREEN. This can be anything from sustainable living, nature and eco-friendly activities to literally anything green: Shrek, green fruit and veg, Kermit the Frog…the list goes on…we look forward to seeing how creative Hurstpierpoint can be with this!

For those of you joining us at our fundraising quiz on 9th February, we look forward to seeing you there - and if you’re not able to join us, we will be holding another fundraising event in the next few months - thank you for your support!

Hurst Festival September 2023

By Katherine Jackman, Festival manager

We are excited to bring you our latest programme for Hurst Festival 2023 – our 19th year! As always, we have the ever-popular Hurst open studios, cinema in the garden, live band nights, blues, soirees, children’s shows, Hurst Players theatre, talks, wellbeing events and much more. Stephen Grant returns to compere the traditional Friday night comedy nights and bring us the fabulous new and up and coming comedians that we are so proud to have in our village.

We have three large Saturday night events for your pleasure: The first Saturday, 16th September, is Absolute Bowie, Winners of the National Tribute Music Awards, with a full live band for you in Holy Trinity church.
The second Saturday, 23rd September, we are pleased to announce that Mid Sussex Sinfonia will be in concert and on the last Saturday we have a fabulous Motown Party for you with the amazing live singers All that Soul bringing true soul and party vibes to our community!

We are also delighted to announce a fabulous new addition to our Super Sunday community event on the afternoon of 17th September, ‘Hufts’ - the new Hurst Festival Dog Show. To add to the excitement, we are very pleased to have secured Brigadier Humphrey Portleroy Trotter and Judge Janey – two extremely experienced Official Judges to oversee proceedings at the Arena on South Avenue Recreation Ground.

Also, on Super Sunday in the afternoon, we will be having a large Barn Dance for everybody on South Avenue Recreation Ground courtesy of the amazing live band and callers ‘Shenanigans.’ Remember on Super Sunday the Hurst Festival bar on the Recreation ground helps pay for all the free entertainment on the day so please support our bar. Indeed, at all of our events the income from the bar ensures that the festival is able to continue and helps us keep ticket prices low and provide the free entertainment – so please don’t bring your own alcohol to events.

Next year will be our 20th anniversary year and we will be inviting all our old favourites to perform – do let us know if there is anyone you would love to see again. We look forward to seeing you all during the two weeks in September – book tickets asap! www.hurstfestival.org As a registered Charity Hurst Festival relies on our brilliant team of volunteers – if you wish to help out during Hurst Festival or before, please contact us at admin@hurstfestival.org.

Hurst Village Cinema's January programme (2023)

By Mike Thatcher

Season’s greetings to you all from the team, we hope that you get your fill of Christmas films over the holidays. ‘Arthur Christmas’ seems to have become the traditional watch in our household; there’s no accounting for taste. Members should have already received the new programme and it is available to see online and around the village.

We start on Thursday 12th January at 8pm with The Farewell (PG). This gentle and touching Japanese f ilm opens with the caption: ‘Based on an actual lie,’ and illustrates how different cultures approach mortality and grief. A headstrong Chinese-American student Billie (played brilliantly by Awkafina) returns to China after her grandmother is given a terminal diagnosis. An impromptu wedding is arranged so that the family can gather together to see her one more time. Despite the strong themes, it is a warm and often funny family portrayal, with a dynamite performance from Zhao Shuzhen as the spirited grandmother.

NT live returns on Thursday 26th at 7pm with The Crucible (12A) by Arthur Miller.
A witch hunt is beginning in Arthur Miller’s captivating parable of power with Erin Doherty (The Crown) and Brendan Cowell (Yerma).

Then the simply amazing My Life as a Courgette (PG) on Friday 27th January at 8pm. Despite being just over an hour, this moving stop-frame animation certainly does not leave you feeling short-changed. Told from the perspective of the children in an orphanage, its strength is that it is not childlike in any way. After his mother’s death, Courgette is befriended by a police officer, who with his new friends help him adjust to live in the orphanage. So much emotion is transmitted through the big eyes of all the characters in this wonderful, funny and sad film, I can’t recommend it highly enough.

We finish with Operation Mincemeat (12A) on Sunday 29th January at 3pm. In 1943, two British intelligence officers concoct Operation Mincemeat, dropping a corpse with false papers off the coast of Spain, hoping to fool Nazi spies into believing the Allied forces were planning to attack by way of Greece rather than Sicily.

Hurst Village Cinema's January programme (2023)

Forthcoming copy dates

2024 Copy dates for Hurst Life magazine

May Hurst Life magazine
Copy date 16th April
Delivery between 27th April - 3rd May

June Hurst Life magazine
Copy date 14th May
Delivery between 25th - 31st May

July Hurst Life magazine
Copy date 11th June
Delivery between 22nd - 28th June

August Hurst Life magazine
Copy date 16th July
Delivery between 27th July - 2nd August

September Hurst Life magazine
Copy date 13th August
Delivery between 24th - 30th August

October Hurst Life magazine
Copy date 17th September
Delivery between 28th September - 4th October

November Hurst Life magazine
Copy date 15th October
Delivery between 26th October - 1st November

December Hurst Life magazine
Copy date 12th November
Delivery between 23rd - 29th November

Hurst ReThink Community - The Big Hurst Jumble Trail

What better way to spend a spring Sunday than by enjoying Hurst village camaraderie as you stroll around the Big Hurst Jumble Trail? Echoing the success of similar events across the UK, this is our own first ‘go’ and with numbers of stallholders approaching 100, it is proving very popular.

How does it work? Jumblers are Hurst residents who are setting up a stall outside their homes with items they no longer need. Jumblers can decide to give things away, sell them (at Jumble sale prices in line with the spirit of the event) or both. Providing cakes is optional!

Jumblees are villagers who fancy a stroll around the village, taking in as many stalls as they can whilst looking for bargains… because there will definitely be bargains!

If you are hosting a stall, please email hurstjumbletrail@gmail.com with your address by 28th March to ensure you are on the trail list.

Jumblers and Jumblees a trail map will be available from 2nd April on our Facebook Group – The Big Hurst Jumble Trail; on village noticeboards; FB Groups Hurstpierpoint Hub and Hassocks & Hurst Reality.

Encouraging garden wildlife with Hurst ReThink

By Laurie Jackson

In May 2021, Hurstpierpoint fell silent, as gardeners took on the No Mow May challenge. Shunning the mower, we instead swapped for sightings of wildflowers and insects. Lots of you have since been in touch, to ask how else to help wildlife in your gardens, so we are sharing some ideas of simple actions that can have a big impact.

Flowers are your foundation, providing food for hoverflies, bees and butterflies. You can help by ensuring there are plants flowering from early spring into autumn. The rose, pea, mint, daisy and carrot families, with their varied flower shapes and sizes, are a great place to start, with double headed varieties and annual bedding plants best avoided, as they have little pollen and nectar.

A varied structure, where short areas flow into long grass, tall herbs and shrubs, provides layers of habitat including undisturbed areas, needed by everything from bumblebees to voles. Uncut seed heads fuel up hungry autumn birds, and hollow stems are a safe haven for insects to while away the winter.

Leaf litter and compost piles also offer refuge, as well as keeping organic material out of landfill, and recycling nutrients. ‘No-dig’ vegetable patches help repair soil structure and lock in carbon.

Chemicals disrupt the balance of a garden: giving an edge to competitive plants and indiscriminately stripping a space of insects, including pollinators. By giving up chemicals, our gardens can detoxify, and minimising light spill at night is another disturbance to try and limit.

Ponds are a valuable addition, quickly colonised by aquatic-life, and you may also want to provide further refuges for wildlife, such as hoverfly lagoons or bat boxes. Your patch is part of a network of gardens that can be linked together, and you could join forces with neighbours to provide a cluster of ponds for toads, or a hedgehog highway.

Whatever you do, we hope you enjoy spending time getting to know the species that visit. We want to find ways we can work as a community to tackle the biodiversity crisis: perhaps you would like Hurst to make a pesticide free pledge, you need advice on bee hotels, or you want to know more about identifying wildflowers. Tell us what action you would like to see and the questions you have at hurstrethink@gmail.com.

Hurst Village Cinema's January 2022 listings

By Mike Thatcher

The safety net has gone, the period of being a caretaker manager when the team was selected by someone else is over and we are on our own feet now regarding film selection. The criteria for choosing them will not change: films we love which may have slipped under the radar.

Three films and National Theatre production in January and we start on Thursday 13th January at 8pm with Sweet Bean (PG), a gentle and moving film about the elderly Tokue, who is reluctantly hired by Santaro to make dorayaki in his small kiosk. A thoughtful film which questions our attitude to the elderly and the side-lined in society.

Thursday 27th January at 7pm with Leopoldstadt, Tom Stoppard’s latest work and directed by Patrick Marber. Set in Vienna during the Nazi occupation, it is an intimate yet epic family portrait of what it is to be persecuted. Stoppard lost all four of his grandparents to the Holocaust, so it is particularly poignant.

The next night, on Friday 28th January at 8pm we screen The Square (15), from the director of Force Majeure (the original, not the remake!). Set in the modern art world in Stockholm it constantly challenges the viewer to make moral choices and judgements on what they are seeing, which make for memorable, but not always comfortable viewing. Christian, the curator of a museum, gets his wallet stolen, leading to a series of decisions, all of which have their consequences.

Finally, on Sunday 30th January at 3pm we show 1917 (15), carried over from the last programme and therefore the only film this season which I have not seen. From director Sam Mendes, it is a massive technical achievement, recreating trench warfare in WWI with intensity, as two soldiers are charged with the seemingly impossible task of delivering a message across enemy lines.

A Happy New Year from all at Hurst Village Cinema and we hope to see you at a screening soon. If you would like to be added to our mailing list then please just email me at info@hurstfilms.com

Hurstpierpoint & Sayers Common Parish Council News - November 2021

Here we list a couple of highlights from the Parish Council’s new letter - November 2021
Click the pictures to see the whole page or pick up a copy of Hurst Life today.

Hurst Meadows Volunteers

Thanks to all the volunteers (both feline and human) who worked hard in September raking and collecting the hay from the Heritage Orchard. This really was a huge (and very tiring!) task which you tackled with enthusiasm and good humour.

Thank you also to our Butterfly Volunteers who have been out in Hurst Meadows surveying and recording these beautiful insects over the summer. Butterflies respond quickly to changes in habitat suitability so counting the different species of butterfly and their numbers over time will help monitor the success of the habitat management in Hurst Meadows. We are pleased to say that a fabulous 26 species of butterfly were recorded this year in the Meadows including these lovely Comma butterflies feeding from blackberries in the hedgerow at the edge of Fifteen Acre Field.If you would like to be part of the Hurst Meadows volunteer group and help with surveys and/or management tasks, please contact the Parish Office.


Public Toilets in Hurstpierpoint

Residents will be aware of concern in the media at the closure of many council-run public toilets in the UK in order to save money at a time of tight budgets. We wish to reassure residents that the Parish Council is committed to continuing to maintain our public toilets in Trinity Road (opposite St Lawrence School) and in Pitt Lane (adjacent to South Avenue recreation ground.) We believe that despite the cost, toilets are an important public health facility and that closure of public toilets disproportionally affects the most vulnerable including children and the elderly and those with medical conditions and/or disabilities. In addition, with the increase in online shopping resulting in many more home delivery vans on the roads, we think it is important that safe, hygienic facilities are provided for drivers as well as for those who shop in our High Street. Our public toilets are well-maintained and cleaned twice daily. Any concerns should be reported to the Parish Office.


Council offices: Village Centre, Trinity Road, Hurstpierpoint, BN6 9UYTel: 01273 833264 Email: office@hurstpierpoint-pc.gov.uk
www.hurstpierpoint-pc.gov.uk

Next annual meeting of the Hurstpierpoint Society

Hurstpierpoint-Society.jpg

By David Clarke, secretary, Hurstpierpoint Society

The Hurstpierpoint Society will hold the Annual General Meeting for all members at 2pm on Saturday 2nd October. This will be in the Main Hall at the Village Centre, allowing members to sit well distanced. In 2020, because of the coronavirus pandemic, the AGM had to be held remotely, though nearly twice as many members participated by sending in proxy voting forms, making helpful comments and asking useful questions.

So, at this AGM there will be a resolution that for all future general meetings members will be able to vote through a proxy. However, in order for this to be introduced, there must be at least 30 members actually present in the room in October. Another important item on the agenda will be the Hurstpierpoint Heritage Trail. This guide to the history of the village, told through its buildings and the people who lived in them, should have been launched by the time you receive this copy of Hurst Life. The Society is very grateful for the support of the Parish Council. More details next month. Full details of the agenda for the meeting will be included for all members of the Society in a newsletter to be delivered to their houses in early September.

Hurstpierpoint & Sayers Common Parish Council

The Annual Parish Meeting is an ancient custom designed for those on the parish electoral roll to discuss parish affairs. It must be held between 1st March and 1st June and not be before 6pm. Previously, the forum has taken place in the Village Centre, with approximately 50+ residents in attendance. Last year, due to the Coronavirus Pandemic and the associated lock-down measures, the meeting was sadly cancelled and replaced by an Annual Report which was published on the Parish Council’s website. This year, anticipating a lack of certainty over being able to a hold the meeting in person, the Parish Council agreed to publish its Annual Report on the Parish Council’s website, but also to embrace technology and to hold the meeting via a webinar on 18th May 2021. We widened the scope under the theme “Working together for a sustainable future”. There were some great presentations covering the range from recycling in the community, managing the Hurst Meadows for wildlife and the community, Hurst Rethink, The Lost Woods Project, to Sustainable Development. They were topped by very focussed videos from both St Lawrence School and Downlands School Students.

We had about 68 logged on to the webinar with a wider demographic to those who have previously attended this meeting in person at the Village Centre. The presentations were both thought-provoking and full of related updates. There was even a quiz to establish exactly which local authority is responsible for which service. We will be drawing upon some of the detail from the presentations and follow up questions to help us to develop further our Environmental Policy into one which will both support the operations and output of the Parish Council, and in some way meet the aspirations of our residents as well. If you missed the webinar the presentations are now accessible via our website at www.hurstpierpointpc.gov.uk/speakerspresentations-from-the-annual-parish-meeting/

Parish Council News published monthly

Village Centre, Trinity Road, Hurstpierpoint, BN6 9UY

Call: 01273 833264
Email: hurstpierpoint.pc@btinternet.com

www.hurstpierpoint-pc.org.uk

A piece of Hurst's history - The closure of St Luke's Catholic Church

Hurst-St-Lukes-Catholic-Church.jpg

By Steve Turner

The small Catholic Church at 123 Cuckfield Road, looks every bit like a house, save for the large sign saying ‘St Luke’s Catholic Church’ and the small wooden cross on the gable end of the main roof. Sandwiched between the Church owned cottages either side, it has been part of the Hurstpierpoint landscape and focal point of worship for generations of local Catholics.

Originally an Anglican meeting room, it was acquired, along with the two cottages in 1925 for the princely sum of £425, loaned by the Diocese and paid back by the parish through enthusiastic fundraising, particularly by the Stringer and Gladman families who organised dances and Whist Drives (a card game social gathering).

The altar was made and presented by the Carthusian community at the monastery near Cowfold and the sanctuary lamp given by Lady Augusta Miller, of Wanbarrow Farm. A blue and gold damask curtain hung behind the altar. Early Mass attendances were about 20/30 on a Sunday but over the years the Church has been extended and was seeing numbers of 60/70.

Extensions saw the rear wall moved back to provide a new altar space in 1928 at a cost of £700. A side chapel was built in 1963, another extension provided a sacristy and cloakroom facilities in 1959; these extensions used garden space of the two cottages either side but being Church property this wasn’t a problem.

A gallery was provided in 1958 and outer porch provided in 1965; all this work allowed more seating to be provided for the vibrant and ever-growing number of worshippers. The rear extension includes two beautiful stain glass windows, depicting ‘St Luke the painter’ and ‘St Luke the doctor’ commissioned by Mgr. Canon Jeffrey Haydn Scott in about the year 2000.

The cottages either side have provided accommodation over the years for retired housekeepers and priests alike; a well-beloved priest and first ‘Parish Priest’ Fr Stuart Bell lived at 125 from 1978 until the Priest’s House at Keymer was built in 1985. Keymer and Hurstpierpoint having been previously under the administration of St Wilfrid’s in Burgess Hill. He regularly took groups of us to Lourdes each Easter to assist with the disabled pilgrims, assisted by another local parishioner, Paddy Kite.

There have been, as you would expect, a succession of priests over the years, all contributing, whether their tenure was long or short, to the wellbeing and needs of the Parish. Canon John Stapleton is worthy of a mention for his passion for music and installing a pedal organ.

Countless numbers of unsung heroes have contributed to the successful running of the Church.

Pick up a copy of July’s Hurst Life today to read about all the other people who contributed to the beating heart of St Luke’s.

St Lawrence Primary in Hurstpierpoint says goodbye to Crossing Patrol Officer

She has been a familiar to sight for over 30 years on Cuckfield Rd during term time, as the Crossing Patrol officer, but Helen Smith finally hung up her high-vis jacket and prepared to pass on the ‘lollipop’ baton, to take a well earned retirement this summer.

She was presented with flowers and well-wishers’ cards at the school by some Year 6 students and she wrote this note to children and parents of St Lawrence:

“Dear all. The time has come for me to hang up my rather unflattering hat for the final time and retire! I have enjoyed every minute of being St Lawrence School’s Lollipop lady and will miss you all. The children have been an absolute pleasure to work with, always friendly, polite and well behaved - they are a credit to themselves, their parents and the school. All being well, arrangements are in hand for cover to be provided from the 9th of June but there is now a vacancy for a full time School Crossing Patrol. I can thoroughly recommend the job and if anyone is interested, I would be happy to answer any questions they might have. Wishing everyone at St Lawrence all the best for the future.” Helen Smith

New Hurstpierpoint magazine launches: BBQ – Fire, Food & Outdoor Living

When lockdown forced everyone to cook at home, out came the barbecues and, for one Hurstpierpoint couple, out came a brand-new magazine called BBQ to provide live fire inspiration and recipes. Rupert and Kelly Bates launched ‘BBQ – Fire, Food & Outdoor Living’ last spring, appealing to pit masters, enthusiasts and novices alike. “We realised, while plenty of food magazines and cooking content out there, there was nothing focused on BBQ and al fresco dining – something for anyone simply enjoying cooking outside for family and friends, eager to learn more and have a lot of fun in the process. Light a fire and you start a party,” said Rupert.

“BBQ is a quarterly publication and we have just published our fourth issue and with the website – www.thebbqmag.com - going from strength to strength. We’re delighted with the response and as well as through subscriptions, the magazine is also available in selected butchers, farm shops, garden centres, hotels and restaurants,” said Kelly.

It is not all about cooking and eating at home. The magazine features the best live restaurants and pubs, looking to support the hospitality industry which has taken such a hammering during the pandemic.

Pick up a copy of June’s Hurst Life to find out which celebrities and Michelin-starred chefs have been talking to BBQ.

League campaign concluded for Hurstpierpoint Football Club

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By Ed Bartram

To borrow a cliché, it’s been a season of two halves for Hurstpierpoint Football Club, but their Mid Sussex League campaign finally limped to its conclusion last month.

With the Championship division split into a top and bottom half, the 1st Team competed in a seven team mini-league to avoid relegation. It turned out to be a fiercely competitive group, with no side managing to pull away at the top, and every side doing their all to pick up points at the opposite end of the table. This was highlighted by the fact that, with just two games to play, any team could finish top, and every side was two defeats away from relegation!

For Hurst, a 1-0 win away at Peacehaven on the final day secured safety and Intermediate football for a third successive season. Danny Beattie scored the crucial goal early on, but was then dismissed for a tackle deemed to have been made with ‘excessive force’. Despite playing the majority of the game with a man less, the Bluedogs held on for victory.

The Reserves also restarted with the threat of a relegation battle looming large, but five wins in their first six games saw the side rocket up the table and secure a comfortable mid-table position in Division 4 South. And whilst the young 3rd Team (primarily made up of youth team players from the village making their first foray into men’s football) didn’t manage to climb off of the bottom of the Division 5 South table, they did record their first win of the season with a 2-1 victory at home to Willingdon 3rd Team; eliminating the visitors from the title race in the process. Progress and deserved points for the players.

Everyone is relieved to wrap-up another difficult season, with optimism that 2021/22 will be a little more ‘normal’. The club hopes to regain the momentum on the pitch from the 2018/19 double-winning season, before COVID struck. Plans are already afoot to make the season memorable; Artemis Marketing have renewed their major club sponsorship and new kit and equipment is en route, whilst the Village Pizza Kitchen have agreed to supply the prize for the Player of the Month award; just a couple of the exciting developments taking place off the pitch.

Pre-season training begins mid-June, and the door is always open for new players, volunteers and supporters wanting to get involved with the village side. So, head to social media or contact hello@hurstpierpointfc.co.uk if you’d like to get in touch.

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