Hastings Pier on Fire

Here's a short video of Hastings pier on fire.

It won't be long till work starts on making the pier amazing again.
 

Mods and Rockers in Hastings

Take a look at this video at 1066 online
The mods and rockers would be at least 65 years old now.

a red-veined stone, a piece of glass abraded by the beach...

I love Hastings poet Coventry Patmore's poem The Toys, because the toys in it are the things I used to pick up on the beach as a child  - and these are the 'toys' that my students and I idly play with during summer afternoon conversations on the lifeguard beach opposite Pelham Crescent when they come back from their afternoon swim to dry off on the warm pebbles. 

My little Son, who look'd from thoughtful eyes 
And moved and spoke in quiet grown-up wise, 
Having my law the seventh time disobey'd, 
I struck him, and dismiss'd 
With hard words and unkiss'd,
—His Mother, who was patient, being dead. 
Then, fearing lest his grief should hinder sleep, 
I visited his bed, 
But found him slumbering deep, 
With darken'd eyelids, and their lashes yet 
From his late sobbing wet. 
And I, with moan, 
Kissing away his tears, left others of my own; 
For, on a table drawn beside his head, 
He had put, within his reach, 
A box of counters and a red-vein'd stone, 
A piece of glass abraded by the beach, 
And six or seven shells, 
A bottle with bluebells, 
And two French copper coins, ranged there with careful art, 
To comfort his sad heart. 
So when that night I pray'd 
To God, I wept, and said: 
Ah, when at last we lie with trancèd breath, 
Not vexing Thee in death, 
And Thou rememberest of what toys 
We made our joys, 
How weakly understood 
Thy great commanded good, 
Then, fatherly not less 
Than I whom Thou hast moulded from the clay, 
Thou'lt leave Thy wrath, and say, 
'I will be sorry for their childishness.' 

Hastings bid to be UK City of Culture

Hastings and Bexhill have jointly put in a bid to become the UK City of Culture in 2017.
With our rich cultural history (see my previous and future posts on this blog), our many vibrant festivals, our centuries-old buildings and fishing harbour, our great tourist attractions and our soon-to-be-renovated pier, how can we fail to win the bid?
Read all about it in This is Sussex

Smugglers' Song 2

Kipling (see previous post) showed in his song that he knew a great deal about how the smugglers operated in Hastings.
You can still see plenty of evidence of the smugglers' activity - hidden passageways from the caves and cliffs to houses and pubs, and  little sticking-out windows that would be lit if it was safe to bring in smuggled goods.
The nursery rhyme Little Bo-Peep is about King George's men watching out for the smugglers, who would come up the beach dragging barrels - wagging their tails - behind them.

Smugglers' Song

Lots of famous poems and novels originated in Hastings. For example, Rudyard Kipling (of Jungle Book fame) wrote his Smugglers' Song about the Hastings smugglers:

IF you wake at midnight, and hear a horse's feet, Don't go drawing back the blind, or looking in the street, Them that ask no questions isn't told a lie. Watch the wall my darling while the Gentlemen go by. Five and twenty ponies, Trotting through the dark - Brandy for the Parson, 'Baccy for the Clerk. Laces for a lady; letters for a spy, Watch the wall my darling while the Gentlemen go by! Running round the woodlump if you chance to find Little barrels, roped and tarred, all full of brandy-wine, Don't you shout to come and look, nor use 'em for your play. Put the brishwood back again - and they'll be gone next day ! If you see the stable-door setting open wide; If you see a tired horse lying down inside; If your mother mends a coat cut about and tore; If the lining's wet and warm - don't you ask no more ! If you meet King George's men, dressed in blue and red, You be careful what you say, and mindful what is said. If they call you " pretty maid," and chuck you 'neath the chin, Don't you tell where no one is, nor yet where no one's been ! Knocks and footsteps round the house - whistles after dark - You've no call for running out till the house-dogs bark. Trusty's here, and Pincher's here, and see how dumb they lie They don't fret to follow when the Gentlemen go by ! 'If You do as you've been told, 'likely there's a chance, You'll be give a dainty doll, all the way from France, With a cap of Valenciennes, and a velvet hood - A present from the Gentlemen, along 'o being good ! Five and twenty ponies, Trotting through the dark - Brandy for the Parson, 'Baccy for the Clerk. Them that asks no questions isn't told a lie - Watch the wall my darling while the Gentlemen go by !

Hastings Literary and Artistic Old Town

In 1860, a Brighton doctor recommended seaside holidays for health. The health tourists who started coming to Hastings included many writers and artists. The artists were attracted not only by the health-giving qualities of the sea air but also by the clear colours of the landscape and by the fact that lots of doctors came to live here to look after the health tourists. Maybe the writers and artists were hypochondriacs or maybe they had time to write and paint because they weren't well enough to do other things.
Dante Gabriel Rossetti and his friends came to live in Hastings and started the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. They were aiming at a natural style of painting. Their themes were myths, Shakespeare, scripture and so on. You can see lots of them on greetings cards.
Rossetti married the main model for their paintings, Elizabeth Siddall, in St Clement's Church. She died of a laudanum overdose after a miscarriage. She was delicately beautiful.
Rossetti's sister, Christina, also lived in Hastings. She is famous for her hymns and poems, including 'Sleep at Sea'.
Charles Dickens loved Hastings and used to read from his work here.
Lewis Carroll did lots of his writing here each summer when he stayed at 2 Wellington Square.
JMW Turner painted loads of beach and sea scenes in Hastings.
Basically, Hastings is the centre of the literary and artistic world as well as being a beautiful fishing town with a beach-launched fleet.
Read about this Turner painting here

Plans for Hastings Castle

Click here to see our lovely castle and to read about the plans for sprucing it up
Did you see the photo of our beautiful ruined castle? It was the first castle to be built by William the Conqueror. When I go there with students, I always spend a few minutes in the ruins of the chapel. People used to come here on pilgrimages because lots of healings happened in the chapel.
St Thomas Beckett was the dean of this collegiate chapel before his brutal murder at Canterbury Cathedral.
The chapel started to fall into ruin when Henry VIII had the lead removed from the roof.
I love our castle, and students enjoy wandering around it and taking in the audio-visual show. I can't see how the experience could be bettered, but the more people who are enticed onto the wonderful west Hill Cliff Lift to see the castle and then the caves, the better.

Hastings Observer report on last year's Pirate Day

HASTINGS snatched the crown back as the town with the most pirates in one place.

Sea dogs, buccaneers and Jack Sparrow wannabees descended on Pelham beach  as part of a world record attempt, smashing the record held by Penzance.

A total of 14,231 pirates gathered on the beach, allowing Hastings to reclaim the title it previously held in August 2010.

At the end of the festivities, scores of people gathered to watch a display by the Red Arrows from 5.30pm.

Pirate Day

Sunday 21st July 2013 is the date for the next Hastings Pirate Day.
Last year, we did really well. See http://www.hastingsobserver.co.uk/news/local-news/hastings-smashes-world-record-on-pirate-day-snatching-crown-back-from-penzance-1-4084532
If you will be at English for You, Hastings on Sunday 21st July 2013, you will need pirate gear - a pirate hat or scarf, a sword (plastic, please), maybe an eye mask...

The Smugglers' Caves

The Smugglers' Caves on amazonYou can order my mystery novel set in Hastings and published by mainstream educational publisher Cornelsen from all online sellers, such as amazon. The ISBN is 9783060329519