A Walk of Art : Events
We've made marmalade for breakfast!
Sunday February 5th 10am – 1pm.
Come and keep warm!! Relax in front of a log fire, enjoy a freshly cooked breakfast of Eggs Benedict (with spinach in place of ham), or eggs on toast or vegetarian haggis (home-made, vegan), roast tomatoes, roast potatoes followed by toast and home-made marmalade. Tea, coffee.
All still a fiver. Proceeds to A Walk of Art.
Sunday 5th February
Breakfast at the Beacon
10am – 1pm
Home-made marmalade and Judges’ bread mmmm...
Eggs, roast potatoes and tomatoes etc
Still only £5minimum donation
Proceeds all to A Walk of Art
Judith Rowe Pottery raffle.
Judith Rowe 3 piece pottery set. Result of the draw on 10th September: ticket no 154, M Anderson.
A Walk in Their Shoes: Heritage Open Days
A Walk of Art presents:
A Walk in Their Shoes: ‘Elizabeth Blackwell’
Thursday September 8th, 4pm (time changed due to high winds – event now happening indoors).
Please come along to see this (still) work in progress. Children friendly, amusing, educational. Time approx. 20 minutes.
Cup of Tea available.
Come to the Beacon, below St Mary’s Terrace, (down steps opp no 12 or down track – look for pink flag), Hastings TN34 3LS. Some Parking.
Elizabeth Blackwell 2
Video clip (by Thierry Alexandre) of performance as part of the national Heritage Open Days, September 8th at the Beacon. This event happened while Radiator Arts were finishing their giant gurnard for Walking the Fish at the other end of the studio. We're nothing if not adaptable.
With a different cast improvising with the material: Julian Humphries as the Victorian surgeon/butcher and Nikki Joy stage hand/nurse/sound effects. Judy narrating and Kathrine Little as Dr Blackwell as usual.
The wardrobe has evolved into a mini theatre that we're intending to take out into different venues. All the props are contained within. The 'shape' of the story is evolving too with Kathrine talking afterwards about her experience of taking on the role of Elizabeth Blackwell.
6th November; last breakfast of this year!!
Probably the busiest breakfast yet! Banking £220 proceeds, plus £75 from the raffle of Kate's quilt. Ticket no: 175 was the lucky winner.
Rafffle; Kate Orr has donated this beautiful throw/hanging she made in 2002.
It is machine embroidered and hand quilted on cotton, measuring approximately 197 x 147 cms. The work was originally part of a dab Arts’ project based on the Lion and Unicorn statues on the seaward side area outside Debenhams. These are thought to be by Landseer for a royal palace but were rejected. They are now sadly weathered.
Beacon Land Sale Proposal
In order to ensure the survival of the Beacon I (Judy) am attempting to sell a section of the garden to the north of the house.
I would not be selling this charming piece of land unless I absolutely had to. The choice is not for one new house or for the land to remain as it is; I have to do something radical in order for the Beacon to carry on. The bottom line is that I sell the whole thing to the highest bidder, although this would be my very last option. I love doing what I do and will try my hardest to stay. It has to be said here that the informal opinion of HBC at the start of this process was that there should be 5 houses on that plot. I think they're called town houses, a term for minimum specifications.
The proposed buyer is Peter Ludgrove, a neighbour. He has been assembling this application for one house, for himself and his family to live in, for over three years and it has now been submitted for planning consent to HBC; application no. HS/FA/11/00820. The only way a value could be found for the land was to see if planning consent would be granted for a building. The only way planning consent could be determined was to do a fully detailed application. This has cost Peter Ludgrove in excess of £21,000 to date. He is the only prospective buyer to have shown this level of commitment to the project. Peter is still looking at ways of amending the plans in answer to the more reasonable and logical objections. He intends to live here, so his relationship with his neighbours is important.
As it became obvious in 2010 that construction traffic would require access to the site, an agreement was made between Mr Ludgrove and myself that half the purchase money would be used to repair the failing retaining wall on the (un-owned) track that leads from the West Hill to Whistler’s Steps and the Beacon. Hastings Borough Council say that there is no evidence that this section of the wall is their responsibility; they are correct in that no evidence can be found. I spent the best part of a year researching.
A Walk of Art Ltd (operating as a not-for profit company) was set up in 2010 in part to raise funds to fix this wall as well as highlighting the need to maintain the other footpaths and twittens on the route. In order to attract public funding, at which we failed miserably! an educational ‘arm’ of the project was formed; this did gain funds to produce the brochure (HBC Small Grant Award); this performance section of the project – the fun part – is going really well (see performance on Saturday 19th November, St Mary in the Castle).
A Walk of Art has to date raised nearly £5000 from breakfasts, raffles and generous donations from individuals (on top of £1370 funding for the brochure and way-marker project). This money has been used to commission a geological report from GeoGabriel Consultants which enabled us to have enough information to gain a quotation for the actual work. This is how we know we need £50K.
We await the outcome of the planning application.
13th November 2011
HS/FA/11/00820: for the erection of a single family dwelling on land to the north of the Beacon.
Mr Peter Ludgrove
Dear Sir/Madam
My name is Dora Dewsbery, daughter of Judy Dewsbery the current owner of the Beacon. I have moved back to Hastings although I still work in London. I am writing to you concerning the above application for planning permission potentially happening at the end of The Beacon's land.
My family has owned and lived in The Beacon for the majority of my life, its been twenty years now and we hope to remain there, running the house as a family dwelling and small business venture hosting cultural and creative events for the surrounding communities.
The piece of land in question stands at the far end of our land and to date has been used very rarely, it is overgrown and uneven, requiring attention and a use. The single dwelling proposed within this application is, in my mind, the perfect use of this space. It is a good size space for a single house and would benefit the immediate surroundings largely by the somewhat derelict space being inhabited and alive. The applicant Peter Ludgrove is a respected member of the community who has a small family, we have no reason to believe their continued presence within the neighbourhood would be anything but positive.
I am outraged that there could be any negative views on this plan, my mother has worked tirelessly over the years to keep the house as a family home and not let it be sold on to potential developers who would endeavour to take over the land and probably demolish the house, laying down modern developments or such unthinkable ideas, like perhaps the dry ski slope that was applied for before we bought the house.
The Beacon has been used over the years for the entire neighbourhood to hold their annual events such as Christmas parties, summer fete's, birthdays, wedding celebrations, funeral wakes.
It has caused much upset that some of these local residents could then have any disagreement with this idea. We see it as a positive and successful move forward for the thriving family home that it is now, we hope The Beacon has a future remaining in our hands.
xxxx
Dora