It was New Year’s Eve, 2019. I’d been reading about choosing a ‘word of the year’ rather than a ‘new year’s resolution’ – it would apparently help me to focus on what I wanted to create for myself during the coming year. So, after some consideration, palpitations and a hot flush, I chose the word ‘balance’! That […]
We may have seen some of the hottest days of the year recently but a subscription gift box company, near Hastings is already gearing up for Christmas and wrapping 24,000 individual gifts for their limited edition 2021 advent calendar. TreatBox curates beautifully wrapped letterbox gifts that promote self-care and wellbeing. Each day in the run […]
Since he started writing for Hastings In Focus back in 2019 Tom McCann has never been afraid to court controversy. As a young man trying to make his way in the world and facing an ever more ‘hostile’ local housing market he wonders if Hastings Borough Councillors have their priorities the right way round? With […]
Those of you who are old enough to have been around may well remember the Memorial Clock writes Tom McCann. Commissioned after Prince Albert’s death from typhoid in 1861, the Albert Memorial clock tower was designed by Liverpudlian Edward Heffer. There had been a contest to find a designer and Heffer beat off competition from […]
Hastings and St Leonards are full of quirky statues and historical artefacts, Tom McCann has been looking in to the history of some of them Erected in 1902, a year after her death and unveiled by the Marquess of Abergavenny, the town mayor and other famous locals, the statue of Queen Victoria in Warrior Square […]
Old Town Week will soon be upon us and I’m looking forward to being involved as an honorary Old Towner for the first time. It should be a wonderful week of celebration as we emerge from Covid restrictions. We have lots of church-based events planned ranging from our special Old Town Service at St. Clement’s on […]
While councils across the south east have given the green light for Parkrun events to restart later this month once the current lockdown restrictions are lifted in Hastings the borough council is still refusing to give the go ahead and is asking organisers to meet impossible conditions. Parkrun enthusiast and ward councillor for West St […]
Frustrated by the lack of recognition of the town’s rich musical heritage, music enthusiasts Andy Gunton, Jim Breeds and Tony Davis decided to do something about it and between them they’ve set up 1066 Music Blue Plaques and on Saturday the late punk rock and feminist icon Poly Styrene was the first to be commemorated. […]
Stuart Baillie first met ‘The Kates’ in 2018 shortly after they’d set up a local Coffin Club, he caught up with them recently to find out all about their mission to change the face of funerals forever! When you meet Kate Tym and Kate Dyer it’s never anything other than an uplifting experience. As a […]
