Everything you need to know about today's free concert and Hastings Lifeboat celebrations

​It is happening at 6.24pm on Thursday August 1 when a big free concert takes place at the Stade Open Space in Hastings Old Town, within view of the lifeboat house.

Maroon rockets were traditionally used to notify crew members of a lifeboat launch before pagers took over.

The concert will run from 3pm until 8pm, with gates opening at 1pm. It will use the infrastructure of the following weekend’s ‘Nearly On The Beach Concert’, the organising committee of which are very kindly setting up early for the RNLI.

The line -up of live music today includes Blair and Friends, who are set to perform at 5pm, with headliners Groove UK on at 7pm. Tap on Tap dancers take to the stage at 4.30pm and other artists include The Pett Slip Buoys, shanty singer Tom Kelly and Hastings Old Town Ukulele Group.

Both the Hastings Mayor and new Hastings MP Helena Dollimore are set to attend today’s event.

Hastings Old Town Carnival Week organisers have very kindly agreed to start their week two days early this year to incorporate this milestone event. The week’s official opening ceremony, including the crowning of the carnival queen, will start the celebrations, which will include local dancers, live music, shanty singers, including Tom Kelly, Brit Award winning musician Blair and Friends, and Groove UK.

Local volunteers from different branches of the RNLI will be around all afternoon, and special merchandise will also be available. In addition, the lifeboat house, adjacent to the event site, will be open until 8pm, allowing visitors to look at the lifeboat close up and personal, emergency launches permitting.

Kevin Boorman said: “This event has been organised entirely by Hastings lifeboat volunteers, and all the performers are giving their services free of charge. RNLI volunteers have been saving lives at sea since 1824.”

He added: “Working with Judges we’ve produced a series of six limited edition (limited to 200 sets) postcards, sold in a pack for £10, showing the 1908 launch of the Hastings Lifeboat; these are reprints of postcards produced at the time. In addition we have produced two ‘then and now’ postcards showing the Hastings lifeboat being launched in Storm Ciara in February 2020, alongside the 1908 launch. These cards sell for £1 each. Judges have been really supportive with this project, designing the cards for free, and letting us have them at cost, so maximising the benefit to the local lifeboat station. All the postcards will be sold at our merchandise stand at the August 1 event on the Stade open space.

"I’ve actually got a strong personal interest, my great granddad, Charles Moon, was second cox on the 1908 launch, the boat was out for 36 hours and the families of the crew were worried they’d never see them back alive. But the ‘shout’ was successful, they saved the crew of a Dutch barge Amy.

"My great grandmother was nearly seven months pregnant with my Nan at the time, and she was given her middle name Amy as a result. Charles’ son George, my Nan’s brother, was cox of the Hastings lifeboat Cyril and Lilian Bishop in 1940 and took it to Dover, for Dunkirk.”

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