Giant public artwork will celebrate Hastings’ ‘hero’ volunteers

The artwork project, called Heroes of Hastings, will be a photo mosaic made up of residents’ faces which will be displayed to mark the 30th birthday of Hastings Voluntary Actiom.

The idea is to celebrate the amount of volunteering that happens in the area and to get people to recognise the amazing work they as individuals do.

Su Barnicoat-Hill, community development officer, said she hoped it would get more people interested in volunteering.

“It’s about trying to get the town to think about how we can help eachother,” she said.

“In these times, there’s a lot of division. We are trying to bring people together to help and value each other.”

She said the organisation had been ‘very lucky’ to commission world-renowned artist Helen Marshall to deliver the artwork.

While at first, it will exist online as a digital project, by next summer it will have come to life as a permanent public display – alongside a series of smaller images around the town.

Hastings Voluntary Action will be celebrating 30 years of supporting community groups and organisations with a year-long programme of events from August 2019 until August 2020.

The first event is a charities fair which takes place at St Mary in the Castle, Pelham Crescent, from 10.30am to 3pm on Thursday, August 1.

The free event will showcase different charities and organisations in the area and how residents can get involved.

To take part in the artwork, upload a photo of yourself along with some information about your volunteering to the project’s website here.

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