Team’s ‘positive’ trip for culture

The team visited Farringdon in London last week to face a barrage of questions during a ‘Classification’ session held by consultants employed by the Department of Culture.

Hastings Borough Council leader Jeremy Birch said he felt confident that the team had presented a good case and made sure they made all the key points to bring the bid to Hastings & 1066 Country.

The team were grilled for an hour and a half, the first question session ahead of the crucial short list which will be announced next month.

They were asked ‘what was the track record on delivering events’ and ‘how they would finance everything.’

The classification officers will now report back to the panel of judges which includes reowned TV producer Phil Redmond as its chairman.

A shortlist of four or five bids is expected to be announced on June 17. The Secretary of State will make the final decision in November.

Hastings and Rother is one of 11 bids in the running.

The others are East Kent, Leicester, Southend, Chester, Plymouth, Swansea Bay, Dundee, Hull, Aberdeen, Portsmouth and Southampton.

Chester are the favourites with bookies William Hill.

Councillor Birch said: “We made sure all we got across all the points we wanted to make.

“We wanted to show how we would used the bid to revive the community and the interviewers looked interested.

“Our theme plays on that of 1066 - English language and culture all started here.

Battle Mayor Richard Bye said: “The town of Battle has so much to offer culturally.”

John Smith of Rye Bay Marketing, said: “Anything that can help promote what the area has to offer can only be a good thing.”