Hailsham Festival 2024 offers busy and enticing line-up

The annual event offers a celebration of talent, creativity and imagination centred in Hailsham and its surrounding areas. As chairman Tony Biggin says, the arts represent a vital component of our culture, enriching our community and creating a vibrant landscape from which we all benefit.

“It is about trying to make sure the arts are valued and appreciated. I think there's a danger in somewhere like Hailsham that people go to Eastbourne or Brighton or Tunbridge Wells or London if they go to the theatre or the cinema. What we are trying to do is to bring the best of the arts to Hailsham.”

This year the Festival is thrilled to be offering a special screening of the film Lee, starring Kate Winslet and telling the story of Lee Miller, a fashion model who became a surrealist photographer and an acclaimed war correspondent for Vogue magazine during World War Two. Lee Miller lived nearby in Farleys Farmhouse, Chiddingly, now known as the Home of the Surrealists. Her son and biographer Antony Penrose will introduce the film and answer questions afterwards.

Other highlights of this year's festival include flamenco dance, poetry, song and guitar with the premiere of The Life And Loves Of Picasso; theatre with The Madness Of King George III; and more music with Carnaval, an illustrated recital with pianist William Hancox. All of these events will take place in the Hailsham Pavilion.

Once again, the festival is inviting members of the community to share and showcase their creative achievements in its Virtual Art Gallery and publications. The festival’s 2024 Poetry and Short Story Anthology will be available to buy as an e-book or printed book from September 7 while anthologies from previous years are available on amazon.com.

Festival brochures have been delivered to every household in the Hailsham area and are available from outlets in the town. Each brochure contains a unique number which will be entered into a draw. The winner will win a £100 hamper. On Saturday, September 14 the winning number will be advertised on the Festival's Facebook and Instagram pages, whereupon the winner will then need to present the winning brochure at the festival stand at the Nostalgia Fair on the same day. More details on https://hailshamfestival.co.uk.

Tony added: “I joined in 2016 and found myself chair of the festival. I had a background in the arts. I directed the county music service prior to retirement and it was something I was very interested to do. I hope I am a champion of the arts. The basic structure of the festival was there and we have retained that but we have tried also to incorporate local amateur talent of which there is a great deal and to offer a rich mix of the two with the professionals.”

The festival went online during the pandemic and managed to keep going but Tony remains a little worried that some people have lost the habit of going out in the evening, particularly with the options on television so remarkable these days: “It can be quite difficult to persuade people to go out but we are well supported and we are very lucky that we have got the Hailsham Pavilion. It's a fantastic venue which is just over 100 years old. It fell into disuse but it has been restored and it is a wonderful, fantastic resource to have.”

Funded partly through the lottery, the festival offers around 30 events this year and thanks to the lottery funding, Tony is delighted to say that around half of the events are free.