The residents of Wickham Hill in Hurstpierpoint decided to host a Stay at Home Street Party on Friday 8th May, as handmade flyers asked homeowners to decorate houses in red, white and blue - and then head to front gardens for 4pm.
Thank you to Catherine Tong for sending in these photos of the celebrations - albeit rather different from those that would have been planned just a couple of months ago.
Hurstpierpoint residents, Prue Heron, Ebony Buscema, Lucy Groenewoud, Hazel Constantine, Sian Tai and Ellie Carter are leading a local initiative to bring together Hurst residents to help and support their neighbours who are vulnerable or self-isolating during the current COVID-19 outbreak.
Prue initially set up the Facebook group earlier in March and said: “Before I knew it we had over 450 people join the page, and nearly 200 volunteers. It’s amazing and shows the real community spirit of the village.”
Volunteers are currently distributing fliers across the village with their contact details, and posters are on display in public areas. Four area co-ordinators are ensuring that every street is being covered. Area co-ordinator Ebony Buscema explained: “The aim is to ensure that everyone who needs support has a nominated local volunteer who they can reach out to. Volunteers are offering to collect shopping and prescriptions, walk dogs, post mail or be available on the telephone for a friendly chat.”
If you would like to volunteer, or need support and don’t know who to contact, please get in touch with the Group via their Facebook page – ‘Hurst COVID-19 Neighbours’ Support Group’ - or call Prue Heron on 01273 835064 or Ellie Carter on 07834 170669.
By Mike Thatcher
Michel Olszewksi bears no resemblance to Peter Falk, but I was put in mind of Colombo by the end of our meeting. “Oh one more thing, did I say I received a medal from the Polish President?” Or, “I almost forgot; I did the Everest base camp walk a few years ago and got airlifted out when my back went.” Had I been there two hours, rather than one, I suspect there would have been many more stories and he would have talked about them all with equal modesty I’m sure.
His father was a regular officer in the Polish army before the war and belonged to one of the few regiments that managed to get to England as a whole, fighting their way through France, arriving in 1940. Michel was born on an army camp in Germany to a half Belgian, half French mother, whom his father had met whilst liberating a town.
“I came to Hurst when I was two in 1948 and my first language was French. My father spoke Polish, French and English; my mother spoke Dutch and French so the common language at home was French.”
After the war, approximately 300,000 Poles were allowed to stay and, although there were areas of the UK where this caused friction as soldiers returned and looked for jobs, this was not the case for his father in Hurst. “People here were incredibly kind and understood what the Poles had done. My father never went back to Poland because he was a Lieutenant Colonel and so he would have been at risk after the Communists had taken over. He lost most of his family in the bombing of Warsaw and never wanted to return.”
It didn’t take long for Michel to learn English and soon he was off to a boys’ Catholic school in Brighton. If you ever need confirmation that things were different a generation or two ago then this is it. “Aged 6, I caught the bus from the church, would walk up the road to school in Brighton and I’d catch a bus back. The driver and bus conductor were Hurst people, they knew you and made sure you got on; they waited for you if you weren’t there. So it was very different, but wouldn’t happen now.”
By David Tingley
The Ex-Serviceman’s Club has been closed for nearly two years, but there has been lots of positive work going on in the background, thanks to Mid Sussex District Council (MSDC).
The club had experienced some challenges latterly which resulted in MSDC repossessing the building off Willow Way back in December 2017.
Unfortunately, during that month a fire was started in a wheelie bin outside the centre, which took hold and spread into the eaves and roof of the building causing tens of thousands of pounds worth of damage to the empty site. This gave the Council both a problem but also an opportunity.
There had already been a series of conversations with local interested parties to try to ensure that the club building was able to be used for the good of the community. District Councillor and Hurst resident Colin Trumble chaired and hosted a meeting back in November 2017 at Haywards Heath Town Hall. The result of that was the creation of a Steering Group whose members comprised of representatives from the Parish Council, MSDC, the Club, local churches and other community groups.
Following the repossession, fire damage and assessment, MSDC agreed a plan to spend money on renovating the site with Hurstpierpoint & Sayers Common Parish Council committing to take the lease for the building and grounds.
Paul Williams, Project Surveyor for MSDC, explained: “The fire damage was extensive and smoke had affected almost every aspect of the inside of the building.” Paul worked alongside the Steering Group to create a completely new plan for the space which would seek to be both flexible and practical. “Fortunately we were able to reuse some equipment and furniture from recently decommissioned Martlets Hall in Burgess Hill – which included the bar and kitchen equipment.”
The new building – named Court Bushes Community Hub – now comprises of three independent spaces.
A small room with a bar and kitchen is at the back of the building. This area has one wall which is entirely bifold doors and will open out onto a decked garden area.
On the opposite side of the site is a completely self-sufficient nursery premises, fitted with its own set of toilets, a manager’s office and separate entrance from the car park. This large, bright room includes access to a generous enclosed outside space too. The Parish Council have already agreed to rent this space to a local nursery school (Kiddie Capers) from September.
Then the main space is a large and bright room, now completely open, which includes storage facilities, a dancefloor area and a hatch through to a well-planned kitchen. This area also has its own bi-fold doors, opening out to the grassy field outside.
Each of these spaces can be let independently, and all enquiries should be direct to the Parish Council office on 01273 833264 or see the recently launched website: www.hurstpierpointvillagehalls.org
Colin Trumble explained: “I am delighted that this building has been given a new lease of life. Although it doesn’t always happen, this really is a triumph of ‘design by committee’ – as so many from the community have been part of what has now been built.”
“The original Ex-Serviceman’s Club was opened over 100 years ago in Hurst,” commented MSDC Councillor Joy Dennis, “as a response from the community to help those who fought for our country. Now, in different times, it’s great to see the revitalised Court Bushes site being open and available to be used for all in Hurstpierpoint.”
“To celebrate the opening of Court Bushes Community
Hub there is a Fun Day planned for Saturday 1st June
(1-3pm), which will include craft activities for kids, a soft
play area, café, bouncy castle, a DJ and Popsteps dance
classes – as well as officially cutting the ribbon! All are
invited to go along and see the revitalised building.”
By Stephen Hand
As many will have seen, the new Village Gateways have been installed at the entry to the two villages of Hurstpierpoint and Sayers Common and in general have been positively received. Most people have commented that they do give a stronger sense of place, which was our intention in putting them in place.
Although New Year’s Day will be some weeks past when this page is published, I would like to thank everyone who made the effort to join the ‘Hurst Meadows Guided Walkabouts’ on that day. Some eighty people in total took part in the two walks and, from the lively discussions that took place, thoroughly enjoyed the guided tours of the three meadows which make up the fifty acres that now belong in perpetuity to the community. My thanks to Cllr. Claire Majsai and Advisory Board member Helen Brangwyn for organising the event, which will be repeated at Easter when the new orchard has been planted.
At its recent January meeting the Parish Council approved its budget for the year 2019-2020. In looking to next year we have taken account of our proposed management of the new Court Bushes Community Hub which will open in the spring. The new community building will be a flexible space that can be used in different ways by local community groups. A large hall area will be available for social functions or as a venue for activities like exercise classes and it is hoped that a nursery provider will use the space to provide local childcare. While MSDC has made most of the investment in refurbishing the building, it is proposed that the Parish Council will be responsible for the day to day financial operation of the Hub. MSDC will consider our management proposal in March, but meanwhile we believe that it is right for us to make provision to fund the early days of this hugely worthwhile project. In order to make sure we can do this while continuing to balance our budget, we have increased our Band D council tax by 5% which equates to an additional £3.42 per household per year. This budget and the financial results for the year 2018-2019 will be presented as usual at the Annual Parish Meeting in May.
Finally, in May there are local elections, including the chance to elect a new Parish Council. Anyone wishing to stand for election should contact the MSDC election office for further details. The deadline for candidates to submit nomination forms is 3rd April 2019.
Passers-by of the children sculpture on The Green may have noticed the addition of a new stone laid in front of it – courtesy of Hurstpierpoint and Sayers Common Parish Council.
Hurst resident Sylvia Thornhill (pictured) was one of many who suggested concepts for the installation, but hers eventually won the public vote and was installed in July 2013.
The new stone credits Sylvia and explains the rationale of the artwork, as the children represent the seven centuries that the St Lawrence Fair has been running.
Hurstpierpoint Co-op store opening ceremony - Weds 29th Nov 2017
The Co-op store on the High Street is finally back, fully open at its original shop - since its closure following a fire in a nearby building back in September 2016.
More on this story in the January issue of Hurst Life magazine...
By Michèle Copeland
Which residents of Hurstpierpoint would not have heard of, or been to, the St Lawrence Fair? Yet how many of us know its history and the role that the Harris family has played over 100 years?
Harris Brothers Family Fun Fair - photo from the 80s
Though the Fair has been around for over 700 hundred years in Hurstpierpoint, it presumably started then to coincide with a cattle market trading day, which would have been very popular, first on Church Green (where the War Memorial now is) - the 1897 OS map has the area around the crossroads as ‘Market Place’. Later it moved a short distance away to the north to Lamb Platt, where London Terrace and North Terrace are now, opposite the entrance to Trinity Road. There are even entries in the school log citing occasions when the cattle spilled over into the road and prevented children going to school!
However, the link to Hurstpierpoint with the Harris brothers started in the 1860s and was made by John Harris, who had five sons and was a timber merchant with a yard in nearby Cuckfield.
He came to the fairground business at the time of horse powered roundabouts and went on, with his sons, to be the first operator of steam roundabouts in Sussex. They first opened at Brighton Racecourse in Victorian times by supplying ‘amusements’ to fairgrounds .
[The full article is featured on the pages of the July 2017 issue of Hurst Life magazine]
Hurstpierpoint Traders organise a successful charity Fashion Show in June.
Last month a group of High Street traders from Hurstpierpoint held a charity event raising £1,200.
The owners of Ashley and Thomas, Le Chic Fashion Exchange and Morley’s Wine Bar worked together to organise the evening of fashion and fun, which was held at Morley’s in June. Clothes were supplied courtesy of Audrey (Le Chic) and the jewellery and scarfs from Gill (Ashley & Thomas). The event was a fundraiser for local charity Dame Vera Lynn’s Children’s Charity in celebration of Dame Vera’s 100th birthday this year.
Thanks must go to: The models (Sarah, Mickey, Sara, Jane, Liz, Susannah, Miriam, Isabella, Sheila); Sharon (hair); Jamie (makeup); Dressers (Sarah & Meriel); Steve and Chris of Gogglebox (comperes for the evening); all traders who donated prizes (Cookshop, Clive Miller, Muddy, JanTon, Hartley’s, Profiles of Hassocks, Le Chic Fashion Exchange, Lustig & Webb, and Louisanna florist.
With special thanks to Toby and his team at Morley’s, and Steve at Trident Leisure for the supply of the marquee and chairs at no cost.
What an amazing night – it just proves what can be achieved when a community pulls together.
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