In Focus Podcasts

As a 20-year-old cub reporter in the early 1980s I was invited in to the 16th century Ayrshire castle that had been the base for many of the nation's Pre-Raphaelite artists who aimed to reform art by rejecting the "formulaic" academic approach in favor of bright colors, intense detail, and "truth to nature," inspired by Italian art before Raphael.My invitation came from Elton Eckstrand, a US corporate attorney who spent more than a decade restoring the castle and curating the artworks that hung on its walls. That castle was Penkill, located close to the town of Girvan where I worked on the Carrick Gazette.Meeting people like Mr Eckstrand was one of the joys of the job I did at the time and Elton Eckstrand sure was an interesting mix, from his love of art and architecture to his passion for motor facing, muscle cars and dragsters. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The first episode of a new season of People & Landmark podcasts. This time we're visiting Linlithgow Palace in central Scotland, home to Mary Queen of Scots and a significant royal residence for the Stewarts.Photograph by Andrew Sutherland. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Joe Bravaco is an American playwright whose work 'One Good Thing or are Ya Patrick Swayze' won an award for new writing from The Stables Theatre in Hastings. In this interview he discusses his career and his inspiration. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Everyone knows about 9/11 not so many know that when the US closed its airspace, 38 planes carrying nearly 7,000 passengers from around the world were unexpectedly diverted to Gander, Newfoundland, nearly doubling the town’s population overnight.Come From Away is a heart-warming and multi award-winning musical, based on this remarkable true story. The show follows both the stranded 'come from aways' and the townspeople who opened their homes, schools, and hearts to care for them.Amid fear and uncertainty, strangers form deep connections, friendships, and even love. The musical celebrates human kindness, resilience, and community spirit in the face of tragedy – and gives us hope in today’s unsettled world.Usefuk web linkshttps://www.sedlescombeplayers.co.uk/https://stablestheatre.co.uk/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Stuart Baillie has been writing about the Seaview Project in St Leaonards-on-Sea, East Sussex, since 2019. Seaview is a local charity that works with those on the margins of our society and reaches out to offer help to the homeless and rough sleepers.Last Friday (Oct 3rd) Seaview staged one of its Big Sleep fundraising events. There was a night of live music and entertainment then around 40 hardy souls slept rough raising awareness - and crucially cash - to help the charity. Once all the money is tallied it looks like the event will have raised around £35,000 and in times when securing funding for this kind of work is becoming ever more challenging.Stuart was one of those hardy souls prepared to brave the elements and during the evening he caught up with Seaview staff, supporters and volunteers and with people who are very frank about the fact that Seaview saved their lives. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Seaview Centre in Hatherley Road in St Leonards-on-Sea is a remarkable place. Stuart Baillie has been out with the early morning outreach team meeting those sleeping rough on the streets of Hastings and St Leonards and he has been to the centre itself talking to those who make use of its many facilitiers and for whom Seaview, a charity that celebrates its 40th birthday this year, is nothing short of a lifeline! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Homelessness and rough sleeping are big news when politicians decide to use the issues to make political capital. But behind the headlines are real people living on the margins of society. The Seaview Project in St Leonards in East Sussex has been providing an open access wellbeing centre since 1985 and is currently the only such facility focused on homelessness and mental health in East Sussex outside Brighton and Hove. Seaview is a small independent charity that delivers an open access approach to people experiencing a range of issues including mental health, learning disabilities, substance misuse, physical disabilities, social isolation, rough sleeping and homelessness. Last year Seaview served the needs of more than 1,200 people.In this episode Seaview's Sue Burgess talks about the charity in general but about The BIg Sleep in particular. Takning place on October 5th she hopes it will raise much needed funds that will allow Seaview to continue to do its amazing work. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Too many young men are taking their own lives and too high a proportion of those are former military men who feel cut adrift from the life they have lived and loved. Darren Clark from Bexhill in East Sussex is doing something about it; raising awarenes and raising money as he battles his own mental health demons. He seen close friends and former comrades die needlessly and carried their coffins to their final resting places - something has to be done.In this podcast Darren recalls his time in the military and says more needs to be done to prepare servicemen for a life in civvy street: "...they need to do more than just teach you how to write a CV," he says. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Peter Mould is more than just a well known face around The Stables Theatre in Hastings, he has been taking pictures of the shows and the actors in them for getting on for a quarter of a century. The soon to be 80-year-old is as busy as ever and has seen so many changes in his craft over the years, hew took his first photographs with a camera given to him by his father when he was just 14 years old! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Actions should speak louder than words but when you can't get any action are the words on their own enough?Governments have pledged Hastings tens of millions but where the evidence of that moeny working to our benefit? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's all happening at The Stade hall this summer with a series of plays squarely aimed at young families from tots to teenagers - creating theatre experiences for families at all stages, says Ross Drury Book your tickets at www.stadehall.com/whatsonOr join the mailiong list athttps://www.spunglasstheatre.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Roger Wilcock was a fascinatibng man to interview. He's done so much with his life; he started his career in teaching then swapped to stonemasonry for example. He formed the Hastings Big Choir and was the force behind the Hastings Prom which makes a return this year after a five year break. In this interview Roger talks about his childhood, his studies and his adult life and underpinning it all is the constant of music from choral to rock Roger loves it all as you will hear. Oh yes and there aren't too many instruments he can't get a tune out of!Hastings Prom makes its return as part of the Beer and Music Festival on Thursday July 3rd and you can use this link to buy your tickets https://hbmf.co.uk/index.html#tickets Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode two of Hastings Five in 5 where we take a brief look at five local issues in around five minutes. If you want to contact us and let us know what you think then email hastingsinfocus@gmail.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On a perfectly normal afternoon in 2021 Claire Claire Duffield and her familty were watching the football but just hours later they were in a London hospital being told that 15-year-old Oli might have a brain tumour. Claire faced every parent's worst nightmare. In this interview she bravely recalls how devastating the news was and talks about the last two years of Oli's life, which given the circumstances included a number of highlights, including the time Paul Hollywood turned up to do some baking with Oli in Claire's kitchen. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

https://handsoffourhills.co.uk/site/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What's in this editionThe state of our roadsOver running A21 roadworksThe Stables TheatreSandrock BendsThe old bathing pool siteNew openings in the town centreGet in touchhastingsinfocus@gmail.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

'It became this forgotten place...' In this episode we meet Alex Adams, the artistic and managing director at the Royal Hippodrome Theatre in Eastbourne and hear about his journey to to bring Eastbourne's oldest theatre back to life. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Martin Barry is a proud volunteer for the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and he will be running FREE tours of Hastings Cemetery as part of the Commission’s ‘War Graves Week’ in May.He'll be focussing on some of the stories of the 260 servicemen and women who fell during the two World Wars who lie in Hastings cemetery. The tours will last approx 90 mins.Martin says he is constantly adding new stories to these tours, so if you have been on a tour previously he can promise that there will be something new to learn this time round.Tour dates are:Friday May 9th at 10.30am & 1.30pmSunday May 11th at 10.30am & 1.30pmYou can book via the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website athttps://www.cwgc.org/visit-us/events-tours-and-talks/Or via Eventbritehttps://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/cwgc-war-graves-week-2025-hastings-cemetery-tickets-1279019063449?aff=ebdsshiosAnd Martin's own websitehttps://www.thewargravesguy.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

*Opened in 1890.*A UNESCO World Heritage Site.*A landmark event in the application of science to architecture that went on to profoundly influence mankind in ways not limited to bridge-building.*A globally important triumph of engineering. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Patrick Kealey has been described as "...a masterful performer, his renditions of the different characters... are superb."I've said before that I love meeting interesting people and Patrick Kealey is certainly that. An actor, director, producer and soon to be published author the 71 year old says he can look back on a life that he's lived on his own terms, with few regrets.He's been directing a play at my local theatre here in Hastings and shortly after that he'll be back on stage with his one-man play The Life and Rhymes of Archy and Mehitabel which we talk about at the start of this interview.Patrick has theatre running through his veins, he is passionate about what he does and he's sad to see the state of his industry with theatres and production companies closing, life for young actors today genuinely isn't like it used to be.So sit back, relax and enjoy a fascinating portrait of an actors life and how they eek out a living when work is in short supply and phone isn't ringing   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.