In Focus Podcasts

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.

If you'd like to sponsor Darren and Fozzie then just go to this link... https://www.justgiving.com/page/spearhead-fitness-4?utm_medium=FR&utm_source=CLToo 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.

Royal Crescent in Bath is a row of 30 terraced houses laid out in a sweeping crescent. Designed by the architect John Wood, the Younger, it was built between 1767 and 1774 and is among the greatest examples of Georgian architecture to be found in the United Kingdom. In this episode we find out a little about its history and about some of the most notable people to have lived there over the years. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's election night 1945 and the working class is about to elect a new Labour government and herald a seismic change in British society that will alter the old order for good. Meanwhile in the bowels of a large country house, beautiful privileged Julie, daughter of an aristocrat, is playing a dangerous seductive game with John, his lordship's chauffeur.So begins Patrick Marber's brilliant update and adaptation of August Strindberg's 19th century classic Miss Julie. What follows is a night of brutal psychological cat and mouse, explored through Marber's typically searing dialogue. Themes of class, sex and money are dynamically explored and build over one fateful night to an explosive climax.This is an unmissable opportunity to see a great play reinterpreted for our times by an equally great contemporary playwright with a wonderful trio of Stables actors ready to bring it dramatically to life. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mary Slessor was one of the first women to be commemorated in the Hall of Scottish Heroes half way up the Wallace Monument near Stirling. So who was she? What had she done to earn her place among such exalted company? Her story is a fascinating one; from Dundonian Mill Girl to missionary in remotest Africa and then becoming the first female magistrate in the British Empire. Mary Slessor certainly earned her place among the greats of Scotland. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Richard Fryer doesn't object to being described as an adventurer in the true tradition of adventuring. This interview was recorded a few years ago just after the publication of his book Lost Odyssey.He discusses his passion for boats, the high seas and for the West Indies. He explains how he came to love boats and the sea and recalls how he survived 36 hours in a tropical storm in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. He also recalls the day he made Odyssey his own and the trials and tribulations of trying to sail his boat from Cuba to the USA. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.