Raft race; open-air cinema at the castle; Moving On Parade and summer holiday clubs

The July 2024 issue of The Lewes List

Food & Drink

News: Coming soon Boho Baja – billed as the best burgers and tacos from the team behind the Pelham Arms – will be serving food from a vintage Airstream at the ever-brilliant Abyss Brewery + Tap in Malling. More to come, but in the meantime follow the Instagram page here (not least to see the extremely cool-looking 1959 trailer). For more events at Abyss, visit here.

News: Dalliance at Depot continues, pairing weekly musical guests with visiting street food vendors. Happily, the Depot has listings from now until 7 September here.

News: There’s lots on at the beautiful Artelium Wine Estate over the summer, with nights focused on seafood, pizza and “gourmet fire-cooked feasts”, alongside tours and tastings. The vineyard is on Streat Lane, just beyond Plumpton. More here. 

Culture

News: Join guided tours of St Thomas à Becket Church throughout the summer, with an introduction to the church and guided church tower climb. Visitors will be able to hear the ancient 1670 clock in action as it strikes noon, see the oak bell frame from c1400 and the bells dating back to 1566. More here.

News: Farleys House and Gallery, the historical home of pioneering photographer Lee Miller and surrealist artist Roland Penrose, is open for the season. There are house tours, exhibitions, workshops and more as they celebrate their 75-year anniversary ahead of the release of Lee, starring Kate Winslet, in cinemas later this year. More here.

News: ​​Glynde Place, an Elizabethan country house situated in the village of Glynde, is offering a series of Invitations to View tours, in addition to normal house public tours. Visitors are invited to take a closer look at some of the key artworks in the house, including paintings from the 17th century to the current day, 18th century Italian bronze reliefs and specially commissioned woodblock wallpaper. There will also be an opportunity to view related items held in the Glynde archives, including family photograph albums, an 18th century Inventory of Art and documentation relating to Grand Tours. More here.

17-20 July: Lewes Baroque Festival 2024 consists of seven concerts: chamber recitals by Alison Bury (violin); Julia Bishop (violin) with Paula Chateauneuf (theorbo); High-Wire Baroque; Laura Piras (flute) and David Wright (harpsichord); Jack Gonzalez-Harding (harpsichord); ATE Vocal Ensemble and a final concert, J S Bach’s Mass in B minor with the Baroque Collective Singers, The Purcell Singers and The Baroque Collective, directed by John Hancorn. More here.

20 July: The Con Club is hosting a charity Northern Soul all-vinyl event. All proceeds will go to local charities, with a raffle including some Northern Soul prizes. Souvenir Northern Soul Patches will be issued to the first 100 through the door. The first gathering raised over £1,500 for the three Lewes food banks. £10 a ticket, 5pm-midnight. More here.

News: An open-air cinema experience is coming to Lewes Castle: Bob Marley ‘One Love’ (2024)  and The Color Purple (2023) will be shown by Cinestock, a nationwide independent outdoor cinema provider. More here.

7 July: Lewes Festival of Song at St Anne’s Church consists of three concerts: The Heart's Return with Nick Pritchard and Nancy Cooley (Schumann's Liederkreis op.24, Late songs by Faure, Poulenc's Tel Jour telle Nuit) at 1pm; On the East Wind with Elizabeth Watts and Jams Coleman (Schubert, Strauss, Kapralova and Britten) at 4.30pm; and This Shining Night with Ellie Laugharne, Florian Stortz and Nancy Cooley, Kate and Sebastian Comberti, Ellie Blackshaw and Sally Beamish (a Samuel Barber celebration including his Adagio for string quartet) at 8pm. £18 a ticket. More here.

13-14 July: Another performance of Shakespeare at Lewes Castle: Moving Parts Theatre Company will perform Much Ado About Nothing, with original music inspired by Sicilian Tarantella and Italian 1960s pop. More here. 

Reminder: Speakers at Charleston’s Festival of the Garden (18-21 July) have been announced: a wide-ranging line-up includes Booker Prize-winning author Zadie Smith (more here). There are also two new art shows which have recently opened: Matthew Smith: Through the eyes of Patrick Heron (here) and Anne Rothenstein’s collages and paintings, in the first solo showcase of her work in a UK institution (here).

Sport & Community

News:  A 10-person, wood-fired sauna by The Nomadic Sauna has opened at Pells Pool – book it here (and book your swim here). 

News: Pharmacie, the coffee roaster on the Cliffe Industrial Estate, has partnered up with Shelly from The Body Box (which is based on the other industrial estate in Malling) with a  full body functional strength class every Tuesday 7:15-8am. There’s more on Instagram here.

7 July: The Lewes to Newhaven Raft Race is back. This year's theme is Wacky Racers. As ever, it starts at Malling Recreational Ground in Lewes. It will be supporting two charities: RNLI Newhaven Lifeboat and Sussex Search and Rescue. More here. 

Reminder: The Mend Club at Dolly Clothing invites you to “renew your clothes and start the weekend mending not shopping” with sewing and consultation sessions to “teach you – or simply remind you – how to rework and renew your clothes using hand sewing and machine techniques.” More here, with other mending workshops on darning, sashiko stitching and jeans mending throughout the month.

Family

5 July: The Moving On Parade, a mass arts project organised by children’s charity, Patina, takes place in the centre of town in July every year to celebrate Year 6 children finishing primary school. This year's theme is Welcome To Our Table – celebrating growing, cooking and eating together. The charity has visited all the schools in the area with the Greencuisine Trust and Moving Sounds to talk about the diversity of produce grown locally and the importance of eating fresh seasonal food. Each school will represent a locally grown fruit or vegetable in the parade, having spent several days in workshops with Patina artists to design and make their costumes. The route starts on Paddock Road moving on to New Road, High Street, School Hill, Cliffe High Street, School Hill, Market Road, Market Lane, Fisher Street, Mount Pleasant and then back to the Paddock. 12.30-1.40pm. 

To celebrate this event, Patina is also hosting Big Picnic in the Paddock on the same day (5 July), from 6-9.30pm.In keeping with the theme, they are inviting people to bring a picnic and spend time together relaxing on a summer’s evening. There will be a chance to see the collective artwork made for Moving On and read the year 6’s Recipe for Life, with acoustic music and a full bar with snacks for some additional refreshment. People are invited to bring donations for the Lewes food banks. Everyone is invited – bring a picnic blanket. 

News: The Outdoors Project are running their kids clubs in Lewes from 15 July-29 August for ages 5-11 in school years 1 to 6. Activities include: Zelda's Epic Adventure, Pokemon Adventures, Bushcraft Survival Day, Wild West Nerf, Water Day, Charlie & the Chocolate Factory and Among Us Spy Camp. £39.50 for the day, 9am-3pm in The Paddock. More here.

News: Nature Adventures at the Railway Land run for three weeks over the summer, Wednesday 24th and Thursday 25th July 2024 (here), Monday 29th July - Thursday 1st August 2024 (here), Monday 5th - Thursday 8th August 2024 (here). £79 for two days from 9.30am-3pm, meeting at the Linklater Pavilion. More here.

News: Clayful Hands is a parent-and-child class which will guide children through the process of creating their own pottery creations, with the freedom to make what they like. £20, 10:30am-12pm at Malling Community Centre. More here. 

18 August: There’s an outdoor performance of Peter Pan at Lewes Castle, inspired by the Isle of Portland off the Jurassic Coast. More here. 

Until 27 October: An exhibition featuring never-seen-before items and artworks from the much-loved illustrator Raymond Briggs is now open at Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft, running until 27 October. It’s described as a highly personal show that brings together 30 items from the late author's estate, with over 100 original artworks from his 60-year career. More here.