Hailsham Festival 2024 is promising a wide range of events in its 18th year.
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00:00Okay. Good morning, my name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor at Sussex
00:05Newspapers. Lovely this morning to speak to Tony Biggin, who is the Chairman of
00:08the Helsham Festival. Now, goodness, you've got a good programme this year and it's a
00:13really clicking programme, isn't it, and a wonderful festival which really does try
00:18to bring interesting things to Helsham. In essence, that's what it's about, isn't it?
00:22It is, absolutely, and that's at the very heart of our philosophy, I think, and
00:28we're determined to do that and to make it work as well as we possibly can.
00:34Yeah, I'd say a really good programme this year. Point out one or two things that you
00:37are particularly pleased with for this year. Oh, well, something that's actually started
00:44last year is our Artists' Bridge, and so it was opened last year during the festival and
00:51it's been there because it's a bridge. I mean, it's not something that goes away.
00:56And this is a bridge over the Cuckoo Trail in the centre of town, which was the old railway
01:05line, and it was a little neglected, shall we say. It was looking a little sorry for
01:11itself. So, we managed to get 70 artists to supply one of their paintings, or a sculpture
01:21or whatever, and they photographed it, and then we produced it and filled the bridge
01:27panels with art. And I think it's absolutely marvellous, and unlike other things that we
01:34might do in the festival, which are sort of gone on the wind, you know, I mean, this is
01:38there for everybody to see any day, 24-7, as they say, and so we're very proud of that.
01:44It sounds very appealingly different as well, doesn't it? Well, you're well supported
01:49as a festival. Are you quite confident that you'll get the people out?
01:52Oh, I hope so, yes. I mean, let's hope. I mean, we still need to sell more tickets,
02:01as ever, but one thing that has sold out already is the film Lee. So, this is the film which
02:09we've managed to screen before it goes on to general release as a sort of special, because
02:17Lee Miller, about whom the film is, played by Kate Winslet, Lee Miller lived at Farley's
02:28Farmhouse, now the home of the Surrealists, and we work quite closely with Farley's anyway,
02:35and Tony Penrose there is her son, and he used to go to Hailsham Pavilion as a boy,
02:42with his mum, who used to shop in Hailsham, yeah, so it all ties up absolutely beautifully,
02:48and they decided to release the film at the time of Hailsham Festival, so what better could you
02:54ask for? Yeah, absolutely. So, we're showing that on the 20th of September at Hailsham Pavilion,
03:01and Tony's coming along, and we'll take questions afterwards, and so that's going to be a really
03:06special night, and it's sold out, and the other event which is sold out is the Banoffee Pie
03:12presentation. So, from the sublime to the sublime, so yeah, Ian Dowding will do,
03:22I hope I've got that right, will be doing a presentation about the Banoffee Pie which he
03:29helped to invent back in the day, and that's also sold out sadly, but there's still plenty
03:37of tickets left for lots of the other things that we have on offer. It's the murder mystery,
03:43is tracking up nicely, we have a burlesque where we do go from the sublime to something else,
03:50and so all these things are sort of, you know, a rich mix of amateur, professional,
03:55and really it's a celebration, it's a celebration of the arts. Well Tony, congratulations on the
04:02programme, it looks superb, lovely to speak to you, and I hear Paul goes brilliantly. Thank you.