See New Art for Old Shoreham and hear from supporters of Old Shoreham at the launch of the Friends of Old Shoreham's Old Shoreham Heritage Festival
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NewsTranscript
01:00I am formally the district councillor for this ward but I am here as a co-chair of FOLDS,
01:21Friends of Old Shoreham and it's really exciting that this amazing festival has been pulled
01:29together. These wonderful artists and all the members of the committee have done so
01:35much. I'm sure that people agree with me that the church looks spectacular. I've never seen
01:40this so much artists and it's really lovely to have this new art on Shoreham. When we
01:47started it was because as a district councillor some residents got in touch with me and said
01:52what are you going to do about the old Shoreham conservation area and the fact that gradually
01:58things are getting chipped away at. This is a precious resource and we need to look after
02:05it. We initially talked about a path and whether someone could fence up and from such insignificant
02:12beginnings we end up with the Friends of Old Shoreham which has been going properly for
02:19nine months. We had an inaugural meeting when it was even rainier than it was yesterday
02:26at the end of January and something like 55 people came out on a hideous rainy evening
02:32which shows there's really a demand in this community for something to represent us. As
02:38many of you know we live in Shoreham. Lots of things happen in the main town, in St Mary's
02:44Ward, in the new church which as you know runs in 1283. This splendid Saxon heritage
02:51church has been here for over a thousand years and people have been coming to get here.
02:56It's a really special part of our community which is the centre of the conservation area.
03:01Now when we started talking in the forum there were three main strands. Obviously the heritage
03:07which I've mentioned, the community, drawing people together. Not so we would have to go
03:13into the centre of town, not so we're going to all just do the usual things but let's
03:18make something new for Old Shoreham. So that's one of the ideas. Let's build a community
03:24here for the people who live north of the Old Shoreham road where there are no community
03:28hubs, there are no venues we can gather in, apart from this very fine church and obviously
03:33the pubs. So this, we deliberately haven't defined where Old Shoreham is but it's approximately
03:40the parish of Old Shoreham and then it goes along to Buckingham Park up to let's say
03:46the A27. The historic boundaries obviously change as the river changes its course. And
03:53that brings us to environment which is so important. It's very important to me obviously
03:58I'm in green, I'm a dial in all green person. But lots of people in the community care about
04:04the environment, especially our precious green gap. Now we have seen over the last 30 years
04:11how so much building has taken place on our flood plain. It's taken away the views that
04:18many of us enjoy. It's affected pollution in the river from the embankments being made
04:25and I hope and think it's time for that to stop and that we need to protect what we've
04:31got left. What I see this festival as being about is being about valuing heritage, valuing
04:40community and valuing the environment. And if the change that is here means that we value
04:47those things that are so important to a healthy society then I think that's great and I support
04:55change. We all support that kind of change I feel. I'm also delighted to see in the programme
05:02here sessions such as Action for Change. As a new council we have said that we want
05:10to work with the community and as part of the community and with few resources around
05:18we want to see communities empowered and acting. As leader of the council in the last couple
05:26of weeks I put my name to the foreword of a document which will be a report which will
05:35I'm confident lead to an extension of the UNESCO biosphere. Not only beyond in years
05:47it will now be in place for longer but also taking it to the other side of the river because
05:55it's kind of strange that the biosphere finishes this side of the river but in future it will
06:02go to the other side of the river as well which is of course vitally important when we're trying
06:08to defend what Gabe referred to as the green gap and also to defend the site of special
06:19scientific interest which is the ADA. Heritage is particularly important to me because before
06:26being elected as RMP I worked for a trade union which amongst its many members represents
06:31more than 10,000 people working in the heritage sector from curators to conservationists to
06:37archaeologists. People working at museums, at galleries, at the National Trust and on
06:42dig sites. Fascinating people doing absolutely fascinating things and heritage is important
06:48to us all. It gives us a sense of our ancestry, our history, a sense of belonging and mutual
06:53bonds with those who come before us. It shapes the showroom that we live in today and influences
06:59the future showroom that we want to build together. And that's why I love the description
07:04of the event as not just being about the past but about getting a fresh perspective on the
07:09social and economic opportunities in our area and the potential for nature recovery.
07:14I'm the rector here of St Nicholas Church and it's absolutely wonderful to see you
07:22all here and to see all the art and to see this church transformed for a little while.
07:32It's been a very, very fascinating journey up to this point of the last nine months.
07:41I was approached I think in December last year about this and we had a couple of meetings
07:49and one of the things I've always been really passionate about is the area north of the
07:56A270 because it always seems as if there is very little infrastructure, there's very
08:03little there. And the one thing I wanted to say, here are the churches that are able
08:11to help and that are able to be space for the community and that this is happening today
08:20is just absolutely amazing. And we are dedicated to St Nicholas who was a saint in what's
08:28now Turkey and who went out of his church into the community to support those who are
08:38poor, those who are lonely, those who are in need. And that's exactly what our church
08:47is all about, is to be there for those who are in need and to bring people together.
08:54And that's what I can see here happening and I'm really hopeful that this week might
08:59be a time where we as people from Old Shoreham and people that live here in this area come
09:06together and know that we are somehow interlinked with one another in this place and I am absolutely
09:14delighted to be able to offer this space.