The Victorians certainly knew how to make a building’s look suit its purpose. Lewes Prison, built in 1853, is a case in point. One glance at its towering walls, its grim facade and its ugly gates make you think that this is one place you certainly don’t want to spend any time inside. Perhaps this is what its architect was thinking when he designed it - that its ghastly presence was enough on its own to keep the citizens of the town on the straight and narrow. Unfortunately, thanks to the actions of the new governor of the prison, Eoin McLennan Murray, anybody who travels past and those residents unfortunate enough to live nearby are now able to get a much better view of this redbrick monstrosity, once hidden by a canopy of beautiful trees as old as the building itself. Last month Mr McLennan Murray, without public consultation, took it upon himself to chop down scores of trees and open up the view to this unwelcome new landmark. This is the sort of thing that happens when locals are not consulted about new developments that will scar their urban landscape. And this is why it is important for us to get knowledgeable about any future building projects (ie supersize Tesco and the Phoenix Quarter plan) before they happen. So when the planning proposals are finally made public we can make concrete objections before they can create concrete eyesores. So we can become literate in a project’s pitfalls before they are set in stone. Enjoy the week.



Old Nick: it’s a Victorian period piece, but did we really need
such a good view of it? Cover: Fire & Ice by Jessica Zoob
   
 
2
  
 
Issue 14
   
     
 
Art:
Jane Orchard (9); Jessica Zoob (12); Paddock Studios Spring Exhibition (20); Artwave (27)
 
Bricks & Mortar:
Pelham House (26)
 
Cinema:
 The Return (8); Brokeback Mountain (13); Good Night & Good Luck (14); Chicken Little (15)
 
Classical Music:
Ian Glen & Glen Capra (19)
  Comedy: Barnstormers (6)
 
Contact / Back Issues:
 (29)
 
Folk:
Kevin Barber & Mark Taylor (7)
  Food & Drink: Elephant & Castle (17)
 
Health:
Blood pressure (11)
 
Issues:
Policing (21); Tesco (22); Phoenix (23, 24); Prison Trees (2 & 25)
 
Kids:
Green Fingers (4); Art & Craft (5); Teddy bears picnic (10); Chicken Little (15); Tile-making (18)
  My Lewes: Philip Garr-Gomm (25)
  Next Week: (30)
  Opinion: Mark Mansbridge re: Tesco (22); Tony Cox re: Phoenix (23)
 
Photography:
 Mark Mansbridge (28)
 
Public Meeting :
 Policing Lewes District (21)
 
Subscribe:
(2 & 29)
 
Talk:
 Karma, a law for change (16)

Waxing lyrical: Jessica Zoob at Flint (page 12)
     
 
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Easter Activities - Green Fingers

The term Green Fingers means little to an American, who is more likely to refer to someone with the ability to make plants grow well as a Green Thumb. Either way, both terms hark back to the early 20th century and surely arise from the chlorophyll stained hands of a gardener turning their plot into a vision of beauty.

To celebrate the fact that spring is finally bursting forth all over Sussex, there is a session today at Anne of Cleves House to welcome it in. Suitable for the 4+ brigade, the two-hour period will be filled with a combination of activities centred around art and plants. As with most Sussex Past events, the aim will be to entertain and inform, so expect your kids to come away with a passion for foliage and their hair full of paint. Immediately after the session we suggest that you direct them straight in to your own garden before the early enthusiasm has a chance to wear down. The Royal Horticultural Society’s top five tips for the best April projects to set them are; 1. Keep the weeds under control, 2. Protect fruit blossom from late frosts 3. Tie in climbing and rambling roses, 4. Sow you hardy annuals and herb seed and 5. Start to feed your citrus plants. What do you do? - retire to your kitchen, make a cup of tea and watch… NW

Kid gloves: hoodwink your progeny into doing the weeding
Where?
Anne of Cleves House, Southover High St, Lewes
When? 10.30am - 12.30am
How Much? £3.50 (book in advance)
 
Anne of Cleves House
(t) 01273 474610
 Horticultural Advice
(w) Website 		 
 
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Arts and Crafts at the All Saints

If you’re looking for holiday arts and crafts activities to keep your kids amused, try the new Smartees sessions at the All Saints Centre. Organisers Sue Barham and Mary Cleeve tell us that the classes are suitable for children from two-and-a-half through to seven. The emphasis is very much on creative art – hence the word ‘art’ in the middle of Smartees. Today’s two sessions are Easter-themed, so by the end of a highly productive one-hour slot, we predict that your kids will come away equipped with a bagful of Easter bonnets, flowers, ducks and bunny masks. It’s not a drop-off session and parents are actively encouraged to join in the fun. Expect noise, expect good design tips from professional illustrator Mary, and a free coffee and the chance to buy a nice bit of cake.

Back outside, take a moment or two to walk around the outside of the church. This best shows you how the original sixteenth century tower was developed in the nineteenth century to include its existing galleried nave and Victorian east end. Also look out for details like the quirky cat-topped totem pole and outside wall murals, giving additional style and character to the place. Finally, don’t leave without a selection of leaflets for the many other regular events the centre hosts for the wider Lewes community to enjoy. NW

Cat amongst the chickens: Easter art at the All Saints
Where?
All Saints Centre, Friars Walk, Lewes
When? 10am-11am & 11.30am-12.30pm
How Much? £5
 
Sue:
(t) 01273 470479		 Mary:
(t) 01323 811494		  
 
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Comedy - Barnstormers

I went to the last Barnstormers night a month ago expecting to laugh, which I did a bit at the first act (who was nervous), and a lot at the second act (who was funny). There were only fifteen in the audience. The third act, a malicious character with studied facial hair, a showy Dickensian check jacket and a very dark sense of humour, decided to use me as the butt of his jokes when things got quiet, which they often did. At first his malicious jibes were met by a frozen smile, as I prayed for his attention to wander. As they continued, I stopped pretending and adopted a scowl. He was like a school bully who’d found a victim. I didn’t have the nerve to heckle back. When his set finished I clapped for good form. I felt more like taking him down a dark twitten and giving him a good kicking. And I’m not a violent man. Afterwards I kept working out what I should have said back. This wasn’t audience participation. It was audience humiliation.

Tonight I am assured that there will be more people at the gig - two 10-people tables were booked by Monday, and other tickets had been sold. One act, Pierre Hollins, is from Lewes. He plays ‘Englishman’s Blues’ and a musical interpretation of cunnilingus on a guitar and an electric squash racket. There are two other acts tonight, Eddie Izzard’s associate John Gordillo and another unnamed comedian. I shall sit at the back, in the dark, trying not to be noticed. AL

Stand-up and be counted: but don’t go too near the front
Where?
Pelham House
When? 8pm
How Much? £9 on door. £7.50 in advance
 
Tickets from:
Garden Room Café, Station St,
or (t) 01323 490001
‘Cabaret-style’ tables for up to
10 people are bookable for £60.
 
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Folk - Mark Taylor and Kevin Barber

Mark Taylor has been involved in a punk group, a Brazilian disco unit, an avant-garde noise band and a soul combo, but it’s country music that’s always made his heart pulse. “I think there are few sounds sweeter than the pedal steel, few things more white-knuckle thrilling than bluegrass fiddle,” he says. A few years back he got together with fellow Brighton performer Kevin Barber and started touring folk clubs playing what they have decided to call ‘acoustic Americana’. Or, to be more precise, according to their website, ‘Kevin and Mark perform an eclectic range of roots music, energized by driving bluegrass rhythms and tinged with melancholy Americana. Using a range of instruments: slide guitar, mandolin, banjo and lap resonator guitar, the duo have established a reputation for dynamic live performance.’ Maverick Magazine put it more simply. ‘Simple in concept and delivery: two men, two microphones and two guitars set up and play acoustic Americana.’

They have three albums under their belts: Live at the Open House, Let the Mystery Be and Lately. The latter shows a growing maturity and confidence: ten of the songs are self-penned. Listen out for Lighthouse, My Old Friend the Moon, Anabelle, Deep River Blue and Blue. Otherwise expect covers from anyone from Iris Dement to Woody Guthrie, through Robert Johnson, Slaid Cleaves and Paul Simon. AL

The grass is greener… unless it’s a bluegrass folk duo
Where?
The Royal Oak, Station St, Lewes
When? 8pm
How Much? £4.50
 
Folk at the Oak
(t) 01273 478124
(w) Website		 Mark Taylor and Kevin Barber
(w) Website
 
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Cinema - The Return

A father returns home to his wife and two sons after a twelve-year absence. Nobody knows why he went, nobody knows why he has come back. The very next day he takes his kids on a fishing trip. The tension rises as the three of them are forced into roles they are not used to, with tragic repercussions. The Return is a Russian film first-time directed by Andrey Zvyagintsev, which ran away with the blue-riband prize in the art-house Oscars, the Venice Film Festival, in 2003. It works on several levels. The plot is compelling. The acting is convincing. The photography is stunningly shot. It has great emotional depth. After it has finished, you realise that it probably has allegorical meaning, too.

The main tension lies in the relationship between father and sons. The sons have accepted fatherlessness as a given, and they react to his return in different ways. The older one responds well, eager for love; the younger one becomes surly and disrespectful. He wonders about his father’s motives. Why did he come back? What is the real reason for the trip? You wonder about the same things, too. After the film is over, you also wonder whether the allegory is religious (the return of Christ) or political (the return of totalitarianism). Perhaps it is meant to be both at the same time. DL

Daddy’s home: and there are problems for the kids in The Return
Where?
All Saints Centre, Friars Walk, Lewes
When? 8pm
How Much? £4.50
 
Lewes Cinema
(w) Website
(t) 01903 523 833 		   
 
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Art - Botanical Art Exhibition

The Society of Botanical Artists is celebrating its 21st year and if you’re in London this weekend, it’s worth checking out their annual pre-Easter Exhibition. This year it's entitled ‘A Celebration of the English Garden’ and it's taking place in the Lecture Hall of Central Hall Westminster. There are over 750 works on show and two local artists, Jane Orchard and Vicky Mappin are represented. ”This style of painting obviously predated photography as a means of categorising plants, and some say it is outdated,” says Jane, a Southease resident whose work Crimson Parrot Tulip is one of four she has in the exhibition. “But some artists choose to exaggerate a particular element of the plant to make it more obvious, and sometimes a camera doesn’t capture this salient feature.”

Many think that such supernaturalistic representation of its subject matter shouldn’t be considered ‘art’ as it contains no metaphor. Jane, perhaps surprisingly, agrees. “To me it is not so much art as technique,” she says. “But it’s not a soulless process because to me it’s impossible to paint an object in such detail without getting emotionally involved in the subject and starting to love it.” And it is a painstaking process. It took Jane, using an extremely fine brush and watercolours, 90 hours to paint Crimson Parrot Tulip. “This sort of painting is becoming more and more fashionable,” adds the artist. “The Chelsea Physic Garden has been offering classes for a long time and they have become wildly popular in recent years.” AL

Jane Orchard’s Crimson Parrot Tulip: beautiful, but is it art?
Where?
Central Hall Westminster
When? 10am-5pm until April 9
How Much? Free
 
Jane Orchard
(t) 01273 513681
(e) Click here
Vicky Mappin
(t) 01273 486320
(w) Website
Vicky Mappin gives classes in botanical art in Rodmell, Ditchling and Lindfield
 
9
  
A Day in the Country… and a Teddy Bears’ Picnic

Today’s event is organised by the excellent Sussex Wildlife Trust, an organisation dedicated to preserving and enhancing the unique countryside around us. Compared to much of England, Sussex is still very green, with forest covering 17% of our area, providing us with a rich array of woodlands to explore. The Trust has a bold 50-year vision, planning to recreate wildlife-rich areas lost to intensive farming over the past century or so. They contend that a combination of less intensive and more sympathetic farming measures, coupled with more EU-wide farming competition will free up the land needed to give nature a chance to fight back.

They are hosting today’s picnic in the Seven Sisters Country Park (SSCP), one of our existing countryside treasures. As well as the picnic, we are told that there will also be a puppet show starring the animals of Friston Forest. Take food, take drink, take a blanket or two and enjoy a great morning surrounded by the trees and the animals of the type of woodland the Trust are so keen to protect and develop. We’re assured the event is suitable for anyone with a teddy bear, so dig yours out of the wardrobe and head along, armed with a honey sandwich or two. Booking is essential. NW

If you go down to the woods today: you’ll find a small proportion
of the teddies are transvestites
Where?
Visitors Centre, SSCP, Exceat, Seaford
When? 10.30am - 1pm
How Much? Adults £2; Kids £3; Family £9
 
Sussex Wildlife Trust
(t) 01273 497561
(w) Website		    
 
10
  
Blood Pressure Advice

I know I should be worried about strokes; after heart attacks and cancer, strokes are the UK’s third biggest killer. Also, strokes run in my family. My grandfather, who drank and smoked, had a stroke, and started to recover, and then started to drink and smoke again. Then he had two strokes in the same day, and, we were told, no chance of recovery. What had happened to him, exactly? A nurse tried to explain it to me; it was something about blood and the brain. My grandfather died after being in a coma for eleven weeks.

For a while, I thought I understood how strokes worked, because a stroke is the result of high blood pressure. If you’re trying to water a flowerbed with a hose, and the water won’t shoot far enough, what do you do? You partially block the end of the hose with your thumb. Then the water comes out much better, doesn’t it? That’s how I imagined strokes – blood shooting through narrowed arteries much faster than usual. Apparently, though, that’s completely wrong. But now, I’ve got a chance to find out the truth, and perhaps add years to my life, because strokes are, to some extent, preventable, and because on Saturday I can find out exactly how… WL

Bloodline: is your pressure too high?
Where?
Cliffe Precinct
When? 9am-5pm
How Much? Free
 
The Stroke Association will be on the streets today taking blood pressure and explaining about strokes.
 
11
  
Art - Jessica Zoob

Jessica Zoob is as inspired by satellite landscapes of the world as she is by the inside of shells. “It’s amazing how nature recreates the same patterns again and again,” she says. She represents these patterns using all sorts of different media: plaster, crushed glass, antique lace, jewels, pearls, stamps, whatever she lays her hands on. And, of course, a lot of paint. She applies many layers, and then works away at them. Sometimes she has a subjective starting point, sometimes an image emerges which she works on. “People wonder whether I am an abstract painter,” she says. “But I would call myself more of a landscape painter. I am inspired by what I see in nature, then I filter it through myself.”

She is very eclectic, and highly productive. One collection is very different from another, though instantly recognisable as her work. The current collection, created especially for Flint, draws many of its influences from Lewes. She uses plaster, precious stones and fabrics to recreate the beauty she sees in the local rural and urban landscape. In the detail we are featuring (right) she has fashioned a pregnant woman, standing. “Though I don’t expect others to see what I see in the painting,” she comments. “People say to me that they like my work because they see different things in it every day. When the human eye sees something, they want to make connections. It is a little like looking at the clouds in the sky.” AL

Jessica Zoob’s Bluebirds and Pebbles – and whatever else you
care to see in it
Where?
Flint, 70 High St, Lewes
When? Tues-Sat 10am-6pm April 8th-18th
How Much? Free
 
Jessica Zoob
(w) Website
 Flint
(w) Website		  
 
12
  
Cinema - Brokeback Mountain

Love stories usually follow a pretty similar plot line. A young couple fall in love, but the course of that love doesn’t run smooth. There’s always some stumbling block to them getting together. It might be war (Casablanca), family feuds (Romeo and Juliet), the haughtiness of one of the characters (Pride and Prejudice), or the fact that one of them is a dithering middle class twit (all Hugh Grant films). In Brokeback Mountain the problem is the protagonists’ fear of society’s reaction to their homosexuality. The couple (Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal) meet on the eponymous mountain looking after sheep in 1960’s rural Wyoming, but hell, they wear Stetsons and ride horses, for which reason it is usually referred to as ‘that gay cowboy movie’.

The pair deny their true feelings, and do the done thing. They both marry, both have kids, both lead depressing lives in unhappy families. In the second half of the film we see them grow older, occasionally getting together on trysts billed to their wives as male-bonding fishing trips. Ever wrinklier, they lie in motel beds talking about what might have been, what never could be. The eclectic Ang Lee directs, and of course his latest film is a visual feast, which won him the best director Oscar. Its moral is simple: obey your true nature. Towards the end of its 133 minutes you start wishing it had served you a little more moral ambiguity to chew over. DL

Oscar Bravo: if it ain’t Brokeback, don’t fix it
Where?
All Saints Centre, Friar’s Walk, Lewes
When? 8pm and Sunday 5pm
How Much? £4.50
 
Lewes Cinema
(w) Website
(t) 01903 523 833 		   
 
13
  
Cinema - Good Night and Good Luck

Senator Joe McCarthy was a US lawyer who used the anti-communist hysteria engendered by the Korean War in the USA in the early fifties to manipulate a smear campaign against left-wingers, claiming hundreds of journalists, writers, actors and politicians were communist traitors. The political climate became akin to a medieval epidemic of witch-hunting. Hundreds of intellectuals and entertainers were blacklisted; many fled to Europe where they could speak, write and think freely. Goodnight and Good Luck examines the part that a TV broadcaster Edward Murrow plays in McCarthy’s downfall in 1954. “We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason,” said Murrow in his show, See it Now. “If we dig deep into our own history and our doctrine and remember that we are not descended from fearful men, not men who feared to write, to speak, to associate, and to defend causes which were for the moment unpopular.”

While the film exaggerates the role the show played in McCarthy’s downfall, it is a well-acted, well-shot and bravely rule-breaking movie, filmed in black and white, largely in smoky rooms, with little physical action. It is also very timely. After you have watched it you wonder whether or not we are living in an age in which the government is stirring up a state of hysteria as a smokescreen to help it achieve its own ends. You wonder whether there is a figure like Joe McCarthy down the line. And you sincerely hope there isn’t. DL

Witch-hunt saboteur - Edward Murrow stopped Joe McCarthy
in his tracks
Where?
All Saints Centre, Friars Walk, Lewes
When? 6pm (and Sunday 7.45pm)
How Much? £4.50
 
Lewes Cinema
(w) Website		    
 
14
  
Cinema - Chicken Little

Zach Braff is the star voice tasked with bringing Chicken Little (CL) to life, in this cartoon following the adventures of the eponymous bigheaded little chicken. CL is suffering from low self-esteem after becoming a laughing-stock by claiming the sky was falling down, when it was in fact just an acorn landing on his head. He regains some pride by hitting the winning run in a baseball game, but at the same moment notices that the sky really is falling in. Either this, or his hometown of Oakley Oaks is about to be invaded by aliens. Either way, his dilemma is whether to risk further ridicule by warning his recent tormenters of their imminent fate.

The success of computer-generated imagery (CGI) movies, like Shrek, Finding Nemo and The Incredibles has set a new benchmark for cartoon makers to reach. CL is Disney’s first full-length in-house CGI effort, and, technically it is close to former partner Pixar’s standards. The story however, falls well short of the Disney classics we know and love. As a consequence, though it still works for kids, most adults come away disappointed. When the film premiered in the States it rated highly for effects, but badly for its plot. Steven Rea suggested, “For a movie that’s supposed to launch Disney’s official CGI era, Chicken Little doesn’t stand tall enough”. Whilst Chris Smith in Maine simply said, “Obviously, this is the source of the new bird flu”. NW

Chicken Little: large complexes from small acorns will grow
Where?
All Saints Centre, Lewes
When? pm (also 3pm Sunday)
How Much? £4.50 Adults;
 
Lewes Cinema
(w) Website
(t) 01903 523 833		    
 
15
  
Talk - Karma, The Law for Change

One night, when my children had got out of bed for the millionth time, I lost my temper and went into their room and shouted at them. As I stormed out, my scalp was pulled back by a sudden violent force from above. My hair was totally entangled in the wooden airplane mobile hanging from the ceiling. It was painful and humiliating. “That was Karma,” I thought. That was, in fact, my dumbed-down Western interpretation of Karma: You do something bad and something bad happens to you - as a non-logical consequence. But, Karma is an idea as old as they get and is rather more complex than this. The philosophy represents the backbone of spiritual ideas about sin, re-birth, retribution and forgiveness, and is a highly influential part of Hindu, Buddhist and Christian belief. Karma has many interpretations. The trendy one is about taking responsibility for all your actions however small: raise yourself and you improve the world. The extremely dodgy one is about being punished for sins you committed in a previous life.

If Karma is a topic that you want to look into, then go to the Subud Centre on Sunday 9th April where you can join a lively discussion entitled “Karma, the Law of Change” led by Ravi Khanna. If the talk does your head in, then remember to look out for low hanging objects when leaving the room. JW

Sometimes Western ideas of karma aren’t quite what the
Buddhists had in mind
Where?
Subud Centre, 26a Station Street, Lewes
When? 2:30-4:30pm
How Much? Free
 
(t) 01273 279481
(e) Click here
(w) Website		    
 
16
  
Lunch for a Five