Lewes Medieval Day

A Greene King employee, Lewes Arms barmaid Sarah Ambler, will be dressed in medieval costume and put in the stocks as part of Sussex Past’s Medieval Day this weekend. “Sally from the castle came into the pub, and asked the landlord Pete if he’d do it,” says Sarah, trying out the position in the Gun Garden that she will be assuming for a couple of hours on Saturday, while punters throw what are promised to be ‘soft’ missiles at her. “He said he wasn’t up for it, but I volunteered. I reckon there will be a few people who haven’t gotten over it (the Greene King/Harveys dispute) that’ll be lining up. Plus a few people who just don’t like me. It’s not the first time I’ll have been in the stocks, coming from Yorkshire and everything.”

Sussex Past need to raise £85,000 in order to receive a grant of the same sum for the lottery, and have lined up a number of activities to draw in the punters. There will be a medieval re-enactment group displaying weapons, performing a pike drill and cooking medieval food. There will be the chance to dress up in Middle Ages gear, make flags and learn to write with a quill. There will be fake-wound painting, and, weather permitting, a lute performance by Jon Greenfield, who runs Bruditz. The stocks, surely the star of the show, were obtained by Sussex Past from Little Horsted village green some years ago, and include a whipping post with manacles on the side. “I’m a bit scared,” says Sarah, of her coming ordeal. Please don’t throw too hard.” AG