When resident Lorna Crabbe first moved here a decade ago, she searched local books/ archives and found very little written on West Street. Over the years she has gradually dug things up from various sources, mostly online. Her curiosity is what started this project and she formed the West Street Community Group. The group is made up of residents, business owners and artists based on the street who are working together with volunteers and enthusiasts to recapture the street’s forgotten history through research, oral histories and running events with local people.
In October, 2017 The Heritage Lottery Fund awarded the project a grant of £10,000 to support a year-long project researching, sharing and celebrating the history of West Street.
Research will be made publicly accessible with an archive donated to Hastings History House and a free publication ‘The West Street Chronicle’ was launched at a street party in summer 2018.
Our first event 'Illuminating West Street: A Winter Salon' was held over the first weekend in December 2017, in partnership with Home Live Art. We ran free oral history training workshops run by Strike-A-Light in March 2018, a street party in July 2018 and a Heritage Open Days drop-in event in September. We will be giving a talk about the project to the Old Hastings Preservation Society in March 2019.
Our research so far:
We have been scouring the local studies room at Hastings Museum of Art Gallery, the Hastings History House, local libraries and archives and speaking to local historians and history groups. We have been researching online records and British newspaper archives.
We have reached out to the local community in Hastings Old Town and beyond to speak to people with a connection to the street. We are still keen to hear from anyone who may have information or memories to share and are especially keen to find photographs as there are so few old images of the street in existence.
If you have a connection to West Street or know anyone who does, we would love to hear from you.
In October, 2017 The Heritage Lottery Fund awarded the project a grant of £10,000 to support a year-long project researching, sharing and celebrating the history of West Street.
Research will be made publicly accessible with an archive donated to Hastings History House and a free publication ‘The West Street Chronicle’ was launched at a street party in summer 2018.
Our first event 'Illuminating West Street: A Winter Salon' was held over the first weekend in December 2017, in partnership with Home Live Art. We ran free oral history training workshops run by Strike-A-Light in March 2018, a street party in July 2018 and a Heritage Open Days drop-in event in September. We will be giving a talk about the project to the Old Hastings Preservation Society in March 2019.
Our research so far:
We have been scouring the local studies room at Hastings Museum of Art Gallery, the Hastings History House, local libraries and archives and speaking to local historians and history groups. We have been researching online records and British newspaper archives.
We have reached out to the local community in Hastings Old Town and beyond to speak to people with a connection to the street. We are still keen to hear from anyone who may have information or memories to share and are especially keen to find photographs as there are so few old images of the street in existence.
If you have a connection to West Street or know anyone who does, we would love to hear from you.