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HURSTPIERPOINT & SAYERS COMMON FESTIVAL 15th SEPTEMBER TO 1st OCTOBER 2006 |
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MEDIA INFORMATION
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EMAIL FOR MORE INFORMATION - press.office@hurstfestival.org
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13 April Hurst Festival hits its second year |
29 June |
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September 1 |
September 1 |
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This is the first of a series of releases about the Festival. Thursday 13th April 2006 Hurst Festival hits its second year The cows are back! Cowparade will return to Hurstpierpoint and Sayers Common as part of the second festival in the villages. Lifesize painted cows will again be seen dotted around the villages. Running from September 15th to October 1st, this year the festival contains a mix of choral music, theatre, Morris dancing, a workshop to develop a musical for 2007, jazz, film, a barn dance and a performance by village music group Shine. As last year, the Festival has been organised by a small group of village residents working closely with the Parish Council’s Community Affairs Committee and supported by Hurstpierpoint Community Charity and local businesses. Exhibitions range from a retrospective of the work of local artist Norman Clark, a display of wedding dresses and, of course, Cowparade. The festival kicks off with a rock and soul review featuring local group Apocalypse Cow and ends with a “scratch” Messiah in Holy Trinity Church - complete with orchestra. A groundbreaking music and theatre workshop will involve local residents and visitors from Hurstpierpoint and Sayers Common's twin village in France, St Martin de Boscherville. Not only is there a chance to create a play in a day and learn basic singing techniques but a scatch French /English choir will be created and form the centrepiece of a village showcase on the last Saturday of the festival. Other theatrical events include Hurst Players performing Fallen Angels by Noel Coward. Music recitals at Danny House include Richard Durrant with the Cirrus Ensemble For those interested in local history a key event will be a dramatised reading from the diaries of Richard and George Weekes and Thomas Marchant, from the 18th and 19th centuries. Readings will be given by members of Hurstpierpoint Players and accompanied by a background commentary from local historians. Sussex Film and Video Archive will again be putting on a show of old films of the area. For children on the middle weekend of the festival Fred’s Flying Circus will be running a two-day circus school at Court Bushes with performances in the evening and there will also be a Victorian Picnic on St Lawrence School Playing Fields. All this plus a tennis tournament, the annual Horticultural Society Autumn Show and a fashion display. The organisers are aiming for something to interest everyone in the two villages. The initial programme will be dropping through village letterboxes over the next two weeks. The final programme will be available around the St Lawrence Fair time and tickets should go on sale soon afterwards. |
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29 June 2006 Major exhibition by local artist as part of the Hurstpierpoint Festival An exhibition of work by Hurstpierpoint artist Norman Clark will be one of the major elements of the second Hurstpierpoint festival this September. Norman Clark, who was a member of the Royal Watercolour Society, lived and painted in the Sussex downland village from 1947 until his death in 1992. His work was inspired by the landscapes around him but he also documented aspects of village life in his more humourous paintings and caricatures. Born in 1913 he studied at the Central School and the Royal Academy School where he won the Gold Medal in painting, the Edward Scott Scholarship, the Landseer Prize for Mural Decoration and was a Leverhulme Scholar. As well as being a member of the Royal Watercolour Society he exhibited regularly at the Royal Academy and was a member of the Society of Sussex Painters and the Sussex Watercolour Society. He worked as a lecturer at the Brighton College of Art. The exhibition will be opened on Saturday September 16th at 11 a.m. by his daughter Penny and fellow artist and friend Oscar Thompsett. This is the first major exhibition of his work in the village and will be held at Holy Trinity Church from September 16th to September 22nd and, apart from the afternoon of Saturday September 16th when there is a wedding in the church, will be open to the public from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Information on further events can be found on our website at: www.hurstfestival.org
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August 12 2006 Hurst Festival is inviting the village to a party! A grand village party on Saturday 30th September will be the climax to this years’ Hurstpierpoint and Sayers Common Festival. Among the attractions on St Lawrence School Playing Fields will be a display of martial arts, sports contests, Punch and Judy, Burgess Hill Town Band and a mixture of food, drink and general frivolity. The festival also features Morris Dancing on September 16th when Chanctonbury Ring Morris will be dancing their way around the village and giving a workshop at Vinyards. Other traditional English pastimes include Maypole Dancers on the Village Green. Over the middle weekend Fred’s Flying Circus comes to town pitching its big top on Court Bushes Recreation Ground with a free children’s disco on the Saturday evening. The same day the Craft Barn will be running events for children in the Village Centre. Fun-filled moments for everyone are to be had in this year’s festival which runs from September 15th to October 1st. As last year, the Festival has been organised by a small group of village residents working closely with the Parish Council’s Community Affairs Committee supported by Hurstpierpoint Community Charity and local businesses. Tickets for all events are on sale from the festival website at: or from Pierpoint Pet Supplies in Hurstpierpoint High Street The site also has details of all Festival events. Festival programmes are available from shops in the High Street, Hurstpierpoint Library and the Parish Council Office. |
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August 18 2006 Unleash your inner creativity and impress your friends Do you sing in the shower and think you'd make a better Maria, Mother Superior or Von Trapp Family Singer than those in the film? Here is your chance to discover your inner voice at a workshop, open to everyone, at this year's Hurst Festival will be able to help. The "Joy of Singing" will look at the ways in which the human voice works and is aimed at everyone from beginners to people already singing in choirs. International Vocal Coach Ignacio Jarquin will take people through their paces on the afternoon of Saturday September 30th. In an evening concert, you are invited to show off what you've learnt as part of a choir, which will also feature visitors from Hurstpierpoint's twin village in France, St Martin de Boscherville. So if you want to impress your friends the next time you join in a karaoke session - this is for you. A second workshop that day, also at the Village Centre, looks at what makes good drama, on stage and television, and gives you not only the chance to create a play but see it on stage in the evening. This all-day workshop - under the guidance of local playwright Andrew Marshall assisted by two professional actors - is called "Write a Play in a Day". Andrew stresses that the workshop is open to people of all ages. "I want to help people to discover how stories are put together," he says. "It will also be useful for people interested in acting as they will understand more about creating a character." Tickets for both workshops are £2 and are on sale through the festival website at: or from Pierpoint Pet Supplies in Hurstpierpoint High Street Festival programmes are also available from shops in the High Street. Running from September 15th to October 1st Hurstpierpoint and Sayers Common Festival contains a wide range of events. |
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September 1st 2006 This year’s Hurst Festival has something for everyone including a tennis tournament. As part of the festival Hurstpierpoint Tennis Club are organising an all-comers Open American Round Robin set of tournaments at the club on South Avenue Recreation Ground. The tournament will be on Sunday September 24 from 10 a.m. with finals being held at around 4 p.m. A buffet lunch will be provided and trophies will be presented at the festival final event in the Village Centre on Saturday September 30. Entry forms are available on the festival website at: http://www.hurstfestival.org.uk which also has details of all Festival events, or from Pierpoint Pet Supplies in Hurstpierpoint High Street Festival programmes are also available from shops in the High Street and local libraries.
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September 1st 2006 Bringing local history to life For lovers of local history in Hurstpierpoint the publication in the last year of transcriptions of village diaries from the 18th and 19th Centuries was a great insight in village life in past times. The diaries of Thomas Marchant, who was a farmer and trader in the village, bring to life the day-to-day world of Sussex life between 1714 and 1728 and those of Richard and George Weekes, doctors in the village, describe times from 1800 to 1872. As a special event for this year’s Hurstpierpoint Festival members of Hurst Players will be giving dramatised readings from the diaries on the evening of September 19th in the theatre at Hurstpierpoint College. The organisers of this event also hope to be able to backproject photographs of the houses and places mentioned. Also, for lovers of old Sussex, Screen Archive South East, will be showing items from their collection of films and videos of the county from the last century presented by curator Frank Gray. This event sold out rapidly last year so book early for the show at Hurstpierpoint Village Centre on Wednesday September 27th at 8 p.m. Local history is also the subject of a talk by Robert Harris of Harris’s Funfair who will describe his life as a travelling showman and his fair’s links with St Lawrence Fair over the decades. The talk will be at the Village Centre on September 20th at 8 p.m. Tickets are on sale from the festival website at: http://www.hurstfestival.org.uk which also has details of all Festival events, or from Pierpoint Pet Supplies in Hurstpierpoint High Street. Festival programmes are also available from shops in the High Street and local libraries. |
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Note to editors: We hope to arrange some photocalls nearer the time but most newspapers will have pictures of Cowparade from last year’s festival, If you require any more information or help please email the press office at press.office@hurstfestival.org or contact Steve Whitehead on 01273 835323 or Festival Chair Michel Olszewski on 01273 834372 For information about the music and theatre workshop with the French please talk to Andrew Marshall on 01273 835101 |
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