Brighton & Hove

In his talk, Chris Horlock will reveal how the people of Sussex celebrated Christmas in the past.  

Many of the customs of the traditional twelve days of Christmas are detailed, including putting up the decorations, bringing in the yule log, preparing the Christmas day feast, plus the curious ‘Mummer’s Play’ entertainment.  There’s a Christmas tale or two along the way, including a mysterious incident during the great snowstorm of 1881, plus how in 1939, the snow at Burwash was not the usual colour!

Magnus Volk is one of Brighton’s most famous residents.  He was the first person in England to describe himself as an “electrician” and one of the earliest electrical engineers in Victorian England.  A prolific inventor, and the designer of the oldest, and still operating, electric passenger railway in the world. Bill McNaught will tell his fascinating story and will also cover some aspects of life in Victorian Brighton.

Robert Slater will present an overview of crime and smuggling in East Sussex from the 13th until the early 20th centenary

Andy Garth makes a welcome return to present more gems from the Argus Photographic Archive that bring our local history back to life.

“The Argus” – the regional newspaper for Brighton and Sussex (formerly the “Evening Argus” has been published since 1880.  Thousands of photographs have featured in the newspaper over the years capturing local events, people and places. 

In 1859 the first public asylum in Sussex opened amidst great publicity near Haywards Heath. Victorian mental health reformers believed in something revolutionary: that a well-run, progressive asylum could solve the increasing problem of “madness” in society.  

Inmates came from all over Sussex, and beyond.  If you are “missing” a Sussex relative in your family tree they may been an inmate of the Asylum.  James Gardner’s talk explores what happened to this aspiration and seeks to explain the demise of asylum treatment.

(rescheduled from last year)

Heraldry could be described as the shorthand of history, depicting the stories of royalty, noble families, organisations, governments and ordinary people in vivid and colourful displays, which can be read and interpreted at a glance. It is to be found all around us, if you know where to look.  This illustrated talk will provide an introduction to the basics, and its history through its use in battle, the elaborate and sometimes confusing usage in Georgian and Victorian times, to its modern display in corporate identity, advertising and civic ceremonial.

Mike Scott Randle will also cover the work of the College of Arms and modern-day heralds and the heraldry of Brighton & Hove.

Do you know your White Horse from your Red Lion, or your Kings Head from your Royal Oak?

Inn signs were, and still are, much more than external advertising for food, drink and possibly accommodation nowadays. The signs and their brackets reveal patronage, land ownership, social status, local personalities and events, opening a window on to the past.  Sussex inn signs are a colourful addition to our urban and rural surroundings, and they are still full of meaning in the 21st century.

Tony Pratt from the Wey and Arun Canal Trust will present the history of the Canal and of those who worked it.  He will also talk of the work of the Trust in its restoration of this once essential waterway.

Mathew Homwood will reveal the story of the impressive, but long-forgotten Lewes Union Workhouse building.  Full of fascinating stories, photographs and plans, the talk takes us from the building’s construction in the 1860s, to its demolition during the 1950s.  The talk looks at life in the workhouse and will also delve into the often turbulent lives of the seven workhouse masters.

The building ceased to be used as a workhouse in 1902, and the talk will look at its many subsequent uses. These include its time as the Female Inebriates’ Reformatory, which involved various daring escape attempts by some of the inmates.

The talk finishes with a look at the long-overdue demolition of the ‘black spot of Lewes’, and the subsequent plans to put something in its place.