Month: November 2018

Lewes History Group AGM and a talk on the campaign for voting rights for women in Lewes – Monday 10 December 2018, 7:00 for 7:30pm

Following a brief AGM we will have a presentation by Dr Diana Wilkins of Reeves Archive titled ‘From Suffrage to Citizenship: The Lewes Campaign for Women’s Right to Vote’, about the campaign for voting rights for women in Lewes.

Justice - M Lowdnes album LSEThis year is the centenary of the 1918 Representation of the People Act and of the general election in which some women were able to vote for the first time, along with millions more men.

Diana will show photographs from the Reeves Archive and the LSE Women’s Library that tell the story of the peaceful suffragists in Lewes. The talk will include the militant suffragettes who went on hunger-strike in Lewes prison and the local opposition to suffrage.

 


Image of Justice from the Mary Lowndes album  from the LSE Library, copyright DACS. (Left)

The talk sets the scene for an Edward Reeves Archive exhibition in the series Stories Seen Through a Glass Plate, at Lewes Town Hall. Exhibition Open Day, Saturday 15 December 2018, 11-4 pm, then Mondays to Fridays from 17 December till 4 January, during Town Hall opening hours.

All are welcome from 7.00pm for free refreshments and updates on the Group’s activities. The talk will begin promptly at 7:30pm and will finish by 9.00pm.

Entry for this meeting, incorporating the AGM, is free to Lewes History Group members, and £3 for non-members, payable at the door.

Venue: The King’s Church building on Brooks Road, Lewes, BN7 2BY. (Between Tesco car park and Homebase)

See the Meetings page for a list of  forthcoming monthly talks organised by the Lewes History Group.

 

 

 

–

New book on Thomas Paine, and event on 7 December 2018, 6:00pm

Paul Myles: The Rise of Thomas Paine: and the Case of the Officers of Excise, etc, Lewes 1772. Thomas Paine Society UK, 2018.

Thomas Paine is known by all Americans as one of their founding fathers: his seminal publication Common Sense kindled the War of Independence.

This original and scholarly work by Paul Myles explains the rise of Thomas Paine, who was chosen by a Commissioner of Excise, George Lewis Scott, to write The Case of the Officers of Excise, while Paine was in Lewes in 1772.

This work identified and condemned the deep corruption within the English excise service, and called for the organization of workers to improve their pay and conditions. The origins of Paine’s links with figures such as Benjamin Franklin, so important when Paine moved to North America, is thereby explained.

The Mayor of Lewes, Councillor Janet Baah, and Paul, are pleased to invite members of the Friends of Lewes to the presentation of this new book at Lewes Town Hall in the Yarrow Room at 6.00 pm on the 7th of December 2018. The event will last for one hour, and Paul will talk about the contents of the book and how missing signatures were found, leading to a new telling of this story.

Myles-The Rise of Thomas Paine, book cover

 

 

 

 

–

Friends of Lewes position statement on the proposed Old Malling Farm development site submitted to the Inquiry into the South Downs Local Plan

The South Downs National Park Authority Local Plan sets the policies against which planning applications will be considered and allocates land for a variety of uses. In April 2018 the SDNPA submitted the first Local Plan for the whole of the South Downs National Park to the Government for examination. Once adopted, the new South Downs Local Plan will replace the existing planning policies operating across the South Downs National Park.

Friends of Lewes position statement submitted to the South Downs Local Plan Inquiry commenting on Policy SD79 (Old Malling Farm) of the draft SDNPA’s Local Plan, November 2018 [pdf 116kb]

Outline of Old Malling Farm proposed development site, Lewes
Old Malling Farm proposed development site outlined in red

 

 

 

–

Friends of Lewes plant trees near Mount Harry Stores, and on Houndean Rise

Lewes Urban Arboretum, Trees Committee of Friends of Lewes planted four more trees on 18 November 2018. At the request of residents living nearby, a Ginkgo biloba, (Maidenhair Tree), Sorbus aria Magnifica, (Whitebeam) and an Acer campestre Louisa Red Shine, (Field Maple with especially red leaves in Autumn), were planted outside Mount Harry Stores. Another Liquidambar styraciflua Worplesdon, (Sweet Gum), was planted in Houndean Rise to add to the twelve which we planted there in March 2018: as a project in consultation with residents to replace trees which have been lost over the years. The residents have taken very good care of the trees by watering them regularly over the dry summer which we have just had.

Trees planted in Lewes by the Friends of Lewes
Liquidambar planted on Houndean Rise, and planting outside Mount Harry Stores, Lewes

 

 

 

 

–