Oral histories of Piddinghoe
On 23 February and 9 March our team of student oral historians came to Piddinghoe in the Seahaven Academy minibus to interview a wide range of villagers about their lives, memories and recollections.
The six young people split into teams of two and conducted interviews in the church and village hall over the course of the day.
They gathered recollections from the oldest to the newest members of our community with stories of farming, frozen lakes, flower arranging, locked church safes, tennis, kingfishers, singing in the school choir, bell ringing and thoughts for future generations.
Villagers were generous with their time, with some older ones travelling from Peacehaven and Lewes to spend the morning with us.
Pizza’s arrived at lunch time along with delicious brownies, organised by Brigid, whilst Isla ensured the church was warm and in good order along with making sure people knew where and when to be.
Kasia and Oli from Iris Media Productions filmed, photographed and documented both days with their usual warmth and professionalism.
The next stage of the journey
The next stage of the journey is to turn the stories into a book, exhibition and a documentary to be screened in the Autumn. In the meantime, we are delighted to announce that we were successful in raising funds from Chalk Cliff Trust and Newhaven Growth Fund to commission a new piece of music by singer and composer Chris Moore from the internationally renowned VOCES8 to mark the restoration of the bells. Chris will be collaborating with Tide Mills Choir and the children from Harbour Primary School, who are learning handbell ringing, over the next few months to create a series of new songs for Piddinghoe: Ring in the New.
Village Concert
The world premiere will form part of our double bill on Saturday 22nd July with the Concert in the Church from 6.00pm to 7.00pm followed by a Ceilidh on the Hoe from 8.00 to 10.30pm.
Tickets for the Concert and Ceilidh will be available shortly. We’re looking forward to seeing you on the 22nd July.