Viva Lewes - The what's on guide

Maybe you’re reading this in the build up to Lewes’ annual night of mayhem, with a sense of building excitement at the enormity of what’s to come. Maybe you’re reading it the morning after, with torch-sticks still littering the kerbside, and a faint smell of cordite in the air. Whatever the case, let’s hear it for the Bonfire Societies, who’ve once again proved that members of the public can stand up and be counted as a collective unit, and thumb their nose at authority in spectacular fashion (even if authority makes it more difficult for out-of-towners to watch them doing so). It’s rare for the people to be able to take to the streets in such numbers as an annual matter of course, and it’s rare for people to be allowed to express themselves in such an explosive manner. Imagine, if Bonfire weren’t an age-old tradition, someone trying to get the concept past Health and Safety in this day and age. How many thousands marching? Flaming torches? Rookies thrown at people dressed as bishops? Blowing up effigies in front of thousands of spectators? Get out of here.
On a rather different note, Lewes was subjected to a Royal Visit on Tuesday, albeit a rather minor one. Prince Michael of Kent, the Queen’s Second Cousin, came to cut the ribbon on the amendments to the castle. He also visited the East Sussex Records Office, while he was here. It was an interesting scenario, as he whistle-stopped around the place, in that angular manner of his, in the rain, surrounded by several rather good-natured body guards. Sussex Past took the opportunity to announce that they’d been awarded a £49,800 grant from the Heritage lottery Fund to help them ‘concentrate on interpretation of the Battle of Lewes’ over the next three years.

Who is Lewes’ ‘personality of the year’? Who has stood out most from the other 15,999 people in town, for their good work or solid good-egg character? The Round Table have asked Viva Lewes readers to choose. So we’re relaying that message to you. Is it Phil Millmore, who saw a life-long campaign come to fruition with the announcement that the South Downs is to become a National Park? Is it Steve Ibbitson, who has offered his services (both on and off the field) to Lewes FC, for free, in their time of crisis? Is it Vic, who runs the Runaway Café in the station, who does so much to brighten up the lives of so many people? If you care to nominate anyone else, we’ll print their name in this slot next week. Please send your vote to info@vivalewes.com, heading your message 'Personality'.

We’ll leave you with a cross-Atlantic view of Bonfire Night from an American reviewer who may or may not have witnessed it first hand (here). The weather will, according to Auntie.com, be Bonfire-friendly on the Fifth, and fairly pleasant thereafter, until Sunday, when it will bucket it down. Keep clicking in, though, because they keep changing their minds. Here, as ever, is a list of some of the more interesting events in and around town over the next ten days. Enjoy the week…

Large street festival in which thousands march in torchlit procession, ending up at six different firesites, where fireworks are let off, bonfires burnt, effigies and tableaux exploded and clergymen assaulted with rookies. Then, best of all, Bonfire prayers. Don’t be Druv. Pic by Roz South.

All over town, from 5pm

Film director Andrea Arnold was having trouble finding an actress to do justice to the lead role in her second feature film, after the success of 2007’s Red Road. She needed someone to play an angry fifteen-year old from a downbeat Essex housing estate. A girl with real attitude. A number of castings had left her cold. Then she spotted the right person – on a train platform, giving her boyfriend a hard time. Katie Jarvis didn’t have any acting experience, but no matter. She’s the driving force of a film which has had critics raving, and which won the Jury Prize in the latest Cannes Film Festival. One writer was moved enough to suggest Arnold was the natural heir to Ken Loach, as Britain’s foremost naturalistic film director.
The Jarvis character’s life takes a turn for the more annoying when her mum only goes and gets a new bloody boyfriend, which sets the narrative off at a helter-skelter pace which rarely diminishes. The boyfriend is played by Michael Fassbender, whose humdrum TV-acting career has risen meteorically since he starred in Steve McQueen’s Hunger, and is fast on his way to A-list status.

Lewes Cinema, All Saints, 8pm Fri; 8.30pm Sat, £5.50

Every month Farmers’ Market organiser Vanessa Langley sends us in a report of what to expect in the farmers’ market, vegetable wise. Of course, there’s much more to our monthly streetfest than just veg, but for the record here we go: “November’s an unpredictable month for producers, with the chance of severe cold snaps threatening to bring some of the more tender crops to a seasonal end. Here’s a list of what should be in season, and on offer: potatoes, onions, carrots, Brussels sprouts, leeks, Romanesco cauliflower, celeriac, Pak Choi, Mizuna, rocket, fennel, squashes and pumpkins, kale, kohlrabi, turnips, Savoy cabbage, Dutch White cabbage, red cabbage, calabrese, leaf beet spinach, chard, beetroot, celery, spring onions, peppers, tomatoes, marrows, Jerusalem artichokes, parsnips, swedes, parsley, coriander, sage, French sorrel, apples, pears, raspberries.”
We’ve tried our best with the capital letters there, but we’re never sure. Why French beans (cap ‘f’) but ‘swedes’ (lower case ‘s’?) Anyone? Producers, by the way, will be taking orders for Christmas. And a quick reminder that there are two markets in December, on the 5th and the 20th.

Cliffe Precinct, 9am-1pm

Lewes followed up followed their win against Bishop Stortford (and their abandoned 'draw' with St Albans) with a disappointing defeat at Welling, a result which saw the London team escape into the distance. It was a match of many penalties, both awarded and not. In the first half both keepers saved shots from the spot; in injury time referee Harris declined to give Lewes an apparently stonewall pen after Andy Pearson was bundled over in the box. Lewes had by then conceded a goal, and ended up losing 1-0. Ryan Storrie was shown the red card after the final whistle, for comments he’d made to the ref, who’d obviously completely lost the plot.
Hampton and Richmond are up next. The Beavers (honest) aren’t having the best of seasons, and have recently been dumped out of the FA Cup by lower league Sutton. However they countered this disappointment with a thumping 4-0 victory over Maidenhead, helped by an Ian Hodges hat-trick.
Remember, all kids under 14 go free to this game. Let’s hope this pushes the crowd up to decent levels. Pic by James Boyes.

Dripping Pan, 3pm, £10/£7/£3

'This is actually great (if ultimately silly and slightly cheesy) fun with quite a few nice sly digs at the genre that is trying to snuggle up to,' writes Simon Thompson, of Heart 106.2. "Obtain a human-sized version of a hamster wheel, then spend a couple of hours scurrying around inside it, and you’ll have had an experience far more varied and stimulating than what’s on offer here," counters the Times' Edward Porter, forgetting that, in effect, thousands of people do just that every day at the gym. A 3D movie (though not here) about a bunch of rodents, who become FBI agents.

Lewes Cinema, All Saints, 4.30pm, £5.50

Two of Lewes’ best-known artists, who happen to work next door to one another in Paddock Road. Both are painters, with very different styles. Peter Messer, who almost always uses central Lewes as the backdrop of his narrative slices, is something of a magic realist. He often introduces a hint of the sinister or the supernatural, however faintly, in his work, which is otherwise set very much in the here and now. You never know quite what’s going on in his pictures, but, if you’re imaginative, it’s fun making something up. He is highly adept at capturing the different moods created by the ever-changing light. Jo Lamb lives more overtly in a make-believe world. There’s a naïve, child-like look to most of her work, which often includes Rupert-Bearish figures, or colourful robots. But that naivety is offset by a slightly sinister undercurrent she creates with a glint in the eye, or an incongruous intruder in the frame, such as a monkey at a First Communion. She’s done some interesting landscapes, too. The picture illustrating this paragraph is by Lamb, and is called 'What's the Time, Mr Wolf?'.

St Anne’s Galleries, 10am-6pm Sat and Sun, Thurs 6-8pm. By appointment at other times.

Julie and Julia is directed by Nora Ephron, who wrote When Harry Met Sally and directed Sleepless in Seattle, get the picture?), follows the fortunes of two cooks in two very different decades. Meryl Streep plays Julia Child, who introduced French cookery to the mass American market in 1961 with a best-selling recipe book. Amy Adams plays Julie Powell, who wrote a blog about preparing all 524 recipes in Child’s work in a year, which she turned into her own best-selling book. Many critics found the Adams strands got in the way of the real story, but most people who love cooking will find this an enjoyable enough hour-and-a-half.

Lewes Cinema, All Saints, 6.15pm Sat; 7.15pm Sun, £5.50

If you haven’t had enough yet, or were too busy organising things on the fifth to let your hair down, tonight is a big night in the Bonfire calendar. The Chailey night is a family affair; Battle is much more of a riot. East Hoathley are famed for their great fireworks, and their imaginatively sculpted bonfires.

Generally start 6-6.30pm

A day full of family activities, inspired by the county’s brimful records. Children can enjoy storytelling and trying their hands at being a conservator, they can tour behind the scenes, and they can look at some of the treasures in the collections. Check also Sun 8th.

The Maltings, 10am-4pm, free (book on day, 482349)

If you ever visit the East Sussex Record Office, it’s always surprisingly full of people, noses into documents, confidently brandishing microfiches and chewing the ends of their pencil stubs. Most, it transpires, are amateur genealogists, attempting to trace the whereabouts of long-lost ancestors. Interesting stuff, huh? This open day is mostly geared to that sort of activity: there are behind-the-scenes guided tours, and advice surgeries. You can bring your own documents for analysis, and the Sussex Family History Group will be on hand to offer advice into research techniques.

The Maltings, 10am-4pm, free (book on day, 482349)

Calling a film about Charles Darwin 'Creation' is, let's face it, a bit daft. But, that over, never mind. This movie places Darwin's theory on the origins of species into a personal context, as the young scientist battles with his conscience (and his religious wife) about whether to publish his iconoclastic findings. Darwin, played by Paul Bettany, is haunted throughout by the death of his daughter Annie, of scarlet fever, five years before the movie begins. And it begins, of course, with a big bang.

Lewes Cinema, All Saints, 5pm, £5.50

Crime novelist Peter James was born and brought up in Brighton, which he uses as the backdrop for his novels (most recently starring DS Roy Grace). To put his success in some sort of context, his latest, Dead Tomorrow, reached number one in the sales charts at both Tesco and Asda, and number 2 in the Sunday Times Best Seller list. In a recent interview with Emma Chaplin, in the Viva Lewes Handbook, James threatened to bring Lewes into the fray, suggesting it, too, to be a great setting for a macabre crime story. Here’s a chance to listen to Peter talk in a rather intimate setting, with some rather nice food. And it’s all for charity – the Young Offenders Scheme. The evening has been set up by the Rotary Club.

Pelham House, 7 for 7.30pm, £20 with two-course meal from Laporte’s or Daisy McKie on 814859

Tues 10th: World Café Discussion – Do I really want to be fed by a supermarket?

‘In a changing world,’ ask Transition Town, ‘how can I make my food more resilient, more ethical?’ A pertinent question. In Lewes two thirds of our food is bought at Tescos. Much of the remainder is purchased at Waitrose and other large supermarkets further afield. Supermarkets, using their vans as storage, deal in just-in-time deliveries, meaning that, were something to go wrong with them, the town would be just two days away from being foodless. Can we change this? Well, of course we can. If more people shop locally, local shops will thrive. This is the theory under discussion at Bill’s Café. Very pertinent stuff.

Bill’s Café, Cliffe High St, 7-9pm

Once a year, Lewes comes to a standstill for two minutes as passers-by and there-on-purpose attendants remember the soldiers killed in action in the two World Wars. It’s a very moving ceremony, ended, Lewes being Lewes, with a loud bang, and a procession.

Catherine Smith (left) is the home draw of this triple bill, put on by Lewes Live Lit. She’ll be reading from her new book of short stories. Irish poet Martina Evans comes next, reading from her new collection Facing The Public. And then, on the last date of a UK tour, there’s Australian wordsmith Alison Croggon, author of the collection Theatre, theatre critic for The Australian, and all-round literary egg.

Needlemaker’s Café, 7.45, £6

The title of this show must be referring more to the spirit of the collaborators in this project, than the similarity of their artworks. The Seaford Set comprise of current and former members of the Seaford Art Club. Peter Baker, a former illustrator for Autocar Magazine, draws and paints classic and vintage cars. Jacqueline Bayley, winner of the 2009 Bards, Druids and Ovates Award, paints ‘the human situation’ in oils, pastels and watercolour. Mike Harrison is a highly experienced still life painter. And David Wall is a well-qualified oil painter, now largely working in acrylic and mixed media. It’s a great space, too, especially the medieval undercroft.

Crypt Gallery, free entry

The Dardenne brothers have called The Silence of Lorna a ‘war film’, though it’s nothing of the sort, in the conventional sense.
It is, however, like all their films, about conflict.
Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne are from Liege, the industrial capital of the French-speaking part of Belgium, and they have set all their many films in their home territory.
They’ve majored on the problems of working class (and particularly immigrant) characters, trying to survive the moral dilemmas thrown up by the struggle for existence in the bleak urban marketplace.
The films are a little like Mike Leigh or Ken Loach’s work, without the humour, and with less conventional camera styles. They have won two Palm D’Or awards from the Cannes Film Festival, most lately for 2005’s brilliant and morally ambiguous movie L’Enfant.
The conflict in their latest movie is in the head of a young Albanian girl who becomes embroiled in a complicated scam that involves her gaining EU status by marrying a Belgian junkie, then getting rid of him and marrying a Russian gangster, who’ll pay a lot of money for the privilege.
When she discovers the ‘getting rid of the junkie’ part involves administering him a fatal overdose, she starts to question the whole enterprise. But is it too late to get out of it?
It’s a thriller, essentially, and one that runs along at a pretty good pace, give or take the odd side-step round occasional feasibility holes in the plot (why doesn’t the Russian just marry someone who’s already Belgian?). Not their best movie, then, but well watchable nonetheless, especially if grit is grist to your mill.

Lewes Cinema, All Saints, 8pm, £5

So near, but yet so far. Lewes were desperately close to progressing to the Third Round of the RFU Intermediate Cup against Tottonian, a Hampshire side who are top of the London 2 SW League. Winning 32-26, all they needed to do was to prevent their opponents from scoring in the last passage of play before full time. Alas, Tottonians broke through in the corner, and their kicker slotted between the posts from wide. 32-33, and a gut-wrenching exit from the knock-out competition.
All the more reason, then, for Lewes to come flying out the blocks in this league game against Warlingham, fourth in the table to Lewes’ third. The Surrey side may be lower in the table, but have scored more than twice as many points as Lewes, partially due to a recent 85-0 thrashing of Eastbourne a couple of weeks back. Lewes’ latest home victory, in complete contrast, was an evenly-matched 3-0 defeat of Deal.

Stanley Turner, 2.30pm, free

One thing the recent appearance of BNP leader Nick Griffin on Question Time did was get everybody talking about the programme again, which hasn’t happened much since Robin Day chaired proceedings, with his catchphrase ‘there they are; and here we go’.
Which is fortuitous, in a roundabout way, for this charity version of the format, raising money for the St Peter and St James Hospice. Sky News presenter Adam Boulton (left) performs the Richard Bumblebee role: Norman Baker is on the panel.

Newick Village Hall, 7.15pm, £12.50 from 01825 722607

The Adventurists (left) feature Sam Walker, once of Turning Green, and Daniel Clark, a likeminded popster he met least year. Within days they’d collaborated on a version of British folk classic Matty Groves: within a month they’s embarked on a musical tour of the Isle of Wight, on bicycles. Listen out for Sam singing ‘Intro and Bubble’: a gob-smacking three minutes of poignancy. The Moonshine Band, Bob Taylor and Ruby Rose are also appearing in this benefit gig for Lewes’ volunteer-run youth centre.

Fri 6th. The Collaborators (left). Acoustic covers duo. John Harvey Tavern, 8pm, free
Fri 6th. Papa George. Internationally acclaimed bluesman. Volunteer, 9pm, free
Sat 7th. The Informers. 70s blues, soul and funk. John Harvey Tavern, 8pm, free
Sat 7th. Bill Whaley and Dave Fletcher. Trad Lincolnshire singing duo. Elephant and Castle, 8pm, £6
Sun 8th. Elsa. Hard-hitting acoustic singer-songwriter. Con Club, 3-6pm, free
Sun 8th. Sugar Mama UK. Trad and experimental blues with Dave Carson. Volunteer, 4pm, free
Tues 10th. Trad sessions with guitarist Tab Hunter and fiddler Ben Paley. Snowdrop, 9pm, free
Thur 12th. Tuxedo Junction. 20s and 30s swing with guitar and trombone. Pelham Arms, 8pm, free
Thur 12th. Bob Lewis. Traditional Sussex folk singer. Royal Oak, 8pm, £5
Fri 13th. Moonshine. Sultry blues to rock ‘n’ roll. John Harvey Tavern, 8pm, free
Fri 13th. The Kondoms. Punky covers with Moose and co. Volunteer, 9pm, free
Sat 14th. Chicken Shed Zeppelin. ‘Blue-crass’ psychobilly fivesome. Snowdrop, 9pm, free
Sat 14th. Vicki Swan and Jonny Dyer. Trad English and modern Swedish folk. Elephant and Castle, 8pm, £6
Sun 15th. Paul Cox Trio. Well-established Brighton blues threesome. Volunteer, 4pm, free