Jack in the Green

The following story recently appeared in the Hastings Observer. What a small group artists have done has so effected our local community in a negative way.

Published Date:
13 November 2008
By Richard Gladstone

The popular Jack-in-the-Green festival could be massively scaled down next year.
The much-loved event is held during the first weekend in May and draws in more than 50,000 visitors to Hastings each year.

But organisers have been told they must find an alternative venue for part of the celebrations after St Mary-in-the-Castle lease-holders Sonrise Church decided to leave town.

Keith Leech, chairman of the Jack-in-the-Green committee, was sent a letter from bosses at Hastings Borough Council this week informing him of the news.

He said: "We are now having increasing problems finding venues as all of them seem to be closing down.

"We used to use the pier for a long time until it closed down and lately we have been using St Mary-in-the-Castle as the main venue for the event.

"Sonrise Church has decided not to renew its lease of the building so all those who have bookings after January next year will have to find an alternative venue. That means St Mary-in-the-Castle will be closed from January until the council has a new tenant.

"A few artists have completely ruined a major arts event because of their bad behaviour.

"This will now cause us a major headache and could be financially disasterous for Jack-in-the-Green."

Sonrise Church decided to leave St Mary-in-the-Castle after allegations of harassment by a group of 'faceless, nameless people'.

It was given the lease at the beginning of last year - a move which caused widespread anger among the town's arts community.

Mr Leech said the unavailability of the seafront venue will cut down the number of teams taking part in the event.

Organisers stage live music and barn dancing at St Mary-in-the-Castle before the Jack is paraded through the Old Town in a procession on the last day of the festival, which this year celebrated its 25th anniversary.

The Jack is then taken to Hastings Castle where it is symbolically slain and the Spirit of Summer is released for another year.

Mr Leech said: "The people of Hastings have lost out again.

"We may have to use school halls for the various events. The event is town-centre based. Because of this latest news it could be a much scaled down event."

Council bosses are currently searching for a new tenant to take over the running of St Mary-in-the-Castle and advising anyone who has booked the venue after January to find an alternative venue.