A mouth-watering feast was enjoyed at Hastings' second ever festival celebrating our superb local seafood and wine. Crowds flocked to the historic fishing beach and enjoyed first-class fresh local seafood, wine and entertainment in a lively atmosphere, surrounded by sunshine and sea air. The festival is part of an exciting new Local Enterprise Growth Initiative (LEGI)-supported project to promote local food and stimulate food enterprise called 'FoodLocal Hastings'
Organised by Hastings Borough Council, the festival displayed the excellence and diversity of Hastings' fabulous food scene. An amazing 30,000 people enjoyed the two-day festival with many travelling from London and even as far away as North Wales and Rochdale! Lianne Carroll performing at the Jazz Breakfast was a festival highlight.
The crowds enjoyed tasty dishes such as pan-fried garlic cuttlefish; sea bass curry and barbecued fresh fish cooked by our own top-class local restaurants. Local fish shops joined in with cauldrons of fish soup and stunning displays featuring huge monkfish and snapping lobsters. Farmers' Market stalls offered all sorts of local bread, cheeses and sauces. Local vineyards offered delicious wines, and the tasting session on matching fish with wine was especially popular.
The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) awards the MSC eco-label for fish caught in a sustainable way and the Hastings fishing fleet has been awarded the eco-label for Dover sole, herring and mackerel landed here, all available from Rock-a-Nore Fisheries.
Put next year's festival dates in your diary now: 20 - 21 September 2008
If you can't wait till then, don't miss the chance to treat yourself to the best of our fresh, local produce and seafood in time for Christmas. On 20 December, the Farmers' Market meets the Fishmarket in the Old Town at the Stade and along Rock-a-Nore Road. Local restaurants will be on hand to provide tasty warming dishes to keep Jack Frost at bay.
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One hundred and forty planners, architects and building professionals came to the Building for the Environment' Conference in October at Hillcrest School, Hastings. This was the first event of its kind in Hastings to hear from national, regional and local speakers and practitioners on sustainability in the built environment and exhibitions of sustainable materials and construction methods.
Organised by Hastings Borough Council as part of its Sustainability Programme and the LEGI-supported 'Thriving Construction Initiative', the day covered the changes that will affect the built environment, promoting environmentally-friendly design and construction; the use of low impact materials and renewable energy systems.
The conference has helped to emphasise environmental issues in planning and the construction industry and the aim is that this initiative will continue with a local forum and further events designed to help develop best practice.
For more information or to find out how to get copies of presentations from the conference telephone 01424 451483 or 01424 451986 or email: class@hastings.gov.uk
or cbiggs@hastings.gov.uk
'Enterprising People' is an innovative LEGI-supported project working with community groups to help inspire and support people starting their own businesses.
Graham Marley, Chief Executive of Ten Sixty Six Enterprise said:
"This project is really different, trying to find people who would like to start a business but don't know where to start. We do this by working closely with community organisations - in the first round of projects we worked with Age Concern, Celebrating Cultural Diversity Network, Creating Futures and the Prince's Trust.
"Over a three month period the project helped more than 60 clients, supported the opening of nine new businesses and helped another client into employment. In addition the project helped to establish a Seniors Enterprise Group with Age Concern and the Seniors Forum which is looking at ways to support older people back into employment or into self employment."
Matt Huggins attended the Prince's Trust programme which supported a number of unemployed young people. Matt was looking to establish a Circuit Training/Personal Fitness business, but was lacking both confidence and funding. The Prince's Trust programme helped to rebuild Matt's confidence and at the end of the project he was able to apply for funding from the Prince's Trust. Matt has now started his business - he has also been able to access further support from Capitalise Business Support which will help him to grow his business more.
Graham Marley commented:
"The project has given people a real boost in developing their ideas and has enabled a number of people to then access other support."
The second round of projects will be starting soon with the addition of the Horizons Community Learning project which will have a part time development worker supporting existing clients.
Anyone interested in starting a business should contact Ten Sixty Six Enterprise on 01424 295500. In addition to the Enterprising People project there is also BizFizz (coaching and advice for people living in Central St Leonards or Ore Valley), and a regular programme of free start up workshops and advice.
Local students are set to develop key skills for the world of work thanks to a LEGI project called 'Enterprising Schools'. This results from a successful partnership between Ten Sixty Six Enterprise and local education consultancy Magnified Learning in the last academic year when they delivered a range of work-related learning events at local schools.
The project aims to help young people gain a deeper understanding of five key employment sectors - Construction; Creative and Media; I.T; Food and Engineering and Manufacturing. It also improves their understanding of finances, develop key employability skills and raise aspirations. It will be rolled out across ten primary schools, seven secondary schools and two Colleges in Hastings and Bexhill.
"The overall project is not solely focussed around young people starting a business, but about developing enterprising skills, that all employers look for these days. It's all about helping young people understand the world of work and the key skills employers look for in potential recruits",
says Jonathan Dolding, who oversees the project for Ten Sixty Six Enterprise.
"Young people nowadays need to understand that the world of work is rapidly changing and that with increasing globalisation and overseas outsourcing they compete for jobs against students halfway around the globe. The earlier they can pick up on these concepts the better - hence why we are also targeting those of primary age."
Bringing together business and education enables employers to work firsthand with local students - putting them through their paces and allowing them to solve real business issues. It also raises aspirations by giving students access to positive role models from the business world.
"The recent Simply Italian Challenge delivered to the Year 7 class at Filsham Valley School is a typical example of what the project is all about"
says Jonathan.
Supported by business volunteers - Carol Sands (The Rooms Café Bar), Sabina Brown (Freelance Secretary) and Tess Warren (Pestalozzi) - students enjoyed a carousel of interactive workshops aimed at practising skills required for the main business challenge. Commissioned by Simply Italian co-owner Marc Venditto to plan the launch of a new restaurant, students worked in teams with a budget to undertake the three roles of planning, designing and costing the menu, the restaurant layout and the accompanying promotional campaign in the lead up to the launch. Fuelled by an Italian food tasting session, the students produced a physical display of their work, including menu designs, restaurant floor plans and promotional material with details of their budgetary figures.
Whilst students are the primary beneficiaries of the project, benefits are also on offer to employers.
Marc Venditto said:
"The Filsham days provided us with some clear benefits. We came away with some creative ideas as to how we can attract more families and young people to our restaurants and to have our brand in front of 160 students for two days is a fantastic profile."
For more information about the LEGI Enterprising Schools project and how your school or business could benefit telephone 01424 205507.
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