Mayor Gives Grant to Hailsham Festival of Arts & Culture

In his role as mayor, Cllr Paul Holbrook receives a yearly allowance to cover events and other costs associated with the office of Town Mayor, but in the previous financial year, he did not utilise all of the allowance and stated that he would donate what was remaining to nine local community groups, charities and other local initiatives.

The Hailsham Festival of Arts & Culture, now entering its 18th successful year and one of the highlights of the town's events calendar, attracts a cross-section of artists and performers from the Southeast and further afield, and offers a wide variety of exhibitions and performances to suit all tastes.

The Festival Committee facilitated a recent project to create an 'Artists’ Bridge' in Hailsham which was opened at Eastwell Place Bridge last September, whereby nearly 300 pieces of art were submitted for consideration and of those, 77 of these can now be viewed on the bridge.

"Hailsham and the rest of East Sussex has such an amazingly rich seam of arts and culture. There is an amazing wealth of artistic talent, and it has been an honour for me to be part of the past five festivals," said Cllr Holbrook.

"Last year’s festival was nothing short of amazing with some truly great artists, writers, photographers, poets and music performers showcasing their talent across the Hailsham area. There was a positive atmosphere for the duration of the festival, and I was grateful to everyone for turning up and supporting the town’s festival so well."

Cllr Holbrook added: "I’m sure festival organisers will surpass all expectations again this year with events and, on behalf of the Town Council, I'd like to thank those community groups and individuals in the town for all the hard work and generous support given to organising previous festivals and of course the festival taking place this September."

"A huge amount of work is carried out behind the scenes by dedicated volunteers and my donation to the Festival Committee will hopefully go some way to ensure that this year's events, art trails and competitions will be a resounding success once again."