Countdown to This Year’s Hailsham Festival

Hailsham is gearing up for a varied line-up of talented regional artists and a feast of music, dance, drama, literature and street entertainment as the town hosts the Hailsham Festival in September.

The Hailsham Festival, one of the highlights of the town’s events calendar, attracts a cross-section of artists and performers from the South East and further afield, and offers a wide variety of exhibits and performances to suit all tastes.

The 16-day series of events will take place at various locations in and around Hailsham from Saturday 8^th September to Sunday 23^rd September and is being organised again by the Hailsham Festival Committee and the team at Gallery North.

The Mayor’s Opening Concert, which takes place at Hailsham Parish Church on Saturday 15^th September from 2pm, will feature musicians from the church (The Pilgrim Ensemble) as well as a performance by Hailsham Choral Society and the professional soprano, Opera Mayhem’s Noa Lachman.

Other performers announced for this year’s festival include renowned ABBA tribute band Abalicious (Hailsham Parish Church, Thursday 13^th September, 8pm) and jazz band The Helen Sharpe Quartet (Chapter 12 Wine Bar, Saturday 22^nd September, 8.30pm)

There will be performances of Oh What A Lovely War! at Summerheath Hall (Thursday 20^th September), presented by Hailsham Theatres, as well as a Folk in the Yard event at the King’s Head in South Road (Saturday 15^th September, 3pm) – sure to be a crowd-pleaser – and Hailsham Community College Ensembles will be performing once again at Hailsham Pavilion (Sunday 23^rd September, 3pm).

The program will also feature a Singing Workshop at Callender’s Restaurant (Saturday 22^nd September, 10.30am), as well as a 3-Minute Fix film competition, Adult Short Story Competition and Poetry Competition as part of the line-up.

Town Mayor Councillor Nigel Coltman said: “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 will be an honour for me to be part of this year’s festival and invite the community to put the festival dates in their diaries.”

“Alongside new events, old favourites will return to keep residents entertained and bring visitors from across the region to our fantastic and vibrant town.”

Councillor Alexa Clarke, Chairman of the Town Council’s Communities Committee said: “I’m sure festival organisers will surpass all expectations again this year with events, activities and workshops for all the family.”

“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 this year’s festival.”

“A vast amount of work is carried out behind the scenes by dedicated volunteers and we are hoping that even more volunteers will get involved in this year’s festival, give their support and contribute to its success.”

For more information, visit www.hailshamartsfestival.co.uk.