The Mayor, Nigel Sinden, Claire Dunham-Phillips and Royston du Maurier-Lebek share their Love of Lear to promote the ATownExploresABook Crowdfunder

Last few days for The Owl and the Pussy-cat

St Leonards and Hastings have gone crazy for The Owl and the Pussy-cat as the ATownExploresABook21 Crowdfunder enters its last few days. HOT’s Erica Smith asks us all to give generously.

2021 will be the fifth year that ATownExploresABook Festival will celebrate a heritage book across St Leonards in inventive and inclusive ways. For the first time, the Festival has launched a Crowdfunder to help raise money so that local artists can work with schools across St Leonards and Hastings to produce outside art for the festival which runs through the Easter holiday period.

This year’s book will bring nonsense to the town – Edward Lear’s Nonsense Songs, Stories, Botany and Alphabets was first published in 1871 and begins with one of the nation’s favourite poems – The Owl and the Pussy-cat.

Selina was one of many people who agreed to read out the poem for the Crowdfunder film.

Isolation Station Hastings generously offered to produce a collage of different people reading the poem. The dignitaries and folk of St Leonards and Hastings were delighted to participate, and individuals sent Zoom and phone recordings of the famous lines which have been stitched together to create a funny and touching collage of the poem.

The Isolation Station Hastings film includes the Mayor and deputy Mayor, artist Royston du Maurier-Lebek, superstar Sue Tilley, poet and celebrant Kate Tym, Bavard Bar impressario Tim Crook, poet Penny Pepper, and young people who are being mentored by the ExploreTheArch team thanks to an Arts Council Grant. You can see the film on Facebook or follow this link.

As of Sunday evening, the Crowdfunder was teetering at £3,000 – with £2,000 still to go to reach it’s desired target. Festival Director Gail Borrow of ExploreTheArch said: “We know that it is the last few days that make or break a Crowdfunder – the more money we raise, the more young people we can introduce to Edward Lear’s nonsense verse – it’s the perfect book to explore reading, writing and illustration and make literature and literacy fun.”

Please support the Crowdfunder by following this link.

Also in: Arts News