In Focus Podcasts

Everyone knows about 9/11 not so many know that when the US closed its airspace, 38 planes carrying nearly 7,000 passengers from around the world were unexpectedly diverted to Gander, Newfoundland, nearly doubling the town’s population overnight.Come From Away is a heart-warming and multi award-winning musical, based on this remarkable true story. The show follows both the stranded 'come from aways' and the townspeople who opened their homes, schools, and hearts to care for them.Amid fear and uncertainty, strangers form deep connections, friendships, and even love. The musical celebrates human kindness, resilience, and community spirit in the face of tragedy – and gives us hope in today’s unsettled world.Usefuk web linkshttps://www.sedlescombeplayers.co.uk/https://stablestheatre.co.uk/

Stuart Baillie has been writing about the Seaview Project in St Leaonards-on-Sea, East Sussex, since 2019. Seaview is a local charity that works with those on the margins of our society and reaches out to offer help to the homeless and rough sleepers.Last Friday (Oct 3rd) Seaview staged one of its Big Sleep fundraising events. There was a night of live music and entertainment then around 40 hardy souls slept rough raising awareness - and crucially cash - to help the charity. Once all the money is tallied it looks like the event will have raised around £35,000 and in times when securing funding for this kind of work is becoming ever more challenging.Stuart was one of those hardy souls prepared to brave the elements and during the evening he caught up with Seaview staff, supporters and volunteers and with people who are very frank about the fact that Seaview saved their lives.

The Seaview Centre in Hatherley Road in St Leonards-on-Sea is a remarkable place. Stuart Baillie has been out with the early morning outreach team meeting those sleeping rough on the streets of Hastings and St Leonards and he has been to the centre itself talking to those who make use of its many facilitiers and for whom Seaview, a charity that celebrates its 40th birthday this year, is nothing short of a lifeline!

Homelessness and rough sleeping are big news when politicians decide to use the issues to make political capital. But behind the headlines are real people living on the margins of society. The Seaview Project in St Leonards in East Sussex has been providing an open access wellbeing centre since 1985 and is currently the only such facility focused on homelessness and mental health in East Sussex outside Brighton and Hove. Seaview is a small independent charity that delivers an open access approach to people experiencing a range of issues including mental health, learning disabilities, substance misuse, physical disabilities, social isolation, rough sleeping and homelessness. Last year Seaview served the needs of more than 1,200 people.In this episode Seaview's Sue Burgess talks about the charity in general but about The BIg Sleep in particular. Takning place on October 5th she hopes it will raise much needed funds that will allow Seaview to continue to do its amazing work.

If you'd like to sponsor Darren and Fozzie then just go to this link... https://www.justgiving.com/page/spearhead-fitness-4?utm_medium=FR&utm_source=CLToo many young men are taking their own lives and too high a proportion of those are former military men who feel cut adrift from the life they have lived and loved. Darren Clark from Bexhill in East Sussex is doing something about it; raising awarenes and raising money as he battles his own mental health demons. He seen close friends and former comrades die needlessly and carried their coffins to their final resting places - something has to be done.In this podcast Darren recalls his time in the military and says more needs to be done to prepare servicemen for a life in civvy street: "...they need to do more than just teach you how to write a CV," he says.

Peter Mould is more than just a well known face around The Stables Theatre in Hastings, he has been taking pictures of the shows and the actors in them for getting on for a quarter of a century. The soon to be 80-year-old is as busy as ever and has seen so many changes in his craft over the years, hew took his first photographs with a camera given to him by his father when he was just 14 years old!

Actions should speak louder than words but when you can't get any action are the words on their own enough?Governments have pledged Hastings tens of millions but where the evidence of that moeny working to our benefit?

Roger Wilcock was a fascinatibng man to interview. He's done so much with his life; he started his career in teaching then swapped to stonemasonry for example. He formed the Hastings Big Choir and was the force behind the Hastings Prom which makes a return this year after a five year break. In this interview Roger talks about his childhood, his studies and his adult life and underpinning it all is the constant of music from choral to rock Roger loves it all as you will hear. Oh yes and there aren't too many instruments he can't get a tune out of!Hastings Prom makes its return as part of the Beer and Music Festival on Thursday July 3rd and you can use this link to buy your tickets https://hbmf.co.uk/index.html#tickets