Tullis Rennie is a sound-explorer of many parts: part improvising trombonist, part electronic musician and part composer. Often to be found performing live around town, sometimes accompanied by digital animations and alongside many local collaborators. I chatted with Tullis about his work, background and musical style.

Photo by Charlotte Steeples Interview by Tess Swan Get Hastings editor, Mel Elliott has recently punlished her debut novel about...

Craig Mason almost ‘broke the internet’ with his fake bamboo and he gave the dogs at Battersea a pop-art inspired room that was fit for a King Charles Spaniel, but it was his pub in Edinburgh that had Interior Design Masters on BBC1 sending him back to us in Hastings. Most definitely their loss, our gain I say!

When chef Benjamin Cumberpatch invited myself, photographer, Steve and designer, Laura to come for dinner, we jumped at the chance.

Red, Blue, Up is a major new exhibition of paintings and drawings by Bexhill-based artist, Michelle Roberts. It features a wide selection of Roberts’ works from the last 15 years. Through this detailed yet joyful execution, her works are underpinned by her unwavering precision and control, as she dissects shapes, forms and patterns across canvas and paper.

Myself, Get Hastings designer Laura and photographer Steve were all set to walk to The Cove in Fairlight for our meeting to kick off the next issue, and let me tell you, it’s not easy thinking about springtime when temperatures are low and days are dark and short but as soon as one issue hits the shelves, work starts on the next.

I’m forever harping on about how lucky we are here with our abundance of great, interesting and well-curated independent shops. In this feature we celebrate seven of them that we hope, cover some of your Christmas bases for gift buying this year.

Glenn Veness and his wife, Kathy, are a couple on a mission. A mission to create peace, love and happiness amidst a suburban council estate in Hollington.  I was buzzing earlier this year when I popped my Glennstonbury Festival cherry.

If you’re local to the Hastings area and you haven’t heard of Brook Tate yet, do you even have ears? Whether he is painting, writing, teaching maths, singing or dancing, Brook Tate is a force to be reckoned with: an insanely talented creative and proud human being with the courage to be vulnerable in front of audiences, as well as being unapologetically himself

It’s the Wednesday morning following Jack in the Green and everyone is exhausted due to five days without water – and what does any sensible Hastinger drink when there’s no water? Beer!

It was a few years ago that I first experienced ‘Mackerel Day’. It was blissfully warm and I’d been on the beach in front of Marine Court with friends and family and some small cans of gin and tonic from the shop. It was late afternoon, the light was soft and the beach was full of people enjoying the good weather, scared it wouldn’t last.

Gianluca Tozzi and Jack Booth opened Galleria seafood bar in 2020 during the small gap between lockdowns. Their aim was to support the localfishermen and women by serving up dishes where seasonal fish and veg is the star, as well as showcasing some of the best English and European wines with their relaxed yet intimate space

Ben Fenton is a Hastings-based artist, known for his abstract paintings of local architecture and coastline landscapes. In this interview, Ben opens up about his long-term mental health struggles, his relationship with the area and the sea — and of course, his art.

‘Never eat shredded wheat!’ a helpful person yelled to aid with the confusion of which side of the pillar was South West and which was North East. It was a sunny Thursday morning in August and an army of volunteers had come together to paint Bottle Alley, an initiative organised by creative collective, ZEROH. Spirits were high and people of all ages were eager and ready, yielding rollers, paint trays and brushes, awaiting their instructions.

Is he a mint with a hole? (No, but he does carry them around in his pocket). Is he a German hatchback or a game for posh people on horseback? No! He’s actually a genius Argentinian composer and pianist living in Hastings and he’s one of the loveliest people I’ve had the pleasure of interviewing.

When you think of the word ‘muse’, several people come to mind: a mid-nineties rock band, obviously Kate Moss in all her forms, the Pre Raphaelite poser, Elizabeth Sidall and last but not least, St Leonard’s based Freudian nudie, Sue Tilley.

When I got into the car the other morning to take my kid to school, the radio defaulted to BBC 6 Music and I immediately heard something I recognised. It was ‘Treasure’ by HotWax and once the song finished, Lauren Laverne was gushing about them being the ones to watch out for in 2023. At this point, I had already interviewed the band for Get Hastings but even in that short period, their potential had grown so much.

“Why!? What’s he done?” Louisa, the landlady of the Tower pub asks when I mention that we’d like to take some photos to go with my interview of James Endeacott, the subject I had left sitting on a sofa in front of a pictorial shrine to the Arsenal football team.

An interview with street photographer JJ Waller.

Anyone who knows me will know that I’m very much an advocate of gender equality: I’ve written children’s books about it, created animations and made t-shirts and I’m not shy to shout about my feminist agenda and how much inequality angers me. So when a member of the Get Hastings team suggested that we do a feature on Hastings United Girls Under 12s, I jumped at the chance.