NewsletterSUSSEX BOOK CLUB 32 Founded by David Arscott Autumn/Winter 2013 JUST IN TIME FOR CHRISTMAS The long-awaited new book from the master story-teller HAVE I GOTAlex A I. STORY Askaroff FOR YOU Country Books paperback 230 x 150mm 294pages £14.99 56 black and white photos We all love stories, and in Alex Askaroff‘s eighth book he continues with his fascinating travels around the South East of England, collecting more hilarious and enchanting tales as he goes. Some will make you laugh, some will make you cry, but all will have you captivated. Once again Alex brings his unique magic to the page and captures England, its history and its people, as only he can. Includes 10 poems from the master’s pen. www.sussexbooks.co.uk Email: [email protected] Tel: 01629 640670 2 EDITORIAL irstly, an apology to all members who experienced delivery of books thay have ordered. I rely on the information supplied by publishers, who sometimes change publication dates and omit to inform the club. This Ftime we had difficulties with Dynasty Press, Amberley Publishing and History Press. Amberley have finally published Sussex Through Time by Douglas d’Enno! I would appreciate if members would inform me of any Sussex books they see reviewed in their local newspaper – some still slip through the net! Notification of two new books arrived too late for the printed version of the Spring/Summer Newsletter 31. They are on the facing page. My apologies to Helen Pearce and Diana Crook. st The Book Club outing to Rottingdean on 31 August was a great success – for those who made it. A few members were missing, no doubt exacerbated by the problem of parking their cars. In addition to the usual influx of visitors, there were two weddings at the parish church. My thanks to Mr Rob Upward for leading our little group on a brief history tour of the village – before rushing off to support Brighton playing Millwall. I hope his team won! Alex Askaroff‘s new book is worth the price, for Nina’s Naples’ pizza receipe alone (just how I remember them in Italy.) New books from Diana Pé, Harry Gaston, Brigid Chapman, Antony Edmonds, Anthony Beeson, Anne Parfitt- King, Philip Pavey, Queenspark Books, Cecil Rice & Zöe Cooper, Phil Hewitt, David J Boyne, Michael and Elaine Short, Brian Talbot, Cheryl R Lutring and Kate Elphick & Nigel Denison. David Arscott has now retired from self-publishing and I would be pleased to help anyone with a book project in mind. With improvements in technology, you no longer have to print hundreds of books, and a bespoke family history is an ideal gift for relations. THE NEWSLETTER now costs the club £1.20 each to send. If you have access to the internet you can elect for the A4 colour magazine. This is my fourth newsletter, and from Spring/Summer 2014, I shall start to drop members off the list who have not bought any books in two years. Please buy a book, or let me know if you want to continue with your membership. Books are still available from the last three newsletters, and see the website for more. www.sussexbooks.co.uk. The 2014 SUSSEX BOOK CLUB DESK DIARY is now available to members and is not sold in shops. £7.00, or three or more diaries at £6.00 each. See back page for more details. I should like to take this opportunity to wish all members and their families a happy Christmas and a healthy New Year. Happy reading, Dick Richardson SUSSEX BOOK CLUB ·COURTYARD COTTAGE ·LITTLE LONGSTONE ·BAKEWELL ·DERBYSHIRE DE45 1NN REVISEDNEWBOOKS 3 HAMMER AND FURNACE PONDS Helen Pearce Pomegranate Press paperback 210 x 148mm 96 pages 16 colour photographs £8.99 They beautify the woodlands of the Sussex and Kent High Weald, but they were created to power what has been described as the country's first industrial revolution. Helen Pearce's walker-friendly guide to the rich crop of surviving hammer and furnace ponds in the area traces the history of iron exploitation from pre-Roman times, but concentrates on the 16th and 17th centuries when the Weald throbbed to the sound of trip hammers. Her attractively illustrated guide includes a complete gazetteer of surviving ponds, with map references and access details, and a list of museums with iron industry displays. A LEWES DIARY 1916-1944 by Mrs Henry Dudeney edited by Diana Crook Paperback 210 x 148mm £9.99 Originally published in 1998 A Lewes Diary has become popular both in Lewes and further afield, as it has a universal rather than just a local appeal. A once famous novelist, Mrs Dudeneyʼs acid comments led to her diaries being kept closed for nearly 40 years. She vividly describes her tragi-comic marriage to the celebrated mathematician Henry Dudeney, her career, her lover and two world wars, as well as her forays into High Society through her friendship with the millionaire politician Sir Philip Sassoon. The passage of time has allowed this new edition to give previously withheld information on Mrs Dudeneyʼs lover, a Sussex artist, as well as intriguing gossip concerning a clergyman and an amateur actress. www.sussexbooks.co.uk Email: [email protected] Tel: 01629 640670 4 POMEGRANATEPRESS Books fromPomegranatePress HAMMER AND FURNACE PONDS Helen Pearce £8.99 Explore the relics of the Wealden iron industry in Sussex, Surrey and Kent. MYSTERIES OF ST JAMES’S STREET AND ITS ENVIRONS HISTORYIN SUSSEX Edwin P. Miller; £12.50 Phil Pavey; £5.99 A bumper book of 300 pages, and Leylines, the Long subtitled ‘A walk through its history Man of Wilmington, from1800 to 1900’, this is the first early Christianity, ever record of the commercial and King Canute and his cultural life of this busy Brighton supposed link with thoroughfare. Bosham– the author revisits a host of local conundrums and pronounces his verdicts. ASUSSEX KIPLING David Arscott £8.50 Poems, short stories, letters and extracts from his memoir Something of Myself THE SUSSEX STORY create a vivid David Arscott; £9.99 portrait of the county History in a nutshell and ideal for the as seen through the eyes of this newcomer seeking a grasp on what peerless author who lived for many has made Sussex the county it is years at Bateman’s at Burwash. today. Lavishly illustrated, with a Copies signed if requested. gazetteer of sites to visit. SUSSEX BOOK CLUB ·COURTYARD COTTAGE ·LITTLE LONGSTONE ·BAKEWELL ·DERBYSHIRE DE45 1NN BOOKSBYDIANACROOK 5 The Ladies of Millerʼs 44 pages £7.50 An amusing account of these eccentric and aristocratic sisters who, with their Bloomsbury friends, set up an art centre in Lewes during WW2 and afterwards revitalised the craft of lithography for British artists. Ragged Lands – Viscountess Wolseleyʼs College for Lady Gardeners, Glynde 67 pages £7.50 Frances Wolseley, daughter of the famous soldier, opened her pioneering college in 1906. This entertaining account follows the progress of the college with its wayward students and discusses her eventual disinheritance by her parents. A Box of Toys; An Anthology of Lewes Writings 124 pages £7.50 An unusual celebration of fact and fiction, including Daisy Ashford, Jane Austen, William Cobbett, John Evelyn, Eve Garnett, Gideon Mantell, Tom Paine, Thomas Turner and Virginia Woolf. Defying the Demon, Smallpox in Sussex 135 pages £9.99 The dramatic story of the attempts to cope with and eventually eradicate this terri- fying disease making poignant use of personal accounts. The 1950s Brighton outbreak is covered, as well as the fear that the virus could be used as a weapon of mass destruction. Treasure Chest: A Seaford Anthology 136 pages £9.99 Attractively illustrated in colour, this varied anthology explores the rich history of Seaford as a former Cinque Port and Rotten Borough. It stretches from the theft of St Lewinnaʼs bones in 1058 to the present day, with particular emphasis on the townʼs maritime heritage. A Lewes Diary 300 pages £9.99 See page 3 for a full notice of this book. www.sussexbooks.co.uk Email: [email protected] Tel: 01629 640670 6 NEW BOOK – SUSSEX WRITERS 7 When matron ruled with an iron hand… LOST HOSPITALS OF BRIGHTON AND HOVE by Harry Gaston Paperback 297 x 210mm £12.00 When Britian celebrated the birth of the National Health Service in 1948, there were eleven hospitals in Brighton and Hove. Today only four of them remain. What happened to the seven missing hospitals? Should we mourn their loss? Thanks to Harry Gaston’s research and the memories of people who worked in or were treated in them, it’s possible to build up a picture of the seven hospitals – Bevendean, Foredown, Hove General, Lady Chichester, New Sussex Hospital for Women, Sussex Maternity and Sussex Throat and Ear. Little now remains of these hospitals. Many of the buildings have been demolished. Some now house flats and apartments, a couple serve other health purposes, although none, like some of those in London, are now the sites of super-markets or even prisons. Foreword by Adam Trimmingham ‘The Sage of Sussex’ Fully illustrated with black and white photographs Harry Gaston Lost Hospitals of Brighton and Hove is his sixth published history of Sussex hospitals. Prior to that he was founder editor of the national award winning house journal of Brighton and later Mid Sussex, Bulletin, for 40 years until 2007. Following publication of a novel in 1964, he was invited to lead a further education class in writing for publication. He taught at Newhaven, Seaford, Eastbourne and Southwick, many of his students breaking into print for the first time.