Our First Year

Socially Distanced BBQ in the new Pocket Park, Summer 2020

High Street Tales was a writer-in-residence project run nationally. We were lucky to have Robin Pridy as the writer-in-residence for the Trinity Triangle

The Sea Beneath is a HAZ funded project run by cultural partners, MSL

A discovery walk around the Trinity Triangle, 2020

Photo: Heart of Hastings

Map by artist Rowena O'Reilly, showing the creative and social activities that take place here. A previous version of her work had been commissioned by MSL on behalf of The Alley Association

Wonder Golf was a pop-up indoor crazy-golf installation in the Observer Building! The holes paid tribute to local Hastings & St Leonards cultural events and heritage and was funded through Trinity Triangle Heritage Action Zone

The Trinity Triangle Heritage Action Zone launched in May 2020. The whole country was in lockdown. Things eased a bit in the Summer, then got worse again, but, despite that, TT HAZ supported, funded and enabled all kinds of activity

We would like to acknowledge the tremendous effort made by partners, supporters, volunteers and businesses engaged in this program. To have so much to report despite the pandemic is testament to all of their efforts. We just could not have done it without the magnificent community around us.

Our first event celebrated our indie businesses

4th July marked ‘Independents’ Day’ in the America Ground area. ‘Independents Day’ was a play on the 19th century squatters designating reclaimed non crown land “the America Ground” and recognition of the independent traders of the Trinity Triangle.

4th July marked the first easing of lockdown since March, and for some local independents it was their first chance to open.

We created a short film, interviewing independent business owners. They told us how they had coped with the first lockdown, their worries and hopes for the future of our high streets, and what they cherish about this unique neighbourhood. We created this film with the help of local filmmakers and plenty of PPE and it was livestreamed by Isolation Station Hastings. You can see the whole event on their channel.

In partnership with the Hastings Emerging Futures project, we were delighted to see a ‘discovery walk’ take place in the neighbourhood before the Winter lockdown in 2020. During this walk, we discussed with participants what they love about the area, and what they would love to change.

The team behind Hastings Emerging Futures created a map, with opinions and recordings from that discovery walk, which you can investigate here.

Recruiting our first Heritage Stewards

If you notice anyone in the Trinity Triangle/America ground taking photos of buildings, sketching, or taking notes, this may be a heritage steward! We had an enthusiastic response to our first call out for heritage stewards volunteers and our first group were trained at the end of 2020.

Over the next year, they will survey the buildings in the neighbourhood, allowing us to get a full picture of the condition of the area and to track any (further) decline. This survey will show us where the funding will be best spent to preserve, protect, and highlight the historical buildings and features of the neighbourhood. To get involved with future heritage steward roles (including working on our online archive, please get in touch).

Grant supported work

Project Artworks: Untold Stories and Reclamation: Heritage, Land and Lives Reclaimed

Project Artworks is a collective of neurodiverse artists and makers. They collaborate with people whose lives are positively and negatively impacted by the state and the systems that are designed to support them.

Untold Stories is a community storytelling project that celebrates Trinity Triangle and the unique identities and connections people have with the area.

Reclamation: Heritage, Land and Lives Reclaimed is part of a new cultural programme that brings funding into Hastings to support local artists.

Find out more about wonderful funded projects from 2020 at the links below:

The Hastings & St Leonards Big ADVENTure: Advent Calendar by Hattie Spice

Wonder Golf by Leisure & Learning and Adam Daly

The Sea Beneath: A heritage and climate-change project by MSL

Upcoming projects

Hastings Women’s Voice: Neighbourhood Stories, Suffrage Voices

Women’s Voice is a grassroots organisation run by women for women in Hastings & St Leonards.

Neighbourhood Stories, Suffrage Voices will bring to light, and bring to life the significance of the Trinity Triangle, and its immediate vicinity, to the dramatic story of the local women’s suffrage campaign in the years before the First World War.

Other partnerships

High Street Tales

A short story commission from Historic England and  New Writing South.  Writer Robin Priddy ran workshops with local residents to learn more about the area, to help her create a unique short story about the America Ground. Robin also wrote a beautiful high street tale inspired by Trinity Triangle. You can hear her read this on the High Street Tales podcast here.

Isolation Station

Hastings is a Town where people make things happen. Within days of lockdown “Isolation Station” was up and running free shows through a Facebook TV channel. It’s still running, with shows including art classes, quizzes, mutual aid updates and music.