#TheatreLife Archives - Unknown Kent & Sussex Magazine

Devonshire Park Theatre, Eastbourne From Tuesday, October 15 to Saturday, October 19, 2024 Review by Tony…

Celebrity Charity Eastbourne Historic Buildings Sussex

Friends of The Devonshire Park Theatre, Eastbourne

September 17, 2024

Maria Bligh

The Friends of Devonshire Park Theatre were formed in said theatre’s Centenary year of 1984 with…

Authors

Maria Bligh

Maria Bligh is a journalist, published author, professional speaker, singer and artist now settled in Sussex, UK, having previously travelled extensively throughout the UK and overseas, including a period living in Geneva.

Married to a successful musician and with a background that encompasses working in the music industry, finance, sales and presentations training, she maintains a diverse existence. Her interests encompass travel, nature, animals and the arts: music, theatre, painting, writing and philosophy.

Maria now writes for online and print magazines. Having once maintained a regular full page in “A Place In The Sun” magazine, travel is an obvious interest, but her articles also cover a wide variety of subjects. She bills herself as “an observer of the human condition and all that sail in her.”

Maria has frequently appeared on radio & TV as well as in print. Her humorous style has seen her travel the world addressing audiences throughout Europe, Asia and Australasia and as a cruise-ship speaker with P&O and Fred Olsen.

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Albert Fenech

Albert Fenech was born in Malta in 1946. His family moved to England in 1954 where he spent boyhood and youth before in 1965 returning to Malta. He spent eight years as a journalist with “The Times of Malta” before taking a career in HR Management Administration with a leading international construction company in Libya, later with Malta Insurance Brokers, and finally STMicroelectronics Malta, employing 3,000 employees, Malta’s leading industrial manufacturer. Throughout he actively pursued international freelance journalism/ broadcasting for various media outlets covering social issues, current affairs, sports and travel. He has written in a number of publications both in Malta and overseas, as well as publishing two e-books.

For the last eight years he had been writing a “Malta Diary” with pictures for Lyn Funnel’s B-C-ingU.com international travel magazine.

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Ann Ritchie

Ann was born and raised in Sussex. She spent some years living in Cornwall where she drove a vintage tractor as a hobby, and did rather well in local ploughing contests, before moving to France where she was fully involved in all aspects of their house renovations. Having moved back to Sussex in 2013, Ann has recently retired from the NHS. A keen walker, with an excellent knowledge of nature, Unknown Kent and Sussex readers can enjoy the stunning photos Ann takes on her hikes throughout our counties.

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Chris Ackrill

Chris has written hundreds of articles for such august magazines as Taxi, Your Cat and Viz letters page. A London cab driver off and on for over thirty years, in 2018 Chris published a humorous book, 'From Manor House Station to Gibson Square: Secrets from the London Taxi Trade' about his experiences. Now living in Bedfordshire, Chris attends the Mod Weekender in Brighton every August, and is a fan of Eastbourne’s pubs, and Butlin’s Bognor Regis music weekenders. He says he’d visit the south coast more often if London wasn’t in the way.

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Danny

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Elizabeth Wright

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Francis Wait

Francis hails from and still lives in Sussex. He's held a variety of jobs throughout his life and travelled extensively overseas. This wide range of experience has no doubt served him well as he's written and published three books and has won the Anderida Writers annual writing competition three times. He currently serves as Membership Secretary and Competition Secretary of the Anderida Writers Group in Eastbourne.

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Gareth Butterfield

Gareth Butterfield is a freelance journalist with nearly 20 years of experience working for local, regional and national newspapers.
His specialisms include consumer technology and travel, but it's the automotive world that really pushes his buttons, and he's been writing about cars for over 15 years.
With access to all the makes and models sold in the UK, Gareth is usually putting something through its paces, often in the Peak District, where he's based.
His other interests include holidays in his motorhome or his narrowboat, or walking his two dogs in the countryside.

View all posts Journalist, Copywriter & Content Editor
H. M. 'Mike' Haffner

H. M. ‘Mike’ Haffner was born in Scotland of English parents, but has lived in Sussex for most of his life. Having lived briefly in Sweden, he speaks a little Swedish along with a smattering of French
and Italian Mike skis, sails, rides a motorbike and admits ruefully to doing all of these things with great enthusiasm - but little real ability. Now retired from a varied career, mostly sales and training, it was a logical step to transfer his verbal linguistic knowledge to the written word, and now writes short stories and articles.

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Harry Pope

Harry Pope realised he could write when he first went to school, and hasn’t stopped since. He returned the next day after parental prompting, because he realised he could talk as well, just as well because he is now in retirement a cruise ship lecturer with P&O and Saga, talking about the greatest comedians the UK has ever known. He is not a lecturer, nor a stand-up comedian, but an entertainer. His wife Pam goes as well, as there are so many groupies onboard.

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Heather Flood

Heather's experiences as a wife, mother and grandmother, together with her vivid imagination and great sense of humour, played big parts in her becoming a successful author.

Her first book was MOUSEY MOUSEY AND THE WITCHES' SPELLS which proved so popular that it turned into a series. Fellow authors have praised Heather's adorable lady mouse and other wonderfully original characters, including interfering witch Agatha, a host of talking animals and Agatha's smelly pals Stinkblob and Mouldy Knickers.

Other books to also reach the top ten of Heather's respective Amazon categories are GIANT STICKER MONSTER AND OTHER CHILDREN'S STORIES and, for older children and adults, science fiction fantasy PURPLE MIST – AN OUT-OF-THIS-WORLD ADVENTURE! about a girl called Annique who gets bullied at school, but discovers she has amazing powers.
Heather and her husband and fellow author Tony Flood conjure up humour, pathos, love, nostalgia and trickery in their latest jointly written book LAUGHS AND TEARS GALORE! - Stories and poems with twists.
More details - and special book offers - are available on websites www.fantasyadventurebooks.com and www.celebritiesconfessions.com

Heather and Tony have run creative writing classes at Alice Croft House, Eastbourne, and mini-workshops as officials of Anderida Writers.

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Isabella Schembri-Adams

Isabella, who likes to be called Bella, is 11 years old and lives in East Sussex.

She enjoys crochet, days out with friends and family, nature, and spending time with her dog, Stormy, cat Goose, and two rabbits, Kola and Zizzy.

In Year 1 at school, she was asked the question in her RE book , ‘Why do people go to church?’ Her response was, ‘To sin.’ She missed the G off the end!

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Jackie Harvey

An Eastbourne resident for twenty-two years, formerly from Ilford, Jackie has had lots of interesting jobs in the dark, distant past and now travels quite a bit. She enjoys walking, gardening and writing.

Jackie has two collections of stories and one novel on Amazon under the name of Jacqueline S. Harvey (there was more than one J. Harvey so I added the S to differentiate from them).

She has had a prequel to her novel in the pipeline for some time and hopes it will one day emerge. The likelihood is that another collection of stories will probably be published first.

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Jane Wilson

Jane Wilson is an established travel writer with a specialism in wellness travel. She is a regular contributor to various national consumer magazines and online media as well as editor and founder of The Wellness Traveller.

She lives in Central London and enjoys all the arts the capital offers, that is when she is not on a plane, train or car seeking new places, spas, experiences and unique adventures to feature in her articles. From her slow travel features on cruises and long-distance trains to testing therapies in spa destinations, Jane injects a healthy perspective in her writing.

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John Silverton

Born 1945, A Man of Kent (i.e. born south of the Medway) a resident of Eastbourne since 2002. I am a former freelance journalist, newspaper columnist and magazine features writer. Published my first novel, A Pearl Amongst Oysters, a passionate and suspenseful inter-racial love story, in 2022. The novel is partly set in Eastbourne and culminates at Beachy Head. A second novel, A Murder of Crows, a crime thriller set in the art world, is in progress. I am winner of the Anderida Writers' Short Story and Poetry competitions. I am also an artist and published photographer and have exhibited throughout Sussex and Kent and galleries in London. Currently a selection of my paintings can be viewed at the Sussex Fireplace Gallery, Polegate.
Leisure interests are numerous, including cinema, music, art, chess, table tennis, travel and cafe culture.

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Lyn

Lyn is the co-owner of Unknown Kent and Sussex. She lives in Sussex.

Lyn has been writing for most of her life, both Fiction & Non-Fiction. She loves cookery & creating original recipes. She's won a lot of prizes, including Good Housekeeping Millenium Menu & on BBC The One Show as a runner-up, making her Britain's Spag Bol Queen!

She has had nine books published so far.

History, Travel & Restaurant Reviews are her main interests.

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Lyn Funnell

Lyn is the co-owner of Unknown Kent and Sussex. She lives in Sussex.

Lyn has been writing for most of her life, both Fiction & Non-Fiction. She loves cookery & creating original recipes. She's won a lot of prizes, including Good Housekeeping Millenium Menu & on BBC The One Show as a runner-up, making her Britain's Spag Bol Queen!

She has had nine books published so far.

History, Travel & Restaurant Reviews are her main interests.

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Mike Gerrard

Mike Gerrard is an award-winning travel and drinks writer who divides his time between his homes in Cambridgeshire (summers) and Arizona (winters). He has written for most of the UK national newspapers, and for newspapers and magazines around the world. He especially likes writing about food, drinks and music. He is the author of over 40 travel guidebooks, and the drinks books Cask Strength (the amazing story of the barrel) and Behind Bars (on the links between drink and crime). He is currently writing The Elvis Lover’s Guide to Graceland and The Beatles Lover’s Guide to London.

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Miriam Erasmus

Miriam was born in Lewes, East Sussex, in 1948. For the last 76 years her life has revolved around the gift of music. At college in the 60s, she learned the guitar and became enamoured with folk songs, which led to a 4 year career as 'Miriam Backhouse.' The First Lady of Folk”. She still tours Europe every Summer. In 1977 she married John Erasmus and moved to South Africa. Miriam and John (who died in May 2023) shared a love of music and raised a family on these talents, playing music from Opera to Rock’n’Roll and Nursery Rhymes! Her life has trodden many paths: musician, sound worker, educator, model, seamstress, puppeteer, actress, wife, mother and grandmother. Now, Miriam is a journalist, and shares her adventures in South Africa and on her travels.

YouTube link.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnpj8REUlOzHPXnPnULwpKg

Facebook link.
https://web.facebook.com/miriam.erasmus

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Peter Lindsey

PETER Lindsey is a PR specialist, having worked in the local media in Sussex as a Newspaper Editor from 1990 to 2009. He is a now a Director at Ignite PRE and is also Editor of Bournefree Magazine online and in print, which covers Eastbourne and Hailsham areas.

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Philippa Drake

My name is Philippa Drake and I am the author of 17 poetry books and I am also a musician. I'm based in Sussex and I perform my music in Eastbourne town centre.

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Rachel Webb

Rachel Webb has lived in Jaén province, Andalucia since moving from England with her husband and sons in 1996. In that time she´s become (much to her surprise) an over 60s writer/blogger. She's often found visiting boutique hotels to add to www.onlyspain.org her portfolio of Only Spain Boutique Hotels, writing her blogs Andalucia Explorer and Luxury Spain Travel, sampling tapas and red wine or watching the sun set over the olive groves.

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Ranjit Shergill

Ranjit loves opinions and as such writing presents him with the golden opportunity to share his views across a large landscape of readers. His aspiration is to draw viewership from all backgrounds, thereby reaching out to a worldwide audience. It is safe to say that Ranjit is addicted to travelling, whether it be the backroads of Central America or a cycling journey across the River Danube. Ranjit embraces cultural hotspots and feels that travelling combines exciting adventures with humbling life experiences.

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Remy Noe

Remy noe was born in 1974 in Kent. Where he lives and works today. He attended KIAD Canterbury between 1993 and 1997 where he got expelled for condemning conceptial art in a lecture. He returned to art school at Canterbury christ church university between 2006 and 2010 getting a 1st in fine art (B.A) and a masters in fine art.

He has a very close relationship with the north Downs where he mostly paints, and is very influenced by Anglo Saxon art. British romantic painting, and the art of the Sami of north Scandinavia.

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Ricky Ghoshdastidar

Ricky Ghosh Dastidar is an experienced London-based journalist who contributes to various film and travel websites.

His main area of interest is world cinema and he regularly visits International Film Festivals, from places as diverse as Karlovy Vary in the Czech Republic to Adana in Turkey.

His other area of interest is travel, which he views as an essential hobby. Over the years, he has written about countless countries, spanning multiple continents. As well as offering readers sound travel advice, his articles also cover the arts, history and culture of the various destinations.

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Robert Crouch

Robert Crouch is the author of the Downland Murder Mystery series, set in and around the South Downs of East Sussex. He uses his extensive knowledge and experience as an environmental health officer to create a new kind of sleuth for a fresh approach to the traditional murder mystery.
When not creating complex plots and puzzles at his PC, Robert likes to get out in the fresh air. He enjoys running, walking, landscape and wildlife photography, and gardening.
He’s always been interested in mysteries, particularly those that don’t have an answer.

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Sara Andrew

Sara Andrew is a multifaceted media professional, journalist, and wellness advocate dedicated to inspiring change through storytelling and conscious living. As the Founder of Inspire Global Media, she leverages her expertise as a Publicist and investigative Journalist to amplify impactful narratives, with a focus on travel, health, and social issues.

An enthusiastic advocate for mental and physical wellness, Sara is also a Certified Yoga Teacher, Meditation Instructor, and Recovery Coach, guiding individuals toward balance, healing, and self-discovery. Her work seamlessly blends journalism, advocacy, and consciousness, reflecting her joy in the power of media to educate, uplift, and be a voice where people can access information and transform lives.

Whether uncovering truths through investigative reporting, curating transformative travel experiences, or empowering others through wellness practices, Sara remains committed to creating a more conscious and kind world.

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Sarah Thompson

After moving to Sussex in 2008 to embark on a new career in wine & spirits, this quickly led to the creation of Sussex first gin and distillery in over two centuries.
Over the years, they’ve worked with and mentored food and beverage SME’s developing brands and creating new products having collaborated with prestigious venues like The Savoy and Grosvenor House hotel curating bespoke gins, and curating cocktails and food pairings and traveling the world to teach the art of wine and spirit tasting.
In recent years, Sarah returned to the world of TV and film working on productions world-wide learning the art of storytelling through the big, small, and digital screens.
As an obsessive foodie, Sussex Kitchen® was born. They now combine their passion for storytelling and culinary adventures, celebrating the food and drink heroes of Sussex, providing them with a voice in a competitive and overwhelming marketplace.
Instagram / TikTok @sussexkitchen
www.sussexkitchen.co.uk
Sarah Thompson
Creative Director | Sussex Kitchen | Juniper & Salt Studio

M. +44 (0) 7543 812203
WA. +44 (0) 7543 812203
E. hello@sussexkitchen.co.uk
www.junipersalt.studio | www.sussexkitchen.co.uk

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Seren Charrington Hollins

Seren runs a catering business and delicatessen in Mid Wales, but she is not your run of the mill caterer or deli owner. She is a mother of six and an internationally recognised food historian who has created banquets and historical dinner parties for private clients and television. Her work has been featured on the BBC, ITV & Channel 4 and she has appeared in BBC4’s Castle’s Under Siege, BBC South's Ration Book Britain, Pubs that Built Britain with The Hairy Bikers, BBC 2’s Inside the Factory, BBC 2’s The World’s Most Amazing Hotels, the Channel 4 series Food Unwrapped and Country Files Autumn Diaries.
Her work has also been featured in The Guardian, The Times, Sunday Times, Daily Mail and The Telegraph.
Her two most recent books are 'Revolting Recipes from History' and 'A Dark History of Tea'

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Shraddha C. Sankulkar

Creative Writing has always been a passion for Shraddha. Born and brought up in the ‘Maximum City’ of Mumbai, India, she writes in English, Hindi and Marathi. Currently living in Maharashtra, she writes poems, lyrics, fiction, non-fiction & film scripts. A consulting Psychologist and lecturer of Psychology by profession. She has Masters degrees in History and English Literature. Hobbies include travel, photography and cinema appreciation. Her website is www.mindmatterz.net.

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Sophia Christie

Sophia Christie is a health and beauty writer who seeks to highlight fact from fiction from the multitude of products and services on the market. From treatments and therapies to gadgets and wearables, she takes a personal interest, researching whether the promises given can be achieved.

She lives in London and is regular contributor to The Wellness Traveller Magazine.

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Stormy the Sprollie

Stormy is a one-year-old Sprollie (a Springer Collie ) originally from Essex.

Rescued by his new family, he now lives in East Sussex.

His pastimes include chasing balls, annoying his brother Goose the Cat, walks in the woods, and cuddles.

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Stuart Bligh

Hi. I'm Stu. Musician, football fan and comic enthusiast based in Sussex. I'll drop the odd article around these themes so I hope you enjoy reading them if you share my interests.

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Tadas Kaminskas

My name is Tadas Kaminskas and I've lived in the UK since 2010. I moved from London to Eastbourne in 2018. My wife and I enjoy a happily marriage and I am continually growing as a photographer. My Facebook - TK photography - is growing fast, and I now have over 10k followers. My main passion is landscape (including drone) and street photography.

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Tanya S. Koziol

In my day job I'm Marketing Director of Bridl, a premier horse sales company, passionate about connecting riders with exceptional equine partners. As well as horses, I also love cooking and enjoy reading books, which is a great way to recharge and stay inspired.

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Tony Flood

Author Tony Flood, who lives in Eastbourne, has spent most of his working life as a journalist, initially on local and regional papers and then on nationals. He was also editor of 'Football Monthly', Controller of Information at Sky Television and enjoyed a spell with 'The People.'
In his celebrity book My Life With The Stars - Sizzling Secrets Spilled', Tony recalls: “My work as a showbiz and leisure writer, critic and editor saw me take on a variety of challenges - learning to dance with Strictly Come Dancing star Erin Boag, becoming a stand-up comedian and playing football with the late George Best and Bobby Moore in charity matches.”
My Life With The Stars provides revelations and amusing anecdotes about showbiz and sports personalities including Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe, Frank Sinatra, Muhammad Ali, George Best, Kylie Minogue, Eric Morecambe and Des O'Connor.
Tony also writes in other genres and his crime thrillers have been endorsed by best-selling author Peter James. They are Triple Tease, Stitch Up - Killer or Victim? and Fall Guy - who really killed his wife?, and all feature compassionate copper DCI Harvey Livermore. In addition, there's a fantasy adventure for youngsters called Secret Potion and a book Tony has co-written with wife Heather, aptly titled Laughs and Tears Galore - short stories and poems with twists!
Recently, Tony joined The Collective of seven local writers all contributing one character to family saga Driven by Desire, which is full of conflict, fierce ambition and passion as well as a dramatic kidnap.
Tony also writes theatre reviews for the Eastbourne Herald, Brighton Argus and BourneFree Live, as well as playing veterans football for Sovereign Harbour Veterans. He is the oldest - and slowest - player in the team.

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Wendy Hughes

About Wendy Hughes
Wendy Hughes turned to writing in 1989 when ill health and poor vision forced her into early
medical retirement. Between then and her death in January 2019 twenty-six non-fiction books and
over 1700 articles, on a variety of subjects were published. Her work appeared in magazines as
diverse as The Lady, Funeral Service Journal, On the Road, 3 rd Stone, Celtic Connections, Best of British
and Guiding.
For many years Wendy campaigned and wrote tirelessly on behalf of people affected by Stickler
Syndrome, a disorder from which she suffered. She founded the Stickler Syndrome Support Group
and raised awareness of the condition amongst the medical profession and produced the group’s
literature.
Additionally she gave talks and instruction on the craft of writing, was membership secretary of the
Society of Women Writers and Journalists, and was a member of the Society of Authors. Her catalogue of History Press publications is still available.

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