Personal Memories of a Special Place - Three

Southwater Centre, St Leonards on Sea

I left the story last time saying that the Seaview Project came to the conclusion that it was time to stop sharing with a local Church, and to find a building of their own.

This was in the latter part of 1988, and links were formed with a local social enterprise called The Robert Tressell Workshops. The building shown opposite was identified by the Workshops as being suitable for multi-purpose use. It was in the heart of St Leonards on Sea, one minute from the Warrior Square train station, and a short walk from the sea front. It was smack bang in the middle of a residential area, which was to prove 'interesting' over the coming years.

It was owned by the Eversfield Estates, who for many years before this time had owned large amounts of properties in St Leonards on Sea. By the late 1980's their portfolio had dwindled considerably. For the previous eight years, the building had been leased to the Post Office, and acted as the local sorting office, but they now wished to re-locate. Robert Tressell Workshops came in and agreed to take over the lease, and they set about to create a unique establishment in the town, calling the building, The Southwater Centre.

Robert Tressell (Noonan)

Many will recognise the name Robert Tressell, particularly those interested in socialist, working class writings. He is best known for his one and only novel: "The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists".

Robert Tressell was the pseudonym of Robert Noonan, an Irish house painter, who came to England from South Africa at the start of the 20th Century. He settled in Hastings with his daughter and sister, where he worked as a sign writer for various building firms.

In Hastings he became immersed in local politics, and joined the Social Democratic Federation, which was one of the forerunners of the Labour Party. He was often seen with his soapbox on Hastings beach, expounding his socialist ideas. His experience of working in Hastings, and the plight and treatment of his fellow workers caused him to write his great novel, which to him was to be seen as a "socialist documentary", based on real people, and real events. In the novel, Hastings was called Mugsborough.

He was never to see it published; the manuscript was rejected by several publishers, and disillusioned, Robert decided to emigrate to Canada in 1910, but he fell ill on reaching Liverpool, where he was admitted to the Royal Liverpool Infirmary Workhouse. He died from TB on the 3rd February 1911, aged 40. I find it very sad that he was buried in a mass grave with twelve other paupers, and the location of his grave was not discovered until 1970. His novel was published three years after his death.  The Southwater Centre was built around the same time that Robert Noonan moved to Hastings, and was a Territorial Army Drill Hall. There were a couple of extensions added over the coming years, which gave it a rather unusual sky line. It was however large, bright and airy; ideal for the Workshops purpose.

It comes as no surprise to know that Robert Tressell Workshops was named after the great man, because their purpose in Hastings was to improve the lot of those in the town who were disadvantaged and impoverished. The Southwater Centre opened in 1989 as a multi-purpose building housing the Seaview Project Day Centre; a sheltered employment workshop for those with long term mental health problems; a housing advice project; a drug and alcohol advisory agency, and an area for local artists to work. In theory, this was an exciting opportunity for co-operative working, but in practise, it didn't quite work. More of this next time.

An empty Seaview Project

Seaview Project moved into the Southwater Centre on the 2nd October 1989, and I arrived as Manager a week later on the 9th October. Perhaps it's worth saying something about how I got the job.

I'd arrived in Hastings with no work, so I was keen to find something. It turned out that as well as moving premises, Seaview was looking for a new Manager. After sending in my application, I was short listed for interview, and turned up at the designated day and time.

I only remember the first interview question, which was something like, "Tell us what you know about mental health". I felt like I'd been hit with a boulder, as I knew nothing about mental health, and I was only on question one. Shall I try my best to answer it, or shall I be honest? I chose the latter, explaining that the job description didn't mention mental health (which it didn't), and that the additional sheet outlining Seaview's role in mental health was not sent to me (which it wasn't). So my answer to the question can best be summed up in the words, "Bugger All". I felt, well that's it then, I've miserably failed question one, so there's no chance of getting this job. This somehow relaxed me, as I went through to the end of the interview. Imagine my surprise when the following day I was offered the job - god knows what the other candidates must have been like (no disrespect intended of course).

So here I was, day one of my new employment, at 10.00am opening the doors to the public. As they filed in, I thought, "What have I let myself in for?" The answer to that will begin to unfold next time.

Carriers of Wonderment

Arboretum 6th November 2011

In a recent blog, attention was drawn to the new President of Ireland, who commented on his primary school teacher, William Clune, saying that he saw every child who came into his class as a "carrier of wonderment". I haven't been able to get this wonderful phrase out of my mind, and it set me thinking.

A friend of mine has taken a break from work, and is spending a few months travelling in America. A few days ago, they sent me an email saying that they were in the State of Wyoming. Sad people like me, with a great fondness for old Western films will remember that many of them were shot in Wyoming - not at all relevant to my story, but it gives another insight into my character. My friend, on viewing the scale and beauty of the area in which they were staying, said that it was awesome. They were full of wonder.

In a similar vein, but much closer to home, a young lady approached me as I sat on my favourite seat in the Nottingham Arboretum. She asked could she sit down and talk to me. Now I've mentioned before the usual people who sit down next to me, who are a mixed bunch. A young lady was something new, so of course I said yes. She was from Korea, and was spending a year in Nottingham doing a Masters degree in journalism at Nottingham Trent University. All she wanted was to share her evident excitement for Nottingham. She was thrilled with the houses, the space and the parks. In her home city she said, everyone was crammed together, living in high rise blocks, with very little space. She was awestruck by the comparison, and then she was off to continue her jog - full of wonder.

Viewing nature with a sense of wonderment is one thing, but seeing people as carriers of wonderment is totally different. This is about viewing people in a positive light; it's about seeing potential, and not negativity. It is sometimes the difference between people succeeding or not. William Clune was an example of someone who believed that every child was capable of achieving something positive in life. The world would be a much better place if there were more people that showed the same attitude. I think that it's worth exploring what we mean by this.

While the phrase, "carrier of wonderment" is new to me, the idea behind it is not. It can be used to describe our view of children ,young people and adults. Unfortunately, far too many people view others as a problem; they see people through the eyes of fear, or disgust; such people to them are an 'underclass', and something should be done to "protect decent people". Little wonder that people turn out feeling alienated from society, with no hope or aspiration.

My view is not pie-eyed, but has been forged in the furnace of over thirty years working with those who have been looked down upon in Belfast and Hastings. My experience has not been with children, but with those generally over the age of eighteen, who were the products of failed families, school and care system. Seeing anyone, whatever their age, as a "carrier of wonderment" is the same to me as getting people to believe in what they can do, rather than in what they can't do.

There's the apocryphal story of the young man who grew up thinking that his name was No, as all he ever heard was, "NO, don't do that". Let me give you two examples of people who turned from believing that there was nothing that they could do, to seeing what they could do. I'm not using these examples as an act of self-aggrandisement, but to show that philosophical principles are best explained with practical examples.

There was a couple of young men in Belfast who belonged to the youth wing of a paramilitary group. Let me digress slightly by saying that I used to get into a bit of bother from time to time with paramilitary groups from both sides, because of encouraging young men in particular to see that there was more to life for them than violence and murder. In exploring options with these young men - and it took some time, as they didn't initially believe that there were any options, it finally transpired that they thought they'd like to do sandwich making, and deliver to local shops, offices and homes. This was a start; they were thinking in positive terms. To cut a long story short, I arranged for a grant to cover their start-up costs, including equipment, and allowed them to use one of our project rooms, rent free for a year. They didn't earn a fortune, but it was more than they received on benefits, and they worked really hard. You could not put a price on the increased sense of self-worth. All this because someone saw in them a "carrier of wonderment". Or to put it another way; allowing people to see what they can do, can bring huge rewards.

When I went to work in Hastings, I found the place full of angry and disillusioned men and women. Just as in Belfast, they spent a lifetime being told what they couldn't do, and the message they received was that they were good for nothing. They were seen as "low-life" and "layabouts" - these were quotations from the local press, and comments from the local community. To clients, nobody seemed to bother or care about them. But my project did. When you have a 'can-do' philosophy, you can expect to see changes, even in the most hardened of individuals. Though so many people were really poor at reading and writing, we decided that we'd have a poetry competition, for people to express what they felt within themselves. Everyone was encouraged to take part, and those who couldn't write, were encouraged to get staff or volunteers to help them. The results were remarkable, and we published them in a book. The spelling and grammar was atrocious, and was an example of a failed educational system, that was supposed to prepare people for life. The raw material though was something special, and most of the people were really proud of what they had achieved. This may not seem like much to some, but it was a small step forward (actually, for a few it was a massive step forward). They did something that they didn't know they had in them, and it was wonderment. In the end they proved to be 'carriers of wonderment'.

Some may think that is this another case of Evans hyperbole, but if you can see potential in every child, why can't you see it in every adult? I know the way that I'd prefer to live.

"Everyone has inside of him a piece of good news. The good news is that you don't know how great you can be! How much you can love! What you can accomplish! And what your potential is!" 

Anne Frank

Titus Oates - in a league of his own

Titus Oates lived here, The Bourne, Hastings

For twenty years before moving to Nottingham, I lived in Hastings in East Sussex. During that time, I passed this house in Hasting's Old Town on many occasions. There's an old wooden plaque on the wall which says, "Titus Oates lived here. Baptised in All Saints Church 1649".

However, Titus Oates is not a person to be proud of. Jane Lane, in her wonderful 1949 book on the life of Titus Oates begins with these words, "The England of 1649 suffered two national tragedies: the execution of Charles 1, and the birth of Titus Oates". In a poll by the BBC History Magazine in 2005, which asked people to nominate their entry for the 'Ten Worst Britains' in history, the name of Titus Oates was nominated by John Adamson of Peterhouse College, Cambridge, who said, "Oates was in a league of his own in the depths of his vileness". So who is this man Oates, and what had he done to bring down such scorn upon his head?

Baptism by Total Immersion

To understand Titus, I think that you have to understand something of his Father. Samuel Oates was a man who didn't seem to take religious denominational allegiance very seriously. After leaving Cambridge with a degree, he became a minister in the Established Church. He then became an Anabaptist preacher, and during the civil war of the early 1640's he was a Chaplain in the New Model Army that Parliament had decided to form, which had General Thomas Fairfax as its Commander in Chief, and Oliver Cromwell in charge of the cavalry.

Anabaptist means 're-baptiser', and their belief centred on the baptism of believers as adults. Anabaptism (followers were often known as dippers) emerged during the Protestant Reformation, which began around 1517, when Martin Luther famously nailed his 95 theses to the door of Wittenburg Church in Germany. Luther's views on the Church followed those of the 14th Century John Wickliffe and his Lollard followers, but were much more developed and successful. Anabaptists believed that all institutions were by their nature corrupt, and this gave them the right to disobey laws imposed by governments. Because of these views, they were seen as a threat, and suffered great persecution in many parts of Europe.

Puritan records from the 17th Century give some damning reports of Samuel Oates as an Anabaptist preacher. "He roamed the county of Essex, taking advantage of young women, who would sneak out of their houses at night to be 'dipped' in the nearest river or pond, naked". There are several accounts that say some of these women were made pregnant by Samuel Oates. He would charge a fee to these women; the rich would pay more than the poor, but all would pay. By 1660, Samuel was back in the Established Church, and from then to 1674 he was Rector of All Saints Church in Hastings. This flirtation with denomination life for his own gain was passed on to his son.

Titus Oates, National Portrait Gallery

Samuel had little affection for his son, who by all accounts was not an attractive child, or a clever one. Was Titus' subsequent life a result of nurture or nature? Whatever the answer, his life was a catalogue of lies and expulsions.

Titus was born on the 15th September 1649 in Oakham, Rutland. His school life was a catastrophe. He attended Merchant Taylors School in London, but was expelled in 1665, and went to a school in Sedlescombe, near Hastings, with no better result. Somehow he managed to get into Caius College, Cambridge, and later St John's, but was 'sent down' without a degree because of dishonestly trying to get a coat, among other things. Not having a degree was no problem to him, as he just pretended that he had one.

Miraculously, for one so consistently described as a dunce, and with a reputation for dishonesty "he slipped into holy orders", and became Minister of an Established Church in Bobbing, Kent in 1673. He was expelled from this living for dishonesty, and went to act as Curate to his Father in All Saints Church, Hastings in 1674. Titus really wanted the position of school master in Hastings, which was held by one, William Parker. Titus and Samuel brought a trumped up charge of buggery against William Parker to get him ejected from the school. The charge was so evidently false that Samuel was ejected from his living in the Church, and Titus was charged with perjury, and sent to prison in Dover to await trial. From there he escaped and went to London, and gained appointment as Chaplain on board a king's ship. This lasted twelve months before he was expelled from the Navy for being caught committing buggery with a sailor. This was a capital offence at the time, but he escaped death because he was a "man of the cloth". Titus may have been a dunce to all of his tutors, but he had a remarkable way of getting jobs, even if he kept getting expelled from them. After the Navy, Titus bluffed his way into becoming Chaplain to the Earl of Norwich. He was expelled from this after a few months for being "generally unsuitable and constantly inebriated".

After this latest expulsion, he converted to Catholicism, because he hoped the Catholics might feed and clothe him. He was accepted into the Catholic Church in March 1677. Later, he met Father Richard Strange, head of the English Jesuits, and many believe that they became lovers. Father Strange arranged for Titus to study with the Jesuits at Valladolid in Spain under the pseudonym Titus Ambrosius. Guess what? He was expelled when they realised that he had no grasp whatsoever of Latin. Strange helped him enroll in another Jesuit seminary in France under another false name: Samson Lucy. One writer describes his stay like this. "here, his engaging personal habits - drinking, smoking, swearing and lying - made him so unpopular that a fellow seminarian attacked him with a frying pan". He was expelled, and returned to London. His attraction with Catholicism was over. Now all he wanted was revenge on the Roman Church that had so snubbed him, and the Jesuits in particular.

The Popish Plot

It may have taken a long time for me to get here, but we're at the point of Titus' story that has made him so reviled - the Popish Plot.

Titus met up with an elderly friend of his Father's, Israel Tonge, who hated Jesuits with a passion. Together in 1678, the two men wrote a lengthy manuscript accusing the Roman Catholic Church of plotting to kill King Charles 11, and replace him with his Roman Catholic brother, James. They claimed that when that happened, Protestants would be massacred in their thousands. This caused public panic, and made Catholics even more unpopular than they already were.

Titus was interrogated by the King's Council, during which he made 43 allegations against various members of the Catholic orders, including 541 Jesuits; this later grew to 81 allegations. He also made allegations against people in high positions, such as the Queen's physician; secretary to the Duchess of York; the Archbishop of Dublin; Samuel Pepys and a few months later he accused the Queen of working with the King's physician to poison him. Though reaction to the allegations was far from plain sailing, Oates was given a squad of soldiers and he began to round up Jesuits. All told, around 80 were arrested, and accused of taking part in the plot. In all, about 15 were executed (some say 35), including the last high profile victim, Oliver Plunkett, Archbishop of Armagh, who was executed on the 1st July 1681.

Oates in the Pillory

The tide was now turning against Oates, and people were beginning to realise that the 'Popish Plot' was nothing but a bunch of lies, that brought public panic, and the death of innocent men.

When the Catholic James 11 became King in 1685, he had Titus Oates tried before Judge Jeffreys, who described him as a "shame to mankind", and was found guilty of perjury. The punishment was extreme and brutal. He was to be pilloried, whipped and imprisoned for life. James also stated that once a year, Oates was to be brought out of prison, pilloried and severely whipped, and sent back to prison.

This lasted for three years, before James was replaced by the protestant William of Orange in 1688, who pardoned Oates, and granted him a pension of £5 a week. The treatment of Oates eventually brought a change in the law, which dealt with brutal and inhumane treatment of prisoners.

After being freed from prison, Oates became a spy for the King, got married and somehow became a Baptist minister. He was again disliked, so much so that one member of his congregation barred him from attending her funeral. On the day, Oates' response was to occupy the pulpit and preach a long, irrelevant sermon which caused a riot in the Church. He was yet again thrown out of his job by his own congregation. His last appearance in court was in 1702 when he was fined at Westminster for hitting a woman over the head with his walking stick. "He spent his last years in obscurity writing religious tracts that nobody read and haunting the Westminster law courts as a spectator". Titus Oates died in 1705.

Very few would disagree with John Adamson, that "Oates was in a league of his own in the depths of his vileness". Another historian gave this damning verdict, which none of us would like to be said of ourselves. "If Titus Oates had any redeeming features, history does not record them". I'd like to think that there are many lessons to be learnt from the failings of this man.

Seaside Towns and Deprivation

Hastings, East Sussex

In March of this year the Government produced the latest Indices of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) which is based on 2010 statistics. Previous Indices were produced in 2007 and 2004. Having worked over half my adult life with charities in the field of poverty and deprivation, I am always interested in the latest IMD's. As over twenty years was spent in a seaside town, I wanted to see how it, and other seaside towns were faring in the area of deprivation. I have looked at the figures and reports from Blackpool (North West), Hastings (East Sussex) and Margate (Kent). It could well have been any number of other medium to large seaside towns in England, as a common picture unfolds.

The Indices of Multiple Deprivation measures deprivation across seven areas:

• Income
• Employment
• Health & Disability
• Housing & Access to Services
• Education
• Crime
• Living Environment

Looking at the Indices from 2004, 2007 and 2010, there is no doubt that Seaside towns are becoming more deprived. The 11 most deprived seaside towns have all got worse from 2004 - 2010. Blackpool is the most deprived seaside town, and 6th most deprived area in England, while Hastings is the 2nd most deprived seaside town, and 19th most deprived area in England.

A study done in Margate on why some seaside towns are struggling, could have been written for most seaside towns in England. Of some importance are structural barriers to growth.

1. The 180 degree factor - Their position by the sea imposes limits on growth as they can only expand in one direction. In some places, the surrounding topography, such as steep hills, imposes further limitations. Most inland towns have 360 degrees to work with.
2. Isolation - Smaller coastal towns are peripheral outposts on main transport routes, limiting access to the jobs and services located in towns and cities within the surrounding sub-region. This makes it difficult to attract new-comers who can bring economic benefit to the area.
3. Vulnerability to climate change - The predictions for rising sea levels, and erosion rates that go along with it, can be a problematic factor in public and private investment decisions about growth and development in some seaside towns.

The growth of seaside resorts from the late 1800's was driven by the expansion of the domestic tourism industry, but for the last 30 - 40 years there has been decline as people wanted something more from their holidays, and low-cost European package holidays provided this. Too many seaside towns have failed to come to grips with these changes, with the result being significant economic under-achievement, or what one report says of a North Wales resort as "economic inertia".

Blackpool

There are some key reasons why many seaside towns are struggling, and continue to be spotlighted in the Indices of Multiple Deprivation.

• Failure to diversify economically -  The fundamental driver of deprivation in many struggling seaside towns is the failure to move on from a reliance on the traditional seaside economy and create a new economic purpose. Successful seaside towns have updated and re-marketed their traditional offer. To stand still means to die.
• Low-wage, low-skill job markets - A consequence of the failure to diversify is the dominance of low-wage, low-skill job in the declining tourism industry. In Blackpool, 31% of working-age adults have no formal qualifications. Some places also rely heavily on public sector jobs, which are under threat from Government cuts, and in Margate, 47% of jobs are in public administration.
• High levels of incapacity - Research by the Department for Trade and Industry suggest that 9.3% of working-age adults in seaside towns claim Incapacity Benefit. This figure is 18% in Margate.
• Unfit housing stock - Many seaside towns are full of hotels and guest houses which served the tourism trade but are now not fit for other uses such as family accommodation, and have been turned into hostels or houses of multiple occupation.
• Low demand and low prices - The amount of cheap rental accommodation has served to attract in vulnerable individuals. Hastings has suffered from this. The poor quality of the stock and the out-migration of younger households has created a cycle of low demand and low prices. This in turn has encouraged more affluent families to look elsewhere.
• In-migration of vulnerable households - The availability of cheap rented accommodation has created concentrations of vulnerable households, including statutorily homeless families, care-leavers and ex-offenders. In addition, the practices of local authorities in placing many of their 'unwanted' in seaside towns has contributed to a demographic imbalance. The British Urban Regeneration Association has described coastal towns as "dumping grounds for people facing problems such as unemployment, social exclusion and substance dependency". I have first hand knowledge of this in Hastings and Eastbourne.
• Some areas have been stigmatised as a result, and struggle to successfully re-brand and market what they have to offer.

The Indices of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) help to focus the mind on deprived areas. Some ask do these Indices matter? They most certainly do for at least four reasons.

1. The Government uses them to target where regeneration programmes are to take place.
2. Sure Start and Children's Centres were based on the most deprived areas according to the IMD.
3. Many of the National Lottery grants are targeted at the most deprived areas based on the IMD.
4. Stamp duty on property and land transactions were reduced in deprived areas, based on the IMD.

There are well researched reasons for decline in many seaside towns, and complicated factors that hinder the approach to change, but there are also lessons that can be copied from those who have made a transition from the old to the new. Among many initiatives that have been, and will be tried, undoubtedly the key driver is economic diversity. The Margate report says, "There is no magic bullet for struggling seaside towns, but local initiatives suggest that there are practical approaches and models of intervention which can be adapted".

The coastline of Great Britain runs for just over 11,000 miles, and around 3 million people live on the coast. Seaside towns are an important part of our heritage, and I very much hope that they will be an important part of our future.