Sunday 22 July 2012

Famously Crazy

Jeremy Birch at the Olympic Torch relay event
What a week; what a success for Hastings. First the Olympic torch came to town and 50,000 people turned out to watch. Then the first world record of UK 2012 was broken not at the Olympic Stadium but on Hastings beach – the largest number of people dressed as pirates gathered in one place. And 14,231 is some record now to be beaten.

All this showed the very best of Hastings. Ordinary families came out to enjoy themselves and plenty came from outside the town attracted in by our events and spending their money in our shops and businesses. It was good fun and good for our economy.

And it was the community that was responsible for helping to make these events go so well. The torch day events in Grosvenor Gardens and the town centre were organised by local people and local businesses and of course the St Leonards festival held to coincide with the torch has always been a great community event.

As for pirate day it was local organisers and business support that put the whole day together with such fantastic results. We say Hastings if famous for its history and for its culture it’s also famously fun and famously crazy – and that was there for all to see on pirate day. The people who stood out as looking different were those not dressed as pirates!

We always do big outdoor events well as the bonfire and Jack in the Green prove. So Hastings was the natural place for the Olympic torch to stay overnight and the best place to break quirky world records.

Anyone looking to move to a new town, or for a place to invest or to become a student will have had a chance to see Hastings at its best and hopefully to agree that this is the place for them. You can’t put a value on the good publicity we received over the torch and pirate week.

As for those of use who are resident here already – who would want to live anywhere else?