Hilaire Belloc bought King's Land (in Shipley, Sussex), 5 acres and a working windmill for £1000 in 1907 and it was his home for the rest of his life. Belloc loved Sussex as few other writers have loved her: he lived there for most of his 83 years, he tramped the length and breadth of the county, slept under her hedgerows, drank in her inns, sailed her coast and her rivers and wrote several incomparable books about her. "He does not die that can bequeath Some influence to the land he knows, Or dares, persistent, interwreath Love permanent with the wild hedgerows; He does not die, but still remains Substantiate with his darling plains."

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Thursday, 8 November 2018

Belloc, Broadwood and Beyond...




Lost lady found - English folk song




Belloc, Broadwood and Beyond is a Heritage Lottery Fund project run through Rusper Parochial Church Council. The project is researching the life and times of Lucy Broadwood (1858 – 1929), the folk song collector, who is buried in Rusper; and the writer and poet, Hilaire Belloc (1870 – 1953), who lived for most of his life at Kingsland near Shipley. Belloc, wrote ‘Sussex songs’ in the folk style.

Monthly workshops, teaching some of the songs collected by Lucy Broadwood and the songs written by Hilaire Belloc, are currently running. These will continue until April 2019, from 10.30am till 4.30pm.

As well as the songs, the Project is also exploring the lives of these two colourful personalities with particular attention to their local connections.

Thanks to funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) these courses are free and spaces will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis. The workshops are being held in Rusper at St. Mary’s Church, and in Worthing at Broadwater Parish Rooms.

Details of dates can be viewed here.


THE WORTHING DATES ARE NOW ALL FULL, BUT THERE ARE A FEW PLACES LEFT AT RUSPER.