Sussex Snippets

Charity & Community news from across the counties

Glyndebourne has announced that it will no longer be able to tour as planned in 2023, following a reduction to its Arts Council England (ACE) funding for touring and its learning and engagement work. The Glyndebourne Tour launched in 1968 with support from ACE to take the company’s operas to broad audiences around the country and provide a launch pad to emerging talent. In the more than fifty years since, it has been responsible for launching the careers of numerous UK and international artists. A new scheme is giving people the opportunity this winter to pay less to travel by bus in West Sussex – and the whole of England. From now until 31st March, a single bus journey will cost no more than £2 on most routes under the Department for Transport's Help for Households funded Bus Fare Cap. Local participating companies include Brighton & Hove, Compass, Stagecoach, Metrobus and Southdown Buses.

West Sussex charity 4Sight Vision Support has a long-established recycling scheme which helps to raise funds to support blind and sight impaired residents across the county. Items include stamps and foreign currency collections; jewellery, watches, games consoles, cameras, tablets and mobile phones (any condition or age) and ink cartridges (not laser). They would even love to have your old car, as they have the resources to turn old cars into cash via auction or scrap. They will also welcome unwanted Christmas gifts. Call 01243 828555 or send an email to: fundraising@4sight.org.uk.

West Sussex Libraries are inviting everyone to read for pleasure in 2023 and share a love of books by taking part in a Reading Challenge. The February challenge is to read a book that has been adapted for the screen. So whether you have always wanted to get around to reading Lord of the Rings or want to read the books connected with recent film adaptions such as Where the Crawdads Sing, Death on the Nile or Mrs Harris Goes to Paris, now’s your chance. You can join as an individual reader, as a reading group or why not take on the challenge as a family? For more information pop into your local library or visit www.arena.westsussex.gov.uk/westsussex-libraries-reading-challenge-2023.

Family history buffs can now access the Sussex electoral registers free of charge on the Ancestry website either at the West Sussex Record Office in Chichester or at your local West Sussex Library. You will need to register for an Archives Card at www.archivescard.com. The West Sussex Record Office also holds a range of talks and events around the subject. Search online or call 01243 753602.

The new West Sussex Lane Rental Scheme (WSLRS), which came into force on 1 December 2022, allows the council to require payment of charges by promoters of street and road works for the time their works are in place. The scheme applies to selected roads, not the whole of the county. The focus will be on areas where roadworks will cause the highest levels of disruption, which currently equates to around 10% of the county’s roads. Different charges apply depending on the type of work being undertaken and how disruptive the works will be.

A new secondary school for children living in the Burgess Hill area has been given the green light with planning permission. West Sussex County Council and co-applicant Homes England’s plans to create a zero-carbon school were approval by Mid Sussex District Council’s planning committee on 15 December 2022. The ambitious design will allow the school to generate its own renewable energy on site without using any fossil fuels. It aims to be the first school in West Sussex to achieve “Passivhaus certification”, the highest standard of energy efficiency a building can reach, and offer excellent educational facilities to 900 local children. Meanwhile the much older facilities at Steyning Grammar School’s (SGS) Shooting Fields and Rock Road sites - home to around 2,000 students - continue to creak at the seams with the latest issue of parent Bohunt’s BET News magazine reporting that details of new funding to renew the facilities have yet to be agreed by the Department for Education.