Where creativity meets connection
CPRE Sussex Countryside Day
Sat 6 Aug
Knepp Estate, Dial Post
Encouraging everyone to celebrate the countryside, CPRE Sussex is returning to Knepp Estate with a host of fun and activities. This is a perfect opportunity to learn more about the amazing landscapes all around us – and the community groups working to protect them. There will be expert talks and tours of the Knepp Estate, plus community stalls and children's activities.
This year’s programme includes a talk and tour of the Knepp Estate led by Dr Tony Whitbread, president of the Sussex Wildlife Trust. There will also be talks from West Sussex Rivers Trust and Sussex Underwater, and guided walks throughout the day.
CPRE Sussex will be joined at the event by community organisations including the National Hedgelaying Association, Save West of Ifield, Sussex Green Living, Sussex Area Ramblers and the Ouse and Adur Rivers Trust. There will also be kids’ activities, including clay creature creation, leaf printing, fire building and model house making.
Entrance is free, with donations encouraged for events and a small charge for some children’s activities. Donations will help CPRE Sussex to continue to protect the Sussex countryside and promote a greener future for us all.
Phildel
Thu 4 Sept
The Grace, London
Following last month’s release of the soaring single Monument to Life, Brighton-based Phildel is heading out on tour. The dream-pop powerhouse will be performing some choice cuts from a weighty back catalogue, reasserting her claim to being one of the most compelling singer-songwriters on the live scene.
The award-winning, Spotify-dominating artist has another album on the horizon, promising more life-affirming pop epics that encourage us to reconnect with nature and our true selves.
Hosting Henry VIII festival
Sat 13 – Sun 14 Sept
West Horsley Place, Guildford
After a hugely successful debut last year, this inventive festival is again transporting visitors back to Tudor times. it recreates King Henry VIII’s visit to this ancient estate, with a weekend full of living history, food, and fun for the whole family.
will be able to reach out and touch living history, with specialists on site to conjure up Tudor food, clothing, jewellery, weaponry, and entertainments including music, archery, and hawking. There’s also a chance to explore the ancient house, watch spectacular jousting displays, try out Tudor dancing, taste the King’s banquet and chat to experts in historic costume. Discover the story of Henry and Gertrude Courtenay and uncover the secrets they were hiding from their King as they walked the tightrope between loyalty and treason…
Megan Prescott - Really Good Exposure
Tues 2 - Sat 13 Sept
Soho Theatre, London
Actor, writer, and sex-work advocate, Megan Prescott, is bringing her critically acclaimed solo play Reto London after a highly successful run at 2024’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival and sell-out performances at Soho Rising Festival back in February. The former Skins star uses her own experiences to tell the story of Molly Thomas, a fictional former child star whose career peaked in her teens. Molly, is approaching 30, in a bad place financially and has a career that never quite regained the dizzying heights of her teenage triumphs. Molly is skint. Molly is considering getting into porn. What happened in the intervening years to lead Molly down such a… well, unexpected path? And what, if anything, is waiting at the end of that path for her to find?
Body shaming, peer pressure, mental health stigma, victim blaming, and socially accepted sexual harassment were all things that millennial girls could look forward to growing up. The ‘child star to train wreck’ narrative sold newspapers and got clicks online; lots of people made a lot of money from the public rise and fall of these children. But all that comes with the territory - doesn’t it?
Emmanuel Sonubi - Life After Near Death
Wed 17 Sept
Hazlitt Theatre, Maidstone
After fencing a life-changing experience, Emmanuel Sonubi is showing a more vulnerable side with this brilliant new tour. It centres around him surviving heart failure a few years ago.
While it might not seem like obvious joke material, this talented comedian explores facing the cause of his trauma, and the strange and funny ways we all find to keep going when life gets hard.
This is a show about turning life’s toughest moments into comedy gold, finding the laughs in survival and the punchlines in perseverance, as this hilarious and versatile performer gears up for a huge UK tour.
Hawksley Workman
Tue 23 Sept
Green Note, London
Since releasing his debut record in the late ‘90s, Canadian multi-instrumentalist Hawksley Workman has developed a truly inimitable approach to indie rock music. Blending lush instrumentals with a quirky sense of personality and a penchant for cabaret, he’s picked up gold records, some impressive production credits, and the loyalty of countless fans across the world.
Workman’s genre-defying music blends indie, rock, folk, and alt-pop with a dash of whimsical theatricality. Known for his lush arrangements and deeply poetic lyrics, his sound is an unpredictable mix of haunting melodies, clever wordplay, and introspective storytelling. Workman has built a loyal following with albums that are both intimate and adventurous, embracing a spirit of experimentation while maintaining an undeniable emotional core.
David Blandy - Commons
Fri 26 Sept – Sun 11 Jan
The Amelia Scott, Tunbridge Wells
Blending archive, local history, nature, and storytelling, David Blandy’s Commons is a film work inviting audiences on a journey through the ancient woodlands and shared spaces of Tunbridge Wells. It combines archive film, 3D scans, and newly captured footage of ancient rocks and woodland to tell a series of stories from multiple voices.
These include the pilgrims in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, non-human subjects and objects recount their experiences across years or millennia, deliberately decentring the human perspective. Inspired by the natural world and ideas of resistance, these characters embark on a pilgrimage through deep time, each speaking from their own subjectivity.
Focusing on tales of resistance and hope, Commons redefines the museum experience, animating each object by exploring its inner life. The work is a multifaceted examination of history, the collective and the individual, of what it means to share space and share knowledge, and the transience of life in the face of deep time.
Lovers II Friends – 90s/00s Day Party
Sat 20 Sept
Komedia, Brighton
Finally, a day party for the millennial generation… Playing nothing but the best of 90s and 00s pop and R’n’B bangers.
Expect to gear plenty of Britney Spears, Destiny’s Child, Bewitched, Spice Girls, TLC, Nelly, Madonna, Outkast, Kylie Minogue, Kelly Rowland, J-Lo, Ja Rule, Ashanti, All Saints, Usher, Cassie, Kelis, Pink, Aqua,, Mary J Blige, Steps, Ludacris, Ne-Yo, Avril Lavigne and loads more.
Still want to hit the club but be home by the time doors are usually open? Komedia Brighton has got you covered!
Autumn Show & Horse Trials
Sat 27 – Sun 28 Sept
South of England Showground, Ardingly
Promising a packed weekend of ‘have a go’ activities and countryside fun for all ages, the South of England Agricultural Society’s Autumn Show & Horse Trials will again be attracting leading and international equestrian talent. Spectators will be treated to top-tier riders competing in the dressage, showjumping and cross-country phases.
Beyond the equestrian events, visitors can enjoy a variety of displays and activities celebrating rural skills and country life, including expert falconry and horsemanship displays, game cooking demonstrations, chainsaw carving, sheep shearing, and bushcraft workshops.
There’s also vintage farm machinery, steam engines and a Scammell area. For those eager to have a go themselves, there will be opportunities to try archery, axe throwing, fly casting, laser clay shooting and more.
Mark O'Donnell
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