A bit of history

A few weeks ago I had a nice conversation with Dennis Collins of the Old THastings Preservation Society - among other interests. I have known Dennis swince I first moved to Hastings on the basis that he used to run a bookshop and I have spent half my adult life in them. He knows more about the history of our fair Town then anyone else I know and I always finish a conversation with him knowing something I didn't know at the start. Anyway I asked Dennis about the history of HVA and its predecessor incarnations and how long our history was. Lo and behold Dennis traces our history back to 1855 when the mayor of Hastings covened a meeting of all leading charities to work together and combat drunkenness poverty and bad housing. Amazing over a century and a half and never more than 12 months funding at a time. Not a bad record!!! Anyway the OHPS have opened the History House in Courthouse Street which is well worth a visit as they are dloing some interesting work interpreting local history.