HPC June Newsletter

Newsletter - June 2014 Copyright © 2014 The Hastings Pier Charity, All rights reserved Our archiving team have been handed some very interesting items to be photographed for our digital archive, including this original rivet hammer. This was found inside one of the piles when it was being replaced; obviously it had been broken during the original construction and fallen down the column. Hammers such as this were used to hammer in the rivets used to attach trusses to each other. The noise would have been deafening to anyone walking past the original construction site with people swinging hammers, laying the deck and heating the truss bolts on site. If you have anything of interest for our volunteer archivists, be it a picture, object or story pop in and visit them at The Hub on a Wednesday from 11am – 12.30pm. For more information please visit our website. Volunteer Week 1st - 7th June A big thank you to all our volunteers in their various roles who have worked really hard over the past 6 months! Without the help from our volunteers we would not be able to run The Hub or many of our other events.

Construction Update Our construction team have been given a helping hand on The Pier in case of emergencies in the form of a brand new defibrillator. The defibrillator is a fully automated machine, which means that even untrained people are able to use it if there is a medical emergency. The machine it is attached to will issue instructions to the user with a mixture of a recorded voice and for those who are hard of hearing a written alert. Unlike the defibrillators you see in films and television this one’s shocks are administered by pads which can be stuck to the body in positions shown on the automated display. To avoid an accidental electric shocks the pads measure the heart rate of the victim, and will instruct the users to perform CPR only if necessary "Following a cardiac arrest, the chance of survival decreases very rapidly on a minute-by-minute basis, so immediate medical treatment is vital" said Simon Opie, CEO of Hastings Pier Charity. "These machines allow life-saving action to be taken by members of the public. The longer the brain is starved of oxygen, the more lasting is the damage, so these machines really can save lives." The defibrillator was supplied by The Community Heartbeat Trust, a charity which looks to provide local communities with these 'ease of use' defibrillators. As for current construction, our team are busy replacing the last few trusses on the parade extension and will soon be ready to move on to the middle section of The Pier. Our team’s offices will be moved from the current pavilion to temporary buildings which will arrive in the middle of this month. For more information on our current construction visit our website or pop in to The Hub on alternate Wednesdays for a Tea Time Update from one of our construction team. The Hub It’s been a busy month at The Hub! We've had lot's going on in May and have plenty more to come in June, including an opportunity to learn some jive dancing! Our archive team had lots going on last past month, with their own open day and an outreach session at nearby Waverley Court Our open day on the 11th of May was, despite the bad weather, a success. We had a wonderful troop of dancers come and perform by The Hub with members of the public able to join in or watch. However the main feature of the day was the archiving in which members of the public brought in their items of interest for our digital archive. We are still looking for more things to put in to our digital archive, and if you have anything interesting about the pier and it's history then please come along to one of our archiving mornings on Wednesdays from 11am – 12.30pm or drop into the Hub during normal hours For families and other visitors we've had two interesting (and in one case particularly noisy) events. On the evening of 22nd of May local historian and ex pier DJ Andre Palfery-Martin gave a talk on the musical history of the pier from 1950s to the 1970s. This event proved so popular that we were completely oversubscribed and so we shall be hosting another talk on Thursday 26th June. If you walked past The Hub on Sunday 25th May and heard a loud banging noise coming from inside, then you would have heard our African drumming workshop! Participants were taught about the musical heritage of the pier alongside learning a traditional West African rhythm on the djembe, a traditional  drum Coming up in June we have a family jive dancing workshop session on 22nd, where you can come and learn how to dance like visitors to the pier did in the 1940s! The session is free but we ask you to pre-book as numbers are limited. For more information please visit our website.

We are currently recruiting for: Education and Outreach Volunteer Do you want to have fun and help visitors discover the magic of Hastings Pier? Do you enjoy interacting with and inspiring children and adults? Do you want to gain experience for a career working with children and adults in the heritage sector? Hastings Pier Charity is setting up its education and outreach programme and we are looking for volunteers to support us with it. There will be a programme of fun and inspiring learning activities for schools, families, under 5s as well as talks and tours for people of all ages for you to choose from. Time commitment Varied Deadline ongoing Admin Volunteer Admin volunteers will have a vital role to play in supporting the Education and Volunteer Coordinator in recruiting volunteers for Hastings Pier Charity. Dealing with inquires and supporting marketing and newsletters. Time commitment Tuesday or Thursdays Deadline ongoing To Apply: To apply to become a Volunteer, please download and complete the application form on our website. For more information or further details about the roles please contact: volunteering@hpcharity.co.uk. Freelance Science and Engineering Workshop Leader We would like to recruit a freelance Science and Engineering Workshop Leader to operate a community engineering lab from ‘The Hub’, our visitor centre on the promenade. The lab and engineer will be supported by volunteers and by young people in the local area through a work placement programme. Each lab session will look at a different design challenge and each challenge will follow the engineer’s design process (ask, imagine, plan, create and improve). We will also take the lab out into other areas of Hastings, to do Engineering Busking. The role involves interacting with families and young people, training volunteers and delivering hands on engineering activities. You will be responsible for planning and delivering the activity sessions confidently, with enthusiasm. We are looking for an enthusiastic individual, an interest or knowledge of science and engineering is essential. Deadline: 5pm Friday 6th June 2014 Interviews: Friday 13th June To Apply: Please email a CV and covering letter with a maximum one page statement explaining your experience and why you are interested in this role successfully to Jo McLaughlan, Education Volunteer Coordinator: jo.mclaughlan@hpcharity.co.uk or post to Hastings Pier Charity, 1 – 10 White Rock, Hastings, East Sussex, TN34 1JU. For more information and a copy of the job application please visit our website.