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Local Government East
Grinstead is part of the Mid Sussex District of West Sussex. It
has a Town Council presided over by a Town Mayor.
Town Council Offices:
East Court, College Lane; open Mon.-Fri., 9.30 a.m. - 4 p.m. Tel:
323636.
Council: 18 members, elected every 4 years, 6 wards.
Meetings: For dates refer to Town Council website.
All are held in the council chamber at East Court at 7.45p.m. Responsibilities
include allotments, cemeteries, footway lighting, East Court, the
Meridian Hall, the Parish Halls, local charities, bus shelters,
the public clock, war memorials, street scene, observations on planning
applications and guardianship of local traditions and rights. Some
work is undertaken for nearby parish councils. Grant aid is awarded
annually, according to need, to a variety of community groups and
organisations. The bi-annual Civic News, delivered free to every
house, keeps the public informed. The council won the local council
website of the year award in 2004 and was national runner-up local
council of the year in 2006. It is Investor in People accredited
and has Quality Status.
Web site: http://www.eastgrinstead.gov.uk E.mail: towncouncil@eastgrinstead.gov.uk
Fax: 01342 327823
Latest population estimate 25,000
Mid Sussex District Council
Offices: Oaklands, Oaklands Road, Haywards Heath. Tel: 01444 458166.
Local representation: 10 members in 6 wards, elected
every 4 years.
Responsibilities: Local planning and development
control, environmental health, off-street parking, community charge,
rent rebates, refuse collection, parks, open spaces, playing fields
and swimming pools.
Official guide-book available.
West Sussex County Council Offices:
County Hall, Chichester.
Tel: Chichester 777100.
Local representation: 3 members in 3 wards, elected
every 4 years.
Responsibilities: Education, fire service, libraries,
police, personal social services, highways, street lighting and
certain planning matters.
All three councils have a joint information point at the Public
Library. Tel: 300780 (see p.7)
Member of Parliament Hon.
N. Soames, House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA. Tel: 0171-930 6240
Town Arms (See page
7). In 1572 Thomas Cure, one of East Grinstead’s M.P.s, obtained
for the borough a seal of arms: five blue ostrich feathers with
gold tips, his initials and those of the Duchy of Lancaster, of
which the town was part. The town first acquired a coat of arms
in 1954, to mark the jubilee of the Urban District Council, the
fanciful coat illustrated here. The feathers are repeated, with
three red roses of the house of Lancaster. The hammer is to recall
the local iron industry, the sword the Assizes. The ash represents
Ashdown Forest, with a crown because it was royal property. The
white line represents the meridian of Greenwich running through
the town, the rising sun ‘East’, the green the first
syllable of ‘Grinstead’. The motto (not part of the
arms) is to be taken as ‘Amid green meadows I proudly stand’.
On the re-organisation of local government the coat was transferred
to the successor Town Council. In the past the red rose of Lancaster
surmounted by a crown has also been attributed to the town.
Town Museum East Grinstead
Town Museum was founded in 1976 by the East Grinstead Society at
the request of the Town Council, which accommodated it at East Court.
It is a registered charity administered by a trust and has received
full accreditation. In September 2006 it re-opened in purpose-built
town-centre premises in Cantelupe Road, funded by the Heritage Lottery
Fund, Mid Sussex District Council, notably the Town Council, grants
and donations from other bodies and fund-raising activities. Under
a salaried professionally qualified curator the work is done freely
by volunteers. Expenses are met from donations, sales in the Museum
shop and the Friends of the Museum. It is fully accessible, open
Wednesdays - Saturdays 10 a.m.–4 p.m., Sundays 2-5 p.m., admission
free. (Tel: 302233).
The East Grinstead Society The
Society, founded in 1968 to protect and improve the amenities of
East Grinstead and its environs, encourages civic pride by its meetings,
walks, publications and exhibitions. A panel of appropriately qualified
members monitors and, where appropriate, comments on all local planning
applications. It has provided two historical guide-maps in the High
Street and undertaken tree planting and renovation projects and
surveys of listed buildings, public seats, playground equipment
and trees. It also undertook the foundation of the Town Museum (now
independent), where its publications and up-to-date details of membership
and activities may be obtained. Its town trails supplement and extend
the information in this guide.
The East Grinstead Town Twinning Association
The Association, founded in 1962, was responsible
for East Grinstead’s formal twinning with Bourg-de-Péage,
a holiday centre on the Isère between Grenoble and Valence,
within reach of the Alps, Massif Central and Mediterranean, and
with Mindelheim in Bavaria. It has also established twinning links
with Sant Feliu de Guixols in Spain, Verbania in Italy and Schwaz
in Austria and there have been numerous visits and exchanges. It
has won a European Commission gold star for outstanding achievement
in European integration.
Events In addition
to the events and activities arranged for their members by the numerous
cultural, social, sporting and special interest groups (details
from Library, p.7), a number of special occasions occur each year.
Among them are the Music and Arts Festival, Spring Sunday (events
organised by the High Street traders, April), the Vintage Bus Day
(April), the May Fair (when the High Street is closed for the bank
holiday and people wear period costume), a local history fair (October),
and the summer and pre-Christmas shopping events with associated
entertainments.
The Queen Victoria Hospital
In 1863 East Grinstead became the fifth place in England to have
a Cottage Hospital, started by a local doctor with six beds. It
was re-founded in 1887 and moved to its present site, 1m. N.N.W.
of town centre, in 1936 (original building by F. G. Troup &
A. C. Denny). In 1939 Mr (later Sir) Archibald McIndoe arrived to
use it for maxillo-facial work, pioneering plastic surgery on seriously
burnt servicemen. Their world-famous Guinea Pig Club still holds
its re-unions here and gave its name to the Hospital’s now
demolished ‘local’. This work required new buildings,
some financed from South Africa, Canada, the U.S.A., Australia and
New Zealand. Post-war developments include corneal grafting, with
the aid of an eye bank, which needed a special Act to change the
law, research laboratories for tissue transplants and new buildings
to extend and improve the earlier work on jaw injuries and burns.
It is still a general hospital for the area, including a modern
children’s ward with schoolroom and a busy minor injuries
unit. The Queen Victoria Hospital N.H.S. Foundation Trust is now
the regional centre for plastic and burns surgery, maxillofacial
and ophthalmic surgery and corneoplastic surgery. A self-contained
purpose-built burns unit, the McIndoe Burn Centre, was opened in
1994, the year in which the hospital acquired trust status. A day
surgery unit, named in memory of Tom Gleave, Chief Guinea Pig, was
opened in April 1996 and provides a friendly, comfortable environment
to meet an increasing need. In 1997 the maxillo-facial laboratory
and prosthetics clinic was declared the best in Europe. Twenty-one
five-star ratings were achieved in the July 1997 performance tables.
In 2002, 2003 and 2004 it was the only hospital in Sussex to get
the maximum three stars. In 2007 readers of Nursing Times voted
it the best hospital to work in the whole country. In 2009 it won
both the ‘Top Acute Hospital’ and ‘Top Healthcare
Employer for Nurses’ awards and came runner-up overall, in
‘Health Care 100’ sponsored by the Department of Health.
An active League of Friends raises money for comforts and amenities.
Tel: 410210.
Weir Wood Reservoir The
town’s S. boundary follows the bank of this reservoir, formed
in 1952 by damming the valley 1m. above Forest Row. Area: 280 acres.
Capacity: 1,237 million gallons. Maximum depth: 35 feet. On average
3.08 million gallons are extracted daily, 2.08 million supplying
Crawley, the rest supplementing the Mid Sussex and Wealden Districts’
supplies. One million gallons are returned to the Medway in compensation.
The reservoir is a popular coarse fishing area, open from 16 June
to 15 March. Day and season tickets available for either bank fishing
or boat fishing. Sailing facilities all year round and bird watching.
Owing to its ornithological importance it is a Site of Special Scientific
Interest. The western end is a bird sanctuary and nature reserve.
Fishing regulations, permits and licences and details of sailing
clubs are all available from the Recreation Officer (Tel: 822731)
at the reservoir.
Natural History In
addition to the reservoir the main local site for naturalists is
Ashdown Forest, 3m S.E. of the town but outside its bounds. Details
of its wildlife, including many rarities, can be found in Barbara
Willard’s The Forest (1989). But the whole district abounds
in such a variety of habitats (woodlands, wet and dry heathlands,
rivers and ponds, fields and hedgerows, parklands and gardens) even
within the town’s boundaries with its open spaces and disused
railway tracks, that the nature lover should find plenty of interest.
The town has a lively Natural History Society.
Leisure In addition
to the amenities and facilities already mentioned, East Grinstead
has a wide range of cultural, educational, games and sports activities
and organisations, details of which may be obtained from the Public
Library (p.7) or Town Council (p.7). Probably the most notable are
the triathlon club, which has produced several junior internationals,
the hockey club, which, among other achievements, was Slazenger
England Hockey League premier division champions 2008-09 and National
Indoor League champions 2008-09.
Chequer Mead Arts Centre
The Arts Centre, designed for the Town Council by Tim Ronalds Architects
of London in 1994-95 and built by local contractors Martin Smith
and Foster, was officially opened on 17 November 1996. The total
cost was £2.41 million including site acquisition and fees.
Funding came from the Town Council (£1.23 million), Mid Sussex
District Council (£500,000) and the Arts Council’s national
lottery fund (£680,000). Facilities include a 320-seat fully
equipped theatre, rehearsal and meeting rooms, craft studio, exhibition
area and bistro café. It gained an R.I.B.A. award in 2000.
It is a sole custodian charity administered by East Grinstead Town
Council. Tel: 325577 (Administration), 302000 (Box Office).
Hammerwood Park This
private house, built in 1792 on a Greek Revival pattern by the young
Benjamin Henry Latrobe, later famous for his buildings in America,
is being sympathetically restored at the expense of its current
owner after years of neglect, is listed grade 1 and is open to the
public on certain afternoons in summer. Off A264, 3 m. E.N.E. of
town centre. Enquiries 850594.
The Bluebell Railway
This preserved stretch of the former East Grinstead - Lewes line
runs from Sheffield Park to Kingscote and will ultimately reach
East Grinstead again, if possible with national lottery funding.
Cars are not allowed at Kingscote but special buses connect it with
the town at an inclusive fare. The Bluebell Railway is the country’s
oldest preserved standard gauge passenger steam line, established
in 1959. Enquiries, Sheffield Park Station (01825 720800).
Shopping East Grinstead
has two large supermarkets, branches of most of the best-known multiples
and a number of other shops including several old-established family
businesses, making it a good shopping centre for ordinary needs.
A leaflet giving details is available from the Public Library (p.7)
or Town Council (p.7). There are weekly farmers’ markets and
a French market during the pre-Christmas shopping day.
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