to be found in close proximity to marvellous seascapes. Man has enhanced the work of nature by endowing the town and its environs with a halo of historical glamour.
With regard to the minor, but important details in the making of a resort, the makers of modern Hastings have not been found wanting. Well-kept main roads from north, east and west lead into the town. Good accommodation to suit all classes is provided at reasonable rates. The drainage of the town is perfect and the water supply of exceptionally high quality and entirely free from chalk.
The claims of Hastings and St. Leonards to pre-eminence among resorts on the score of natural beauty combined with historical interest are great, but its outstanding recommendations are its peerless climate and sunshine record. The latter, the indisputable figures of the Meteorological Office shew to be absolutely unequalled for consistency and quantity by that of any other locality in these Isles.
A crowd of people sitting in the open, enjoying the music of the band in the morning, is a most usual spectacle on the Hastings Promenade, at any time during the winter. The town has always been especially noted for its suitability for nervous or pulmonary cases.
In recent years a great improvement scheme, involving the transformation of the centre part of the esplanade and the erection of a first-class music pavilion, backed by terraces and gardens, was begun, and its completion although greatly delayed by the War is now a matter of the not far distant future. The first-fruits of the Scheme were a handsome open-air auditorium and bandstand.
Meanwhile, the Corporation is preparing for the future by successfully endeavouring to build up for the town the reputation of a noted musical centre. The appointment in 1919 of Julian Clifford as Musical Director meant a great stride towards this goal.
Places of Interest in Hastings and St. Leonards.
The Old Town is full of places which no lover of the ancient and beautiful should miss. The quaint fishing village, the mediaeval narrow streets that have been trodden and loved by famous men of many generations, the old houses in All Saints' Street, the picturesque cliff-side houses and terraces East and West of the Old Town Valley, the Churches of St. Clement and All Saints, with their memories of Saxon and Norman England all these combine to impress even the most casual visitor with a sense of that mellowed beauty with which age and association have invested them. The whole of this part of the Borough is redolent of those days when Hastings was the Premier Cinque Port, from whose harbour warships provided by the town sailed to fight for England.
