stewards. These race meetings were well-attended by visitors and residents. On September 14th, 1826, the Hastings Races were held for the first time on the new course, in the Filsham Valley, and were a great success, there being 6,000 persons present. Again, on September 29th and 30th, 1827, the Races attracted a great crowd, and Mrs. W. Camac's equipage, with costly trappings, and scarlet liveried postillions and outriders, was conspicuous, and upwards of 200 other carriages were on the course. Race Ball in the evening at the Swan Hotel was attended by 200 of the elite of the town and neighbourhood. On August 30th, 1830, two years after St. Leonards had been founded, was the first occasion that St. Leonards joined with Hastings in providing the necessary funds for the Annual Races.
In later times, within the recollection of the older inhabitants, Races were held up the Crowhurst Valley, opposite The Grove, Hollington, when trains were run from Hastings and St. Leonards and London, dropping the passengers on the siding near the course. And later, they were held on Breeds' Farm, Ore, near the Rye Road. Then followed the annual and most enjoyable Steeplechases, in connection with the East Sussex Hunt, at Catsfield, near Normanhurst.
Theatre. "The Society of Hastings are gay without profligacy, and enjoy life without mingling in its debaucheries." So said a writer, quoted in one of the guide books, in the latter part of the 18th century, at which time it it stated the Corporation withheld its sanction to a theatre being erected within its jurisdiction, believing it to be an immoral innovation. The first theatre mentioned was provided in an upper room, attached to the Hare and Hounds Inn, Ore, which Inn is described as having a theatre on one side and tea gardens on the other, and had been for many years a favourite rendezvous for visitors and the officers and soldiers from the Halton Barracks. The theatre was a weather-boarded building painted white, and the public entrance was up a few steps. It is recorded of the late Thomas Sidney Cooper, R.A., that he began life as a scene painter at this theatre. The manager's name was Sage. On one occasion, Edmund Kean and Robert William Elliston were recruiting their health at Hastings, at a time when a strolling theatrical company was suffering great pecuniary embarrassment owing to bad business. This fact came to the knowledge of the two actors. They expressed a wish to see the theatre, where they found young John Baldwin Buckstone, a member of the company. The true position being made known, and that the poor scene painter, T. S. Cooper, had been robbed of a five pound note he had saved for a rainy day ; it was arranged that a performance of "The Merchant of Venice" (Shvlock, by Edmund Kean) and "The Liar" (Wildrake by R. W. Elliston) be announced for the benefit of their unfortunate brethren. The result was a packed house " from floor to ceiling." The management were enabled to pay all salaries, make good poor Cooper's loss, and left sufficient to take the troupe comfortably -
