The Grammar School site in Church Street
The Grammar School site in Church Street was sold earlier this year and plans are now being made for the future use of the old buildings and the redevelopment of the rest of the site. We had an informal meeting with the new owner and his architect on the site in June and attended a presentation they made to an invited audience on 29th July. Catherine Mant attended both events and has written a note about the presentation which can be read by following the link Meeting on 29th July 2026. There will be a public meeting on Wednesday, 9th September at 2 pm at The Steyning Centre, when the new owners will explain their plans for the site. For more information, please follow the link P2367 Public Consultation 2 Leaflet 260825 JC.
Next talk
Our next talk will be held at the Steyning Centre on Friday, 18th September 2026 at 7.30 p.m., when our Vice Chair and Membership Secretary, Catherine Mant, will be talking to us about Sussex Cooking and the English Food Revival in the last century. She will be telling us about Sussex culinary delights, such as Sussex Pond, Ifield Hog’s and Rotherfield Sweet Tooth, giving us recipes and samples and peppering her talk with amusing anecdotes.
Please note that we have had to change the order of the talks planned for October and January, so that Nigel Hartley will now talk to us on 16 October 2026 and David Rudling will talk to us on 15 January 2027, and not as stated in the printed programme.
Visit to the Sussex County Cricket Ground at Hove
We are planning a visit to the ground in Hove on 7 October.
Sussex County Cricket Club was founded in in 1836 and can claim to be the oldest professional sports organisation in the world. It played at 16 different grounds before settling in the present site in 1872. Sussex first won the County Championship in 2003 to begin a decade of success.
The tour of the ground will start 1100 and will be followed by a visit to the museum. The tour is free but donations to the club are invited. Those who want can have lunch at the nearby Sussex Cricketer pub in Eaton Road.
Those wishing to attend should contact Nicola Mason on nickymason82@gmail.com
Members and guests should make their own way. Those who need transport, or can offer places, should inform Nicola. There is a fee for parking in the ground, also some parking outside but that is not free.
Tour of Chichester Harbour
Probus have told us that they have arranged a tour of Chichester Harbour on the Solar Heritage, which is a solar powered catamaran, on Tuesday, 29th September and that members of the Society are welcome to join the tour. The Solar Heritage will leave Itchenor at 10.45 am and return there 12.15 pm. Lunch can be obtained at the nearby Ship Inn. The tour costs £15 per person. Transport is not being arranged. Further information about the tour, including information about how to make bookings, can be found by following the link Chichester trip. Bookings close on 11th September. If you are interested in joining this tour or wish to make a booking, please contact Peter Winter (tel: 07722184117 email: tyke1946@hotmail.com). The Steyning Society will NOT accept bookings for the tour or payment for tickets and cannot provide further information about this event.
Visit to Applesham Farm
We visited Applesham Farm in early July where Hugh Passmore gave us a guided tour of the farm in a purpose-built trailer as a sequel to his talk earlier in the year. As he drove us round the farm, he told us about how he runs the farm as a mixed arable and livestock farm as a protection against fluctuations in market prices and some of the problems of farming today, including illegal hare coursing. He also told us that he practises sustainable farming, using traditional methods such as crop rotation and under sowing, so minimising the use of chemical fertilisers and weedkillers. We made the visit on a warm summer’s evening with little or no wind, saw hares enjoying the sunshine and ended up having a BYO picnic in the Passmores’ beautiful downland garden, with its views over Lancing College, the Adur Valley and the coast beyond. Mike Kelly and Jane Oxley brought their sixteen-year-old grandson with them who talked about his life on his parents’ farm and the animals we saw.
Annual General Meeting 2026, Steyning Bowl Awards 2026 and Talk about Steyning
This year’s Steyning Bowl Awards were presented by Neil Jenkins, the internationally acclaimed tenor, on 17th April after the Society’s Annual General Meeting. The awards were focused on those who have made significant contributions to the musical life of Steyning, which produced some outstanding nominations. The Bowl was presented to Zoe Peate and Gary Prior for their lifetime commitment to music, and especially for their work with Cantatrice Voices and Kaleidoscope Singers. Each of the five runners up received Highly Commended Certificates. They were Siobhan Denning, for her work with Chanctonbury Chorus, Diane Gargano for her work with Strummers and Singers, Janet Gawn for her work with Steyning Jazz Club, Christabel Heasman-Cossins for her work with Sing Out Sister and Brian and Marion Sawyer for their contribution to music at Steyning Parish Church.
Before presenting the awards, Neil Jenkins told us briefly about how he and his wife decided to retire to Bramber and their experience of making music in and around Steyning. The evening concluded with a short talk by Maddie Blackburn and Paul Dennison entitled Discovering Steyning, when they told us about how they came to live in Steyning and their love for the town.
Click on this link to see pictures of the evening. After following the link, you can click on an image to see a high quality picture which you can save and print as a souvenir of the evening.
Trip to Chichester Festival Theatre
Members of the Society visited Chichester Festival Theatre on 2 April 2026 where they made a tour of the theatre and stayed on for a matinee performance of BFG by Roald Dahl. Carole Powell has very kindly written a review of the trip which can be found by using the link Chichester Theatre Outing April 2026
Guide to the Conservation Area
A new edition of Harry Ford’s illustrated Guide to the Conservation is now available and can be bought at our meetings for £7.50 a copy. It can also be bought from the the Bookshop and the Museum. The text has been updated to reflect changes which have occurred since the last edition was produced, as well as recent research which has been done on some of the Town’s ancient buildings.
Christmas Supper
We held our annual Christmas supper on 19th December 2025. Eighty members and guests sat down to a delicious supper which was prepared by Normandy Dining. This was followed by music from the Sea Jam Jazz Quintet. The evening included a raffle with a number of prizes very generously provided by Steyning traders. We hope that everyone enjoyed the evening.
The Local Heritage List
The Local Heritage List has been adopted by Steyning Parish Council and by Horsham District Council. A limited number of copies of the list has been printed and are available at £10 each. They can be bought at the Society’s meetings or copies can be ordered by contacting the Society on cmantsteyningsoc@gmail.com.
For the latest newsletter, please click: June 2026 Previous newsletters can be found in the Newsletter section of this website.
Previous events
Details and photos of previous events can be found on the Archive page of the website
