2024 saw the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings. The values of that war time generation of courage, sacrifice and resilience in defence of freedom, justice, our shared values and way of life continue to inspire our nation.
It was fitting that the Sussex Heritage Trust chose to launch this year’s awards at St Michael and All Angels, Berwick, East Sussex. I am often humbled to reflect that our artists’ response to war was to paint scenes of love often drawn from the Christian story like the Nativity painted by Vanessa Bell at Berwick. During the summer and autumn of 1940 the Battle of Britain was fought over the skies of Sussex. The Luftwaffe failed to defeat the R.A.F. but the Germans continued the Blitz into the May of 1941. Against this backdrop Bishop Bell commissioned Duncan Grant and Vanessa Bell to paint St Michael and All Angels. The parish church at Berwick is just a few miles from the artists’ home at Charleston. These well known Christian stories were retold in paint and set in the Sussex landscape and included three service men.
Some of the best examples of mixed, sustainable, regenerative agriculture are to be found here in Sussex. But this is dependent on family run farms with generations of understanding and truly long-term stewardship of land. Farming is a vocation.
The West Grinstead and District Ploughing Match and Agricultural Society, of which Rowan Allan is a long-term Hon. Secretary, has been holding shows for over 150 years. Rowan is a great ambassador for farming and its rural communities. Like the Sussex Heritage Trust the Society seeks to encourage young people and promote best practice through its bursaries and awards. I hope the quality of stewardship you find today amongst so many family run farms in Sussex will still be possible in the face of our government’s decisions around inheritance tax and farming. It takes many generations to build up the necessary capital and resource to be able to farm in a way that balances the needs of nature and the maintenance of the land with the responsibility to feed the nation.
Despite these new challenges I find it hopeful that Toovey’s and so many local businesses continue to invest in and support charities and communities across Sussex. The work of people, charities, farmers, businesses and organisations across Sussex is hope filled and to be celebrated. I wish you all a happy and peaceful New Year.