Hut Stories
26 October 2024 to 27 October 2024
11.00am to 5.00pm
A free pop-up museum celebrating Black History Month in Lewes. Responding to 2024’s Black History Month theme of “Reclaiming Narratives”, Hut Stories is a unique opportunity to learn about the World War 1 volunteer soldiers from the Caribbean, who bravely offered their service and trained in Sussex, far from home.
You’re warmly invited to hear their stories while standing in one of the very buildings they actually used. The volunteers were formed into a group called the British West Indies Regiment (BWIR), and many of them gave their lives during that war.
Our pop-up museum is based in a green tin hut in Lewes which originally came by train from Seaford Head, where it was used as the church at one of the military camps. Soldiers were gathered here to train before heading out to the front.
For years after it’s arrival in Lewes this hut was known as the local auction house, and it’s only in recent months that it’s full history has come to light. What we do know about the BWIR, apart from their extraordinary bravery and sacrifice in volunteering, is that their place in history wasn’t celebrated as much as they deserve – either in the UK, or in the Caribbean when some of them finally returned home.
This pop-up museum is an opportunity to learn about their stories, the service they gave, and to reflect on our connections to them in 2024, as well as their unique contribution to black history. The pop-up museum features artefacts and displays, plus talks, soundscapes, readings, free snacks and a place to reflect on our shared history.
Visitors will also be able to enjoy ‘A Place for Everything’ – a special exhibition by students at East Sussex College, based on their artistic responses to objects discarded by the auctioneers and later rediscovered in the huts.
Hut Stories is supported by Sussex Police, Lewes Town Council, Visit Lewes, East Sussex College Group, the Lewes Green Huts Project crowdfunder and the Western Front Association, and is managed by local volunteers. We really look forward to seeing you there.
