Who we are
Here at Heritage Eastbourne, we feel it’s important that our visitors have the opportunity to get to know the individual team members, what they do, and what they recommend. This is a great way to provide valuable insight behind the scenes at Heritage Eastbourne and also offers a glimpse at some of the things we do that you might not be aware of.
Katherine Buckland - Heritage Engagement Officer
Tell us about yourself
I am the Heritage Engagement Officer for Heritage Eastbourne and have worked within the team for just over nine years. I love discovering the stories of ordinary people in and around Eastbourne throughout its long and sometimes unexpected history and most importantly sharing those stories as widely as we can
What does your job entail?
One of my favourite things about this job is that every day is different. One day I might spend visiting schools with our collections to explore the story behind objects from Eastbourne’s history. The objects have often been discovered near the school or perhaps where some of the students live which makes the link to Eastbourne’s past even more real. Another day I might be planning and designing our exhibitions, which can be challenging fitting such big stories into one exhibition space whilst making it interesting, accessible and memorable. When I’m not doing that, I could recording some of the stories of Eastbourne through oral histories, answering research enquiries, and managing our social media accounts - yes it’s me that needs to apologise for the terrible history related puns!
What inspired you to work at Heritage Eastbourne?
I have carried out a number of roles with Heritage Eastbourne but the continuing theme with each role has been telling the stories of real, ordinary, yet truly extraordinary people who have lived in or experienced Eastbourne from prehistory to present day. I think this is the best way to learn about history; to discover what life was really like for people living, working, passing through the town we call home.
What are your three favourite stories of Eastbourne?
What an impossible question! One of my favourite stories is about one of the cooks at Summerdown Camp, Mary ‘Louie’ Wells’. We are lucky to have an archive of diaries, autograph books, newspapers and photos from the camp. The archive tells us about the first and biggest convalescent camp in England during the First World War and the people who worked and convalesced in this pioneering place.
Part of our collection of fossils from Eastbourne contains another favourite - teeth from a Late Cretaceous Shark called Ptychodus. It’s amazing to imagine Eastbourne millions of years ago with all these prehistoric sharks swimming around!
My last choice is 100% truly geeky. It has been said that I am obsessed with buttons – but with good reason. The buttons that we find in archaeology can tell us so much about what clothing people wore, how wealthy (or not) they were, and in some cases (like Pococks Cottages in the Rodmill area) tell us where the previous resident worked. They aren’t simply another metal object but rather a tangible link to the lives of the people we are discovering.
If you could recommend one thing for a visitor to do with Heritage Eastbourne, what would it be and why?
We work on all sorts of projects and events as well as running our own community excavations each year. They are all different but great fun and a brilliant way to get involved and find out about our local heritage.
Kelly Van Doorn - Heritage Collections Officer
Tell us about yourself
I am the Heritage Collections and Digital Engagement Officer and have been part of the Heritage Eastbourne team since July 2018.
What does your job entail?
My role is incredibly varied, with each day being different. A large part of what I do is managing Heritage Eastbourne’s artefacts (which include archaeological material, photographs, a local history archive and a military collection). One day I might be coordinating and managing projects involving our wonderful volunteers and the next I might be answering research and object related enquiries or creating and curating digital content for our social media pages.
What inspired you to work at Heritage Eastbourne?
I have always had a fascination with museums, objects and history in general. It was whilst I was studying archaeology and ancient history at university that I volunteered with Heritage Eastbourne. It was at this point I realised how little I knew about the town in which I had called home for 15 years and wanted to know more.
Fast forward 4 years and there was a job opening at Heritage Eastbourne working with the objects I had learnt so much about during my volunteering. It was an opportunity I couldn’t miss! I applied and, thankfully, started this job soon after.
What are your three favourite stories of Eastbourne?
This is really tricky because having such a large local history collection, there are a lot of fascinating objects and people attached to them!
If I had to choose, I would pick the Jane Potts medal donated to us recently. It was part of a wide collection belonging to a nurse who grew up in Eastbourne and worked at the Princess Alice Hospital. I had not seen this before so decided to research Jane Potts. I found out that Jane Potts lived in Meads Street and was Princess Alice’s governess- hence the hospital connection!
Secondly, (and I am cheating here), but our bound newspaper archive. It is a valuable resource for ourselves and researchers and helps us gain an insight into the Eastbourne of the past!
Thirdly, the story of the fabulous Mrs Wilson and her enticing pie! It is an almost unbelievable tale but one definitely worth knowing. If you want to know more, pop along to The Beachy Head Story…
If you could recommend one thing for a visitor to do with Heritage Eastbourne, what would it be and why?
I can’t pick just one thing as there is such a range of projects each year! From talks to excavations, it is certainly varied! To keep up to date with future projects, follow us on social media or check our website.
And some of the team at The Beachy Head Story
My particular interest is based very much on my involvement over many years in practical archaeology in the Eastbourne area. Now I can hopefully impart some of my enthusiasm to the young, and not so young people, who come to see the exhibition and take away something from the shop to remind them of what they have seen in this iconic area of both natural beauty and man-made endeavour - Steve
I enjoy meeting people, talking to them, and introducing them to our wonderful exhibition. Sometimes the stories interlink, and they have been here before, or they are local and remember things from the past. It’s always interesting - Alison
The exhibition gives me the opportunity to share this beautiful area with our visitors. I enjoy welcoming both locals and tourists into the exhibition and its lovely to see their reactions to the artefacts and stories on display. - Kelly
Writer in Residence – Annalie Seaman, MA
The landscape and heritage of Beachy Head are endlessly fascinating to me and I am looking forward to being more inspired by the archaeology, natural history, geology and social history of this unique area. I have already spent the last two years focusing on our incredible beauty spot and sharing stories with a wealth of visitors and residents. For the next year, I will be writing about all the things that make this incredible landscape so special to me and I’ll be sharing some of these themes through Creative Writing Workshops and storytelling days. We’ll be publishing plenty of these stories which will be available in the exhibition gift shop. If you’d like to join me in celebrating the stories of Beachy Head, drop us a line at the Beachy Head Story and we’ll see how you can get involved.
