By Lyndsey Haskell
Long-serving community worker Liz Lee has retired after nine years helping the people of Hollingdean through her work with the Trust for Developing Communities .
With a background in hotel management, festival catering and as a councillor in Lewes, Liz Lee was perhaps a rather unusual candidate for the role of community development worker in Hollingdean when she applied for the role nine years ago.
She went for it nonetheless and, though initially surprised when she landed the role, she has never looked back.
Now it’s time for Liz to move on, so we thought it would be a good opportunity to ask her to reflect on the change she has seen in the area since she’s been involved and look at the substantial impact she has made during the years she has been working in Hollingdean.
Within her first few days in the role, Liz had noticed the shocking disrepair of the local skate park, and when a concerned resident rang her a few days later to complain about the diabolical state of it she told them she couldn’t agree with them more.
A conversation began and three years and a lot of hard work later Hollingdean had a new skate park.
The community worked with Active for Life and the council to make it happen and had young people get involved to design the space.
“This was key,” says Liz, “as it’s their space, so they needed to decide what it looked like.”
Challenges included the sourcing of funds as well as getting the local authority to agree to maintain it afterwards but it was all worthwhile to create what is now a very well-used skate park.
A highlight of her time here has been the arrival of the Lucky Dip Fair – a mini festival held twice a year which uses a local bus stop as the stage.
She is pleased to have helped residents set up the first few fairs and is now pleased to see them running it on their own.
“When it comes to the fair, the residents can stand on their own feet now. The talent in Hollingdean is fantastic – whether you’re looking for a ceilidh, a folk group or someone to MC, you can find them here.
“We even discovered that the children’s laureate, Chris Riddell, is local and that some of the residents knew him, so were able to get him along too.”
She said: “A key thing about the Lucky Dip Fair is that it doesn’t cost that much. The Lucky Dip itself, as well as the tombola, cost just 50p to enter and there are lots of homemade goodies and prizes – so it’s not too expensive for parents to bring their families along.”
Consultation with the community has been a vital part of Liz’s work and a part which she thinks makes the biggest difference to people’s lives.
