Sussex Blazing Saddles is a new project by KP Projects CIC, exploring the pioneering heritage of women & cycling since the 19th century. The role of cycling in the suffrage movement and the transformation of clothing and society across Sussex & the UK as a result.

In 2023-24, we’re delving into local stories, creating story maps & cycle routes, running sewing workshops & free, outdoor performances in Worthing, Brighton & Hove, Newhaven & Bexhill.

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Latest News

Sussex Blazing Saddles is delighted to receive Newhaven Arts Growth Funding to expand its work in Newhaven around the revolutionary heritage of women cycling. 

Look out for FREE workshops to Reimagine & Upcycling cycling outfits, Dance with your Bike and opportunities to Participate in a Performance of Blazing Saddles in September. Watch THIS SPACE or our socials for more info soon

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SBS DATES for Your 2024 Diaries – loads of FREE activities & events happening in our partner locations over the next few months, details HERE

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SBS Newsletters

Spring 2024 – https://bit.ly/SBSnewsletterMarch24 FREE activites & event acts, updates, the bloomer backlash & Sussex Suffragists

Winter 2023 – https://bit.ly/SBSnewsletterDec23 – early ladies cycling clubs, Heritage Open Days Festival events & how to get involved

Summer 2023 – https://bit.ly/SBSnewsletterAug23 – forthcoming events & workshops, 1890s fashion transformations & opportunities to get involved

Our First Newsletter updates, news & events so far here – https://bit.ly/SBSnewsletterJune23

If you’d like to receive the newsletter, please sign up HERE

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SBS Events for Heritage Open Days Festival Sept 2023 – for info on these, check out our winter 2023 newsletter above

9 Sep – Blazing Saddles performances in Pavilion Promenade, Worthing as part of Spin Out Festival, presented by Worthing Theatres & Museum & Sussex Blazing Saddles. Shows at 11.30 & 1.30

10 Sep – Blazing Saddles performances Heritage Bandstand, Bexhill, as part of Sussex Blazing Saddles, in partnership with Bexhill Wheelers at 1pm & 3pm

16 Sep – Blazing Saddles & The Bicycle Ballet Co Taster Workshop, The Sidings Newhaven, as part of Sussex Blazing Saddles, in partnership with SCDA & the Active Travel Hub 10.30am – 12.30pm Limited tickets, more info & booking

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Have a listen to SBS Creative Director, Karen Poley, talking about SBS on Radio Reverb 22.8.23. Starts about 13.25 HERE

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First Archive Discoveries June 2023

SBS volunteer Irena, has uncovered The First Brighton Ladies Cycling Club set up by Tessie Reynolds in 1894. Find out more HERE

Skirts vs Knickerbockers A surprise for one of our new volunteers when she discovered her grandmother’s role in the cycling rational dress movement.… more HERE

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SBS’s Volunteer Call Out is out! We’re looking for history detectives to help us uncover evidence of the impact of bicycles on women in Sussex from 1890s to 1928. This was an important time of revolution for women, when bicycles spurred the suffrage movement, transformed women’s clothing & cause media sensations. More info HERE

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We’re delighted to share Sussex Blazing Saddles’ project logo, featuring Brighton’s own Tessie Reynolds who cycled a record, & taboo, breaking Brighton-London-Brighton ride in 1893.

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Announcing Sussex Blazing Saddles Heritage Project

A new project by Brighton-based KP Projects CIC explores the pioneering heritage of women and cycling since the 19th century, the role in the suffragette movement and the transformation of clothing and society across Sussex as a result.

Blazing Saddles will aim to reveal untold stories of Sussex’s women’s cycling history, such as Tessie Reynolds, the 16-year-old Brightonian who set new records in 1893 whilst wearing bloomers. Or Bexhill’s pioneering ‘bicycle boulevard’ and bike hire chalet, which opened in 1896, led by Muriel Brassey, wife of landowner Gilbert Sackville, 8th Earl De La Warr, which provided women cyclists a place to exercise their new hobby, despite disapproval.

With support from National Lottery Heritage Fund the project will run from 2022 to 2024, with activities based around four main locations— Bexhill, Newhaven, Worthing and Brighton & Hove.

The project will explore cycling history from 1890s, capturing the later voting rights for women over 21, to present day, addressing issues such as environmental sustainability and the shortage of women cycling— 50% fewer women than men cycle regularly, according to charity Sustrans, stating fears about appearance and concerns about safety.

Blazing Saddles will engage local people in this exciting heritage through participatory public events, open access workshops, bike rides and heritage cycling routes and maps, volunteer archival research sessions and training, online exhibitions and digital resources and more.

KP Projects CIC is a creative company developing national and international outdoor arts projects including cycling, sustainability, healthy living, environmental issues.

Local partners include The Keep, 1066 Cycling Festival, Cycling without Age, the BMWs (Brighton Multicultural Women’s Cycle Club) Bexhill Museum, Sussex Development & Community Association, Worthing Theatres and Museum, South East Dance, Rother Boroughs Council and Newhaven Festival.

The project will provide activities to support women getting into the saddle, from signposting learning to ride & bike repair workshops, to group bike rides stopping at sites including meeting points for suffragette rallies and places of historic relevance, giving cyclists chance to discover more about key figures past and present, and their mark on Sussex.

Costume, sewing and making workshops will also help to bring the past to life for all ages including:

• Banners
• Suffragette cycling sashes
• Bloomers

The Blazing Saddles project will run from 2022-2024. More information soon.

If you’d like to sign up to our mailing list, please click here: https://bit.ly/blazingsaddlesmailinglist

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KP Projects Privacy Policy 2022

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Before the pandemic, we ran a pilot project, touring to community, visitor & arts venues, an aquarium, museum & an outdoor event. We also experimented with working in schools, engaging primary & secondary year students. An incredible 2,455 people dived underwater with us & the feedback was overwhelmingly positive, with many inspired to change their behaviour to help conserve the marine environment.

Have a look at this short film to get a flavour:

An incredible 2,455 people dived underwater with us & the feedback was overwhelmingly positive, with many inspired to change their behaviour to help conserve the marine environment.

499 drawings by younger users & school students were made into this amazing online mosaic. Click HERE to explore

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Bite Sized Talks at Brighton Museum offering a deeper insight into the MCZ & the chalk cliffs.

Our Amazing Marine Chalk Reef – Sarah Ward, Living Seas Officer for Sussex Wildlife Trust talks about the MCZ’s unique chalk reef, watch the talk here…

Ships, Shafts & UBoats – Lara Band, Discovery Programme Officer from CITiZAN tells some of the fascinating stories behind intertidal, archaeological remains in the Beachy Head West Marine Conservation Zone, watch here…

We want everyone to enjoy The Living Coast Undersea Experience safely, so we’re taking the following steps to protect audiences & staff:

We will:

• Ventilate rooms
• Regularly clean work surfaces
• Sanitise equipment & hands between users
• Ask staff & volunteers to report symptoms or close contacts & to stay at home if Covid19 is suspected
• Use medical grade FFP2 face masks in close contact situations
• Observe social distancing where practical
• Manage a queuing system to limit contact between audience groups of 2 or 4
• Depending on ventilation in venues & levels of Covid in the area, we may also ask that audiences wear face masks in venues

We ask that you:

• Please do not attend if you have symptoms of illness or respiratory infections, including Covid19. We will offer a refund if places are cancelled due to illness
• Use hand sanitising stations provided
• Observe social distancing in venues, where practical
• Feel comfortable wearing face masks if you wish
• Be patient with us & others as we try to keep everyone safe

A full copy of our Covid19 measures is available on request

The Great Pebble Dash will take place on *** around ***. Its an outdoor game to get everyone out walking, exploring & enjoying everyday places in a completely different way.

How to Play

1. Be Covid Safe – Hands, Face, Space. Keep your distance from others & wear a mask in busy places, wash your hands frequently

Please avoid touching the pebblefaces to protect everyone from germs, & please leave the pebblefaces in place for the Dashers following you to enjoy the game

2. Visual clues will be posted at 9am each event day, on Facebook / The Great Pebble Dash here & on Instagram @thegreatpebbledash here or follow #TheGreatPebbleDash tag on Instagram here

Clues will look at bit like the one to the right, giving a general location & a close up with detail to help you find the pebbleface. The number indicates where you are along the pebbledash route.

3. The clues follow a circular route, but you can dip in & out, searching for one or two, or do the full Dash & hunt for ALL the faces

4. Match the clue to the landscape & you’ll find Raysto’s tiny pebbleface artworks, hidden in plain sight.

5. When you find a pebbleface, take a selfie or your own picture of it, without giving away its location, so others can enjoy the pebbledash after you

6. Top tips, start with a full phone battery & take screen grab images of the clues to avoid using up your data

Have fun!

Explore the underwater world of Beachy Head Marine Conservation Zone

This image is created from a montage of drawings made at events over the summer. Click on a square to zoom in to have a closer look, or press the ‘Play’ button at the bottom left for a ‘guided tour.’

The Short Snouted Seahorse is incredibly rare & one of the key features of the Beachy Head West Marine Conservation Zone designation. The seahorses come into shallow water during the summer months & every morning perform a morning ‘dance’ with their partners.

Beachy Head West Marine Conservation Zone (BHWMCZ) runs from Brighton Marina to Beachy Head & a mile out to sea. BHW MCZ protects a unique chalk reef with a rich diversity of life.

The chalk reef is formed by the action of waves & weather eroding the chalk cliffs along the coastline. This has created an intertidal wave-cut platform formed of ridges & gullies, which extend out to sea, & provide habitat for a rich biodiversity of plan & animal life.

A network of marine conservation zones extends around the UK, working together to protect the diversity of habitats, breeding grounds & species, & encourage long term sustainability.

In Beachy Head West MCZ, these threatened species include the Short Snouted Seahorse, the Common Oyster & Blue Mussel beds.

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Sussex Inshore Fisheries & Conservation Authority (IFCA) is the regulatory body responsible for monitoring fisheries & enforcing BHW MCZ legal protections.

More information on their website – https://www.sussex-ifca.gov.uk/marineconservation-zones

Find out more about what YOU can do to help protect our marine environment