Latest Homes Sussex magazine

Keeping The Beatles’ trademark ‘moptop’ haircut in trim was the job taken on by hairdresser Betty Glasow. She kept her mementos from the early 1960s – until now, reports Francesca Collin

What might The Beatles be most remembered for? Well, apart from their catchy songs, it was their distinctive image that made them really stand out in the early 60s – particularly their sharp suits and trademark moptop haircuts. One person who had particularly intimate knowledge of the Fab Four’s hair is Betty Glasow, who was their hairdresser on the Beatles’ film sets of Hard Day’s Night and Help. Now in her seventies and living in Sussex, Betty was in charge of keeping the boys’ barnets looking good throughout the long filming schedules. “It was great fun working with the boys on the films,” explains Betty. “ They were always having a laugh. My job was to keep their hair in order and as the films were made over three months they needed regular trims too.”

Their moptops, or ‘Arthur’ haircut as it became known, became hugely popular with teenagers worldwide, and it was even possible to buy a special Beatles moptop wig. And it is referred to in the movie A Hard Day’s Night, when George Harrison is asked in an interview, “What would you call that, uh, hairstyle you’re wearing?” He replies “Arthur”.

But although all their hairstyles looked the same to the fans, Betty Glasow was privy to all their secrets. Apparently, George Harrison had a very dry scalp and Ringo even had a grey streak which he hid by brushing it forward.

Betty Glasow acquired a small but highly personal collection of mementos from members of The Beatles, which are coming up for sale at Gorringes in Worthing on 12 December. The collection includes signed photographs and even a lock of John Lennon’s hair, which she stuck inside a dedicated copy of Spaniard in the Works and is estimated at £2,000-3,000.

Betty Glasow also worked with a huge number of other stars, and her collection includes a fascinating album of signed photos and personal messages from such actors as Michael Caine from Educating Rita and Peter Ustinov from Death on the Nile, as well as Steve McQueen from The War Lover and Harrison Ford from Patriot Games, and, more recently, members of the cast of the Harry Potter films.

The Gorringes sale will also feature other great items of pop memorabilia. Showing true dedication to her idols is The Beatles fan who kept not only her programme and ticket from the Beatles Christmas Concert at Hammersmith Apollo in 1965, but even a screw taken from the seats which the audience ripped out so they could dance in the aisles at the concert (estimate: £80-120).

Auction: Wednesday, 12 December
Viewing 8, 10 & 11 December
Enquiries: 01903 238999
email: worthing@gorringes.co.uk

Covering 205 square miles (530 square kilometres) of varied countryside, attractive small towns and villages in the county of West Sussex, the Horsham District has something for everyone.

Historic market town Horsham is the main town, the administrative and commercial centre of the district and there are also a large number of villages and open countryside, with more than 126,000 residents living in the whole district.

The market towns of Billingshurst, Henfield, Pulborough, Steyning and Storrington are also busy centres of activity and each has its own character and charm. Horsham’s town centre has won many awards for its design andsympathetic use of materials as well as for its many ‘In Bloom’ successes, including national winner of the small city/large town category and with Gold at ‘Bloomin’ Wild’ awards in Britain in Bloom 2007.

Readers may recognise the Shelley Fountain in Horsham as featured on the BBC TV South’s daily news opening sequence, Horsham has also been consistently placed in the top ten places to live on Channel 4s Best and Worst Places to live in the UK programme.

Christmas 2007: What’s On

Torchlight Procession and Carols Saturday 1 December: 4-5pm
The childrens’ candlelit procession starts at St. Mary’s Church, Causeway through Horsham Town Centre finishing at the Carfax bandstand with a free public carol concert.
Carol sheets will be handed out for full audience participation.
Contact: Horsham Churches Together c/o alex.cloke@btopenworld.com

Italia in Piazza – The Real Italian Food Market Carfax, Horsham Town Centre Sunday 9 December: 10am-4pm

The return of this very popular Italian produce market that made its first visit to Horsham at Easter 2007. Stock up for Christmas on Salumeria: cheeses, cured meats and pasta, olives and sott’olii, biscotti e dolci, olive oils and vinegars, torrone e cioccolata, panettone e dolci, gastronomia natalizie and speciality breads.

Carfax Bandstand Free Christmas Concerts Saturdays in December, 11am-1pm.

Saturday 1 – Horsham Salvation Army Band
Saturday 8 – Slinfold Concert Band
Saturday 15 – Horsham Borough Band
Saturday 22 – Mid Sussex Youth Concert Band

Swan Walk Late Night Shopping till 9pm
Thursdays 29 Nov – 20 December
Thursday 29 Nov featuring Mrs Tiggywinkle
and Peter Rabbit (from 2-7pm)

Thursday 6 Dec featuring Bart Simpson
(from 2-7pm)

Thursday 13 Dec featuring Dora the Explorer featuring (from 2-7pm)

Thursday 20 Dec Chase Gift Wrapping Service in BB’s

Major shops in West Street and the Forum will also be open on these late nights

Free Parking in Horsham Town Centre from 4pm on late night shopping Thursdays and on Sundays

Horsham District Events

Billingshurst

Christmas Billifest
Billingshurst High Street and Village Hall
Saturday 1 December 9am – 4pm
Christmas Shopping plus genuine Italian and Spanish food market, Rotary Club craft fair in the village hall, children’s entertainment and local charity stalls.

Henfield

The Spirit of Christmas
Henfield High Street
Friday 14 December 4 – 8pm
Seasonal festivities, carol singing, mince pies and late night shopping.

Steyning

Christmas in Steyning
Late Night Shopping
Steyning High Street and Car Park
Wednesday 5 December 6 – 9pm
Samba band procession with Father Christmas, fairground, carol singers, entertainments, jugglers, fire eaters, jazz and other bands, farmers’ market, craft, food and charity stalls, free mince pies and mulled wine in selected shops.

Storrington

Storrington Town Centre
Late Night Shopping
Thursday 6 December 5.30 – 8pm
Spirit FM, Father Christmas, music, fire
engine, hot chestnuts, carol singers, raffles,
land trains & roundabouts, raffles, hot food
stalls and much more.

Daniel Frickelton’s guide to the finest golf courses in Sussex. This month Wellshurst Golf & Country Club

It is difficult to say exactly why our round at this beautiful Sussex golf course was right up there among the three best golfing experiences we have had all summer. Maybe it was the view from the first tee on thisgorgeous late autumn day with the gobsmacking colours of the trees reminding me of all my favourite comfort foods: a huge oak dressed in Rogan Josh, others dripping with honey, caramel and banoffi toffee. It might also have been the improbably glorious weather with which we were blessed. Old Mother Nature can be a harsh mother indeed, but on this October day she gently wrapped us in her warm, reassuring coat of many colours and promised us that everything would be just fine.

Hard to pin it down, but it could also have been the hearty, friendly greetings from passing golf addicts and club staff at Wellshurst. Or maybe it was the “waggle factor”, the incomparable view of GG, the Golf Goddess, as she settles into her first drive demonstrating the benefits of her well fitting golf trousers. My heart soared like an eagle… Then again, it could have been the fact that we both played unusually well. In fact, I finished fully six strokes below my handicap and went home with my head full of fantasies about winning the championship on the GT circuit. That would be the Geriatric Tour, if it existed.

“Maybe it was the “waggle factor”, the incomparable view of the Golf Goddess, as she settles into her first drive, demonstrating the benefits of her well fitting golf trousers”

At 5,618 yards off the yellow tees, Wellshurst is not the longest course we have played this year. Good bunkering and an interesting layout nevertheless combine to provide a fair and exacting test of golf skills for players of all skill levels. Golf professionals/instructors would find this course ideal for tuition. Many fairways are forgiving enough to accommodate driver shots of less than pinpoint accuracy, while others will grind a thumb into your eye for taking the wrong club out of the bag. The 334 yd par 4 fifteenth comes to mind. This sharply rightdoglegging hole wraps itself cutely around a Conservation Zone of smartly dressed (see above) deciduous trees. This means tall, and this spells trouble. It’s so simple, really: all you have to do is pop one straight out to the corner with a mid to longish iron, and then look tothe right for the pin. I left myself 10 or 15 yds short of the corner, which left me with no view of the green at all. I could waste a shot laying up to the corner or hazard a six iron over the trees towards the invisible green. Given the magical feeling about this day, I chose the latter, and the fact that my ball plopped obediently onto the green speaks volumes about the kind of day we had at Wellshurst. A Magical Mystery Tour.

Afraid of water? Your pro would march you straight down to the 422 yd par 5 sixteenth. No, I didn’t get the par wrong: it really is “only” five on this lovely hole. What the yardage marker doesn’t tell you is that your tee shot has got to carry the invisible canal dissecting the fairway if you want a view of the green for your second shot. Now, I have no idea what your views are concerning the relative merits of V-grooves vs. Cgrooves, nor do I have a clue which type my Mizunos carry, but I can assure you that Wellshurst clearly prefers the V-type for their canals. My canal was dry on this occasion. In any case, your pro would probably bypass all this nastiness and let you drop a couple of balls just short of the small lake guarding the green on this meltingly pretty signature hole.

That way, when you have predictably knocked your first attempt straight into the lake, spontaneously shouting “Oh no!” as your brain and eye track the ball’s fateful course, the pro can give you a real life lesson in the relationship between mind and body in golf in your pursuit of golf perfection. When your second attempt lands fifteen feet from the pin with a satisfying plop you will be giving the finger to the unseen boys on the neighbouring hole who burst into uncontrollable laughter when they heard your shout. More importantly, you will be smiling, feeling a tiny bit more perfect, and you will be enjoying golf.

Forget the tired old balls on the driving range; overlook the lack of a compressed air shoe cleaner. These will all materialise in time. Meanwhile, addicts, get yourselves out to Wellshurst GC and give your habit some serious food. Despite the fact that they are currently getting into winter mode, the course is playing very well and the greens running straight and true. See you there real soon.

Wellshurst Golf & Country Club

Wellshurst Golf & Country Club, North Street, Hellingly, East Sussex, BN27 4EE.
Tel (Pro Shop) 01435 813456
www.wellshurst.com

Andrew Kay, in shame, finally makes his way to The Griffin Inn in Fletching

As I write this, the first and last pubs that I legally drank in were both called The Griffin Inn. The first was when I was 18 – it was my birthday and before my party (fancy dress of course). I went to the pub for the first legal time, the local where my Aunty Marie, who had a glass eye, was a barmaid. I caused a stir for two reasons, the first for announcing it was my 18th birthday when I had been drinking in there for some time, and the second because I was dressed as Shirley Temple. Don’t ask.

On Saturday I was far more conventionally dressed when I called Mr L and invited him to spend a day in the country. ‘‘Ditch the Prada,’’ I said, “and I’ll lend you a pair of wellies.” He did his best but still looked pretty smart where as I look liked more like Shirley Crabtree these days than Temple. We took the dog for a long and very muddy walk, bought eggs at the roadside and looked at antiques before pulling into the carpark at the Griffin in Fletching.

‘‘I think that I thought that Fletching was miles away from where I live, but it’s only a stone’s throw, and a stone well worth throwing’’

I am ashamed to say that in nearly 12 years of writing local food columns I have only just madeit to the Griffin, despite it being so famously good. I have popped in for a Bloody Mary before but never to dine. We nipped into the Ditchling Food Company first and bought a few Scotch eggs and some excellent Wensleydale cheese, which gave me a Wallace and Gromit moment – although which of us was which is hard to tell.

Back at the Griffin we went to the bar, ordered Bloody Marys and settled down to read a huge blackboard menu in front of a roaring fire. Mr L had been before and was known, so he asked if there was any chance of a table in the dining room and luckily his influence worked. Before long we were sat at a large round table with some excellent homemade foccacia and rich olive oil.

The dining room sells the same food as the bar but without the lowerpriced pubby dishes. It was an easy choice for me to start – razor clams. How often do you see them on a menu? I eat them in Spain where they tend to do that Spanish thing of slowly braising them in a tomato and garlic sauce. Here they had steamed them with chilli and garlic with parsley. God they were good, sweet and meaty, and filling too. Lay three side by side and they are about the size of a steak; four would be too many. I called for a spoon as the broth was too good to waste. Mr L had scallops with a chorizo and coriander relish and caramelised lime. It was gone before I could
click the camera. I did get a taste and they were great, really sweet and perfectly, but barely, cooked.

Mr L followed with Ashdown Forest venison loin with rosti, roast shallots with a juniper jus. The venison was amazing, dark and musky, meltingly tender and full of flavour. The shallots, big banana ones, glistened and were the perfect side of burnt as they should be. The rosti we both thought was a bit too crisp, then revised our thought as the texture added an air of game chips to the dish. The jus was sticky and held the whole together.

I chose rump of Romney Marsh lamb with roast squash, Swiss chard and a lentil jus. What a dish – more than generous in size with thick slices of pink lamb that the chef had taken to the very edge of rareness to achieve a wonderful crisp skin and fine layer of sweet fat. The fat and skin on good lamb is sublime and I found myself saving it till last. The roast squash was creamy and sweet, and the chard perfect, bitter in contrast. My jus, different from Mr L’s, was also sticky but dotted with Puy lentils. I really didn’t want it to end but that was all I could manage.

Mr L, however, finished with a lemon polenta cake with lemon syrup and marscapone, a good slice with a nice puddle of sauce strewn with candied lemon zest and topped with the cheese. I was too full to even try.

We had a glass of red each, a light house wine that did the job, and a bottle of still water. The bill came to about £30 each which, while hardly being cheap, was to my mind incredibly good value. Prime ingredients, mainly local, were treated with care and pride. A kitchen that can roast meats this precisely is to be applauded. I am so tired of roast meats that taste simply of burnt roasting tin.

You can stay at the Griffin, too, with rooms starting at £80 Sunday to Thursday and some topping out at £130 at the weekend, but all including breakfast, which if lunch is anything to go by promises to be excellent. I think that I thought that Fletching was miles away from where I live but it’s only a stone’s throw, and a stone well worth throwing.

The Griffin Inn, Fletching, Near Uckfield. Call 01825 722890 or www.thegriffininn.co.uk