Reflections on a year in local journalism on the Manhood Peninsula in England

By HILARY GAVIN

IF YOU’RE following me on social media, you’ll know that I’m fast approaching my WordPress blog site’s first anniversary. Of course, my regular blog readers know that I christened my site in February 2025 with a feature on my “big break” into journalism courtesy of the IRA Bognor Regis bike bombing in 1994.

Being frank, I can’t imagine many rookie reporters had such a bizarre introduction to the rewarding – but forever maddening – world of local journalism as I did back in the mid-Nineties, but, as they say, “life is stranger than fiction!”

And you could argue that this well-worn phrase encapsulates my life as a freelance journalist and writer over the the past year on the Manhood Peninsula in West Sussex beside Chichester Harbour on the south coast of England.

As my regular readers (if there are any?) know, I like to embed official trailers for blockbuster or cult movies to complement my WordPress features – and, as you can see, I believe the 2006 movie A Good Year, starring the discerning Kiwi actor Russell Crowe, perfectly chronicles this anniversary post.

I call Russell Crowe “discerning” because I’ve always found his movies – including his performance in the 2001 biopsy of the brilliant American mathematician John Nash in A Beautiful Mind – insightful and thought-provoking.

I have to admit that I simply love the tongue-in-cheek trailer to A Good Year above because it succinctly sums up one of my two major aims in returning to local reporting which is to promote Manhood Peninsula farming and produce.

Last June, I wrote a WordPress blog commentary on the harmful effects of globalisation on local food production and the stronghold our major supermarkets still have over its supply chain in Britain by comparing today’s Free Trade neo-liberalism with the Agricultural Revolution of the 1840s. (See below)

Exploring Thomas Hardy’s Literary Legacy and Free Trade’s impact on Rural England – Hilary Gavin

At the time I chose my favourite Thomas Hardy novel The Mayor of Casterbridge to complement my article because my feature questioned the unstoppable march of Laissez-Faire food production and the mechanisation of farming in early Victorian Britain with our modern-day painful and unhealthy divorce from nature and our precious countryside in the UK and Republic of Ireland.

I find it both sad and telling that I had little time to expand on this subject last year due to the demands of everyday living and my seemingly futile attempt to revive local journalism by filming and reporting on two local parish councils.

These are, of course, my village Hunston Parish Council in West Sussex and Sidlesham Parish Council just a stone’s throw away along the busy – and often treacherous – B2145 transport route from Chichester to Selsey.

I say futile, but I’m proud of my coverage of Sidlesham Parish Council‘s full monthly council meetings, which you can read on my WordPress blog site and view at my YouTube profile under my trading name Business ‘n’ Commas.

(See WordPress links)

Mum Bex’s call for action at B2145 and Sidlesham school to save lives – Hilary Gavin

Footage of the Sidlesham Parish Council meeting on 9th July, 2025 – Hilary Gavin

Sidlesham Parish Council Meeting Highlights – Hilary Gavin

Sidlesham Parish Council October meeting highlights – including trustee resignations from community association – Hilary Gavin

Sidlesham Parish Council’s November 2025 meeting: Police called to Infinity FC match – Hilary Gavin

Unfortunately, I currently feel at an impasse videoing Hunston Parish Council‘s full meetings, which are held every two months, because I’ve been told me that some of our parish councillors feel “uncomfortable” being filmed at proceedings.

Of course, you can visit Hunston Parish Council‘s official website at Hunston Parish Council to familiarise yourself with the matters that are being discussed by our local councillors, but – as you can see from my WordPress coverage – the major issue at hand is whether to either revamp or rebuild our village hall.

(See my Hunston Parish Council coverage on WordPress below):

Hunston Parish Council discusses possibility of a new village hall – Hilary Gavin

Watch our local parish council online on my blog and social media sites – Hilary Gavin

Concerns Over Bus Stop Safety Raised at Parish Council – Hilary Gavin

Possibility of new village hall is “not a done deal” says Hunston Parish Council Chair – Hilary Gavin

Stopcock Issues: Ensuring Safe Drinking Water in Southover Way in Hunston – Hilary Gavin

Addressing telecommunications failures in local policing and politics – Hilary Gavin

Hunston Parish Council meeting is postponed this month because too few councillors were able to attend this evening – Hilary Gavin

Hunston Parish Council meeting: councillors’ update on plans to either revamp or rebuild our village hall – Hilary Gavin

Hunston Parish Council: November 2025 meeting update – Hilary Gavin

The Manhood Peninsula here in West Sussex is predominantly rural but I should mention the seaside town of Selsey at Selsey Bill. Unfortunately, Selsey is too far afield for me to cover its town council meetings, but they are videoed so you can view them on social media.

See Selsey Town Council – Selsey Town Council

Three major issues facing Selsey as a community are policing, local banking and attempts to “Hold the Line” and shore up the coastline from constant erosion whilst preserving the delicate marine eco-structure off-shore.

Whilst I don’t report on Selsey Town Council meetings, I did attend their Annual Meeting in March 2025 when I wrote an article for my WordPress blog (see blow).

Selsey Seaside: Funding coastal defences to protect homes – Hilary Gavin

Naturally, my other WordPress blogs reflect my views on life and modern-day issues, including banking, our eroding utilities infrastructure, Big Tech, newspaper publishing and my hobby playing golf.

My passion for golf is very personal to me as I fondly remember playing the sport with my late Dad Gordon MacDonald Gavin, my childhood hero. If you ever sit down to concentrate on my WordPress blog, you’ll soon realise that I miss both my Dad and my late Mum Enid Gavin on a daily basis. You’ll also discover that it appears my late Dad kept some Second World War secrets from our family which I doubt that I’ll ever uncover despite being a seasoned NCTJ-trained journalist.

Uncovering my late father’s secret Second World War photo of Winston Churchill – Hilary Gavin

Solving the mystery of my late Dad’s Second World War links to a Scottish stately home in Ayrshire – Hilary Gavin

As I said at the top of this blog post, “Life is sometimes stranger than fiction”.

By HILARY GAVIN

Hilary Gavin

Freelance Journalist & Writer

T/A Business ‘n’ Commas (sole trader)

6 Southover Way

Hunston

CHICHESTER

West Sussex

PO20 1NY

Email: grumpywoman@hilarygavin.blog

Tel: 07940 444664

Hilary Gavin

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