The Mayor's film for the foodbanks in Lewes

The Mayor of Lewes, Councillor Matthew Bird, has made it his mission to raise money for the foodbanks of Lewes during his Mayoral year.

Next week, he will host a screening of the renowned documentary The White Diamond at Depot Cinema in Lewes with proceeds donated to the three foodbanks in Lewes. He is encouraging everybody to come along to help raise as much money as possible during a time of huge pressure on the foodbanks.

The screening is at 8pm on Wednesday March 13, and tickets are just £9.

Debbie Twitchen MBE of Landport Foodbank said “Lewes Foodbanks are looking after approximately 665 individuals - many of them children.

“We are all struggling with higher numbers needing us due to the cost of living crisis that is still very much in evidence in this town. We are also finding it harder to supply people with what we would like to give them due to the cost of food, and a dwindling source of funds and sufficient grants”

The White Diamond is a 2004 documentary about the daring adventure of an airship engineer with a novel flying device - the Jungle Airship - which he plans to fly over the forest canopies of Guyana.

The film also heavily features the white-tipped swifts which roost in an inaccessible cave behind the Guyanan Kaieteur Falls.

The Mayor wanted to host this film because “White Diamond is an amazing film which in my mind links a story of hopes and dreams with the promise of swifts returning to Lewes.”

This is a unique chance to see this renowned documentary and after the film there will be a Q&A with the Mayor as well as Audrey Jarvis from Lewes Swifts, who will give more insight into these wonderful birds and the renowned Guyanan poets John Agard and Grace Nichols, who live locally, will do a short reading.

Tickets are available from Depot Cinema, or online via lewesdepot.org/film/the-white-diamond