Remembering the Lewes Floods, 25 years on

Lewes Floods Exhibition

One of the first events has been the Lewes Floods Exhibition, curated by Friends of Lewes. When the Friends invited residents and business owners to share their photos, memories and artefacts from the 2000 floods, the response was overwhelming. Over 350 contributions were carefully curated in an exhibition that has toured the Societies Fair, Fitzroy House on the precinct and, finally, the two-day Lewes Floods Anniversary Event at Lewes Town Hall, attracting thousands of visitors.

The Professionals Day

Alongside inviting residents to get involved, the anniversary events also looked to bring together professionals involved in flood management and response. On Friday 31 October, over 120 leading representatives from the emergency services, local authorities, environment organisations and key planning bodies came together for a day of panel discussions. They assessed the immediate and long-term response to the 2000 floods, how emergency response protocols have changed in the past 25 years, and what’s needed now to help towns like Lewes manage, adapt to and respond to flood risk in the future.

With panellists including Siôn McGeever – Chief Executive of the South Downs National Park, Nicholas Dias – Temporary Chief Superintendent at Sussex Police, Henri Brocklebank – Director of Conservation at Sussex Wildlife Trust and Darrell Gale – Director of Public Health at East Sussex County Council, this day was an unprecedented opportunity to bring together the people who help to shape policy for flood mitigation and response across Sussex – and provided valuable insight to help inform future planning.

The Public Meeting

The Flood Anniversary events at the Town Hall culminated in a Public Meeting on Saturday 1 November where residents got to hear about the causes and impacts of the 2000 floods and put their own flood questions to an expert panel.

Chaired by Norman Baker, who was MP of Lewes at the time of the 2000 floods, panellists included Jonathan Fuller, Manager for Flood & Coastal Risk Management at the Environment Agency, Emma Holroyde of insurers Flood Re, and Mattew Bird, Director of Love Our Ouse. They addressed issues from the wisdom of building on the flood plain to the role of nature in flood management. A film of the Public Meeting will be available soon.

Read a write-up of the Public Meeting on Sussex World here.

Ideas and inspiration

The Town Hall events also brought together dozens of community and support organisations to showcase the work they are doing to understand flood risk around Lewes and Sussex, and reduce the impact of surface flooding through natural means such as rain gardens and tree planting. (Further talks and displays and resources on these topics were also presented over two weekends at Lewes Climate Hub.)

A giant Town Map allowed residents to pinpoint the potential level of flood risk in their street, while a contingent of police cadets showed householders how to prepare for a variety of emergency situations.  And there was fun stuff too! Wishworks Puppeteers presented a delightfully watery retelling of the Three Little Pigs. Miles Jenner, Joint Managing Director and Chief Brewer at Harvey’s Brewery, told the tale of how the flooding of the Brewery Yard gave rise to its legendary Ouse Booze.

And Fitzjohns Community Food Project, Malling Food Bank and Lewes Community Fridge came together to make cakes, savouries and refreshments for visitors, raising over £1,000 for food projects in the process.

There were so many facets to the Lewes Floods Anniversary Events that we don’t have space to touch on here. Needless to say, in a series of events that attracted around 4,000 visits, it’s been a fantastic example of organisations across Lewes coming together to address a key issue in depth and from every possible angle. So hopefully we can all be better prepared for whatever the future holds.

A report on the insights and ideas that have come out of these events, and what else needs to happen to manage and adapt to flood risk in and around Lewes, is to be published in early 2026.