Festival artists Ruby Colley and Hannah Collisson have been working with students at local secondary schools to write new songs inspired by Mary Seacole.

Our songwriting project, in partnership with Hastings Thrives, saw groups of students from The Hastings Academy, The St Leonards Academy, and St Richard’s Catholic College, explore the world of Mary Seacole and what adventure means to them, before getting to work on their own collaborative songs on the theme of adventure.

Storytelling through lyrics, the structure of a song, rhyme, rhythm, tempo and melody, were all explored before students were invited to add instrumentation to their  songs.

Here are their fantastically creative results!