Friends of Old Shoreham
Celebrating the heritage of Old Shoreham
Improving the local environment
Building a community in our neighbourhood
FOldS, the Friends of Old Shoreham
FOldS aims to protect and improve the natural and built environment of Old Shoreham, through local community action. FOldS members work in partnership with other organisations across Adur and Sussex to celebrate and safeguard this historic cultural landscape and to build community.
Old Shoreham is the original settlement and rural parish of modern Shoreham-by-Sea, spanning urban areas and farmland from the River Adur to Buckingham Park and reaching into the South Downs National Park across Mill Hill, Slonk Hill and Thundersbarrow.
Contact folds@oldshoreham.org for more information and to join the mailing list.
04 October 2025
Would you like to be part of a local community project creating a new piece of textile art that represents the heritage, landscape and community within Old Shoreham and the surrounding area? The Community Banner is currently being created with people from across the community, reflecting and celebrating the places within Old Shoreham as well as the people, wildlife, landscapes and heritage. This project is led by local facilitator and artist Wendy Jones.
04 October 2025
The hard work of individuals and groups who make up FOldS is bearing fruit with an abundance of things to get involved with this month and into the winter…
17 September 2025
Local volunteers are leading a restoration project above Shoreham to reverse decades of ecological decline and revive butterfly and wildflower populations.
03 September 2025
A workshop to launch our project creating a new Village Map of Old Shoreham, a rich historic cultural landscape shaped entirely by human activity over 3000 years. Led by artist and illustrator Karolyn Mnich.
Saturday 20 September, 14.00 to 16.00 at St Nicolas Church, St Nicolas Lane BN43 5NH
03 September 2025
You don’t need to get in the car or board a train for spectacular views out to sea; a long walk across the Downs; an afternoon on the river; a stroll in a historic park; or a visit a nature reserve or one of Britain’s oldest buildings. They’re all here, within our town boundaries…
15 July 2025
Do you live in Shoreham (Old or New)? Would you like to be involved in a community project that is about to start? The Village Map Project is a development from maps created for the Old Shoreham Heritage Trail in 2024 and inspired by the West Sussex Millennium Maps project, which did not include Shoreham.
20 June 2025
Julia Widdows describes a new initiative to capture an up-to-date picture of the natural environment of Shoreham’s ‘Great Big Back Garden’, helping to identify priorities and opportunities for nature support and recovery.
19 May 2025
Celebrate this year’s Solstice and the Sussex Tree Festival in Shoreham’s Great Big Back Garden on 21 June.
Join conservation, heritage and community groups, artists, craft workers and entertainers on the longest day, in the historic heart of Adur, to discover how you and your family can enjoy and enhance our natural and historic environment.
19 May 2025
Domestic gardens are vital for biodiversity. Julia Widdows describes a new local project to encourage wildlife at our doorsteps.
05 May 2025
Dave Fawcett describes a walk to record the birdsong at first light by members of the Echoes Of Old Shoreham soundscape project.
14 April 2025
This report summarises what FOldS has achieved since its first meeting just over a year ago. It covers the mission of the Friends of Old Shoreham, the impact it is having, how FOldS works and plans for the future.
08 April 2025
Thoughts from a walk to Thundersbarrow
A three mile walk from Shoreham town centre will take you one of the best views on the South Downs. Thundersbarrow, high above the town, is an archaeological site rich in history. The hill features an Iron Age fort, a Bronze Age bowl barrow, and traces of a Romano-British farming village.
22 March 2025
Old Shoreham is vulnerable to pressure for development and growth. The Friends of Old Shoreham are starting to explore how the community can be involved in creating positive solutions from the earliest opportunity and not be taken by surprise with other people’s plans for the area.
11 March 2025
“Echoes of Old Shoreham” is a community sound art project that captures and celebrates the rich sonic landscape and cultural heritage of Old Shoreham. This collaborative initiative invites residents to explore their historic surroundings through listening; creating an immersive audio portrait that spans the Shoreham Downs from the Adur valley to Thundersbarrow Hill.
5 August 2024
The Old Shoreham Heritage Festival offers nine days of walks, talks, art, music and workshops from 6 to 15 September, organised as part of this year’s national and European Heritage Open Days. The theme is Routes, networks and connections, a perfect fit with Old Shoreham’s historic importance as a crossroads between the Sussex Weald and the sea, connected by the river to the coastal roads.
22 May 2024
FOldS has given itself the challenge of trying to protect and improve this local heritage and environment through community action. We want to create a local heritage trail, make sure that residents know about the protected areas, improve the local environment for wildlife and people and start a debate about the place we want to live in.
Contact folds@oldshoreham.org for more information and to join the mailing list.
