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.
Old Shoreham is the original village 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.
FOldS emerged from concerns that this historic and beautiful part of Shoreham had been neglected and forgotten. Since early 2024, members of FOldS have worked with many other organisations across Adur and Sussex to ‘put Old Shoreham back on the map’, creating a new heritage trail from the Airport to the Downs and organising a Heritage Festival, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Old Shoreham Conservation Area with walks, talks, music and arts.
During 2025, a new initiative, Capturing Old Shoreham, is developing a modern multimedia portrait of the area through five community projects exploring heritage, environment and community arts to support well-informed discussions about nature recovery and neighborhood planning.
Contact folds@oldshoreham.org for more information and to join the mailing list.
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.
