Tide Mills Choir
The Tide Mills choir was a community of local singers who met regularly over 4 years in Newhaven, from September 2021 - 2025.
Open access and non-audition, singing songs inspired by the people, history and landscape of the East Sussex coastline in acapella harmony.
Origin Story:
The name comes from an area of the coast just west of Newhaven, East Sussex. Tide Mills was once a thriving coastal village, powered by the water mill and the jobs it provided for a tight knit community of local residents. Evicted in 1940, crumbling remains of houses still mark the coastline today, battered by the wind and the waves, reclaimed by the wilderness of flora and fauna.
In September 2021 the Tide Mills Project brought the history of the village back to life, over a four day site-specific event, featuring actors, installations, musicians, and a brand new choir - singing on the beach at dusk under a rising moon.
Born out of this unique heritage project, the Tide Mills choir continued to meet regularly and performed at a wide variety of venues and events, centring songs inspired by its origins - folk songs, circle songs, sea shanties, protest chants and new compositions which captured the past and present of the local coastline.
Sessions were held on the 4th Saturday of the month at The Hillcrest, Newhaven Day Centre and Marine Workshops
Performance Credits
September 21 - Tidemills Project Heritage Celebration Week
December 21 - Late Night Shopping, Lewes
March 22 - UN Anti-Racism Day March, Newhaven
May 22 - ‘Two Pairs of Eyes’, Inroads Productions’ site-specific performance at Newhaven Fort
September 22 - Lewes River Fest & One Year Anniversary Event on Tide Mills beach
November 22 - SCDA Event, Eastbourne
December 22 - Christmas Lights, Newhaven High Street
January 23 - Save Our Rivers Protest, Newhaven
April 23 - Tide Mills Choir at the Hillcrest, Newhaven
July 23 - Piddinghoe Bells Project with VOCES 8
September 23 - Walk the Chalk with LYT Productions, Seaford Head
November 23 - Harbour Lights Lantern Parade, Newhaven
March 22 - UN Anti-Racism Day March, Newhaven
April 24 - Sairie & Tide Mills Choir at the Hillcrest, Newhaven & Piddinghoe Bells recording, London
June 24 - Refugee Week, Brighton
Nov 24 - Milton Hide & Tide Mills Choir at the Hillcrest
March 25 - UN Anti-Racism Day March, Newhaven
Thanks to SCDA, Newhaven Town Council, National Lottery, LYT Productions, Inroads Productions, The Piddinghoe Bells Project, The Hillcrest, The Newhaven Day Centre and Marine Workshops.