How the Friends were formed, what they have achieved and what the future holds
In the second of her blogs about the Wish Tower, newbie volunteer Judy Smith interviews two of the founding members of the Wish Tower Friends, Liz Crew and Roman Wanionek. A future article will feature more recent recruits to the team of volunteers, but this time we are focusing on those volunteers who have been involved the longest. Judy was keen to hear from Liz and Roman about how it all started, what’s been achieved, and what the future may hold.
Introductions
Judy: Can you tell me a little bit about yourselves?
Liz: I came to live in Eastbourne because of the Wish Tower – I moved down here in 2013. I’m from Bristol originally (and still spend quite a lot of time there). I now run a local social enterprise, TechResort, which helps people improve and learn to enjoy digital skills. I’m a bit of an all-round geek so love interesting buildings, wildlife, photography, board and computer games…oh, and really good beer.
Roman: I have lived in Eastbourne since 2008, relocating from the West Midlands to “live by the sea”. I retired last September 2025 after working all my life from leaving school at the age of 18, mainly in the energy industry and then since coming to Eastbourne, for the local council. Coming to Eastbourne and knowing absolutely no-one here was a bit of risk, but initially having new work colleagues helped me to settle in. I still travel around the UK visiting friends and family far and wide and developed a liking for trips to the theatre.
Judy: When did you first encounter the Wish Tower?
Liz: My partner, Sam, originally from Eastbourne, sent me photos one day when he was down visiting parents in 2010 (we’d only recently met). I’d just given up my work as a project manager in an insurance company and had started a company with a friend, to try and find uses for unused buildings and land so that they’re not just a blot on the landscape.
I asked what the Tower was used for – he told me that it had been closed for many years but had previously been a puppet museum. My business partner Tim, who was an architectural designer and all-round architecture nerd, had recently sent me pictures of other Martello Towers around the country – including pictures of interiors. I recognised the Wish Tower as a Martello and wanted to see inside.
Judy: Liz, it’s fascinating that you heard about the Wish Tower before you moved to Eastbourne, and that it was the reason you moved here! Roman, how about you?
Roman: As I live near the seafront, I would often walk past the Tower through the now named Peace Garden without actually taking much notice; I think a lot of people did the same. There were no information boards to say what is was, it was just sitting there in what were the old Wish Tower Gardens which in comparison to today’s refurbished gardens were in an awful mess.
Getting involved with the Wish Tower
Judy: What inspired you to first get involved in working to support the Wish Tower? Was it an interest in history, in the building itself, something else?
Liz: We managed to arrange a visit to the Tower with the Council and I was hooked. It was full of council “stuff” and many of the bits and pieces from its time as the puppet museum (no exhibits, sadly). Having so much stuff inside the Tower was contributing to the damp inside because it restricted airflow. But its potential as a place to visit was obvious, even though it was damp and cluttered.
I’m a very good organiser but a terrible networker. A bit of googling about what was going on in Eastbourne at the time led me to “Eastbourne Can”, an informal group which had been convened by Will (who had recently moved to Eastbourne), which got together from time to time to look at ways to make the best of what the town has to offer and make things better for the whole community. I joined the group and visited Eastbourne every couple of months to get to know the place better. At this time, the council were also looking at the future of the nearby, closed, Wish Tower Café and Sun Lounge and we also visited that. It had been left in a terrible state.
Roman: What inspired me? I think it was just the opportunity to get involved with something local which up to that time, I hadn’t committed myself to anything, I was just doing my 9 to 5 day job.
I’m not sure whether it was through social media or even a notice on the Wish Tower gates. The notice asked if anyone was interested in the Tower and to meet. We met in September 2012 – I think we met at the Tower, there were quite a few people, I didn’t know anyone. We then relocated to a hotel over the road to have a discussion, details of which are somewhat hazy! I think we all went home after that to await for developments.
Judy: Can you explain how the Friends were formed – when it happened, how many of you there were, what your aims were?
Liz: A spin-off group formed from Eastbourne Can which we called “Wish Tower Friends” – it consisted of about 20 people all keen to do something about the Tower but also with an interest in what happened with the café building.
My main task was to engage with the council to overcome hurdles to a group taking on the Wish Tower to open to the public: this was our main aim. We were aware that the Tower was in need of repairs but, as we only had limited access at the time, we didn’t really have a sense of the degree of repair which would be necessary to fully restore the Tower.
Roman: What followed were discussions with the council with the main drivers of the project Liz and Will who I didn’t really know at the time. There had been around 20-25 people at the initial get together in 2012 but who knew how many would stay to the next level.
Early Days of the Wish Tower Friends and getting the Tower re-opened
From left to right: Roy, Roman, Shirley, Sam, Liz, ?Stuart, Mark and ?Paul
(apologies to those for whom we’re not sure about the name)
Judy: What did it feel like when you first got the keys and began the work?
Liz: It took three years from our first visit to the Tower to convince the council that we were a safe set of hands to look after the Tower.
I’d done a lot of research about scheduled monuments, Napoleonic/Georgian history and other towers. I’d got in touch with several Eastbourne history groups, etc and spoken to many, many EBC officers.
We finally got the keys in late 2013 – sadly, by then, Tim had died unexpectedly but he did manage one visit to the Tower to carry out a basic measuring survey about six months before we got the keys.
Roman: At that time I was just one of the crowd waiting for further developments, little did I know where this project was going to take me.
Judy: Could you explain what the Friends did in those early days?
Liz: A group of about 15 of us first convened in February 2014 to start emptying the Tower. The council had kindly arranged a huge skip and had removed anything they wanted to keep. We filled two 16 yard skips over two full weekends. It was immediately noticeable how much that improved the ventilation in the Tower. It also allowed us to get a better sense of how much degradation there was inside.
Roman: We were all given hi viz vests and a hard hat. Over those two weekends, we cleared out all the plasterboard partitioning and remaining curtain remnants. I think it was then that our one and only puppet and a comedy mask were discovered which we still have today on display.
Judy: Can you tell us when you re-opened the Tower and what this was like?
Liz: We started cautiously and had an assessment by structural engineers to ensure the Tower was safe for people to visit. Richard and Roger from local firm R J Sheppard completed the work for us. They shared our enthusiasm for the Tower and gave it a clean bill of health.
Roman: By July 2014 we were ready to open. In those early days, the set up was very basic; the basement was in darkness and all we could offer was access to the building and the views from the roof. I remember we organised formal pre-booked tours. All visitors had to wear hard hats and hi viz vests and each one was given a small torch! By this time I was getting more engaged with the Tower project, creating guide notes for leading formal tours which was good for me, I finally had a new long term interest.
Liz: Yes, initially we only allowed pre-booked tours, and we required people to wear PPE until we got a better idea of potential hazards. We’ve modified our approach since, because we have a much better understanding of how people experience the Tower – this approach has allowed far more people to see the Tower, which is an important part of the work we’re doing.
Highlights and challenges since opening the Tower
Judy: Since the Tower re-opened, what have been some highlights?
Liz: There are so many to choose from, but there are four things that are particular highlights for me. The first was completing a community-led Conservation and Management Plan (CMP). This is an important document for historic buildings and often completed by architectural consultancies: we opted to do the research, get input from engineers and the council and then complete the document as a group committed to the Tower’s future. I also particularly enjoyed holding retellings of MR James ghost stories in the basement. Another highlight for me in recent years has been having young people join the group and taking leading roles in the organisation: open days, funding bids, social media, etc. And finally, seeing the repaired, original front door returned to the Tower has been wonderful.
Roman: Yes I agree, a major milestone was the production of the CMP which was comprehensive in that it documented all the architectural features of the Tower and exactly what remedial work was necessary.
Also for me, a highlight was the creation of our very own flag in 2016 resulting from a community engagement initiative, with the Mayor of the time at the raising ceremony on 19th November 2016. The flag now acts as our “We are open” sign which can be seen across the seafront.
Over the years the Tower has been the setting for musicians , actors and radio enthusiasts which has brought life and use to the Tower and have been enjoyed by all those who attended such events.
Having school visits to the Tower and seeing youngsters eager to explore and learn about what we have to offer and their enthusiasm being there, simply made my day. Following on from one visit we received a thank you folder from the pupils containing hand drawn pictures of the Tower and thank you messages to the guides on the day.
Having more younger enthusiasts join WTF has enabled us to benefit from their tech skills. We now have a superb WTF website and social media presence. We also have payment card facilities on site so we don’t have to rely just on cash donations.
Refurbishing our original front door at considerable cost proved we can make a difference and the creation of new roof doors with refreshed displays inset into the doors has been a recent achievement.
Judy: That’s a huge amount of success and it just goes to show what can be achieved when you put your mind to it. And what have been the main challenges?
Liz: The condition of the Tower is of real concern. Continued water ingress damages much of the internal structure – the floors, the metal stairs, etc. This is compounded by previous repair and “decorative” finishes which, themselves, cause additional damage. The biggest two repairs (roof and render) that would improve the internal condition of the Tower would likely cost many hundreds of thousands of pounds.
This leads me to the next challenge, which is about funding. Making repairs to historic buildings is expensive and getting the necessary permissions is time-consuming. Grant funders would only contribute if we had a long lease. We can’t justify having a long lease with its attendant requirements for upkeep as it stands because we’d probably need more, younger members to make that long term commitment. It is a challenging building and many of the volunteers are a little older (because we have more time). We really need a mix of older and younger people.
Roman: My thoughts very much mirror what Liz has said. Visitors always comment on the ring of stalactites which hang down from the ceiling on the first floor. Although interesting to see, they have been created from the leaky roof mixing with the lime mortar. As Liz said, this ingress of water permeates the Tower and we can only do our best to minimise the damage.
Being a scheduled monument and a listed building makes repairs expensive as we found out with the front door. It is challenging to find the necessary funding even for small repairs.
And yes, we can never have enough volunteers. It has to be said most of the leads are “getting on” having been here from the start in 2012. Having said that the younger of the group have stepped up into various roles such as looking at funding options.
Judy: That’s quite a lot of challenges. It seems to boil down to a need for repairs, funding and volunteers. So, I think you have both covered some of this already, but what are the current priorities for the Wish Tower Friends?
Liz: The current priorities include repairs to some floor areas to make it easier for people to move around safely and removal of some of the internal paint finishes to help the water trapped in the brick to evaporate – this is a very specialist (expensive) job because there may be some significant original finishes underneath which would need to be carefully revealed and documented. Finally, recruiting more volunteers is essential for carrying out lots of different jobs in the group.
Roman: I would add that recently we seem to have had multiple repair issues come at once – as well as the repairs Liz mentioned, a repair is required on one of the spiral staircases. Despite this we ensure the Tower is safe for our visitors to explore. Volunteer recruitment is always challenging but recently we have been lucky to have another couple of enthusiasts join us.
Looking ahead
Judy: Going forwards, what are the longer term aims of the Friends?
Liz: We definitely want to keep the Tower open so that anyone can visit – it’s a really special tower for all sorts of reasons: the moat setting, the fact that it’s in near-original condition and the fact it can be visited on a fairly frequent basis. The Tower pre-dates most of the seafront structures visitor can see so we should be trying to make the most of it and the story it contributes to the town. We would like it to considered alongside the Redoubt and the two towers at the harbour as a combined heritage asset.
It would be lovely to think we could eventually make full repairs to the Tower but the short term things – like volunteers, longer lease, the wider heritage offering in town would probably need to come first because the Tower on its own has fairly limited usage possibilities.
Roman: Yes, I hope very much that we can keep the tower open, it is so iconic on Eastbourne’s seafront. It has to be said it is the only heritage site open to the public with the Redoubt currently closed and the Heritage Centre having closed its doors at its Carlisle Road site.
The current Eastbourne Seafront Strategy 2050 is a long term framework to revitalise the coastline which includes amongst other themes, heritage, culture and tourism. This strategy includes a possible funding application for the restoration of the Redoubt. I am hopeful that the Wish Tower may also be included in that project, albeit long term.
Judy: Finally, if people want to help in any way or get involved, what should they do?
Liz: Please come along to an open day and chat to the existing volunteers – they’re the best ambassadors for the Tower.
Roman: Yes, talk to our enthusiastic volunteers when you visit us. We are always looking for a variety of talents. Or contact us through our website: www.wishtower.org.uk/contact
Judy: Thank you both so much for your time and insights. I’m sure people will be really interested to read the story of the Wish Tower Friends. As a newbie volunteer, I can highly recommend getting involved with this lovely group and becoming a part of the Tower’s story.
If you are unable to volunteer but would still like to help, please do consider making a donation. We have received £3000 from a local funder to start making repairs – it would be fantastic to match this with another £3000 so that we can get to work on the most pressing repairs. Thank you so much. You can donate by visiting our website: Donate – Wish Tower Friends
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