Sussex & Surrey Soapbox

Send us Fan Mail A HUGE thank you to The Market Stores in Reigate for hosting us! Featuring: Chelle Lucas, Aga Es, Paul Taylor-Burr (Stand Up To Racism), Cllr Abigail Chapman-Miller (Labour). Dr Mirza Baig (Crawley Muslim Network Member), Cllr James Tidy (Reform UK). Host: Clive Hilton. PLUS an incredible audience sharing perspectives & lived experience. Your high street changes. New languages...

Send us Fan Mail A HUGE thank you to The Market Stores in Reigate for hosting us! Featuring: Aaron Delahunty (Pattern Shift Coaching), Maureen Jones (Psychotherapist), Georgie Lucas, Cllr Abigail Chapman-Miller, Dr Mirza Baig (Medical Doctor), Sean Orr (Menshare Listening Group). Host: Clive Hilton. PLUS an incredible audience sharing perspectives & lived experience. The NHS can scrape you off...

Send us Fan Mail SPOTlighting Pride in Place, Bewbush up to £20 million over 10 years sounds like a headline, but what matters is who gets to decide. We go live from Bewbush Academy with Neil Munday, Andy Brown and Clive Hilton , where residents are invited to shape a resident-led regeneration plan for Bewbush, backed by Crawley Borough Council and a neighbourhood board that turns local priorities...

Send us Fan Mail Panel Members: Cllr James Tidy — Reform UK Leader of the Opposition on Crawley Borough Council and Deputy Leader of the Reform UK group on West Sussex County Council Cllr Richard Biggs — Conservative Councillor of Horley West and Sidlow, Leader of Reigate and Banstead Borough Council Cllr Abigail Chapman-Miller — Labour Vice Chair of Oxted Parish Council and Policy Officer for Eas...

Send us Fan Mail Panel Members: Cllr James Tidy — Reform UK Leader of the Opposition on Crawley Borough Council and Deputy Leader of the Reform UK group on West Sussex County Council Cllr Richard Biggs — Conservative Councillor of Horley West and Sidlow, Leader of Reigate and Banstead Borough Council Cllr Abigail Chapman-Miller — Labour Vice Chair of Oxted Parish Council and Policy Officer for Eas...

Send us Fan Mail 🦁 Sunday Brunch Went WILD! 🐢🐝 Clive Hilton and Andy Brown took SUSY Sunday Brunch on the road for an August Bank Holiday fun broadcast from Tilgate Zoo — and a special Soapbox SPOTlight mixing wildlife, conservation, community fun… and a fair amount of chaos. At the heart of the day was a serious issue: illegal wildlife trade . Supporting Tilgate Zoo’s Wild Weekend fundraiser f...

Send us Fan Mail One complaint can feel small, until it threatens to switch off a town’s soundtrack. We get into the row that escalated start of August around The Cage in Reigate after a noise abatement notice lands, the venue pauses live music, and thousands rally behind a petition to protect local gigs. Speaking with Rory Fry-Stone, Co-owner at Pilgrim Brewery , we unpack what the business says...

Send us Fan Mail The summer news cycle has been loud, messy and occasionally baffling, so we’re back at the Red Lion & Cellar Room in Betchworth to pick through the stories that got us talking — with real viewpoints, honest opinions and the occasional good whinge. We start with the BBC licence fee : is the BBC still a priceless British institution, or is its funding model increasingly out of s...

Send us Fan Mail Best Bits of Tess' Tropical Tea Party '26  Alongside the Sussex & Surrey Soapbox podcast, where we bring people together to have balanced conversations about the issues shaping our communities, we wanted to take that same philosophy beyond the microphones. Rather than simply talking about community, we wanted to create it. The hall is buzzing. The BBQ queue never see...

Send us Fan Mail Special Guest: Chelle Lucas Roundtable Featuring: Abigail Chapman-Miller (Labour) , Jacq Inwood, Maureen Jones, Aga Es and Mags Rahman. Host: Clive Hilton . Alcohol is woven into British life so tightly that not drinking can feel like you’re breaking a rule. From champagne toasts and pub culture to “wine o’clock” on the sofa, we ask a question that’s easy to dodge and hard to answ...

Send us Fan Mail Special Guest: Chelle Lucas Roundtable Featuring: Abigail Chapman-Miller (Labour) , Jacq Inwood, Maureen Jones, Aga Es and Mags Rahman. Host: Clive Hilton .  Childhood has not just changed, it’s been rewired. One minute you’ve got kids who can outsmart an iPad before they can tie their laces; the next you’ve got parents using tracking apps because the world feels less safe, even w...

Send us Fan Mail Planning is meant to turn housebuilding into liveable places, but across Sussex & Surrey it often feels like we are pouring concrete first and asking awkward questions later. We sit down with Abigail Chapman-Miller (Labour), Matt Brewin (Green), James Tidy (Reform UK), Iqbal Khan and Paul Taylor-Burr to unpack why housing development planning keeps producing the same result: n...

Send us Fan Mail  SPOT: a slightly different format to the Roundtable discussions where we step back from the debate to Spotlight a social initiative, local event or charity. The Soapbox recently tackled knife crime with special guest Keith Collyer, Crawley Combat Academy .  A knife threat isn’t just a physical problem, it’s a decision-making problem under pressure. We head to Tilgate Huts in Craw...

Send us Fan Mail Special Guest: - Matt Brewin, Primary School Teacher in Haywards Heath and Chair of Mid Sussex Green Party - Paul Taylor-Burr, Community Volunteer and Parent of two children with ASD/ADHD  Roundtable Featuring : Abigail Chapman-Miller (Labour), Iqbal Khan (Tess' Kitchen) & James Tidy (Reform UK). Host: Clive Hilton.  The SEND system was built to protect vulnerable childre...

Send us Fan Mail  SPOT: a slightly different format to the Roundtable discussions where we step back from the debate to Spotlight a social initiative, local event or charity. Saturday 6th June and it's the  Midnight Walk 2026! Orange T-shirts, glitter, LED tutus, and a range of routes from 2miles to 17miles - walking through the night in the memory of friends, family and for a hospice that de...

Send us Fan Mail  SPOT: a slightly different format to the Roundtable discussions where we step back from the debate to Spotlight a Charity or in this case a local arts festival - Reigate Summer Festival with Tim Glynne-Jones.   A rock set in the mouth of a tunnel, choirs in a church, an art exhibition, and a pop-up photo show inside an estate agent. Reigate Summer Festival is the kind of bold, cr...

Send us Fan Mail Special Guest: Keith Collyer, Crawley Combat Academy and Shariff Boolaky, Menshare Listening Group. Plus Roundtable Featuring : Maureen Jones, Micaela Leal, Abigail Chapman-Miller & Iqbal Khan. Host: Clive Hilton.  A knife doesn’t just threaten one person, it detonates consequences across families, schools, and whole streets. We sit down to talk honestly about knife crime, why...

Send us Fan Mail   Special Guests:   - Michelle Lucas, Only Dogs Ltd - an award winning Dog grooming business on Lingfield High Street. - Sami Ella Bristow, Blossoms Brunch & Coffee - a thriving community cafe in Godstone adept at navigating the challenges of rising costs & the sinkhole! Plus Roundtable Featuring : Maureen Jones, Micaela Leal, Georgie Lucas, Aga Es, Abigail Chapman-Miller,...

Send us Fan Mail  SPOT: a slightly different format to the Roundtable discussions where we step back from the debate to Spotlight a Charity or in this case a local social initiative FALB (Find A Local Business) helping local independent businesses thrive. This SPOTlight compliments the Roundtable episode which lands Sunday 24 May, where we get into the High Street and challenges facing local busin...

Send us Fan Mail Special Guest: Shariff Boolaky, Menshare Listening Group & BRING YOUR SH*T host.  Plus Roundtable Featuring : Maureen Jones, Micaela Leal, Abigail Chapman-Miller, James Tidy & Iqbal Khan. Host: Clive Hilton.  If your mental health has felt heavier in the last few years, you are not alone and you are not “too sensitive”. We sit down as the Sussex & Surrey Soapbox roundt...

Send us Fan Mail  SPOT: a slightly different format to the Roundtable discussions where we step back from the debate to Spotlight a Social Initiative or in this case a Charity making a huge difference in our local community. Crawley doesn’t need to be “made cultural” from the outside, it needs the spotlight put on what’s already here and the space to build what’s next. We’re joined by Louise Black...

Send us Fan Mail   Roundtable Featuring: Michelle Lucas (Special Guest), Maureen Jones, Micaela Leal, Georgie Lucas, Aga Es, Abigail Chapman-Miller, James Tidy & Magdalena Rahman. Host: Clive Hilton.  Social media can make grown adults talk like strangers at war, and we’ve all felt that shift. Around our Sussex & Surrey Soapbox Roundtable, we dig into a blunt question: does the internet re...

Send us Fan Mail  SPOT: a slightly different format to the Roundtable discussions where we step back to Spotlight a Charity or in this case a Social Initiative making a positive difference in the local community. Amanda Foster, Youth Worker In Charge with Crawley Community Youth Service (CCYS) shares why they recently adopted a neglected local train station and how quickly things improve when peop...

Send us Fan Mail  SPOT: a slightly different format to the Roundtable discussions where we step back to Spotlight a Charity or in this case a Social Initiative making a positive difference in the local community. We’re joined by Hamzah Khan , a Crawley local and the driving force behind Crawley Muslim Network , to unpack what real community support looks like when you prioritise dignity, access, a...

Send us Fan Mail In this Homelessness Part 2 episode, we continue the conversation with Ian Wilkins, Crawley Open House and Michelle Harfield, Turning Tides to explore what truly helps people move beyond homelessness—and why simply offering a roof, without long-term support, can sometimes do more harm than good. Together, we unpack homelessness as a complex, non-linear journey—more “snakes and lad...