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A Plaque for John Sullivan

On 10 November 2022 John Sullivan's widow unveiled a plaque in his memory at his old home at Prince of Wales Court, 227-229 Kingsway, Hove.

John's work for television won him the BAFTA for sitcom on 3 separate occasions and the OBE in 2005. He died only 6 days after the screening of the last episode of "Rock & Chips".

 

A Plaque for the Old Hove Town Hall

64 Brunswick Street West.

64 Brunswick Street West, built 1855-56 by a Mr Russell for the Brunswick Commissioners, has had its  history commemorated with a blue plaque. It is constructed with render over rubble with brick quoins and has outlasted its replacement, the Alfred Waterhouse Hove Town Hall in Church Road, by 56 years.

Addressses were given by the City Mayor, Cr Lizzie Deane, Michael Ray the last Chief Executive of Hove Borough council, and Vasseema Hamilton, Executive Principal of the Brighton Institute of Modern Music. BIMM are the present occupiers of the building.

The plaque was unveiled by the City Mayor.

Past & present Councillors 

 

Vaseema Hamilton, Roger Amerena, Michael Ray.

A Plaque for Helen Normanton

This plaque, unveiled yesterday, owes its existence to the efforts of twin sisters attending Brighton College. They chanced upon Helen's grave in Ovingdean churchyard and, their interest sparked, went on to meticulously research her background. This led into a successful campaign for a plaque on 4 Clifton Place where Helen spent her formative years and first formed the ambiton to enter the legal profession, undaunted by the fact that it was closed to women at that time.

The proceedings were opened by songs from a small choir of fellow pupils and a welcoming address was given by the sisters.  This was followed by speeches from:-

• Dr Angela Owen-Smith, a relative of Helen (delivered by her daughter).
• Professor Judith Bourne, Head of Law at St. Mary's University, associate member of Normanton Chambers and author of 'Helen Normanton and the Opening of the Bar to Women'.
• Professor Nicky Padfield QC, Master of the Bench at Middle Temple and Professor of Law at Cambridge University
• Dr. Helen Dancer, Senior Lecturer in Law at the University of Sussex and beneficiary of the Helen Normanton Ph.D Foundation.
• The City Mayor Lizzie Deane.
• 
  

The sisters haven't stopped with this success but have now become Child Ambassadors involved in promoting and fund-raising for the Mary Clarke Statue Appeal.

A Plaque for Sir Harry Kroto

A plaque to Sir Harry Kroto was unveiled yesterday at the Chichester building at the University of Sussex where he discovered a new form of carbon molecule C60. He named this molecule "Buckminsterfullerene" after the the US architect Buckminster Fuller who designed the geodesic dome. The existence of fullerenes had been previously predicted from spectroscopic observations in outer space. 

The plaque was sponsored by the Royal Society of Chemists as part of their 'Chemical Landmark' scheme. There are a further 70 plaques under this scheme throughout the country.

A "Bucky Ball"

The Provost

The President of the Royal Society of Chemists

Lady Kroto 

Sir Harry's resting place  at Clayton Woods Natural Burial Ground

A Plaque for the Hilton Twins

The City Mayor, Cllr Alan Robins, today unveiled a plaque at 18 Riley Road to the Hilton Twins.  

The twins, although exploited during their early life, gained freedom from their "guardians' at the age of 23. They went on to rise above their physical challenges and for many years became widely celebrated for their musical talents alone. However the mid 20th.C saw their popularity fade. Lacking work and money they ended up in Charlotte, North Carolina employed in a local shop. 

They died during the Hong Kong flu epidmic, Daisy preceding Violet by a few days and were buried together at the local graveyard.

   

This was the 6th and last plaque unveiling performed by Cllr Robin during his mayoral tenure.
 

A Plaque for Lewes Road Hospital

In the early 20thC poor food, bad housing conditions and overwork inevitably led to poor health which in turn produced mental stress and, untreated, what was then termed nervous breakdown. No help was available to the poor until their condition worsened to the extent that they could be certified as mentally insane and committed to an asylum for treatment at the state's expense.

Dr Boyle had the insight to understand that early intercession, including treatment for physical problems, by sympathetic female doctors could do much to relieve suffering.

The unveiling at 101 Roundhill Crescent by the City Mayor was preceded by addresses from:-

Roger Amerena, Chairman, Brighton & Hove Commemorative Plaque Panel.

Worshipful the Mayor, Cllr. Alan Robins.

Caroline Lucas MP, (read by Vivien Elliades)

Cast members of "Clean"*.

Rachael Kenny, Dir. Mental Health Services, BHT Sussex.

Anna McDevitt, MIND.

Angelika Wydra, Healthwatch Brighton & Hove.

Hon. Alderman Brian Fitch, Vice Chariman , Brighton & Hove Heritage Commission.

* Clean! The Musical, Brighton Fringe

See also: A Plaque to Dr. Helen Boyle

 

A Plaque to Mercedes Gleitze

 

A remarkable female athlete was commemorated today with the unveiling of a plaque at 124 Freshfield Road by the City Mayor.  

In 1927 Mercedes became the first British woman to swim the English Channel and in the following year the first person to swim the Straits of Gibralter. Other sponsored long distant and endurance swims followed, and in 1933 Mercedes used the funds generated to set up the first Gleitze Home for destitute people. The charity's work continues to this day.

A film "Vindication Swim" dealing with Mercedes' exploits in the English Channel is to be released later this year. The unveiling ceremony was attended by the film's star Kirsten Callaghan and director Elliot Hasler (photos below).

A Plaque to Rabindranath Tagore

A plaque was unveiled by the City Mayor today at 7 Ship Street to commemorate Rabindranath's connection with the city. Brighton & Hove was the first place he lived in outside of India. Rabindranath was born into a wealthy Bengali Brahmin family and built on and transcended these roots, embracing universalism and humanism. He became a poet, philospher, novelist, visual artist, composer and activist. In 1913 he became the first non-westerner to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature and in 1915 he was knighted by King George V for his services to literature.

Addresses were given by:-

Roger Amerena, Chairman of the Brighton & Hove Commemorative Plaque Panel.

Her Excellency the High Commissioner for Bangladesh.

Dr Kalyan Kundu, Tagore Centre UK.

Professor Shahaduz Zaman University of Sussex.

Dr Jeanne Openshaw, University of Edinburgh.

The Salvation Army Band provided welcoming music and the National Anthems.

A Plaque to Elizabeth Robins and Octavia Wilberforce

This plaque has now been installed at 24 Montpelier Crescent. Due to infection control measures it was deemed unadvisable to hold an unveiling ceremony. 

Elizabeth Robbins was born in America and moved to London in September 1888. She had a very active and eventful life, great success as an actor and wrote as C.E. Raimond. She met Octavia Wilberforce in 1909. 

Partly supported by Elizabeth and against strong parental oppositions Octavia entered the London School of Medicine for Women in 1913, qualifying in 1920. She entered general practice in Brighton  and ran a women's shelter near Henfield. Octavia was friendly with members of the Bloomsbury Group and treated Virginia Woolf's mental illness towards the end of Woolf's life. She retired in 1954.

Smuggler's Cottage, Rottingdean

The semi-detached cottage shown on the left in the above postcard (see also: Rottingdean) was at one time known as '"Smuggler's Cottage".

The photo on the right shows it in 1957 with a curious object above the downstairs window. It has been suggested that this was an air-raid siren left in place after the war but it seems to be the wrong shape for that.  Closer inspection reveals what might be decorative features and a hint that it is barrel-shaped. Was it in fact an ornamental brandy-barrel displayed as a nod to the smuggler's trade and in lieu of a conventional house nameplate?

 

Restore the Stanmer Palm House.

The Palm House

Since 2019 Plumpton Agricultural College and BHCC with partners have been working to restore  Stanmer's Victorian walled garden, build a new Horticultural Centre of Excellence and open as 'One Garden Brighton' which will be a destination garden for the community. After laying abandoned for years the work is now complete and the garden is open to the public for the first time in its history.

The Palm House, near the gates of One Garden Brighton, is one of only three remaining of its kind in England. They were built in the 1950s for local councils and were originally heated. The Walled Garden during this time was a nursery for Brighton & Hove City Council and a space to grow plants for the city parks. 

The Palm House has not been a part of the original restoration project and the ambition is to now restore it and open it for the public to enjoy. This will involve refitting the heating system and reglazing the glass so that it can house exotic plants. Plans include adding a vaulted walkway with viewing platforms and an educational experience showcasing a wide variety of plant species. A mini Kew on our doorstep in fact.

To help get this project underway One Garden Brighton has opened a crowdfunder with a target of £500,000. 

To contribute go to 'Palm House Restoration'. 

Follow "One Garden Brighton' on facebook.

Circus Street so far.

Loooking south from Ivory Place

Morley Street frontage, residential

Entrance to Woodland Court

Woodland Court. Students left & at end; Residential right.

Circus Square looking south-west towards The Dance Space.

Looking north-west into Circus Court. Residential

Student block.

Looking north along Circus St. The Office near right; residential beyond.

Looking north-west from Kingswood Street.
The Office to the left; student block to the right.

Hippodrome hope

Corroded ironwork

Planning applications BH2021/01079 & /01080 warrant a glimmer of hope for the Hippodrome's survival.  Water has been penetrating the roof for some time and threatening Matcham's intricate plaster work inside. The work called for involves removing the sliding cupola and its supporting ironwork. This ironwork penetrates the roof and is a source of water leakage. Duct work is also causing leakage and will be removed together with the gang walk encircling the roof and its access steps. This will allow a new roof to be constructed over all. The new roof willl be supported on the perimeter columns and create a space from which access  can be had to the old roof and, through access points made in it, to the interior plasterwork.

Section viewed from Middle Street showing proposed new roof structure.

External appearance viewed from the west.

1. Retractable octagonal cupola

2. New roof covered in grey fibreglass material.

4.Vertical faces covered in grey fibreglass material