Save the Madeira Terraces - special event

A Christmas Carol

Burning the Clocks 2017 - volunteers wanted

Burning the Clocks 2017.

'Burning the Clocks 2017, East' by Graham Carter.

Help make it happen from just £5.

https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/burning-the-clocks-2017

Pavilion ice-rink for another 6 years

Ice skating on the Royal Pavilion east lawn has been given planning permission for the next six winters.  This year the rink organisers’ website says the attraction will be open from November 4 to January 14.

As well as the main rink, roughly 40m by 20m, permission also allows a beginners’ rink, restaurant, cafe, toilets, skate hire and associated plant and lighting.

This will be the eighth successive year the rink has been staged outside the Grade 1-listed Royal Pavilion.

Opening hours for skating allowed are 10am to 10.15pm. Up to 315 people are allowed on the rink at any one time. The café can be open from 10am to half past midnight.

Information about the rink’s operation, tickets and more is available at its website.

Palace Pier revamp

Over the coming winter Brighton Palace Pier Company is to invest £1.3M in revamping the bar and restaurant facilities.

With 4.65 million visitors a year the Pier is the fifth most popular free destination in the UK.

It is good to know its immediate future is secure.

Dodgy dodgems

RP&M image store

A photograph taken just over a year after the end of WW2 shows a miniature race track at the shore end of the West Pier. 

These differed from conventional dodgems which pick up electricity from an overhead metal mesh and return it through the conductive rink surface. 

On the West Pier the stadium-shaped track was made of wooden planking separated by narrow metal strips. These strips were of alternating polarity across the track and so provided 'go and return' paths for electricity. Brushes under the cars were spaced across an odd number of planks to contact the metal strips and supply power to the electric motors. Contact tended to be intermittent and there was much sparking when the cars veered across the track; which all added to the excitement. 

I have no idea what voltage was used but at that time direct current motors would have been the norm and much of Brighton was still on a 230V direct current supply. Nevertheless, the attendants used to walk across the track with apparent impunity. Perhaps they had rubber-soled shoes. 

The ABBA plaque

In Church Street.

The Brighton & Hove Commemorative Plaque Panel (CPP) was not involved in the design or siting of the new ABBA plaque.

The CPP has, since 2006, standardised on glazed ceramic plaques on account of their high legibility and resistance to weathering. The ABBA plaque appears to have an enamelled surface. This has a high gloss surface which reflects light and washes out the lettering unless the viewer carefully positions him/herself. The blue/white contrast is also poor.

A CPP plaque on Pavilion Buildings

It is also somewhat surprising that Listed Building Consent was granted. A building like the Dome could be legitimately associated with many famous people and notable events. Will other requests for plaques be refused or will the Dome end up peppered with blue spots? It was to avoid this situation that the Mir Dast plaque was sited in Pavilion Buildings, outside the Pavilion Estate.

A Blue Plaque for Abba

A Blue Plaque to be unveiled at Brighton Dome honouring music legends Abba who launched their career after winning the 19th Eurovision Song Contest for Sweden at the Brighton Dome on 6 April 1974.

The plaque will be unveiled on BBC Music Day (Thursday 15 June) between 6.45pm and 7pm, live on BBC Sussex. Bjorn Again will be performing Waterloo in the Pavilion Gardens shortly after the unveiling and everyone is invited to come down and join in the celebrations.

SE "Project of the Year" - the BA i360

The highly acclaimed Project of the Year accolade is presented by the R.I.C.S. to the scheme which demonstrates overall outstanding best practice and an exemplary commitment to adding value to its local area. British Airways I-360 not only scooped the prestigious title this year, it also won the 'Design through Innovation' and 'Tourism & Leisure' awards.

Brighton has a long tradition of expressing its identity through remarkable architecture and British Airways I-360 continues this tradition of celebratory structures. Not only has the project given the city a 21st  Century landmark with which to identify itself, it has created new jobs and spurred economic growth. The innovative form of funding used to build British Airways i360 means that Brighton & Hove City Council (BHCC) earns nearly £1 million per year for the city. These earnings are used for regenerative purposes, to breathe new life into forgotten areas and to give back to the city.

In urban design terms, the tower can be seen as an equivalent of an obelisk which traditionally was used to complete the bottom of an open-ended, three-sided plan, such as Regency Square. The height of British Airways i360 is half the length of the West Pier, while the visitor centre at its base, including the reconstructed Eugenius Birch-designed 1866 tollbooths and flanking stairs, stretches the width of Regency Square behind it. The tower, aligned on the central axis of Regency Square, creates a strong reference point from afar.

Pride 2017: a Royal Pavilion & Museums float

Pride 2016

Royal Pavilion & Museums will take part in this year’s Brighton & Hove Pride, making it the first Museum service to have a Pride float in the UK.  Pride 2017, under the title 'The Summer of Love', will mark the 50 years since the partial decriminalisation of homosexuality in the UK via the Sexual Offences Act (1967). All of the RPM's  five sites – from the Royal Pavilion to Preston Manor will be represented on the float. Staff will build the float and appear on it on the day, many of them in costumes they’ve made themselves.

This is just one item in an extensive programme of projects, exhibitions, displays and activities to celebrate the 50 years since the 1967 Act.
For full programme see:- LGBTQ takes centre stage at Brighton Museum.

A Pool for Madeira Drive - update

BA i360 nominated for RIBA award

War Horse visits Brighton beach

A little Pavilion music . .

Big boost for the Black Rock site

Brighton's answer to BandAid

Elderly legends such as Disco Pete and Dancing Ann have teamed up with local celebrities to release a Christmas tune.

The Big Switch-On

Christmas Lights 2016

Clocktower 2015

Brighton’s  Christmas lights, sponsored by the 517 businesses that make up 'Brilliant Brighton' promises to be bigger, better and more Brighton than ever. 

This year the lights are themed to reflect the city’s eclectic, fun and social atmosphere with words and emojis lighting up Western Road – including ‘Fairy’ and ‘Ding Dong’ (who could resist a selfie under either?!), along with playful twinkling tidings in North Laine and a gorgeous golden canopy of lights in The Lanes.

Switch-on takes place on Wednesday 16th November. From 5pm the city will start its festive celebrations with a FREE party in East Street as Phats and Small (Turn Around) and Brighton DJ George Kwali (Crank It) take to the live stage with their chart topping hits. Home grown talent Theatre Workshop and the Dionne Slater Singing Group will also wow the crowds with their performances. Brighton legend, actor and comedian Steve Coogan will have the all-important task of counting down and flicking the switch. 

The Attenborough Arts Centre reopens.

Formerly the Gardner Art Centre, which closed in 2007, this unique Grade II* listed venue on the University of Sussex campus has now reopened.  In the intervening period it has undergone an  extensive multi-million pound refurbishment and modernisation. It is now named after the former chancellor of the University, Richard Attenborough, as the 'Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts' (ACCA).

The building is now fully adaptable to hosting a wide variety of events and the programme of forthcoming events up to March next year can be found here.