Brighton History Centre 2

Letter to a Councillor:-

Dear Councillor,

I am extremely upset at the news that the Brighton History Centre may close. I believe this a valuable cultural resource  of which the expertise and knowledge of the small staff form a vital element. Once this knowledge is dissipated there will be little chance of the same level of public access to the records ever being re-established.

The destined repository for the archives, the Keep, seems to be years away from completion and as it will be situated at Falmer it will not provide anything like the City centre access enjoyed at present.  Before the present History Centre was established a few years ago the archives were kept in the Old Music Library in Church Street. During this time many items appear to have gone missing. One  worries that if the archives are to moved yet again into temporary accommodation there will be little left to keep.

Neither does the Jubilee Library offer a solution. Although conveniently sited its staff would not possess the required specialist knowledge and, in any case, already seem to be fully occupied.

The Council is fond of designating this area "The Cultural Quarter". I hope you will feel able to defend one of its facilities. What could be more cultural or appropriate than Brighton's history?

Patcham Dovecote

Patcham dovecote in the snow. It is a scheduled Ancient Monument built in the early 1600s and carefully restored in 2007. This included reinstating the 'potence', a ladder attached to a rotating framework to provide easy access to the 550 nesting holes which line the walls. In full production it will have produced up to 200 young featherless birds (or squabs) a week for the table. It stands at the bottom of the garden of Patcham Court Farmhouse with access off Church Hill.

Plans to close the Brighton History Centre

It is reported in the Argus today that the Council in its quest to save £8M pounds from next year's budget will be considering closing the Brighton History Centre. It is said that this will save what seems the paltry sum of £62,000.

No doubt there will be noises made about moving facilities to the Jubilee Library or even to the East Sussex Record Office which is planning new premises on the Falmer campus. But, irrespective of where the archived material ends up, the only way that money will be saved will be by losing the present staff and therefore their years of accumulated expertise in the local & family history fields. The Council needs to be made aware that the History Centre IS the staff.

There are other questions that might be raised. The £8M required  saving presumably refers to one year's budget. What kind of impact will be made in the first year from losing  staff after redundancy and removal costs are added in?

The History Centre seems to be a popular resource. If you are one of its users it is never too early to let your Councillor know your views.

Brighton - The Anthem

This video is always worth revisiting I think. Terry Garoghan has a show at the Komedia this week 15th and 18th December starting at 8pm.

Sunday morning badminton

A small friendly group meets every Sunday morning at the King Alfred to play mixed doubles. It has been in existence for about 20 years, although there are probably not many of the original players left. Numbers vary from about 5 to 15 and ages 20ish to 70ish.


NEW MEMBERS OF INTERMEDIATE STANDARD OR HIGHER WOULD BE WELCOME. 

Subject to availability Court 5 is usually booked from 10.30am to 12.30pm. Pay for day membership at the entrance kiosk (£1.50) and ask for Eva's court. The charge for the hire of the court (to Eva) is £3.00 each player. When the numbers are high we book two courts so there is very little sitting out.