Magic cards, kelp and other stories (#5)
TL;DR of local press and stories from Brighton and surrounding areas.
.jpg "The Brighton Belle train passing at speed.")
News
Earlier this week there were more reports of bad weather and flooding.
The recent weather caused once again discharge of sewage into the sea. You can always check the current status thanks to Surfers Against Sewage’s map. Southern Water claim they’re investing £83m for mitigating the issue. Meanwhile, works in Lancing to fix old sewage pipes are involving several tankers which are delaying traffic and being an inconvenience to many residents.
The council is determined to ban pavement parking on Elm Grove, restrict vehicles on Gardner Street and add ten new pedestrian crossings throughout the city. Not too far from Gardner Street, the plot of land in the North Laine between Portland Street and Church Street will become a new office block, after 25 years being left empty.
The West Pier Trust is calling all artists to submit their work for consideration for an exhibition next spring.
An interesting report of a community meeting about practical responses to climate change.
Circular Saturdays: free workshops about reusing, repairing and recycling existing resources.
The curious case of Magic: The Gathering cards, Nintendo Switch games and STORM branded watches being stolen in a burglary.
“My design is Brighton Pride”. Janusz making us proud at GBBO. He didn’t make it to the final but he is definitely our favourite. We look forward to seeing if he’ll team with Jürgen (last year’s Brighton representative at GBBO) and his bunny.
We said farewell to the last bendy bus in Brighton.
The Circus Street development won yet another national award, recognising the partnership between public and private sector.
Planning applications for new ‘communication hubs’ (ugly big monitors showing ads in the middle of pavements) were refused by the council.
The Boundary Commission for England published their later proposal for new parliamentary constituencies. This interactive map lets you explore all the changes. While there is not much change in boundaries, notably Hove constituency is being renamed Hove and Portslade, a change welcomed by the Hove MP.
MenWalkTalk, a local charity promoting Men’s Mental Health, is collecting anonymous stories to display in an interactive installation in Churchill Square next week in support of International Men’s Day.
After reports that the Brighton Marathon organisers haven’t paid prize money from 2022 and 2021 races, it was reported that the company behind it is set to go into administration and put up for sale. The council is evaluating options for 2023. If in the meantime you’d like to run 10k dressed up as Santa, knock yourself out.
Queen’s Park Conservation area, declared ‘at risk’ by Historic England in 2018, is now considered not at risk anymore, after a number of measures introduced to limit architectural changes that would affect the character and appearance of the area.
The Sussex Seabed Restoration Project is a fantastic project by a community interest non profit company to help restoring the kelp along the Sussex coastline. The kelp forests along the Sussex coastline reduced by 97% over the last decades due to bad fishing practices. Luckily a ban on trawling introduced in 2021 gives us some hope that kelp can be restored. The Sussex Seabed Restoration Project grows kelp in specialised tanks before planting them back at sea. You can support the project here. See also an informative video by the Sussex Wildlife Trust about this issue.
History corner
“Peacehaven is the only town in the United Kingdom named after ‘peace’, or so I believe. What is more certain is that both the creation of the town and its name have close links with the First World War. But look beyond the lofty ideals of ‘homes fit for heroes’ and the ‘rural idyll’ and there is a darker story involving duplicity, legal shenanigans, and a fundraising scam.” (Article by Marion Bance on The Post)
“The Brighton Belle electric Pullman train was the new Southern Railway’s tour de force, to modernise its stylish but steam hauled Southern Belle Pullman service when the Brighton Main Line was electrified in 1932. Three, five-car, 5BEL unit trains were built […] to provide the London (Victoria) to Brighton service with a modern, top-class train, originally as Southern Belle, then Brighton Belle. All cars were furnished in the popular Art Deco style, much loved, and exampled in 1930s streamlined trains and ocean liners.”
Music
“The Go! Team are an English six-piece band from Brighton, England. The band initially began as a solo project conceived by Ian Parton; however, after the unexpected success of The Go! Team's debut album, ‘Thunder, Lightning, Strike’, Parton recruited band members to play for live performances and subsequent albums. Musically, the band combines indie rock and garage rock with a mixture of funk and Bollywood soundtracks, double Dutch chants, old school hip hop and distorted guitars. Their songs are a mix of live instrumentation and samples from various sources. The band's vocals also vary between performances: while live vocals are handled mostly by lead vocalist Ninja, vocals on record also feature sampled and guest voices.”
