Wednesday 19 December 2012

Beach Hut 19

It was the worst weather so far tonight with a strong Easterly wind and almost continuous rain, so we had to strategically place a car to one side of the hut to act as a windbreak otherwise everything in it would have flown off to Worthing, despite being weighed down with pebbles.

O Little Town of Bethlehem had a political edge to it as Helen and Mary decided to mix the story of Mary & Joseph journeying to Bethlehem with the current situation in the land we call holy.

Bethlehem was set in the background of the hut but Mary & Joseph couldn't get to it because they were blocked by the 700 Km separation wall which Israel is constructing along the West Bank.






It's interesting to note that if Mary & Joseph wanted to make their Christmas journey today, they probably wouldn't be able to as it would involve crossing this wall and getting special permits.  There's an interesting video that highlights this on youtube at the moment which you can watch here.











Some of the graffiti on the model wall in the hut reflects what is actually painted on the wall in Israel, including the rather odd sign from the Israeli Tourist Board greeting all the visitors to the wall, including those who it's designed to keep out, with the words 'Peace be with you'.






Hopefully the weather will calm down a little by tomorrow when we're at hut 341.

Tomorrow at 8pm we feature as part of George Clarke's Amazing Spaces Christmas special on Channel 4.



Beach Hut 18



Tonight we were focussing on the circuit of the stars and the passing of the seasons with an ingenious artistic invention courtesy of local artist Nick Sayers.


Nick has created a Bicycle Spirograph which takes the principles of the pattern making game, which uses cogs to generate symmetrical drawings, and scales it up to a giant, beach hut, size.





The whole floor of the hut was taken up with the mechanism which was created from an old bike and children were encouraged to get into the hut and push the mechanism round to create a variety of patterns on the floor.


Everything was lit by one of Nick's signature lights made from hundreds of cable ties and Joni Mitchell's The Circle Game was the theme song, with its reference to childhood, the cycle of life and the turning of the seasons. 

Our next hut is number 382 and will focus on the holy land.  

This Thursday at 8pm we feature as part of George Clarke's Amazing Spaces Christmas special on Channel 4.