20th December - Hut 264

Time waits for no-one but tonight we definitely got a sense of the waiting that is associated with Advent as a group from the Church of the Good Shepherd on Dyke road took Time For God as their theme.  Time for God is also the name of one of their more informal services held in the church hall at the same time as the parish eucharist.

Hut 264 was framed with a huge clock face through which we could see a nativity scene with sheep up on the hills and an empty manger waiting for the baby Jesus.

The sheep had been made by children at the church and some of them had some real character.

The church also brought along an enthusiastic group of singers who sang out a selection of Christmas carols despite the wind howling a gale around us.

The next hut is alongside Hove Lawns and is number 116 where we will all be United Under the Umbrella of Christmas.

19th December - Hut 341

Carrie Rawle is the owner of hut 341 and she has a trademark style to the huts she has done over the last four years.

She is expert at creating beautiful 'tissue paper stained glass' - scenes which are composed of lots of layers of coloured tissue held together in a sheet by loads of PVA glue and then backlit for us all to see.  The eventual effect is colourful and feels very religious as the light shines through the coloured layers.

The theme for the night was S for Star which was depicted sitting above the Stable where Jesus was born.

In the Christmas story the star is very important as it guides so many people to the place of Jesus' birth.  We had a number of pilgrims come to the hut tonight, including a  family who were visiting from Toronto and a lady from Cardiff who had made the journey especially after four years meticulous planning.





The wind was quite strong tonight which made it difficult to keep the Star scene in place but it still acted as a beacon for those who were seeking it out.








Our travelling star, which helps to guide people to the correct hut sat high above the hut tonight.


The next hut is being prepared by a team of people from the church of the Good Shepherd on Dyke Road.  The name of the group is Time for God which fits nicely with the letter for the day which is T.

18th December - Hut 403

Tonight there was a howling wind on the seafront which caused the angel of hut 403 to flap and dance in the most energetic way.

Local artist Duncan Banks chose to create a Rejoicing angel in the hut composed from his own paintings, including some silhouettes, and wings made from polythene and bubble wrap.


The wind was a very strong on the seafront and it very quickly shook the wings loose making the angel look as though it was trying to fly.  Unfortunately this also meant that there was a good deal of ongoing repair work throughout the hour that the hut was open.


The face of the angel looked down enigmatically with a kind of serene peace that was in contrast with the wings dancing around it.





Duncan creates a variety of types of art and exhibits at the Seven Dials gallery as well as taking part in the artists Open Houses.  You can view his work here.

The next hut is number 341 and is in the middle of Hove seafront and being the 19th of our huts will feature the letter S.

17th December - Hut 402

For the last six weeks a group of sixth form students from Cardinal Newman Catholic Secondary School have been wrestling with the letter Q and its relationship with Christmas.

The group decided to focus on the idea of a Quest as so many groups sought out the baby in the stable on the first Christmas night.

The group produced a quiz for all the attendees with a set of five riddles to which the answers corresponded to the five letters of QUEST.

Everyone who completed the Quiz was given a silver star and invited to attach this to the large dark star at the heart of the display in the hut.



They also received an award for completing their Quest in the form of a Quality street chocolate from the treasure chest which was positioned in place of the crib.







The whole hut was wrapped in silver foil and lit with lasers to create a really sparkly look.

The weather tonight was even worse than yesterday as it rained non-stop for the whole duration of the opening, but the students persevered and kept everything going all night.

The next hut is right next door to this one at number 403.

16th December - Hut 253

One of the wettest, windiest, coldest nights so far was the one the BBC chose to come and do a report live from the beach hut for the BBC Southeast News.

Mel Freeman and Anna Prior worked on this hut and their theme for the letter P was Presents.  They enlisted the help of Year 4 at St. Andrew's school in Hove to create loads of presents in a variety of sizes, shapes and types of wrapping paper.  These covered the floor of the hut underneath two beautifully decorated Christmas trees.









St. Andrews also provided a choir who gamely sang a medley of Christmas songs, despite the cold and rain.

Mark Sanders from BBC news came down in the afternoon and interviewed us about the event which was fortunate as the weather in the afternoon was dry although very grey. 

By the time came for the live report at 6.45pm the rain was lashing down but Mark soldiered on and a few hardy souls remained to stand in the background and get their brief seconds of fame.  You can watch the report on the iPlayer here at 19 minutes.

The weather for the next hut is looking a bit better as we all head out to number 402 beside Hove Lagoon with a hut created by students at Cardinal Newman Catholic Secondary School themed around the letter Q.

One of the wettest, windiest, coldest nights so far was the one the BBC chose to come and do a report live from the beach hut for the BBC Southeast News.

15th December - Hut 79a

Tonight was a welcome return for former Beyond team members, Jon & Flo Pepper, doing a guest spot in hut 79a.  The letter was O and it stood for O Holy Night, one of the most beautiful carols.

The hut featured a curtain made from multiple images of the nativity.  Cut into these were a series of different coloured dots which seemed to form a pattern.  To those who had eyes to see these spelled out the words 'O HOLY NIGHT' repeated across the screen.

The whole thing was lit from behind with a strobe so that the words and images constantly flashed in and out.

The next hut is number 253 which belongs to Mel Freeman and will be featuring art from St. Andrews school in Hove.

14th December - Hut 11

Tonight we travelled the furthest East we could go on our Beach Hut Advent pilgrimage to find that we'd arrived in Nazareth, Jesus' home town and the place Mary and Joseph set off from to get to Bethlehem.

Amanda Ogilvie and Diane Cowan created a tiny little town in the corner of the hut which glowed with the good news that it was part of the Christmas story.

Made from a mixture of modelling clay and plastic pots, some of the little white houses even had gardens and a tiny well as a water feature to add to the scene.






On the back wall of the hut was a hand drawn map of Palestine showing the relationships between Nazareth, Jerusalem and Bethlehem which made you realise what a journey Mary and Joseph would have had, quite an undertaking for a young, pregnant woman.




The next hut is also close to Hove Lawns and is one of the most Easterly of the month as it is number 79a.

13th December - Hut 424

Kirsty Tyler is one of the Beyond team and always creates beautifully crafted huts and tonight was no exception.

The letter was M and it stood for The Messenger - the angel Gabriel who announced the news to Mary that she was to be the mother of God's son and who led the angel host announcing the birth to the shepherds and singing God's praises in celebration above the hills of Bethlehem.









The angel wings were crafted from rolled sheets of music symbolising the songs the choir of angels sang on that first Christmas night.






The song was accompanied by a great fanfare and Kirsty had created a giant cardboard trumpet which beamed the good news of the light of the world out of the hut.

So far we've been really lucky with the weather and it's mostly been calm and dry but on Friday the 13th our luck ran out and it seems the weather has now turned against us as we had rain and wind and the forecast for the next few days doesn't look too great.

The next hut is the furthest East that we go in our beach hut pilgrimage as it's number 11 beside Hove Lawns and the letter if N - could it stand for Nativity?  Let's wait and see.

Kirsty Tyler is one of the Beyond team and always creates beautifully crafted huts and tonight was no exception.  The letter was M and it stood for The Messenger - the angel Gabriel who announced the news to Mary that she was to be the mother of God's son and who led the angle host announcing the birth to the shepherds and singing God's praises in celebration above the hills of Bethlehem.

12th December - Hut 332

Local writer of The Sandies, Cathy Watts is one of our regular contributors and the theme of her hut tonight was L for Light so there were plenty of twinkly lights in her hut to draw our attention.

But we were also treated to the delights of The Dawn Chorus singing group, who meet at St. Luke's Prestonville and in which Cathy also sings.  They sang a range of songs about wassailing, rejoicing in Latin (Gaudeamus Hodie) and that we would all have peace from God.

At one point they all huddled together a little way away from the hut to rehearse and warm their vocal chords up although it looked a little like they were having a prayer meeting on the beach.

The light outside the hut was as beautiful as that inside as there was a slight mist in the air which gave everything a kind of halo.







The group will be performing next at the official opening of the redesigned Seven Dials roundabout which is on Wednesday 18th December at 7pm.

They will also be taking part in the carol service at St. Luke's Prestonville on Sunday 22nd December at 6.30pm.






You can read more about the group and their charismatic leader, Julie Nye here.

Our next hut is number 424 up by Hove Lagoon with a cardboard messenger courtesy of Kirsty Tyler.

11th December - Hut 44

The hut tonight was 'Knit for a King' with a collection of knitted items both real and symbolic decorating a party hut for the king of kings.

Simon Vincent was the artist who put this together using the hut belonging to Mandy and John Taylor.  

Skeins of wool festooned the roof of the hut while cutouts of sweaters with various designs and messages hung from them.

Each of these items of clothing referred to Jesus as the king of kings in some way.

There was even a little knitted version of Mary with the baby Jesus.

The next hut is between The View and Hove Lagoon and is number 332 and will feature local singing group The Dawn Chorus.