12th December - Hut 227

We had an all singing and dancing hut tonight, or to be more accurate, singing, juggling, reciting and puppeteering hut.

Susi pulled together a group of diverse performers and there was a full programme of presentations that filled the hour.  To help facilitate the sense of creating a show they had erected a gazebo which served as the performance space.

Two angels watched the show from inside the hut, peering out of the darkness which was gently illuminated by their own light.  

The taller of the two angels was modelled on Susi and the face of that angel was a cast of her own face and sported the same hairstyle.

The second angel was created by Janina and had a hint of the virgin Mary about her as she was bathed in blue light.

We had songs performed by Duncan who also played the guitar, poems from Dave and Janina, a shadow puppet show by Karen and when Susi wasn't juggling, she went around with a collection of 'touched by an angel' cards.  

Each of the attendees was encouraged to take a card and found that they had been given a gift such as forgiveness or redemption.

The rain and wind that had seemed so troublesome as we set up, abated once we started and the evening passed quite peacefully.

Our next hut is number 362.

11th December - Hut 79a

In contrast to yesterday, this evening was back to being beautiful weather, cold and clear, with no wind and a gorgeous sunset.

A team from Youth With A Mission (YWAM) put the hut together tonight and they created the largest angel yet.  It was such a giant that it looked as though it might burst the hut apart.



The wings were a particular feature as they formed curtains of white strips in a variety of materials which glimmered from the light filling the hut behind them.

The ribbons of cascading white weren't just for show or decoration as throughout the evening people were invited to write a message on them to someone who had been an angel to them.



And that wasn't the only form of feather that was put to good use this evening.  

On the table along with the chocolate, mince pies, mulled wine and hot juice was a bowl full of white feathers.  Each one had a label saying "Blessings of joy and good news this season #hope".  





These were given out along with the refreshment to provide refreshment to the souls of those who had come along this evening.








There was also a writing activity courtesy of two blackboards which were provided so that people could leave messages about good news or list the names of people who were good news to them.




So there was lots to do and lots to talk about as well as enjoying the beautiful angel.

We move further west for the next hut which is number 227, quite close to the View.

10th December - Hut 424

Kirsty Tyler created amazing angel wings in hut 424 tonight.  Made entirely from scratch out of an incredible amount of wire, these wings were a labour of love and perseverance as each feather was intricately crafted before eventually becoming a part of the whole.





There were over one hundred feathers in this pair of wings, each one carefully shaped and sized to form the perfect angel wing shape.





Hanging ethereally in space, they had an aura of peace and beauty about them which shone out across the promenade.

The weather was not so peaceful as it was raining when we had the official opening ceremony at 5.30pm and moderately windy.  

The wind made the wings move gently to and fro as though trying to take flight.  This created a sense that angels could be present, playfully making the wings dance in the dark.

Fortunately this all died down after about 20 minutes and the rest of the evening was wet underfoot and a little windy, but slightly more peaceful.





The weather made it necessary for the mulled wine and mince pie distributors to shelter in a neighbouring hut although it didn't seem to deter the visitors as we still had something like one hundred in attendance this evening.

One of the favourite pastimes became standing in front of the wings in order to have your photo taken as an angel.  A number of people did this and it reminded us that there is something angelic in all of us if we choose to allow that to come out.


















As each individual stood to have their photo taken, we were reminded of our uniqueness as human beings and our connectedness as we share values and hope for the light together.

Our next hut is right down by Hove Lawns at number 79a.

9th December - Hut 402

The next door neighbour to last nights hut was host to our ninth opening in this years advent calendar.  It's not often that we get two huts next to each other and we've never had anything like this on consecutive days but tonight we only moved from 403 yesterday to 402 today.

There was another important number associated with the hut tonight and that was the number one hundred and forty.  That was because this hut was created by the wonderful women of the Mother's Union which is 140 years old this year.



To mark this occasion the hut was filled with 140 angels as a celebration of the work of the many angels who have volunteered over the years as part of this wonderful organisation.  With four million members worldwide the Mother's Union campaigns on women's rights and runs a variety of social welfare projects to help women who are otherwise disadvantaged.




Their vision is of a world where God's love is shown through loving, respectful and flourishing relationships. 

They are modern day angels, bringing practical help to places and people who have great need.






The angels they installed in the hut were as varied as the different women who are individual members of the organisation.  

There were stacks of cardboard angels, perhaps demonstrating how it might be possible for a great number of angels to dance on the head of a pin.







There were knitted angels, fan shaped angels, glass angels, peg angels and angel sculptures. 







The most impressive were the book angels, made by simply folding the pages of a book until you have an angel body, and cutting or folding the cover to create a pair of wings.


One in particular was made by folding the pages of an old prayer book which felt a very appropriate combination.

All of this was watched over by a portrait of Mary Sumner, a vicar's wife near Winchester and the founder of the organisation.

We stay at Hove Lagoon for our next hut which is number 424.

8th December - Hut 403

Hut 403 was turned into a wardrobe for the evening by the children and teenagers of the CAMHS therapeutic art group and Touched Theatre.  The hut was hung with coats and the doors were only half open giving us a little glimpse inside.  

Peering out from between the coats was a puppet boy who was soon joined by a lion and a blonde haired woman.

These were Peter, Aslan and Susan, all characters from the Narnia books. 


The children wrote about their concept for this evening:  the characters are from a different world, just like angels.  They have the power to help people and Aslan protects the world from evil, just like angels.






The puppets had helpers who moved around the crowd giving out gifts of seeds which represent hope, chocolates which bring us joy and light to help us through the dark times.









The puppets had a number of different animators, sometimes adults, sometimes children and brought a very friendly atmosphere to the evening.



Angels are also well known for their singing and the group had written a song which they performed a number of times once they managed to get their backing technology to work!




Those who came along tonight will have no trouble finding our next beach hut as it's right next door at number 402.

7th December - Hut 177

Tonight we were launched into outer space thanks to hut 177 and the artwork of Kira and Katie.

They had done their homework and discovered that the Bible describes angels as messengers, facilitating communication from heaven to earth.  




Fast forward to today and we find that we can communicate in ways that our ancestors would have regarded as miraculous and only possible for angelic beings.  



For example we can talk to someone hundreds of miles away whenever we want to or we can watch imagery from the other side of the world, far beyond the range of human sight.  




All of this is facilitated by the wonders of digital technology - a new form of angel - helping us to communicate by passing messages through the heavens as satellites whizz above our heads bouncing our words and images backwards and forwards at lightning speed.





The hut tonight showed us a representation of this with mini satellites floating amongst spinning rocks with streams of data connecting earth to heaven.  All of this was watched over by a space angel who stood guard like some sort of digital watchman.






Angels delivered the words of God and perhaps this is a reminder to us to look for the divine messages of hope and light that are integral to this season of Advent.

The next hut takes us up to Hove Lagoon and is number 403.

6th December - Hut 73

The largest angel we've had so far inhabited hut 73 tonight, pretty much filling it and smiling out benevolently at the throng gathered for the event.

The angel hovered above a carpet of candles and seemed to be floating on light.

This angel has appeared at a beach hut before and is the creation of local artist Ros Lomax and has a beautiful serene expression on her face.

This raises a bit of a question about gender in relation to angels - are they male or female?  When mentioned in the Bible angels are universally described as male but it's also clear that they are genderless in heaven and are often portrayed as female in art.   

Hut 73 is in the parish of All Saints and the church is only a quarter of a mile directly north of our location tonight.

The whole display was put together by All Saints congregation member Sarah Sutherland-Rowe drawing on the creative talents of the young people of the church who made all the small silver angels in the hut.  

BBC TV news turned up to broadcast live from the hut and interviewed Sarah about the process of putting this together and her thoughts about advent.

The next hut is quite close to the King Alfred leisure centre and is number 177.