3rd December - Hut 194

Photo courtesy of AlexBamford.com

The hut this evening kicked off a series of huts which will be created by schools or school related groups.

Tonight hut 194 was put together by Windlesham prep school on Dyke road in Brighton.






Stars of various sizes and types were spattered around a black background, interspersed with twinkly lights.







These stars not only decorated the walls but hung from the roof of the hut, creating a  sense of a world full of stars.

Candles and a lantern graced the floor of the hut adding a sense of warmth and welcome.

Photo courtesy of AlexBamford.com

We were blessed with calm, clear weather for the first time this year which really helped the audibility of the school choir who sang a number of Christmas themed songs.  They will be on song again next week at St. Luke's Prestonville during their end of term service on the afternoon of Thursday 13th December.

The next hut will be created by The King's School and will start at number 403 but may take us on a journey to somewhere else.  Join us to find out!

2nd December - Hut 305

The theme for the Advent Calendar this year is Follow the Star (something which the Church of England is also focussing on as a Christmas theme starting on Christmas Eve #followthestar).



Mary Bacchoo at hut 305 combined the star theme with a passion for ecology, linking these with the fact that there is more microplastic in the ocean than there are stars in the Milky Way.

Her installation featured a spiral trail which led to the hut containing a giant star.

Photo courtesy of AlexBamford.com

The spiral was made from ecobricks which are created by stuffing single use plastic bottles with up to 120 plastic shopping bags.  These can then be used to build houses in places where there is a shortage of housing.

Photo courtesy of AlexBamford.com

The spiral was also lit by solar lamps which have been especially designed for communities in the third world where there is no electricity.





Inside the hut was a nativity scene made from ecobricks and some information about the importance of a spiral in reminding us of the journey of life as a cycle of rebirth, seasons and time passing.




A spiral points us towards transformation and insight and in a similar way ecobricks transform our view of plastic as a resource to build with rather than waste to dispose of.  

As you see the stars at night may you be inspired by the possibility of the transformation that light brings into the darkness.

Photo courtesy of AlexBamford.com

The next hut is number 194 and features the first school this year.

1st December - Hut 17

So the final Beyond Beach Hut Advent began today, marking the last time that Beyond will run this event.  This doesn't mean that the Hove beach huts will never again be used to mark the days of Advent, it's just that Beyond is stepping down from this year onwards.  It's hoped that others will take up the baton of bringing light to the seafront at this special time of year and there have been some conversations about this but nothing concrete has emerged yet.  



If you would like to see this wonderful community art event continue and can give some time towards this please email info@beyondchurch.co.uk and if there is enough interest we'll convene a meeting early in the new year.

Hut 17 was our inaugural hut this year and Sarah Sutherland-Rowe created a classic image that almost had a mediaeval flavour to it.



The image was created with the help of the children who attend Messy Church at All Saints Hove and a number of the children turned up to see their handiwork.  This was literally on display as the central angel image had wings with feathers made from the handprints of the children.






There was a contemporary edge to the whole scene though as Mary and Joseph were represented in modern dress, having scooted to the hut on Christmas light festooned scooters.




The Advent message is not just about something historical that happened in the past but is recognition that Jesus comes to us today and is just as relevant now as he was 2,000 years ago.





So we're off to a great start and tomorrow we're at hut 305, halfway between the King Alfred and Hove Lagoon. 

The Light Service - 4th February 2018

For the last 18 months Beyond has been focussing on a programme of guest speakers on the first Sunday of each month which has been a fantastically rewarding experience.  We've heard from Nadia Bolz-Weber, Ian Adams, Stuart Townend & Iain Archer, Sally Hitchhiker, Richard Beck, Cole Moreton and Kester Brewin.  We've also had the Nine Beats crew come into town with an amazing gig by Revd. Vince Anderson and an evening of spoken word and music from Mark Scandrette and Heatherlynn.


Now we are returning to our core programme which is artistic events that aim to inspire, provoke, stimulate and give space for reflection and meditation.  The first of these was The Light Service on Sunday 4th February.




We've created light events in the past and this evening was a chance to put together some of the things that we've learned from these to create a 'service' that asks what it means to say that 'God is light and in Him is no darkness at all'.






We began by spending some time thinking about the nature of light and how fundamental that is to our existence.  This then moved into a time of considering darkness, both in our lives and literally as the lights in the space were all turned off.






After a period of confession and reflection we were exposed to different light experiences, beginning with a video of a light installation by Chris Levine entitled light.








Then everyone was invited to move around the space and simply experience the wonder of light through various installations that had been started up.  These ranged from disco glitter balls to a whole room full of Green laser light, fibreoptic lamps and a cluster of laserpods.




After 15 minutes of exploration of the wonder of light, we all came together to share the peace followed by a final reflection and the breaking of light (in the form of glowsticks) as a commitment to be those who bring light to others.







Our hope is that people left enlightened, illuminated and with a renewed commitment to being bringers of light to those around us.

We will now begin a series of Sunday evenings during Lent when we will be looking at different artistic interpretations of the Stations of the Cross.  7.30pm starting Sunday 18th February until Sunday 25th March.

We were in the dark before,

but now God has given us light.

We will live like people who have the light.

People who have the light do what is good and right and true.
For if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, 
we have fellowship with one another, 
and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

24th December 0 Hut 395

Christmas Eve is here along with our biggest crowd and a special piece of art in hut 395.  

The Beyond team always keep Christmas Eve for ourselves as we like to create some art as part of an evening schedule that includes carol singing, a reading and some prayers that all follows a similar theme.

The theme tonight was birth and new life as we are on the eve of Jesus' birthday.  The hut contained a large projection of an image of the expectant Mary beautifully rendered in a modern icon style. 

Through the wonders of modern technology we were able to see into her womb and watch an ultrasound of her baby as he wriggled and moved around. 

This image was surrounded with garlands of flowers and at the foot of the hut were hundreds of daffodil buds.  These were there to remind us of new life and everyone was encouraged to take a flower with them and put it in water as it will then burst into life tomorrow.

The whole thing was accompanied by a heartbeat soundtrack when we weren't singing carols.  All the carols we sang focussed on Jesus' birth and we read the account of his birth in the second chapter of the gospel of Luke.

This felt like a fitting climax to our tenth Beach Hut Advent Calendar as we look forward to the birth of Jesus tomorrow.  We wish you all a blessed Christmas and pray that you will experience the new life that comes from knowing Jesus.

23rd December - Hut 367

The art installation in Hut 367 had been given a title by artist Louise Mabbs - No Cradle, No Cross - highlighting the fact that if Jesus had not been born then there wouldn't have been a crucifixion and salvation for the world.








The centre piece of the installation was a large cross which filled the back wall of the hut and which was made from old foil mince pie containers.  Throughout the month we have been collecting these as people have discarded them after eating the free mince pies we give out every night.  So in a way everyone has contributed to making this artwork.



In front of the 'mince pie cross' a wire bowl was hung and a torch shone on it in such a way that the shadow of the intricate design of the bowl was projected onto the back wall.  Then we could see that this contained the word 'peace' many times, woven into the wire that made up the shape.







This recognised that fact that at Jesus' birth the angels sang "peace on earth, goodwill to all" and that one of the names given to him in the Bible was Prince of Peace.

Either side of the hut, hung on the doors, was a set of gossamer pockets containing a series of interesting and unusual Christmas cards.



Many of these also bore a message of peace to the world. 

Our final hut tomorrow has become a bit of a tradition and is number 395, as it has been for most of the preceding years.

22nd December - Hut 296

There is benefit to simplicity and hut 296 showed us that tonight.  This Aspect of the Nativity was just the basic essentials of that scene - a baby wrapped in cloth and lying on a bale of straw. 

The baby was lit by a little spotlight and in the photographs of the hut the place where the baby lie was a pool of light with no baby in sight. 



Perhaps this is appropriate because of course Jesus isn't born until Christmas Day (although he has been present in other huts during the Beach Hut Advent Calendar).


Something that the people of two thousand years ago wouldn't have been able to understand was the wonder of electric candles which could be placed amongst the straw of the hut without setting everything on fire!





A simple star hung above everything highlighting the merest hint of a heavenly host of angels through a series of tiny angel wings suspended in space.




Tomorrow our penultimate hut is number 367.

21st December - Hut 341

It was very calm and pretty warm on the seafront tonight given the time of year.  There was an air of peace and calm as it was a very low tide so the waves were quite quiet and there wasn't very much traffic noise from the road.






Hut 341 exuded that same sense of peace and calm as it was dressed all in blue providing a simple backdrop to a large star of wonder.  The star was made from hundreds of torn up pieces of coloured tissue paper, pasted to make a thin multi-coloured film.





The star was then lit from behind so that the colours shone out into the darkness.  The overall effect was like an abstract stained glass shape that hovered in mid-hut.

The hut was framed with garlands of ivy and other evergreen leaves which were intertwined with some fairy lights.





Somehow, even though we were outside, the evening felt cosy and this was helped by a fire pit and the chance to sit close to the flickering flames if you did feel cold at all.







This also connected us with another event in Brighton tonight - The Burning of the Clocks.  This involves a procession of homemade lanterns which are taken to the beach and thrown onto a bonfire.  This happens today as this is the winter solstice and the moment in the calendar when the days start getting longer again.


Tomorrow we're at hut 296.