Beach Hut 11

It was a beautiful clear, cold night tonight which was very appropriate for the hut which had a clean, crisp snow theme to it. The carol was Good King Wenceslas when the 'snow laid round about, deep and crisp and even'.

Claire created a winter wonderland in her hut with snow over every surface, a winter tree and the poor man out collecting wood while good King Wenceslas oversaw the whole scene from his lofty perch atop the beach hut.

Everything was given a magical touch by the sparkly light from a spinning starball and strings of fairy lights hung around the hut.

Because it was so clear and still tonight it was possible to put a few more things out than we've been able to in the past and there was a whole table for children (and any adults who wanted) with a range of things to do including decorating biscuits.

We seemed to have a lot of new people come along today and it looks like there might be more publicity going out this weekend as we've been contacted by a variety of news organisations in the last few days keen to cover our story.

The next hut is 399 up by the lagoon and we believe it will have a very eastern theme.

Beach Hut 10

Local illustrator Mandy Taylor pulled out all the stops at hut 376 and not only created a great display but arranged for local womens Morris Dancing troupe Cuckoo's Nest to come and perform.

The theme was While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks By Night and so there were sheep images and some hanging socks - alluding to the humorous alteration of that to 'washed their socks' that we all know about.


Mandy reflected on the theme under the title 'Glory in our everyday lives in Brighton'.



I've been thinking about the text that this carol came from (Luke 2). It says that when the angels appeared to the shepherds (just ordinary guys) the glory of the Lord shone around them. I think God's glory can still be seen shining today as ordinary people who are made in his image reflect his character. We see his glory in Brighton as we see people being creative, building relationships and communities, administering justice, working and serving others as well as in many other ways. God's glory can be seen in ordinary people in very ordinary places.

The Morris dancers then proceeded to show some of this creative spirit through their dances and even got the public involved so they could experience some of this for themselves.



The next hut is number 350.