Beach Hut 2

The whole of Brighton & Hove might have shut down because of the snow but that didn't stop us opening hut 449 tonight despite all sorts of obstacles and difficulties. The first problem was that Jane, Andre and their daughter Florrie couldn't get to the seafront as they were snowed in on the other side of Brighton.



The second difficulty was that Florrie was diagnosed with chickenpox this morning so really shouldn't be going out in such extreme weather. We wish her a swift recovery and not too much discomfort.

Fortunately the family had already done a lot of the background work in the hut yesterday so we arranged a liaison half way up Dyke road and Andre hiked up with the remaining items for the display and Martin and Sally set to work trying to recreate the family vision.

The theme tonight was the wise men who traveled through trial and tribulation to see the newborn king and many people braved the elements tonight to see the hut. They were rewarded with a beautiful evening of crisp, cold snow and a beautiful, colourful hut which somehow captured the essence of the Christmas spirit.

Tomorrow it's hut number 425 when we'll be thinking about one of the gifts that the wise men brought.

Beach Hut 1

The 2010 Beach Hut Advent Calendar launched in style last night thanks to St. Christopher's school, Hove who put in an incredible amount of work to recreate Bethlehem for us.

The lower school have spent the last few weeks creating lots of little Bethlehem buildings which were all put together in the hut by Ros Lomax, Jude Richards and Sally Poole to create a whole city which spilled out beyond the hut onto the sandy floor that they had imported for the occasion.

The Junior choir led by Richard Coppack came to entertain the crowds with a selection of carols and Christmas songs. Many of the children had been in the school nativity earlier in the day and stayed in costume for our evening event.

The snow earlier in the day gave the whole event a very Christmassy feel and the mulled wine, mince pies and chocolate were very welcome as over 150 people turned up to celebrate the start of our third annual Beach Hut Advent Calendar.

The heavy snow overnight will make opening hut 449 tonight quite a challenge but we plan to do all that we can to make sure the event goes ahead so get your sledges out and we hope to see you at Hove Lagoon at 5.30pm tonight.