Beach Hut 18

Tonight we had our first ever memorial hut as part of the Beach Hut Advent calendar. Lisa bought hut 424 after her friend Laura Beckerson died and wanted to create something in memory of her for her involvement this year. She asked Beyond team member Kirsty Tyler to do something on an angel theme and tonight's hut was the result.

Kirsty produced an absolutely beautiful pair of angel wings which looked as if they were made of steel feathers but in fact were created from mirrored paper which we had experimented with during the summer for our Greenbelt service. Every feather was cut and shaped individually and carefully crafted into an overall wing shape. The wings were then hung in a simple blacked out hut with a few lights to accentuate the detail that had gone into their making.

There was quite a strong, cold wind tonight and this rustled the feathers on the wings and caused them to move and sway so that the light glittered and sparkled across them.

If angels have wings half as fabulous as these then it's no wonder that the shepherds were amazed when they saw them on that first Christmas night.

One of the things we didn't realise until people started to do it was that these were perfectly placed for posing as an angel and at the end there was a queue of people waiting to have their photo taken as the angel of the beach.

Next up is more art from the Beyond team in hut number 381.

Beach Hut 17

The wise men visited Brighton tonight, following the star which hung low over the Pavilion in a beautiful tableau created by Sue and John Murgatroyd. This was the first time hut 27 had been been involved and it was clear to everyone how much work had gone into creating the scene.

Brighton Pavilion was rendered in all it's glory as a large black and white backdrop sitting underneath a giant embroidered gold star set in a clear blue sky.

The wise men were very individual with the leader pointing the way ahead to those who followed behind.

To add to the star theme Sue had made little fairy cakes with a gold star on each one and for the first time these proved so popular that we had some chocolate left at the end of the night.

The layer of snow (and a very dramatic snowstorm at the beginning of the event) added to the magic of the night although it was so cold that the juice that we normally serve to the children froze in the bottle over the course of the hour we were outside!

This hut was the furthest East that the Beach Hut Advent Calendar has ever been and the next hut is at the very opposite extreme as it is almost the furthest West we could go being number 424 by Hove Lagoon.