At last Advent is here and we started the fifth annual Brighton Beach Hut Advent Calendar at hut 311 on Hove seafront with the carol I Saw Three Ships. 
It's becoming a tradition for St. Christopher's School in Hove to start us off on our annual journey to Christmas and they did us proud again this year with a hut full of nautical imagery and three gorgeous ships.
One of the ships sported an image of Mary crowned as the queen of heaven, watching serenely over the whole event.
The school choir came and entertained us with almost a full hour of singing despite the cold. The huge opening night crowd joined in as song sheets were distributed along with the mince pies and mulled wine which unfortunately ran out due to the large crowd.
One of the features each night this year will be our Advent countdown clock. This will be on display every night counting down the hour that we spend on the beach from 5.30pm - 6.30pm. But it will also count down the 24 days as we make our journey towards Christmas day and the birth of Jesus. This countdown clock will feature as part of our Christmas Eve celebration, only a few hours before Christmas Day itself.The next hut is number 268 - see you there.
