Beach Hut 21

Tonight we were back with the shepherds who haven't featured in our Christmas journey since beach hut 6 although their sheep did make an appearance on day 14.

Karen had combined the delight of the shepherds at Bethlehem on that first Christmas with the old saying that we use to help us predict the weather - 'red sky at night, shepherds delight'. It's nice to think that the sky above the stable that night could have reflected their joy at this happy event as well as sparkling with the choirs of angels.

The hut was a little mysterious tonight as there were black drapes hanging down at the front but peeping through these could be seen an idyllic little scene with the shepherds staring up at the red sky alongside a giant (to them) storybook of the Christmas event.

Above this, on the front of the hut was a herald angel, guiding the shepherds to the manger.

The piece that we filmed with the BBC wasn't on broadcast on Wednesday and we're told it's being held over for Christmas Day and will be on BBC Breakfast sometime between 8am and 9am.

In the meantime, make a note of our next hut which is number 374.

Beach Hut 20

Carry Rawle the owner of Hut 20 has had her own theme for her artwork each year she's been involved in the Beach Hut Advent Calendar as well as fitting in with our journey telling the Christmas story. Each year she has produced a beautiful piece of art made from tissue paper to form a kind of stained glass window. This is then lit from behind to produce a striking effect as the whole hut seems to glow with the colours of the art.

The theme for tonight was gold as we continue to look at the wise men and their part in the Christmas story. Carry dressed her hut with gold tinsel and produced a beach hut sized tree topped with a gold star to illustrate this.

The evening was calm and dry and the whole event had a cosy feel to it as there was a brazier burning away and chairs gathered round so people could sit and keep warm as they drank their mulled wine and chatted about Christmas.

The next hut is 410 up by Hove lagoon.

Beach Hut 19

Today was the day the BBC decided to come back to the Brighton seafront to film a few huts ready for broadcast later this week so of course the weather was terrible and it rained all afternoon the whole time they were here. The piece should be broadcast nationally on BBC Breakfast this Wednesday or Thursday.


Ironically the rain stopped about 6pm which encouraged people to come out to see hut 425 turning what could have been a washout into quite a successful evening.



The theme for tonight continued to focus on the wise men as we have been for the last few days. The hut was full of gifts piled up in front of a manger with a quote from the gospel of John posted up above it all. While we all know that the wise men brought gifts to the stable to give to Jesus, we sometimes forget that Jesus himself was a gift from God.

The next hut is number 341 when we'll be looking at one particular gift - Gold.

Beach Hut 18

Tonight was a bit special as one of the Beyond team produced an amazing work of artistic genius in hut 424. Kirsty Tyler has an imagination which is only surpassed by her craft skills and she put these both to work using the simplest of materials - cardboard. In her nimble hands this staple of the recycling bin became the most gorgeous animated scene reminiscent of the puppet theatres so prevalent on English beaches in the past.

The theme was the wise men and Kirsty combined this with the myth contained in the song I Saw Three Ships to imagine the wise men arriving at a nativity scene set on Brighton Pier. This in itself would have made for an interesting artwork but this installation went beyond that as the boat and the waves all moved, rocking backwards and forwards as though driven by the wind which mercifully was absent this evening.

The detail in the modelling was unbelievable with each of the wise men carrying individual gifts for the baby Jesus who lay in a straw lined manger wrapped in swaddling clothes. The whole thing had it's own internal lighting and was powered by hidden motors which were engineered and fixed in place by Tony Leaney.

There was almost a disaster when it started to rain just before the official opening at 5.30 - as you can imagine cardboard doesn't respond well to rain - but the team were able to protect everything while the unexpected shower passed over and the rest of the evening stayed dry.

After tonight the scene will make it's way to St. Luke's church, Prestonville where it will be on display Christmas morning during the family service at 10.30am.

The evening included live music, provided by Dave Tyler and friends Jim and Maggs, and everyone got to join in with songsheets being handed out alongside the mulled wine and mince pies.

The next hut is right alongside this at number 425 and will look in more detail at the gifts the wise men brought.

Beach Hut 17

Hut 177 took us back to our Mexican beginnings which was very appropriate for the family who owned the hut as they will be spending Christmas in Mexico.

Their theme for tonight was the donkey and so the centrepiece of the evening was a donkey pinata along with Mexican hammock and decorations including decorated skulls which is part of another Mexican tradition around the same time as our Halloween when they remember their dead loved ones and celebrate with them.

The night was cold but calm and was helped with the addition of a burning brazier which people were able to huddle around along with their mulled wine and mince pies.

The highlight of the evening for the children was the chance to line up and have a go at bashing the pinata to see if they could get some of the sweets packed inside it. By the end of the evening the poor little donkey was looking a bit worse for wear but had served it's purpose well.

Most of the rest of the huts are up by Hove Lagoon and the next one is hut 424 which promises to be an amazing creation from one of the Beyond team.

Beach Hut 16

We have had a host of angels over the last week because in the Christmas story angels crop up a number of times and hut 195 was no exception as we turned up to see Anne-Marie's interpretation of this theme.

The decoration outside the hut almost outshone the inside as it featured two large herald angels and a golden centrepiece. Inside we were presented with a simple little stable underneath an enormous guiding star. Everything was set off by a rich red backdrop with yet more angels silhouetted in the sky above the scene.


The evening was calm, clear and cold, quite a contrast to some of the evenings we've had so far but hopefully a sign of the weather to come as we head in to our last week of huts and our final gathering on Christmas Eve.

Throughout our journey towards Christmas we've been collecting photographs of some of the faces who have come to see the installations and on Christmas Eve we plan to collage these all together to form our own heavenly host of those who have joined us on this Christmas pilgrimage this year.

Hut 177 will be your next chance to join in with this - come and have your photo taken so you can join our heavenly throng.

Beach Hut 15

Tonight we got our first hint that the wise men were on their way. Hut 11 featured a desert landscape with two camels winding their way through the hills towards a special star shining in the east.


Although we always talk about there being three kings, actually the Bible doesn't say how many there were and it is just assumed because they brought three gifts. We'll be hearing more about the gifts later in the advent calendar.

Amanda and Brian put this hut together - they have developed a reputation for creative ideas with their hut during the beach hut advent calendar. They particularly seem to like covering the floor having carpeted it with cotton wool sheep and creating a set of stairs in our previous calendars. Tonight it was covered in quite a few bags of sand which will make it's way to the beach sometime soon.

This is the last hut by Hove Lawns as all the rest of our huts are East of the King Alfred leisure centre. The next hut is number 195.

Beach Hut 14

Sheep were much in evidence tonight as this was the theme as we draw closer to the birth of Jesus.

John & Mandy Taylor and friends had produced a number of knitted sheep who were hung around the hut as though grazing across the hills. Mandy had actually been out onto the Sussex Downs and photographed sheep so that she could accurately portray them in her hut, and each image was based upon an actual sheep. A group of friends then knitted squares from a variety of different types of wool which were assembled into the final wooly portraits.

There were a few quotations added to the installation and during the evening these were added to with spoken words by Catriona who had written some poems which she also performed from inside the hut as everyone crowded round to hear.

Tonight we not only had a stiff wind to contend with but also some major thunderstorms flashing away out to sea although fortunately none of these came to shore to bother us.


This was just as well because halfway through the proceedings, local all-female Morris dancing troupe, Cuckoos Nest performed for us. Avoiding the pebbles which had been washed up onto the prom by the previous nights storm, they did four dances for us, including two which involved quite violent stick wielding, made all the more impressive because it was so dark that they must have had trouble seeing clearly.

The next hut is by Hove Lawns just like tonight's and is number 11 (NOT 399 as appeared on some of the publicity in error).

Beach Hut 13

After last night's storm with it's high winds and rain it was interesting to return to beach hut 399 to discover that the hut next to it had been swept away overnight. It was definitely there last night but today there was no sign that a hut had ever been on that space, you can see the gap in our photo above.

This was symbolic of the story we saw enacted on the windy seafront as Janina and her trusty 'Elastic Band' performed a little musical entitled 'Mary's Story'. Mary had a stormy life from the moment she agreed to be the handmaid of the Lord and the mother of Jesus and this was beautifully brought to life by the players tonight. They set up hut 399 as a squat for the homeless couple, bringing home the reality for these two left wandering the streets with nowhere to rest.


Even when they found the stable their relationship was troubled as they bickered about the circumstances that had brought them to this place. The acting was interspersed with songs written by Janina especially for tonight which she also accompanied in the freezing wind on her ukelele.

There were some charming and poignant moments, especially when one of the performers leaned into the scene to hold a little lighted star for Mary to gaze at as she prepared for the birth.

We will look for another opportunity to stage to stage this so that a wider audience gets to see it and hopefully we can find a clear night when there's no rain or wind, although that might be a bit hopeful this deep into the winter!

The next hut is down by Hove Lagoon - number 44 which will feature illustrators and a troupe of all-female Morris Dancers.

Beach Hut 12

The 1st Hove Girl's Brigade put on a great event tonight in hut 381 despite the very windy conditions and the threat of a major storm which fortunately didn't start until after we'd finished.

A good number still came out to support the girls who managed to cram themselves inside the hut which was already pretty full with a manger as this was the theme for tonight. The girls stood around emulating the last line of Once in Royal David's City but singing a whole range of carols for us to join in with.


The baby stayed in his manger all wrapped up in straw, although maybe a safeguarding officer would have something to say about putting a lamb in the cot alongside the baby, no matter how warm it kept him!




The whole image was finished off with a sombrero to remind us of the inspiration for this advent journey - Las Posadas.

Next hut is 399 up by the lagoon and promises to be exciting as Janina has written some music especially for the occasion and has a number of people coming to help her perform this for the first time in public on the 13th.