Brighton half marathon at 35!

Congratulations Seyfu Jamaal - an Ethiopian-born athlete - who won this morning’s Brighton half marathon in a record course time of 64:30 - see BBC Sussex. Congratulations also to Christa Cain who won the women’s race and John Hinkinbottom who won the wheelchair race. The 10,000 strong event, organised by the local charity Sussex Beacon, has grown significantly since its inception in 1990, and is known for its attractive flat seafront course. This photo of Jamal was taken shortly after the start of the race, when he was already flying in the lead.

Born in 2000, Jamaal fled political unrest in Ethiopia and arrived in the UK in 2018 as a victim of human trafficking. On settling in London, he joined the Heathside running club, where he consistently delivered outstanding performances. In 2019, he was ranked number one in the UK for under-20s in both the 10,000 meters and the half marathon. However, his asylum application was rejected by the Home Office, and he faced deportation. Thanks to his contributions to the community and athletic potential, he won an appeal to remain in the UK. His time this morning was just a minute shy of his half marathon best.

A first such half marathon event in Brighton was initially organised by a small group of individuals, and the funds raised from the inaugural race in 1990 helped build The Sussex Beacon, a local HIV care charity. Starting with only a few hundred runners, and now in its 35th year, the event has become one of the largest half marathons in the country. The previous men’s course record was 1:04:56, set by Paul Navesey in 2019; and the women's course record is 1:14:27, set by Eleanor Davis in 2017. Over past years, the Kiwi Paul Martelletti stands out as a four-time consecutive winner of the men’s race. 

It’s worthing noting that, in 2012, the race had to be re-measured after organisers realised the course was 146 meters too short. Thousands of runners who thought they had set personal bests actually hadn’t completed a full half marathon distance.

Here, once, long ago . . .

Here is the third of 25 stained glass window designs on the Palace Pier which AI and I are using as inspiration for some of these BrightonBeach365 daily posts - see Stained glass window 1 for background. This one depicts a coastal scene with sandy beach, a patchwork blue sea, and white chalk cliffs topped with green hills - reminiscent of the iconic Seven Sisters near Eastbourne. A seagull soars in the turquoise sky.

Limerick starter

By the cliffs where the wild seagulls glide,

And the waves kiss the shore in their stride,

Stands a view bathed in light,

Stained in blue, gold, and white,

A bright window where memories still hide.

Here, once, long ago . . . (in the style of Virginia Woolf)

The sea, endless, undulating, the light on it like fragments of glass scattered, shifting, uncatchable. She stood on the cliff’s edge, the air thick with salt and memory. Here, once, long ago - or was it only yesterday? - she had stood with her mother, small hand in the larger, fingers pressed into the cool linen of her dress.

‘The tide,’ her mother had said, ‘comes and goes. Just like us.’

Now the tide was low, revealing sandbars slick and golden, the blue water folding over them in sheets of silk. The white bird, fixed in its motion, rose, dipped, hovered - no, not the bird, the light. Or was it her thought, circling, returning, never quite alighting?

She had left. The city had swallowed her, the rhythm of trains and traffic erasing the lulling hush of waves. And yet, here, in this moment, the sea reclaimed her, drew her back into itself, as if she had never been gone at all. The sky stretched, the cliffs stood, the bird soared, unchanging. Only she, trembling, felt the passage of time, the slow etching of years upon the mind like wind upon the chalk-white stone.

She stepped forward, down the winding path that led to the shore, her boots slipping slightly on the damp earth. The wind pressed against her, urging her on, carrying with it the scent of seaweed and brine. She remembered running down this path as a child, feet bare, pebbles sharp beneath her soles, her mother’s voice calling her name, half warning, half laughter.

At the water’s edge, she bent, fingers skimming the foam as a wave retreated. The cold shocked her skin. A piece of sea glass, smoothed and pale, lay half-buried in the sand. She picked it up, held it to the light. Blue, like the window in the old chapel on the hill. Like the sky before a storm.

Footsteps behind her. A voice - soft, familiar.

‘You always did love the sea.’

She turned. And for a moment, the years dissolved like the foam at her feet.

Now you see them . . .

Brighton Beach is justly famed for its starling murmurations during the winter months. Usually as dusk approaches and before roosting for the night, many thousands of these birds swarm and swoop through the sky - between and near both piers - dancing together in what look like carefully-choreographed ensembles, thus creating the most mesmerising patterns. Crowds of humans gather on the beach and the pier, cameras in hand, to capture the sight. And the photographs they take can be made yet more photogenic (startling even!) with either of the piers in the background and/or the setting sun.

NOW YOU SEE THEM . . .

These two photographs were taken a few minutes apart last evening(the sun drops fairly quickly below the horizon line at this time of year). I was not able to capture the beautiful shapes made by the murmurations - though wonderful videos and gorgeous stills of them can be found elsewhere, such as on Facebook and Instagram. However, the above photo gives a sense, maybe, of how each bird twists and turns through the sky, painting the air with movement - pure, wild, and apparently weightless - to form a scene both serene and dramatic, a fleeting moment of natural beauty.

NOW YOU DON'T . . .

According to The Woodland Trust, thousands of starlings all swirling and swooping together means one thing: safety. The sheer volume of birds confuses predators like peregrine falcons and makes it much harder for them to pick off individual birds. The characteristic shapes of a murmuration come from the rapid changes in direction. Starlings have extremely fast reactions, so when one bird changes speed or direction, the birds around it do too. This also allows the birds to move within the murmuration itself, meaning that no one bird spends too much time at the edge of the group, where they’re vulnerable to predation. When roosting, apparently, they also like to snuggle up together for a warmer night.

Apart from Brighton, other famous murmuration sites include: Shapwick Heath, Somerset Levels (where six million birds were recorded in 1999); Aberystwyth Pier, Ceredigion; Leighton Moss, Lancashire; Fen Drayton, Cambridgeshire; Minsmere, Suffolk; Newport Wetlands, South Wales.

A bit of pizzazz

‘We want to bring a bit of pizzazz to the seafront. It is the city’s shopfront and councillors want it to fully express the ambition they have for an inclusive and fun place for all.’ This is the Rt Hon Lord Bassam of Brighton - once a Brighton squatter - explaining why he is seeking volunteers to join an independent Seafront Development Board to help shape a vision and encourage investment in ‘our treasured seafront’. Bassam, a previous leader of the council and a member of the House of Lords, was appointed chair of the new board just four weeks ago.

The council says it is looking for board members with a range of skills and experience including: expertise in business, tourism or culture; an interest in the seafront (for example owning a key asset); expertise in urban design or another relevant specialism; and/or being able to represent a particular interest or group. Volunteers will be expected to commit for one year at least, and attend four meetings as well as site visits and openings. 

Lord Bassam is well placed to bring a high level of expertise to his new role. Although never having been elected an MP, he was created a life peer and then served in many different government roles, including Chief Whip in Gordon Brown’s government (from 2008), and Opposition Chief Whip (from 2010). He resigned in 2018 after an expenses scandal (in which he was ultimately judged to have been negligent rather than dishonest). Soon after, he was appointed chair of a parliamentary select committee on the Regeneration of Seaside Towns. After an initial report in 2019, and a government response, there was a follow-up review and a government policy paper.

Bassam has an interesting background. He grew up on a council estate in Great Bentley, Essex, and studied at the University of Sussex (and the University of Kent, earning a Master’s degree in social work). He was a far-left anarchist and squatter in Brighton, co-founding the Brighton and Hove Squatters Union which advocated rights to occupy unused properties. In January 1976, according to Wikipedia, Bassam led opposition to the eviction of a family from a house on West Hill Road, stating, ‘We will gladly vacate the premises if we are assured that the family at the top of the housing list is given the house to live in.’

See Tony Greenstein’s blog for a flashback to Bassam’s early political days in Brighton (inc. the photos here)!

HOVE LAGOON in murals

At the far western end of Brighton’s beach, by Hove Lagoon and just behind the sea wall and beach huts, can be found a very lively community-hearted area of leisure facilities. There are water activities in the lagoon itself, but also a vibrant cafe, a new skateboard park, and cool kids’ playgrounds. The area is particularly rich in mural art, some dating back at least a quarter of a century. In particular, the letters of HOVE LAGOON have been muralled onto the north side of the wall. My photos here show two of the letters, one taken in October 2016, and one taken last weekend.

In 2000, Brighton artist Steve Riske collaborated with local youngsters to create a 400ft mural along the raised sea wall. This initiative was part of the Splash and Paddle Appeal, a community-driven effort to revitalise the lagoon area. Notably, Hove-based actor Nick Berry was the largest single contributor to the appeal, donating £7,000 to support the project.

In July 2016, renowned street artist Aroe, with the support of local councillor Robert Nemeth, led a project to paint a mural on the wall of Hove Lagoon, starting at the skate park end. This collaboration aimed to enhance the visual appeal of the lagoon and to engage the community in the process. It included a stretch of mural spelling out the (giant) letters of HOVE LAGOON. I photographed all the letters that year (2016) - see my Graffiti Brighton blog.

The letters were redesigned and repainted, again with Aroe as the lead artist, in 2024. I have here included photos of two of the recently-painted letters alongside their original design from 2016. The new “V” mural, featuring a woman’s profile adorned with flowers, was created by @kiki_graf.inc.; and the recent Poseidon “O” mural was created by local artist Mick Mowgli. Here’s a full list of the 2024 artists responsible for each letter. 

H: SNUB23

O: Molar

V: @kiki_graf.inc

E: Drren101

L: Killerpete

A: I Am Sprite

G: Guy Favela

O: Mick Mowgli

O: Travels in Tequila

N: Aroe

Many thanks to Friends of Hove Lagoon for their help in confirming this information. Incidentally, FoHL are holding a fund-raising auction of ‘amazing artworks’ soon, on 15 March.

Brighton Beach Cowboy

The tide had pulled back, leaving a scatter of pebbles and seaweed tangled like a woman’s uncombed hair. Jeb Coulter stood at the water’s edge, boot heels digging into the wet sand, staring down at the thing half-buried beneath the wrack. It was a revolver, or at least the ghost of one, its shape worn smooth by salt and time. He bent down and picked it up, turning it in his hand. The weight was gone, its cylinder fused, the barrel plastic. Still, the sight of it sent a shiver down his spine.

It had been years since Jeb last held a gun. Years since the night he rode out of Abilene with his brother’s blood on his hands and a Cherokee war party at his heels. He had made it to the coast, crossed the ocean to escape his past, and found a different kind of frontier along these windswept shores. But some things, it seemed, could never be outrun.

He turned at the sound of footsteps crunching over stone. A man in a long coat approached, the collar pulled up high against the wind. Jeb recognised the stride before he saw the face.

‘Figured you might turn up sooner or later,’ Jeb muttered, slipping the ruined gun into his coat pocket.

The man stopped a few paces away, close enough for Jeb to see the jagged scar along his cheek. ‘You know why I’m here.’

Jeb nodded. He had known for a long time that his past would come calling. He had betrayed the Comanche chief who took him in as a boy, abandoned his tribe when the Army came, and left his own blood to die on the plains. The man standing before him was proof that debts were never truly settled.

‘I ain’t the same man I was back then,’ Jeb said. ‘And that thing ain’t a gun anymore.’

The man smiled grimly. ‘Don’t matter. You know what’s gotta be done.’

Jeb sighed, his breath misting in the cold air. He looked past the man, out to where the waves rolled against the shore, dark and endless. He could run again. Try to disappear into the mist. Or he could face what was coming, the way a man ought to.

His hand fingered the ghostly revolver in his pocket. Useless. Just like trying to change the past.

The wind howled, carrying the cries of gulls and ghosts alike. Jeb squared his shoulders.

‘All right,’ he said. ‘Let’s finish this.’

With thanks to ChatGPT, and apologies to Elmer Kelton.

Brighton Beach - western end

Walk westward along the pebbles of Brighton Beach, past the piers and the i360, and you will eventually reach a somewhat rusty metal fence barring your way - marking the western end of the public beach (see also How long is Brighton Beach). It’s not impossible to climb over the fence, or walk around at lower tide times, but a tatty blue sign announces it is a ‘Private Beach’ and asks whoever happens to reach the railings to ‘Please kindly respect our privacy’. You can see the backs of the much-extended and windowed terrace of expensive houses stretching towards Shoreham, with the power station chimney in the far distance.

The houses here at the western end - all actually closer to the sea than any other residences along Brighton Beach - have long since been nicknamed Millionaire’s Row, though their postal address is Western Esplanade. Originally termed Aldrington Beach Bungalows, the area comprised simple seaside retreats. By the 1920s, these properties were officially designated as Hove Seaside Villas. Unlike typical public seafronts, they were developed on private land, featuring a private road and unique access to private beaches down to the low water mark - a distinction that sets them apart from most other coastal properties. The privilege was later formalised through legal agreements, and these were further solidified with the council in 1984.

Western Esplanade has been (and/or still is) home to numerous celebrities and prominent figures: Fatboy Slim (Norman Cook), Zoe Ball, Adele, Paul McCartney and Heather Mills, comedian David Walliams, and actor Nick Berry. A few properties have changed hands in recent years confirming the Millionaire’s Row tag: 4 Western Esplanade sold for £3.25 in 2022, 2a Western Esplanade sold for £1.5m in 2023, and 8 Western Esplanade sold for £2.9m last year.  

These beach houses are set to benefit from a major £35m project - Brighton Marina to River Adur Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Scheme - involving Adur District Council, Shoreham Port, the Environment Agency, and the Western Esplanade Management Company (acting for the Millionaire’s Row owners).  See also Brighton and Hove News.

The scheme is aimed at enhancing coastal defences along the 10km stretch between Brighton Marina and the River Adur with the primary goal of mitigating the risks posed by climate change and rising sea levels to residential houses (i.e. Millionaire’s Row) and commercial properties (including Shoreham Sewage Pumping Station and Shoreham Power Station) along the coastline. It involves constructing rock revetments, repairing and strengthening flood walls and defences (some 15,000 tonnes of granite rocks to be heaped on the beach), replacing inadequate structures, and installing new timber groynes.

Coming soon: Brighton Beach - eastern end