Million Mile Clean

Surfers Against Sewage (SAS), now in its 25th year, was in action again today, in Hove, as part of its continuing efforts towards the Million Mile Clean. SAS was founded in 1990 by a group of Cornish surfers concerned about chronic and widespread sewage pollution of the UK coastline. The campaign’s success was helped by key pieces of EU legislation at the time, including the Bathing Water Directive.

Since then SAS has grown into a leading environmental charity, addressing diverse marine conservation issues such as plastic pollution, climate change, and sustainable surfing innovation. Acknowledgement of its growth in importance came in 2020 when Prince Charles became a patron, a role he has maintained since becoming King.

In 2021, SAS came up with the idea of rallying 100,000 volunteers to each clean 10 miles of blue, green or city space a year. Launched in response to the Covid pandemic, the Million Mile Clean subsequently reported it was Europe’s biggest beach clean campaign: 142,428 volunteers in the clean-up efforts; 4,216 beach, river, street, and mountain clean-ups; and 398,179 kg of plastic and packaging pollution cleared across over 1.1 million miles of coast and countryside.

The Million Mile Clean is set to run annually until 2030 (aligning with the UN Decade for Ocean Science), and SAS are continuing to call for people across the UK to join the campaign and commit to cleaning up their local beach or neighbourhood. Details can be found here, and if you want to know whether you can clean by yourself (‘absolutely’), or what to do with the rubbish you’ve collected (recycle if possible), try the FAQs.

It was bitterly cold on the sea front this morning, yet around 30 people turned up, congregating at the Peace Statue, before taking their Surfers Against Sewage waste bags down on to the pebbles.

RNLI to take over beach safety

Brighton and Hove City Council has just announced that the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) will take over the training and managing of the city’s lifeguards from the council’s Seafront Office. Last season, the Office employed around 40 lifeguards working across ten different beach areas. One of the key requirements for an RNLI lifeguard is to be able run 200m on sand in under 40 seconds - not that he/she will find much sand to run on in Brighton.

The RNLI already manages lifeguard services around the country at more than 200 beaches. The charity says its lifeguards dealt with over 2,000 incidents in 2023, assisted nearly 2,500 people in the south east of England alone, and saved 14 lives. 

This week, Councillor Birgit Miller said: ‘Thousands of people visit our glorious seafront each summer and keeping them safe and happy is a huge priority for us. With council budgets continually stretched, we wanted to look at how we could continue to provide a high-quality seasonal service, while getting the best possible value for money for our residents. By working in partnership with the RNLI, which has a proven track record of working with local authorities, we can maintain the current level of service and provide value for money, but also benefit from best practice and knowledge built up over decades.’

Although the council has not announced the financials of its agreement with the RNLI, a report prepared last April by the council revealed that the cost of the lifeguard service that summer, as managed by the Seafront Office, would be £482,193. 

The report also provided more details of the then current operation. The Seafront Office, with seven core staff, is responsible for the end-to-end lifeguard recruitment process, lifeguard inductions, weekly training and management of the operation. Moreover, it is responsible for managing and maintaining a controlled and safe seafront environment, daily patrols, incident management, stakeholder engagement, byelaw enforcement, seafront maintenance, public safety and incident prevention throughout the year.

Key tasks for lifeguards are listed as: 

- water safety advice 

- drowning prevention

- emergency response to water-based incidents,

- emergency response to life-threatening land-based incidents

- minor first aid

- missing persons search and reunite

- sun safety advice, weather and tide information

- hazard identification

- byelaw enforcement on beach (including dogs and barbecues)

Fun fact about RNLI lifeguards: They don’t just rescue humans - they’ve also helped rescue some unexpected animals, such as deer, seals, a terrapin, and even a water-logged puffin! They’ve also become experts at catching runaway inflatable pool toys like unicorns, donuts, and flamingos that get swept out to sea.

NB: More about the history of the RNLI in Brighton coming later in January. 

David Whipp's West Pier

David Whipp, a renowned metal worker and sculptor from Brighton, died a year ago today. Born in 1943, he was celebrated for his vivid imagination and exceptional craftsmanship. He created a diverse range of sculptures, including intricate models of animals, vintage cars, motorbikes, and notable large-scale works. One of his most famous pieces was an 18-foot-long sculpture of Brighton’s West Pier, hence this memory of him here in BrightonBeach365.

David and his brother Brian were raised in Buckingham Road during the 1940s by their single mother, Jean, a wedding and ballroom dressmaker. The Argus did a story on her 100th birthday in 2003. David took a welding and soldering course in the early 1970s. He lived in Preston Road, and had his workshop elsewhere in Brighton.

David’s talent was recognized early on by art patron Lucy Wertheim, she who had supported famous artists like Henry Moore, Cedric Morris and Christopher Wood. According to the Whipp family website, David’s most important pieces include ‘The Suffragette’, the ‘Maria Colwell Statue’ (presented to Rev John Lambert for his efforts in preventing child cruelty), and an amazing 18 ft long model of the West Pier (for the West Pier Preservation Society as it was known until 1978).

On his brother’s death, Brian told The Argus, ‘[David] was well-regarded in Brighton, a character [and] very engaging. He could talk the hind leg off a donkey. He was on a business trip in South Africa around 1995 and was invited to a reception with Nelson Mandela. He was the sort of character who would get around and know people. A lot of his work was bought by private collectors. He used to go every weekend to Green Park in London in the 80s and would sell his sculptures to tourists.’

Whipp’s exhibitions in this country and abroad were very successful, according to a short bio on the family website. It also gives the following information. ‘In Bermuda all his works exhibited were sold on the first day. In 1986, the Director of Racing of the North American Championship ordered a model race car made by David to be presented as the Annual Trophy for the new Indy Car Series. His extensive work is in many galleries and private homes around the world. In his later years his sculptures, particularly his detailed models of pre and post war racing cars, were sought by foreign collectors.’

David was survived by his two partners, five children, and four grandchildren. The Argus noted that his family and the artistic community would remember him as ‘a true Brighton character and a genius with his hands, whose spirit and creations continue to inspire’. 

Pumping above its weight

There is an historic building, a pub, in Market Street called The Pump House. The name derives from an old timber pier with a pump house which used to pump seawater ashore to different establishments for bathing in the 18th century - for health-giving purposes. It’s a handsome building. A few hundred meters away, on the beach itself, can be found the rather less sophisticated Pump Room, presumably once named after the same antiquated business practice. 

But it’s not just the Pump Room, it’s The World Famous Pump Room - even on Google. As I snapped this photograph I wondered whether this was true, so I asked Perplexity. Ever respectful and polite, it answered: ‘While the cafe refers to itself as ‘world famous,’ this designation appears to be more of a branding choice than a reflection of widespread international recognition. There is limited evidence to suggest that the cafe is renowned on a global scale. However, it is well-regarded locally, with patrons praising its prime location, quality offerings, and friendly service.’

However, ‘world famous’ is not the only claim this brilliantly self-aggrandising business makes. A large signage board on the red brick wall next to the cafe promises ‘The Best Ice Cream on Brighton Beach by far!’, and it lists over 20 flavours (Coconut and Pineapple, Banana Fudge, Cappuccino Coffee, Pralines n Cream . . .). There are also several vegan flavors on offer (Apple Pie, Ginger Nut, Chocolate Oreo . . . ). And then, comes this: ‘Probably the most famous Beach Cafe in the world.’

Well, that IS a red rag to the likes of AI fact checkers.

Here is Perplexity’s list of the five most famous beach cafes:

Speedos Café, Bondi Beach ‘the most famous and Instagrammable beach café in the world according to travel magazine Big Seven Travel; Porthminster Beach Café - Cornwall, UK; La Petit Plage - St. Barths, Caribbean; Club Dauphin - Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, France; Comal - Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

And here is ChatGPT’s list:

Scorpios Mykonos - Paraga Beach, Mykonos, Greece; La Guérite - Île Sainte-Marguerite, Cannes, France; Ku De Ta - Seminyak Beach, Bali, Indonesia; Nikki Beach Saint-Tropez - Saint-Tropez, France; The Rock Restaurant - Michamvi Pingwe Beach, Zanzibar

Sorry, even though we all love you Pump Room, you’re punching (pumping!) a tad above your weight.

The carnivorous whelk

Herewith, as promised a couple of days ago and with little adornment, is the life cycle of the common whelk (Buccinum undatum).

Whelks reproduce annually, with spawning occurring between October and May. The process begins when water temperatures drop below 12°C. Females attract males by releasing pheromones, and fertilisation occurs internally. After mating, females move to hard substrates like rocks, shells, or stones to lay their eggs. The eggs are deposited in small, spherical protective capsules, which are stuck together in a sponge-like mass. Each capsule can contain up to 2,700 eggs, and a single female may produce 80-150 capsules.

The embryos develop within the egg capsules for 2-5 months. During this time, many of the eggs serve as food for the developing embryos, with only about 1% successfully developing into juveniles. After 4-5 months, fully formed juvenile whelks hatch from the capsules in winter. Newly hatched whelks measure about 3 mm in shell length. They then grow slowly, reaching 10-15 mm after one year and 21-26 mm at two years. They typically reach sexual maturity between 4.7 and 7.5 years of age, at a shell height of 45-70 mm.

Adult whelks are carnivorous predators and active scavengers. They use chemosensors to detect food in the water, extending a tube called a siphon to funnel water into their sensory organs. Their diet includes polychaete worms, small bivalve molluscs, and carrion. Common whelks typically live for about 10 years.

Unless, of course, they are caught for eating by carnivorous humans.

Brighton & Newhaven Fish Sales operate several boats that catch whelk (among other fish). The Evie Mae, an under-10m multipurpose catamaran, engages in whelk fishing during the warm summer months. One of its fishermen, Kier Foster, was quoted recently as saying: ‘There’s not much of a market here for these [local catches]. It’s best to cook the whelks, slice them up and send them to China where they go for £30 a kilo.” 

Nevertheless, you can buy fresh whelks on Brighton’s pebbles in the summer thanks to Frazer Leigh Smith’s Brighton Shellfish & Oyster Bar where they are served with vinegar and pepper. Delicious - if you like the sort of thing!

Tales of a Victorian sewer outlet

Brighton’s Victorian sewer system, constructed in the late 19th century (more or less 150 years ago), was a remarkable feat of engineering, one that revolutionised waste management in the town. The project, designed by Sir John Hawkshaw in collaboration with Sir Joseph Bazalgette, involved building a seven mile long, brick-lined sewer to transport sewage along the coast four miles beyond the borough boundary, to Telscombe Cliffs. This extensive network, spanning approximately 48 kilometers, was hand-dug by Victorian bricklayers using pickaxes, wheelbarrows, and steam-driven cranes.

Several outfalls like this one beneath the Palace Pier Groyne were integrated into the city’s coastal structures. The groyne  was originally built in 1876 and called Aquarium Promenade Groyne (before being enlarged and named Albion Groyne). Originally designed to discharge stormwater, these outlets also carried raw sewage during heavy rains. The practice persisted, it seems, until the 1990s, when the sewage infrastructure underwent significant modernisation, one involving the construction of a huge storm tunnel, measuring five kilometers in length and six meters in width. Where once the overflow outfall discharged directly into the sea alongside Palace Pier, thereafter water dropped down a 100 foot shaft into the new storage tunnel. 

Even more recently, a £300 million wastewater treatment plant was built in Peacehaven, which now treats all of Brighton’s sewage to near river-water quality.

Subterranea Britannica (or Sub Brit) has a good history of the Brighton sewers inclusive of a first hand report of ‘a gentle stroll round the town sewers’. Much of the Victorian engineering - which of course is mostly underground - can be witnessed on these walking tours, as offered by Southern Water (though currently there is no information about them on their website). You can virtually accompany ex Green MP Caroline Lucas on one tour thanks to YouTube.

Intriguing hints of the city’s industrial archaeological heritage can be spotted above ground - such as this one under the Palace Pier Groyne. Don’t you think it has a kind of industrial beauty with its combination of rusted iron grid, hints of smooth spirals in the tunnel, and textures of rough, weathered concrete?

Joe Stoner on the MyBrighton&Hove website has shared this impish anecdote about about his father and the outlet: ‘In the early 20th Century my father and his mates used to get the tourist, on the pier, to throw coins to them as they swam which they dived down to retrieve. They dived down and used to hide in its large exit hole by the Palace Pier until the tourists thought that they’d drowned and were SO relieved that they weren’t dead they threw bigger denominations of coins!’

And then Stoner also remembers himself in the early 1960s with friends kayaking past the groyne. ‘I used to wonder,’ he says, ‘WHY there were so many durex in the sea there when ALL Brighton’s sewage was pumped under the Under Cliff Walk to Telscome Cliffs where it went out to sea. NOW I know that as an overflow it was cheaper to “let it flow” into the sea where we kayaked and swam! Some things never change, eh?’

Murders and jellyfish

How often would you think the name ‘Brighton Beach’ appears in book titles, past and present? Surprisingly, it transpires the answer is very few. The least rare of these is a play by Neil Simon, Brighton Beach Memoirs, but this does not trouble us, for it concerns Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, not Brighton Beach, UK.

The most recent work I can find is a modern American novel: Murder at Brighton Beach by Lee Strauss. This is advertised as a ‘cozy historical mystery’ and forms part of the Ginger Gold mystery series, with Ginger Gold ‘a stylish and sharp-witted young widow’.

Also recent, but undated, is Brighton Beach (Short Stories Book 1) by Samuel Cain. This is only available in a Kindle edition (for 79p) and contains but 10 pages - enough, however, to reveal the writer doesn’t know Brighton very well. For example, the narrator is on a train arriving into Brighton: ‘My sister was pressed up against the window. “Mum” she said, pointing toward water far in the distance behind a large town. “Are we going there?” she asked as excitement gripped her body making her move erratically. “That’s Brighton beach,” my mother said and I looked toward the waters sparkling in the distance. “What’s a beach?” my sister asked. “A place with lots of sand,” my mother replied.’ However, the book has a rather splendid cover by Waewdao Sirisook. There may be nothing about jellyfish in the story, but floating IS a theme.

Otherwise, I have found two crime works - both rather lost in time. From 1910 comes Brighton Beach by Alice Dudeney. This is a short story originally published in her collection Poor Dear Esme. 

And then there’s The Brighton Beach Mystery by Charles Kingston (1936) by Ward, Lock and Co. This is a second book in the Chief Inspector Wake series and revolves around a murder discovered on Brighton Beach. A review can be read at The Spectator Archive.