Story Category: Legacy

This is a legacy story from an earlier version of our website. It may contain some formatting issues and broken links.

Continuing our celebration of pioneering women of Sussex, today Amy Zamarripa Solis talks about children’s novelist and tv, film and radio writer, Catherine Johnson FRSL (1962-present)

Catherine Johnson is another Sussex-based author who caught my eye last year with her much-needed books about Black and mixed race people throughout the ages.

Catherine Johnson, courtesy of the author

Freedom (2019) tells the tale of 12-year-old slave boy Nathaniel, who is brought from Jamaica to England to tend pineapple plants aboard the ship by masters who have sold off his mother and sister. Freedom was nominated for the Carnegie Medal and is her most recent children’s book, a gripping story  and “brilliant, meaningful gem of a novel” (Waterstones), set amongst the true life Zong court case of the 133 slaves murdered at sea in 1783.

In the UK, children and Young Adult (YA) literature is where top quality writing is happening, thanks to many wonderful writers of colour such as Grace Nichols, Patrice  Lawrence, Catherine Johnson and others.

Catherine Johnson is a British author and screenwriter. She was born in London in 1962. Her father was Jamaican and her mother was Welsh. Catherine grew up in North London and attended Tetherdown Primary School. Later she studied film at St Martin’s School of Art, before turning to writing.

Catherine has published 20 novels, starting with her first book, The Last Welsh Summer (1993) and Landlocked (1999). She has written several books for children and young adults, including A Nest of Vipers (Corgi, 2008), the story of Cato Hopkins, the youngest member of a group of expert fraudsters. Her next book, Sawbones, was published in October 2013 and won the Young Quills Award for Historical Fiction. The Curious Tale of the Lady Caraboo, published by Penguin Random House in 2015 was nominated for the CILIP Carnegie Medal 2016 and shortlisted the YA Book Prize — the story is based on the true life cobbler’s daughter from Devon who fooled the British Establishment in the early 19th century.

Front cover image of Catherine Johnson’s novel ‘Freedom’

More recent books include Race To The Frozen North (2018) and Freedom (2019), which was nominated for the CILIP Carnegie Medal  and IBBY, the international board for books for young people as its honour list title for 2020.

Catherine also writes for film, television and radio. In 2005, she co-wrote the highly acclaimed feature film Bullet Boy, followed by a number of commissions for Century Films, Working Title and Channel 4. Her TV work includes Rough Crossings for Simon Schama and Holby City. She is currently working on an adaptation of Miranda Kaufmann’s Black Tudors for Silverprint Pictures.

Catherine has been a Royal Literary Fund Fellow at the London Institute, a Writer in Residence at Holloway Prison and a Reader in Residence at the Royal Festival Hall’s Imagine Children’s Literature Festival.

In 2019 Catherine was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. She is also contributor to the anthology New Daughters of Africa (Myriad Editions, 2019), edited by Margaret Busby.

I enjoyed perusing her website, which is full of colourful anecdotes, updates and the complete backlog of her publications. I highly recommend checking it out.

Written by Amy Zamarripa Solis

Amy Zamarripa Solis is a producer, writer and artist from Austin, Texas.

 She is Director of This Too Is Real, an arts production and management company, specialising in arts, culture, heritage and diversity. She also runs Writing Our Legacy, a literature organisation set up in 2012, focused on supporting Black and ethnic minority writers and writing in Sussex and South East of England. Her latest projects include Constructed Geographies, a touring exhibition of Sussex visual artists (2018-19), Hidden Sussex anthology (Writing Our Legacy, 2019) and No Place Like Home, an exploration into childhood home and its loss, starting with her own Mexican-American community in Austin Texas, ¡La Cultura No Se Vende! (Our Culture is Not For Sale!), told through short stories, film and archive material. She is Co-Chair of Disability Arts Online and on the Boards of AudioActive and New Writing South.

 Writing Our Legacy

Writing Our Legacy is an organisation whose aim is to raise awareness of the contributions of Black and Ethnic Minority (BME) writers, poets, playwrights and authors born, living or connected to Sussex and the South East. We employ Mosaic charity’s definition of Black to be ‘Black people’ and ‘mixed-parentage people’ including all those people whose ancestral origins are African, Asian, Caribbean, Chinese, Middle Eastern, North African, Romany, the indigenous peoples of the South Pacific islands, the American continents, Australia and New Zealand. We run events across Sussex and the South East that showcase emerging and established BME writers and provide professional development and networking opportunities.

This is a legacy story from an earlier version of our website. It may contain some formatting issues and broken links.

Today marks the birthday of one of the most successful British female swimmers ever. Former Bognor resident, Joyce Cooper (1909-2002) isn’t a name that springs to mind immediately when thinking of the great sportswomen our county has produced.  Yet, according to British Swimming, she remains to this day one of the most decorated female swimmers Britain has ever produced.

Joyce Cooper resting at the Domain Baths during the New South Wales Championships, 8 January 1934

Born in Sri Lanka, 18 April 1909, where her father owned a tea plantation, the young Joyce started to swim in the bracing sea off Bognor when the family moved there.  It was only in 1925 when, staying in Eastbourne and seeing the strange sight of a woman doing the crawl in a local pool that she thought ‘perhaps I’ll do that’ and started to take up the sport seriously.

Just two years later Joyce was already of medal winning standard.  At the 1927 European Championships in Bologna, her first major international event, she came close to winning gold when she tied with another swimmer in the 100m freestyle race.  In the days before photo finishes and video re-play, the only way to establish a winner during an apparent draw was to rerun the race.  As Joyce was unable to take part in the re-run due to a health issue, she was awarded the silver.  She did take home gold from the competition, however, as part of the 4 x100m freestyle team.  At the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics, the following year, hopes were high for the British team.  Numbers of female competitors had doubled since the last Olympics and, for the first time, the swimmers wouldn’t be hampered by ungainly and heavy, knee-length swimming costumes.  Joyce didn’t disappoint and won two bronze medals and a silver for Great Britain.  It was at the inaugural British Empire Games in 1930 in Canada, however, where Joyce, representing England, really got into her stride.  She won an incredible three gold medals, coming top in three of the four individual women’s titles, topping this with a fourth gold as part of the 4 ×100 yard relay team.  At the European Championships in Paris the following year Joyce went on to add three silvers and a bronze to her tally, and in the Los Angeles Olympics of 1932 she won a bronze medal and broke the world record in the heats for the 100m backstroke.

Joyce Cooper was a versatile swimmer who was as much at home swimming back stroke as freestyle and equally comfortable swimming long distances, winning many long distance swimming championships at the same time as her international successes.  A woman of many talents, she also worked as a tailor and taught ballroom dancing.  In 1934 she married another Olympian, rower John Badcock.  Their eldest son, Felix Badcock, also became a medal winning rower.

Joyce Cooper, 1932

Although not a household name today, Joyce’s achievements are particularly impressive when you consider that in her youth swimming wasn’t as accessible for women as it is today.  Not only was swimwear generally designed for modesty not speed, but most pools only offered segregated bathing times with women having to wait until the appointed ‘ladies day’ to be able to practise.

A worthy inductee in the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1996, the incredible Joyce Cooper died in Chichester in 2002.

This is a legacy story from an earlier version of our website. It may contain some formatting issues and broken links.

Over the last few weeks we’ve produced a lot for you to read or look at, but not much for your ears to enjoy.

Our Marketing Officer Rob White has a remedy for that with a weekend soundtrack inspired by our museums.

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• Open playlist in Spotify

It’s important for me that digital content takes many forms, and I think that audio can often by forgotten or take a back seat to written content.

Many people, including myself, really connect with music and so with our museums closed to the public my aim was to curate a collection of songs that evoke moods or thoughts similar to those you may have in a museum environment. Songs that provide space for thought, reflection, inspiration, motivation, creativity and calm.

I really hope you enjoy the tracks I’ve chosen.

Rob White, Marketing Officer

This is a legacy story from an earlier version of our website. It may contain some formatting issues and broken links.

Many visitors have fallen in love with the beautiful Edwardian interiors of Preston Manor. For RPM Visitor Services Officer Naomi Daw, it is the influence of Palladianism and sense of balance of the exterior which has captured her attention.

Preston Manor is located on the outskirts of the city of Brighton and Hove, on Preston Drove. It is set on the edge of the grounds of Preston Park, a public park and focal point for local events. Inside the building, the beautiful Edwardian interiors have been restored so visitors can experience what everyday life was like during the Edwardian period.

My interest is in the exterior of the building, which shows the influence of Palladianism, and the garden spaces around the building. I will be exploring both the exterior of the building and the gardens around Preston Manor in this piece.

The building has been owned by Brighton and Hove City Council, previously the Brighton Corporation, since 1932. It was left to the people of Brighton ‘by deed of gift, dated 30th March 1925’, by Sir Charles Thomas Stanford, who owned the house. The first record of Preston Manor is in the Domesday Book of 1086, where it is recorded as one of eight manors belonging to the Bishopric of Chichester. It then passed to the ownership of the Elrington family in 1510, and then to the Shirley family in 1569. The Western family acquired the property in 1712, and kept it until 1794 when it was bought by William Stanford for the sum of £17,600. The Manor building has changed drastically since its mention in the Domesday Book. Thomas Western completely demolished the original building in 1738, rebuilding it according to the fashion of the time, and adding two small wings in 1750. Few additions or changes were made to the building in the nineteenth century, other than the building of a stone tower in 1880. The tower has since been destroyed, although the base remains. In 1905, Ellen Stanford made significant additions to the building, including a new servants’ and visitors’ wing, and a ‘Regency-style veranda’. After passing in to the ownership of Brighton and Hove City Council in 1932, the building has not been changed at all, and ‘Preston Manor has remained a living testament to the Stanford family and a reflection of their daily lives at Preston Manor’.

Photograph showing the rear elevation of Preston Manor from the lawn. Image © Royal Pavilion and Museums

When you observe the exterior of the building, the balance and symmetry of the building is particularly noticeable. This has been achieved by Thomas Western’s 1750 addition of two smaller wings. The use of balance and symmetry shows the influence of Palladianism, an architectural style that was popular in Britain in the period between 1715 and 1760. Palladianism was a style based on the designs created by Andrea Palladio (1508-1580), a sixteenth century Venetian architect who was inspired by Roman and Greek architecture and its emphasis on perfect proportion. In Britain, neoclassicism developed into a distinctively British style with plain exteriors that highlighted the rules of symmetry, perspective and proportion. The neoclassical style was most famously applied to British architecture by Inigo Jones. At Preston Manor, you can clearly see the neoclassical influences on the portico and the pilasters on the front and back of the building. Thomas Western’s addition of the two wings give the building a sense of balance, an element that Johann Joachim Winckelmann thought was essential for buildings in the neoclassical style. Winckelmann argued that buildings in the neoclassical Palladian style – like Preston Manor – should display ‘noble grandeur and sublime symmetry’.

There are similarities between the architecture of Preston Manor and other stately or manor homes created in a neoclassical style. For example, there are notable similarities in Colen Campbell’s (1676-1729) designs for the façade of Stourhead Castle and that of Preston Manor. Both buildings have a central wing flanked by two smaller ones. As in the designs for Stourhead Castle, the porches at the front and back of Preston Manor are positioned centrally, and help to establish the symmetry of the building.

In the grounds at Preston Manor, there are walled gardens that date from 1600 and the layout of the gardens is in the style of this period. The Walled Garden is divided into four main sections around a central fountain and directly contrasts with the more open, sculpted land of Preston Park. The landscaping of Preston Park is reminiscent of other areas of landscaped parkland around the city, such as Stanmer Park. Landscaping wider areas of parkland was made fashionable in the eighteenth century by designers such as Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown (1716-1783). Both the landscaping of the gardens and the symmetry of the house can be seen clearly in sketches of Preston Manor from the early nineteenth century. Later additions to the Manor, like the Regency-style closed veranda added by Ellen Stanford in 1905, represent changing attitudes to the use of the house and a nostalgia for earlier styles experienced in the Edwardian era.

Naomi Daw, Visitor Services Officer

This is a legacy story from an earlier version of our website. It may contain some formatting issues and broken links.

Every Wednesday afternoon our Museum Support Officer Beth organises the Mid-Week Draw in Museum Lab at Brighton Museum & Art Gallery.

Last week we decided to move the Draw online, so those of you at home who wanted to continue drawing objects from our collections could do so. Beth has chosen a new selection for this week and has drawn them herself to inspire you to do the same. Take a look.

Draw Artists

We are very pleased to see that some of you have taken part in our online Mid-Week Draw, here are some of the fantastic works that have been sent in.

Jenny

I chose the great green bug and used water colours! – Lauren

Steve

Join In

If you are tempted to have a go, please share your drawings with us, we would love to see them. Email them to Beth at beth.burr@brighton-hove.gov.uk Tweet @BrightonMuseums or if you are uploading them to Facebook with pride, share the url in the comments section below.

Come back next Wednesday to see what new objects Beth has chosen.

Other alternative ideas, in case you want something different or additional to draw:

• Sketch your hands in different positions (or holding an object). Draw your feet
• Draw an old pair of shoes
• A simple object from nature, such as a pine cone

Discover More

The Mid-Week Draw

Beth Burr, Museum Support Officer

This is a legacy story from an earlier version of our website. It may contain some formatting issues and broken links.

Before we had to temporarily close our doors due to the Covid-19 virus, I was busy preparing a display showcasing the work of two of George IV’s principal designers, or interior decorators, at the Royal Pavilion.

This exhibition, which was due to open in May 2020 at Brighton Museum, is now delayed. This doesn’t stop me giving you a bit of a taste of what is to come: delicate drawings, daring designs, colourful enamels, porcelain, wallpaper and any number of dragons. Here is the first of these visual appetisers.

The Royal Pavilion’s extremely colourful and ornate interiors make it the most exotic looking of all royal buildings in this country and quite possibly the whole of Europe.

It is easy to forget that these large-scale and ambitious design schemes all began with small and intricate drawings and designs. The Royal Pavilion is a great example of interior decoration becoming a genre in its own right in the early nineteenth century, quite separate from architecture.

The architect John Nash, responsible for the Pavilion’s distinctive Indian and Gothic exterior look from 1815 onwards, had little to do with the interiors. Instead George employed designers John Crace (1754–1819) and his son Frederick Crace (1779–1859) from 1802. They were later joined by the hugely creative Robert Jones (active 1815–1835) about whom we sadly know very little.

We do know a lot about the Craces though. The family Messrs Crace & Sons worked at the Royal Pavilion between 1802 and 1823, and further redecoration and restoration work was carried out by John Dibblee Crace (Frederick’s grandson) in the 1880s and 1890s until the firm folded in 1899.

A drawing by Frederick Crace, c1815, based on a plate in William Alexander’s The Costume of China (1805).

A significant collection of Crace drawings relating to the Pavilion is in the Cooper-Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum in New York but we are very lucky to have around 230 loose sketches and an important complete sketchbook in our collection. Most of these drawings are attributed to Frederick Crace but it is hard to be precise about this and only very few are dated. Some of these drawings and the objects that inspired them were going to be shown in a new exhibition in the Prints & Drawings Gallery of Brighton Museum in early May. This is now delayed  but we are able to show you some of the objects in this blog post.

I am curating the Crace exhibition with conservator and artist Gordon Grant, who has been working on the restoration of the Pavilion interiors for many years and has a real eye for ornamental detail. We have already finalised our selection for the display, and our intention was to make new links between some of the drawings and specific parts of the Pavilion interiors.

A detail from a plate in William Alexander’s book The Costume of China (1805)

The highly detailed and brightly coloured design drawings reveal the Craces often copied directly from decorations on Chinese porcelain, wallpaper, Canton enamels and embroidered textiles with little deviation from the original colour schemes. They also used printed sources such as the books published by the artist William Alexander (1767 – 1816) who accompanied the Macartney Embassy to China in the 1790s.

In some cases there is a direct line from the original source via the Crace drawings to the final ornamental detail in the Pavilion. An example is in this sketch of Chinese mythological beasts, which the Craces lifted from a plate published by William Alexander in 1805 showing a scene inside a Chinese temple. These motifs would eventually appear in adapted form on laylights upstairs in the Pavilion. It just goes to show that it is worth looking at the detail, whether you are searching for the devil, dragons, Foo-hum birds or grotesque beasts.

Alexandra Loske, Curator, Royal Pavilion

You can see a digitised copy of William Alexander’s book The Costume of China in our Tales from the Pavilion Archives.

This is a legacy story from an earlier version of our website. It may contain some formatting issues and broken links.

Time for my third blog in the Booth’s Mystery Egg series for Easter.

Having worked at the Booth Museum for several years, I have seen a lot of really bizarre objects behind the scenes, some of which I have taken photos of and others which are just stuck in my mind’s eye. Normally, I would bring these objects out from behind the scenes to show visitors at the museum but under the circumstances  we thought we would write three special additions of our usual Animal, Vegetable or Mineral? quiz online to show you some unusual eggs, made by some pretty incredible animals.

These are all objects we have behind the scenes at the Booth Museum. Here is Mystery Egg number 3 of 3.

Mystery Egg 3

Mystery Egg 3, specimen from the Booth Museum of Natural History

Clue 1

The family of animals that made Mystery Egg 3 have a reputation for being one of the most intelligent invertebrates of the ocean. They are famed escapologists and problem solvers, even giving the Great Houdini a run for his money.

[arve url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abRPaXgJGQg” /]

Clue 2

The species of animal that builds this delicate, almost paper-thin shell sails the seven seas for months on end, just like an adventurer engaged in an epic quest. In fact, if these animals were to star in any movie, it would definitely have to be this one…

And the answer is… Drum roll please!

The Argonaut (Paper nautilus), Argonauta sp.

Female paper nautilus, photo by Bernd Hofmann at de.wikipedia

It’s not all in the name

Nautilus, photo by Manuae CC BY-SA 3.0

Although they are named paper nautiluses, these animals aren’t nautiluses at all (although they are distantly related). They are a group of unusual octopuses who spend their lives bobbing along near the surface of tropical and sub-tropical seas unlike typical octopus who live on the sea floor.

What the shell?

The females are the ones that make the beautiful egg case (pictured above) and measure around 38cm – eight times larger than the males (around 2cm) and 600 times heavier. Not much is yet known about the breeding habits of these adventurous octopuses, but when they mate, the male not only leaves his sperm behind in the female, but his entire hectocotylus.

Nooo, the hectocotylus is not a fancy word for penis as you might expect (it’s true penis is inside its body), but a specialised arm that sperm travels down into the females oviducts, still – poor lad! As you can imagine, when early observers in the 18th century found females with the hectocotylus attached they found it quite bizarre and so naturally, they theorised that it was a type of parasitic worm.

Shell yeah!

When females grow they continuously secrete calcite from the ends of two specialised arms to make a temporary shell. This paper-thin shell functions as an egg case to protect her developing young. When ready, she lays her eggs in the case and cosies up beside them, before continuing on their epic journey floating through the ocean – just like Jason!

The shell of the paper nautilus doesn’t just function as a protective egg case, they are also used as a buoyancy device. In order to keep itself buoyant, the paper nautilus routinely swims to the surface and quaffs large amounts of air into its shell. When it swims back down, it seals off the gas in the shell and dives to a depth where the compressed air counters its own body weight. The paper nautilus then becomes neutrally buoyant, making it much easier to swim around freely. But the paper nautilus doesn’t just aimlessly bob along the current passively waiting for food. Like all octopuses they are carnivores and need to hunt.

This quite gentle looking creature actually has a few hidden weapons up its tentacles, which it uses to catch unsuspecting sea slugs and crustaceans. After grasping the target in its tentacles, the octopus pulls the victim towards its mouth, bites down creating a hole using its hard beak and injects a toxin. The octopus then gauges out the fleshy innards through the hole in the crustaceans shell or scrapes at the soft meat of a sea slug using its radula, a kind of tongue covered with rows of small teeth.

I hope you agree that these creatures are a pretty magnificent animal and although most of their behaviour is yet to be discovered by science, it’s hard to imagine what will top a removable hectocotylus.

You can see a beautiful shell of the Nautilus, the paper nautiluses distant cousin, on display in the Booth Museum when we re-open. In the meantime, look out for an upcoming focus on the Paper Nautilus shell on our Close Look Collections page.

Grace Brindle, Collections Assistant

This is a legacy story from an earlier version of our website. It may contain some formatting issues and broken links.

Time for blog post number 2 in the Booth’s Mystery Egg series for Easter.

Having worked at the Booth Museum for several years, I have seen a lot of really bizarre objects behind the scenes, some of which I have taken photos of and others which are just stuck in my mind’s eye. Normally, I would bring these objects out from behind the scenes to show visitors at the museum, but, under the current circumstances of Covid-19, we thought we would do three special additions of our usual Animal, Vegetable or Mineral? quiz online to show you some unusual animal eggs, made by some pretty incredible animals.

These are all objects we have behind the scenes at the Booth Museum! Here is Mystery Egg number 2 of 3, look out for the last one over the next few days.

Mystery Egg 2

Mystery Egg 2, Photwik / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)

Clue 1

These cork-screw shaped egg cases get washed up on the beaches of Australia, but if you haven’t been lucky enough to visit the sunny beaches down-under, you might have seen similar egg cases washed up on the exotic beaches of the UK (like the one pictured below). The animals that produced these egg cases or ‘mermaids purses’ in UK waters are related to the animal that made Mystery Egg case 2.

Mermaids purse, Evelyn Simak

Clue 2

The ocean-dwelling creatures that have made these eggs have a reputation for being formidable killers and top predators, some might even say they are mindless killing machines…

…and who can blame people for thinking this, when faced with a set of razor-sharp teeth like these…

Clue 2 animal teeth, Richard Ling from NSW, Australia / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)

And the answer is… Drum roll please!

The Port Jackson shark, Heterodontus portusjacksoni.

Ok, these teeth might have thrown you a little, but the Mystery Egg for today belongs to a species of shark. There are more than 440 species of shark in the world and our Mystery Egg belongs to the Port Jackson shark, Heterodontus portusjacksoni. 

Mark Norman, Museums Victoria / CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)

These unlikely looking sharks live in Southern Australian waters and are found on the bottom of rocky, muddy or sandy environments or where sea-grass grows. One famous location in which they are found is Sydney Harbour, their common name Port Jackson, comes from the habour’s true geographical location. Port Jacksons can grow up to 2 metres in length and are known to migrate over 500 miles. They are incredible navigators and gather in huge numbers at the same spot every year in order to breed.

Not the typical eggs

The extraordinary spiral-shaped eggs are laid by the females two weeks after breeding. Each female lays two eggs and they are around the same size as the female’s head! Can you imagine how much energy it takes to make two eggs the size of your head? Well, it’s a lot! That’s why Port Jackson sharks are some of the best known mothers of the shark family. They carefully place an egg in their mouth and carry it around until they find the perfect rock crevice to wedge it into, to hide it away from predators. The spiral shape of their eggs makes them really difficult for predators like the crested hornshark to remove. These sneaky predators look almost exactly like the Port Jackson, which is why the eggs need to be hidden out of sight.

Not the typical teeth

I don’t know what you think, but when I think shark teeth, the Port Jackson’s aren’t typically what comes to mind. Their teeth are specially adapted to feed on their favourite meals, including sea urchins, molluscs, crustaceans and fishes.They have two distinct shapes, to enable them to feed on these animals, pointy at the front and flat at the back. The pointy front teeth are used for holding and breaking their prey and the back teeth are used to crush and grind hard shells. Their linnaen name Heterodontus comes from the Greek heteros meaning ‘different’ and dont meaning ‘tooth’.

Not the typical shark!

In order to breathe, most sharks need to move and keep their mouths open, this forces water over their gills to give them the oxygen they need. Port Jackson sharks are pretty unusual, in that they can eat and breathe at the same time. This means they can sit for long periods of time on the ocean floor without having to move, unlike many species of shark.

Sharks are one of my all time favourite animal groups, they are so varied in their behaviour, shape and form they are beautiful animals and are not the mindless killing machines that have been portrayed in the past. There are only a handful of unprovoked attacks on humans each year and around 6 related deaths, whereas humans kill around 100 million sharks each year. We are really lucky in the UK to have around 40 incredible sharks species that either live in,  or visit our waters including the gentle basking shark.

To learn more about how you can protect these wonderful animals visit the Marine Conservation Society Save our sharks.

You can see and touch the tooth from a Megalodon, an ancient giant shark, whose teeth were the size of a child’s hand, in the Booth Museum when we re-open.

Grace Brindle, Collections Assistant

This is a legacy story from an earlier version of our website. It may contain some formatting issues and broken links.

Frequent visitors to Brighton Museum will know that on a Wednesday afternoon Museum Lab is transformed into an artistic hub of creativity.

Our Museum Support Officer Beth organises the Mid-Week Draw. We invite people to join us for a few hours to sit in peace and draw objects from our collections. With a different selection of objects each week, often themed, the Mid-Week Draw has become popular with both regular artists, complete beginners or just visitors who drop in as they enjoy the museum.

Draw Artists

We are very pleased to see that some of you have taken part in our online Mid-Week Draw, here are some of the fantastic works that have been sent in.

Ann

Ossie

Join In

If you are tempted to have a go, please share your drawings with us, we would love to see them. Email them to Beth at beth.burr@brighton-hove.gov.uk Tweet @BrightonMuseums or if you are uploading them to Facebook with pride, share the url in the comments section below.

Come back next Wednesday to see what new objects Beth has chosen.

This is a legacy story from an earlier version of our website. It may contain some formatting issues and broken links.

This picture shows a 1928 Red Dennis Fire Engine parked outside Brighton Museum & Art Gallery with the Royal Pavilion seen behind. Photographed in July 2009 the highly-polished and beautifully preserved engine is decked with a banner and balloons celebrating it’s 80^th birthday.

A quick look at The Dennis Society web page gave me some technical information and usefully the registration PN4119 can be seen on this photograph for identification: Chassis number 7148. Body type, Low Load 60/70hpN. Layout, pump escape. Year registered, 1928

The engine was made by Dennis Brothers Limited, makers of commercial vehicles based in Guildford in Surrey, about 35 miles north of Brighton. The Dennis brothers, John and Raymond, began trading by making and selling bicycles (setting up the company in 1895) progressing to cars and commercial vehicles. During the First World War production moved to lorries and buses aiding the war effort and home and abroad. In 1922 after the war and with peace returned the company also started making lawnmowers gaining the seal of royal approval when Dennis lawnmowers were sold to King George V and King George VI.

This engine belonged to the Borough of Hove Fire Brigade, as you can see by the gold lettering on the vehicle and to the right, the Hove crest. In 1928 Hove was a separate town from Brighton and remained so until 1997 when the Boroughs of Hove and Brighton formed a unitary authority becoming Brighton & Hove (before the award of City status in 2001).

Hove was granted arms in 1899 gaining a crest showing three martlets with a further six on the crest’s ermine bordure. The martlet in heraldry is a stylised bird like a swift or house martin and is the emblem of Sussex.

The men working with this vehicle were based at the fire station in Hove Street built in 1926 at the cost of £11,000 then a huge sum of money and in use until its closure in 1976. Fortunately, the attractive building wasn’t demolished. Instead it was converted into flats now called Regency House. If you visit the building you can see the large arches under which this fire engine passed. In 1927 seven-day a-week fire station operation allowed for one man in the fire station on-watch, four to attend an emergency and one man on leave. Under the Fire Brigade Act of 1925, the men could retire with a pension after 25 years of service aged 55.

Twenty-seven years before this engine was purchased the men of the Hove Volunteer Fire Brigade starred in a dramatic film, Fire!

With a running time of 4 minutes 47 seconds Fire! Is a short silent film by Scottish-born, Hove based chemist and film enthusiast, James Williamson (1855-1933) showing the occupants of a burning house being rescued.

The 1901 fire engine was drawn by horses proving how far fire-fighting technology had moved on by 1928. You can find and watch the film online and follow the drama from the discovery of a house billowing with smoke, to the dash on foot to Hove Fire Station (then in George Street) to the harnessing of three magnificent white horses to fire vehicles seen in a high-speed chase down St Aubyn’s  – then a scene cut to the householder waking in bed, his house on fire, he clutching his head and falling down in despair to be rescued by a brave fireman who appears at the window, extinguishes the fire and carries the man down the ladder and out of the burning building. However, the drama is not over, for the final scene shows the man’s child leap from the flaming window and into a large rescue-blanket held by the firemen. Not one second of screen time is wasted in this fast-paced film, which early audiences must have gone home marvelling at.

My favourite moment comes 1.20 seconds into the film in a scene demonstrating the skilled horsemanship of the men and the highly-trained nature of the horses as a man rushes forward holding a running horse by the bridle, stops the huge powerful animal to a halt then steps it neatly backwards into the fire-engine harness ready to go in ten seconds flat. That’s quite an achievement and proves these men and animals were the real deal.

John Benett-Stanford (1870-1947) of Preston Manor would have known Williamson as he too was an early film-maker, although his interest lay in documentary film-making. John Benett-Stanford is credited as being the first person in history to make a war newsreel by filming British troops assembling before the battle at Omdurman in the Sudan which took place on 2^nd September 1898. This rare moving footage no longer exists and remains only in a few still frames.

You can discover the journey from early moving images to pioneering film-making in two interactive galleries at Hove Museum, images of which can be seen online.

 Paula Wrightson, Venue Officer Preston Manor