Tag Archives: 10th September

Arts, Community Arts, Events, Heritage

Free Heritage Open Day event

Come along and find out more about our WWI themed project and look at ways to learn about film making and get involved with training and activities as well as research skills.

Strike a Light, in partnership with Brighton & Hove Library and Information Service, and Fabrica showcases its WWI themed project The Orange Lilies – Brighton and Hove Soldiers in the Somme.
Frederick Geroge Stoner 1914The project focusses the city’s legacy of the Somme and a significant event on the eve of this (where huge numbers of Brighton soldiers fell), The Battle of Boar’s Head (also known as The Day that Sussex Died), as a key part of WWI, and its’ subsequent impact on Brighton and Hove.
Frederick George Stoner (1914)

Come along and find out more about this epic piece of local history, and find out ways to get involved with the project, learn about film making and gain research skills. Arts and heritage organisation Strike a Light and partners will – through key activities, training, collaboration and mentoring – work with young people to commemorate the effects of the Battle of the Somme on the city, uncovering Brighton’s Great War heritage for future generations.
LITA - Black RockUsing archives and artefacts to inform creative learning, our unique approach involves young people researching and producing a series of short films to share this WWI centenary theme; creating textile interpretations of significant battles; and attending talks and study days; whilst receiving support from local historians, including a local Royal Sussex Regimental military expert.
https://theorangelilies.wordpress.com/

Image courtesy of Letter in the Attic project from QueenSpark Books

Opening Times

  • Friday 9 September: 1-7pm
  • Saturday 10 September: 1-5pm

Booking Details

No booking required

Access

Inside Brighton’s Open Market (off London Road) on the top Mezzanine Level. Access lift beside stairs to the Mezzanine level

Additional information

Through The Orange Lilies project, we will aim to show the seismic changes in Brighton and Hove society as a result of the Somme. On 1st July 1916, the start of the battle of the Somme, it was said you could hear the cannons from France at a cricket match in Brighton. This project focuses on the city’s legacy of the Somme and a significant battle on the eve of this, Boar’s Head, as a key part of WWI, and its’ impact on Brighton and Hove. We seek to explore, through the lives of the local soldiers and residents, the effects on the life of the city as a result.

Directions

There is an accessible lift by the stairs to the Mezzanine level and doors upstairs are wheelchair accessible.

Website

theorangelilies.wordpress.com/
theorangelilies.wordpress.com/blog/

Organised by

Strike a Light

Books and Postcards, Editorial and design, Events, Heritage

Ale and Hearty Exhibition for Heritage Open Days

Strike a Light hosts an exhibiton event for Heritage Open Days on Friday 9th September 1-7pm & Saturday 1-5pm

Mezzanine Level, 8 Marshalls Row, Open Market, Brighton & Hove, East Sussex, BN1 4JU

An exhibition specially for Heritage Open Days which focuses on the history of brewing in Lewes, East Sussex and its related industrial and agricultural links from the 18th Century to the present day, a period of some 200 years. The exhibition looks at Lewes’s working life in relation to Breweries, agricultural workers and rural life and trades. It also links in with abstinence and religious culture locally at the time, as well as a clear relation between trades and society through social clubs.
The exhibition runs along these thematic lines –
Introduction
Breweries in decline
Hops and songs
old breweries
Revival of micro breweries
A project in partnership with Harveys Brewery.

Opening Times

  • Friday 9 September: 12-7pm
  • Saturday 10 September: 1-5pm

Booking Details

No booking required

Access

There is an accessible lift by the stairs to the Mezzanine level and doors upstairs are wheelchair accessible.

Directions

Inside Brighton’s Open Market (off London Road) on the top Mezzanine Level. Access lift beside stairs to the Mezzanine level

Website

cloud8.uk/new//projects/ale-and-hearty/

Organised by

Strike a Light

Arts, Community Arts, Events, Heritage

The Boys on the Plaque – Heritage Open Days a success!

The Boys on the Plaque launches with Heritage Open Days events

THE BOYS ON THE PLAQUE – HERITAGE OPEN DAY
We celebrated the launch of our WWI heritage project this month with our first public events as part of Heritage Open Days. This was a free afternoon of activities, events and talks which was a great opportunity to get the word out about our Boys, followed by a walking tour event on Friday 8th September at Fabrica gallery (our project partners), where we invited local people to come and see the plaque and share their stories.
We have a diverse and interesting afternoon of making WWI love token mementos, talks on Brighton and Hove during the Great War and about the Royal Pavilion as a hospital for soldiers, as well as sharing personal and community connections with the Holy Trinity church where Fabrica is now based.
We were treated to a fascinating talk from researcher and oral historian for ‘War Stories: Voices of the First World War’, Jo Palache, plus an illuminating insight into The First World War in East Sussex project with Chris Kempshall. Gateways to the First World War‘s Lucy Noakes came to share project experiences and history and showcased part of a wider exhibition concerning WWI.
Project partner Brighton & Hove City Libraries shared WWI resources and images from their collection and encouraged people to find out more from their Ancestry software about their own personal heritage. In addition. Fiona Edwards our workshop artist for the event brought along a beautiful bundle of arts and crafts  and encouraged participants to make beautiful WWI keepsakes inspired love tokens from the war.
The project’s Volunteer Research Group was on hand to share their findings so far on the memorial and its’ Boys on the Plaque, including some family connections to our soldiers which really brought our project to life.
The Boys on the Plaque represent so many of the sons, brothers, fathers and uncles who fought and fell in the First World War, and this project will pay tribute to these men by telling their stories and considering the wider impact on the local community.
In 2017 it will be the Bi-Centennial of the Fabrica building, which was built in 1817, and it will be a fitting time to honour and celebrate the history of the building and its continuing presence as a place of contemplation and community in Brighton & Hove.


WALKING TOURS
We hosted a free heritage walking tour the following day led by popular local historian Dr Geoffrey Mead. We took an interested group through Brighton’s Lanes area, from where many of our Boys on the Plaque lived. It was a really moving and enlightening experience, seeing buildings and venues in a whole new light and hearing the tales of residents past who went to war.
We even saw a hidden row of houses which despite having walked down that particular street many hundreds of times, have never noticed! The event was full booked and as a result,  Fabrica organised another tour for later in September to allow all those interested a chance to participate. We’re really pleased with how it went.
CONVERSATION CAFES 
For those interested in find out more about this project and these themes from WWI in the city of Brighton, then we will be running free, monthly Conversation Cafes every month from October 2015 – September 2016 at Fabrica gallery and Jubilee Library.
To register your interest, please email strikealight@rocketmail.com before 21st October.

Arts, Events, Heritage

BBC Sussex Radio & Heritage Open Days

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Clare Hankinson of Fabrica from The Boys on the Plaque project had a lovely chat with Neil Pringle this morning on BBC Sussex Radio – check out the show by clicking BBC Sussex– She’s speaking about it on in the last 15minutes of the programme.

Also hoping we might find some family members of The Boys on the Plaque, and uncover some memories and local stories from WWI next week at our Heritage Open Days events, on Thursday 10th and Friday 11th September.

Check out the list of names on the plaque here – you never know, you might be related to one of our Boys!
Arts, Books and Postcards, Editorial and design, Events, Heritage

Workshop artist for Heritage Open Days

images
Workshop artist Fiona Edwards has been confirmed to run a three hour creative drop in session at our free Heritage Open Days event at Fabrica gallery on Thursday 10th September 1-4pm.
Come and make a keepsake reminiscent of the love tokens and photo memorabilia of those leaving their loved ones during WW1.
A collage based workshop incorporating glue, fabric, sewing. The session will involve making folded paper frames that can be decorated and have participants’ own photos put in, or other images historically related.

Workshop participants can take their tokens home. There is a wonderful history of heart shaped love tokens constructed from textiles, medals, army badges, hankies and more from the First World War.
http://www.wickedfaerieproductions.com/index.php