Tim Ridgway’s Latest News: This week’s headlines from across the city
Marathon effort
Well, that was exhausting – and I didn’t even run it. Cheered on by tens of thousands of well-wishers, nearly 9,000 people completed this year’s Brighton Marathon.
The first person across the line was William Chebor, who smashed the course record with a fine run of 2:09:25. But it was the thousands of other “fun runners” who stole people’s hearts as they completed the 26 mile course to raise tens of thousands of pounds for charity.
Among them was Paul Goldstone, who ran with a tiger on his back.
It was the culmination of a great weekend of running with the inaugural BM 10km race and mini-miles for youngsters also receiving lots of support. To see our report of this year’s event visit www.thelatest.tv.
To enter next year’s event visit www.brightonmarathon.co.uk
Strike threat
Are we set for another summer bin strike in Brighton and Hove? Last week saw representatives from the GMB union and Brighton and Hove City Council hold showdown talks over changes to rounds introduced in October last year.
The bin men say that they are being expected to do too much with too few staff and too few vehicles. But the local authority maintains that while there has been some teething issues, the rounds are doable.
With Easter round the corner and the union bound by national laws when proposing industrial action, any strike is unlikely to start until the middle of May.
It would be the second year in succession there has been disruption with refuse staff going on strike last year over changes to pay and allowances which left most of them worse off.
“Any strike is unlikely to start until the middle of May”
Inn fashion
There’s no future in running a local pub, right? Well the new owners of Brighton’s Lion and Lobster pub don’t think so. London-based City Pub Company has shelled out £4.5 million for the popular haunt in Sillwood Street on the corner of Bedford Place.It has been owned by the Irish actor Gary Whelan for 13 years. The price is believed to be the highest paid for a pub in the Brighton and Hove area.
Flower power
A sea of wild poppies will pop up and paint the town red this summer as Brighton and Hove marks the centenary of the Great War.
Brighton and Hove City Council’s parks staff are currently sowing hundreds of seeds on verges, parks and public places across the city.
The poppies are set to bloom in June and will be followed by other red flowers throughout the season.
Mind the gap
Promenaders’ calls of “mind the gap” are set to be a thing of the past as workers complete work to the £100,000 Shoreham Beach boardwalk. The walkway was installed by Adur District Council in 2011 as a way to improve access on the pebbly shore.
But work had to be halted when it was claimed a short stretch of land was privately owned, leaving a gap of about 20 yards between the two sections.
After new funding was set aside, contractors were spotted on the shore last week meaning the confusion could be over soon.
Bowled over
Good news for cricket fans as England wicketkeeper and batsman Matt Prior has signed a two-year extension to his contract with Sussex County Cricket Club.
This means that he will stay at Hove until the end of the season next year. With the England’s man place in the national side far from certain, spectators at Hove could be seeing more of the wicketkeeper than expected this season, which started last weekend.
