Latest People: Macmillan Garden Trail, Brighton Seafront Regeneration & Hen Heaven’s Charity Walk

Macmillan Garden Trail raises £7,500 for new cancer centre
The third annual Macmillan Coastal Garden Trail, organised by Driftwood Fundraising Group, was held over the weekend of 26–27 July. Thirty-one private gardens opened their gates to the public, four of them for the very first time. The weather was glorious, and hundreds of visitors turned out to see the gorgeous gardens on show from Brighton along the coast to Eastbourne.

Many garden owners sold plants they’d grown themselves, and invited artists to display work in their garden for sale, with a percentage going to Macmillan.

The trail got underway with an official opening in the trail organiser’s garden at Driftwood. Organiser Geoff Stonebanks said: “I want to express my sincere thanks to all those who helped make the event a great success.” June Jaundoo, one visitor to Geoff’s garden over the weekend, was overheard saying: “Well, this is the garden of a wizard. It’s another world in there!”

Driftwood Fundraising Group has now raised more than £20,000 for Macmillan in Sussex, along with a further £23,000 for other local charities. The village of Piddinghoe’s trail raised an amazing £2,200, while the wonderful secret walled garden at 122 Marine Parade raised more than £600.

Latest TV made a great film about the event, which will be shown when the TV channel launches in just a few weeks’ time.

Hen Heaven’s ‘Here Comes The Bride’ returns for third year
Award-winning Brighton-based hen party planners, Hen Heaven, return for the third year running with their ‘Here Comes The Bride’ charity walk to raise funds for Rockinghorse Children’s Charity.

On Saturday 30 August, starting at 9am, a team of hen party planners from Hen Heaven will be taking part in the six-mile walk along the seafront from Peacehaven to Brighton’s West Pier, in wedding dresses supplied by South Coast Costumes.

As well as raising money through sponsorship online, the “brides” will also be carrying buckets along the route. The route will begin at The Smugglers Rest in Peacehaven and continue along the undercliff walk through the marina, along Madeira Drive, and will finish opposite the West Pier as it has done in previous years.

Rob Hill, Hen Heaven CEO, commented: “The Hen Heaven staff love organising fun activities and getting involved with local projects in Brighton. The work and projects Rockinghorse do for the Alexandra Children’s Hospital are invaluable for the recovery of sick children in Sussex, and we are only too happy to help!”

Support the appeal by donating, at:
www.justgiving.com/HenHeaven-herecomesthebride
www.henheaven.co.uk

Next phase of Brighton Seafront Regeneration begins
The next phase of regeneration for Brighton’s western seafront around the future i360 has been formally unveiled. This included a new creative retail quarter on Brighton beach and ground was broken for the construction of the Brighton i360 attraction.

Members of the community, local businesses and the i360 team gathered to see Brighton and Hove Mayor, Cllr Brian Fitch, cut a ribbon to open the arches, which have undergone a painstaking restoration between Alfresco and the future i360 site, with eight independent small creative firms opening for business.

Brighton and Hove Council leader, Councillor Jason Kitcat, led a group including David Marks, the architect behind the i360 and the London Eye, putting the first ceremonial spade in the ground to formally start building works for the Brighton i360, the world’s first vertical cable car observation tower, expected to attract millions of additional visitors to Brighton.

Cllr Jason Kitcat said: “This is a momentous occasion for Brighton and Hove, which will kickstart the regeneration of the wider area, both down on the beach and including Preston Street. Our seafront is our most important asset and helps make our tourism industry such a great success in Brighton and Hove. Our innovation here will make all the difference to helping the city continue as one of the UK’s most desirable and successful tourist destinations in the years to come. Bold decisions by the council and our partners have made sure this work has happened.”

Cllr Ian Davey, deputy leader of the city council, said: “The restoration of the arches has been carried out as part of ongoing work to strengthen the A259 seafront road by the council’s transport team, with external funding from the Local Transport Plan.

“The arches are stunning, with some really superb businesses already leasing them and helping to make a very special new creative retail quarter on the seafront.”

David Marks, of Marks Barfield Architects, said: “It has taken more than eight years to get to this point, but the Brighton i360 will now be a reality and will be one of the most exciting visitor attractions in the world. The i360 will be the world’s first vertical cable car; an engineering wonder and a major new performing arts, conference, dining and hospitality venue for Brighton. It will generate more footfall to this part of Brighton – and we hope bring about the sort of transformation that the London Eye helped create on the South Bank.”