Brighthelm United Reformed Church, North Road, Brighton

Dear Friends

Greetings once again to you all. Every now and then The Times Educational Supplement carried an article by a well known personality about a particular teacher who made an impression on their life. We can all recall teachers who influenced us in some way. This set me thinking. My favourite teacher (in Literature) is Jean Brodie, that indomitable Edinburgh schoolmarm in Muriel Sparks’ novel “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie”. Not that I approve of everything about her by any means, but I forgive her because she is so vastly entertaining.

She taught at a very straight-laced conventional girls’ school in the 1930’s when she stood out as shockingly, gloriously different from everybody else. She believed her pupils to be the crème de la crème and was determined to make them life’s elite. “My Credo,” she said, “is stimulate, enliven, uplift”. Not a bad creed for a teacher. She was inspiring, and so she was rewarded with the love and loyalty of her pupils.

Trustees

Since I last wrote to you an awful lot has happened or is happening.   We have all been concerned about the future of the Pre-school because of the difficulties of funding it properly.   We are delighted that Andy Richbell, the son of  previous members of the Church has not only reviewed the way the Pre-school works but has offered to Chair the Management Group.

Margaret Ruxton has asked to step down as Minutes Secretary to the Trustees to enable her to concentrate on her Church work.   Her very precise and accurate Minutes will be missed.   We are pleased that Rachel Hamer, the daughter of former Church members has agreed to take on this role in the future.   Brian West has indicated that he wishes to resign as a Trustee at the end of the year.   He has done a great job in liaising with our Bookkeeper, Andrew, and our Independent Examiner, Eric, to bring our accounts up to date.   We hope Synod will nominate a successor with a similar accounting background.   We are still actively looking for a Chair of Trustees to take the Trust forward and are also seeking to appoint a Company Secretary.

Have you heard

Please hold in your prayers Jan Curry our Church Secretary who is under orders to take a few weeks rest after having a mini stroke. Rusty is endeavouring to try and keep Jan from doing too much and accept her GP’s order to take it easy.

NEWS OF CLERMONT FOLK

Friends will be sorry to hear of the death of Mary Smith on July 3rd at the age of 98. She was a member of Clermont UR Church for many years but when she became frail,, went to live with her daughter in Dorset. She was always interested to hear news of Brighthelm and enjoyed reading the magazine.

George Musgrave was a minister at Clermont for some years but now lives in Eastbourne. He has been in and out of hospital for the past 2 years but is mow being cared for at home. He is 96 and wishes to be remembered to all his friends in Brighton. If you are in Eastbourne at any time don't miss his wonderful museum.

Dolly Bayley celebrated a very happy 103rd birthday on July 18th in her Nursing Home in Burgess Hill. She keeps well and enjoys talking of her years at Clermont. Also hearing news of Brighthelm. She says she has had too many birthdays and doesn't want any fuss!!!
Iris

HOLY HUMOUR*

A father was approached by his small son who told him proudly, "I know what the
Bible means!"
His father smiled and replied, "What do you mean, you 'know' what the Bible
means?
The son replied, "I do know!"
"Okay," said his father. "What does the Bible mean?"
"That's easy, Daddy..." the young boy replied excitedly," It stands for *'Basic
Information Before Leaving Earth*.'

Brighton as National Foster Mother

On 22 August 1939, Parliament was recalled and the Emergency Powers Defence Act was instigated. This set in motion wartime regulations, including an evacuation procedure, which had been crystallising since 1922. The signal for evacuation was given on the radio on 31 August 1939 and Operation Pied Piper began the next day. Of the 660,000 evacuees streaming out of London over the next three days, approximately 31,000 arrived in Brighton. 400 buses and a convoy of cars met the evacuees at the railway station and delivered them to six distribution centres throughout the Brighton area.

Blue Plaque Magnus Volk (1951 – 1937)

Magnus Volk was a pioneer electrical enginder. He is best known for having built Volk’s Electric Railway, now the world’s oldest working electric railway. He also built the unique, but short lived Brighton and Rottingdean Seashore Electric Railway, together with its unusual Daddy Long Legs vehicle. In 1988, he built an electric car and equipped his own home and some of Brighton’s public buildings with electric light. Born in Western Road, later moved to Preston Road, and lived at 128 Dyke Road from 1914 until his death in 1937.

Taken from The Preston Pages

History Notelet by M Bance

The statistics the 2001 census produced are now available and we know that Brighton and
Hove had a population of 247,817, comprising 114,479 households, making the average size
of household well below the national average; as many as 43.4% of the city’s population have
never married; co-habiting couple households exceed the national average and the proportion of
one-person households was 44.45% compared to 30.02% for England and Wales.

Lucky Solihull, Edith has arrived but I will miss her very much. Our friendship goes back many
years to Union Church days when we were both Guiders - Captain and Lieutenant. Friday nights
would find us in one of the church meeting rooms - an awkward 'L' shaped room on the top floor
surrounded by enthusiastic and amazingly well behaved girls, who were happy to learn how to tie
a Clove Hitch or a Bowline. We, us and the girls were terribly earnest and would send messages
to each other (the length of the room all of fifteen paces) by semaphore., we were absolute wizards
with our flags, or we would all sit in small circles and tap out Morse code messages on a buzzer.

"Flutterby, Butterfly."

It's the same old story: many butterflies and moth's feeding and breeding grounds have been lost to housing
and shopping centres and the indiscriminate use of garden sprays.
Butterflies and moths are important as plant pollinators and as food for other animals, birds and insects. Kill
a caterpillar and the 'knock on effect' to the food chain can be disastrous.
I thought moths only flew at night but have since learnt that many flitter around the garden during the day,
adding to the confetti effect.