BRIGHTON WRITERS' CENTRE
Every good story starts with a first draft.
Come and see our new home:

Welcome to Brighton Writers' Centre
49 Grand Parade
Brighton BN2 9QA
01273 571700

BRIGHTON WRITERS' CENTRE
Workshop and Meeting Room available for hire with or without refreshments.
Special rates for friends of THE SOUTH. To book please call 01273 571700 or email our co-ordinator

4 hour sessions:
Morning 9am-1pm, Afternoon 2-6pm, Evening 7-11pm.
Times can be adjusted to suit requirements.

For more information email our co-ordinator

Facitilies provided:

• Self-service coffee and tea
• Other drinks, light refreshments and meals provided at extra charge upon request
• A4 photocopying (5p each)
• Video projector hire (£40 a day)
• PC workstations with internet access (£2 an hour)

In January 2005 Queenspark Books kindly offered THE SOUTH use of their meeting room free of charge as an office space for a couple of days a week. A well-known community publisher, Queenspark have been based at 49 Grand Parade for over ten years. Their support proved invaluable. It was brilliant to have a base and a place to meet - if only for two days a week.

Whilst at Queenspark, we learnt that space was available on the floor above with an office and a workshop room.

This seemed too good an opportunity to miss. After helpful discussions with Chris Oakley at Oakley Commercial, one of Brighton's leading commercial estate agents, we decided to rent the space.

49 Grand Parade
We moved in on September 12th and we're making good use of the space for admin, workshops and meetings.

The building has suffered from mistreatment and neglect. In our usual fashion - we don't mind getting our hands dirty - THE SOUTH set about making change. We tidied up the back of the building, which has been something of a late night haunt for those seeking a convenient convenience. We moved rubbish and began to care for the place and the area as we've worked hard to make Brighton Writers' Centre a reality. Oakley's have also been supportive making repairs.

At present we can't afford to rent the ground floor area. It would make a superb small press bookshop, book swop centre, small reading and event space and ideally a café. If anyone would like support the next stage of our development do get in touch.

Architexture

At some point in the next few years 49 Grand Parade will be redeveloped. We invited 3rd year Interior Architecture students at the University of Brighton, under the tutelage of Julia Dwyer and Kristina Kotor, to look at the existing building and its future potential.

Over the autumn the students have been observing life in Brighton Writers' Centre as it develops. Their response has been terrific. They have all followed very different creative paths in researching and re-imaging the building.

The students came along to a special poetry writing workshop with Brendan Cleary and some of the results will soon be on display here.

We'd like to say a very big thank you to the students and to Julia and Kristina for their commitment and enthusiasm.

We hope to hold an exhibition of their finished work during Architecture Week in June 2006.

More information:

• Our brief to the students
• Julia Dwyer's Studio interpretation of the brief
• Examples of the students' work in progress

Generous support

With many thanks for the timely financial support we have received from Pighog Press, Jackie Wills, Tom Cunliffe and Waterloo Press.

After putting out a call for help with furniture and equipment many people responded with generous offers of support.

Thanks to Lighthouse, Brighton for a desk, chairs and a whiteboard; Social Services in East Grinstead for meeting room tables and chairs, Berkshire Libraries for shelving and workstations and Seventh Art Productions for six network pcs that we aim to use as hotdesk workstations for writers in need of quiet work space.

Thanks to Mick Foote who helped move much of the furniture, and to Nadine Mannchen and Laura Kayne who organised the office.

Come up and see us sometime!

THE SOUTH
Brighton Writers' Centre
49 Grand Parade
Brighton BN2 9QA
01273 571700