The Grounded Events Company, organisers of the Brighton Marathon, have announced that Channel 4 will broadcast a highlights package of next year’s event.

This television package will include the Brighton Marathon itself, plus the Grand Hotel Mini-Mile.

Brighton Marathon founder, Tim Hutchings, said: “After just three years of the Brighton Marathon, this is a wonderful leap forward for the event.

“To have secured terrestrial TV coverage for our 2013 race, raises the city’s Marathon to another league of UK running events and for our staff, our sponsors, the thousands of volunteers who have helped us, and for the city of Brighton and Hove, of course, this is just reward for their hard work and diligence.

“Working in the TV business a great deal myself, I know how much this raises the profile of the event. Coverage will not just be accessible in every household in the UK but syndicated internationally as well, meaning the beauty of Brighton & Hove and the buzz of the Marathon weekend will be viewed by a totally new audience around the globe.

“We couldn’t be more delighted and will be working even harder to make sure that the race delivers what people have come to expect – and more – from the Brighton Marathon.”

This year’s race saw excellent course records for both men’s and women’s races with Peter Some of Kenya crossing the line in 2:12:03 while Sviatlana Kouhan of Belarus knocked five minutes off the former record with 2:29:37.

In the marathon there was a record number of finishers, while the Grand Hotel Mini-Mile races shattered the previous best with more than 1,700 youngsters racing over the last mile of the Marathon.

The 2013 Brighton Marathon takes place on Sunday 14 April.

Photo taken at Brighton Marathon 2012.

The concept follows a simple strategy that is summed up by the slogan: one product, one price. With only cupcakes on the menu, Gabriella is able to direct all her attention into creating delicious hand-crafted cakes. Offering a broad selection of flavours from an electric green mint choc-chip to a classic Mr Whippy, Gabriella ensures everybody’s taste is catered for. Every cake is sold at the retail price of just one English pound: a kind of Pound Land for cupcakes and a factor that will certainly put this bakery a ‘slice’ above the rest.

Setting up shop in her home town of Brighton, a city bursting with original boutiques and artisan bakeries, what sets A Pound of Sugar apart from other stores is its appeal to the average buyer. Not aiming to attract a specialist audience, Gabriella enjoys catering for the mass-market. Unlike other cupcake shops on the high-street, A Pound of Sugar does not ostracise its male market by adding pink frills and sparkles. Instead the emphasis is on natural flavours and an affordable price and, in turn, the appeal is universal.

Since progression into stage two, Gabriella has attended multiple events in an attempt to sell her cakes and generate wide-spread support. She has been working hard to create a following on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter with regular updates on her progression in the competition. Upon progression into stage three, she intends to widen her business and increase custom by creating a delivery service. With limited funds and a domestic oven, this is no easy task for the graduate, but her passion for baking and business suggest that she has a bright future ahead.

A Pound of Sugar will soon be on everyone’s lips – and not just because the cupcakes are so irresistible.

Gabriella will be at an open house event this Saturday at Brighton and Hove High School as part of the Brighton Fringe Festival. This is an open event and your opportunity to come along and sample for yourself the delicious variety cakes A Pound of Sugar has to offer. They’re only a pound, and once you’ve had one, I can guarantee you’ll want another.

POSTED BY LAUREN9822

Councillor Jason Kitcat will take over as the current leader and Cllr Bill Randall becomes Brighton and Hove’s first Green Mayor.

Cllr Bill Randall said; “It is a great honour to have been selected as the first Green mayor of Brighton & Hove and I would like to thank my colleagues for their support.

“It was always my intention to serve as Leader for one year, and I look forward to my new role as Mayor.

“I wish Jason Kitcat the very best as the new leader of the Council. I know the hard work will continue with councillors, officers and our partners in Brighton & Hove to achieve our goals and aspirations for the city.”

Incoming Green Council Leader Cllr Jason Kitcat said; “It is an incredible opportunity; Brighton & Hove is a world class city which should be comparable to places like Barcelona, Toronto and Sydney.

“My priorities in my first year are to encourage and protect local businesses. I’ll be driving the One Planet Living framework through everything that we do.

“I’ll back major investment projects which will make an enormous difference to the city such as the i360 and build on our really good partnerships within the city to increase participation and engagement with organisations and citizens.”

The new committtee system will mean that the decisions become cross-party and will be taken by members of all the political groups. There will be six policy and two regulatory committees and they are listed below:

Adult Health & Care Committee

Children & Young people Committee

Economic Development & Culture Committee

Housing Committee

Environment & Sustainability Committee

Transport Committee

Licensing Committee

Planning Committee

Contractors working in partnership with the two groups will carry out the work which is being funded by a grant of £27,269 from Community Spaces, Big Lottery Fund.

New habitats will be created for bats, dormice, owls and butterflies and a nature trail for families will also be made along with many other improvements.

KTRG secured the grant following a consultation with local people who use the area and many of their ideas and suggestions are to be incorporated into the improvements.

Native flowers will be planted in the hedgerows and the meadow in an attempt to attract butterflies and bees to the area. They will also improve a narrow footpath and build rustic seating and new oak benches by the dewpond.

The work in the wood will see three glades being created to let in light and encourage growth on the woodland floor. A low deadwood fence will also be built along the footpath in order to help protect the environmentally sensitive area. An accessible wildlife trail will also be created for families and school children.

In response to the community’s views, the group also plan to improve accessibility to the area by repairing dilapidated oak steps and installing handrails at the Patcham Place and Mill Road/Waterhall entrances to the wood.

Councillor Pete West, Cabinet Member for Environment said: “Securing this grant from Community Spaces is wonderful news and I’d like to congratulate those members of KTRG who worked so hard carrying out consultation and putting together the application.

“Green Ridge and Coney Woods are important and well loved public spaces which form part of the boundary with the new National Park. These improvements will not only encourage more people to enjoy the area, but will also provide safe and enhanced habitats for a variety of wildlife.”

The defender qualifies for the African country through his father and has joined up with the squad which will then be reduced to a 23-man squad ahead of their game against Mozambique on 1 June.

Before the squad is reduced Egypt will play in three friendlies against Cameroon, Togo and Senegal.

Brighton’s Scotland striker Craig Mackail-Smith has also been called up to play for his country ahead of their friendly against USA later this month.

Jones commented: “The opening of the Hove office is yet another positive step for i-KOS and will enable us to showcase our e-commerce expertise within the region. We’re not just another digital agency heading over to ‘Silicon Beach’ – we want to give local businesses a competitive edge and offer our specialist, complementary services to local digital agencies.”

i-KOS specialises in creating e-commerce solutions powered by Drupal, the open source content management system. The agency has a track record of maximising online ROI for its clients across a multitude of vertical sectors, including media and publishing, financial services, healthcare and retail. i-KOS’s ultimate mission is to get open source on the business agenda.

i-KOS is heavily involved with Drupal Brighton, a monthly meet up for those in the Brighton and Hove area who are using – or interested in using – Drupal to create successful website and online applications.

Myles Davidson, Managing Director, i-KOS, added: “Brighton is arguably the most important digital economy outside the capital and was therefore the natural next step for i-KOS. The area is growing as a digital hub and it’s an exciting time for both i-KOS and Brighton. We are looking forward to growing with the community and introducing our specialist e-commerce services to other digital agencies and organisations in the area.”

Brighton’s favourite clothes-swapping organisation, My Swish, is back with its most sophisticated swish to date.

Grab the girls and your pre-loved outfits and join us for an oh-so-stylish Summer’s evening.

Friday 15 June sees the launch of Swish Nights, our innovative Pop-Up Swap Soiree that combines fashion, friends and fizz (a winning formula in our opinion), to create a fabulous Friday night out.

We’ve teamed up with award winning Temptation Café in the North Laines, who will be exclusively opening its doors to swishettes and serving up some exquisite summer delights. We can’t think of a better way to spend a summer evening, can you?

Come along to Temptation in Brighton on Friday 15 June with up to 10 items of pre-loved clothing or accessories ready to swap. We’re opening our arms to welcome your spring and summer fashions of mid to high-end high street and designer labels (of a good quality and condition).

Here’s how it works: check-in your items in with our experienced team, enjoy a complimentary glass of prosecco and Temptation Café’s sumptuous complimentary food and receive your Swish Points that equate to a fair “value” of the items you arrived with. Then, peruse the racks of gorgeous garments, share a bottle of wine with your friends whilst you try on clothes and then the best bit…take whatever you fancy to the value of your Swish Points, and leave with a whole new wardrobe!

All this for the price of: £13.50 (in advance) or £15 (on the door – very limited availability). We will also have a charity raffle with some suitably glam prizes for a few lucky swishettes… so, what’s not to love?

Give yourself and your girlfriends a summer evening in Brighton to remember. Get your glad-rags on and pop down to the hottest (and Swishiest!) evening in town complete with eats, treats and oh and did we mention, free clothes?!

Full details, FAQ’s and booking links are available on the My Swish website.

POSTED BY SARAH MADDOX

Do you have loads of too small clothes cluttering up your children’s wardrobes? Then make a beeline for The Preston Park Tavern on Thursday 31 May from 09.15 a.m. where My Swish will be holding Brighton’s first ever childrens’ clothes swap.

Sameera and Sarah from My Swish have years of experience organising clothes swaps for women, and are now keen to bring swishing to the world of children’s clothes. They know that swapping clothes is an excellent financial and ethical idea for adults, and have realised it is an even better idea for children. That’s why they’re bringing the children’s clothes swap to Brighton.

They say: “Because kids grow so fast, there are going to be clothes in their wardrobe they have grown out of that are practically brand new. Swishing makes particular sense for children’s clothes because you can get hold of clothes in your child’s current size and also in their future size, knowing they will grow into them!”

So how does swishing work?
Swishettes bring up to 10 items of clean, good condition children’s clothing (ages 0-10) which will be checked in and given a points value. You will be given a points card showing the total number of swish points you have to spend. Each item will be tagged by members of the My Swish team who will organise them onto rails sorting them by age. When the clothes are organized the swish opens and you are free to take any items you want up to the value of the points you have.

Whilst clothes are being arranged there will be a time for you to buy a coffee and pastry whilst children can keep themselves busy making a little something for them to take home (materials provided.)

Tickets are limited and cost £6.00 if you book in advance on line at the My Swish website. Tickets on the door cost £7.00.

Tickets include a raffle prize of two tickets to our Swish Nights evening swish at Temptation Café on Friday 15 June – fun, food, friends and fizz, What more could you want from your Friday night?

POSTED BY SARAH MADDOX

Paul Collicutt is a respected graphic artist and joins QueenSpark to work in collaboration with 12 volunteer graphic artists to help bring the upcoming ALT-Brighton graphic novel to life.

Paul’s Robot City series combines his love for painting with his adventurous spirit for writing children’s stories. The ongoing series focuses on a town where robots and humans live and work together with ease. He is also an award winning children’s author.

Paul will be mentoring 12 volunteer graphic artists to shape the design of the graphic novel in collaboration with the team of volunteer writers. The graphic novel (working title ‘Alt-Brighton’ ) will be published in 2013.

Would you like the opportunity of being mentored by Paul?
If so, send a sample of your art work (in pdf form) to nicola@queensparkbooks.org.uk by 5pm Friday 18 May 2012, as well as an outline of why you want to volunteer as a graphic artist on the project. You don’t have to be an experienced artist, but must understand the difference between book illustration and graphic novel art.

POSTED BY CITYNEWS

The Amex was shortlisted along with seven others for the award and the competition included the Livestrong Sporting Park in Kansas, Juventus’s new home in Turin and two of the new venues in Poland which will host matches at this summer’s European Championships.

Club Director Martin Perry was at the awards ceremony to collect the accolade on behalf of the club and he told Seagulls.co.uk: “We were up against some very strong opposition, so to win this award is a remarkable achievement and something we can all be extremely proud.”