This new lighting, on the seafront by Pelham Place car park, is definitely brighter than the old seafront cages and relies on the strong sea breezes to change colour! Winds of Change was installed during July this year and is a unique scheme which uses wind, a reflector and coloured glass filters to create different coloured lights alternately.
The lighting is on eleven columns, each of which is fitted with a wave shaped reflector at the top. It is lit from beneath and the light shines up through a coloured filter so that the reflector turns the colour of the filter the light is shining through _ eg if the wind has turned the filter to red, the light shining up to and bouncing off the reflector will be red. During carnival week, the lighting columns were also decorated with banners, made by local arts group, Dab.
The Council has put together a lighting strategy which will mean lighting up landmark buildings and improving decorative lighting in the town. It has included the lighting up of the cliff behind Pelham Crescent, the spotlights which light up Queen Victoria at Warrior Square and the recent experiment to light up Marine Court, St Leonards.
Councillor Mike Bigg, Cabinet Member responsible for Regeneration, said:
"We want to improve the decorative lighting along the seafront of the town and in other areas and we have adopted a strategy to work towards this.
"Making the most of our seafront is very important, and using innovative lighting schemes will definitely enhance it. This year we will also be installing a lighting scheme called `Stream' outside Marine Court, St Leonards, which will give an impression of waves _ in keeping with the ship design concept of the Marine Court building."
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This page last updated: 15/10/2001