Standing at 148 feet and made of 3,660 tonnes of Cornish granite, Beachy Head Lighthouse near Eastbourne has been regularly painted with distinctive red and white bands since 1980. However, Trinity House, the owners, recently announced that because of the reliance of today’s mariners on electronic navigational aids, the lighthouse’s decorative appearance was no longer critical and maintaining the paintwork was unaffordable.
In response, the ‘Keep the Beachy Head Lighthouse's Stripes’ campaign was set up by local enthusiasts with the help of the Eastbourne Herald and AM Rotary Eastbourne. This was then brought to the attention of Crown Paints by Brewers. Crown agreed to donate over 500 litres of coatings for the project and Brewers offered to provide all logistical support, storage and deliveries to site via our Head Office at Albany House in Ashford Road in Eastbourne.
Laura Staffa from the International Marketing Department at Crown commented:
“We’re ideally qualified to be involved with this project because our parent company Hempel supplies coatings to the marine, protective, container, decorative and yacht markets in over 80 countries around the world. What’s more, here in the UK, we’ve been decorating and protecting the nation’s lighthouses with hardwearing Sandtex Trade exterior paints for almost half a century, so we know a thing or two about specifying coatings for challenging locations.”
Stan Adams, Commercial Director at Brewers said: “When we heard that Beachy Head lighthouse had not been granted the funding required to be repainted we were determined to help out. The lighthouse has always been an iconic landmark in Eastbourne and because of our expertise in paint it’s been a talking point at Brewers Head Office for many years! We have been based in Eastbourne since 1904. Beachy Head lighthouse is close to our hearts and we’re delighted to participate in its refurbishment. The lighthouse means a lot to the local community and we look forward to it looking its best again.”
On behalf of ‘Keep the Beachy Head Lighthouse's Stripes’, Shirley Moth said:
“We’re very grateful for these tremendous offers of assistance from Crown Paints, Hempel and Brewers, which are a great boost to our campaign. We now need to raise approximately £30,000 to pay for the specialist work needed, and we are working very closely with Trinity House on this.
“We have had strong support from the local area, but have also had enquiries from all round the country and further afield such as the USA. Every penny counts as the donations soon add up and we feel sure that with everyone's support we can save the iconic stripes.”
Please visit www.keepthebeachyheadlighthousestripes.org.uk for details of how to make a donation.
