Light House Media Centre

Light House aims to increase the enjoyment and understanding of technologically - based media, in particular film, video, photography and creative media and to emphasise their importance to the cultural, social and economic life of Wolverhampton, the West Midlands and further afield.

HISTORY

The formal opening of Light House took place on 16 March 1987 by the Mayor of Wolverhampton, Councillor Bishan Dass, although activities had already taken place since the August of 1986. Light House was housed in accommodation with the Central Art Gallery, there were only three members of staff and it was a joint project of the Council’s Leisure Services and Wolverhampton Polytechnic (now the University of Wolverhampton). The programme guide for that period included, amongst other activities, courses in video production, seasons of science fiction films, an exhibition India and Independence marking the 40th anniversary of India’s freedom from British rule and a conference about Black filmmaking.

Today Light House inhabits larger, partly-purpose-built accommodation, is an independent company and employs the equivalent of over 30 full time staff. There are still production courses, new exhibitions, films, educational activities, conferences and events. In addition, there are two major annual festivals and a myriad of activities that develop and support the growing creative industries in the City and region. The emphasis is still on giving opportunities for active involvement for everyone. Light House has held to its original mission, increasing the enjoyment and understanding of different media forms and using them for the benefit of the people of Wolverhampton and beyond. Along the way there has been support and encouragement from very many individuals and organisations. With their continued support, Light House will play an increasingly important part in the social, cultural and economic life of the City and the wider region into the future.

LIGHT HOUSE FUNDERS

A non-profit making organisation Light House is funded and supported by Wolverhampton City Council, Learning Skills Council, Arts Council West Midlands, UK Film Council, Screen West Midlands, Advantage West Midlands, Skillset and the University of Wolverhampton.

The Needles

The Needles is a row of three distinctive stacks of chalk that rise out of the sea off the western extremity of the Isle of Wight, England, close to Alum Bay. A lighthouse designed by Scottish civil engineer James Walker has stood at the western end of the formation since 1859.^[3]

The formation takes its name from the former fourth^[4] needle-shaped pillar called Lot's Wife that used to stand in its midst until it collapsed in a storm in 1764.^[5][6][7] The remaining rocks are all short and squat and not at all needle-like, but the name has stuck.

The Needles were featured on the 2005 TV programme Seven Natural Wonders as one of the wonders of the South.

from en.wikipedia.org

Position 50° 39'.70 N O1° 35,42 W

The Needles Photography Don French
© Isle of Wight Tourism

Christmas 1993 Needles Lighthouse

Belle Tout lighthouse

The Belle Tout lighthouse (also spelled Belle Toute lighthouse) is a decommissioned lighthouse and famous British landmark located at Beachy Head, East Sussex. It has been called "Britain's most famous inhabited lighthouse" because of its striking location and use in film and television.^[1] In 1999, the Grade II listed building was famously moved in one piece to prevent it from succumbing to coastal erosion.

Beachy Head saw numerous shipwrecks in the 17th and early 18th centuries and a petition to erect a lighthouse started around 1691.^[2] The calls were ignored for over 100 years until The Thames, an East Indiaman, crashed into the rocks of Beachy Head. The petition gained momentum with the support of a Captain of the Royal Navy and Trinity House, the official lighthouse authority, agreed to attend to the matter.^[3] Having witnessed the incident himself, John 'Mad Jack' Fuller, MP for Sussex, used his influence and some of his personal wealth to fund the lighthouse construction.^[4]

The first Belle Tout lighthouse was a temporary wooden structure that started service on 1 October 1828. The construction of the permanent granite lighthouse began in 1829 and it became operational on 11 October 1834. Its use of 30 oil lamps meant that the lighthouse would require 2 gallons of oil every hour.^[3]

Coordinates: 50°44′18″N 0°12′52″E / 50.7382°N 0.2145°E

from en.wikipedia

The History of Belle Toute Lighthouse

• Circa 1691 petitions for a lighthouse were made due to the number of shipwrecks and sailors losing their lives at the hands of this dangerous stretch of coastline.
  
• In 1828 as a continuing result of many shipwrecks, a wooden lighthouse was built on the top of the cliffs at Beachy Head. So successful was this that the decision was made to build a permanent lighthouse.
  
• Belle Toute was built in 1832 and the location of the lighthouse was carefully planned so that the light was visible for 20 miles out to sea and that the light would be obscured by the edge of the cliff if sailors were too close to the shore.
  
• Over the years erosion of the cliff reduced the effectiveness of the lighthouse and in 1902 Belle Toute was decommissioned when the new lighthouse built at the base of the cliffs came into service.
  
• In 1903 it was sold by Trinity House and changed hands a number of times.
  

• In 1923 it was bought by a surgeon, Sir James Purves-Stewart.
  
• During the second world war with its owners being evacuated, Belle Toute was damaged due to shelling by Canadian Troops using it as target practice.
  
• In 1948 Sir James offered the building to the council and eventually they took it over due to its historical significance.
  
• In 1956 Belle Toute was leased out to Dr Edward Revill Cullinan who carried out works on the building and installed modern features such as septic tank, mains electricity and water.
  
• In 1962 the lease was sold and changed hands a number of times.
  
• In 1986 it was bought by the BBC who used it in the making of Fay Weldon’s “Life and Loves of a She-Devil”.
  
• In 1996 it was bought by Mark and Louise Roberts to use as a family home.
  
• In 1999, due to continuing erosion threatening the future of the building the lighthouse was moved 17 metres (56 feet) back from the edge of the cliff by the impressing engineering work of Abbey Pynford.
  
• In 2007 the Roberts' have put Belle Toute up for sale with the guide price of £850,000.
  
• In 2007 the Belle Toute Lighthouse Preservation Trust has been formed to raise enough money to purchase the lighthouse to open it to the public, provide bed and breakfast accommodation and maintain it for future generations of visitors to enjoy.
  
• In April 2008 Belle Toute was purchased by the Belle Toute Lighthouse Company Limited with the intention of opening it to the public as a bed & breakfast and tourist centre.
  
• In May 2008 the Belle Toute Lighthouse Preservation Trust wound-up although the Belle Toute Lighthouse Preservation Society has been formed to allow the previous members retain a watchful interest over this magnificent building. The website will be kept updated as an information resource.

*Please note: Previously we estimated the erosion based on .5m to 1m per year suggesting that the lighthouse would need to be moved in 17 to 34 years. This was based on our own calculations during 1890 and 1997, internet research and taking into account global warming. An erosion report that has come to our attention actually states that the erosion rate is more likely to be 0.03m to 0.27m per year depending on whether it is an 'active' or 'passive' recession period. We are working closely with Brighton University and hope to bring you some substantiated figures that suggest the erosion rate is .6m per year. This would suggest at a current distance of 18.2m that the lighthouse will need moving again in just under 30 years. More likely in around 24 years as it would be necessary to ensure access to the front of the tower by which time there should be 3.6m distance from the cliff edge.

It is important to recognise that averages are based on the middle value of a series of figures, although these figures are based on what has happened rather than what yet will happen. For example if within 100 years there was 50m of cliff that disappeared then the average is .5m per year, however, we know that falls can precede the average, i.e. that in 10 years there might be a cliff fall of just 1mm but in the next 10 years there might as much as 9m go, yet over the 20 year period the average might still only be .5m. Therefore it is very difficult to say when the next fall will be although it could be substantially larger than what is expected to be the average.

from www.belletoute.org.uk

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The lighthouse - Gerard Donovan

The lighthouse

Yazar: Gerard Donovan

Yayınlayan: Salmon Publishing, 2000

ISBN 1903392039, 9781903392034

89 sayfa

About the Author

Gerard Donovan, who was born in Wexford and grew up in Galway, is a graduate of Johns Hopkins University. The author of two previous collections, Columbus Rides Again (Salmon, 1993) and Kings and Bicycles (Salmon, 1995), his poetry has appeared in journals on both sides of the Atlantic, including The Sewanee Review, New Statesman, Stand, and the Irish Times. After a career playing classical guitar in the eighties, he currently works as a professor in New York. In 1999 he completed the 140-mile Marathon des Sables in North Africa with his two brothers, later the subject of an award-winning documentary.

"Gerard Donovan is a man of two countries, teasing the beauty out of what lies in between. The LightHouse is easily his finest work so far, haunted, plaintive, hopeful and raucous. Like all good poems, they create a temporary silence around themselves, luring us in and stunning us. The LightHouse is a great collection." -- Colum McCann, Author of This Side of Brightness

"Donovan's poems are a joy to read. Their diversity defies categorization -- the poem glistens with detail." Irish Echo, New York

"Donovan is capable of taking an idea and unfolding it back to discover unexpected areas of meaning and suggestion." Poetry Ireland Review (from www.salmonpoetry.com)

Poems from The Lighthouse

The Body Lights

Not far from our window, the lighthouse dreams.

Its steel steps draft short breaths,

the granite flashes a heartbeat

under nightÕs vast sheet.

And now a breeze

parts the curtains into waves:

that glow again, like eyes opening.

When I dream, I too flicker between light and dark.

As you lie beside me, you see nothing of this.

You sleep like coastal distance,

another light in a long night,

your body spread from the pillow

like moon's reflection.

Your skin covers you like water.

You are as full of light

as your first breath.

Night turns restless on its side.

The first birds sing on whitening sea.

Starlings

In a boiling second

the starlings strip off trees

to a shrill scarf trailing in a gust,

curving, whipped, contorted,

crumpling to the roadside grass.

Today is colder, the wind north;

sparseness, contained a season, spills everywhere.

A few people walk the trails,

each breath marked, then released by air.

A child might see those birds as leaves

that scrape the sky with yellow veins.

I seem to lose that magic year by year.

I'm learning to open my hands; they fill

with what I let go. So I freed you too.

By the way, I forecast autumn by starlings:

it arrived today at two in the afternoon.

I had coffee and then came to the park

and it touched me on the shoulder ? just like that, I swear.

(Copyright Gerard Donovan 2000)

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