One Moment in Time
Celebrating 200 years of St Peter's, Brighton's unofficial cathedral.
8th May 2024 marks the 200-year anniversary of the laying of the foundation stone of St. Peter’s Church. To celebrate this milestone we are running a series of celebratory projects and events across the year.
Whilst much has changed around it, our building remains an iconic and consistent presence within the community. Through our anniversary celebrations we want to celebrate the community and its people, as much as the church itself. Planned activities will reflect both the city’s unique heritage and creative culture, offering exciting opportunities for the community to engage creatively with our building and learn more about our incredible city.
We are very grateful to our funders and the organisations who are supporting us in running these events and activities.
Our funders
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Tower restoration
An ongoing project to restore and conserve this important building.
We are now focused on the restoration of the tower, by far the largest aspect of this project to date.
When the work is complete the St. Peter’s tower will stand proudly at the northern end of the redeveloped Valley Gardens – this beautiful and very significant government-funded re-development of central Brighton which has recently been completed.
In November 2020, St Peter’s was one of 445 heritage organisations across the country to receive a lifesaving financial boost from the government thanks to the £1.57 billion Culture Recovery Fund to help them through the coronavirus pandemic. St Peter’s was granted £245,000 which enabled further emergency repairs to the unrestored lower section of the tower.
The next phase, due to start in July 2024, is expected to enable further restoration of the lower part of the tower which will enable us to start removing the scaffold which has been in situ since 2014.
One Moment in Time
A social history storytelling project.
We are reaching out to the local community to gather narratives that may have been overlooked or forgotten from the past 200-years. Whether you have a personal connection with St. Peter’s, know someone who does, or have heard stories passed down through generations, we invite you to share them with us.
‘One Moment in Time’ project aims to collect and share the untold stories of 200 people who have connected to St. Peter’s over the past two centuries. We have a particular focus on working class heritage stories.
Your story could involve significant events such as baptisms, weddings, or moments of solace found within our church, or simply be a fond memory of community gatherings and events.
In time, we will seek to capture these stories in various formats, including written accounts, recorded interviews, or personal anecdotes. In the first instance, we’d love to hear from you and a short bit about your story. Your involvement will help us preserve and share the diverse history of our church and community.
To share your story, contact us at:
heritage@stpetersbrighton.org
Our thanks go to...
This project is kindly funded by Historic England as part of the Everyday Heritage – Working Class Histories. We are grateful to them for this funding.
Who's Your Rock?
Community art installation piece.
A series of workshops facilitated across schools and community groups in Brighton & Hove, including creative teaching of St Peter’s heritage and learning of new skills through the medium of art.
This project gives the opportunity to reflect on the resilience and hope seen across the city over recent years, particularly through the pandemic and cost-of-living crisis. The bringing together of multiple pieces of individual art into one installation piece reflects the coming together of the community during hard times. Participants will be asked to reflect and celebrate the people in their lives who supported them during harder times, serving as their ‘rock’.
The artworks will come together into one installation piece in St Peter’s church, hanging at different heights from the vaulted ceiling to create a wave effect. The completed installation will be exhibited next year in 2025 for viewers from far and wide to come and experience and reflect.
Sound & Light Immersive Experience
A son-et-lumiere live art installation.
A son-et-lumiere, or sound and light, projection artwork taking place inside the church. It is an immersive sound and light installation on the walls and ceiling of the church interior.
This will be a ticketed event running during the October half term, where people from all over will be able to step-inside to view and experience the building in a new perspective and celebrate it’s architecture and heritage.
Seeing Beyond the Stones
A response to the building through art.
Aiming to help people see the building and features in a new and fresh way, inspiring a sense of awe experienced when the cathedral-style building first rose from the ground. Through St Peter’s own groups, such as Safehaven and Kids as well as our art collective ‘Wonder’, artists from a range of backgrounds and experiences will be commissioned to create their interpretation of the building/features. Artwork will be displayed in the church for viewing.
We’ll also invite groups from local schools to view artwork and engage in creating their own pieces, inspired by the building.
