The soft opening of Bexhill Beach Garden on November 9 2024.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Well, basically it came about because of Covid and I was mayor during Covid and I was seeing
00:07people walking up and down the seafront and it was all about their well-being and a number
00:12of people in Bexhill obviously had mobility issues and I thought wouldn't it be great
00:17to have a garden down on the beach and actually allow people to enjoy that space as well as
00:24the prom.
00:25Because I wanted a garden, that was absolutely vitally important but I also wanted to pull
00:31together all the native plants that are along the beach.
00:35So we had a number of funding pots that we could dip into.
00:39We could dip into those for disability but we could also dip into those for the environment
00:44and the environment and our shoreline and our oceans are so important.
00:50So it was important to bring all that together in this one space and tick all those boxes.
00:56At the moment we just have the structure and it was important to me because it had been
01:02finished in November.
01:04It was important to me that so many people have come past and said I can't wait to get
01:08down that I opened the structure.
01:11It's not complete, it's a soft opening but we hope that between now and next spring we
01:17can complete the seating, vital education boards telling people all about the flora,
01:23fauna, oceans and things that are around them in this environment and then we want to put
01:29obviously after the education boards we've got plaques that people have sponsored to
01:36help the garden and we want to get their dedications down on the plaques that they've sponsored.
01:41So there's work to do, work to do but hopefully by next spring it will be a garden, a beach
01:47garden, an accessible beach garden that we hope everyone will enjoy.
01:52Colin Dearmer is a great supporter of the beach garden and he's actually been in a wheelchair
01:58most of his life and it's absolutely vitally important to him that he can get down on the
02:03beach because it's something he's never experienced.
02:06He's always been watching his children and his family play on the beach and he's been
02:10on the prom so today's a big day for Colin so albeit a soft opening, a vitally important
02:17opening for all those that have mobility issues in Bexhill.
02:22Come down on the beach and just enjoy the space.
02:26Well I've been a resident in Bexhill for the past 18 years and I've never been able to
02:34go onto the beach at Bexhill and it's going to be wonderful to be able to do that for
02:40the first time this morning and I'm really looking forward to it.
02:45It's so important that disabled people are able to have access to things like the beach
02:51which they can enjoy with their family and friends and it's a really wonderful development
02:58and I'd just like to thank all the people who have made this wonderful, wonderful beach
03:05a reality.