Events – they come in all sizes.

Brighton Dome staged a Heritage Day in September 2022, to show visitors the history of the Dome, and its current organisation and functions.

The day was very much designed as a family event, with activities for youngsters as well as tours of The Dome for groups of adults.

Not just the public areas – the tours took visitors into the depths of the building as well as backstage. One highlight (pun intended!) was a hands-on demonstration of The Dome’s lighting equipment.

There was a host of entertainers and guides to provide fun and information.

And racks and racks of costumes from Gladrags …

All sorts of characters, played by members of local theatre group Windmill Young Actors.

And of course, no history of Brighton would be complete without The Prince Regent …

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Easter.

An annual event, celebrated especially fervently in a strongly Catholic country like Spain.

They don’t forget the Virgin Mary, either …

Celebrated with processions and marching bands – in small towns like Mijas (above) as well as cities like Granada.

Terrifying hooded figures – though underneath the costumes the participants are enjoying the festival.

as are the spectators …

Hugely ornate floats carry the statues out of the churches.

Young women dressed in mourning, as well as the older ladies above.

The processions fill the streets until well after midnight.

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The Prince Regent lived in the nineteenth century, but the Athenian triremes come from the Greece of two and a half thousand years ago. Olympias is a modern reconstruction, and when she visited London she was a spectacular sight on the Thames.

Here she is underway at speed – just imagine getting hit by that bronze ram …

That’s the business end of a trireme – aiming the warship is the job of the helmsman, and it’s heavy work.

Not quite as heavy as the rowers’ efforts, though. Three banks of oarsmen on each side. Obviously the ancient Greeks would have employed men exclusively, but Olympias has an international crew of both male and female rowers.

Although the trireme has been built as an historical research project, she’s officially a warship of the Greek Navy – so she’s kept to military standards.

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Events – they really do come in all sizes.   The Australian CasArt organisation staged a fashion show at The Old Market during the Brighton Festival, that lasted just over an hour.  But what an hour! …

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Blimey! Now THAT’s a mosquito …

There were literally thousands of insects at Pestival, a two-day exhibition all about the creatures, at the Royal Festival Hall.

Flying insects like mosquitos and bees, of course – but also non-flyers like termites. They’d built an immense model of a termite mound outside the Hall, big enough to walk around the interior.

The mosquitos weren’t flying free – a whole host were in a perspex sphere. There was an opening, covered in mesh, where you could put your hand to test your attractiveness. Some people drew hundreds …

The Festival took place over all the public areas of the Festival Hall, as well as the spaces outside and on the balconies.

There were all kinds of entertainers and artists, too

There was a special emphasis on bees – as pollinators as well as honey producers. The Bee Taxi attracted loads of attention, both outside and in …

There were opportunities inside, too; to talk to bee-keepers about their hives.

And did you know that bees can distinguish colours?

Some of the outside spaces were set out as insect-friendly gardens, and there were several insect ‘hotels’ …

As well as the huge walk-through construction, there were casts of actual termite and ants’ nests to examine.

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