A Brighton man was so moved by a flyer through his door pleading for donations to the Save Madeira Terraces crowdfunder, he put a personal cheque for £9,000 in the post.
Raymond Brill’s pledge was added to the fundraising total today, bringing the amount pledged to over 75% of the target, which currently stands at £423,679.
And it was swiftly followed by another large personal donation, £10,000 from Mark Henry. These and other recent donations, including £8,000 from Brighton Marathon organisers The Grounded Events Company and and £5,000 from events catering company Crown Partnership means there is about £80,000 left to raise.
The only bigger donation by a private individual was £10,000 pledged anonymously three months ago.
Christopher Goss and Russell Miller are neighbours who have been lobbying local businesses, leafleting and using social media, as well as sending hundreds of emails to try and attract pledges.
Chris said: “1,500 pledges is a strong testimony to our community’s love and support for these iconic arches. Most of these pledges are from local individuals like us who have dug deep into our pockets.
“We now hope that the business community will increase its pledges to enable the campaign to reach its funding target. Renovation of the terrace should be the catalyst for the long overdue regeneration of Brighton seafront from the Palace Pier to the marina.”
The city council now hopes businesses will follow Mr Brill and Mr Henry’s example and make larger pledges to bring the total over the target amount as under the terms of the crowdfunder, the money will only be released to the council if this is reached.
Howard Barden, head of the city’s tourism unit, VisitBrighton, which is leading the campaign, says: “The campaign has ignited a sense of civic pride around improving the seafront and has seen a number of residents make it their mission to see the campaign succeed.
“Support for the terraces to be restored is evident and we’re now hoping to see businesses step up with some larger pledges in the last couple of weeks. We have done phenomenally well but there’s still a lot more to raise.”
Other large pledges have been received recently from Brighton Marina property developer Landsec and Hampshire-based construction company PMC Construction, which works with Hyde Housing.
The target changes as new donations come in according to what transaction fees are charged on the pledges, as it includes estimated fees. Different methods vary widely, with PayPal being the most expensive.
The original estimated target was £432,000, but it has now been reduced to £424,008.
Coming back from the RSCH in a patient transport car this week,the state of the railings dividing the lanes of traffic in the area from the Palace Pier to beyond the Grand Hotel area really shocked me.
Sitting in the passenger seat, I was inches from them and able to see that the wrought iron was exposed and perished in places with rust dominating the iconic Brighton seafront paint colour in a horrific way. Squalid it is. Really squalid.
I congratulate those who have promoted this fundraiser. Heroic!
If it begins to look like really taking off, I would love some of the money to be used to restore and replace our precious wrought iron seafront railings – to have their restoration west of the Pier added to this project.
Our unique seafront heritage is treasure and taken for granted, allowed to moulder for decades. So wrong. And it must be contributing to the increasingly bad behaviour image of the city.
As you will see if you read my comment re Marlborough House tge Railings were left for such a long time by previous administrations.It would be a no brainer to get people on Community Service Orders to carry painting out on a perpetual basis it is more a case of Toshing than Painting.
I’m pretty sure they were all renovated either last year or the year before. There were a few guys going over them for what seemed like at least a couple of months, from the pier down towards the i360. I only say this as i used to drive it every day and noticed how long they were taking but at the time i thought at least it should last a few years.
You’re right, they were only painted a a couple of years ago.
What fantastically generous donations! There’s also a raffle with hundreds of amazing prizes in aid of this campaign, further details at: https://m.facebook.com/groups/123426644980311
It is wonderful to see all of the donations coming in however I hope it doesn’t set a precedent and the Council start depending on funding this way.The Council is extremely wealthy with over 2000 properties in its portfolio.