Commemorative Plaques Panel representative's report for 2008/9

Plaque marking Anita Roddick's first 'Body Shop' in Kensington Gardens

They all had local connections

By Gabrielle Villermet, NLCA representative on Commemorative Plaques Panel

The Commemorative Plaques Panel is made up of representatives from amenity societies, local historians, media representatives and Brighton & Hove City Council officers and councillors.

A limited budget

The City Council has a limited budget which more or less covers the cost of manufacturing and installing one new plaque per year. Sponsors for new plaques are encouraged.

New plaques in the past year

During the past year a blue plaque to CA Busby, the Regency architect, was mounted in Lansdowne Place, funded by the City Council with a contribution from the local residents' association (LARA). The missing blue plaque to commemorate the visit of King William IV and Queen Adelaide was replaced on the Royal York Hotel; and a privately funded blue plaque to Dame Anita Roddick has been mounted on the front of her first shop, which was in Kensington Gardens in North Laine.

Still to come

In the pipeline are plaques to: Admiral Coddington, hero of the Battle of Navarino; Peggy Ramsay, playwrights' agent; and Tom Sayers, the famous boxer.

There are about 42 suggestions on the commemorative plaque list and so far, partly due to sponsorship, North Laine is doing well.

[Previously published in the North Laine Runner, No 197, March/April 2009]