Viva Brighton Issue #63 May 2018

PHOTOGRAPHY
....................................
Tony Tree
Snaps on the steps
I was invited by the
Unitarian Church on
New Road to take some
photographs as part of the
project to conserve and repair
the historic portico. We
wanted to cover the builder’s
hoardings in photographs that
reflect the life of the church.
I started in 2016 and visited
all through last year. I began
photographing the ceremonies
and the people who use the
church, but we quickly decided
to take it out into the street
too. The portico is a natural
auditorium, complete with
proscenium arch.
I’ve photographed all sorts of things on the
steps: one-legged seagulls, buskers, rough sleepers,
performances in the Fringe, marriages, one
wedding with four people and a couple of dogs…
it’s the very essence of the city. If it’s happening in
Brighton it’s happening on New Road, from its
rough edges to the polished.
The street reflects the church and what
happens in the church reflects the street.
They suit each other. The eclectic stuff that
happens in that church is extraordinary but
hidden by those great red doors. There’s African
drummers, baby yoga, meditation classes, tango
nights, gigs, Brighton & Hove Gay Men’s Chorus
and, on Friday afternoons, there are the most
extraordinary concerts with first-class musicians.
I’ve photographed all the different instruments
over the year and have built up an entire orchestra.
I remember New Road from way back. My
early days were spent at my gran’s house in
Upper Gardner Street and my first school was
the Central School, now the
site of Carluccio’s. My father
was an antiques dealer and
we regularly visited an art
dealer where Pinocchio’s is
now, and when I worked as a
photographer at The Argus, the
pubs there were a big part of
our lives. One of my earliest
memories is winning the baby
show in the Pavilion Gardens
in 1948. I was three!
It’s always been a
characterful street. It
was originally called The
Promenade and it is a
promenade. There are posers,
flâneurs, people drinking
outside the pubs… It’s just the most wonderful
thoroughfare. It was a gift of a job for me. I was
always walking though there, not necessarily every
day, but an awful lot. I can’t stop doing it now. I
was walking past the Theatre Royal the other day
and there was a beautiful image of a guy playing
cello in the colonnade. I don’t think the project
will ever end for me, but it’s on pause for now.
The city will miss the portico whilst the work
is completed. It’s a very social space. The world
sits there to have its lunch and, when you do,
people come to talk to you. It’s an engaging space,
an amazing building and a really nice community
that use it. The church doesn’t mind that the steps
are so communal, they just put a sign outside
saying; ‘No busking please. Service in progress.’
As told to Lizzie Lower
The renovations, funded by the Heritage Lottery
Fund, are expected to be completed by November.
Tony’s photos will be displayed both inside and
outside the church for the duration of the project.
Photo by Adam Bronkhorst, adambronkhorst.com
....29....