Leysdown now has its own set of illuminations

The 55,00 Leysdown Illuminations, commissioned by Swale council as part of the Rose Tinted project, were officially switched on last week.

Artist Rob Olins designed the display with the help of the community, children from both sites of Eastchurch Primary School, Rolf Williams from the RSPB and holidaymakers. The theme was bird flight and aviation and the LED lights have been put on the seafront.

Mr Olins had been asking people what they wanted to see in the display, which involves a colour-changing lights pattern.

A lantern parade took place on Thursday evening involving the school children, Mayor of Swale Cllr Pat Sandle and Big Fish Arts, which entertained with sea shanties. The group had been working with the children to make lanterns for the parade.

Community chef Mike Spackman and his assistants from the Mobile Food Truck were also there, serving a winter stew for the guests, ahead of the switch on at 7pm.

The project was mainly funded by Arts Council England, which contributed 40,000, and also supported by Leysdown Parish Council, Swale council and Kent County Council.

Leysdown Rose Tinted project officer Louise Francis said: “It is state of the art technology as the lights run to a set programme.”

They are just for Leysdown and have been made in response to people from Leysdown.“You won’t get them anywhere else so they are quite special.”

Mr Olins added: “It’s very exciting, finally installing a new lighting scheme for Leysdown that benefits a traditional seaside village.”

I’ve had great inspiration working with the local school children and Mr Williams.“I hope residents and visitors enjoy the lights for many years to come.”

The new concession stand, which is longer than the previous one, features a granite top. The project also includes new coolers and a sink with running water, which the concession area did not have before.

The cost was about $14,000. The new concession stand was designed and completed by Bollheimer Construction.

Also just completed is a refurbishing of the floor area in front of the stage. That included removing a carpeted section, filling in cracks and then painting and clear coating the floor.

Up next in the theater’s ongoing restoration process will be new LED lights to the marquee this summer. Thanks to the Consumers Energy rebate program, the cost to the theater will be only $375, a savings of $7,800, said executive director Steve Tucker.“It’s going to be amazing,” he said. “It’ll really be a sight to see.”

Tucker said the next project for the interior will be to add a lowered ceiling to the main level of the theater below the balcony. The dropped ceiling will be made of birch wood and will encase the areas of deteriorating plaster.

That does not include the crumbling plaster in the arched ceiling of the theater, specifically on the west side of the theater area. Tucker said the plan is to restore the plaster to its original appearance after the dropped ceiling is finished.

“We wanted to fix all of the plaster, but that was going to be too expensive,” Tucker said. “Just the area where the birch wood ceiling is going to be was appraised at $180,000. The birch wood is going to look great. It will look like it was designed to be that way.”