In the middle of February the Centre underwent a big spring clean and was put into a sparkly state by an incredible amount of dedicated hard work from GWizz cleaning. We really appreciate the sterling efforts and remarkable results of Graeme and his team (07795 278 006).

To keep the Centre in a tip top condition we’ve recruited an in-house cleaning team. Thanks to all those who applied for the jobs – we had an overwhelming response and the decision on who to employ was a tough one!

And we’re beginning to spruce up for spring on the outside of the building too. Volunteer gardener and artist Jackie has made a sign for the garden, and Sue has turned a mighty slab of Western Hemlock into a replacement sign for the front of the building. We hope to get them both installed next week.

This is my partial and no doubt biassed impressions of the meeting of the Local Action Team on 11th March – there will be official minutes later. The topics covered included refuse collection; parking and bicycles; studentification; and policing. The probable date for the next meeting is Thursday 27^th May.

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Scriptease is a local group for scriptwriters who are developing work for theatre, radio, TV and film.

If you’re a new or an established writer who would like to hear your work read then get in touch. Scripts will be read out loud by local actors and receive constructive and supportive feedback from the group. They are always looking for actors too.

Their third monthly meeting will be held at:

Upstairs @ The Pub With No Name, Southover Street, Brighton

Tuesday: 30^th March 7.30pm (for 8pm start).

For further information please contact: lisa.fulthorpe@ntlworld.com or see their blog: www.scripteaseuk.wordpress.com

Inspired by looking at other people’s artwork? Fancy making some of your own?

As our contribution to the Hanover Art Trail this year the Hanover Community Centre is planning a range of creative workshops for you and/or your family to take part in. So besides touring all those Artist’s Open Houses you can sign up to learn a new skill. We’ll have full details here as soon as everything has been finalised.

For those who prefer to browse and buy there will be various craft stalls each Sunday and the café will be serving Fairtrade drinks and delicious cakes.

Susie is organising our Sunday craft fairs and is looking for local craftspeople who’d like to book a stall. Call her on 07939 590633 or email scourtault@yahoo.com.

On 17^th March Josie Jeffrey will be at the Hanover Centre to show grown-ups how to make seed bombs.  Come along and make a seed bomb with an edible salad mix for your own garden or window box – or make one that will attract bees when it flowers and try a spot of guerrilla gardening!

The cost is £2.50 per person and the workshop runs from 6pm to 8pm.

This is one of a series of workshops run by Brighton & Hove Food Partnership, some of which are suitable for children. For more information call 01273 431700 or email Roberta@bhfood.org.uk. Click here to see a flyer for the workshops.

Adults only. Booking recommended.

Our Valentine’s Day comedy evening was a great success – thanks to Gerry Bernstein, who herded up the artistes and compèred the evening and to the local comedians who rose to the challenge.

And our thanks are also due to the many volunteers who helped set up for the evening and put it all away afterwards.

The Hanover Centre is looking for cleaners.

Our ideal would be local people who care about the Centre, want some part-time work, and can be flexible about the hours.

If you think this sounds like you, ring Iain on 694873 for a chat.

If you can help by displaying a poster, please download one here.

We were very sad to hear of the death of Sheila Schaffer on 30th December 2009. Sheila was a Hanover Councillor for more than ten years, including a term as Mayor of Brighton in 1995.

Her love of wildlife and concern for the environment was reflected in everything she did. Together with her colleague Joyce Edmond Smith, Sheila donated trees to be planted wherever an appropriate location could be found. Without them, Hanover wouldn’t be such a pleasant place to live.

A great friend and supporter of the Hanover Community Association, Sheila performed the official opening of the Hanover Centre garden by planting her gift of the flowering cherry tree.

While we were tidying up the Hanover Centre garden last autumn we decided to make a bug hotel to help our creepy-crawlies through the winter. It may not look that brilliant, but we’re hoping that from a bug’s eye view it’s as impressive as the Grand.

We made our hotel from some old pallets we had lying around, with hollow-stemmed prunings, leaves, rocks and tiles.

Here are some others made from brick & plywood,  chicken wire, and a very exciting construction starting with willow.

You can get one started any time of the year, but bugs will have already found their shelter for this winter. Why not make a bug hotel one of your summer projects?

We’ve just switched over to the new theme/style.

We think it is much clearer, and apart from one or two broken page links, it works! The old content is still looking a bit odd, because we used lots of categories to get around the limitations of the old set-up, picture sizes are a bit small, and so on.

So now we need to clean up the content and start to add more functionality (with care – often functions = clutter). Clarity and simplicity will be our guiding principles. Cutting back hard on the number of categories has to be a priority.

Let us know what you think.