This article by Gerard Rosenberg, Vice Chair of the Shoreham Society, first appeared in the May 2026 edition of Inside Shoreham and Southwick Magazine. We are reproducing it here for all the Members and Friends of the Shoreham Society, ahead of the Annual General Meeting taking place on Friday 15th May.
The Shoreham Society is happy to track four very successful decades committed to the betterment of our lovely town.
All those years ago, we carried on from the Shoreham Historic Society with the protection of many of our precious older buildings and stopping the proposed A27 by-pass being routed perilously close to St Nicolas Church in Old Shoreham.
Through our 40 years, we have seen a lot of change in Shoreham – some for the better and some for the worse. By far the best is the Adur Ferry Bridge and the pedestrianisation of East Street. The worst was the complete disregard for the original design brief for the Western Harbour Arm!
Some things we have done…
Our many campaigns include: the major refurbishing of our Art Deco Airport building; the Adur Ferry glass bridge; the effort to minimize the height of some of the new builds along the coast road; our long-term project to reopen the rail station subway as well as being a Community Rail Partner to promote our rail heritage and maintaining some of the information boards at the station; spearheading the introduction of Heritage Open Days which has successfully been taken on by other groups; tree planting through our Shoreham-by-Tree initiative; supporting other community groups such as AREA, Transition Town, Shoreham-By-Cycle, FOldS, Independent Traders and Shoreham Community Summit.
…and what we are doing now
In 2026 we plan to establish an oral history project looking at the people who helped make Shoreham over the last 70 years; to continue developing our communications strategy with our excellent journal and website; to provide relevant talks on our history, energy and environment; to inform and facilitate debate on devolution in our area; to continue to monitor future planning of new and important building developments including the re-development of St Mary’s Church Hall.
We will continue implementing the views expressed in our surveys of 2020 and 2025 which have been very helpful for us and council officers and and continue to have on-going dialogue with members of the local councils.
Over the last few years, it has become obvious that Shoreham is no longer “Brighton’s best kept secret”. Many people are now wanting to move to Shoreham. It is even more reason for the Shoreham Society to continue and ensure that the best of our town thrives. We have a unique community of people and location. Our landscape, natural environment and heritage are things we should be very proud of and not disappear in a sea of apathy.
Gerard Rosenberg
The Shoreham Society AGM is on Friday, 15th May at 7pm in St Peter’s Church Hall, West St., Shoreham. It’s free to attend and all are welcome. Drinks and refreshments will be provided. Our guest speaker is Lis Long from Apron Creative.
If you’re not already a Member of the Shoreham Society, do come along to find out more about us and maybe join up. If you are a Member, we’re always on the look out for more people to help on the Executive Committee which meets once a month. The more involvement we have, the more we can do to continue to fulfil the aims and objectives of The Shoreham Society for another 40 years!
