A Hollywood style Walk of Fame, celebrating famous people with connections to Brighton & Hove, is to be launched at the Marina in May. Marina Boss Andrew Goodall is investing £250,000 to build a waterside walkway, which will run the full length of the inner harbour wall. It will incorporate 40 commemorative plaques in the first phase of the scheme. Others will be added at a later date. The plaques, which will be specially designed at a cost between £200 and £300 each, are to feature celebrities from the world of art, theatre, literature, music and sport. Each plaque will detail the celebrity's claim to fame and the nature of their association with the town.

The scheme is the brainchild of the Brighton based composer and music producer David Courtney, who has been working on the idea for the past two years. He told the leader "Originally, the trail was to have been laid in West Street and on the lower promenade of the seafront. But when the Marina heard about itm they offered the space and finance, and now its seems like the perfect location - especially in view of the fact that my uncle, Henry Cohen was the local business man who conceived and built the Marina back in the sixties. It will be a major tourist attraction, that can be added to as and when". There will be an educational spin off from the walk, with schools being encouraged to use it as a basis for local history projects.

A special committee has been set up under the banner of The Brighton Walk of Fame Association to steer the scheme through from the design stage to installation. Members of the public are being invited to send their celebrity nominations for inclusion in the walkway to the Leaders sister paper the Argus. Brighton & Hove council leader Lord Bassam is to be instrumental in contacting either the celebrities themselves or surviving relatives in the case of those who are no longer alive.

Pat Moorman
Brighton & Hove Leader