Beachy Head: Lighthouse 'Paint Job' Finished

The finishing touches of paint have been applied to a lighthouse at Beachy Head following a campaign to revive its fading red and white stripes.

A five-strong team of workmen has spent just under three weeks applying several coats of paint to freshen up the appearance of the 141ft Beachy Head lighthouse in East Sussex.

Martin Griffin, the managing director of Hailsham-based Sussex Blast Cleaning, which has overseen the project, said:

"The last coat of red paint is being applied and then all we have got to do is the handrail and some general touching up, then we should be done.

"Crown Paints, which has donated the paint used in the project, say it should last up to 10 years. It looks absolutely brilliant now, particularly with the sun shining on it.''

A £27,000 fundraising campaign was launched after Trinity House, which oversees navigational aids around parts of Britain's coastline, said the lighthouse was no longer needed as a daymark, the reason for its eye-catching appearance.

Locals - backed by celebrities including Eddie Izzard, John Craven and Bill Bryson - stepped in to raise the money needed to give it a makeover.

Campaign co-ordinator Shirley Moth said: "It is beyond our expectations. It just looks so bright, and you realise how much it had faded.

"They have done such a brilliant job, and we are all so proud. Once you start a campaign like this, you realise how many other people feel the same.''

The lighthouse has sat more than 500ft below the summit of the chalk cliffs of Beachy Head since being brought into service in 1902.