A fresh look at the glories of Beachy Head
"It is so lovely, really beautiful! Until now, I had only seen it on a postcard.”
By Rebecca Maer
A Spitfire circled above the Bomber Command memorial at Beachy Head on a hazy, milky morning as sky and sea merged in a soft light.
It was shadowed by a smaller plane taking photographs against the sweeping backdrop of the white cliffs and the English Channel.
Mike Barker, one of the Beachy Head Ambassadors on duty that morning, knows his planes because he is a retired airline pilot.
Mike, 69, volunteered as an ambassador when the project started early last year. He strolls around the area near the pub and former visitor centre to chat to visitors and give them advice and information.
Joining him was Collins Griffith, 79, a retired primary school headteacher, who started volunteering a few months ago. Both live in Seaford.
The pair form an affable team who point out birds, the best paths to take and advice on staying safe near the cliffs to people enjoying the stunning headland.
Why do they give up a morning a week to go to Beachy Head?
Mike said: “I just love being outdoors and talking to people, being in this beautiful area.”
Collins’ verdict was: “I love the area and want to share what I enjoy about it, talk to people and engage with them. We tell people about what they can see, the different paths and routes.
“We come out in all weathers. We find people are very grateful and it helps them appreciate the place more.”
With their branded jackets and caps, they search for the hole where they need to place the Beachy Head Ambassadors banner before they start their walk.
On a clear day, they say you can see as far as the Isle of Wight, some 70 miles west, and Dungeness, 35 miles east, where the blocked outlines of the decommissioned power station can be seen from this height.
Mike said that since Covid there has been a huge influx of visitors from overseas. He said Beachy Head itself tended to attract visitors from Europe, the United States, Australia and Canada.
Large numbers of visitors from east Asia already flock to Birling Gap, at the western end of the headland, after a K-pop video was filmed there some years ago.
Mike added: “We also have a lot of people from up north who are staying in Eastbourne, sometimes coachloads of people. They often get off and wonder where the visitor centre is.”
The popular Beachy Head Story centre closed in October 2024 as part of a range of spending cuts by Eastbourne Borough Council which had to save a total of £2.7 million to balance the budget.
Mark and Barbara Lewis, from Bromsgrove, near Birmingham, are on their third visit to Eastbourne, staying for a short break at the Landsdowne Hotel on Eastbourne seafront. They had walked up from Meads.
“I think it’s a great idea to have people up here to help,” Mark said. He said they loved coming to Eastbourne and enjoyed the restaurants.
Maria Penaranda, a nurse who lives in Tunbridge Wells, was visiting the area with her husband Ray and family. It was their first visit to Beachy Head.
Maria said: “We were surprised – it is so lovely, really beautiful! Until now, I had only seen it on a postcard.”
I head with Mike and Collins on the path to the Bomber Command memorial and a view of the lighthouse, past fragrant banks of horse parsley.
The memorial is there, Mike explained, because the white cliffs of Sussex were the last view the pilots saw in the Second World War when they left England. They were also, hopefully, the first sight they saw on returning.
It was erected in 2012 in tribute to the 110,000 aircrew of the Royal Air Force bomber command, of whom 55,573 died.
Hidden remnants of the war and its aftermath are under the turf you walk on: Cold War bunkers are carved underground, the only sign of their existence a concrete vent on a patch of bare chalk.
The pair are keen to point out the rich bird life of Beachy Head.
Skylarks have ground nests. Mike explained: “Male skylarks sing in flight to attract a mate. The females can produce four broods a year, so it goes on all summer. They are difficult to see but you can hear them.”
And peregrine falcons nest on the cliffs. Volunteers on duty have watched parents teach the young to hunt by dropping prey mid-flight for them to catch.
More volunteers are joining the project in the coming weeks, bringing the team to nearly 40. It is funded by East Sussex Public Health to showcase the area.
Volunteer manager Anna Hoad hopes to expand on last year’s outdoor activities at Beachy Head which included yoga, a silent disco and even a performance by musicians from the London Philharmonic Orchestra. There are plans for art and photography this year.
In an area which attracts weekend walkers and serious hikers, a man emerged from the steep path down towards the Meads area of Eastbourne.
We all applauded and Mike asked: where have you come from? “From the bottom!” he joked, before striking energetically onward.
As I left, the wind dropped, the clouds started breaking up and patches of blue sky appeared as the sun illuminated glowing yellow banks of gorse.
Mike and Collins turned towards more visitors arriving with the clearer weather, ready to share their knowledge and enthusiasm for this beautiful landscape.
:: Rebecca Maer is a qualified journalist with 30 years’ experience in the UK and overseas at organisations including the Press Association and The Observer. Rebecca started the Eastbourne Reporter in 2022 to revive genuine journalism in the town. She still produces the website on a mostly voluntary basis.
:: No machine learning (AI) was used in the creation of this feature, just listening and Pitman shorthand. Interviewing like this takes time: copying PR handouts takes seconds but is not journalism. If you value this reporting, one-off donations are here or become a member here for the price of a coffee just once a month. Reader support is vital: there is no funding for local independent news.
