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QueenSpark Books

QueenSpark is the UK's longest-running non-profit community publishing and writing organisation, bas

QueenSpark is the UK's longest-running non-profit community publishing and writing organisation, based in Brighton and Hove. We publish books about local people's lives, run creative writing projects and facilitate oral history projects.

2017 is our 45th anniversary and we are planning on looking at life in Brighton in 1972,

Join us on Twitter:
Registered Charity Number 1172938

27/08/2025

🗞️ August's Roundup Newsletter - OUT NOW!

Catch up on what’s been happening, explore gems from the archive, and see what’s coming up next.

Subscribe to our newsletter here: https://queensparkbooks.org.uk/

🔁 Share the link with Brighton history lovers everywhere!

26/08/2025

Did You Know?

Tony Tree is a Brighton-based photographer with over 50 years of experience. He spent two decades at The Brighton Argus capturing local events and people.

His photography offers a valuable historical record of the city.

Now, 25 years later, you can see his Faith 2000 exhibtion as part of
Heritage Open Days

📅September 13th & 14th - Regency Town House. Free Entry!

📷 Rastafarian Community Brighton

23/08/2025

April 1991: A sea of red noses, baggy trousers, and oversized shoes. 🤡
History isn’t always serious — sometimes it’s a parade of clowns.

📚 Explore more fromQueenSpark Books https://queensparkbooks.org.uk/

📷Brighton and Hove Photographic Collection Vol. 1

21/08/2025

Brighton Bound Goes Digital!

📚 We’re excited to share that Brighton Bound: Stories of moving to, around and out of the city 1920s–2020s is now available as an e-book! You can find it on the Kindle Store here → https://rebrand.ly/Brighton-Bound-Kindle

And there’s more to come: over the next few months we’ll also be adding free text-only versions of this and other recent titles to our archive.

20/08/2025

Brighton's Lost Picture Palace

🎬 Did you know? The Academy screened silent films for 13 years before getting sound in 1929.

Find out more about this quirky cinema (a converted Turkish bath!) - from Hammer Horror nights to the last film screened, Peter Bogdanovich's The Last Picture Show (1973)

📖 Back Row Brighton: available from the bookshop https://queensparkbooks.org.uk/about/

📷 A staff fire drill at the Academy circa 1949-1950

19/08/2025

Through the Lens: Faith 2000

25 years ago, photographer Tony Tree set out on a two-year journey documenting the many faith communities of Brighton&Hove.

The result? Faith 2000 — a remarkable archive of images capturing culture, tradition and community during the city’s Millennium celebrations.

Queenspark is now the guardian of Tony Tree’s archive. Come and see this wonderful exhibition being shown as part of Heritage Open Days - see the exhibition at the The Regency Town House

Free entry for all!

📅 13th & 14th September
📍 The Regency Town House, Brighton

16/08/2025

🅿️ Even model buses get parking tickets!

The Brighton & Hove Photographic Collections Volumes I & II - available from our bookshop https://queensparkbooks.org.uk/about/

📷A Perspective of Pool Valley by JJ Waller

14/08/2025

🎭 Did you know ....?

Brighton’s iconic West Pier once hosted a theatre bound by strict rules!

Alongside the Palace Pier, both piers featured vibrant entertainment venues — but on the West Pier, companies were obliged to follow strict regulations that banned any....... “costume, long speech, song or dance…” deemed “indecorous, improper or unsuited for representation.”

Explore more fascinating stories from Brighton’s theatre history in Backstage Brighton, available now at Queenspark Books.

find out more here:- https://rebrand.ly/backstagebrighton

13/08/2025

📽️Brighton’s Cinema Story

Backrow Brighton celebrates the golden age of cinema in the city — from grand picture houses to sticky floors and first dates.

Did you know......?

Brighton’s Duke of York’s Picture House was once the height of luxury? With plush seats and a slogan to match......
“Bring her to the Duke’s, it is fit for a Duchess”

🎞️ Available from Queenspark Books - https://rebrand.ly/backrowbrighton

12/08/2025

📅 Date for your diary!

Join us at the beautiful The Regency Town House this September (13th&14th) for a special free event as part of Heritage Open Days

We’ll be exhibiting an extraordinary photographic collection by photographer Tony Tree documenting Brighton & Hove’s diverse faith communities originally taken as a part of the city's millennium celebration Faith 2000. A truly unique insight into the multi faith communities in our city at that time.

✨ Free entry – all welcome!
📷Festival of St Lucia, Swedish Community of Brighton&Hove

09/08/2025

Churchill Square, 1972 🌞

🪴“My kids used to climb up the concrete plant holders.” — Andrea
Some memories live in concrete.

📚 From Brighton & Hove Photographic Collection Vol 1
📷 Reinard Clasen

07/08/2025

🎭 Brighton’s twin piers once stole the show... in very different ways!

The Palace Pier and West Pier weren’t just places to stroll—they were stages, each with its own flair.

As Backstage Brighton notes:

“Historically, there is a sense that the Palace Pier has always been a little more ‘whelks and what the butler saw’ – whilst the West Pier was more sedate and elite.”

📚 Backstage Brighton – available at Queenspark Books https://rebrand.ly/backstagebrighton

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Our Story

QueenSpark is the UK's longest-running non-profit community publishing and writing organisation, based in Brighton and Hove. We publish books about local people's lives and facilitate oral history projects. We are currently making our extensive archives accessible to a wider public, so keep checking here and on our website for updates and ways to get involved. Join us on Twitter: @qsbooks Registered Charity Number 1172938