The sad demise of the Brighton Station bootsale, the end of an era...

I awoke early this morning, even earlier because the clocks went forward, and at 6.00am, with quite a sharp frost glistening on the pavements, I set off the Brighton station for the bootsale, one of the best in the country. I usually end up with a couple of bags of booty; wonderful antique & vintage textile treasures, wierd and wonderful clothes, and perhaps some vintage French rustic pottery or enamel kitchenware. Halfway there, I was hailed by a friend driving past to tell me it had been cancelled yet again. There was more bad news, apparently, the next bootsale isn't until 12th April, and that will be the very last one ever. I have been visiting the bootsale on and off since the long, hard recession of the 1980s, the only way to survive as a student and unemployed artist in those days, and when I first started my antique textile business, relied on it as a major source of stock. There are rumours it may start up again soon at Brighton Marina, I hope so, as do a lot of regular car-booters who rely on it for a large part of their income.

Luckily, there is another bootsale, a small one in the car park at my daughter's College, so off I went. It was full of cars, but not a lot to interest me, until I found two brilliant stalls! I bought these pretty little vintage cottage embroideries from one, and the wonderful selection of vintage roses items pictured above, so at least there was some compensation for waking up at 5.30am...