Social whirl

In october this year, hundreds of 12 and 13-year-olds will meet in Eastbourne for the International Children's Conference. A follow-up to the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, it will be called "Leave it to us".

The conference is sure to give Eastbourne worldwide media exposure. It's one of a number of events - not all of them international - which will keep the town in the public eye.

Devonshire Park in Eastbourne is the home of the annual International Ladies' Tennis Championship - the "curtain-raiser to Wimbledon" as the locals know it.

This year, the tournament gets a boost with the opening of phase one of the new £2.5m stand being built at Devonshire Park replacing the old wooden structure which burnt down two years ago.

As if to confirm the value of the investment, the Davis Cup tournament returns to Eastbourne in July this year after a considerable break, which townspeople regard as a coup.

Phase two of the new stand will be completed next year, when Devonshire Park will be able to put itself forward as a venue for other tournaments.

In July this year, at the Sovereign Harbour marina development, Showboat '95 will bring together the yachting community for a water leisure industry exhibition.

And back in the centre of Eastbourne, when the Round Table brings its international conference to the town this year, a record-size temporary structure will be erected on the Western Lawns, to accommodate the meetings.

Traditional feel

The total numbers of conference delegates expected in Eastbourne this year are down on the 39,000 who met here in 1990. This year the total will be 25,000.

This reflects the fact that Eastbourne does not have the facilities for the biggest conferences, including the main political party conferences. Its Congress Theatre, the main conference venue, is "1960s rather than 1990s", admits Graham Bean, chairman of the Eastbourne Hotels Conference Consortium.

But Bean, general manager of the resort's Hydro Hotel, makes no apology for that. Many organisations like the "traditional feel" of the town, and the fact that most of the hotels are within walking distance of the Congress Theatre.

Alan Good, who sells Eastbourne as a conference destination for the Borough Council, works with the Conference Consortium members to bring conference organisers to the town on twice-yearly study tours.

"We had 12 couples here in late March, and about six of the hotels were involved in supporting the tour. We've already got dates in the diary for five or six conferences as a direct result," says Bean.