Gang Encounters.. Shortest Day at Longest Bench!
Wednesday 21st December
09:30am - 10:00am
Your host for the event will be ChapmanGang.
The unique and colourful long bench has become an iconic part of Littlehampton’s Seafront, featuring in many visitor’s holidays snaps and marketing images for the town. The structure, measuring 324 metres, was designed with the help of local school children and funded by a regeneration grant and a donation by the family of Anita Roddick. The slats of the bench are made from recycled hardwood and over 200 of them are engraved with messages and memories from visitors and local people. The bench runs continuously from the seafront kiosks to the café, dipping, twisting and turning along the promenade. There are two shelters where the bench curves and bends into unusual shaped seats, a favourite photo opportunity with visitors.
So What’s the Winter Solstice?
It’s the shortest day of the year, but also brings the promise of more daylight ahead.
Brr! For people in the Northern Hemisphere (above the Equator, like the United Kingdom), winter is a season of cold, dark days and if you’re lucky, a spot of snow to sled on!
The winter solstice marks the exact moment when half of Earth is tilted the farthest away from the sun. It usually happens on December 21 or 22, at the exact same second around the world.
Because less sunlight reaches Earth, the winter solstice is also the day of the year with the least amount of daytime, known as the shortest day of the year. But the good news is that every day after the winter solstice will be a little longer, until we reach the day with the most hours of daylight. Called the summer solstice, it usually occurs between June 20 and June 22.
For people who live in the Southern Hemisphere, though, the winter solstice takes place in June. That’s because the seasons are reversed below the Equator. For instance, in New Zealand, it can actually snow in July!
So the plan.. lets meet at the published coordinates, it's a sheltered part of the bench (thinking wet weather plan 
). Needless to say it has plenty of seating being the longest bench! They'll be a log to sign, we've only made this meet 30 minutes as there is only 7 hours & 56 minutes of daylight today!!
This event can be used to exchange and discover trackables.
New cachers are especially welcome to come. A good opportunity to pick the minds of the seasoned pros in the area, who are all full of great tips and hints on geocaching in general or on any caches in the area that you might be having a little trouble with.
Look forward to seeing you there.
ChapmanGang