Aldeburgh to shore tragically without him. The sculpture is controversial in the local area, with some local residents considering it spoiling the beach. It has been vandalised with graffiti and paint on 13 occasions. There have been petitions for its removal and for its retention. A nearby aerodrome "Royal Naval Air Station Aldeburgh" was used during the First World War as a Night Landing Ground and for the training of observers. Outside the town, the Snape Maltings is the venue for the Aldeburgh Festival held every June. Aldeburgh Music Club was founded by Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears in 1952. The
Snape, Suffolk of this process (by a Saxmundham bone merchant, Edward Packard) led to what has been dubbed "the Suffolk Gold Rush", and local fortunes were made (Packard established what was to become the fertiliser company Fisons, now part of AstraZeneca). Sugar beet was also an important product; it was first grown commercially in and exported to the Netherlands from Snape. The Maltings, producing and exporting high-quality malted barley, was a fourth important industry, which bequeathed buildings to the fifth significant industry: tourism. Snape had already tasted success as a tourist destination, for in the 18th and 19th centuries the Snape Race