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Moving up

The owners of Revenge have moved quickly to announce they have appointed Harry Woodhams, the present manager at Bar Revenge, to be the new general manager at Bar Revenge and Club Revenge.

Harry Woodhams
Harry Woodhams

Harry, who studied dance at West Kent College, has worked in the leisure and entertainment industry in Brighton and Hove for the last few years, working most recently at the Town House Restaurant in St James’s Street and A-Bar on Marine Parade.

A spokesperson for Stagfleet Ltd, owners of Revenge, said: “Harry has been managing Bar Revenge for a few years and is very popular with our customers. We like his professional approach and look forward to supporting his elevation to senior management within our organisation.

Harry added: “It’s sad to see Andy Roberts, the outgoing manager, leave Revenge. I would like to thank him for giving me the opportunity to work for the company (as a promotions assistant 2 years ago!) and giving me so many more opportunities, working my way up to the top and putting me in good stead to take the reins as General Manager of Club and Bar Revenge.”

“I’m very much looking forward to my new role, it’s not often you have the opportunity to run such an iconic venue. I’ve received such encouraging messages from other bar managers and business owners and I can’t wait to work alongside these venues, and others, in keeping Brighton very much on the map!”

 

Moving on

Andrew Roberts the manager at Revenge has decided to move on after almost ten years managing the nightclub.

Andrew Robert with Lucy Spraggan
Andrew Robert with Lucy Spraggan

Andrew, affectionately known as Audrey to his close friends, arrived in Brighton via Poole, Bournemouth and Bristol where he had managed Vibes Nightclub.

Andrew told Gscene this morning he had decided to move once Pride was over and was leaving on good terms with Michael and Robert, the owners of Revenge, who both wish Andrew all the best for the future.

On his Facebook page Andrew said: “It is with great sadness that I am announcing today that I have left Club and Bar Revenge. I made this decision before Pride and decided to hold out until after the weekend to announce this.

“I’ve had an amazing ten years running Club and Bar Revenge, but the time has come to move on to ventures new. I’m taking a holiday from now and will let you all know my plans in the future.

“I would like to thank everyone for their support and a massive thank you to all my team that have worked with me, present and past.

“I am very proud with what Revenge has achieved over the past 10 years and have no doubt it will go from strength to strength.”

During his time at Revenge Andrew won a Golden Handbag Award for favourite manager of the year and hosted many stars from X Factor at the club on Friday nights after their elimination from the live Sunday shows.

On his Facebook page, friends and colleagues rushed to wish him well.

Chris Marshall, manager of Charles Street, wrote: “Good luck for your future exploits dear! You will be missed.”

Danniie Olivier added: “It was a pleasure to call you my boss and the head of the Revenge family. You did amazing things with the club and I’m sure wherever you move on to they will be lucky to have you. Good luck with everything.”

Andrew is pictured with Lucy Spraggon from X Factor, one of his favourite performers at the club.

 

 

Launch event for people with eating disorders

The Brighton and Hove Eating Disorders Peer Support Service (BHEDS Peer 2 Peer) will be holding a launch event on October 7, from 2.30 to 4 p.m. at Community Base in Central Brighton.

Men with Eating Disorders

BHEDS Peer 2 Peer is a partnership including Men Get Eating Disorders Too, As You Are Centre, Brighton and Hove Carers Centre and Sussex Partnership NHS Trust.

The new service offers monthly peer support groups to men and women and their carers living in the Brighton and Hove area where presently there is only limited community-based support available for those suffering from anorexia, bulimia, binge eating and other eating disorders.

Sam Thomas
Sam Thomas

Sam Thomas, MGEDT Founder and Director, said: “The new partnership will help improve early intervention and improved support for those with eating disorders in the local area. Too often, sufferers and their carers feel unable to seek support due to the barriers faced. By creating safe spaces for those in need, we hope that those affected will not have to suffer in silence or get to crisis point before they seek help.”

Eating disorders are serious mental illnesses that affect 1.6 million people in the UK as well as their friends and families.

Sam, added: “Watching the effect of an eating disorder on a loved one can be extremely distressing; it is difficult to know what to do and how to react or where to turn. It is expected the Peer Support Service will address this gap in provision.”

Neil Holmes, Chair of MGEDT, added: “We are pleased to be working in partnership with our local NHS Foundation Trust: Sussex Partnership, who have recognised the importance of having a community-led Peer Support service within the overall treatment and support for people with an eating disorder in Brighton and Hove, and significantly that men are targeted as a specific group alongside women and carers. Targeting these three groups individually is essential. We hope that we can build on these positive developments, with Sussex Partnership, towards an accessible Peer Support service across Sussex for all members of the community.”

Dr Renate Pantke, Consultant Clinical Psychologist at Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, added: “For some years we have been working together with our partners in the NHS commissioning group towards improving services for people with eating disorders. We are delighted that we are seeing this come to fruition in the development of the peer support groups as well as the extended Brighton and Hove Eating Disorder service (BHEDS). BHEDS offers interventions to adults with eating disorders of any level of severity. Our close links with the peer support groups will reduce isolation in those affected by eating disorders and facilitate access to treatment.”

Any individual affected by eating disorders and problem eating over the age of eighteen from the Brighton and Hove area is able to attend the groups. Those wishing to attend are welcome to be part of the Peer Support group whether or not they are currently receiving support such as counselling or other therapies.

The men’s, women’s and carers’ peer support groups will be held monthly on weekday evenings, as follows:

• Women’s group: On the first Tuesday of the month, 7.00-8.30 p.m.

• Carers’ group: On the third Wednesday of the month, 7.00-8.30 p.m.

• Men’s group: On the last Wednesday of the month, 7.00-8.30 p.m.

All the groups will take place at Community Base (South Wing), 113 Queens Road, Brighton, BN1 3XG

Any professionals and interested community members are welcome to attend the launch event.

For information about the service and to RSVP your attendance to the launch, EMAIL: 

 

Countdown to Doncaster Pride on August 16

Doncaster Pride are moving to a new home for the 2014 event.

Sir Nigel Gresley Square
Sir Nigel Gresley Square

After being staged at the Keepmoat Stadium for the last three years, the Lottery funded Doncaster Pride will take place at the new Sir Nigel Gresley Square, Waterdale, in the city centre on Saturday August 16 from 2 p.m. to 10.30 p.m.

Doncaster Pride 2014 Party with the Stars will feature a main stage from 2 p.m. to 10.30 p.m. with a lineup showcasing the best of local talent and tribute acts.

There will be bars, a food court, a market and a funfair.

Doncaster PridePride Chair, Cath Fox, said: “We’re back in the town centre and Pride is FREE so we are accessible and affordable for everyone. We really hope to see a great crowd coming together to help the gay community celebrate.

Pride isn’t just for the gay community, it’s about bringing people together in a friendly and happy party atmosphere.

“This year’s event really does have something for everyone and we encourage people to come and join in the best party in Doncaster all year.

 

Main Stage running order:

From 2 to 4 p.m.:

Miss Penny – Welcome to Pride!

• UK Pleasure Boys

• Gary Barlow

• Jesse J

• Adele

• Pride Dancers

• Amy Winehouse tribute

• Beyonce

From 4 to 6 p.m.:

• Neil Diamond

• Pride Dancers

• Anna Glypta – Alison Moyet and Boy George

• Jane McDonald

• Shania Twain

• Anna Glypta

• Matt Leyland

From 6 to 8 p.m.:

• Miss Penny – Welcome to the Second Half

• Penny Cook

• Starsie Walker

• Madonna

• Barbra Streisand

• Taylor Swift

From 8 to 10.30 p.m.:

• Michael Buble

• Paloma Faith

• Lady GaGa

• Bruno Mars

• Rhianna

• Miss Penny

• Nicola Marie – The Finale

For more infromation about Doncaster Pride, CLICK HERE: 

For Facebook: 

Doncaster Culture and Leisure Trust (DCLT) continue their sponsorship of the event and a brand new sponsor, The Co-operative Membership has come on board for 2014.

 

Gay Village clean-up, call to action!

Manchester Gay Village Business Association to clean up Gay Village in time for Manchester Pride.

Sackville Gardens Manchester
Sackville Gardens, Manchester

Following on from the success of the first ‘Village Clean-Up’ event, Manchester’s Village Business Association (VBA) are having a second clean-up on August 16 starting at 11 a.m. in Sackville Gardens.

Grab your marigolds, pop on a pinny, go along and help the VBA in their efforts to continue beautifying the village.

Tony Cooper, Chair of Friends of Sackville Gardens, said: “It is great initiatives like the VBA’s Village clean-up that are starting to help create that community feel in Manchester’s Gay Village again as well as helping people re-engage with the fantastic green space we have in the heart of our Gay Village. Working together we can achieve so much and we are already seeing the benefits around our blooming Gay Village and Park.”

The first mass effort to spruce up Manchester’s Gay Village saw a great effort by all volunteers, producing impressive results including the planting of over 100 plants and flowers in both Sackville Gardens and the village itself.

Looking to build upon the already amazing improvements and with Manchester Pride just around the corner, the VBA hope to come together with the local LGBT community on August 16 to take the gay village aesthetic to the next level and make sure it is truly sparkling for the arrival of thousands of people over the bank holiday weekend.

Jackie Crozier
Jackie Crozier

Jackie Crozier, Chair of the VBA, said: “The first clean-up event was a massive success and the perfect start to the journey of rejuvenation for our Gay Village. We have laid the best foundations possible and it is so important that we now come together as a community and build upon them to help make Manchester’s Gay Village the best possible version of itself.”

For more information or to suggest any ideas for the day, EMAIL:

What: Gay Village Clean-Up

Where: Sackville Gardens, Manchester

When: August 16

Time: 11 a.m.

 

REVIEW: Tavener at Royal Albert Hall

Tavener at the Proms

Nick Boston reviews BBC Prom 25: 

Monday, August 4 2014, 9.15pm at The Royal Albert Hall

Carolyn Sampson (soprano), Heath Quartet, The Tallis Scholars, Peter Phillips (conductor)

Sir John Tavener (1944-2013):

Ikon of Light (first performance at the Proms)

Requiem Fragments (BBC commission, world première)

It would have been Sir John Tavener’s 70th birthday this year, and presumably the BBC’s commission of Requiem Fragments was originally intended to mark that anniversary at this year’s Proms.

In fact it was one of the last works he composed before his death in November last year, and was dedicated to The Tallis Scholars, who performed it on Monday, conducted by Peter Phillips, along with Ikon of Light, which they recorded 30 years ago.  Their landmark recording of the work was also re-released earlier this year, and that release also included The Tallis Scholars singing Tavener’s The Lamb (more of this later), conducted by Tavener himself.

The Tallis Scholars line-up has gone through considerable changes in recent times, with many newer voices joining the group.  I wonder whether all these new voices have had chance to ‘bed down’ just yet, as the ensemble in Ikon of Light was at times surprisingly less secure than the smooth, blended sound we are accustomed to hearing from them.  Despite the fact that tuning was impeccable, they also took a note from the strings between several sections of the work – unnecessary as the tuning was bang on, but perhaps another indication that the ensemble were not 100% confident in this opening work.

Ikon of Light is a striking work, with many of the key elements that would become Tavener’s hallmarks throughout his career.  The first of these is evident in the opening section, Fos I, where he contrasts short sections for string trio (performed here by members of the Heath Quartet) with sudden, loud chords from the choir, on the single word, Fos (‘light’).

In their original recording, The Tallis Scholars gave these bright, illuminating chords real shine and edge, but on Monday night, some felt a little tentative, particularly from the top soprano voices, which characterised the performance overall, unfortunately.  However, there was some impressive singing here too, particularly from the two low basses in the Mystic Prayer to the Holy Spirit, as the subterranean bass drones frequently ground the increasingly complex invention in this long central section.

Tavener also shows his fascination with palindrome in this work, both small and large scale, as seen in the overall symmetrical structure of the work.  When the Fos chords return towards the end of the work (Fos II), the voices seemed more secure and confident, although still without the power and bite of the original recording.

However, for their performance of Requiem Fragments, The Tallis Scholars, separated into two choirs, seemed suddenly much more secure and at home.  Tavener was inspired here by Josquin’s complex 24-voice Qui habitat, with its intricate canon structure.

Requiem Fragments is not as complex, but there is still considerable use of canon, particularly in the settings of the Hindu words Manikarnika (a Hindu shrine and place of cremation) and Mahapralaya (the total reabsorption of everything into the one Divine Being, at the end of the Universe).

In contrast, the earlier fragments, setting short parts of the Requiem text, are much simpler, although there is use of strict canon here between the two choirs, so that although the harmonies are very simple, almost Romantic in their lushness, Tavener still creates dissonance and effective layering of sound.

This richness is also matched in the writing for the string quartet, and the Heath Quartet produced a remarkably full tone to avoid being swamped by the singers.  The sections for string quartet also use canon, and they are joined by two trombones at key points, particularly effective in the climactic settings of Atma (‘Supreme reality and supreme self’) and Sanctus.

After this, Manikarnika begins with a lone soprano voice (exquisitely sung by Carolyn Sampson, who by now had crept into the organ loft way above the singers on stage), gradually joined by the choir in canon.  Tavener’s ability to produce something sublime out of seemingly simple beginnings is what marks out certain of his works as masterpieces, and this is definitely one of those works.

When the opening Requiem aeternam setting returns, closure is hinted at, but the final unresolved chord left hanging in the air felt like a fitting tribute to the enigmatic composer no longer with us.

Following the original scheduled programme, as part of the nationwide LIGHTS OUT event, the lights were dimmed and prommers lit small electric candles, whilst actor Samuel West joined the stage to recite Wilfred Owen’s Anthem for Doomed Youth.  The Tallis Scholars, joined by Carolyn Sampson, then gave a heartfelt rendition of Tavener’s The Lamb, followed by Sam West reciting the attributed words of the British Foreign Secretary, Sir Edward Grey, on the eve of Britain’s entry into the First World War, ‘The lamps are going out all over Europe…’  A moving and effective end to a reflective and atmospheric evening.

For video of performance: CLICK HERE:

 

For more reviews, comment and events, CLICK HERE:

 

 

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