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Suited and booted with Newcastle Pride

The North East’s leading LGBT charity is hoping to raise “money, money, money” at its annual Black Tie Ball.

Abba

THE popular event on Saturday June 20, will feature a live performance by top tribute band Abba Girlz, as well as a three course meal created by 1879 Events Management.

Guests at the glamorous, black tie event, being held for the first time at The Beacon, Westgate Road, Newcastle, will also be able to take part in a variety of prize draws and dance the night away with a disco.

All proceeds from the Northern Pride Black Tie Ball, will be used to help fund the charity’s on-going work to promote equality and inclusivity, as well as the Newcastle Pride Festival 2015.

The three-day festival, now one of the largest free LGBT events in the UK, returns to Newcastle’s Town Moor from Friday July 17, with a bumper line-up celebrating 45 years of world Pride.

This includes headline performances by B*Witched and Belinda Carlisle, as well as more live music and family events throughout the weekend.

Mark Nichols
Mark Nichols

Mark Nichols, Chair of Northern Pride, said: “The Black Tie Ball is a pre-cursor to Newcastle Pride, as well as an amazing event in its own right. 

“All proceeds raised during the evening will be used to help ensure Newcastle Pride can remain free for people to attend and will help fund our other activities throughout the community.”


Event: Northern Pride: Black Tie Ball

Where: The Beacon, Westgate Road, Newcastle

When: Saturday, June 20

Time: 7pm  – midnight

Tickets: £25 per person or £200 for a table of 10. This includes a Bucks Fizz on arrival, three course meal, live entertainment and disco.

For more information, or to book, click here:

For full listings for Newcastle Pride 2015, click here:

Want to sing with Actually Gay Men’s Chorus?

Following another sell-out show at St Andrew’s Church in Hove last month, Actually Gay Men’s Chorus welcome all budding singers for the coming season.

Actually Gay Men's Chorus

The chorus are holding a taster evening of song and good company to get the new term off to a great start.

They will be learning a new, exciting and diverse repertoire in preparation for their Pride show Masquerade on Saturday, July 18.

No previous experience of singing with a choir is necessary, just turn up and enjoy yourself.


Event: Actually Gay Men’s Chorus: Open evening and new term

Where: St Andrew’s Church, Waterloo Street, Hove

When: Thursday, May 7

Time: 7.45pm

For more information about the chorus, click here: 

To book tickets for Masquerade on Saturday, July 18, click here:

 

Trading Standards issue safety warning

A warning has been issued by Brighton & Hove City Council’s Trading Standard Service because of concerns that a potentially harmful substance – labelled as a Miracle Mineral Solution – could have been on sale at an event in Sussex over this Bank Holiday weekend.

WEB.600TRADING Standards have been made aware that the Spirit of Health Congress was being held in the area this weekend, and there are concerns that Miracle Mineral Solution (MMS) and Chlorine Dioxide Solution (CDS) was available to buy at the event.

The Food Standards Agency has previously warned that Miracle Mineral Solution (MMS) and Chlorine Dioxide Solution (CDS) should not be consumed.

MMS, also known as Miracle Mineral Supplement, is sold as an oral supplement and is a 28% sodium chlorite solution, which is equivalent to industrial-strength bleach. When taken as directed it could cause severe nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea, potentially leading to dehydration and reduced blood pressure. If the solution is diluted less than instructed, it could cause damage to the gut and red blood cells, potentially resulting in respiratory failure.

Although CDS is a more dilute product and not as potentially dangerous as MMS, it could irritate and damage the skin and gastrointestinal tract if swallowed. Other similar products containing chlorine solutions in varying strengths are available. These should also be avoided.

Anyone who is aware of these products being sold should contact their local Trading Standards team on 03454 04 05 06.

Anyone who has bought any of these products should throw them away.

If someone has consumed MMS, CDS or similar products and feels unwell, they should consult their doctor immediately.

Huge support for rent reductions

Nearly 3,000 people in Brighton & Hove have signed a petition calling for fair rents and more security for tenants in private rented homes.

Living Rents Campaign

The petition organised by the local Living Rent Campaign also calls for:

· An end the Governments Right to Buy scheme which has led to the sale of more than 1.7 million affordable homes

· An increase in the amount councils can borrow to build more social housing

· And a landlords registration scheme to ensure all private rented homes are decent, safe and secure

Private housing rents have been rocketing in cities like Brighton & Hove. The average rent for a three bedroomed house in Brighton and Hove will cost you around £1,556 per month. More than a third (37%) of all private rented homes in the City still fail the Decent Home Standard.

Caroline Lucas, Green Party Parliamentary Candidate for Brighton Pavilion, has given her full backing for fair rents in the city.

Caroline Lucas: Green Party, Parliamentary Candidate for Brighton Pavilion
Caroline Lucas: Green Party, Parliamentary Candidate for Brighton Pavilion

She said: “It’s unacceptable that private rents are unaffordable for so many people. We have to go further than just limiting future increases as some have suggested. In Brighton & Hove, it’s like shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted! I support calls for a Living Rent commission to explore proposals that will bring rents down to truly affordable levels.”

Adding: “Longer tenancies and rent controls work in Germany where private renting is popular and works for both tenants and the landlords. We need something similar here.”

Living Rent Campaign research shows landlords can thrive with rent controls and longer tenancies.

In Germany and many other European countries, rents are lower and private tenants have more protections than in the UK. On the continent, landlords see housing as providing a long-term, stable income as opposed to the get rich as quick as possible approach in the UK.

Buy to let landlords here have been making greater profits than any other investors, even though they can afford to charge less rent and often these profits are funded by taxpayers through housing benefit payments. In Brighton alone last year, £112 million of public money was paid to private landlords in housing benefit.

The petition will be handed to parliamentary and council candidates in Brighton & Hove before the election.

REVIEW: Fringe: I need a Doctor

inad-rotator-1

I need a Doctor

Main House

Warren

Brighton Fringe

HOW do you write a Doctor Who musical without getting shut down by the BBC? Jamie Wildon & Jess Sprey try their very best in this unauthorized Whosical show. Watch their time traveling hero’s battle copyright-free villains the ‘Exterminators’ and ‘Cybergents’ in this award-winning musical comedy. There’s lot’s of joking and general piss taking of the Dr Who world and famous writers and some thick skinned jokes about middle class white actors which seemed not to reflect on the middle class white kids on stage, however, moving on…

Overall this was silly, much slicker than it looked with some wondrous shabby tacky wobbly set’ness built in both for an authentic fringe feel and because that’s how most of us older folk love ‘classic’ Dr Who, the Nouveau-Whovs had plenty to please them also and along with a big queer element there were lot of kids in the audience. With relentless and pretty merciless digs across the board at some well loved Dr Who actors this was a treat for the fans (my boyfriend laughing endlessly, and me having to ask him ’why that was funny.’) and bearable enough for a non Who’vian like myself. There was some very sophisticated meta references and deconstructions, but it was ladled on thick to make it look very ‘sticky tape and last minute’, the flight of the Tardis and the time travel arms being great physical jokes that the audience loved. These folk rock and with their endless middle class white energy and health food sharpened cheek bones they really kept the show bobbing along and made it look, even in it’s 98th award winning performance that that was the first time they had performed it. Which is a slick feat of acting prowess in itself and suggests a layer of talent in this pair of performers that might slip past the casual viewer.

For more information on the show, click here:

inad-blogcrop-image1There’s plenty of jokes around the construction of musicals themselves and some good site gags and musical gags ripped from some famous musicals from the very obvious Phantom to more subtle Rent, the pianist deserves a decent round of applause himself. I personally liked the grammatical emphasis on the article ‘A Dr’ , but the rap was a delight, with some Dr Dre references and the Masters nemesis song very funny too. Wilson & Spray are both very charming actors and engaged with the mixed audience with ease, they know their stuff and managed to make some trips, slips and kicking off of computerised dogs heads part of the action, I do like a slick team that are trained to make things look not so.

If you fancy a silly bank holiday treat then get along to see their show at the Main House, the Warren just up behind St Peters. Great fun, very kid friendly and an entertaining hour in the presence of two folk who obviously love Dr Who with a ex-wife’s passion.

Great fun, very Queer & kid friendly and an entertaining hour in the presence of two folk who obviously love Dr Who with a ex-wife’s passion.

Until May 4

For more info on the show or to book tickets, click here:

PREVIEW: West End Wendies does Broadway

Drag Queen and chef extraordinaire Spice brings his unique brand of musical mayhem to the Brighton Fringe, Upstairs at Bar Broadway on Thursday, May 7.

Spice

SPICE will be recreating his favourite show tunes, live on stage, featuring songs from musicals both old and new, amazing costumes and plenty of laughs.

An evening with something for everyone.


Event: West End Wendies does Broadway

Where: Upstairs at Bar Broadway, 10 Steine Street, Brighton

When: Thursday, May 7

Time: 8.30pm

Tickets: £8.50 can be purchased from Bedford Tavern, Brighton Tavern and Bar Broadway.

For more information about Bar Broadway, click here:   

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Nancy shines spotlight on backstreet dog breeding

Nancy and Sid
Nancy and Sid

Nancy Platts, Labour Parliamentary Candidate for Brighton Kemptown and Peacehaven backs campaign by Battersea Dogs & Cats Home urging prospective dog owners to think twice about how they buy a dog, in an attempt to crack down on backstreet dog breeding.

 

BREEDING of dogs in dirty, squalid conditions takes place in neighbourhoods across the UK.

Battersea has launched a major campaign calling for a clamp down on the many undercover dog breeders that profit from the cruel treatment of these animals.

Nancy joins the world famous charity in calling for a complete ban on the sale of puppies under eight weeks old and the introduction of a breeding licence requirement for any household producing two or more litters per year.

She said: “Lots of people have contacted me concerned about puppy farming and backstreet breeding of dogs. Dogs used in backstreet breeding endure a miserable life, producing countless litters before being turfed out on to the street once they have served their purpose. This needs to end.”

Claire Horton, Battersea Dogs & Cats Home Chief Executive, added: “Battersea is speaking out to help expose and shame the callous breeders in our communities who are creating far too many unhealthy, unwanted, and abandoned dogs all in the name of personal profit. At Battersea we see the consequences of this problem every day. These puppies and breeding bitches are tomorrow’s status dogs and we must do all we can to put a stop to such inhumane, money-making activities.”

For more information about Battersea’s Backstreet Breeding campaign, click here:
 

MUSIC REVIEW: Back to the Bond Age – Brighton Gay Men’s Chorus

Back to the Bond Age – Brighton Gay Men’s Chorus

Saturday, May 2, 2015

St Bartholomew’s Church, Brighton

Brighton Gay Men's Chorus

THERE’S much competition within the city on the first weekend of Brighton Festival, but it was a full house at St Bartholomew’s church for the second night of Back to the Bond Age performed by the Brighton Gay Men’s Chorus.

The James Bond theme was carried through the evening with songs and links performed by the choir along with other favourites.

It has to be said that the acoustics in St Bart’s must have been very difficult to work with, balancing choir, accompaniment and echo. From my seat in the third row, it was at times difficult to hear the lyrics, but when the choir were able to let rip, the sound filled the cavernous nave beautifully.

The first half visited some of the choir’s favourites along with an enthusiastic solo by Jon Taylor of Jacky and Pablo Cazorla’s powerful rendition of For Your Eyes Only. Climb Ev’ry Mountain was simply stunning, the harmonies were spot-on and sound rich, demonstrated again in The Impossible Dream.

The second half started with another song using powerful harmonies. Sweet Talking Guy filled the church once again, followed by a new song for the choir, Uptown Funk. This lively number was fun to hear and watch, I will look forward to hearing it again as confidence of the choir with it grows.

Nobody Does It Better lived up to its title followed by a strong solo by Andy Williams of All The Time In The World.

Polished performances of Here You Come Again and Wrecking Ball were followed by a very enjoyable medley of Bond themes with an encore of Enough Is Enough.

It was announced at the beginning of the performance that “The camp must be retained at all costs”, a promise that was upheld throughout. The sketches between some of the songs performed by choir members were fun, though particular mention must go to the excellent portrayal of Dr Maybe by John Buckeridge.

Everybody performed with enthusiasm and all of the members should be proud of such a professional production.

Collections were made on Friday for the Friends of Hurstwood Park Hospital, and on Saturday night for Peer Action.

Anti-bullying charity celebrate landmark achievement

Leading anti-bullying charity Diversity Role Models celebrate the delivery of their 1000th workshop.

Diversity Role Models

DIVERSITY Role Models is a ground-breaking charity that provides workshops within UK schools with the aim of tackling homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying. Since the charity was founded in 2011 it has reached an impressive 22,853 students, including an estimated 1,370 young LGBT people.

Students attend workshops that feature LGBT and straight ally role models, who then chat with the students and bring a message of acceptance and exclusivity into the classroom. By speaking directly to young people about their experiences, Diversity Role Models hopes to put a stop to bullying before it happens.

The difference made by these workshops is made clear in the feedback that Diversity Role Models receives from the students themselves. They recently received feedback from James (not his real name), a young gay man whose school they visited in 2014: “It was a while ago that you guys came to our school. But it’s genuinely helped me so much for being able to come out to my family and friends. Thanks so much and keep on doing the amazing work you’re doing! It made all the people around me more accepting too!”

The workshops provided by Diversity Role Models also have a strong impact on the straight, cisgendered peers of young LGBT people. As a result of the workshops, 94% of students say that they will treat LGBT people better and 88% say that they will challenge homophobia.

Suran Dickson
Suran Dickson

Suran Dickinson, CEO of Diversity Role Models, said: “Since we launched in 2011, Diversity Role Models has helped over a thousand young LGBT people like James. The positive and honest nature of our workshops help to break down prejudice, and encourages young people to allow their peers the freedom to be themselves, without fear and shame. We’re immensely proud to deliver our 1000th workshop. Here’s to the next 100 workshops that will help even more young LGBT people.“

To find out more about Diversity Role Models, click here:

 

 

 

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