Brighton Bear who organise the popular Brighton Bear Weekend in June, as well as events throughout the year, have two new committee members.
Chris Cooke and Oli Halliwell will bring their respective areas of expertise to the committee to raise money for the Rainbow Fund who give grants to LGBT+ organisations that provide front line services to LGBT+ people in the city.
Chris Cook
Chris Cooke said:“I am delighted to be asked to join the Brighton Bear Committee who do such a great job at raising valuable money for the Rainbow Fund as well as bringing additional visitors into the city and showing them what Gay Brighton has to offer. I am looking forward to making 2017 an even bigger event raising even more money than last year.”
Oli Halliwell
Oli Halliwell added:“I’m massively excited to join the Brighton Bear Organising Committee. Our group raises money for the Rainbow Fund, and in September I was fortunate enough to attend a Rainbow Fund event to see the grants being given out to various LGBT+/HIV community groups in Brighton & Hove. It was humbling to see that hundreds of people across our amazing city work so hard to help improve the lives of people in our community.”
“So behind the scenes, we are focusing our efforts to ensure that the Brighton Bear Weekend in June 2017 is going to be our biggest and most successful event to date. Roll on June 15 and please remember to make a note in your diary so you don’t miss out.”
Christmas tree recycling sites in Brighton & Hove will open on January 2.
Residents can take their trees to any of the council’s Christmas tree recycling points listed below. The sites will be open from Monday, January 2, 2017 until Saturday, January 14, 2017.
Anyone wanting to recycle their tree before January 2, or after January 14, can drop it off at the green waste recycling section of the council’s household waste recycling sites.
Christmas tree recycling sites include:
Brighton Upper Bevendean Avenue – Opposite shops by recycling point Coldean Lane – Opposite Park Road, near junction with A270 Dyke Road – Hazeldene Meads East Brighton Park, Wilson Avenue – In car park Hollingbury Park, Ditchling Road – North entrance opp Woodbourne Ave Ladies Mile Road – junction with Mackie Avenue behind clock tower Mackie Avenue/Plainfields Avenue – playing field opposite shops Montpelier Crescent – opposite shops Preston Park – south end, The Ride adjacent to Preston Park Avenue Preston Park – north entrance, Preston Drove next to recycling site Queens Park – North. By Pepper Pot The Level, Union Road – behind recycling point Upper Bedford Street – by Hampshire Court, corner of Upper St James Street Wyevale Garden Centre, Race Hill – in car park
Hove Brunswick Square – inside gardens at Western Road entrance Hangleton Park – on left hand side from Lark Hill/Park Rise entrance Hove Museum – Rear gardens, in north-west corner Hove Park – end of Orchard Road St Ann’s Well Gardens – beside Nizells Avenue Wish Park Recreation Ground, Wish Road – north-east corner by playground
Portslade Easthill Park – Millcross Road entrance Victoria Recreation Ground – Victoria Road, west car park
Saltdean Saltdean Lido, Saltdean Park Road – car park to left hand side of recycling point
Woodingdean Central Park, Lockwood Crescent – in corner opposite recycling point Happy Valley Car Park, Falmer Road – left hand side of entrance barrier. Opposite Crescent Drive South.
If you are an older person facing Christmas Day alone, national charity Friends of the Elderly could help.
Working in partnership with Community Christmas, the charity is encouraging older people facing the festive season alone to find out what activities are taking place in their local area with activities from full traditional Christmas lunches, to mince pies and a glass of sherry at a local pub, there’s a range of activities that you can be a part of on Christmas Day.
Tony Smith, 61, lives alone and doesn’t have any family. He went to his first community Christmas lunch last year.
Tony said:“The lunch was initially a complete shock to the system – having spent all these years on my own. But it was like one big happy family. I’m really looking forward to going again this Christmas.”
Also looking forward to attending another community Christmas lunch are Lesley, 64, and Jim Roberts, 67, who have been going to one in their local area for the past two years.
Lesley said:“It’s a great opportunity to meet new friends. We met one gentleman who we stay in touch with over the telephone. People might be dubious about what to expect, but any worries you have before going just disappear once you get through the door. Everyone’s so welcoming, they couldn’t be friendlier. No one was sat on their own.”
It’s also not too late to organise an activity on Christmas Day for older people who might be alone. It’s not just about the turkey dinner, you could get people together to watch a Christmas film, share a cup of tea and a mince-pie in a local pub, or enjoy a Christmas Day walk. If you do organise something make sure it’s registered on the Community Christmas website so that older people can find out about it easily.
Sally McLachlan
Sally McLachlan, Senior Engagement Manager at Friends of the Elderly, said:“Lots of older people tell us they don’t feel worthy of receiving a Christmas meal and there are other people more in need than themselves. This is about the community coming together on Christmas Day, whatever their age or circumstances, to enjoy some festive cheer and make new friends. It’s not only the people attending that have a great day but also those volunteering their time. So if you are alone on Christmas Day and would rather not be, get in touch to find out what’s taking place near you.”
To find out what events are on in Sussex, click here:
For more information about Friends of the Elderly, click here:
Hart of Eastbourne, the towns only LGBT+ bar will be raising funds for the Eastbourne Rainbow Group on Sunday, January 22 from 7.30pm.
Till I hear You Sing promises “an evening of light song and entertainment to warm the heart”.
Eastbourne Rainbow is an LGBT+ group for the 50+ Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) communities living in Eastbourne and the surrounding area, to socialise, make new friends, gain support and obtain information which is relative to the group. They are presently celebrating their 5th anniversary.
Meetings are held on the last Wednesday of the month from 2.00pm until 3.30pm in the Girder Room at AGE Concern’s Venton Centre which is in Junction Road, Eastbourne BN21 3QY. Tea, Coffee and biscuits are provided and organisers request £1 entrance to cover costs.
Coffee mornings have been added to the monthly events on the first Wednesday of each month in the Pantry Cafe at the same venue from 10.30 am to 11.30 am.
All members and new members are invited to attend the coffee mornings for a chat, as sometimes the monthly meetings are very busy and people don’t get enough time to speak with friends and catch up on what the group is planning.
If you would like to make contact leave a message or text their telephone number is 07516 670654 (this is text and voice mail only).
£300 cash prize and big raffle prizes on offer at Camelford Brighton Bear’s Christmas Quiz.
It’s that time of year for the annual Brighton Bear’s Christmas Quiz at the Camelford Arms on Thursday, December 22. Go by yourself, join a team or put a team together and win the big prize of £300.
Grab a table, answer the most questions correctly and the prize money, £300, is there for the taking. A perfect way to start the Christmas season.
The quiz starts at 9.00pm but arrive at least before 8.00pm to grab a table. Better still, have dinner at The Camelford Arms which will guarantee you a table all night.
The bar has an extensive Christmas menu at the moment with a two course meal at £21.50 and three course meal at £24.50.
Phone up and book a table if your eating. Businesses, community organisations and social network groups are all invited to enter teams.
Dale Drury
Assistant manager, Dale Drury will be asking the questions set by Brighton Bear’s own Graham Munday. Blame him not Dale for the questions and expect maybe one or two Brighton Bear ones thrown in and of course a few Christmas ones for good measure.
It’s just £2.00 a head, to enter the quiz. All the money raised goes to The Rainbow Fund – who give grants to LGBT/HIV organisations in Brighton & Hove who provide effective front line services to LGBT people in the city.
If you miss out on the quiz you can still enter the raffle which has an extensive range of raffle prizes to win kindly donated by Krater comedy club, New Steine Hotel, Brit Bear, Prowler, Brighton Bier, BRUT, Camelford and many more.
Event: Brighton Bear’s Christmas Quiz
Where: Camelford Arms, Camelford Street, Brighton
When: Thursday, December 22
Time: 9pm start
Cost: £2 a head entry
To make a dinner reservation which guarantees you a table for the Quiz, telephone: 01273 622386
The Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement will hold their annual Service of Carols by Candlelight on December 22.
The service will take place in the beautiful surroundings of St George’s Church, Kemptown starting at 7.30pm and the sermon will be delivered by Father Andrew Woodward.
The service will be followed by wine and mince pies.
Event: LGBTI Service of Carols by Candlelight
Where: St George Church, St George’s Rd, Brighton BN2 1ED
Speak it’s Name!: Quotations by and About Gay Men and Women
Simon Callow, Christopher Tinker
This collection of quotations by and about gay people is a celebration of the advances in LGBT rights in the UK over the last half-century and a demonstration of the battle against oppression and prejudice that led to them. From a diverse range of people across the world, funny ones are interspersed with extracts from revealing interviews and diary entries.
Amusing observations by Noël Coward, Tallulah Bankhead, Quentin Crisp, Boy George and Alan Bennett are interspersed with extracts from revealing interviews with Dusty Springfield, Ian McKellen, Freddie Mercury, Clive Barker, George Michael and William S. Burroughs and diary entries by Kenneth Williams, Joe Orton, W.H. Auden and John Maynard Keynes.
John Gielgud and Alan Turing’s disturbing accounts of their arrests at a time when homosexual acts were punishable with a prison sentence contrast with touching love-letters from Violet Trefusis to her lover, Vita Sackville-West, King James I to his favourite, George Villiers, Marquis of Buckingham, and between Benjamin Britten and his partner Peter Pears, all demonstrate the enormous developments in gay rights in Britain in the last five hundred years, with a focus on the last century.
A delightfully well presented and researched classy addition to anyone’s queer book-stack but then the author bring a heft of percipient experience with him Christopher Tinker Editing Manager of the National Gallery and an introduction from Simon Callow all round lovvie extraordinaire.
Beata Kozidrak is a singer with legendary Polish band, Bajm.
Beata Kozidrak
After divorcing her husband earlier this year, she relaunched her solo career, releasing her third solo album B3.
Polish gay couple Jakub and David loved her new single Niebiesko-zielone and made an amateur video for it. The Polish superstar adored their work so much she sent congratulations to them and shared it on her official website. Then the hatred began……
The response from her fans was enthusiastic but when the Polish media spread the news around the country a lot of nasty comments started to appear.
Here are just a few:
When she got divorce she completely lost her mind
She should buy a hammer and hit herself in the head
That pig should be burnt on a stake
It should be cured not promoted
I’ve been your fan for 30 years, now it’s over
A few radical Polish nationalists sites called for a boycott of Beata’s songs and concerts.
So what is all the fuss about?
Jakub and David
Nothing really, just two young Polish guys having fun throughout all four seasons of the year in a three-minute video promoting a pop song. They recorded Spring and Autumn in Poland, Summer in Italy and Winter in Russia.
Last year when their video of the Roxette track Some other summer appeared on Roxette’s official website, Jakub and David faced a similar reaction.
Beata Kozidrak has been a gay icon in Poland for over 30 years. Her colourful outfits, leather jackets and over knee boots were an inspiration for three generations of Polish drag queens. Beata had never mentioned a word about her attitude to LGBT+ people, so it was a huge surprise to everyone when she published Jacob and David’s video of her new single Niebiesko-zielone (Blue-Green) on her official website
The annual review of the number rough sleepers in Brighton & Hove has taken place.
The rough sleeper estimate aims to identify the current numbers of people sleeping rough in the city to make sure support and resources are allocated where most needed.
The estimate is produced by Brighton & Hove City Council in collaboration with eight organisations working with rough sleepers across the city.
The group shares data and information to produce a list of all those known to be sleeping rough in the city, providing a snapshot of one night to illustrate the wider picture.
The work focused on the night of Tuesday, November 8 and the results show this year’s estimate figure is 144 an increase from 78 in 2015 and is more comparable to the estimate undertaken in March 2014 which recorded 132 people sleeping rough.
Cllr Clare Moonan
Cllr Clare Moonan, Lead Member for Rough Sleeping, said:“Understanding the needs of rough sleepers in the city helps us to make sure the right services are in place. Key to this is in knowing how many people are in need and where to find them. This year’s estimate is the most involved and detailed we’ve ever done. We feel that as far as possible we have included all the hidden rough sleepers on the city’s boundaries who are currently not engaging with our mainstream services.
“At first glance, the numbers seems to show a large increase on last year’s estimate. The reality is that we now have a more accurate reflection of the situation in the city.”
This year’s total of 144 rough sleepers is split between 126 men and 18 women.
Last year the estimate identified 78 people sleeping rough on the night of the November 3, 2015. Of these 71 were male and seven female.
Between 50 to 60 per cent of the city’s rough sleepers are not local and don’t have a connection to Brighton & Hove, in these cases everything is done to reconnect people with services in their own area if it is personally safe for this to be arranged.
Brighton & Hove City Council is committed to helping rough sleepers move away from the streets. Partners in the city, including St Mungo’s, provide the city’s street outreach service and work closely with the individuals identified as part of the estimate.
Local charities are also working together with the council this winter to raise awareness of how people can help rough sleepers.
Five local charities, Pavilions, St Mungo’s, BHT (Brighton Housing Trust), Nightstop and Equinox, have organised a campaign to encourage rough sleepers to contact support services available in the city, ask residents to say where they’ve seen those in need so tailored help can be offered and provide an alternative giving option to donating on the street.
Members of the public can help rough sleepers by contacting Streetlink to share concerns about individuals who are sleeping rough.
The details are passed to the street outreach service and professional outreach workers go out to offer help to the individual.
Brighton & Hove scoops a prestigious national prize for the best public loos in England – the Oscars of the toilet world.
The city’s toilets brushed aside the opposition and were awarded first place in the inf-loo-ential Loo of the Year awards for their cleanliness, facilities and accessibility to everyone – including adults, children, babies and people with a disability.
As well as taking first place in the Best Local Authority Toilets in England category, it also picked up the number one spots for Best Beach Toilets in the UK, (West Pier Arches) and Best Crematorium Toilets in the UK (Hove Cemetery South).
Judges look at more than 100 different criteria before choosing the finest loos in the land, giving them a ‘platinum’ or ‘gold’ or ‘silver’ grade following an unannounced visit by a fully trained and authorised Loo of the Year Awards Inspector.
The council entered all of its 37 toilets for awards and almost swept the board with 17 Platinum (more than any other local authority in the UK), 16 Golds and 4 Silvers, meaning the city council came second overall in the all-category UK local authority ‘Premier League’.
The table ranks local authorities with ten or more entries and winning five or more Gold or Platinum awards, and who in the opinion of the inspectors, are maintaining a ‘consistently high standard of management in all their Loo of the Year Awards entries’.
Cllr Gill Mitchell
Cllr Gill Mitchell, chair of the council’s Environment, Transport & Sustainability Committee, said:“This is a fantastic achievement and one that is great news for everyone who lives, works and visits our wonderful city.
“Of the 37 toilet sites across the city, the majority of these are RADAR accessible toilets, have baby change facilities, and two are special Changing Places toilets that have extra features and more space to meet the needs of people who use them.”
She added:“I am also extremely pleased that we will be able to keep all of our public toilets open despite further cuts in our overall Government funding.”
The Loo of the Year Awards are independently run, sponsored by leading toilet and hygiene equipment companies and supported by the four UK national tourism bodies – Enjoy England, Visit Scotland, Visit Wales and the Northern Ireland Tourist Board.
Brighton Bear who organise the popular Brighton Bear Weekend in June, as well as events throughout the year, have two new committee members.
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