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MindOut: Dr Helen Boyle, Brighton lesbian icon, makes mental health history!

MindOut celebrates LGBT+ History Month in time-honoured fashion by commemorating the brilliant work of their predecessor, Helen Boyle, who was a mental health pioneer who laid the foundations for MindOut.

Many years later we continue to be immensely grateful for her work and her foresight.

Helen was way ahead of her time, a feminist physician and psychiatrist. She was Brighton’s first female GP, the first female psychiatrist at the Royal Sussex County Hospital and the first female president of the Royal Medico-Psychological Association (now the Royal College of Psychiatrists).

Lady Chichester Hospital, Hove, 1922: Dr Boyle, photo from the Journal of Mental Science, 1939
Lady Chichester Hospital, Hove, 1922: Dr Boyle, photo from the Journal of Mental Science, 1939

Born in 1869, she transformed the lives of working class women in Brighton & Hove through her groundbreaking approach to understanding and treating the effects of mental distress. As a young doctor she arrived in Brighton in 1897 having worked in London’s East End which had given her first-hand experience of the mental and physical effects of poverty on women.

Determined to provide medical services to women she set up the Lewes Road Dispensary for Women & Children with Dr Mabel Jones in the then deprived area of Hanover. The dispensary offered free or low-cost treatment to women who couldn’t afford GPs’ charges, provided by and for women only. The Dispensary depended on the help of wealthy female benefactors, many of them suffragettes. Their clinic was a huge success.

Why was mental illness seemingly more common amongst the poor? Was tooth decay one of the causes of mental illness? Were housemaids more prone to mental illness than other servants? Should ‘defectives’ be sterilised to prevent the transmission of corrupted seed to future generations? Were poverty and prostitution the result of wickedness, or were they forms of ‘moral illness’? These were some of the issues raised at meetings of the Lunacy Commission, but the more Helen Boyle saw, the more convinced she became that not only was mental illness often an outcome of bread line poverty,  but that it could easily be stopped in its tracks if caught early enough. It was, she came to believe, very often preventable.

Helen believed if ‘nervous disease’ could be identified early enough it could be prevented from developing into an incurable disability.  In this, she was well ahead of her time, and in those days there was no real interest in the prevention of mental illness that might be caused by poverty and social distress.

In those days, if you could not pay for private care, the only way to qualify for state help was to be ‘certified insane’ and put in an asylum. Nothing was done to address the needs of those either not ill enough for the locked ward, or not yet ill enough, a situation which has changed less than might be hoped for in all the years since.

Lady Chichester Hospital, Hove, 1922
Lady Chichester Hospital, Hove, 1922

In 1905, Helen secured funding from Lady Chichester of Stanmer House, and transformed the Lewes Road Dispensary into the Lady Chichester Hospital for Women & Children With Early Nervous Disease in order to provide essential in-patient care for women in poverty, before they became certifiable. This hospital was also run by women for women.

The Lady Chichester Hospital later moved to Aldrington House in Hove, which remained a mental health day centre for the next 89 years.  Helen Boyle went on to be the co-founder of Mind, the National Association for Mental Health.

Helen’s work, continued by Mind, has revolutionised how we view mental health, the politics of mental health, the social and economic causes of mental distress and the empowerment of those in need of support.  Without her work, organisations like MindOut would not exist.

Looking back, we wonder how much has changed since Helen’s time. At MindOut we are desperately concerned at the rise in people in economic hardship who are struggling with their mental health. We are supporting far more people who are hungry, who can’t afford to heat their homes, who have or are about to lose their homes, who are struggling to make ends meet.

Unlike Helen’s times we do have an NHS which provides mental health services, and we have community groups offering a range of support.  But none of these are secure, funding is being reduced considerably, at a time when need is on the increase. These are worrying times for mental health.

If you would like to know more or get involved, please do contact MindOut (details below), or see Mind’s website: www.mind.org.uk.

As for Helen, as well as receiving professional acclaim in the medical sector, she was honoured for her war work in Serbia in 1915. She lived in Pyecombe for the last 17 years of her life with Marguerite du Pre Gore Lindsay, dying aged 88 in 1957. She has a Brighton & Hove bus named after her.

MindOut information:
MindOut offers a range of confidential, independent, free and person-centred support run by and for LGBTQ people with lived experience of mental health issues.  Please do contact us with any mental health concern, mental health query or to discuss your experiences of mental health issues.

We offer advice and information, advocacy, peer support group work, peer mentoring, workshops and courses, online out of hours support and anti-stigma campaigning.

• Call 01273 234839

• email info@mindout.org.uk 

• find us online, www.mindout.org.uk, to access online support.

MindOut at B Right On Festival:

• Please join us on Thursday, February 9 at the B-Right-On Festival at the Phil Starr Pavilion. MindOut staff and volunteers will be available all day. Come and find out more about mental health and our upcoming groups and courses. All welcome.

OPINION: Sam Trans Man on love

Dr Samuel Hall on why loving yourself first can help sustain healthy and happy relationships with others.

When it comes to writing this column, I’m usually awash with ideas until I actually put pen to paper, at which point all those brilliant soundbites and gems of wisdom that have been popping into my head for weeks suddenly seem to desert me! I’m becoming increasingly familiar with writers’ block, and have considerable sympathy for those who depend on writing to make a living. I really don’t think I could take the pressure. As I sit typing at this moment, we’re smack in the middle of what many people believe is the most depressing month, with plenty of evidence to suggest that we really do hit a low some time around the third week of January. So I can add a mild seasonal depression to my writers’ block, and only apologise readers if my ennui rubs off on you.

To combat this I’m determined to elaborate on the theme for this issue – love. I’m hoping that my thoughts on the matter will serve to elevate me and anyone who is reading this, out of the winter blues. I’m a lucky soul, I have a LOT of love in my life. I’m incomprehensibly loved by my wife, a fact which flummoxed me on a daily basis – why? what does she see in me? I can be such an idiot, insensitive, self-obsessed, coarse, lazy…. and yet she seems to see beyond all of that to something else. Something at the core of me which she finds adorable. Every now and again I get a glimpse of myself through her eyes, and a flicker of self-knowledge or understanding.

The thing is, it’s not really possible to sustain a healthy and happy relationship with another person unless you love yourself first; and loving oneself is no mean feat. We didn’t learn to do it when we were younger – most children get negative messages about being themselves from a very young age, and this sets us up from early childhood to not like ourselves very much. It’s a universal experience, unless life is consumed with the matter of one’s very survival; a shortage of food and somewhere safe to sleep doesn’t give time or space for emotional wounding.

Most of us have been royally wounded by people we love, some of us badly. It’s not necessarily anyone’s fault. We’re all human, and when it comes to parenting, which is our earliest experience of love, no one is perfect. Our parents (or others responsible for raising us) do their very best, for the most part, to love us. I only found this out when I became one. I know I do my best, and that will have to be good enough, but boy does it feel lousy sometimes. You see ‘my best’ is relative. I’m far from a perfect parent. My kids drive me crazy and often I just wish they would disappear so I can just have some peace. I get scratchy and techy and lairy (their word), sometimes I’m downright unreasonable with them, and sometimes I shout and say things I regret later. It’s all a bit of a mess really. Looking back at my own childhood I see the same features of intent and purpose in my parents, coupled with spectacular failure at times. It has humbled me to realise that I really am no better at the job.

Allowing all of this to sink in leads me to a place of forgiveness. I can forgive my parents for their mistakes, and forgive myself for mine. I can look at the parts of myself I don’t like very much and learn to embrace them, so that my tolerance for my own mistakes becomes greater, and I can largely say, in my fifth decade, that I do love myself. Hopefully not in an egotistical fog of self-aggrandisement, but rather in a gentle and generous way. I apologise for my behaviour when it’s not reasonable, I don’t dwell on my mistakes, I forgive myself when I have messed up and I let go of the past as soon as it has passed, rather than hanging on to and building up grudges for future reference.

It’s been a battle to get to this point. Blood and tears have been shed and a few psychotherapists have been left reeling. But it’s all been worth it, because I truly think that today, in 2017, I can honestly say I do love myself. I’m proud of my achievements, of my tenacity in the face of adversity, I’m proud that I persevered with my transition in the face of resistance and anger from my family. And I’m especially proud that now, some years down the line, my family seem to be falling in love with me for the first time. I feel that acceptance of me as a transgender man is imminent, and that they’re looking at me with new eyes. It’s hard not to attribute this to my marriage last year. There is something about it that has caused a seismic shift in the extended family dynamic. It’s quite difficult to put my finger on, but I know that it has a lot more to do with her, than it does with me.

I think it goes something like this. I move from self-hatred to self-love over many years, which causes me to take the brave step of transitioning. This has the effect of making me a nicer person to be around. I’m being myself, not pretending to be someone I’m not. I like myself for the first time in my life. It shows. When she meets me she meets someone who is comfortable in his own skin and likes being who he is. This is very attractive. We hit it off, and start a relationship. She sees something brave and noble in this, whereas I see a woman who is divine in her understanding of me. She sees me. And through her eyes I see myself. I’ve come full circle and it’s beautiful. So thank you with all my heart to the lovely woman who is my wife. I can only pray that my love for you has the same impact on your life.

OPINION: Craig’s Thoughts on love

Love is. By Craig Hanlon-Smith @craigscontinuum

Love is excitement. Love is exhaustion. Love is daily. Love by the hour. Love is always. Love is never. Love at your leisure. Love that’s a pleasure. Love is now. Love is then. Love is today. Love is tomorrow. Love is never again. Love is light. Love is dark. Love is air. Love is fire. Love is creation. Love is foundation. Love is destruction. Love is the only heaven that is real. Love is hell. For this love, time will tell. Love irresistible. Love untouchable. Love is the longing. Love is the needing. Love the never quite achieving. Love a warrior princess. Love a cowering child. Love is lost. Love is life. Love is death. Love is everything in between. Love is smart. Love is sick. Love is holding. Love is touching. Love is desperate isolation. Love is accepting. Love is believing. Love is overachieving. Love is incandescent indignation. Love is real. Love is not. Love is fiction. Love is hot and will burn. Love is straight. Love will turn. Love that chimes. Love that rhymes. Love is wealth. Love has nothing, on you. 

Love is fear. Love is pain. Love is give. Love is gain. Love is tit. Love is tat. Love is this, love is that, love is getting fat and happy. Love is feast. Love is famine. Love emaciates and starves. Love that cuts and then scars. Love is asleep. Love is awake. Love is speed and love is the break of my heart. Love is calm. Love is riot. Love is enraged. Love is tired. Love is the truth. Love is a lie. Love is life. Love will die. Love is you. Love is me. Love is him. And him. And him. And she. Love that starts. Love that stops. Love that climbs. Love that falls. Love for you. Love is for all. Love that fights. Love that bites. Love for a friend. Love for a foe. Love for good. Love for bad. Love is what we’ve always had, to share, to spare. Love for young. Love for old. Love is frightened. Love is bold. Love that strokes. Love that aches. Love that gives. Love that takes.

Love you win. Love you lose. Love that lands. Love you choose. Love can calm and will bruise. Love that lusts. Love that stares. Love that trusts. Love that cares. Love is a stranger. Love is companion. Love is the messiah. Love a pariah. Love attacks. Love embraces. Love is lazy. Love is busy. Love imprisons, makes you dizzy. Love stands still. Love is walking. Love is running. Love that races. Love for a time. Love that chases. Love that lifts. Love that soars. Love that is lavish. Love that bores. Love that’s cheap. Love that costs. Love that cheats. Love that hides. Love that seems forever lost but then finds its way home.

“Love is the truth. Love is a lie. Love is life. Love will die. Love is you. Love is me. Love is him. And him. And him. And she”

Love is hoping. Love is hating to be alone. Love is waiting, in the dark, the heat, the rain, the every-time for you. Love is never having to wait again, until the next time. Love that lives, love forgets, love forgives and that yet still smarts. Love is patient. Love’s unkind. Love sees all, yet is blind. Love that wraps. Love that seals. Love that breathes and yet steals my air.  

Love is fun. Love is thinking. Love recognises that sinking feeling of escape approaching. Love is laughing when I should be crying. Love is crying when I should be laughing. Love will cry, and will try. Love is leaving and not looking back. Love is again when you think you never should. Love is again when you thought you never would. Love surprises when not looking. Love then leaves when not working. Love is fighting. Love is you lighting up the room, the street, the world. Love that listens. Love that doesn’t. Love that sings. Love that dances. Love that’s loyal. Love that chances upon another. Love that behaves, and restrains. Love of longing, wishing looks. Love of summer sweaty f***s. Love that worships. Love that reigns over me. 

Love on the run. Love that is hunted. Love unrequited. Love is lonely and not wanted. 

Love is not being able to look at you because my brain, my chest, my head hurts. Love is watching you sleep. Love is not sleeping when I know you’re not sleeping. Love is unexplained anxiety. Love is strength when I know you’re anxious. Love is the gravitas of our days, weeks, years together. Love is the minutes when the nights draw in. Love is the summer in the winter. Love is the thawing of the ice. Love is the fresh fall of snow, the first hint of day. Love will shake, love will shock, love is sand, love is rock. Love will calm and caress. Love will cover and undress. Love that is straight. Love that creases. Love that locks and releases whether you want it to or not. Love that roams. Love that strays. Love that plays. Love that stays. 

Love is present. Love is past. Love is the half-light and forever casts a shadow on my soul. Love uplifts. Love is flight. Love holds my hand on infrequent nights apart. Love enduring. Love that’s fleeting. Love that is carnal. Love a meeting of our minds.  

The love that dare not speak its name talks freely. Love is you. Love is me. Love is ours. Love is we. Love for all. Love is free. For now.

Campaigners protest two year closure of the Joiners Arms

A demonstration was held outside the Joiners Arms, Hackney Road, on Saturday, January 21 to mark the two-year anniversary of the legendary LGBT+ venue’s closure.

It was organised by Friends of the Joiners Arms, a community group founded in 2014 to save the pub, and bring it into community ownership, so it becomes London’s first cooperatively owned, LGBT+ community centre, with the pub a central part of its operation.

The venue was forced to close in January 2015 as the owners – working with property developers – planned to bulldoze the venue to make way for luxury flats, but has remained empty ever since, with no plans submitted by the owners for development.

Friends of the Joiners Arms action were supported by other campaign groups, such as We Are The Black Cap and Stop The Blocks and members of the local  LGBT+ community, to show the owners of the site that the fight continues to win back the venue.

Jon Ward, co-chair of the Friends of the Joiners Arms, said: “The Joiners was one the few late night LGBT+ venues in the east end, and its closure has left a massive hole in queer night scene and in our hearts. The venue closed because of greed and nothing else – why should such an important queer space be left to rot when it could be such an asset to the community?”

Amy Roberts, co-chair of Friends of the Arms, added: “London’s lost over a quarter of its queer venues in the last few years. This has left a huge hole in LGBT+ nightlife and has damaged the well-being of the queer community in London. This, coupled with the rise in homophobic hate crime, means LGBT+ people have fewer places to feel safe and to call home.”

Run the Brighton marathon for the Samaritans

Brighton Hove and District Samaritans are calling for a different type of volunteer to sign up for the Brighton Marathon on 9th April 2017.

They have five charity places to fill on their team and are looking for budding runners to join them in the race along the streets of Brighton and Hove, helping to raise money and the profile of the organisation along the route.

Registration for the Marathon normally costs £138.00 but Samaritan team members can sign up for just £25.00.

All they ask is for all volunteer runners to commit to raising as much sponsorship as they can for Brighton Hove and District Samaritans and to wear the Samaritans vests to show their support. Spectators will then be able to cheer them on knowing they are running for Samaritans.

If anyone is interested in volunteering to race for Samaritans, please email: brightonhovesams@gmail.com and get your charity running shoes on this April.

You can call Samaritans free anytime from any phone on 116 123, or email: jo@samaritans.org or view:  www.samaritans.org or call Brighton, Hove and District Samaritans on 01273 772277.

 

 

Brighton awarded £1.485m from Transport Access Fund

Brighton & Hove City Council have been awarded £1.485m in funding from the Department for Transport for the city’s Brighton & Hove: Unlocking Growth with Active Travel programme.

The Department for Transport launched the Access Fund competition on July 5 last year with £60 million of revenue funding available for 2017-20. The competition was open to all English transport authorities outside London with the primary objectives of the Access Fund being “to support the local economy by supporting access to new and existing employment, education and training” and “to actively promote increased levels of physical activity through walking and cycling”.

Simon Kirby MP
Simon Kirby MP

The £1.485m will be awarded over a period from April 2017 to March 2020.

Simon Kirby, MP for Brighton Kemptown & Peacehaven, said: “This is great news for Brighton & Hove. Many more people will be encouraged to cycle and walk to work thanks to this Government investment.”

Andrew Jones MP

Transport Minister Andrew Jones, added: “We are committed to improving how people travel and this investment will ensure that people’s journeys are cheaper, safer and better for the environment. It will help people to become more active and better transport planning will reduce congestion on our roads – particularly at peak times. This investment will also help people access jobs, education and training – specifically targeting those looking to get back into work, as part of our relentless drive to make this is a country that works for everyone.”

Stephen Joseph
Stephen Joseph

Stephen Joseph, Chief Executive, Campaign for Better Transport, said: “We strongly welcome this announcement of the access fund projects and the new cycling and walking to work fund. The evidence suggests that these kinds of projects can remove barriers to work, help local communities and businesses and also tackle local transport problems by giving people attractive alternatives to car use. We look forward to working with the Government, the authorities involved, and other organisations to develop and learn from these projects.”

Cllr Gill Mitchell

Councillor Gill Mitchell, chair of the environment, transport and sustainability committee, said: “This funding recognises the council’s commitment to helping families, workers, students and visitors to choose travel options other than the car. This in turn reduces congestion, improves bus journey times and brings health benefits along with cleaner air for everyone in Brighton & Hove.  The project will help people to access work and training, which will contribute to the local economy, and make Brighton & Hove a successful and prosperous city as we move into the 2020’s.”

Protest against youth service cuts this Saturday

Trust for Developing Communities (TDC) will march in protest at Brighton & Hove City Council’s plans to make 80% cuts to Brighton & Hove’s Youth Services on Saturday, January 28.

The march will start at 1pm from the Old Steine war memorial, via the clock tower where there will be some speeches and finishing at Brighton Station at 2pm.

Organisers invite people and organisations to join the march and send a clear message to the council to Protect Youth Services

To sign the petition, click here:

Adam Muirhead, Youth Project Manager for TDC has written about some of the issues young people face at the moment, why youth funding is important, and what would happen if funding was lost. 

To read his piece, click here: 

International Women’s Day events at Brighton Dome

Brighton Dome mark International Women’s Day 2017 with a specially selected series of performances and events.

International Women's Day Open House event at Brighton Dome on Saturday, March 5 2016
International Women’s Day Open House event at Brighton Dome on Saturday, March 5 2016

These will include a talk on ecofeminism by Germaine Greer, stand-up comedian Bridget Christie’s take on Brexit, a live recording of The Guilty Feminist podcast, and a day-long marketplace of performance, art and debate in collaboration with Brighton Women’s Centre and Brighton Museum.

In the wake of last year’s referendum result, comedian Bridget Christie (March 4) ditched the show she was preparing to take to Edinburgh Fringe and wrote a whole new one about Brexit, Because You Demanded It. The award-winning comic, newspaper columnist and writer, brings her new show to Brighton Dome following a sell-out run at Edinburgh Fringe. It has been expanded and updated to include developments such as the growth of the “alt-right” and the election of Donald Trump.

Germaine Greer

Australian-born writer Germaine Greer (March 4) discusses ecofeminism in a special event for International Women’s Day, Women for Life on Earth: The Inevitability of Ecofeminism. She takes the view that feminists can be found wherever the planet and its inhabitants are in trouble, and if the planet is to survive and human beings continue to inhabit it, this female energy must be unleashed. When Welsh women turned up to protest at the RAF base at Greenham Common in 1981, they were carrying a banner that read Women for Life on Earth.

A live recording of Deborah Frances White’s hit comedy podcast The Guilty Feminist (March 4) will take place at the Old Courtroom, co-hosted by Margaret Cabourn-Smith with special guest Jen Brister. Deborah and her guests discuss topics ‘all 21st century feminists agree on’ while confessing the insecurities, hypocrisies and fears that underlie their lofty principles. Margaret Cabourn-Smith is a comedy writer and performer who has appeared on the likes of Fresh Meat and The IT Crowd, while Jen Brister is a stand-up comedian from South London.

Taking place in Brighton Dome and Brighton Museum, and joining forces with Brighton Museum and Brighton Women’s Centre, is International Women’s Day, with a programme of inspiring speakers and a marketplace of ideas, workshops and activities for all ages (March 4).

Award winning artist, Emma Frankland is looking for people to take part in development workshops for her new project Hearty. The workshops will facilitate conversations and unity over shared experiences between women undergoing hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for gender transition, or as part of menopause. Emma’s work focuses on issues around gender and identity (relating to her own transition as a trans woman) with a playfully destructive DIY aesthetic. Email artisticplanning@brightondome.org


Event: International Women’s Day Celebration

Where: Brighton Dome and Brighton Museum

When: Saturday, March 4

Time: 10am – 5pm

 

Cost: FREE


Event: Germaine Greer – Women for Life on Earth: The Inevitability of Ecofeminism

Where: Brighton Dome Concert Hall

When: Saturday, March 4

Time: Noon

Cost: £10, £8.50 concessions


Event: The Guilty Feminist Podcast

Where: Old Courtroom

When: Saturday, March 4

Time: 5pm

Cost: £7


Event: Bridget Christie: Because You Demanded It

Where: Brighton Dome Concert Hall, Church Street, Brighton

When: Saturday, March 4

Time: 8pm

Cost: £17


Event: Emma Frankland: Hearty

For information, contact artisticplanning@brightondome.org

One Day Without Us – A National Day of Action on February 20

“We are millions. Let us stand together and show it. Let’s reject the politics of division and hatred. Let’s make tomorrow better than today.”


One Day Without Us, a National Day of Action on February, 20 2017 coincides with UN World Day of Social Justice and will celebrate the contribution of migrants to the UK.

For 24 hours, migrants from inside and outside the European Union, and everyone who supports them, will be invited to celebrate the contribution that migrants make to the country.

Some may choose to do this symbolically, by wearing badges and lanyards, posting selfies or pictures that show their support, or by putting posters in their windows.

Some may wish to have a communal meal or a party with the migrants they have known as friends, colleagues, workmates and neighbours. Workers may take a five-minute silence or a mini-rally at lunchtime or tea-time.

There are also those who may wish to highlight migrant contributions to the UK in more direct ways by preferring a march or to go to a rally. Others may decide to stop work or leave their classes for ten minutes or an hour or the whole day.

There are many ways that you can take part in this day. Do what you feel able to do and what you feel is most appropriate to your situation.

Whatever your nationality and place of origin; wherever you live and work, make February 20 a day of protest, solidarity and celebration.

For more information, click here:

‘BIG 3’ come together to raise money for Rainbow Fund

The three biggest fetish brands in the South come together today to chase away those winter blues, bring you a weekend of hard partying and raise money for Rainbow Fund.

First on Friday 10 is the UK biggest sports kit fetish night The Big Scrum bringing their attitude free, fun, cheeky and horny club night for men that love rugby kit and all sportswear.

Saturday 11 the hard men of Leathermen South return bringing the raunch of a Berlin cruise bar to Brighton. Expect loads of leather and horny men.

Opening early on a Sunday afternoon is the annual Brighton Bear Black Valentine party. The bears will be down in the caves enjoying the meaty delights.  Enjoy a toast to being single or being a couple. Wear black for discounted entrance.

Subline is the home for all three events. Check the listing page on the Subline website for the various entry times and different door charges.

All three events will be raising money for the Rainbow Fund who give grants to LGBT+/HIV organisations in Brighton & Hove who deliver effective front line services to LGBT+ people in the city.

Stephen Littlewood
Stephen Littlewood

Stephen Littlewood from the Big Scrum, said: “The Big Scrum is the UK’s biggest dedicated Sports Kit Club Night! With regular events in Manchester and Brighton and occasional events in Blackpool, Birmingham & Dublin. If you like men in Kit, free shots on entry and a fun, friendly, attitude-free and slightly cheeky night – Subline is the place to be! We’re teaming up in February with Leather Men South and Brighton Bear to present the BIG 3 WEEKEND. Sports kit on the Friday, leather and fetish on the Saturday followed by Black Valentines – for all those bears and admirers looking to hook up on Sunday. There is something for everyone over the weekend and it’s all in aid of The Rainbow Fund. So not only will you have a fun weekend to remember, you’ll also being supporting the gay community as a whole”

Carl Patrick
Carl Patrick

Carl Patrick from Leathermen South, added: “Leathermen South is delighted to be ‘coming together’ with the sexy rugby guys and the hot furry bears for a Valentine weekend of events at Subline in aid of the Rainbow Trust. Our Leather event takes place on Saturday 11th Feb, but we can all enjoy the events on Friday night and Sunday afternoon as well. It’s going to be great fun and we really look forward to seeing you all out and about.”

Graham Munday
Graham Munday

Graham Munday from Brighton Bear Weekend, said: “It is so good to bring an event together at a time when we can all do with a pick me up.  It has been so easy to work with the other groups. Subline is so generous and professional. We know everybody will have a great weekend after all it is always better when three come together”

For more information about Subline, click here:

For more information about Brighton Bear Weekend, click here:

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