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Chris and Tony raise £1,900 for Macmillan Horizon Centre

Gogglebox star Chris Butland-Steed and his husband, Tony Butland-Steed threw open their garden to visitors on the weekend of July 29-30 to raise money for the Macmillan Horizon Centre in Brighton.

A total of 24 gardens featured on the citywide Trail and despite horrendous rain on the Saturday, Chris and Tony raised a magnificent £1,900 over the two days. The grand total raised by the 24 gardens on the Trail was £9,000 and all proceeds will be going to the Macmillan Horizon Centre.

Chris and Tony have been officially registered on next year’s prestigious National Garden Scheme, which raises over £3million for charity each year across 4,000 gardens.

Tony said: “We’re aiming for our little piece of heaven to do its bit to help all the good causes it supports!”

RSPCA launches LGBT t-shirts for ‘biggest ever’ Pride Cymru presence

The charity’s iconic logo will be proudly placed on a rainbow background in anticipation for the Bank Holiday weekend event.

RSPCA Cymru has launched a new limited edition range of clothing for Cardiff’s Pride Cymru event (August 26-27), featuring animals carrying positive connotations within the LGBT+ communities.

The clothing range will launch as part of RSPCA’s “biggest ever” presence at Pride Cymru, taking place at Cardiff City Hall. The charity will be at Pride Cymru on August 26-27.

Members of the public will have the chance to pick up limited edition rainbow wristbands, and animal-themed t-shirts, at Pride Cymru.

Under the #TeamAnimal moniker, t-shirts are themed with animals which have positive connotations within the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, often used as terms of endearment or identification.

The shirts include a ‘Team Bear’ edition, featuring an image of the wild animal. The term ‘bear’ is used as one of the many identities within the LGBT+ communities.

Pride Cymru runs over three days during the August Bank Holiday Weekend, and is now part of a combined Big Weekend event.

RSPCA Cymru will be taking the opportunity to chat to attendees about their animal welfare work across Wales, which saw 21 animals each and every day rescued in 2016. Many of the charity’s key campaigns will also be promoted to those attending.

Bethan Shoemark-Spear, RSPCA events manager, said: “RSPCA Cymru is proud to have our biggest ever presence at Pride Cymru, one of the UK’s largest Pride events.

“We’d love to chat to as many attendees as possible about our animal welfare work – and we’re expecting our unique, limited edition #TeamAnimal t-shirts, and rainbow wristbands, to fly off the shelves.

“The launch of these t-shirts is another symbol of RSPCA Cymru’s position as an understanding, accepting and diverse organisation, which embraces and nurtures equality.

“In addition, ahead of Pride, we’ll also be emblazoning our iconic, historic lozenge logo on a rainbow background.

“As Cardiff prepares to host such a massive Pride event, many will reflect on the campaign for change which has bettered the lives of the LGBT population in recent decades.

“RSPCA Cymru continues to campaign for positive change for animal welfare laws across Wales – and fully appreciates the tireless, and on-going, campaign for equality which many in the LGBT+ communities have spearheaded.

“Flashing cat ears will also be given out to supporters, which are sure to help light-up the festivities well into the evening!”

To help the RSPCA you can give £3 now by texting LOVE to 87023 (text costs £3 + one standard network rate message).

RSPCA are a charity and rely on public donations to exist.

Who’s the boss behind the bar @Subline

This month Morgan Fabulous takes a step out of the usual commercial pop and sequins and heads off to Subline, managed by Steven David Lee, to find out what makes the bar so unique.

Steven David Lee
Steven David Lee

Subline will have been open for seven years come October and beyond the obvious, which so many think is the big thrust (pardon the pun) the atmosphere ranges between community bar and den of iniquity, with occasional forays into stomping dance club and quirky theatre.

Steve took his responsibilities very seriously from day one; and was co-designer of the industrial decor, the membership policy, and everything else! Subline continues to evolve with mixed nights both theatrical and fetish inspired, which have been a huge success, and broadened the appeal of the venue without diluting the core concept, which is important for him. It is helped along by a dedicated and friendly team of five, all regular customers and supporters!

The clientele is more varied than most might think, but their typical customer on a typical night is a mature gay gentleman, looking for somewhere a touch more peaceful and discreet than many of the bigger corporate bars.

Steve is the first to admit that his entrance into the bar trade was a happy accident. He went from his university holiday job at a Little Chef diner into a pub kitchen, and then quickly into bar management which he thinks may say more about his cooking skills than his bar skills.

Steve had been in the pub trade for 11 years. Before arriving in Brighton, he was shunted around several bars, which were all straight, and rural-ish as a troubleshooting manager.

He’d just completed an eight year tenancy on a rural pub on the outskirts of Henley-On-Thames, before he was offered Subline which was the first gay venue that he had managed.

He loves the social side of working in the bar trade and admits that he is much shyer than people think (or believe) him to be, but being behind a bar forces him out of himself! He also takes great satisfaction in providing a secure and sociable space where the community can relax and be themselves.

Charity events are very important to Subline. Besides being the largest fundraising donor to Brighton Bear Weekend, with events through the year, not just during the weekend itself; they have other regular events, most notably the annual Mr Subline contest which benefits the Terrence Higgins Trust

Steve grew up in Leafy Surrey – spending most of his childhood in Ripley, famous he says for Eric Clapton, but very little else.

His work keeps him very busy and he has very little time to himself, but when that time is available his inner geek gets a chance to indulge in video gaming; and he can clear (almost) all of the tracks on Rock Band 3 Expert guitar… He also loves music and reading, his favourites read being a difficult choice between Douglas Coupland’s All Families Are Psychotic and Clive Barker’s Weaveworld.

Steve has a few favourite tipples; he has recently been drawn to Espresso Martini’s, he loves a glass of Rioja, or a classic gin and tonic but tends to default to Vodka and diet coke. In fact he will drink anything!

LETTER TO EDITOR: A Gay Arrest!

In the early sixties, I was arrested by two plain clothed agent provocateurs in Manchester.

I was in a public toilet alone when they walked in and stood either side of me about two stalls away. I immediately felt uneasy and stepped back to leave but they took hold of me by my coat cuffs and marched me off to the police station.

As we walked in we passed a large cell in which there was a number of men and one of my escorts, said: “we won’t put you in there they’re criminals”.

I was fined about sixty pounds and charged with importuning but then went through weeks of torment not knowing if I would lose the new teaching job I had recently started.

I was advised to see my local doctor in order to get counselling but found him unsympathetic and he told me that he would not want a child of his taught by someone like me. Since then I have become cynical about the medical profession and their attitude, and understanding of homosexuality.

In the seventies, I was involved with Sussex Gay Lib and during our weekly discussions we decided to ask the local venereal disease clinic to send someone to speak to us as we had heard rumours about a disease          which was decimating the gay community in the USA.

They did not reply to our letter and then in the eighties Brighton was hit by HIV and AIDs. I lost twenty friends.

Thank you,

Doug Coupe, Brighton

Photo courtesy of Brighton Ourstory
Photo courtesy of Brighton Ourstory: Members of Sussex Gay Liberation front at Remembrance Service in 1973

PREVIEW: Tony Warren celebrated in new exhibition

“Coronation Street is four miles in any one direction from the centre of Manchester. Emotionally, it’s wherever you want it to be in your own heart”, Tony Warren 1995

Image courtesy Granada TV
Image courtesy Granada TV

The early life and career of Tony Warren, creator of Coronation Street, the world’s longest running continuing drama, is to be remembered in an exhibition at Salford Museum & Art Gallery.

Four Miles from Manchester; Tony Warren’s Coronation Street runs from Saturday October 21, 2017 to Tuesday, July 3 2018 and entry is free.

The exhibition will showcase aspects of Tony’s life, documenting him growing up in Pendlebury, Salford, where he absorbed the streets, people and sounds surrounding him, eventually leading him into a career in script writing.

Original scripts and other items from his early writing career will be on show as Four Miles from Manchester tells the story of the Salford legend’s journey to creating Coronation Street, an innovation of its time, telling stories of ordinary people, on an ordinary street.

As a child, Tony remembered visiting his grandmother’s house, where he would sit under the table and listen to the speech patterns of his female relatives. The exhibition will bring these moments to life and will include a replica living room scene from the 1950s/60s, the opportunity to watch the first episode of Coronation Street and showcase personal items and photographs of Tony Warren together for the first time.

1950s Salford was full of terraced houses, cobbled streets. industrial sights and sounds, and this scene is set at the exhibition with specially created paintings by local artist David Coulter, who grew up in the same place and time that Tony Warren did. David’s paintings show his love for cities and capture the atmosphere and grittiness of urban surroundings.

Kieran Roberts
Kieran Roberts

Kieran Roberts, ITV’s Executive Producer of Coronation Street, said: “Coronation Street is the story of the everyday lives of ordinary folk living on a cobbled back-street somewhere in Manchester. The unique blend of heart-warming comedy and powerful drama has been at its heart since the very first episode in 1960.

“Tony Warren was a wonderful and brilliant man who created not just a programme but an entire genre of British television. Tony left a huge legacy which is still growing and evolving. Coronation Street is the nation’s street and I hope that many people will enjoy this new exhibition that gives fascinating insights into the genesis of the programme and the genius of its creator.”

David Tucker of Tony Warren’s estate, added: “Tony was an amazing writer and he was a fantastic man who genuinely had an interest in anyone that he encountered. His knack for putting everyday drama down on paper and bringing it to life on our TV screens was second-to-none. I wanted the items from his career to be shared with the public and not shut away or sold. Tony approved an exhibition before he died. I am sure that he would be as thrilled as I am that it will be in his native Salford.”

Cllr Dennett
Cllr Dennett

Paul Dennett, Salford City Mayor, said: “We are truly honoured that the museum is hosting this interesting and extremely important exhibition about Tony’s life and career; the museum is a key driver in articulating and bringing alive Salford’s social history; something that Tony himself has contributed to enormously. He brought the lives of ordinary Salford people to the television screen, which hit a note with the nation and continues today.”


Event: Four Miles from Manchester; Tony Warren’s Coronation Street

Where: Salford Museum & Art Gallery

When: Saturday, October 21, 2017 to Tuesday July 3, 2018

Cost: Free

For more information, click here:

PRIDE VOICES: Rabbi Elli Tikvah to speak at Village Metropolitan Community Church

In the last of their PROUD VOICES series for Pride 2017, The Village Metropolitan Community Church (MCC) will welcome Rabbi Elli Tikvah to their pulpit on Sunday August 27 at 6pm.

Rabbi Elizabeth Tikvah Sarah of the Brighton & Hove Progressive Synagogue describes themselves as a Trouble Making Feminist Lesbian Gender-Queer Rabbi. The first ordained lesbian Rabbi to lead a mainstream synagogue in Britain, Elli has quite a story to tell about claiming a place in the world, with pride.

She has been a pioneer in the area of lesbian and gay inclusion, initiating a process within Liberal Judaism, which culminated in a new policy on lesbian and gay individuals and relationships in 2002, and the creation of an anthology of ceremonies, which was published by Liberal Judaism to coincide with the UK Civil Partnership law which came into force in December 2005.

Subsequently, in March 2006, she married her partner, Jess Wood (founder and Director of Allsorts, a project that works with LGBT young people in Brighton) at her synagogue, Brighton and Hove Progressive.

 

The Village MCC Brighton and Hove is a church that was created by LGBTQ Christians, their families, friends, and allies. It’s an MCC (Metropolitan Community Church) called to support the LGBTQ communities in whatever ways it can.

Brighton has huge LGBT+ communities, one of the largest in Europe. The Village MCC Brighton and Hove offers a safe space where anyone can feel at home, fully affirmed in their sexuality and gender identity.

Church members are active in the wider communities, offering emergency aid and support to the homeless and vulnerably housed. Their minister, Rev. Michael Hydes, offers spiritual direction and pastoral care. They worship together every Sunday evening at 6 pm.


Event: Pride Voices with guest speaker Rabbi Elli Tikvah

Where: Somerset Day Centre, 62 St Jame’s Street, Brighton

When: Sunday, August 27

Time: 6pm

Cost: No charge

BOOK REVIEW: No Fear No Shame by Alice Denny

No Fear No Shame

By Alice Denny

This new collection of poems from Alice Denny, like herself, is slim but packs a punch. There is an essential contradiction in all Denny’s poems; like all poets she’s both startlingly intimate and ruthlessness private, exposing and hiding, showing and telling, letting us feel the throb of blood in her veins, the skipped heartbeats, see the flash of metaphor as it crosses her mind, feel the tear as it slides down her cheek and the shock of uncompromising unconditional love where there should be bitterness, anger or despair.

Denny speaks of hope, O she sings the body electric! she is multitudes, shows us the quiet firm steps of doing daily struggle and although sophisticated in the untangling and unknotting of the gender binary restrictions of the English language she slyly brings her authentic British voice out into the silence caused by her bold fearless challenging.

Her humour, humility and honestly is almost as startling as her rhyming and also as simple.  These poems are orphans, clarions, warnings, guidebooks and tattoo’s of experience.  Denny who is from Hastings brings with her that combination of soft marking chalk and unyielding sparking flint that underlays and marks out the ancient Sussex landscape and port.

From her safe harbour of words we set sail across a sea of possibility, in full flood, with our nets cast wide for experience and our sails full of love.  With Captain Denny navigating we have no fear, our journey is not to be dull.

For more information or to buy the book try City Books, Western Road in Hove or visit Alice Denny’s website here: 

Welsh charities join forces for LGBTQ+ carers

Carers Wales and Pride Cymru release a guide on entitlements and support for LGBTQ+ carers ahead of Pride Cymru this weekend (August 26).

Welsh charities, Carers Wales and Pride Cymru, have joined forces to issue an innovative new guide for unpaid carers of all ages who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans or queer (LGBTQ+).

The guide provides information to help with the unique challenges that arise from caring as or for LGBTQ+ people.

According to the two charities, barriers which already affect those caring for an ill, elderly, or disabled loved ones can be entrenched further by the stigma of different gender identities and sexualities.

For example, it may be impossible for a carer to call a relative for emotional support if they cannot disclose that they are in a relationship with the person they care for.

The guide includes help on identifying as a carer, managing the caring journey and accessing support, as well as information on end-of-life affairs.

Coupled with the practical information are the real stories of LGBTQ+ carers across Wales, who have benefited from support.

“I feel as if during the time I was caring, I spent six years back in the closet, after the journey of coming out” explains carer, Steven, who is quoted in the handbook.

The guide is now available for LGBTQ+ carers to download online, or order by emailing:  info@carerswales.org.

Booklet orders can also be placed by schools, colleges, universities, healthcare professionals, councils, and any other front-line service providers committed to supporting those in diverse caring circumstances.

Julie Skelton, Engagement and Volunteer Officer of Carers Wales, said: “We are thrilled to be issuing this much-needed resource, which is the first of its kind to acknowledge the unique additional emotional and practical challenges of caring while LGBTQ+.”

“Working with carers on a regular basis, I have seen first-hand the ways in which poor support for LGBTQ+ individuals in early life can lead to a mistrust of care support in later life. It is our hope that this guide will give carers of all sexualities and genders the knowledge and confidence to seek the support to which they are entitled.”

Cath Harrison of Pride Cymru, added: “We are pleased to see the launch of this resource. Resources for LGBTQ+ carers are long overdue and desperately needed. Having spent the year consulting with LGBTQ+ carers on their needs, we are proud to be able to offer a comprehensive guide that will prove invaluable to those we support.”

 

 

Carers Wales is a charity led by carers, for carers – their mission is to make life better for all carers. They give expert advice, information and support, connect carers so no-one has to care alone, campaign together for lasting change and innovate to find new ways to reach and support carers.

For advice/information, email: info@carerswales.org OR telephone 029 2081 1370

Pride Cymru works within all areas of the LGBT+ communities in Wales and by co-production, engagement and partnering with other organisations have a programme of projects aimed at supporting specifically the LGBT+ communities, but also aimed at developing links with the wider community. The intention is to increase understanding and respect for all to a reduction in hate crime.

Graduate raises awareness of sexual harassment

University of Brighton graduate raises awareness about sexual harassment by documenting women’s experiences.

Eliza Hatch, a photojournalist who graduated last year with a BA(Hons) Illustration degree, photographed women in the public places where they had been harassed. Their images and personal accounts are featured in Eliza’s series Cheer Up Luv and instagram.com/cheerupluv

London-based Eliza has attracted the attention of the national media. She told The Guardian how all of her female friends had experienced harassment and how her male friends were shocked to learn how frequently incidents occurred.

She said: “I really wanted to capture the woman in her surroundings instead of it being somewhere where she felt vulnerable, I wanted to make it a stage for her to speak out from. And I wanted you to actually look into her eyes as you’re hearing her story.”

Eliza says her illustration course at Brighton gave her the foundation for her project.

She added: “I absolutely loved Brighton, and without studying on the illustration course I wouldn’t have achieved what I have so far with this project. The course gave me the initiative to be able to start and thoroughly carry out an idea, and gave me opportunities that I could not have got anywhere else.

“I am very grateful to it!”

 

Miss Jason to make new pilot TV show

Miss Jason’s House Party #whosehomeisthis is a brand new one hour pilot show coming to Latest TV Brighton this fall.

A glittering and entertaining game show hosted by the witty and talented Miss Jason where the star-studded panelists studio audience and TV viewers have to guess a well-known celebrity’s home from a set of video clues.

The panel will be made up of popular Drag Queens Baga Chipz and Davina Sparkle who will be taking on the internationally renowned recording artists Allan Jay and Nicki French for the crown.

Filmed in front of a live studio audience, this show promises to be the campest quiz ever to hit your screens.

Broadcasting September 20 on Latest TV with a very special viewing launch party at Legends at 9pm.

Latest TV (Freeview Channel 7 Virgin Media 159 /thelatest.co.uk)

 

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