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FEATURE: Friends Like These 

Carol Decker and T’Pau (finally) come to Brighton. 30 years on. By Craig Hanlon Smith @craigscontinuum

Carol Decker and T’Pau may seem an unlikely band of gay icons, but in 1987 they and their music were my gay teenage saviours. The album Bridge of Spies, now celebrating its 30th anniversary, saw me through my lonely angsty teenage years. I’d spend hours every week locked in my room “climbing the walls” with only these recordings for company. I felt as if every song was narrating my circumstance and counselling me to sanity: “it’s easy for you to be shocked at what I do, you’ve probably got someone at home”. Oh I’m sure, these songs weren’t actually written about me, but on reflection I find it amazing that music has such power to affect, infect, care, lead, inspire and support you through your s***.

All those boys at school I’d yearn to speak to let alone have a cuddle with; “I know mine, are the arms you’ll never hold” and “No, it doesn’t bother me, the time I spend in imagery”. The ability to run off to my secret patch of grass on the outskirts of town with these beauties embedded in my Boots Walkman, I firmly believe prevented me from coming to some serious harm. They were my escape, my coach and my friends until I was ready. Listening to these songs today isn’t a sad experience for me, they were holding my hand when I needed it most and hearing them now, I actually could go through it all again; “For what’s the point if you are never free to say, this is what I believe, this is a part of me, no hero, no regrets but only meant to be”.

Ahead of their anniversary show in Brighton in November, I chat to Carol Decker.

Thirty years ago, did you have any idea your music would have such an impact on people?
“No I didn’t have any idea of anything that grand! We were just young reprobates making music, touring and generally misbehaving. The whole point of being in a band (well back then) was to not have a plan. I was just being creative, hoping for the best. I had a few tick boxes: have a hit, maybe get on TOTP, but I didn’t really think past that.”

You recently released repackaged and remastered editions of your original albums, Bridge of Spies and the box-set The Virgin Anthology. How was it revisiting those?
“I found it really poignant because it was like an emotional rollercoaster and memories were tied up with personal and professional endings as well as lots of good and crazy times.”

What’s your relationship to those songs now?
“I enjoy performing them as I always make sure I work with excellent musicians who really lift the songs in their performance. Plus they mean so much to people and that’s an honour but I find it hard now to remember the girl who wrote them. Even when I look at my videos, I see Scarlett my daughter, not me. I see her face not mine.”

Thirty years, eh? Besides thinking where the hell did that go what are your highlights?
“Thirty years is a long time ago and it’s true what they say, ‘the past is a foreign country’. I’ve covered all the major moments from the big old days in my autobiography Heart & Soul, but most recently we did a 23-date acoustic tour in 2016 which was very different for me as I’m used to making a big noise. It was more delicate and I could really tell the story of the songs. I’ve done about 40 shows with Go West and Nik Kershaw which has been such a treat. Rewind Scotland this year was massive, Camp Bestival was awesome and last week we sold out Ricoh Arena in Coventry with Paul Young, Tony Hadley, Kim Wilde and a host of others. I’m so lucky to work alongside these amazing people who are part of such a memorably creative era.”

Is the first single Secret Garden from second album Rage really about the LGBT community?
“It was more [specifically] about being gay back then which was tricky in the early 1980s.”

Blimey that was progressive wasn’t it, 30 years ago? Where did that come from?
“It wasn’t about a specific person. We had a gay bass player in my first band The Lazers in the early 1980s who didn’t really come out as such, he just confided in a few of us and I kind of expanded the idea into a little parable for how we all hide our true selves to an extent.”

What can fans or first-timers expect from these anniversary shows?
“We’re going to play the classics and album tracks and I’m dusting the cobwebs off a few B-sides that I haven’t sung in 30 years… I hope I still can!”

Pick your three recommended T’Pau tracks from the recent releases…
“This would vary on a different day but these three songs have real stories: One Direction from The Promise. I had a view of Central Park from my hotel room and saw homeless people being ignored – lots of people just rushing by them. Sammy And Dave from Pleasure and Pain is the story of two friends that lived in Greenwich, they’d been together seven years and had reached an impasse in their relationship. And finally, with a nod to the Harvey Weinstein horror, This Girl from Rage which is my story of some of the vulgar unsolicited attention I had when I was younger.”

More Info:
♦  T’Pau play Islington Assembly Hall on November 23 and Brighton Concorde 2 on November 24.
♦  Heart & Soul by Carol Decker is available from Amazon.
♦  Bridge of Spies (expanded) and The Virgin Anthology are available in physical and digital formats.

Brighton Centre opens doors to rough sleepers this winter

Council-owned building will be used as a shelter for people sleeping rough in the city this winter.

A large room in the centrally located Brighton Centre entertainment and conference venue is currently being prepared.

The Brighton Centre will open its doors from December 10 to provide night-time shelter for up to 30 people. Earlier opening dates are still being actively explored.

The funding for the venture was agreed at Budget Council earlier this year. Since then, councillors from all parties have been working together to find a suitable venue.

Todays announcement comes after much research by councillors and officers to find an available space which is suitable for adaption to a safe environment for people to stay overnight. After looking at empty properties and not finding a safe place, the search turned to operational buildings with space available.

Cllr Moonan, Labour councillor and lead councillor for rough sleeping; Cllr Robert Nemeth, Conservative; and Cllr David Gibson, Green, have been meeting regularly to organise plans for the shelter.

The councillors explained: “There is a national crisis in the number of people facing the risk of homelessness and we’re united in trying to find ways to help those in need here in our city. This shelter will help many rough sleepers to sleep at night and provide a safe place to go as the temperatures drop.
 
“We know residents in the city are rightly concerned about people living rough, especially at this time of year when the weather can be extreme. The shelter is one of many ways we are providing help and working with partners to keep people safe and warm this winter. 

“People living rough on the streets are at high risk, vulnerable and need help. The average life expectancy of a man sleeping rough is just 47 years old – that’s a shocking fact we are addressing here in Brighton & Hove.”

The places at the shelter will be allocated from referrals by outreach workers from St Mungo’s and BHT (Brighton Housing Trust).

The outreach workers will also offer support to those staying at the shelter, linking them to services and sources of support across Brighton & Hove.

The dates the shelter will operate are December 10 to February 11. No confirmed bookings at the Brighton Centre will be affected by the plans. Work is ongoing to find a suitable place for the shelter to run through to March 2018.

The location of the shelter is close to key support services where residents can go for facilities, such as showers, meals and help for their longer term needs.

From this point, the building is being prepared and people eligible for places will be contacted by outreach workers in the weeks ahead. Anyone concerned about a rough sleeper should contact Streetlink who will share information with outreach workers.

Local agencies work together to help more than 1,500 people every year. People are helped to find accommodation elsewhere or linked back with friends or family for support where appropriate.

Numbers of people rough sleeping generally is on the rise and this is reflected in Brighton & Hove as well as many other streets across the country.

It can take time to find suitable accommodation and move people away from a life on the streets.  Many people sleeping rough have complex needs, often relating to substance misuse and mental health issues connected with their vulnerability. The council works with partners across the city to help provide a range of support and services for rough sleepers and improve their circumstances.

This new shelter adds to the help available in the city from charities and churches providing a place to go at night.

The shelter premises are available on a short-term basis with further provision being sought to help more people going forward.

Green Party demand shorter waiting times for trans patients

Green Party politicians write to Jeremy Hunt MP, the Secretary of State for Health demanding action over long wait times for patients who need to access a gender identity clinic.

Jonathan Bartley co-leader Green Party
Jonathan Bartley co-leader Green Party

All NHS gender identity clinics (GIC) in the UK except one are failing to meet the 18-week referral target.

The letter, signed by Green LGBT+ spokesperson Aimee Challenor and co-leaders Jonathan Bartley and Caroline Lucas MP for Brighton Pavilion, asks Jeremy Hunt to explain what the Department of Health is doing to reduce waiting times and when it expects to meet the target.

The Green Party is highlighting the delays as part of Transgender Awareness Week which runs from November 13 to 17.

Bartley and Challenor visited the Department of Health at 3.30pm today (November 14) to hand in the letter.

Aimee Challenor
Aimee Challenor

Aimee Challenor said: “The extensive wait times for gender identity clinics have a devastating impact on trans people, who are already at much higher risk of mental health issues and self-harm.

“Nearly every single clinic is failing to meet the target, a year after it was introduced. One clinic has an average waiting time of 130 weeks, an enormous 112 weeks longer than the maximum referral time of 18 weeks.

“It’s unclear what the Department of Health is doing to reduce these delays and that’s why we’re here today – to demand answers from Jeremy Hunt and ensure he takes trans people’s needs seriously.”

The letter reads: “We write to you regarding the extraordinarily long waits faced by patients who need to see a clinician at one of the UK’s Gender Identity Clinics (GIC).

Last December, it was confirmed that the waiting lists for GICs are subject to the NHS-wide 18 week referral target. A year on, all GICs in the UK except for one are failing to meet that target, with some patients having to wait two and a half years before getting an appointment at a GIC.

Going through the process of transitioning within the NHS should empower rather than demean trans people – yet that’s not the case. Referral delays are having devastating effects on trans people.

Rates of self-harm and suicide attempts are significantly higher for trans people, especially those not receiving treatment. In September 2015, Dr John Dean, Chair of the NHS National Clinical Reference Group for Gender Identity Services told the House of Commons Women and Equalities Committee that “not treating people is not a neutral act – it will do harm”.

Trans people are far more likely to have contact with the mental health system, and are at much higher risk of mental health issues, self-harm and suicidal ideation, than cisgender and heterosexual people.

We would like to know what the Department of Health is doing to actively reduce waiting times and when it expects to meet the 18 week referral target.”

 

MUSIC REVIEW: Christmas Oratorio: BREMF

CHRISTMAS ORATORIO

J S BACH

St Martin’s Church

On November 12

Hannah Ely soprano

Rebecca Leggett mezzo soprano

Hugo Hymas tenor (Evangelist)

Simon Wallfisch baritone

 

The BREMF Players

Alison Bury leader

The BREMF Singers

John Hancorn director

Bach’s Christmas Oratorio is a huge piece to undertake. Bach designed the oratorio’s six parts as self-contained cantatas to be sung separately on the days leading up to and after Christmas but when presented all together they show their coherent whole.  BREMF wisely  left one part of it out, [Part IV omitted in this performance] not that that diminished the evening in the slightest and made what could have been a long haul into a very pleasant and well balanced evening.

The splendid atmosphere of St Martins added to the gravitas and festive feeling of this production, she really is a fine old Leviathan of a building and the acoustic is superb, the massed voices of the singers rolling sharply around the huge roof and keeping the clarity of the music intact.

There were some choral parts which the audience could join in with, there having been an earlier free event for people keen to sing, it was very English in a subdued way. The Christmas Oratorio is a simply lovey piece of Bach, complex, easy to understand, impressive, simple, elegant and astonishing in equal measure it reminds us of quite what an astonishing talent Bach what and how lucky we are live in a city which takes its music so seriously and with such passion.

The BREMF Singers are unparalleled in their precision, diction and singing in the original German provided an authentic feeling to the evening. I never fail to be impressed by the quality of the BREMF singers; they provided a superb level of choral singing which adds impressively to any event they are part of.

The four principal singers held us in their grasp form the moment they started to sing, clear voices rolling across the audience and keeping the important narrative pace of the plot electric and engaging. All four shone.

See the full programme and texts here
This evening’s music was superb, it’s almost as if the BREMF was saving the best till last but this year’s programme has excelled in the quality of its music and tonight was no exception. John Hancorn conducted with a florid grace which kept the music tight and graceful while allowing the complex interactions of Bach’s melodies to entwine and entice us.  The orchestra were on top form with premier performances from each and every one of the players, the trumpeters excelled.

This was the final event of this years Brighton Early Music Festival and what a superb year its been, it’s also the last festival for BREMF Co-Artistic Director Clare Norburn & she stood one last time to thank us for supporting the festival and it was an opportunity for the audience and players to thank her for her endless, boundless enthusiasm and patience which has grown the BREMF into a force to be reckoned with in the Classical Music world.  The audience showed their approval and I would add my own thanks in to Clare for her superb choices year after year in programming the festival, her unwavering support for quality accessible music and the innovations of BREMF which bring Classical music to young people in local schools each year. (Read more here)  We wish you well in your future endeavours.

There will be two special Festival concerts in December which you can learn more and book tickets for here.

 

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