Call us now

Author: Chris Gull

DIVAS at Ironworks: Scene discount code, and the chance to win two tickets

Posted on by Chris Gull

DIVAS, the fundraising show produced by the Ledward Centre and featuring Zoe Lyons, Jennie Castell, Billie Gold, Aneesa Chaudhry, Hannah Brackenbury and the Brighton Starlings Choir, is offering a 10% discount to Scene readers who book through Eventbrite, and a chance to win a pair of tickets for this exciting show.

To buy discounted tickets go here, and enter discount code THANKYOUSCENE10. These tickets are available online up to showtime. Price before discount is £20. Discount is only available by booking through Eventbrite.

To have a chance to win a pair of tickets, answer these two questions before midday on Thursday, August 1. Winners will be informed shortly after midday.

1. Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves, a big hit in 1985, featured Annie Lennox and which other legend?

2. I Am Woman was released by Helen Reddy in 1972. Can you quote the first line of the lyric?

To enter, click here and fill in your answers and contact details.

ALSO: Tickets are available without a booking fee in person from the box office at the Ledward Centre, 14a Jubilee Street, Brighton BN1 1GE on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday between 10am – 6pm.

We meet the men behind esmale.com, an Adult Lifestyle Store!

Posted on by Chris Gull

Chris Gull got to talk to Jay about esmale and how he and Steve built the business.

Hi Jay, here at Scene we are keen to promote sex positivity and community, and we know that esmale.com is VERY sex positive and rooted in the community. We’ll start by asking you to tell us about the men behind the dildos and poppers

How did you meet, and what were you each doing before you decided to take the plunge to create esmale? And where does the name come from?

Jay: Hi Chris, thank you for your interest. There are a few questions in there but will do my best to get to them all. Firstly, yes, we are indeed focused on sex positivity. We feel it is important that everybody feels the freedom to experiment with who they are and what they enjoy without any judgment or taboo around the subject. Even though we initially started marketing ourselves to gay men we have found that our customers are extremely diverse from all corners of the queer and not queer spectrum. Steve and I started the company back in 2011 some 10 years after we met on a night out in the 2Brewers in Clapham. Our backgrounds are far removed from gay sex toys  or any sex toys come to that. Steve has a technical communication background and mine is based in marketing and advertising. I think we both got fed up with the daily grind and wanted to start our own online-only business in the hope we could one day run this from anywhere in the world. I have previous experience in adult retail, so it made sense for us to focus on this industry and make it our professional home. We are very glad we did as it is a welcoming industry and lots of fun. 

The name esmale which we pronounce ES-Male is short for essentially for men. To start with were intended to focus only on essential “better sex” products but soon found ourselves having a full lifestyle store that also features Fashion, Kink and Sex toys. Much more than just Anal lube  and other essentials. In our sister store we sell poppers to the UK only and stock all the big brands like Liquid Gold , Berlin and Power Rush.

Overall, we try and aim to supply quality products of an adult nature that put a big smile on your face. We used to say “Feel good – be bad” till someone pointed out that using adult products is not bad….oops.

 

Chris: You’ve constantly built and extended the brand, selling not only toys, but underwear and fetish, a poppers store, and large followings on your various social media channels and platforms. Can you tell us about that diversification, and your plans moving forward?

Jay: as mentioned above the store has indeed grown to include many products to support a healthy active adult lifestyle. We are looking to be a one-stop shop for all your adult needs. The plan moving forward is to grow our ranges. There are areas that can be built out more, but this is a slow process as everything costs time and money ☺ We are fortunate enough to have a big social reach, and people are responding positively to our brand which is a great feeling. In return, we have a great team that responds in the same way to anyone who contacts us. People email and call us for a variety of reasons and no question is off the table. We are here to help and love talking to our customers.

Chris: Presumably there are “trends” in what people are buying, and when. Have you noticed how the cost-of-living crisis for instance influences what people are buying?

Jay: there are certainly trends. For example, we sell more anal toys for men  than we do manhood products. I always thought it would be the other way around. Another thing we have been noticing for the last few years is that customers are more knowledgeable about what they want. This is great as I hope, this means that more people are on a self-exploration journey. It also means that manufacturers can no longer get away with certain products and need to deliver quality products at good value, which is what they are doing better now. 

Chris: What are your current “hot” products?

Jay: with thousands of products in our warehouse it is hard to select “hot” products as many sell well. From bulge enhancing underwear  to certain dildos, kink and masturbators they all have favourite products in the different departments. In terms of being a hot product, we do see that customers like things a bit more extreme these days. With large toys, BDSM, fetish gear and products that have something extra like electro-stim or vibes being in demand.  

 

Chris: As we´ve already mentioned, you have hundreds of thousands of followers on your various SM channels. Please tell us about those channels and where to find them.

Jay: We do indeed, these are spread over various platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. For the nature of our business Twitter and Instagram are a bit more friendly. We also have pages that are not per se related to our store but are more general towards a LGBTQ+ friendly audience.

Here are just a few of the places you can find us on social media:

Twitter

Instagram  

Facebook.

You can find our stores here:

For all your adult tools and gear: https://www.esmale.com/ 

For all your poppers shop here: https://www.poppersupershop.com/ 

The Ledward Centre Welcomes the newest Queer Makers Market

Posted on by Chris Gull

The Ledward Centre is hosting the newest Queer Makers Market on Saturday 13 April from 11am to 5pm. It will be the first of a series in 2024, and will be a celebration of queer creativity,
showcasing a diverse array of talents from within the LGBTQ+ community and its allies.

The  Queer Makers Market will feature an eclectic mix of artisan crafts, original art, handmade jewellery, unique gifts, and much more.

“This market is not just about shopping; it’s about celebrating the richness of our
community, supporting local queer artists and makers, and creating a space where everyone feels welcomed and valued,” said a spokesperson for the Ledward Centre.

Admission to the Queer Makers Market is free, and all are welcome to this family-friendly
event.

If you wish to participate complete this form at www.bit.ly/QueerMM, or contact TLC  at market@ledcen.org.uk for more information on future dates.

Girls Aloud and Mika headline Brighton & Hove Pride FABULOSO Fundraiser Event, Saturday 3rd and Sunday 4th August

Posted on by Chris Gull

Billy Porter, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, S Club and Gabrielle also join this year’s star studded line-up

 

 

Mika will headline the main stage at this year’s  FABULOSO two-day community fundraiser event at Preston Park, Saturday 3 rd and Sunday 4 th August.

Joining the line up is multi-award winning actor, musician and LGBTQ+ icon, Billy Porter; Dancefloor and all out sensation, Sophie Ellis Bextor; Pop family favourites S Club, the UK’s treasured
singer-songwriter Gabrielle; Kevin Aviance, Björn Again, House Gospel Choir and Danny Beard, with more artists and acts to be announced over the coming months.
In a UK festival exclusive, Cheryl, Nadine Coyle, Nicola Roberts and Kimberly Walsh will bring Girls Aloud plethora of chart-topping, hits including Sound of the Underground, Love Machine, The Promise,Jump, and many more to Brighton’s brilliant, bold,  and diverse FABULOSO festival event on the Saturday night.

Adding some extra glamour and glitter , to the evening Billy Porter returns to bring his delicious disco to the park following the release of his latest album Black Mona Lisa alongside the UK’s very own Murder on the Dancefloor phenomenon and FABULOSO favourite, Sophie Ellis Bextor.

Also warming up the main stage crowd that day, US drag artist and musician Kevin Aviance and London’s House Gospel Choir.
On Sunday, multi-platinum selling, award winning, global music and TV star, Mika will headline, bringing his energetic performance and catalogue of perfect pop hits including Grace Kelly and Love Today.

Warming up the crowd, S Club bring their infamous hit songs including Reach, S
Club party, Bring It All Back and Don’t Stop Movin’ while Brighton &Hove Pride fan favourite, Gabrielle will be sure to make the crowd´s Dreams come true. Sunday will also see acclaimed Abba tribute Björn Again bring the ultimate afternoon party to the park alongside Britain’s Got Talent performer and RuPaul’s Drag Race UK star, Danny Beard.

In addition to the main-stage FABULOSO will continue to host an  array of diverse and inclusive stages and entertainment zones across the park including the Pride Dance Tent, Beefmince Dance Tent, Cabaret Big Top, Diva Dance Tent,Polyglamorous, the Cocoa Butter Club Stage, Queertown and more. Featuring more than 150 LGBTQ+ artists across the weekend, including the likes of Peaches, Fat Tony, Beth McCarthy, Princess Superstar, DJ Paulette, Lynks, Horse Meat Disco, Girli and many more… stay tuned for additional line-up announcements coming soon.

Managing Director Paul Kemp comments: “Pride is always an amazing weekend of celebration and inclusiveness of our city and this year is going to be incredibly momentous with the fantastic Girls Aloud and Mika headlining our 2 day FABULOSO community fundraiser. With over 150 LGBTQ+ artists across the weekend. We are beyond thrilled to welcome a fantastic and diverse line-up to Brighton & Hove Pride for 2024 and, with Love, Protest, Unity and JOY at the core of our community parade,we invite everyone to celebrate your true colours.”

As always, the much-loved Brighton & Hove Pride LGBTQ+ Community Day Parade will open the weekend under this year’s theme of JOY: celebrating life, spirit, and resilience.

The parade will wind through the city streets in its usual spectacular colour and style, delighting the thousands of people who take to the streets to watch the event which showcases over one hundred charities, community groups and small businesses, our invaluable emergency services, the NHS and representatives of other Pride organisations.

Other Brighton & Hove Pride favourites including the Pride Village Party and Pride Community Day; Dog Show will also make their rainbow-coloured return.

Firmly established as the UK’s most popular international Pride festival, Brighton & Hove Pride is as famous, vibrant, popular, and unique as the city itself. Brighton & Hove Pride’s sole ethos is to promote diversity, inclusion and education within our communities while raising much needed funds for our local LGBTQ+ charity and community groups and projects through the Brighton Rainbow Fund and Social Impact Fund.

Book tickets here

The Ledward Centre Crowdfunder reaches £40,000 target

Posted on by Chris Gull

The Ledward Centre (TLC), Brighton and Hove’s new LGBTQ+ centre in Jubilee Street, started a Crowdfunder in early November to raise funds to complete the fit out of the lower ground floor to add radio studios, exhibition gallery, quiet lounge, co-working space, cinema/public meeting room, smaller meeting rooms, community kitchen/diner, and a brand new toilet block to replace the single ‘facility’ which they inherited.

They set an ambitious target of £40,000 pounds in eight weeks, and thanks to nearly 200 donors, and generous matched funding from the Cost of Living Resilience Fund, and the AVIVA Foundation, reached that target with some days to spare.

Chris Gull, Chair of the Brighton Rainbow Fund, which has facilitated the creation of TLC, expressed the delight and gratitude of the board of the Ledward Centre CIC, which operates and manages TLC on behalf of the Brighton Rainbow Fund.

“The Board, the managers and our brilliant volunteers are so excited to be able to go into 2024 with the prospect of opening up the new facilities and resources which this funding will provide, a year of events, meetings, and  community, which will allow even more members of our huge local LGBTQ+ communities to come together in a safe, welcoming and inspirational space.

“We received the extra matchfunding from the Cost of Living Resilience Fund and the AVIVA Foundation because we operate as an official LGBTQ+ ‘warm space’ and give support and information to members of our community, especially those who are particuarly affected by the current cost of living and energy crises.

“The Crowdfunder is ongoing and the AVIVA Foundation continues to matchfund donations on a pound for pound basis. There are still rewards to be claimed for donating, including participation in our ‘Make Your Mark’ campaign, and tickets for Supper Clubs.”

To donate go to bit.ly/LedCen

The TLC website is HERE

The Brighton Rainbow Fund website is HERE

The Ledward Centre asks everybody to donate ‘just a bit’. Every donation will be QUADRUPLED with an additional matchfunder from Aviva Foundation

Posted on by Chris Gull

The Aviva Foundation has now joined the Cost of Living Resilience Fund in matchfunding donations to the current Crowdfunding campaign: Help Us to Finish the Fit Out of the Ledward Centre.

This extra matchfunding now means that any donations (up to £150) will not only be TRIPLE matchfunded by the resilience fund, but also matchfunded by the Aviva Foundation. Every £1 donated will attract an extra £3 from the resilience fund, and £1 from Aviva. A £10 donation will therefore release £40 in extra funding, a £150 donation will release an extra £600!

Chris Gull, Founding Director of the Ledward Centre, said today: “With two more weeks to reach our target of £40,000 to complete work on the Ledward Centre, this news will give us a real boost.

“We’re asking everyone in the LGBTQ+ community, and our allies, to donate something to the Crowdfunder campaign in the next ten days, and release extra funding with the amazing support that these two foundations are giving to our community.

“There are excellent rewards to claim for making a donation, here are just some of them…”

Reward Your Donation Extra from Matchfunding Total funds to campaign
£7.50 Voucher for the Ledward Centre Cafe £5 £20 £25
‘Make Your Mark’ Tile  £20 £80 £100
Supper and a Show: 

Jennie Castell: Dusty Springfield Tribute

 £15 £60 £75
Supper and a Show:

Ty Jeffries without Hope Springs

 £25 £100 £125
Brighton Sauna Weekend Pass, value £25 £20 £80 £100
Ticket for Dine with The Stars: Two course meal at the Old Ship Hotel and string of cabaret performers £35 £140 £175
Plaque on Supporters’ Board and website – a permanent sign of your support for the community £150 £600 £750

To donate, claim your reward AND release matchfunding, CLICK HERE

Dine With The Stars with Davina Sparkle to return in April 2024

Posted on by Chris Gull

The iconic fundraising event, organised by Davina Sparkle, is set to return in April 2024 (exact date tbc) for the first time since 2019.

This year the event, with a top line up of live cabaret and a three course dinner, will be held at the Old Ship Hotel, and raise funds for the Ledward Centre, Brighton’s new LGBTQ+ centre in central Brighton.

With the Ledward Centre´s Crowdfunder campaign you can increase the funds raised by the event by claiming an early bird ticket by donating £35 to the campaign this week, and releasing a further £105 in triple matchfunding from the Cost of Living Resilience Fund, and helping to make James Ledward’s dream of an LGBTQ+ Centre come true.

To reserve your place, AND increase the funds raised by triple matchfunding your donation:

  • Go to the Crowdfunder Page  bit.ly/LedCen
  • Scroll down to the £35 rewards
  • Find the reward for this event and ‘claim it’
  • At checkout you will be “charged” for the £35 donation which will allocate you 1 ticket
  • If you need more tickets please use the ‘donate’ facility to donate any extra. So if you want two tickets in total, claim the reward, and put ‘£35’ in the donate box at check out. You’ll be asked to pay £70 in total. If you want three tickets in total, claim the reward, and enter “£70” in the donate box, and you’ll be asked to pay £105… and so on
  • If you have problems, there is a facility to contact the organiser of the campaign.

Ty Jeffries announces an intimate fundraising performance without Miss Hope Springs on January 13

Posted on by Chris Gull

Ty Jeffries is hosting an intimate, simple,  candlelit supper performance in January to raise funds for the Ledward Centre as part of their Crowdfunder Campaign to finish the final fit out of the 7,000 sq ft LGBTQ+ community and cultural centre in central Brighton. The show is preceded by Supper, and is on Saturday, January 13.

Each of the 50 tickets is available for a £25 donation to the Crowdfunder campaign, and each donation will release a further £75 in matchfunding from the Cost of Living Resilience Fund. Your £25 donation gets you a ticket to this special performance, AND is worth £100 in total to the Ledward Centre. (*See below for how to donate and claim your tickets(s))

With a 12 year West End residency at the glamorous Crazy Coqs Cabaret behind him, emerging from the statuesque shadow of his legendary tragi-comic cabaret creation, Miss Hope Springs, the award-winning composer and lyricist, appears simply as himself.

A long time resident of coastal East Sussex, Ty grew up between Hollywood and Pinewood when his father, Lionel Jeffries, was making movies like Camelot and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

Educated at the prestigious Purcell School of Music in the 1970s, Ty was taught his first jazz piano chords by Sir John Mills and was further encouraged by screen composer Elmer Bernstein. In the 1980s, he was mentored by Vangelis and was signed to Elton John’s Rocket Music.

He also worked with Chaka Kahn and was a keyboard player for Billy Mackenzie’s The Associates. Years later, Jeffries’ alter-ego opened the newly constructed Crazy Coqs, and he remains their longest-standing resident artist. More recently, his songs have been covered by Joe Stilgoe, Claire Martin and New York cabaret legend Sidney Myer.

Ty will be performing some of his acclaimed original songs and a couple of his evocative solo piano pieces and, for the first time, taking your questions…

*To claim your ticket(s) 

  • Go to the Crowdfunder Page  bit.ly/LedCen
  • Scroll down to the £25 rewards
  • Find the reward for this event and ‘claim it’
  • At checkout you will be “charged” for the £25 donation which will allocate you 1 ticket
  • If you need more tickets please use the ‘donate’ facility to donate any extra. So if you want two tickets in total, claim the reward, and put ‘£25’ in the donate box at check out. You’ll be asked to pay £50 in total. If you want three tickets in total, claim the reward, and enter £50 in the donate box, and you’ll be asked to pay £75… and so on
  • If you have problems, there is a facility to contact the organiser of the campaign.

The Ledward Centre launches Phase Two of its ‘Make Your Mark’ campaign as part of its triple matchfunded Crowdfunder

Posted on by Chris Gull

The Ledward Centre (TLC), Brighton’s LGBTQ+ community and cultural centre, has announced the next phase in the project to create a huge Pride Progress Flag, five metres x three metres from 6,000 individual tiles, each created by members of Brighton & Hove’s LGBTQ+ communities and allies.

The project was started last year with a Crowdfunded campaign which raised over £11,000 to complete the fit out of the cafe on the ground floor.

The TLC Cafe 

Donors paid £20 for a tile, which they created in clay, and ‘made their mark’ by making an impression of their thumb into the clay, which then had to go off to be fired. Using clay that needed to go to a kiln to be fired proved to be not ideal, some tiles didnt survive the firing, some altered shape and dimensions.

Phase Two of Make Your Mark involves creating the tiles from polymer clay, which is fired in a conventional oven and which retains dimensions. This has several advantages for this project because there is consistency in dimensions, and the whole process of creating each tile, from rolling out, cutting, firing, decorating, and then actually fixing the tile in position is done on site in one go. Each workshop lasts 90 minutes and each participant leaves having created and fixed their very own piece of LGBTQ+ history.

This year’s Crowdfunder campaign is to raise funds to complete the fit out of the lower ground floor, to provide the exhibition gallery, radio studios, cinema room, various size meeting rooms/classrooms, a quiet lounge, a community kitchen, and most importantly new toilet facilities to replace the single toilet that TLC inherited. This will allow for larger events and meetings to take place by increasing the capacity of TLC.

Help us to finish The Ledward Centre fit out project image

The Crowdfunder campaign runs until December 17, with every donation (up to £150) TRIPLE matchfunded by the Cost of Living Resilience Fund. This means that for every £20 pounds donated for a tile, a further £60 is released to the campaign in matchfunding. Every tile brings a total of £80 into the campaign.

To donate, release matchfunding, and to claim your ‘reward’ of an invitation to join Silvio Grasso‘s tile creation workshops and turn the wall that Silvio has painted into a community artwork, and reflection of the Brighton LGBTQ+ community, CLICK HERE

Oh, and please tell your friends and get them to join you at a workshop, and on the wall!

New Ledward Centre Crowdfunder campaign to be boosted by TRIPLE matchfunding!

Posted on by Chris Gull

The Ledward Centre (TLC), Brighton’s LGBTQ+ community and cultural centre, has launched a Crowdfunder campaign today (Tuesday, November 7), and has been approved to receive triple matchfunding from Access (The Foundation for Social Investment) through their Cost of Living Resilience Fund.*

The campaign, which aims to raise £10,000 to release a further £30,000 in match funding, will run for six weeks. For every £1 donated the campaign will receive an extra £3 in match funding from Access, so every donation, big or small, makes a huge difference.

The funds will be used to complete the fit out of the lower ground floor of TLC, adding a gallery, meeting rooms, classrooms, quiet lounge, youth room, radio studios, offices and most importantly new toilet facilities to replace the single, out of date, toilet that we inherited with the building

The campaign offers a series of rewards for donations. For example a reward for a £5 donation is a voucher worth £7.50 to spend in the TLC Cafe, and will release a further £15 in match funding from Access.*

A £20 donation will ‘buy’ a tile for the donor to create and to be part of the ongoing Make Your Mark project, AND will release a further £60 in match funding from Access.*

*Access will matchfund unique donations up to £150, so a £150 donation will release an extra £450. A unique donation means that only one donation per email address and/or payment card will be matchfunded. In the real world this means that if you decide to make more than one donation over the six-week course of the campaign, and use use the same email address and/or payment card, only the first donation will be matchfunded.

Chris Gull, Chair of the Brighton Rainbow Fund, which facilitated the founding of TLC, said “The Census 2021 confirmed that Brighton & Hove has the largest LGBTQ+ community (as a proportion of the adult population) in the UK. Historically we have come together as a community to create support and facilities for us all, and we’re asking our community to get together again to raise the funds to complete this phase of the project.

“There are something like 50,000 members of the Brighton & Hove LGBTQ+ community, and we all have friends and allies that want to help us too, so please get involved today.

“Obviously we want donations, but we there are additional ways that you can become involved too.

  • First of all please go to the Crowdfunder page, which you’ll find HERE.
  • Have a look at the rewards, they start at £3 and go up to £150 (the maximum for match funding, though you can donate more)
  • Think about whether you can start your own, linked, Crowdfunder page. Click the ‘Fundraise for this Cause’ button, and it will take you through simple steps to set up your page. Donors on your page will also be eligible for matchfunding, and for the rewards listed.
  • Think about organising your own fundraising event, a coffee morning, a bake sale, the only limit is your imagination, and then quadruple what you have raised by donating the proceeds through the Crowdfunder page and releasing the triple fund matching.
  • Offer an item or service as a reward to be claimed by donation.
  • Spread news of this campaign right across your social media and friendship groups and encourage others to get involved too.

“Please help to make James Ledward‘s dream come true, a tangible benefit for our community, and make a gift  that will keep on giving.”

www.bit.ly/LedCen

Latest News

Transgender News Republicans, and two Democrats, vote to ban trans women and girls from school sports
LGBTQ+ News Shaun Ross, one of only a few high-profile models with albinism, shares a touching story of coming out to his grandfather
Community News Brighton Half Marathon 2025, a fundraising event to raise funds for Sussex Beacon services, seeks volunteers for this year’s event
Transgender News Trans activists hold “noise demo” to show solidarity with Zoe Watts, a trans woman currently being held in a male prison wing
X