10/05/2014 – Scene Magazine – From the heart of LGBTQ+ Life

Golden Handbag voting is live!

Posted on 10/05/201412/05/2014 by Besi

This year’s voting for the Golden Handbags went live on Wednesday (May 7) during the annual Golden Quiz at Charles Street.

Nineteen teams battled it out for the coveted first Golden Handbag of the season with Subline on St James’ Street coming out victors for the second year running. £450 was raised during the evening and that will be given to the new LGBT Community Groups Network to help with their start up costs and website design.

Go online now and vote for your favourite club, bar and entertainer. Better still vote for the people behind the scenes that make our LGBT voluntary sector organisations tick all year round.

On the basis of last years voting the hardest fought categories this year will be the Favourite Club, Favourite Sunday Roast, Favourite Drag Entertainer and Favourite Hotel categories.

Voting stays live until Friday, June 13. Remember your vote does not count until you verify it so check your trash bin on your computer regularly for your verication email.

Winners will be announced at the star studded Golden Handbag Show hosted by Lola Lasagne on Sunday, June 22 in the Oxford Suite at the Brighton Hilton Metropole Hotel, starring La Voix, Lucinda Lashes and Jason Lee.

Unreserved tickets are available from Prowler in St James Street and cost £20. Cash only please as Prowler are not charging a booking fee.

There is one reserved tables seating 12 people still available. The cost is £240 and it can be booked by telephone 01273 722 457.

To vote, CLICK HERE:

Dementia Awareness Week

Posted on 10/05/201411/05/2014 by Besi

Alzheimers Society to hold a special Open Day Cafe at Sussex County Cricket Ground.

The Alzheimers Society are organising a special free drop-in cafe for people who live with dementia on Saturday, May 17 at Sussex County Cricket Ground in Hove to help celebrate and raise awareness for Dementia Awareness Week.

Activities will include a sing-along, massages, creafts, light refreshments, entertainment and practical support plus a ‘Memory Book Competition prize giving.

The event runs from 2pm-5pm and further further information call: 01273 726266

If you’re worried that you, or someone close to you, may have dementia, it can be difficult to talk about. You may feel scared, confused or even ashamed. You may also be hoping that the problem will go away so you don’t have to deal with it.

We all bury our heads in the sand from time to time. But if you’re seriously concerned, and the problem continues, it’s important to talk to someone about it. The sooner you know what you’re dealing with, the sooner you can get on with your life and feel in control again.

Dementia Awareness Week (May 18-24, 2014) is all about opening up. The Alzheimer’s Society want anyone who’s concerned about dementia to stop bottling it up and to talk to them.

Throughout the week there will be national and regional press coverage, awareness-raising and fundraising events across England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and a national advertising campaign

What: De-Cafe Open Day

Where: Sussex County Cricket Ground, Eaton Road, Hove

When: Saturday, May 17

Time: 2pm-5pm

Cost: Free

For more information about the Alzheimers Society, CLICK HERE:

Subline take the first ‘Golden Handbag’ of the season

Posted on 10/05/201411/05/2014 by Besi

Subline are top of the class for the second year running at the Golden Quiz.

Team Subline came first: Photo Nick Ford photography

Subline in St James Street came out top at the annual Golden Quiz on Wednesday night at Charles Street. The quiz night kicks off the voting for the Golden Handbag Awards each year and this year seventeen teams battled it out to find out who has the brainiest customers in Gay Brighton.

Bear Patrol the social networking fundraising group came a close second with Lunch Positive the HIV lunch club charity coming in third.

Lunch Positive came third — Lunch Positive the HIV lunch project came third: Photo Nick Ford photography

Teams entered included:

TABLE 1: MindOut the LGBT Mental Health Project

TABLE 2: Lunch Positive the HIV lunch Club charity: Team 1

TABLE 2b: Lunch Positive: Team 2

TABLE 3: Radio Reverb

TABLE 4: Terrence Higgins Trust

TABLE 5: Bear Patrol

TABLE 6: Brighton Sauna

TABLE 7: Legends

TABLE 8: Wilmas Wonders

TABLE 9: Charles Street

TABLE 11: Gscene

TABLE 12: Subline

TABLE 13: Peer Action

TABLE 14: Davina Sparkles Showbiz Wonders

TABLE 15: Brighton Bear Weekender

TABLE 16: Brighton Pride

TABLE 17: Revenge

TABLE 18: Brighton Gay Men’s Chorus

This years Golden Handbag Awards take place in the Oxford Suite at the Brighton Metropole Hotel on Sunday June 22. Tickets are available from Prowler in St James Street and cost £20 each.

There is one VIP table left costing £240 for 12 people. To book, EMAIL:

To vote in the Golden Handbag Awards, CLICK HERE:

Oxford Pride announce main stage line-up

Posted on 10/05/2014 by Besi

The Oxford Pride Festival is a 10-day long celebration of lesbian, gay, bi, trans and queer (LGBTQ) life in Oxfordshire with the main event in Oxpens Field on Saturday June 7.

This year, the festival highlights LGBTQ role models, both within the community, and the wider world including people who inspire us, drive us, given us confidence to stand up and be ourselves and help us to feel comfortable with who we are.

The entertainment on the Unite The Union Stage runs from 12 noon to 8pm, and includes local DJs Sam Brandon and Matt Postie.

Musician Paula Riordan, and the Thames Valley Gay chorus will appear in the early afternoon, supporting Practically Pink and Troublemaker (Pink and Olly Murs tributes).

Headliners Rhapsody take to the stage at 5:20pm, bringing a full hour of Queen hits to get everyone up and dancing, and they’re followed by a special appearance from Jo O’Meara from S Club 7.

Unite The Union South East are this year providing both funding and support to organise the festival week. Oxford Pride patrons include: Lord Waheed Alli, Sir Ian McKellen, Peter Tatchell, Paul O’Grady, Clare Summerskill, Paul Gambaccini and Angela Eagle MP.

For more information about Oxford Pride, CLICK HERE:

What: Oxford Pride: Role Models

Where: Festival site at Oxpens Field, Oxford

Time: Noon to 8pm

When: Saturday, June 7, 2014

Cost: Free entry

Brighton Pride: Calabash brings diversity to Preston Park

Posted on 10/05/2014 by Besi

Brighton Pride is the sum of all its glorious parts and none is more fabulous or popular each year than the Calabash area.

Calabash returns once more in 2014 to celebrate Freedom to live at The World’s a Disco extravaganza on Preston Park.

Affy Go Bang one of the organisers of Calabash, said: “As the theme The World’s a Disco, 2014 will see us going all out disco. Expect huge mirror balls, glittery people and the whole gamut of disco classics.

“The theme is perfect for us. We already have a disco bent so we are not changing a popular formula, but there will be some big surprises this year. So excited but we won’t tell yet.

“Pride is very important to Calabash. We have had a presence on the park for 11 years now. We were originally the People of Colour tent, when we were literally a ‘tent’ and we have come a long way to our big top. Apart from maintaining a presence on the park its important for us to remind people that the LGBT community is very diverse and comes in all shapes, colours and sizes, and we are definitely part of the community. We are about inclusion not exclusion. Showing that this year is particular important as there is a need to show solidarity with our LGBT brothers and sisters around the world, as living and loving the person of their choice is not a protected right and can be punishable by death. For us Pride 2014 will have more political significance.

“The Calabash tent is important to me because it is unlike any other area on the park as we try to keep the music policy as diverse as we can. We have had live drummers, belly dancers 100 piece samba bands, big drag opera singers, it is very eclectic and anything goes. That’s why I love Calabash because it is so unique. But more importantly the Calabash crew are a very close. Some of us have been working with each other for 10 years and we it is very much a family affair, one that gets bigger each year.”

What: Pride Brighton & Hove 2014: Freedom To Live

Where: Pride Festival Preston Park, Brighton

When: Saturday, August 2

Time: 12 noon – 10pm

Cost: £9 /£12.50 Early Bird tickets are sold out. Discounted £15 advance (first release) until end of May. Then £17.50 in June /£20 in July and more on the day.

For more information about Brighton Pride, CLICK HERE:

Moving on – the end of an era!

Posted on 10/05/2014 by Besi

The team behind one of Brighton’s best-loved bars, the Marine Tavern in Broad Street will be calling last orders there for the very last time towards the end of the summer.

Steve Chillingworth and his partner Nat Robinson, who have been running the pub for the past 12 years, have decided to move on to other projects when their present tenancy agreement comes to an end in August.

Steve has been in the pub trade for more than 20 years. After returning to the UK in 1998 after a couple of years in Gran Canaria working with his former partner Stewart, Steve took over the Lion in Earls Colne, Essex.

After eighteen months running the Lion, the brewery invited them to take over Ruby’s (formerly Marilyns) in Providence Place, Brighton.

Steve said: “It was a good opportunity for us and so we took over Ruby’s in October 1999 – renaming it the Harlequin.”

The Harlequin soon became a very popular weekend night club catering for all walks of life and enjoyed by many diverse groupings within the LGBT communities of Brighton & Hove and beyond.

Steve and Nat met up in December 2001 and in 2002 they were asked by the brewery to take on the Marine Tavern as a feeder bar for the Harlequin, which worked very well.

Following the licensing reforms in 2005 they decided to let the Harlequin go so that they could focus their energies on the Marine Tavern. They did just that and quickly turned the Marine into the little pub with the big personality.

Under Steve and Nat’s stewardship the Marine Tavern has been one of the largest fundraising bars in the gay village consistantly punching above it weight and raising many, many thousands for local organisations both straight and gay.

James Ledward, editor of Gscene Magazine said: “It is the end of an era. The Marine Tavern is a true community pub where the landlord is on hand all the time beavering away quietly behind the scenes raising money for local organisations. For the size of the venue the amount of money they raise each year is quite staggering and needs to be acknowledged and celebrated far and wide.”

Labour’s Parliamentary candidates say put people’s lives first

Posted on 10/05/201410/05/2014 by Besi

Labour’s parliamentary candidates for Brighton and Hove urge Green Party councillors on the Fire Authority to support Labour’s fight against the proposed fire service cuts.

Nancy Platts (PPC Brighton Kemptown), Peter Kyle (PPC Hove & Portslade) and Purna Sen (PPC Pavilion) say the cuts will lead to an increase risk of loss of life.

The candidates have written to the Councillor for Queens Park Stephanie Powell, Councillor for Hollingdean and Stanmer Sven Rufus and Councillor for Central Hove Chris Hawtree asking them to save 24 front line firefighters jobs and keep five fire engines in the city.

Nancy, said: “Sometimes you have to put your politics aside and come together to make a difference. We believe we can get some alternatives on the table, I hope the Green Party Councillors will see this is the best thing for the people of Brighton and Hove and join our campaign.”

Purna, added: “As Vice-Chair of the Fire Authority Councillor Sven Rufus has a special responsibility for the cuts which are being proposed. I hope he joins us in doing what is best for the safety of the people of the City”.

In the letter the candidates write: “Our City has a growing population and more properties are being built. Four fire engines alone are needed for incidents in high rise buildings.

“This is a busy City and our local economy thrives on tourism and our many lively festivals, so it can be hard for fire engines to travel quickly from one end of the City to the other.

“We need more resources not less– losing one fire engine will leave us desperately short in times of emergency.

Benefits fraudsters found guilty in council prosecutions

Posted on 10/05/2014 by Besi

A man who fraudulently claimed over £29,000 in benefits whilst running a lettings agency was handed a 10 months prison sentence, suspended for one year, by Brighton magistrates last week.

Stephen Winter Gill, 32, of Rotherfield Crescent, Brighton, pleaded guilty to five counts of falsely claiming benefits and was sentenced to five months for each offence. He was also ordered to pay £1,980 costs, £80 victim surcharge and carry out 180 hours unpaid work.

Mr Gill claimed £28,543.68 in housing benefits and £731 in council tax benefit. He said he was paying rent to his mother and needed to claim housing benefit, but the council discovered no evidence of rent being paid. Mr Gill also failed to declare changes in household income and was running a lettings agency.

During Brighton & Hove City Council’s investigation Mr Gill admitted that he had set up a tenancy agreement in order to claim housing benefit.

In two other cases Mr Alieu Marr, 40, of Farm Road, Hove, pleaded guilty to charges of claiming £29,406.38 in housing benefit and £1,234.20 in council tax benefit and to having a forged visa stamp on his passport.

Mr Marr said he was British and eligible to claim benefits in UK but his visa to remain in the country had expired in 2003. The case was referred to the Crown Court for sentencing.

Magistrates also found Lee Simpson, 46, of Stanley Street, Brighton, guilty of falsely claiming £10,952.44 in housing benefit when he was not living at the address for which he was claiming. Mr Simpson failed to attend court and a warrant was issued for his arrest.

Keep an open mind for Mental Health Awareness Week

Posted on 10/05/2014 by Besi

City Council is supporting Open Minds, a free event at the University of Sussex on Monday May 12.

The event, part of this year’s Mental Health Awareness Week runs nationally from May 12-18 and has been organised by Albion in the Community, will be hosted by the University of Sussex Students’ Union, and will reflect this year’s theme of anxiety which is one of the leading causes of mental ill-health in the world. Evidence shows that the number of cases of anxiety is growing in the UK, with 8.2 million people diagnosed in 2010.

It is the aim of Mental Health Awareness Week to raise awareness of anxiety as a public health issue and to promote ways to reduce the effects of anxiety in everyday life.

The event is open to everyone with a wide range of activities including workshops, cinema, art, and music.

Programme of events to be held at Sussex University include:

12-4pm: Wellbeing Fair information market at the Quad

12-4pm: Are You Experienced? Art Exhibition at Falmer House

12-4pm: Anti-stigma cinema: screenings by the Game Changers project at Falmer House

12-2pm: Workshops in Mindfulness, Yoga, Ultimate Frisbee and Rounders with Albion in the Community’s Wellbeing Coaches

2-4pm: Human Library – where people share their personal stories of resilience and survival in one-to-one conversations with members of the public who ‘borrow’ them. To be held in the Debating Chamber, Falmer House

4pm: Tragic Roundabout playing in the Falmer Bar

The Mental Health Foundation, is a national charity and has been running Mental Health Week for the past 14 years. The Foundation leads on mental health and learning disability providing information, carrying out research, campaigning and working to improve services for anyone affected by mental health problems, whatever their age and wherever they live.

Clare Mitchison, Public Health Specialist at Brighton & Hove City Council, said: “Everyone knows what it’s like to feel anxious, but sometimes anxiety can develop into a longer term problem; panic attacks, phobias or obsessional disorders may make normal life difficult. It is now estimated that 1 in 4 people in the UK will, at some time in their lives, struggle with mental health issues, and at any one time 1 in 6 of us will experience a mental health problem such as anxiety or depression. Events like Mental Health Week all play a vital part in raising awareness and breaking down stigma for those who need help now and in the future.”

To round off the week the Festival Fringe one day Conference for reading and wellbeing, Read for your Life will be held at the Jubilee Library on Friday, May 16. Those attending will be able to hear award winning guest speakers from literary and therapeutic backgrounds, including Clinical Psychologist Dr Warren Matofsky, and take part in a variety of workshops including an Introduction to Whole Person Recovery.

Brighton & Hove Library Services will also be promoting their popular health and wellbeing collections, Mood-boosting Books and Books on Prescription plus library based activities including Reading Groups, and Read Aloud Groups, all of which have helped to provide a sense of wellbeing to many local individuals and groups.

For more information about Brighton & Hove Library Services, CLICK HERE:

For tickets to Read for your Life on May 16 at Jubilee Library, CLICK HERE:

Or telephone the Fringe Festival Box Office: 01273 917272

Call us now

Day: May 10, 2014

Golden Handbag voting is live!

This year’s voting for the Golden Handbags went live on Wednesday (May 7) during the annual Golden Quiz at Charles Street.

Dementia Awareness Week

Alzheimers Society to hold a special Open Day Cafe at Sussex County Cricket Ground.

Subline take the first ‘Golden Handbag’ of the season

Subline are top of the class for the second year running at the Golden Quiz.

Oxford Pride announce main stage line-up

The Oxford Pride Festival is a 10-day long celebration of lesbian, gay, bi, trans and queer (LGBTQ) life in Oxfordshire with the main event in Oxpens Field on Saturday June 7.

Brighton Pride: Calabash brings diversity to Preston Park

Brighton Pride is the sum of all its glorious parts and none is more fabulous or popular each year than the Calabash area.

Moving on – the end of an era!

The team behind one of Brighton’s best-loved bars, the Marine Tavern in Broad Street will be calling last orders there for the very last time towards the end of the summer.

Labour’s Parliamentary candidates say put people’s lives first

Labour’s parliamentary candidates for Brighton and Hove urge Green Party councillors on the Fire Authority to support Labour’s fight against the proposed fire service cuts.

Benefits fraudsters found guilty in council prosecutions

A man who fraudulently claimed over £29,000 in benefits whilst running a lettings agency was handed a 10 months prison sentence, suspended for one year, by Brighton magistrates last week.

Keep an open mind for Mental Health Awareness Week

City Council is supporting Open Minds, a free event at the University of Sussex on Monday May 12.

Latest News

Call us now

This year’s voting for the Golden Handbags went live on Wednesday (May 7) during the annual Golden Quiz at Charles Street.

Share this:

Alzheimers Society to hold a special Open Day Cafe at Sussex County Cricket Ground.

Share this:

Subline are top of the class for the second year running at the Golden Quiz.

Share this:

The Oxford Pride Festival is a 10-day long celebration of lesbian, gay, bi, trans and queer (LGBTQ) life in Oxfordshire with the main event in Oxpens Field on Saturday June 7.

Share this:

Brighton Pride is the sum of all its glorious parts and none is more fabulous or popular each year than the Calabash area.

Share this:

The team behind one of Brighton’s best-loved bars, the Marine Tavern in Broad Street will be calling last orders there for the very last time towards the end of the summer.

Share this:

Labour’s parliamentary candidates for Brighton and Hove urge Green Party councillors on the Fire Authority to support Labour’s fight against the proposed fire service cuts.

Share this:

A man who fraudulently claimed over £29,000 in benefits whilst running a lettings agency was handed a 10 months prison sentence, suspended for one year, by Brighton magistrates last week.

Share this:

City Council is supporting Open Minds, a free event at the University of Sussex on Monday May 12.

Share this:

Latest News