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Day: July 10, 2014

Stonewall Garden takes gold prize at Hampton Court Palace Flower Show

Posted on by Besi

Christopher Biggins helps garden designers celebrate Gold Prize award.

Stonewall

Designers Amanda Miller and Emma Harvey were joined by Christopher Biggins this week to unveil their Pride themed garden at the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show.

The display has been created to support Stonewall’s work and raise awareness of equality for LGBT people.

The Stonewall Garden was unveiled to critical acclaim as Flower Show judges awarded the designers a gold prize for their vision of celebrating Pride and LGBT equality.

The Hampton Court Palace Flower Show, run by the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), is the largest flower show in the world.

The show features spectacular gardens and displays from participants from all over the world. The Stonewall Garden features in the prominent ‘Inspire’ area of the Flower Show where more than 300,000 visitors are expected throughout the week.

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Amanda Miller, Christopher Biggins and Emma Harvey

The garden has been inspired by the designers own experiences and the difficulties that she faced growing up as a lesbian in a small country town. The garden shows visitors how breaking down the wall of ignorance – in the form of homophobia, biphobia and transphobia – reveals a Pride we can all celebrate.

Catherine Bosworth
Catherine Bosworth

Stonewall’s Director of Fundraising Catherine Bosworth, said: “At Stonewall we’re always keen to get involved with new events and projects. This is definitely a first for Stonewall and it’s inspiring to see people wanting to support our work in different ways. The Stonewall Garden will be seen by thousands of people this week – many of whom won’t have been engaged with our work before. We hope it can be a great way to raise awareness of the need to stamp out prejudice and homophobia.”

Amanda Miller added: “We were so excited to be able to support Stonewall and their work. The fact that we received a Gold award for the garden is such an incredible honour. We’ve worked so hard to bring this concept to life and we hope that the thousands of visitors will enjoy the work and be inspired to get involved and support Stonewall.”

For full details of the RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show, CLICK HERE:

For details of the Stonewall Garden, CLICK HERE:   

For details of Amanda Miller Designs, CLICK HERE:

 

American Express® announced as an official partner of Brighton and Hove Pride 2014

Posted on by Besi

American Express®, the City’s largest private sector employer, has signed up as an Official Partner for Brighton Pride 2014.

American Express

Financial support provided by American Express and other partners contributes towards helping Brighton Pride meet their production budget and running costs.

Brighton Pride, a CIC company, donate £1 a head for each ticket sold for Pride to the Rainbow Fund to distribute through their independent grants programme to LGBT/HIV organisations who provide effective front line services to the LGBT Community in Brighton and Hove.

Last year’s Pride event raised over £43,000 for the Rainbow Fund.

Beneficiaries of those grants included: Allsorts Youth Project, Lunch Positive, Peer Action, LGBT Community Safety Forum, MindOut, Peer Action, Gay Elderley Men’s Project (GEMS), Older and Out, the Clare Project, Sussex Beacon and Brighton and Hove LGBT Switchboard.

As in previous years, American Express will be entering a float in the LGBT Community Pride Parade themed ‘The World’s A Disco’. American Express employees including members of Pride UK (American Express LGBT employee network) will be on board, to join in the celebrations.

As part of this new partnership agreement for 2014, American Express has been working with Brighton Pride CIC to introduce electronic payments at the Pride Festival for the first time. Participants will be now be able to pay for tickets on the day and food and drink with credit and debit cards.

Mike Whyte, Vice President, Merchant Services American Express said: “We are immensely proud to be supporting the invaluable work Pride does in raising awareness and funds for the LGBT community. At American Express we encourage people from all backgrounds, talents and perspectives to thrive. Our employees, including Pride UK members will be participating in the Parade and lining the route with family members and friends, alongside tens of thousands of people from across Sussex, to show support for equality and to celebrate diversity.”

Paul Kemp
Paul Kemp

Paul Kemp, Director of Brighton Pride CIC, added: “American Express has been involved in the Pride Parade for several years, but the increased backing we’re now receiving from partners will help us beat the fundraising target we achieved last year. With the introduction of electronic payments, we’re also going to be able to provide a more pleasurable experience to Festival goers as they’ll have a number of payment options rather than just cash.”

American Express®  proudly supports the LGBT community. The financial services company is a Stonewall 2014 Workplace Equality Index Top 100 Employer and has been the City’s major supporter of Stonewall’s Brighton Equality Walk since 2007.

The American Express LGBT Pride employee network also operates a mentoring scheme with the University of Brighton Careers Service. The six month scheme pairs up students who identify as LGBT with professionals from American Express, to share their experience, build confidence and develop skills that can enhance future career prospects.

Brighton Pride takes place over the weekend of August 2-3, 2014.

For tickets to Pride 2014, to register for an e-newsletter or to make a donation visit, CLICK HERE:

 

 

Hove MP backs bone marrow campaign

Posted on by Sarah Green

Mike Weatherley, Conservative MP for Hove and Portslade, backs the Anthony Nolan campaign to raise awareness about bone marrow donation.

Mike Weatherley, MP
Mike Weatherley, MP

The UK blood cancer charity Anthony Nolan saves the lives of people with blood cancer by matching people who are willing to donate their bone marrow or stem cells to patients in desperate need of a transplant.

Anthony Nolan also do vital research to make stem cell transplants as successful as possible.

Mike is delighted to support the campaign to raise awareness of Anthony Nolan’s search for more bone marrow donors after being contacted by his constituents. Mike has pledged to support the campaign on social media and in Hove and Portslade. Despite almost half a million people on the bone marrow register, Anthony Nolan urgently needs to increase the size and diversity of potential donors.

Mark Worrall, who received stem cells from donor Audrey, commented: “Joining a donor register is a profound act and I will be forever grateful and indebted to Audrey that she took the decision to do so. I will never be able to express my gratitude enough, she saved my life and in doing so gave me the opportunity to see my wonderful family grow and enjoy all that life offers.”

Mike Weatherley, said: “I am pleased that the Government is committed to increasing the pool of stem cell donors nationally and was very happy to help raise awareness of the Anthony Nolan campaign to recruit more bone marrow donors. I would encourage any residents who are interested in joining the register to get in touch directly with the charity.”

 

For more information on joining the register, CLICK HERE:

 

 

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