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Brighton beach alert!

Hard-hitting series of films highlight dangers of Brighton & Hove beaches.

Brighton Beach

Brighton & Hove City Council have released the first in a series of short films they have commissioned to highlight the most common dangers on Brighton and Hove beaches ahead of the city’s busy summer period.

The hard-hitting films tackle the three most common causes and target ‘high risk’ groups identified by the Council’s seafront team.

Those are people getting into trouble after consuming drink or drugs; playing games such as ‘chicken’ to dare friends to jump into the water as well as small children whose parents may not appreciate how quickly children or toddlers can get dragged under water.

The short films have been produced following three deaths so far this year on the city’s beaches.

The city’s beaches are very different from others along the British coast as they have steep shingle that makes entering and exiting hazardous.

Brighton & Hove’s coastline is also exposed to wind and waves from the southeast, south and south-west, and this can create extremely dangerous wave conditions on the shoreline.

When this is combined with steep shingle banks, those close to the water’s edge are in danger of being swept out into powerful sea conditions, with little chance of making it back onto dry land.

The films employ different styles from glossy advertising quality film, mobile phone footage to action GoPro style to appeal to separate audience groups.

Targeted at a wide YouTube audience, it’s hoped that each video will be shared using Facebook, Twitter and other social media.

The films aim to educate those identified by the city’s seafront team as being ‘high risk’ groups.

Those groups are:

  1. Toddlers to 10-year-old, that have no knowledge of the dangers, but have a fascination with the sea and beach environment. If these children are not well supervised by parents/carers they can soon wander close to the water’s edge and be swept out by the most innocent of waves. This film aims to alert parents/carers to remain close to, and supervise their children at all times
  2. Groups of kids / teenagers that play chicken with the sea during periods of large waves and strong winds. The fun and thrill can turn to tragedy within seconds.
  3. Day and night-time drinkers approximately 18 -25 years old. The mix of alcohol and sea swimming is the most deadly of cocktails with cold water acting as a shock to the system. The shock can be the precursor to drowning. Anything below 15oC is defined as cold water and can seriously affect your breathing and movement.

Brighton’s reputation as a party city along with day and night-time drinking also creates the additional hazard of seafront users entering the water after consuming alcohol. This is one of the biggest factors when looking at drowning incidents across the UK, especially within the male age group from 18 – 25 years old.

Cllr Alan Robins
Cllr Alan Robins

Brighton & Hove City Council Culture Committee deputy chair Alan Robins, said: “Every death is a tragedy so it’s right that we do everything we can to educate those high risk groups about the dangers of our beaches.  We have beaches that have lifeguards during key times but it’s not possible to cover every inch around the clock all year round so we have to take a more proactive approach.

“We have to communicate with people where they get their information and entertainment so these films are hard-hitting and distributed through YouTube so we hope people will share them across Facebook and Twitter.

“Brighton & Hove has an enviable reputation as a seaside resort loved by millions each year. Whether it’s a local young resident, a visiting hen or stag party or a family with toddlers visiting on a bank holiday from London, we want everyone to have a fantastic and safe time on our beaches.”

The films were commissioned by the Brighton & Hove City Council’s public health team and produced by local independent filmmaker See That.

To watch the video, click here:

 

PREVIEW: Judy: The Songbook of Judy Garland

An all-star cast joins Judy Garland’s daughter, Lorna Luft in this remarkable tribute to a true legend.

Lorna Luft

JUDY Garland dominated stage and screen for five decades, boasting critically acclaimed performances in A Star is Born and The Wizard of Oz as well as a renowned film partnership with Mickey Rooney in the golden age of MGM.

Judy remains the youngest recipient of the Cecil B DeMille award for Lifetime Achievement in Motion Pictures and was posthumously awarded a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.  In 1999, the American Film Institute placed her in the 10 Greatest Female Stars in the history of American Cinema.

Now, by arrangement with the Judy Garland Estate, and with the official blessing of her family, you will be taken on a magical journey through the songs that established Judy Garland as show business royalty.

Ray Quinn
Ray Quinn

The Songbook of Judy Garland is led by Judy’s daughter Lorna Luft who will be joined by West End musical theatre stars Louise Dearman (Wicked, Evita) and Ray Quinn (Legally Blonde, Dirty Dancing).

The show includes never before seen film clips and interviews together with irresistible classic hit songs such as Meet Me in St Louis,Easter Parade, Over The Rainbow, Get Happy, Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart, The Man That Got Away, The Trolley Song, Rock-A-Bye-Your-Baby and The Trolley Song.

Creative director for the show is the renowned choreographer Arlene Phillips, well-known until recently as a judge on Strictly Come Dancing.


Event: Judy – The Songbook of Judy Garland

Where: Theatre Royal, New Road, Brighton

When: Tuesday, July 7 – Saturday, July 11

Time: 7.45pm Thursday and Saturday mats at 2.30pm

Tickets: £12.90 -£38.90 (£2.85 transaction fee).

To book tickets online, click here:

 

Help to stop the scammers!

Council launches campaign to encourage residents to expose scams and stop more people from falling prey to clever cons that fleece them of thousands of pounds.

Brighton & Hove City CouncilBrighton & Hove City Council’s Trading Standards team and the Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) are supporting the national campaign, launched to mark Scams Awareness Month and highlight how scams flourish when people stay silent.

With less than 5% of victims reporting scams to the authorities, Trading Standards and CAB staff are encouraging residents to report suspicious activities, get advice if they think they’ve been conned, and warn others to help stop scams from spreading.

The Scams Awareness Month campaign is asking people to keep two things in mind when they receive an unsolicited approach or when they are looking for goods or services: don’t be rushed and don’t be hushed. People are advised to take their time to make a decision and get their facts together before parting with their money or personal information, and speak out when they think they’ve spotted a scam.

Cllr Gill Mitchell
Cllr Gill Mitchell

Cllr Gill Mitchell, chair of Brighton & Hove City Council’s Environment, Transport and Sustainability Committee, said: “The fraudsters behind these scams are targeting and exploiting some of the most vulnerable and needy people in our society.

“The single most powerful weapon we have in preventing these scams is better public awareness, therefore I hope this campaign is successful in spreading the messages around scams and preventing more people from falling victim to them.”

Top tips for avoiding scams:

♦      If it sounds too good to be true it probably is

♦      If you haven’t bought a ticket – you can’t win it

♦      You shouldn’t have to pay anything to get a prize

♦      If in doubt, don’t reply. Bin it, delete it or hang up

♦     Contacted out of the blue? – be suspicious

♦      Don’t be rushed – resist pressure to make a decision straight away

♦      Never send money to someone you have never met

♦      Walk away from job ads that ask for money in advance

♦      Your bank will never attend your home to collect cash, your pin, payment card or chequebook if you are a victim of fraud

♦      Your bank will never phone you to ask for your PIN or your online banking password

♦      Your bank will never ask you to transfer money to a new account for fraud reasons

♦      Suspect a phone scam? Hang up, wait five minutes to clear the line or use another phone to call your bank

♦      Genuine computer firms do not make unsolicited phone calls to help you fix your computer

♦      Don’t suffer in silence – speak out about scams

Scams to watch out for:

♦ Pensions scams – Phrases such as “one-off investment opportunities”, “free pension reviews”, “legal loopholes”, “cash bonus”, “up-front cash sum”, “government endorsement”, “pension liberation,” are commonly used in pension scams.

The initial approach is often an out-of-the-blue phone call, text or email or even sometimes a doorstep caller. Or it could be via an imitation website. Scammers may offer early access to pension pots for people aged under 55 even though this is only possible in exceptional circumstances.

♦ Online shopping and auction scams – Internet shoppers get lured into buying phantom cars, mobile phones, pets or anything else you can buy online. Scammers use a range of tricks including bogus websites, spoofed payment services and “second chance offers” tempting losing bidders with bogus opportunities.

Online property market places are also infiltrated by scammers harvesting legitimate property details and posing as landlords.

♦ Investment fraud – Also called “boiler room” scams because of the high pressure sales technique employed. Shares remain the most common product offered, but they also ask for investment in carbon credits, land, and rare earth metals.

♦ Dating scams – Using online dating websites scammers groom victims into long-distance relationships using emails, instant messaging, texting and phone calls. Once they are confident of the victim’s trust, scammers will tell them about a problem they are experiencing and ask for financial help.

♦ Software scams – Fraudsters often use the names of well-known companies to commit their crime as it gives a mask of legitimacy to their cruel schemes. Methods include asking for credit card details to “validate” copies of operating systems, stealing personal information, and installing malware before charging to remove it.

♦ Courier scams (a form of vishing) – Where people receive unsolicited telephone calls from scammers posing as police or their bank warning of a fraudulent payment on their card or that their card is due to expire. The fraudster will then attend the person’s address or send an innocent courier company driver to collect the card and sometimes provide them with a “replacement” fake card.

What to do if you have been scammed:

♦ Report it to Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040 to help stop it happening to others.

♦ Often you can’t always get your money back if you’ve been scammed, especially if you’ve handed over cash.

♦ If you’ve paid for goods or services by credit card you have more protection and if you used a debit card you may be able to ask your bank for a chargeback.

♦ Get advice and report it to Trading Standards through the Citizens Advice consumer service on 03454 04 05 06 (for advice in Welsh phone 03454 04 05 05)

For online advice, click here: 

Newcastle expects £8M boost from Northern Pride

One of the UK’s largest free LGBT festivals is expected to boost the North East economy by more than £8m this summer.

Belinda Carlisle
Belinda Carlisle

Newcastle Pride, now in its eighth year, will return to the city’s Town Moor for three days of live entertainment from Friday July 17.

The event, which is also celebrating 45 years of world Pride, contributed around £7.9m to the economy in 2014, attracting a record 65,000 visitors. Organisers are expecting an even bigger turn out later this month.

Mark Nichols
Mark Nichols

Mark Nichols, Chair of Northern Pride who organise the annual event, said: “Last year was the biggest in Newcastle Pride history.” 

“It’s hard to determine exactly how much attendance will grow this time around because entry is primarily free but we’re hoping for an increase of around 10 per cent.

“We’ve already sold the majority of the paid for VIP and Golden Circle passes for 2015, which allow festival goers to get closer to the action, so we may even exceed this target.”

Among those expected to benefit most from Newcastle Pride 2015 are the city’s leisure operators, including The Vermont Hotel, the Copthorne Hotel and Thistle Hotel Newcastle City Centre, who are already reporting close to maximum occupancy.

Restaurants, pubs and bars, in and around the city centre, will also benefit with Pride’s line up of live entertainment finishing in the early evening on all three days.

Event sponsor, Stephen Patterson, Director of Communications for Newcastle’s Business Improvement District, NE1, said: “We’ve already heard from people as far afield as Inverness, Brighton and Bristol who are planning on travelling to Newcastle Pride 2015.

“It stands to reason then that business will be boosted for all our accommodation providers throughout the weekend, as well for the wide range of leisure, travel and other operators who help cater for this huge influx of visitors every year.

“Newcastle Pride is an amazing event for Newcastle, the wider North East and we’re proud to be involved.”

Newcastle Pride 2015 will run at the city’s Town Moor from Friday July 17 to Sunday July 19, offering live music and entertainment for all ages including headline performances by girl band B*Witched and 80s star Belinda Carlisle on Saturday and Sunday respectively, as well as a parade from Newcastle civic centre, a candlelit vigil and themed areas, such as the family zone, which will be open throughout the weekend.

There are also a number of satellite events taking place in the days before the main event.

For full listings, click here:

Search Northern Pride on Facebook or Twitter.

B*Witched
B*Witched

MUSIC REVIEW: T’Pau live at Royal Vauxhall Tavern

Whenever You Need Me, I Will Be With You: T’Pau Live at The Royal Vauxhall Tavern; Friday, July 3, 2015.

Carol Decker
Carol Decker

T’Pau, fronted by the formidable Carol Decker are a band enjoying something of a renaissance since a successful 25th Anniversary Tour in 2013. Their return to the touring arena has not least of all revealed something of an LGBT following, cemented by this one-off acoustic show at The Royal Vauxhall Tavern (RVT).

Packing out a venue with no real outside space during the warmest July recorded is no mean feat as the gays can be a picky bunch, but rammed to the rafters the RVT was and Ms. Decker et al kicked off with the ballsy Secret Garden, reminding an appreciative crowd “I wrote this about the transgender community nearly 30 years ago” delivered with such confident panache as if to say “listen bitches, I’ve always had your gender bending back”.

All studio trickery unplugged, the gig was a perfect mix of career staples from the multi-platinum selling Bridge of Spies, and a handful of tracks from the 2015 release Pleasure & Pain with an unexpected Hotel California thrown in, which audience considered, appeared in itself to be a nod to recent developments in the U.S. “plenty of room at the hotel California”. The crowd lapped it up, old hits and new cuts alike and as the latest release Read My Mind was received with deafening appreciation, La Decker reminded her early ‘90’s detractors what they had missed: “When you can pull it back to just voice and guitar, that’s the sign of a great song!” if Ms Decker ever did doubt her own staying power, the opposite was on show tonight.

Live performance has always been T’Pau’s strength and although Decker holds her crowd with such effortless polish through every note, click and theatrical wink, she’s backed by a cracking line up which includes her original composing partner and founding member Ron Rogers. Valentine and I Will Be With You showcased the harmonising vocal talents of all five musicians on stage, and anthemic set closers Heart & Soul and China In Your Hand remind us all why we were captivated first time around.

With a remastered and repackaged multi disc re-issue of Bridge of Spies due out later this year, we can only gawp in admired agreement during the final cry of Monkey House: “Now you’re gonna listen to the things we say!” Yes Carol, there is more to this feeling, we’re all eyes and ears.

T’Pau play The Jazz Café, Camden on July 25, and tour the UK with Go West and Nick Kershaw, October through December.

For more information about dates, click here:

@craigscontinuum

@caroldecker

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