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Become a Samaritans helpline volunteer

Make Blue Monday a happy Monday say Samaritans – become a volunteer!

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Samaritans in Brighton and Hove are turning what’s become known as Blue Monday on January 18 into Happy Monday, by encouraging people to become volunteers.

Cold weather, together with broken resolutions and post-Christmas credit card bills, have seen the day called the most depressing of the New Year. But, there’s no real science behind it and now Samaritans is also giving the idea the boot in favour of a more positive New Year message.

Daniel Cheesman
Daniel Cheesman

Branch Director Daniel Cheesman, said: “A new year is a great time to reflect on what you can give, and there’s no better way to do that than to volunteer.  At Samaritans we have a range of roles to suit people with different skills, from becoming a listening volunteer, helping with admin, fundraising or our IT. If you’re interested in volunteering in the community and at events, we have exciting roles too.  Our volunteers are people from all ages and backgrounds and not only do we offer expert training and support, there are plenty of social activities too.”

Every 90 minutes, someone in the UK or Ireland dies by suicide, but you don’t have to feel suicidal to call, email or text.  Samaritans is there for anyone who needs to talk, in confidence, about whatever’s getting to them.

Samaritans 21,000 volunteers respond to more than 5.3 million calls for help every year and in 2016 the charity is expecting to reach out to more people than ever.

Jo, a teacher who started volunteering at the Hove branch three years ago, said: “Finding out about volunteering with Samaritans is one of the best things I’ve done. You’re all part of a team and the training is thorough and really interesting. You’re never on your own – we all have a mentor and receive on-going training too. For me, it’s also been an opportunity for personal development – you discover things about yourself as well as gaining new skills. And being there just to listen to people who feel they have no one else to turn to is such an important thing to do. I feel I get just as much out of my volunteering with Samaritans as I put in.”

You don’t have to be suicidal to call Samaritans. Whatever you’re going through, you can call for free any time, from any phone, on 116 123 (this number will not appear on your bill), or 01273 772277 (local call charges apply).

To view the Samaritans website and find your nearest branch, click here:

If you would like to find out more about volunteering for Samaritans, you can call 03705 627 282 or email: volunteering@samaritans.org

New album and musical stage play from Andy Bell

Erasure’s Andy Bell will release his sixth solo album Torsten, The Beautiful Libertine on March 4, 2016 and will be starring in a new musical stage show based on the album in London in March.

Andy Bell

The Beautiful Libertine is the follow-up to 2014’s groundbreaking and critically acclaimed album and Edinburgh Fringe Show Torsten, The Bareback Saint.

Andy says: “Torsten seems to me like a dream that has come true. I was told the piece was especially written with me in mind and I really believe that! So many aspects of the various songs resonate with parts of my life so I know I was there / am here. There is a melancholic beauty held within the songs and I think I’ve had enough heartache and painful soul-searching to do them justice but have managed to retain a certain naïveté in spite of these experiences. Torsten bears witness to these scars.”

The character Torsten is described as a “polysexual semi-immortal”. Over time, he has had many lovers and friends who ultimately he has outlived. That he himself survives is a bittersweet truth, but it is with an increasingly melancholic emotional distance from people.

The album is an evocative exposition of the mind, mirth and mania of an ‘everyman’ who finds himself in extraordinary circumstances.

The songs effortlessly combine pop and theatricality in their lush arrangements and Andy’s voice has never been so dramatically expressive.

Andy Bell

He adds: “I love my Torsten … Even more now that he is becoming slightly unhinged…. Unraveling before our very eyes! I don’t believe that his spirit will ever be broken though; for all his lives & lovers & losses, the songs from the ‘Beautiful Libertine’ have a healing quality and a deep resonance that make you realise that he is putting everything into perspective and coping…just!”

Following the album’s release, songs from both Torsten albums will feature in the musical stage show Torsten, The Beautiful Libertine starring Andy Bell, Peter Straker and Lana Pillay at the Above The Stag Theatre in Vauxhall, London from March 2-27, 2016.

Andy Bell rose to fame in the mid-80s as the lead singer of famed synth-pop duo Erasure with Vince Clarke (Depeche Mode, Yazoo).

They are currently in their 30th Anniversary year and have, to date, sold over 20 million albums worldwide – 5 of which were No.1 in the UK; they have also had 17 Top Ten UK singles.

Personally, Andy took part in several charity recordings – many supporting AIDS related projects – and sang the role of Montresor in the opera The Fall of the House of Usher in 1991.

He released his first solo album Electric Blue in 2005, followed by a second, Non-Stop, in 2010. A collaboration with dance duo Shelter resulted in the album iPop being released in 2014.

Andy was one of the headline acts of the Edinburgh International Fringe Festival in 2014 with his critically acclaimed one-man show Torsten, The Bareback Saint.

Flamboyant dance-pop icon Bell is openly gay and publicly announced being HIV positive in 1998.

To pre order the album, click here:

PREVIEW: ‘War Horse’ comes to Brighton Centre in 2018

 

The National Theatre’s acclaimed production of War Horse, begins a major tour of the UK on September 15 2017 at the Marlowe Theatre in Canterbury, and comes to the Brighton Centre from January 25 – February 10, 2018.

War Horse

The National Tour also includes runs in Bristol, Liverpool, Oxford, Bradford and Nottingham. Tickets go on sale at each venue on February 8, 2016.

The tour coincides with the Centenary commemorations of the end of the First World War and follows the production’s enormously successful tour of the UK and Ireland in 2013-2014.

War Horse, has been seen by over seven million people worldwide, and will complete its record-breaking eight year London run at the New London Theatre on March 12, 2016.

It has won 25 awards including the Tony Award for Best Play on Broadway.

WAR HORSE

Directed by Marianne Elliott and Tom Morris, Nick Stafford’s adaptation of Michael Morpurgo’s remarkable story of courage, loyalty, and friendship, is about a young boy called Albert and his horse Joey, is set against the backdrop of the First World War and is the most successful play in the National Theatre’s history.

It features ground-breaking puppetry work by South Africa’s Handspring Puppet Company, which brings breathing, galloping horses to life on stage.

War Horse received its world premiere on October 9, 2007 at the National Theatre, where it played for two seasons before opening at the New London Theatre in March 2009.

Since then, it has has been seen in 97 cities in 10 countries, including productions on Broadway, in Toronto and Berlin, with touring productions in the UK and Ireland, North America, the Netherlands and Belgium.  A Chinese-language production opened in Beijing last year, and is currently running in Shanghai.

WAR HORSE

Author Michael Morpurgo, said: “After a few months rest, out at pasture, Joey, the War Horse and his great team from the National Theatre, will be touring the UK again, from 2017 through to 2018 and the centenary of the end of the First World War, taking their show all over the country, to towns and cities, many of them places War Horse has not been seen before.  I am so pleased this is happening; that so many more people will have the chance to enjoy this unique theatrical event. Steady boy, steady Joey. Trot on!”

War Horse is directed by Marianne Elliott and Tom Morris, designed by Rae Smith, with puppet direction, design and fabrication by Basil Jones and Adrian Kohler for Handspring Puppet Company, lighting by Paule Constable, and movement and horse choreography by Toby Sedgwick, with video design by Leo Warner and Mark Grimmer for 59 Productions, song maker John Tams, music by Adrian Sutton and sound by Christopher Shutt.

War Horse is produced on tour by the National Theatre.

 

WAR HORSE

War Horse National Tour Schedule:

September 15 – October 14, 2017: Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury                           October 18 – November 11, 2017: Bristol Hippodrome                                               November 15 – December 2, 2017: Empire Theatre, Liverpool                               December 13, 2017 – January 6, 2018: New Theatre, Oxford                                 January 25 – February 10, 2018: Brighton Centre                                                         February 14 – March 10, 2018: Bradford Alhambra                                                   March 14 – April 7, 2018: Nottingham Concert Hall       

For more information, click here:

English Disco Lovers to raise money for homeless

Get ready for the Alternative Valentine’s Ball!

English Disco Lovers

English Disco Lovers (EDL) bring the Alternative Valentine’s Ball to The Tempest Inn, Kings Road on Saturday, February 13.

In their first fundraising party of the year EDL will be raising money for Brighton and Hove Housing Trust’s First Base Day Centre which offers a range of much-needed front line services to support over a thousand people who are sleeping rough or are insecurely housed in Brighton & Hove.

The stunning Glitter Crew will be ready to make your night beautiful for a donation to their cause; check the glitter station, and give a donation!

The EDL dance crew will be on hand, checking your moves, knocking your socks off and they will have their Disco King and Queen in attendance!

Two sound systems will be in effect on the night; upstairs will be rockin’ the big block party disco, funk and classic house tunes that you know and love, and downstairs they’re going slower and smoochier on a Valentine’s tip (but nothing too yukky!) as they do their own unique take on Valentine’s until the wee small hours.

Tickets are just £8 (+booking fee) in advance on DesignMyNight.com, Resident Records and direct from The Tempest Inn (no booking fee there!)

EDL are raising funds for Brighton and Hove Housing Trust’s First Base Day Centre which offers a range of much-needed front line services to support over a thousand people who are sleeping rough or insecurely housed in Brighton & Hove: full info here


Event: English Disco Lovers Alternative Valentine’s Ball!

Where: The Tempest Inn, 159-161 King’s Rd, Brighton BN1 1NB

When: Saturday, February 13

Time: 9pm – 3am

Cost: Advanced tickets £8

To book tickets online, click here:

For more information about EDL, click here:

Are you looking for perfect eyebrows?

If the eyes are the window into someone’s soul, then your eyebrows are the window frame.

Bella Vou

Is it any surprise that we go to so much effort to ensure our eyebrows look perfect?Are you someone who has been trying to bulk up those thin striped brows; using eyebrow pencils, eyebrow extensions or eyebrow tattoos?

Well STOP and think is all that effort really worth it? If your eyebrows are damaged from a lifetime of tweezing, there is now a way to restore them in 1 simple Eyebrow Restoration procedure.  We spoke to

Amir Nakhdjevani, chief surgeon at Bella Vou Cosmetic Clinic said: “Eyebrow Restoration is ideal for anyone looking for a permanent solution for perfect eyebrows, or those who have damaged their eyebrows. Most of my patients have lost the shape of their eyebrows as a result of over plucking or old age.”

Who needs eyebrow restoration?

♦     Old age

♦     Facial burns / injuries

♦     Overplucking

♦     Genetic conditions

♦     People who have undergone medical treatments

Your brows can either give you the confidence you deserve, or could leave you wanting to curl up and cry. If you have the misfortune of little or no brows, then eyebrow restoration will enhance your looks by framing your face.

Benefits of Eyebrow Restoration:

♦     Natural Looking results

♦     Personalised style

♦     Improved self confidence

♦     Permanent freedom from constant brow grooming

♦     Minimal Signs of surgery

If you are tired of grooming your brows, and are looking for a long term, natural solution then eyebrow restoration is for you.

Hair Transplantation specialists, such as those at Bella Vou are fully trained in solving permanent hair loss. So, if you are someone wanting to get perfect brows, then Bella Vou can provide you with this unique cosmetic procedure, only being carried out by a handful of cosmetic surgeons.

For  more information about eyebrow restoration with Bella Vou’s team of experienced cosmetic professionals, click here: 

Equality groups welcome Government’s trans report

National equality organisations north and south of the border welcome publication of government’s transgender equality report.

WEB.500The report produced by the House of Commons Women and Equalities committee makes over 30 recommendations for improving equality for transgender people identifying among other matters that the wait for NHS treatment is too slow and that social attitudes mean that trans people still have to battle to be accepted.

James Morton
James Morton

James Morton, Scottish Transgender Alliance Manager, said: “We welcome the publication of this important report. For many years we have been raising concerns about the gaps in legal protections for trans people and the discrimination they experience. We are delighted the report recommends that the Gender Recognition Act must be reformed to a self-declaration administrative process. This would enable trans people to change their birth certificates without the current red-tape nightmare of submitting intrusive medical and psychiatric reports and years of personal documents to a judicial tribunal panel. We call for the Scottish Parliament to lead the way in legislating on this devolved issue.

“We are also very pleased the report recommends reforming the Equality Act protected characteristic from the narrow term of ‘gender reassignment’ to the more inclusive term ‘gender identity’. It is vital that all transgender people receive full protection from discrimination in employment and service provision. The Equality Act is reserved legislation so this change needs to be achieved at Westminster.

“The report marks the first time any Westminster Committee has acknowledged the importance of addressing the needs of non-binary trans people who do not identify simply as men or as women. The recommendation to provide people with the option to record their gender as ‘X’ rather than ‘M’ or ‘F’ on their passport is a very positive first step forward but it is not the only action needed. We look forward to engaging in detail with both the Scottish and UK Parliaments to increase their understanding of the need to fully legally recognise and respect the identities of non-binary trans people.”

Emma Ritch
Emma Ritch

Emma Ritch, Director of Engender, Scotland’s national feminist organisation, added: “Engender welcomes the publication of this report. As a feminist organisation we strongly believe that progressing transgender equality is a vital part of realising women’s equality.”

 

Jackie Driver
Jackie Driver

Jackie Driver, Lead Director for LGBT issues at the Equality and Human Rights Commission, said: “We welcome today’s landmark report on transgender equality.  Despite the marked progress that has been made towards achieving equality for trans people, prejudice and barriers still remain.  Many of the report’s recommendations reflect issues highlighted in our recent equality and human rights review Is Britain Fairer? This found significant gaps in data relating to the lives of transgender people, meaning that the issues they face risk being invisible.

“Research shows that trans people can be targeted for hate crimes up to 50 times a year, with only 3 in 10 reporting the incidents. We’ve been working with 35 LGB and T organisations across the country to tackle the under-reporting and improve how criminal justice agencies respond to these crimes.

“The importance of a strong, comprehensive and coherent strategy to lever progress on the issues facing trans people cannot be under-estimated and we agree with the report’s conclusion that the trans community should be fully consulted, including in the development of a new hate crime action plan. We look forward to working with the Committee, Government and the trans community to make progress on the issues identified in this report as a matter of urgency.”

LGBT+ Liberal Democrats the official LGBT organisation for LGBT+ Liberal Democracts welcomed the “continued progress” towards equality for trans and non-binary people, but cautioned that further work remains to be done to ensure the proposals are fully implemented.

Adrian Hyyrylainen-Trett
Adrian Hyyrylainen-Trett

LGBT+ Liberal Democrats Chair Adrian Hyyrylainen-Trett, said: “I welcome the commitment to review and continue the excellent work started out by LibDem former Minister Baroness Lynne Featherstone in her time as Minister for Equalities. We must not be complacent however, as much work remains to ensure the government acts on the recommendations of the report.

“Many of the proposed reforms in the report are topics that Liberal Democrats have campaigned on for many years, including allowing “X” Gender Markers on passports and removing medical obstacles when obtaining Legal Gender Recognition. I hope that the government can also extend the work done here and look further at the issues affecting non-binary and intersex people.”

Zoe O'Connell
Zoe O’Connell

Trans former parliamentary candidate Zoe O’Connell added: “Today’s report is another step closer to equality for trans people, and I hope that the government will act swiftly both to resolve the breaches of the NHS’s legal obligations on waiting times and to bring forward legislation on other issues without undue delay. I am however disappointed that the committee has remained timid in a number of areas, in particular failing to fully recognise the harms caused by the Spousal Veto and not endorsing the more progressive informed consent model of treatment.

“LGBT+ Liberal Democrats will continue to campaign for reform in these and other areas, in line with party policy.”

To read a full copy of the report, click here:

 

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