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Manchester Pride adds host of top names to line-up

Ultra Nate: Photo by Marco Cerrone

Manchester’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT+) event The Manchester Pride Festival reveal a host of top names to wow the crowds at The Big Weekend this August bank holiday.

X Factor finalists 5 After Midnight, Pixie Lott, Ultra Nate and Katrina and the Waves will be joining artists already announced including Melanie C, Faithless and Clean Bandit during the Big Weekend.

Also added to the stellar line-up is 90s favourite N-TranceGirli, Lisa Maffia and Manchester Pride patron Heather Peace will curate Heather Peace Presents on the Sackville Gardens Boutique Stage for a third year.

Big Weekend crowd pleaser Lucy Spraggan has appeared regularly at The Big Weekend, performed at The Manchester Pride Spring Benefit and sung at the moving Candlelit Vigil, which closes every Manchester Pride Festival.

This new raft of artists will join Clean Bandit, Melanie C, X Factor winner Louisa Johnson and Saara Aalto on the main billing for the event.

The Manchester Pride Festival, which is made up of The Big Weekend, The Manchester Pride Parade and The Candlelit Vigil, is an award-winning four-day event celebrating LGBT+ life.

The event takes place in August, with this year’s The Big Weekend set to run from Friday, August 25  – Monday, August 28 with the parade on Saturday, August 26.

The Big Weekend tickets are priced at £16.50 for day tickets and children’s tickets are also available. Third release tickets will go on sale for £25.50 on June 2.

Tickets provide guests with access to the event site, including the Main Arena, Sackville Gardens Boutique Stage, the Gaydio Dance Arena and the Expo and helps Manchester Pride raise money for LGBT+, HIV charities and organisations in Greater Manchester.

For more information on The Big Weekend, click here:

 

Syria aid work ‘a piece of cake’

Thousands of volunteers make fundraising for Syria aid work a piece of cake.

Humanitarian aid agency Islamic Relief’s award-winning national Cake Campaign is once again raising funds to support aid work that saves lives and helps victims of the ongoing Syrian conflict.

The campaign, which started in 2013 and was the brainchild of a group of volunteers in Bradford, ensures that delicious chocolate fudge cakes are delivered to people’s doors during Ramadan, the month when Muslims fast from dawn to dusk.

At a cost of £10 per cake, the campaign proceeds go to Islamic Relief’s Syria Appeal.

The Cake Campaign, which is trending on social media using the hashtag #Cakes4Syria, is a volunteer-led cake delivery service.

Since 2013, more than 4,000 volunteers from across England, Scotland and Wales have delivered over 80,000 chocolate fudge cakes while fasting, raising more than £700,000 for those affected by the ongoing Syrian conflict.

Imran Madden, Director of Islamic Relief UK, said: “The horrific conflict in Syria is ongoing and millions of people within the country need emergency aid. Islamic Relief is working on the ground but we need more funding to enable us to provide life-saving supplies and medical aid to those in need.

“Cakes for Syria makes fundraising quite literally a piece of cake and we would encourage everyone to support the campaign. For just £10, everyone can enjoy a delicious chocolate fudge cake and help save lives.”

Zia Salik, National Community Fundraising and Volunteer Manager at Islamic Relief UK, added: “This is an idea that came from the grassroots, from our volunteers, and the response over the past four years has been just fantastic. The teams of volunteers across the UK have done an amazing job helping to raise over £700,000 for the world’s worst humanitarian crises. Let’s see if this year we can make a million.” 

Amer Ghani, who lives in Leeds and has been an Islamic Relief volunteer for 10 years, said: “Everyone’s life is of infinite value and the idea behind the Cake Campaign is simplicity itself – that you save a life with a piece of cake. By buying a chocolate fudge cake to share with your family, neighbours and friends, you could say that chocolate cake has life-saving properties as it raises money for Islamic Relief to provide people in Syria with the food and medicine they need so desperately.”

Since the conflict began Islamic Relief has delivered more than £185 million worth of aid inside Syria and in neighbouring countries, assisting over 6.5 million Syrians. Food packs, clothes and medical supplies have been distributed to communities under siege within Syria and displaced people along the Turkish border.

Islamic Relief is also running or supporting camps and providing livelihood programmes, education and psychosocial support for refugees in Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq.

To order a cake online (£10), click here:

Or telephone the Cake Campaign Call Centre on 01274 952 144.

BRIGHTON FRINGE REVIEW: Arr’ we there yet? Head First Acrobats

Arr’ we there yet?

Head First Acrobats

Bosco Tent

Brighton Fringe

Head First Acrobats style is defined by their unique mix of old school slapstick comedy, with new-school death-defying acrobatics. A scallywag pirate, a muscular sailor and a chef with a seafood allergy make for a hopeless crew, as they fight for the title of Captain aboard the ship. These acrobatic pirates turn ship-life upside down!

If you’ve ever seen them then you know what they do, and they’ve adapted their  impressive skills to suit both adult evening shows and this fun kids show.  Swashbuckling daftness abound with some delightful daft tango’ing with mops as they swabbing the decks, climbing the rigging on an unsupported ladder, the never-gets-dull huge metal ring work which I’ve seen four times this festival and is still utterly impressive and jumping, flipping, spinning, head standing and  strong and impressive feats of balance and gymnastics.

They  ‘click’ these lads and that level of fun and accomplishment carries across into the apparently scatter-brained daftness of the show, but like all things in the circus, nothing is quite what it seems and these boys are a smooth talented polished trio who know exactly what they are doing and engage on every level with adult and most importantly the kids to ensure everyone enjoys themselves fully.  There was plenty of fun audience participation, shouting out and interaction with the younger member of the audience.

I winced at the £2 twisted balloon cutlasses swords that the kids were queuing to get from the performers outside after the show particularly as our little one Tilly’s – popped very soon after (nothing to do with the quality of the balloon, twisting or show I hasten to add), but these Pirates are so charming you forgive them their lust for gold. As charming as they are deft their infectious energetic acts brought everyone to their feet and the young ones left thrilled by this trio of wonderfully funny, impressively fit and agile trio of young performers.

If you missed them at the fringe then you’ll get a chance to see them in their various guise at the Worthing Summer of Circus, and I would strongly recommend you get out to catch one of their shows.

For full details of their Summer of Circus show, click here:

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