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.
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:
Pride and Brighton & Hove Buses unveil their new Diversity Bus for 2017 – the latest incarnation of the Pride Festival Bus.
The Diversity Bus has been designed to promote and celebrate diversity in all the city’s communities.
Martin Harris
Managing Director Martin Harris, said:“The Diversity Bus not only celebrates Pride and everything it stands for but is a symbol of our broader support for diversity and inclusion in general.
“We have a long history of supporting diversity across sexual orientation, gender race and ethnicity, improving services for disabled people, and welcoming refugees.
“Just days after the terrible events in Manchester, we want to stand side by side with those who work to heal divisions in our society and to support those that are vulnerable in our communities. And to stand by those who oppose hate.
“We’re delighted once again to be launching the bus alongside our Pride partners and hope it can help to promote, support and celebrate the fantastic Pride festival.”
Paul Kemp
Paul Kemp, Director of Brighton Pride, added:“We are thrilled Brighton & Hove Buses has rejoined other prominent city businesses to support Pride in our city in this our 27th year. This is an ongoing relationship that includes a dedicated bus and shuttle service from the Pride campsite as well as exciting all-year-round promotional activity with the Pride Diversity bus.”
The bus carries messages of love and celebration and the simple but powerful message #moreincommon, set up in the aftermath of MP Jo Cox’s tragic murder a year ago to demonstrate how much more we all have in common than that which divides us.
The bus has been named in memory of local drag artist Phil Starr who performed on stages across the world for more than 50 years and also raised thousands of pounds for charity. Phil lived his final years in Brighton and was a great supporter of the annual Pride event in Brighton and Hove when he was alive.
La Voix is a woman on a mission – To bring back the glamour! In this high octane show, she took us on a journey exposing, analysing and satirically delivering an evening of Judy Garland, Liza Minnelli, Shirley Bassey, Cher and many more! She delivered dazzlingly precise sound-alike performances along with laughter and the chance to be up close with La Voix herself. It was an evening of divas & spontaneity.
With new ventures taking La V out there, in the arts festival circuit this was a new move, with some seriously tongue in cheek acknowledgments of the (same) old material. The house was packed full of fans, who knew what they wanted, and weren’t disappointed. With a fan base of older gay men Brighton is a easy show to fill and folk were thrilled. There were more than a few local Drag legends sitting amongst the crowd and what bigger compliment is there than the Grand Dames of Drag sitting down to watch you shine.
La Voix does superbly funny, spot on, cruel and highly entertaining songs, impersonating famous torch singers from the gay word and a few others, I adored liked the way La V blends new songs with old voices and I suspect with some new characters, from a new crop of singers, her act would flourish. There’s no doubt this dame can sing!
Costumes, clowning, singing, songs all top notch, although you’d need to be over 40 and gay to know some of the singers, but with a few off the cuff lines La Voix is aware of this. The crowd loves her regardless and I’ve always been a huge fan of an ability to engage, and motivate an audience leaving them (us) feeling we’ve been part of something, that we’ve done something, that something special had happened that night. It’s a massive strength of this act. Oddly enough other than a heavily ironic encore she chose not to train us up but on command the house rose to its feet for the last song. There’s not many performers who can make a British audience do exactly what they want, on command, La Voix impresses on this front.
There is no doubt that La Voix is a superb entertainer and this shift from gay bar to arts festival/cabaret circuit is always a difficult one for a (drag) performer to do; to keep your core audience you need to do the stuff they like, but to attract a new audience, you need new material, often relevant and topical.
I thought the constant butt of jokes being focused on lesbians and their sex life or hairiness a little tiresome and reflected more the development of this act in gay mostly male pubs and clubs than perhaps the heart of her humour, which is solidly about engagement and audience participation. (If i hadn’t been reviewing I’d have heckled about it). Again, (sigh) it’s transgender, not transsexual and I suspect inserting the word ‘Mormon’ or ‘Dentist’ might work in those jokes (try it…) just as well at getting a laugh as constantly referring to ‘the transsexual’s’ etc’s to get a snort or laugh. Show a bit of respect when you’re in someones town Chris, ta.
The last time I saw La Voix in a gay bar at midnight in Birmingham they were sensational, and I’m not a fan of drag, there was not a hint of puerile borderline misogynistic lesbian jokes, no transsexual sniggering, just pure, slightly threatening full-on manic entertainment, utterly entertaining on every level so I was surprised by the content of some of the material last night. However dumping some jokes is as easy way to improve a show which otherwise shone with the glamour, exhaustive energy and full on charm that this performer throws out in megawatts when they are on stage.
With a touch more polish, La Voix can own these festival circuses and circuits, keeping the candid ‘Northern blunt charm’ and continue to impress, engage and most of all, entertain a mixed audience with their astonishing talent; a talent rooted in singing, physical comedy and that ever so slightly threatening megawatt charm turning and focusing on you..…
You go girl, we need inclusive, superb LGBT entertainers all we can, but leave the dodgy Dyke jokes behind, as Cher sings… you don’t need it anymore….
Books, plays and films about the life and death of the brilliant code-breaker Alan Turing are many and varied.
This is the second musical on his life which I have seen in recent years , and as it’s 50 years since homosexuality was decriminalised, it’s a timely re-visit to the subject matter.
This is a very bold and brave musical offering by Jane Bramwell and Michael Brand and presented by Oxford Music Theatre. They base the structure and content on a Passion and so there are detailed parallels between the life, sacrifice, death and even resurrection of Christ and of Turing. Both are betrayed, both punished by the State for the wrong kind of love and both vindicated – in Turing’s case with a posthumous Royal Pardon.
The parallels are at times strained and although this production is staged in a fantastic Gothic Victorian church – St Mary’s Kemptown, it doesn’t quite work for me.
In fact the physical setting is at times very problematic from an audibility point as the head mics often fight against the soaring architecture and natural acoustic of the church itself.
That said, there are stunning performances all round and the solo songs are both emotionally powerful and tuneful. By and large the women in the show have the best numbers, though Jamie Sheasby as Turing has an incredibly moving and powerful title song Guilty of Love which he makes into a theatrical tour de force.
Sheasby is brilliant as the frenetic, emotionally immature genius whose discovery took 2 years off the length of the war with Germany. He exudes boundless energy, complex feelings and the inner torture of the man with great warmth and pathos.
But the whole cast all deserve big bouquets for their dedication to the material.
With recorded soundtrack and live keyboards, the show is very ably supported by the local Resound Male Voices. Their singing is clear, lively and they steer themselves through some very tricky musical moments with obvious commitment to the subject matter.
There is certainly a great show in the making here and some further tightening and editing could lead to great things for it. The music certainly deserves to be recorded and there is a crowd-funding appeal going on to do just that.
Guilty of Love runs again tonight, June 2 at St Mary’s church, Kemptown.
Mark Foster burst on to the international swimming scene at the age of 16. He went on to represent his country at the highest level for twenty-three years and is Britain’s most decorated male swimmer.
Hugo Michiels Photography/editing by Jim Carey Photography
Since retiring from swimming Mark has become a familiar face on television and a household name. He is a successful motivational speaker, business man and male model, but he is also a founder and face behind the charity Go Dad Run, which comes to Hove Park on 25 June to raise funds and awareness for men’s health causes.
Mark met up with Paul Gustafson to talk about a charity close to his heart, and to chat about himself and his evolving and diverse career.
On Sunday, June 25 this year you’ll be in Brighton and Hove as an Ambassador for the Sanlam Go Dad Run. Can you start by telling us a bit about the event and what your role as an ambassador will involve?
“I started the first Go Dad Run with Colin Jackson back in 2013. We both knew people who were affected by prostate cancer and Colin sadly lost an uncle. One in eight men in the UK will develop prostate cancer but many are often reluctant to talk about it. We saw the great work Race for Life was doing with women only events in the fight against cancer, and we wanted to develop something for men. The Go Dad Run events aim to raise awareness of men’s health issues and to get men talking early on if they think may have any symptoms. We also want to help raise funds for the charities involved.”
And you’ll be in Hove Park for the Brighton event?
“Yes. This year we’ve grown to a series of 5k and 10k runs across six UK cities. Prostate Cancer UK is still our lead charity, but this year you can also raise funds for Bowel Cancer UK, Orchid, which fights testicular, prostate and penile cancers, CALM, a men’s mental health charity, and for the Brighton and Hove runs you can also fundraise for a local charity, Martlets Hospice, which provides terminal care for local people in Sussex. Previously some people were approaching us saying they loved the idea of the Go Dad Runs but did not have a direct link to prostate cancer, so we’ve opened it up to other partner charities as well as a local charity in each event region.”
Is the event open to all abilities?
“They are runs rather than races – for men and boys of all ages. Of course some people will want to run competitively, but the emphasis is on doing something healthy, having fun and raising awareness and funds.”
Will you be running?
“I’ll be there from the start to support, but I won’t be running on the day as I need to be there at the finish to hand out medals!”
Why do you think many men aren’t very good at monitoring their own health and talking to family, friends or health professionals if they are concerned about symptoms?
“I think it’s partly the way men are, whereas women tend to be much better at confiding or having check-ups. It’s a key thing we want to change. With men it might be due to awkwardness about opening up, or maybe a macho thing, or maybe in some cases down to fear. I think often men will deal with health issues up to a certain level, but then might struggle to get beyond that in terms of processing their feelings and communicating them.”
To me that’s a great thing about the Go Dad Runs – the context is sport, which a lot of men love and are happy to engage with, and then the whole comedy Y-fronts over your running shorts thing introduces a level of humour about men’s bits that breaks the ice and confronts the taboo.
“Yes, that’s right.”
Trying to live a more healthy lifestyle is an important factor in reducing the impact of these men’s conditions. You were a world-class competitive athlete for 23 years, and since retiring you’re still famed for your dedication to fitness and your fantastic physique. What top tips would you give to our readers for staying fit and keeping in shape?
“I think a lot of it is about moderation. We all like to go out, have a good time. We all eat the wrong foods from time to time. I do myself, but I exercise every day to keep in shape. I would say to your readers to be moderate in what they eat and drink, do plenty of exercise but also set yourself goals, whether it’s running a marathon or going to the gym a couple of days a week, or even just going for a long walk.”
Hugo Michiels Photography/editing by Jim Carey Photography
Anything else? What about dancing?
“Dancing is great for fitness. After Strictly and the tour I teamed up with Natalie Lowe and Ian Waite, dance professionals from the show, and we formed Fitsteps. It’s a dance and fitness programme that incorporates different types of ballroom steps to create a fun and energetic way to keep fit. We launched Fitsteps in 2014 and today you can get involved in towns and cities across the UK.”
We see you a lot on TV and in the wider media, and you have a lot of projects going on – in some ways you’ve re-invented yourself. But it must have been strange and difficult when you finally retired from competitive swimming. We’ve talked about how you’ve kept very fit physically, but how was it adjusting mentally once you retired?
“Mentally it was challenging and a huge change for me. But I thrive on challenges and on learning and doing new things. I started doing punditry and then presenting. People say that I’m good on TV, and that I’m relaxed, and I say I just talk. But the thing is that sense of being at ease came from doing it, learning it, doing it, learning it. The more I did it the more I learned and the better I got. And then from being a pundit I’ve moved on to do motivational speaking. I learned something and took it forward. That mind-set has been my approach since I retired from competitive swimming. I’ve always been a doer but beneath that for me it’s about developing a mind-set for success.”
So it’s great that the Go Dad Runs are now partnered with a specific mental health charity?
“It’s great to have CALM on board. Having a procedure like a prostatectomy, for example, can save your life, but after the operation many men are left facing things like impotence and incontinence which can have a huge psychological impact, but there’s not always the mental and emotional support there. It’s great that we can help do something about this.”
What do you to do relax? Do you have any passions or hobbies?
“I play a lot of golf. For me it’s a walk, fresh air, banter, whether with mates or maybe at a corporate event. It’s also the challenge of getting a small ball into a small hole that’s a long way away. I’m trying to get my handicap down. I always want to get better. It’s just like when I was swimming. I also like cycling and every year I do my own London to Brighton cycle ride with a bunch of mates to raise money for charity.”
What about things like music? Do you have a favourite kind of music, band or artist?
“If I had to choose a genre it would be 80’s music. I’m a bit of an 80s fiend. As a kid I remember listening to 80’s music and now I’ve ended up meeting people like Martin Kemp who’s become a friend, as well as Heather Small from M People and Leee John from Imagination. All of a sudden I became a part of their world, which is very bizarre as they were the ones I used to watch on Top of the Pops. Otherwise I like current acts like Christine and the Queens. And I like Elbow a lot.”
As well as being a respected sports pundit and journalist you’re well known for celebrity TV shows, from Strictly Come Dancing to Come Dine with Me. Do you have a favourite moment from the shows you’ve been in?
“They were all very good experiences for lots of different reasons. I did Come Dine With Me with a load of athlete friends of mine and yes we wanted to win but at the same time it was more of an entertainment show. Strictly was an awful lot of fun getting a professional dancer to teach me.”
Do you think you’re a better cook or a better dancer?
“A better cook. I don’t think I’m a good dancer. I can do it and I learned an awful lot on Strictly, but I really like cooking. You’re not on display in the same way as with ballroom dancing. I enjoy cooking for friends and of course I cook all the time for myself.”
Who’s scarier, Anne Robinson or Craig Revel Horwood?
“Anne Robinson. Craig is a big sweetheart who plays a character, a pantomime villain, but in reality he’s a wonderful, lovely, easy-going person. Joking aside Anne Robinson is lovely too. They’re both playing a role. In fact when I did the weakest link Anne just kept flirting with me and I went on to win it!”
It’s good to give the brain a good work out too. I’m a bit of a scrabble nerd and I like watching Countdown. Did you get many nine letter words when you were in Dictionary Corner?
“No but I did get a few sevens and got an eight once. But I’m good at maths and got a lot of that stuff right.”
Apart from the Go Dad Run on June 25, where else can we look out for you in the near future?
“I just filmed a documentary for ITV called The Full Monty, where celebrities including myself, Harry Judd from McFly, Wayne Sleep and Dom Littlewood are put together in a performance to help raise men’s awareness around prostate and testicular cancer. We were trained by Ashley Banjo and Alexander Armstrong is the compere. At the start we didn’t know each other that well, though we each have a backstory connecting us to one of the cancers. In the programme we go on a journey which leads to us stripping off on stage at the London Palladium in front of two and a half thousand people.”
And do you do the full monty?
“We do. It’s all off!”
Anything else to watch out for?
“At the end of July I’ll be commentating at the World Swimming Championships in Budapest alongside Rebecca Adlington. Oh, and I filmed a bit for a movie the other day which comes out next year. It’s a feel good movie and it’s my first film role. I can’t say much more about it at this point.”
Mark will be at Hove Park on Sunday, June 25 for the Sanlam Go Dad Run.
Registration is open on the day from 9am in Hove Park.
The 5K starts at 10:30am and the 10K at 10:40 am.
Hugo Michiels Photography/editing by Jim Carey Photography
To learn more about supporting the event or to sign up to run, click here:
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.
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