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B RIGHT ON LGBT Festival: Free big screen showing of ‘The Shack’

The Village Metropolitan Community Church will host a one-off screening of The Shack as part of the Soul Safari day of events during this year’s B RIGHT ON LGBT Festival.

The Village MCC Brighton and Hove is a church that was created by LGBT+ Christians, their families, friends, and allies. It’s an MCC (Metropolitan Community Church) called to support the LGBT+ communities in whatever ways it can.

Rev Michael Hydes

Rev. Michael, Senior Pastor at the Village MCC, said: “The Shack is worldwide best seller, last year released as a film by the same folk that produced Life of Pi. It’s a wonderful journey into a vision of God that helps us to live with the questions instead of grasping at easy answers. A wonderful way to challenge orthodox views of God and bring the Good news of the Gospel alive.”

“Everyone is welcome, and you never know, it might be the home that’s been waiting for you.community.”

The Village MCC Brighton and Hove offers a safe space where anyone can feel at home, fully affirmed in their sexuality and gender identity. Church members are active in the larger community, offering emergency aid and support to the homeless and vulnerably housed.

Their minister, Rev. Michael, offers spiritual direction and pastoral care. They worship together every Sunday evening at Somerset Day Centre at 6pm.


Event: Big Screen showing of The Shack during B Right On festival

Where: Phil Starr Pavilion,  Victoria Gardens, Brighton BN1 1WN

When: Sunday, February 18, 2018

Time: 2pm

Cost: Free event

B RIGHT ON LGBT Community Festival: Outside Out

Rough Sleeping and Homelessness in the LGBT Communities.

Brighton and Hove has a reputation as a safe space for all and many people come here seeking to live a life unhindered and as part of an all-embracing community. The city also has a serious housing crisis with no drastic solutions in view for people who have lived here their whole lives or for those newly arrived.

After Westminster, Brighton and Hove has the second highest number of rough sleepers in the country and many more people are vulnerably housed in insecure and unstable housing including emergency B&B’s, supported accommodation, backpacker hostels and sofa surfing.

Our young people are exchanging sex for accommodation. Our older people remain invisible and uncounted.

♦ Are you uncomfortable with this and do you want to be part of the change?

♦ How do we as a community support those who are rough sleeping and vulnerably housed?

♦ Could we do more?

Go along and hear the voices of lived experience, explore what the key issues are and learn about current support frameworks.

As a group everyone will then investigate together what the opportunities are to make things better by considering practical solutions and fantastical visions through small table guided discussion and whole group dialogue.

If you want to be part of creating a different world then your experience, knowledge, voice and commitment are needed to make this happen. Go along and be a part of the solution!

If you have lived experience of rough sleeping and homelessness in Brighton and Hove and would like to talk about this or you would like to be part of the team delivering this event, email: greg.headley@passage.org.uk

This event is part of the B Right On LGBT Community Festival organised by the Volunteers of the Brighton & Hove LGBT Community Safety Forum and takes place at the Phil Starr Pavilion – a multi functional, fully accessible, heated performance and conference space with a licensed bar which is located on Victoria Gardens, Brighton, BN1 1WN.

The event is being organised by Greg Headley, who has worked in rough sleeping and homelessness for over 15 years, the last five in Brighton and Hove as the LGBT lead worker for the street outreach team.

Greg is currently the Project Coordinator of The Brighton and Hove Charity Link Project, a newly commissioned service funded for two years. The aim is to build city-wide resilience and improved collaboration between the communities, established charities and the commissioned services and work together towards ending rough sleeping.


Event: B RIGHT ON LGBT Community Festival – Outside Out:
Rough Sleeping and Homelessness in the LGBT Community

Where: Phil Starr Pavilion, Victoria Gardens – BN1 1WN Brighton

When: Sunday, February 18

Time: 10am – 1pm

Cost: Free event

Call for creatives as Brighton Gin launches art prize

Local comedian Zoe Lyons and artist Sean Simms join judging panel for Brighton Gin Art Prize – entry now open to amateur, aspiring and established artists in three categories.

Celebrating the city’s creative spirit and community, small batch Brighton Gin has teamed up with Brush gallery on Gloucester Road to launch the 2018 Brighton Gin Art Prize.

Open to anyone 18 or over, artists are invited to customise an empty and naked Brighton Gin bottle (available from Brush for a £3 entry fee) drawing on any media or techniques they choose whether paint, illustration, collage, decoupage, photography, decals or even mosaic.

Partly a recycling initiative using surplus and returned bottles, the Brighton Gin Art Prize will be judged by comedian, TV and radio regular Zoe Lyons, award winning children’s book illustrator and creator of the famous ‘Brighton Line’ tube map print Sean Simms, Brush gallery owner and curator Hizze Fletcher and Brighton Gin founder and broadcaster Kathy Caton.

The winners in each of three categories – exhibited, student or amateur – will be awarded an £150 cash prize, a bottle of Brighton Gin, other Brighton Gin merchandise and a Brighton Line print by Sean Simms – and will have their work exhibited in a March exhibition in Brush and other venues across the city with a chance to sell their pieces via Brush should they wish.

All finished works of art will form an exhibition at Brush, launching on March 1 with a private view and running until March 31.

Founder and distiller of Brighton Gin Kathy Caton, said: “Brighton is bursting with brilliant creative talent at all levels and we want to encourage people to let their imaGINations run wild, showcase their creativity and open up the chance to win to newcomers as well as those formally studying art or exhibiting and selling work already. We can’t wait to see this year’s interpretations and kick off the Spring into Summer arts season as the city builds up to the world-class Brighton Festival in May.”

Submission for The Brighton Gin Art Prize is £3 including your empty Brighton Gin bottle. The bottles can be collected from Brush, 84 Gloucester Road BN1 4AP anytime up to the closing date of February 23.

The competition is open to national, international, amateur or professional creatives of all levels AGE 18+. 1 bottle only per submission.

For more details about entering, click here:

Or email: hello@brushbrighton.co.uk

Voted the UK’s best gin in the 2017 People’s Drinks awards Brighton Gin is distilled beside the seaside and made from 100% organic grain spirit, juniper, fresh orange and lime peel, locally-grown coriander seed and milk thistle. Each bottle is filled, labelled and wax sealed by hand, the distinctive blue/green colour being that of Brighton’s famous seafront railings.

Retail stockists include Harvey Nichols, Fortnum & Mason, Master of Malt, selected Marks & Spencer stores and fine Brighton & Hove independents such as Quaff, Seven Cellars and Twenty One Wines.

Jersey recognises humanist and same-sex marriages

Jersey passes new law giving legal recognition to both humanist and same-sex marriages.

Humanists UK led the campaign for recognition of humanist marriages and supported legal same-sex marriages as well.

A tabled amendment to give religious business-owners the right to refuse good and services to same-sex couples was soundly defeated by a majority of States Assembly members.

The decision to include humanist marriage legislation comes after a four-year campaign by Humanists UK and its member, States of Jersey Deputy Louise Doublet.

Humanists UK has begun training more celebrants in Jersey, in anticipation of the law coming into force, with the training starting on February 1 and 2.

Andrew Copson
Andrew Copson

Welcoming the news, Humanists UK Chief Executive Andrew Copson, said: “We’re delighted that Jersey has joined Scotland and Ireland in giving legal recognition to humanist marriages. And as humanists have performed same-sex wedding ceremonies for many decades, we can’t think of a more fitting occasion than at the same time as same-sex marriages become legal too. We look forward to marrying many happy couples in the months and years to come.’

Louise Doublet, Deputy of St Saviour No 2, who led the campaign for recognition, added, “This is fantastic news for Jersey and I am so grateful to Humanists UK for supporting me in campaigning for this. The changes that allow same-sex marriage have always been the most significant aspect of this legislation – but as a bonus, Jersey is also now ahead of England in offering marriage equality to those with non-religious beliefs such as humanism. I am expecting to see a surge in numbers of humanist weddings on the island, and am hopeful that local businesses will benefit as couples will be keen to travel from England and elsewhere to have a legally-recognised wedding performed by a Humanist UK celebrant. I cannot think of a better setting than our beautiful island.”

A humanist wedding is a non-religious ceremony that is deeply personal and conducted by a humanist celebrant. It differs from a civil wedding in that it is entirely hand-crafted and reflective of the humanist beliefs and values of the couple, conducted by a celebrant who shares their beliefs and values.

Legal recognition of humanist marriages has already had a transformative effect on Scottish and Irish society.

In Scotland, humanist marriages gained legal recognition in 2005, and have risen in number from 85 in the first year to over 4,900 in 2016, overtaking the Church of Scotland in the process.

In the Republic of Ireland, humanist marriages gained legal recognition in 2012. In 2016 around seven percent of legal marriages were humanist, more than four times as many as there were (Protestant) Church of Ireland marriages.

In Northern Ireland, Humanists UK and its section Northern Ireland Humanists have been working through the courts to secure recognition of humanist marriages alongside public speaker Laura Lacole and footballer Eunan O’Kane. A High Court decision granted initial legal recognition to humanist marriages but this has been stayed as it was subsequently appealed by the Government. The Court of Appeal finished hearing the appeal in early January. Its decision is expected soon.

In England and Wales, since 2013 the UK Government has had the power to extend legal recognition if it wishes, but hasn’t chosen to use this power yet. Jersey’s move will increase the pressure for it to do so.

Sussex M.E. Society marks 30th anniversary

The Sussex ME Society who care for people affected by Myalgic encephalopathy (ME) or Chronic fatigue syndrome(CFS) is marking its 30th anniversary.

Colin Barton
Colin Barton

The organisation was founded in 1987 when people came together supported by hospital Consultant, Dr Keith Hine and Brighton Kemptown MP, Sir Andrew Bowden MBE.

The charity that has helped hundreds affected by the illness including those in the LGBT+ communities is now one of the most successful regional ME charities in the UK and is presently assisting research being carried out by Brighton and Sussex Medical School.

Dr Keith Hine
Dr Keith Hine

Dr Keith Hine commented: “I was appointed as a Consultant Physician at Cuckfield Hospital in 1984. On my first weekend in Sussex I was asked by our local GP to see a patient with probable ‘Myalgic Encephalomyelitis’. I visited this patient at home and found a fit-looking man who had been pole-axed by a condition of which I had no experience. Clinical examination was normal but here was a genuine patient with extreme fatigue who was unable at times to even get out of bed. I had to agree that this fitted the description of ‘ME’.”

“This experience engendered an interest in CFS/ME which has remained with me throughout my consultant career. When central government released a considerable amount of money to establish regional CFS/ME services, I was involved with Colin Barton and other members of the society in developing this service locally.

“I retired from the NHS in 2008 but I have continued to see patients privately in the Nuffield Hospital. Since 1984 I have calculated that I have seen well in excess of 1,000 patients with CFS/ME.

“As a consequence of the Chief Medical Officer’s report and subsequently the NICE report, I have seen GP’s become more aware of the condition and they have diagnosed and instituted appropriate management earlier. I suspect that this early involvement is the reason that we have seen a reduction in the proportion of patients we would classify as ‘severe’.

“I have now ‘hung up my stethoscope’ and retired completely from clinical work. I am grateful to Colin for his support over the years and I wish the Society a great future.”

Martine McCutcheon
Martine McCutcheon

After revealing her diagnosis of ME, actress Martine McCutcheon, said: “I want to give hope to ME sufferers, even people who don’t know what they have got.

“I want them to know that they are not going mad and that they can get better. You can live a normal and good life again.”

Jenny Seagrove
Jenny Seagrove

Society patron, the actress Jenny Seagrove, added: “Sussex ME Society provides absolutely vital support to those people in society who suffer this debilitating and much misunderstood condition.

“At last research is being done into ME and also into the plasticity of the brain and nervous system, so perhaps hope will be allowed to shine its light into the darkness of some people’s lives.”

Former hotelier and Society chairman, Colin Barton, said: “We have seen many improvements for those with ME/CFS over the years but there is still a way to go before patients are provided with services equal to those automatically afforded to those with other chronic disabling illnesses.”

 

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