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Govia helps Brighton celebrate with Pride

A dozen Southern trains are being rebranded in rainbow colours to celebrate Brighton & Hove Pride this weekend.

A DOZEN Southern trains have been rebranded with the colours of the rainbow as Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) joins Brighton & Hove in celebrating Pride 2018 this weekend (August 3-5).

The colourful logos have been applied to the front and back carriages of 12 trains. Staff will also be joining in the spirit of the occasion by dressing up and wearing glitter.

Brighton station is expected to be very busy so there will be colour-coded queues in the spirit of the event to help people board the right train.

Extra staff will be working at key stations and as well as travel advice, station assistants will be keeping passengers hydrated with bottles of water.

To cater for the influx of visitors, GTR will have longer trains where possible.

Preston Park station will be closed all day Saturday 4 and Sunday 5 August and London Road station will also be closed from 12 noon on Saturday 4 and all day on Sunday 5.

The main event is so close to both stations there would otherwise be issues with passenger flows from the platforms. This was jointly agreed with event organisers and the emergency services.

For full information including times of last trains, click here:

Or for Thameslink information, click here:

Brighton Station Manager Graham Thrower said: “There is a real feeling of anticipation at the station. Staff have been working hard behind the scenes to get ready, and will be joining in by dressing up and wearing glitter. We’re looking forward to a fantastic weekend and wish all our passengers a happy and safe Pride.”

Polly McGillivray
Polly McGillivray

GTR’s diversity champion and Operations Learning Manager Polly McGillivray will be celebrating at the festival.

She added: ”Pride is such an important celebration. Personally, I have been very fortunate to be working with a company that wants to celebrate diversity with its employees and the LGBTQ+ community and understands the importance of Pride.”’

Paul Kemp
Paul Kemp

Paul Kemp of Brighton & Hove Pride CIC said: “We are expecting record numbers of people travelling from all over the UK and from around the world to attend Brighton & Hove Pride this year and we thank GTR for their work to support Pride and for their preparations to ensure everyone attending Brighton Pride can get in and out of the city with the minimum of disruption.”

 

 

Nudes and nipples on Brighton Pride parade – all in the best possible taste!

Brighton Body Casting tuk tuk in Pride community parade to feature flying nudes and water jet nipples.

LOCAL celebrity artist Jamie McCartney will be driving his tiny pink tuk tuk in the Brighton Pride Parade again this year. As well as the crowd pleasing water jets from last year there’ll be floating nude inflatables flying overhead!

Mounted on a turntable on the back of the pink tuk tuk will be a life size topless sculpture whose nipples will squirt water 20 feet into the crowd when triggered by the pink cowboy hatted ‘rear gunner’. Only at Brighton Pride.

Joining the sculpture this year will be male and female nude helium balloons floating above the Brighton Body Casting float. Alongside and all around will be the usual selection of pink clad dancers and revellers. On what is predicted to be one of the hottest days of the year, the water jets are bound to be as popular as last year.

To fit in with this year’s theme Colour My World Jamie and his team have gone for the colour pink, to match their pink, tuk tuk pick-up truck, the smallest float in the parade!

Jamie said: “As a local business with a global reach it’s hugely important that we come out and join in Pride to support our local LGBT+ communities. Brighton thrives on its reputation as a friendly, open, inclusive and laid back city and this is the time when we get to show the whole world that we’re not kidding. It’s also a hell of a lot of fun!”

For the last 12 years Jamie has been creating sculptures cast from local people – anything from baby hands in plaster or glass to whole bodies in bronze. Established at the erstwhile JAG gallery on Madeira Dive, they were in the Lanes for a while, then by Hove Station and are now at a permanent, purpose built studio in the harbour in Portslade.  Jamie is involved in many community initiatives but Pride is the highlight of his company’s calendar.

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