MUSIC REVIEW: LoveBN1 Fest’s Ariana and the rose has done it again

Posted on 08/10/201810/10/2018 by Ray A-J

Not long after her trippy performance at this year’s LoveBN1 Fest, singer-songwriter Ariana and the rose has released yet another spacey masterpiece, dubbed Lonely Star.

HER performance at Brighton’s very own LoveBN1 Fest earlier this year was electric. Trippy disco beats and spaced out synths filled the stage, doused in plenty of emotional lyricism. A renditions of her 2017 hit Supercool, floated about the audience, leaving behind feelings of cheerful relaxation. And now, the artist known as Ariana and the rose has woven all of that infectious energy and wonderful optimism into her new music, with track Lonely Star.

The breezy galactic piece fuses ideas of unity and hope, with just a twinge of Bjork‘s eccentric spirit, as verse bleeds into chorus and Ariana’s ghostly whispers trickle into the scene. “You’re not a lonely star, floating somewhere out in the dark. I know you think you’re on your own, but you’re not alone,” her quirky voice promises, almost as though she is offering a warming hand out to those in seclusion, as the uplifting chorus explodes. The New York native continues to cover the canvas of cosmic sounds with shy drum patters and a sprinkling of inclusivity, as she paints the wistful soundscape of reclusive youth in the modern age.

With this track, Ariana draws in those who feel alone, embracing them with each glowing synth chord and encouraging lyric. And it seems this grand gesture is core to Adrian’s music, providing the backdrop for her series of wildly beautiful live party events known as light + space (which is set to find audiences again on October 25) – as the synth-pop artist herself says on her curious blog: “I believe art can unify the world.” Yet this politically heavy idea doesn’t outweigh the wonderful light feeling her dance ready music emulates.

Overall, I strongly look forward to the spacey hopeful’s new ode to unity, and will no doubt have the earworm of a chorus wriggling in my head for at least another few weeks.

University tackle racial and ethnic imbalance

Posted on 08/10/2018 by Besi

University of Brighton uses mentoring to address the disproportionately low number of black, Asian and other non-white minority ethnic (BAME) teachers in Sussex.

DESPITE the changing demographic of many areas of Sussex, where the population is becoming increasingly diverse, data shows there is a low percentage of teachers who are visibly BAME. This results in a lack of positive role models for BAME pupils to identify with and look up to.”

The University’s School of Education and Student Services fund an ‘identity match mentoring programme’ for BAME teaching students and pairing them with BAME mentors who work or live locally.

Results show that the programme has impacted positively on BAME students’ employability, retention and the student experience.

Beth Thomas Hancock, the University’s Mentoring Manager, said: “Following the success of the identity match mentoring model for University students, a similar programme was piloted at a school in Brighton with 14 BAME university students mentoring 14 BAME school pupils.

“The programme showed that University students and the school pupils all felt their confidence and communication skills had improved. Following the pilot, funding was secured from the Sussex Learning Network through the National Collaborative Outreach Programme to deliver the programme in seven secondary schools across Sussex.

“Providing BAME role models as mentors is a simple and effective way to inspire young people to be the best that they can be. Students from the University volunteer to mentor volunteer BAME secondary school pupils.

“Mentoring takes place for one hour per week for five weeks and in the sixth week the school pupils visit the University campus with their mentors and have an informative and fun session about University.

“So far, 65 pupils have been mentored by 65 university students.”

Beth Thomas-Hancock and consultant John Lynch, who lead the programme, brought together people from a range of sectors including universities, schools, councils, charities, community organisations, Sussex Police and The Premier League, to hear about the successes and listen to local and national experts on how we can improve experiences for all. Participants from across the sectors pledged actions to affect positive change in process, policy or practice within their organisations.

For more information and to volunteer, click here:

Ping pong can bring peace to prisons

Posted on 08/10/2018 by Besi

Brighton Table Tennis Club shows how ping pong can bring peace to prisons.

HM Prison High Down in Banstead has seen a reduction in violence among inmates that are taking part in sessions run by Brighton Table Tennis Club.

Figures released this week show:

♦ An 83 per cent reduction in incidents of violence among High Down inmates who have taken part in the table tennis sessions.
♦ A 14 per cent increase in the number of inmates employed in prison jobs since the table tennis project started.

With support from Sport England, the club provides regular table tennis sessions and offers Level 1 coaching courses to prisoners and staff.

According to High Down staff: “Table tennis participants have been involved in significantly fewer incidents relating to drugs and violence since starting the programme.”

“Table tennis acts as an incentive for good behaviour,” they add. Prisoners are “holding it down,” said one staff member, knowing that they will not be allowed to take part, if they behave badly.

One prisoner was asked to give further details of the significant changes that table tennis has made.

He said: “It has made me want to keep my enhanced status and stopped me from getting any red or negative entries as I would not be able to attend the sessions if I did. Thank you to the Brighton Table Tennis Club and High Down PE team. 10 out of 10.”

With endemic drug use among inmates and violence on an almost daily basis, this is important progress in a prison which was found to be “in a volatile state” earlier this year by an Independent Monitoring Board.

Professor Rosie Meek praised Brighton Table Tennis Club in her recent report on sport in prisons for the Ministry of Justice, which concluded that sport can play a huge and positive role in prisons:

She wrote: “As well as being a way to bring together disparate groups, develop communication skills and learn life lessons, it also has the advantage of being something many people are passionate about.

“It can be a relatively straightforward way to encourage otherwise reluctant individuals to engage in a whole raft of associated activities, while also serving to improve mental and physical health, reduce violence, and tackle reoffending.”

Tim Holtam, director of Brighton Table Tennis Club, adds: “We are developing a table tennis model that we hope can be rolled out in other prisons. It is certainly producing results in High Down and Downview women’s prison, where we also work.

“At both prisons we have extremely good relations with both staff and prisoners. Prisons Minister Rory Stewart has announced an extra £10 million to improve conditions in ten prisons facing acute problems with drugs and violence. I urge him to consider support for table tennis and other sports in his plans.”

Brighton Table Tennis Club (BTTC), a community club and registered charity is open seven days a week to players of all ages and abilities. It is located at The Fitzherbert’s Centre, Kemptown, and holds weekly sessions for a wide range of groups, among them primary school children, under 16s, 60+ players, people with learning disabilities, homeless people, looked after children and Traveller children.

Two women-only sessions are held each week and one for people from the LGBT+ communities.

BTTC was awarded Club of Sanctuary status by the international City of Sanctuary network for its work with young refugees in Brighton and Hove. It is the first club in the world to receive this award.

For more details about Brighton Table Tennis Club (BTTC), click here:

Referendum to ban same-sex marriage in Romania fails due to low turn out

Posted on 08/10/201808/10/2018 by Besi

Moves to constitutionally ban same-sex marriage in Romania fail.

LGBT+ people in Romania won a reprieve on Sunday, October 7, as an initiative to constitutionally ban same-sex marriage in Romania failed to gain enough votes to move the political process any further.

This win for LGBT+ rights groups in Romania comes only months after the country’s top court ruled that same-sex couples should have the “same rights to a private and family life as heterosexuals” in June 2018.

Jessica Stern, Executive Director of OutRight Action International, said: “The Romanian people made the right choice by not legitimising this vote. Minority rights should never be voted upon by the will of a majority.”

The referendum on the definition of marriage within Article 48 of the country’s constitution took place on October 6 and 7 and had the potential to contradict the high court’s ruling and issue a step backward for the status of LGBT+ rights in Romania.

Only 20% of the population showed up to vote when a requirement of 30% of the voting population (5.6 million people) was needed in order for the referendum to be deemed legitimate.

Vlad Viski of LGBT+ rights group Mozaiq, which has been campaigning for nationals to boycott the vote, said: “For the LGBT community in Romania this is a huge victory after three years of fighting against conservative voices, against hate speech. We are glad and we applaud the Romanian people for standing up against intolerance and hatred. It is a huge victory for the Romanian democracy, which keeps Romania on its European path, where minorities are respected. 17 years after the 2001 decriminalisation of homosexuality, we see that Romanian society is changing for the best. We have gained thousands of allies throughout this fight for equal rights and now we are asking major political parties to show responsibility and legalise civil unions as soon as possible. We deserve rights, we want rights, we won’t stop.”

In spite of the rejection of the referendum, same-sex marriages are neither recognised nor granted the benefits of marriage in Romania. The Romanian constitution does not stipulate gender of partners in marriage, but rather describes marriage as a “union of spouses.”

The measure on the referendum, if accepted, would have rephrased the constitution to explicitly state that marriage be a “union of one man and one woman,” thereby officially making same-sex marriages unconstitutional in Romania.

The referendum was supported and brought about by Romanian conservative-religious group The Coalition for Family, which collected three million signatures last year in favour of the proposed change to the constitution.

Romanian Orthodox Church Patriarch Daniel, in support of the referendum, claimed that a ‘yes’ vote on the referendum would be “Christian, democratic and patriotic.”

Kim Davis, the Kentucky clerk who went to court for the right not to issue licenses to gay couples, had also campaigned in Romania sponsored by Liberty Counsel, a right-wing, anti-LGBT legal group.

Notable opposition to the proposal came from the Save Romania Union and President Klaus Werner lohannis, who said that being an ethnic German, and therefore a member of an ethnic and religious minority, he supports tolerance and openness towards others who are different while rejecting religious fanaticism and ultimatums.

REVIEW: The Goon Show @Theatre Royal Brighton

Posted on 08/10/201808/10/2018 by Brian Butler

As a child in the late 1950s I was an avid listener to a BBC radio comedy series that broke the mould. It was the Goon Show and it would lay the groundwork for Python and many other absurdist comedies.

STARRING Peter Sellers, Harry Secombe and Spike Milligan, who also wrote the scripts, it made silliness and utter idiocy brilliantly funny, with a series of barmy characters, both male and female, getting into ridiculously improbable situations.

It made intoxicating listening. So this one-night only recreation of three of the finest episodes from the 10-year run of the show is truly magical.

To anyone under 65 it probably makes no sense at all, but as the elderly audience in Brighton on Sunday proved, to those in the know it’s a wonderful walk down memory lane.

And the actors in this reconstruction are truly lifelike. Colin Elmer is brilliantly frenetic as the zany hyperactive Spike. Clive Greenwood gets Secombe’s silly high-pitched giggles and rotund good humour to a tee, and Julian Howard McDowell is the many voiced, dry and inventive Sellers.

Tom Capper has the thankless task of being the ultra serious BBC announcer Wallace Greenslade but, the cast interact brilliantly and are albeit in character clearly having a whale of a time, ad libbing and reacting to the audience instantly.

The stories are classic Goon material – the dreaded batter pudding hurler, the theft of Napoleon’s piano from the Louvre and the rampant bald head shaver who is transplanted to Brighton for the local audience.

The glory of radio is that it is a truly visual, medium, so sound effects can easily transport us to Paris, Algiers and the middle of the English Channel.

All the favourite characters are here – the evil team of Hercules Grytpype-Thynne and Count Jim Moriarty, the complete idiot Eccles, the ancient husband and wife Henry and Minnie Bannister, Major Dennis Bloodnok an eccentric and worrying army officer, and of course Ned Seagoon, the most useless policeman in Sussex.

Musical interludes provided by the close harmony group Java Jive, Rachel Davies and Anthony Coote.

The same Apollo Theatre Company promise us re-enactments of Hancock’s Half Hour next year. I can’t wait.

The Goon Show was at the Theatre Royal Brighton and is on tour.

For details of the tour, click here:

Reviewed by Brian Butler on Sunday, October 7 at Theatre Royal Brighton

Pride weekend provides £20.5 million windfall to local businesses

Posted on 08/10/2018 by Besi

Independent research reveals Brighton and Hove benefits by more than £20.5 million over Pride weekend.

NEW independent research by TSE Research, the commercial research arm of Tourism South East, commissioned by Brighton Pride CIC, shows that visitors to Brighton and Hove over Pride weekend boost the local economy by more than £20.5 million.

TSE Research evaluated the economic impact of the Brighton Pride Festival 2018 on the local visitor economy based on the expenditure of non-local visitors attending the event. It also considers the economic spill-over into the wider regional economy as a result of the multiplier impact. This is when businesses receiving income from visitors through the purchase of their goods and services, in turn re-spend.

It is estimated that the Brighton Pride Festival generated a gross economic impact of £26.8 million for businesses in the city and that a further £5 million was generated for businesses across the region through multiplier effects, providing a total gross impact of £31.7 million.

The net impact is defined as the additional expenditure which arises in the local area and in the region as a direct result of the event. The likely level of additionality related to different types of events has been derived from studies of events carried out across the UK.

These numbers are mirrored by Brighton & Hove Pride’s annual survey which this year showed 84% of ticket purchasers had been to a previous Brighton & Hove Pride and 65% came from outside the Brighton & Hove city area. Of those visiting the city, 57% arrived by train and 32% stayed overnight in either hotel or B&B accommodation.

Paul Kemp, managing director of Brighton & Hove Pride said: “Tourism and events in our City are the lifeblood of our City’s economy and what makes Brighton and Hove stand out as a visitor destination. Many small local businesses reply on the annual income from Pride and other events to stay in business all year round. With the additional £250,000 in fundraising for local good causes announced last week, I’m pleased that Pride can have such a huge impact on the city ‘s economy and help support a wide range of community projects across our City”
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Westcountry Wasps RFC – a new, inclusive rugby team for the West Country

Posted on 08/10/2018 by Besi

Devon based gay and inclusive rugby club Westcountry Wasps RFC launched with support from the Rugby Football Union is the first of its kind for Devon and Cornwall.

A NEW rugby team for the southwest was established last month with support from England Rugby and International Gay Rugby (IGR).

The Exeter based team, the first of it’s kind in Devon and Cornwall, aims to create a welcoming and uplifting environment for players of all sexual orientations and experience levels.

The team will promote community spirit, equality, and diversity in LGBT+ players while committing to England Rugby core values of; teamwork, respect, enjoyment, discipline, and sportsmanship.

The team will be welcoming new members to taster sessions in Exeter and Plymouth this month before regular training sessions begin.

Andy Smith, one of the clubs founders, is a straight man from Exeter who played for an inclusive team, the Manchester Village Spartans for 10 years.

Talking about forming the new club, he said: “Seeing how rugby can change lives through new experiences, new relationships, new social groups, and how that can change attitudes has really made an impression on me. I want other people to enjoy the same experiences and make the same great friends I’ve had.”

Ryan Cook, a special police Constable for Devon & Cornwall Police, started playing rugby at the age of 11, and has refereed for Cornwall RFU at County and Federation levels and is delighted to be a founding member of Westcountry Wasps RFC.

Ryan says he hopes to: “bring together players that have never played before for fear of homophobia and allow them to thrive in a social scene of the club”.

The club founders are keen to hear from anyone who wants to meet new people, make friends, get some exercise and get involved in sport. Free taster sessions will be held on Oct 13 in Exeter and Oct 20 in Plymouth where you can fin out why thousands of men are joining inclusive rugby teams up and down the country.

For more information about Westcountry Wasps RFC and the taster sessions, click here:

Volunteers needed for M.E. research

Posted on 08/10/2018 by Besi

Do you have a firm diagnosis of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/ME or Fibromyalgia?

SUSSEX researchers are looking for people aged 18 to 65 who have a firm diagnosis of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/ME or Fibromyalgia to take part in research which seeks to understand the biological and physical mechanisms of chronic pain and fatigue. This will involve routine medical procedures, including brain scans, heart rate and blood pressure measurement, questionnaires and blood tests.

The research project is a collaboration between the Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust & Brighton and Sussex Medical School (BSMS).

Colin Barton, chairman of the Sussex ME Society said: “We are very pleased to be assisting with the important research being carried out at the university into this potentially life ruining illness.”

For further information contact Dr Kristy Themelis at k.themelis@bsms.ac.uk

Call us now

Day: October 8, 2018

MUSIC REVIEW: LoveBN1 Fest’s Ariana and the rose has done it again

Not long after her trippy performance at this year’s LoveBN1 Fest, singer-songwriter Ariana and the rose has released yet another spacey masterpiece, dubbed Lonely Star.

University tackle racial and ethnic imbalance

University of Brighton uses mentoring to address the disproportionately low number of black, Asian and other non-white minority ethnic (BAME) teachers in Sussex.

Ping pong can bring peace to prisons

Brighton Table Tennis Club shows how ping pong can bring peace to prisons.

Referendum to ban same-sex marriage in Romania fails due to low turn out

Moves to constitutionally ban same-sex marriage in Romania fail.

REVIEW: The Goon Show @Theatre Royal Brighton

As a child in the late 1950s I was an avid listener to a BBC radio comedy series that broke the mould. It was the Goon Show and it would lay the groundwork for Python and many other absurdist comedies.

Pride weekend provides £20.5 million windfall to local businesses

Independent research reveals Brighton and Hove benefits by more than £20.5 million over Pride weekend.

Westcountry Wasps RFC – a new, inclusive rugby team for the West Country

Devon based gay and inclusive rugby club Westcountry Wasps RFC launched with support from the Rugby Football Union is the first of its kind for Devon and Cornwall.

Volunteers needed for M.E. research

Do you have a firm diagnosis of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/ME or Fibromyalgia?

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Call us now

Not long after her trippy performance at this year’s LoveBN1 Fest, singer-songwriter Ariana and the rose has released yet another spacey masterpiece, dubbed Lonely Star.

Share this:

University of Brighton uses mentoring to address the disproportionately low number of black, Asian and other non-white minority ethnic (BAME) teachers in Sussex.

Share this:

Brighton Table Tennis Club shows how ping pong can bring peace to prisons.

Share this:

Moves to constitutionally ban same-sex marriage in Romania fail.

Share this:

As a child in the late 1950s I was an avid listener to a BBC radio comedy series that broke the mould. It was the Goon Show and it would lay the groundwork for Python and many other absurdist comedies.

Share this:

Independent research reveals Brighton and Hove benefits by more than £20.5 million over Pride weekend.

Share this:

Devon based gay and inclusive rugby club Westcountry Wasps RFC launched with support from the Rugby Football Union is the first of its kind for Devon and Cornwall.

Share this:

Do you have a firm diagnosis of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/ME or Fibromyalgia?

Share this:

Latest News