menu

Stallholders wanted for Hove Park Carnival

Martlets is appealing for stallholders to sign up to its popular Hove Park Carnival on Spring Bank Holiday Monday – May 27, 2019.

Image: Ciaran McCrickard

THE family event always attracts crowds of people, with over 3,000 visiting last year, and pitches for stallholders sell out fast. Martlets is calling for potential stallholders to book their places now.

Charlotte Bolton from the hospice’s Fundraising team said: “Our Hove Park Carnival is a fantastic fun event for young and old with amusements, displays, rides and arena entertainments that draw in the crowds.

“It’s always a hugely busy day for stallholders and we are encouraging people who might be interested to book their pitch to make sure they don’t miss out!  The funds raised from the hire of these pitches will help Martlets care for local people and their families.”

The cost of a stall for businesses is £40 and for charities it is £25. Martlets is particularly interested in hearing from local businesses, arts and crafts, health and well-being, beauty and food products – although the hospice is unable to accept stalls serving food. For further details or to register please contact 01273 747455 or email fundraising@martlets.org.uk

To register for a stall online, click here:

REVIEW: Rough Crossing @Chichester Festival Theatre

Rough Crossing

Tom Stoppard

@ Chichester Festival Theatre

Two famous but desperate playwrights are stuck on an ocean liner headed for New York, feverishly trying to rehearse their latest show before reaching land, and opening night. But they are constantly distracted by their delicate composer’s attempts to end it all, having overheard his lover confess her feelings to the leading man.

Did I mention how charming the set was, a rather fetching two-story 30’s Deco device from Colin Richmond, who is also responsible for the costumes, it got me through most of the first act but then when the first song of the much celebrated music from André Previn began things started sinking fast.  There’s farce and then there’s this unexciting turgid nonsense.

It’s as if Stoppard put all the elements of a decent farce in a bag, weighted it down with some spare plot he found down the back of the sofa and then threw the whole thing overboard. He’s then cobbled together some smug smutty toffs, a cabin steward who needs keel hauling, an unlikely romantic back story and some theatrical in-jokes and meta writing finishing the whole thing off with a speech impediment that relies on sublime timing and machine-gunned witty banter.

It never really builds up the narrative tension or raw speed to ensure the friction between all the potential ‘hilarious’ elements ever rubs enough and catches fire. The second half just triples the words per minute to no discernible funny affect and even the dance numbers failed to entertain. It’s a play within a play, or so it pretends to be, in fact it’s a vacuous smugness within a yawn.

One wonders with a Stoppard play if he’s playing with the play whilst in the play and there’s certainly some promise of deconstructive shenanigans but then the whole thing just hits the buffers of unfunny cliché and rather than stop, it keeps on butting into it, time and time again.

An unfunny joke repeated ad infinitum never gets any funnier and no matter how hard some of the cast worked this daft nonsense wasn’t going to stay afloat. It’s a touring production, and I wondered if it was in its first week, which might – just – have given the whole thing some wriggle room, but when I checked it’s just come down from Windsor.  So there’s no excuse for inflicting that on anyone, certainly not the ticket buying public.

We had a delightful drive down to Chichester and the salvation of the Festival theatre is the breathtakingly architecture of the place, it’s solace to wander out into the brisk late winter air with the majestic concrete buttresses of raw architectural fabric so beautifully lit and showing all the glory of its structural brilliance.

My attention wandered permanently off the unengaging performances and ran down the exposed concrete of the load bearing walls, and although I could wax lyrically for some paragraphs about the Brutalist beauty of this perfect model of Elizabethan thrust theatre wrought vast and uber-modern from architects, Phillip Powell and Hidalgo Moya, I’ll not.

Rough Crossing is at Chichester Festival Theatre until February 16.

New Global Partner for International LGBT+ Travel Association

The Travel Corporation (TTC) have joined IGLTA – The International LGBT+ Travel Association as an elite global partner.

THE international travel group, which includes 29 brands, delivers a diverse spectrum of welcoming experiences that complement IGLTA’s efforts to advance LGBT+ travel around the world.

Brett Tollman
Brett Tollman

“We are excited, and very proud, to be strengthening our partnership with IGLTA,” said Brett Tollman, CEO of TTC, parent company to the award-winning family of brands that includes Trafalgar, Insight Vacations, Uniworld and The Red Carnation Hotel Collection. “Delivering excellence in service and unforgettable travel experiences for everyone is at the heart of all that we do, and we look forward to working together to grow diversity and inclusivity across the global travel industry.”

Some of TTC’s brands have been active IGLTA members for many years and the company has invested in sensitivity training to ensure that all staff members worldwide are delivering the best possible service to LGBT+ travellers. With the global partnership, TTC is further uniting its portfolio—which also includes Contiki, African Travel, Brendan Vacations, Busabout, Adventure World and AAT Kings—around its efforts to drive industry change and amplify its LGBT+ welcoming message.

John Tanzella
John Tanzella

“TTC’s respected brands operate in 70 countries and offer everything from tours to river cruises to boutique hotels with options for all ages and budgets,” said IGLTA President/CEO John Tanzella. “It will be a pleasure to showcase this diverse range to LGBTQ+ travellers because we know that it’s paired with a deep commitment to inclusivity.”

For more information about global partners, click here:

Scottish Trans Alliance welcomes MSPs’ report on Census (Amendment) Bill

The Scottish Parliament report on Census (Amendment) (Scotland) Bill, is welcomed by the Scottish Trans Alliance, together with its parent LGBT+ charity the Equality Network.

THE report published on February 7, is the ‘stage 1 report’, from the Parliament’s Culture, Tourism, Europe and External Affairs Committee, about the general principles of the bill and follows written and oral evidence-taking by the Committee over several weeks.

The Census (Amendment) Bill allows for voluntary questions about a person’s sexual orientation, and on whether they are transgender, to be included in the 2021 Scottish Census. The Committee’s report supports these proposals.

The Committee also reports that there was insufficient consultation on the detail of the bill, and they support amendments to the bill proposed by the Equality Network / Scottish Trans Alliance, to clarify the language.

The Committee strongly recommends wide consultation over the next year on the detailed wording of the census questions on sex, sexual orientation and trans status, including with women’s organisations, LGBT+  and intersex organisations, and the Scottish Trans Alliance agrees with this.

Vic Valentine
Vic Valentine

Vic Valentine, Policy Officer at the Scottish Trans Alliance, said; “We welcome that the Committee supports the general principles of the bill, that there should be voluntary questions on sexual orientation and on a person’s trans status, in the 2021 Census. We also welcome the Committee’s support for our proposal to amend the bill’s language on trans status, to remove confusion. We agree that there needs to be wide consultation during the preparation of the Census questions, over the next year, and that, that should include consultation with women’s organisations, and with intersex organisations, as well as LGBT+ organisations.

“However we disagree with the Committee’s recommendation that the compulsory census question asking the person’s sex should be restricted to male and female answers only, because that means that, once again, non-binary people like myself will not be able to answer the question correctly and honestly.”

The general principles of the Census (Amendment) Bill will be debated by the whole Scottish Parliament on Thursday, February 28.

 

Russian activist to speak at Village MCC

Mark Kandolsky, a non-binary transgender activist from Saint Petersburg, Russia will speak on Sunday, March 3 at the Village MCC in Kemptown from 6pm.

MARK has been working as an activist since 2015, as long as they’ve been open about their identity, having experience both in advocacy and community building, though mostly focusing on the latter.
Mark was raised in an atheistic family, and at the age of 18 decided to join the Roman Catholic Church, where he was baptised a year later. Roman Catholics in Russia are much more liberal than the Russian Orthodox Church, and it seemed like a good choice at the time. Even before they were baptised Mark met their current partner, also transgender, at the church. Unfortunately, they had to leave the Church several years later. However, Mark still identifies as Catholic.
Mark has met many LGBT+ people in Russia who suffered in the Church and were not accepted there and one of their friends who could not reconcile their faith and sexual orientation committed suicide. It affected Mark so deeply, that after a year of depression they started to work as an activist trying to improve the life of their LGBT+ siblings who also suffered from religious violence.
Currently, Mark coordinates a small LGBT+ religious community. They are a diverse group, and among them are people of different religious traditions, sexual orientations, and gender identities.
Mark’s activism is a calling and ministry, be it in the religious sphere or not: apart from Nuntiare et Recreare (their group), Mark also works as an activist for the transgender communities: leading support groups, providing peer-to-peer consultations, translating, editing, and publishing materials for the transgender communities and their allies.
Mark says; “My greatest dream is to open a shelter for the LGBT+ communities. It is only a dream now since we need much more resources to open it, and we’ve had a lot of legal obstacles. I hope and pray that one day this situation will change and we will be able to provide shelter, food, and education to those who need it most.”
Rev. Michael, Senior Pastor at the Village MCC added; “I am very excited to hear Mark speak at our service.  MCC has been actively involved in supporting the LGBT communities in Russia so we are well aware of the unwelcoming and even dangerous environment they are in.  There are no welcoming churches in Russia. I look forward to hearing this first-hand experience and finding out how we can support this important ministry.”
For more information, click here:
The Village MCC is a church 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. They offer a safe space where anyone can feel at home, fully affirmed in their sexuality and gender identity. Church members are active in the wider 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 6 pm at the Somerset Day Centre.
Everyone is welcome to go along and experience for themselves the inclusive spirit of The Village MCC.

Event: Guest speaker Russian non-binary trans activist Mark Kandolsky

Where: Somerset Day Centre, 62 St James’s Street, Brighton

When: Sunday, March 3, 2019

Time: 6-8pm

X