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From Northern Pride with love

ORGANISERS of Newcastle’s annual Pride festival send a message of support to their Northern Ireland counterparts.

L-R Northern Pride vice chair, Sue Musgrove, and chair, Ste Dunn
L-R Northern Pride vice chair, Sue Musgrove, and chair, Ste Dunn

PRIDE in Newry, Northern Ireland, which takes place on Saturday, August 31, was awarded the title of UK and Ireland Pride for 2019 by the UK Pride Organisers Network.

And as North East LGBT+ charity Northern Pride will host UK Pride in 2020, organisers have praised Pride in Newry for putting on an excellent festival.

The parade will kick off from The Quays Shopping Centre at 2pm, with Albert Basin Park hosting an open-air concert, fun fair and stalls from 3pm to 8:30pm.

Organisers have also delivered a number of successful events in the run up to the festival, including mountain climbing, domestic violence awareness sessions and Queer Question Time.

“Pride in Newry has pulled together an excellent programme over the last month and we wish the team all the best with the concert and celebrations this weekend,” said Ste Dunn, chair of Northern Pride.

“They have carried out some fantastic campaigns which have highlighted the battles still left to fight, particularly for those in Northern Ireland, to ensure that LGBT+ people are afforded the same rights as everybody else.

“Pride in Newry has set the bar high for anyone hosting UK Pride in the future and the Northern Pride team have already started planning a full schedule of events, campaigns and activities for the coming months, leading up to the main event next summer.

“The North East is a warm and welcoming part of the UK and our aim will be to celebrate our rich and diverse region, while also highlighting successes and achievements for the whole LGBT+ community and all minority groups.”

UK Pride 2020 will take place at Newcastle’s Town Moor from July 17 to 19.

The event is free to attend but those who want to guarantee a prime viewing position close to the stage, along with access to a separate bar area and toilets, can purchase a Platinum Pass, starting at £19.35.

To purchase online, click here: 

For more information about Northern Pride, click here:

Or search northernprideuk on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

Trans portrait wins national photography competition

University of Salford graduate selected as one of this year’s winners for Portrait of Britain with her entry Grace – a trans woman and medical student.

JUST two years ago, Allie Crewe from Manchester made the decision to quit her full-time teaching job to peruse her dream career in photography. She has just won Portrait of Britain 2019 with her winning piece Grace. From thousands of entries, the image will be one of 100 portraits selected to be displayed on billboards and bus stops across the UK.

Allie said: “It’s really humbling to win this prestigious competition so early in my career. For this portrait of a trans woman subject to have been shortlisted in a competition that is committed to celebrating diversity and the changing face of Britain is truly wonderful.”

In recent years Allie has had work exhibited at the Getty Gallery, Lloyds of London, and has been previously shortlisted for Portrait of Britain 2017.

In the summer of 2018 Allie announced her first solo exhibition of photographic portraits, sponsored by Sparkle (the national transgender charity). The nine-week exhibition at Manchester Central Library, entitled You Brought Your Own Light, was a celebration of Allie’s ground breaking and evocative work with transgender subjects.

She said: “I first met Grace when I was working on my ‘You Brought Your Own Light’ portrait series and I knew immediately that I had to photograph her again for my Portrait of Britain entry. Grace looks so beautiful and empowered; she has a disarming gaze that reveals understanding and compassion and tells of adversities overcome.”

Allie’s work and sensitivity are informed by a turbulent childhood which stifled her creativity and power of expression. Overcoming this has given her a unique insight that enables her to convey powerfully honest photographic narratives of subjects who have transformed; rediscovering themselves after battling adversity.

She said: “It’s been quite therapeutic for me. I have found immense kindness and compassion from all the trans and non-binary people that I’ve shot with.”

Her insistence that her work should remain authentic, creative and kind in order to capture the truth about her subjects was the inspiration for the title of her exhibition. “For me they aren’t trans stories they’re human stories,” she said.

While she was a student at the University of Salford, Allie belonged to the Women’s society and actively joined forces with the Gay and Lesbian society, she said: “We were all fighting the same patriarchal enemy and I thought women fought for my rights so I’m going to fight for all human rights.”

“If I can use the camera every day to create images that will chip away at inequalities and social injustices, even if it’s a tiny bit, then that’s what I’m going to continue doing,” she added.

Allie has currently shot 26 portraits since the initial 12 and is still creating her transgender series. She is also currently working on a BAME portrait commission for the NHS. With a lasting fondness of her time studying at Salford, Allie continues to visit the campus and the You Brought Your Own Light portraits are currently on display in the University’s library, before moving to their New Adelphi building on August 6, 2019. Now her winning piece will hang in the Lowry from October, “It’s nice to have it in Salford,” she said.

In the future, she hopes to do a series focusing on the women of Salford who make a difference in the world and will continue with her trans activism.

OBITUARY: Richard Tredgett R.I.P – 24.8.1978 – 20.6.2019

On Friday, August 2, family and friends gathered at St Andrew’s in Waterloo Street, Hove to say farewell to Richard Tredgett, who died suddenly on June 20.

Songs and music featured extensively at Richard’s funeral, with both the Actually and Brighton Gay Men’s Choruses singing some of his favourite songs.

He was possessed of a fine Tenor voice and he loved to sing. When he performed karaoke, Richard knew how to get the crowd going – although knowing the lyrics was sometimes optional. As well as belonging to the Actually Gay Men’s Chorus, he was a member of two other choirs, including one in London, and a work choir in York. His fiancé Joe Paxton is the Chorus Director of the Brighton Gay Men’s Chorus.

Richard was born to Pat and Clive Tredgett. He lost his dad at a very young age, and his mother when he was 30. The loss of his parents affected him deeply. Their passing made him value life, and engendered within him a determination to live his own fully.

His family and friends say that he did more in forty years than most people do in eighty. He turned his hand to many different pursuits, and was always up for trying new things and travelling to new places.

Richard’s death prompted messages of shock and sympathy from across the world. He had travelled extensively, and left a positive impression on the people he met. He was known to be kind, funny, and full of life and joy. The packed pews at St Andrew’s attested to how widely he was loved and admired.

Richard was not particularly organised, and punctuality was not his strongest attribute. Those who knew him well knew to schedule plans not only in GMT but in RTT – Richard Tredgett Time – as it seemed that he had his own time zone. However, with his handsome, disarming smile, those who had been left waiting found that it was hard to stay mad at Richard for long.

Richard attended Moulsecoomb Primary School, Falmer High School and then BHASVIC. Through a combination of natural talent and hard work and determination, he was successful at school, in sport (in which he could be quite competitive), and in music. Having attended university in Leeds, and maintained a connection to the area, he had recently returned there for work, and was looking forward to reconnecting with the stomping grounds of his student days.

Richard was a big Eurovision fan. As children, he and his family used to spend Eurovision evenings completing their own score cards. His love of Eurovision continued into adulthood. Richard would spend many Eurovision nights at parties with friends, and Eurovision was a common theme in his music playlists.

Richard’s funeral coincided with Brighton Pride. Pride meant a lot to him. He loved the celebration, and had attended Prides across the UK and Europe. Many fond memories were made at Prides in Manchester, Birmingham, London, Madrid, Barcelona and Gran Canaria.

Richard had Irish heritage. and was very pleased to get his Irish Passport. His childhood trips to Ireland to see his family were full of freedom and fun, as he ran amok with sister and cousins. He played in the fields all day and only came back when hungry. As an adult on these trips, he’d discovered the local bar, Richard enjoyed many a drunken time that ended with him having to negotiate the cattle grid to the house without incurring the wrath of his mum.

In recent years he greatly enjoyed being an uncle and would buy his nephews fantastic gifts for Christmas and birthdays – although they were not always age appropriate (a full size skateboard for a two year old being a particularly notable example). His ambition was to be Uncle of the Year, and he knew that great toys were the keys to the boys’ hearts.

Richard was well known in Brighton and Hove. His death has affected many people in the city, and far beyond. He will be missed sadly by all who had the privilege of knowing him.

Richard Tredgett August 24, 1978 – June 20, 2019

 

LETTER TO EDITOR: Pride – WeStandTogether

Each year there are multiple challenges in delivering a complex event like Pride and it is for this reason that we work closely with partner agencies all year round on the planning for it.

WE endeavour to be a learning and problem solving organisation, picking up and improving on past issues. One example being, Pride worked closely with Govia Thameslink Railway and other partners to facilitate a managed queueing system at Brighton station to get people away from the City safely at the end of the day. A big improvement over last year.

Although Pride does not stage any events on the beach, this year as a first, Brighton & Hove Pride sponsored the inaugural Big Pride Beach Clean, delivered by Oceans8 Brighton, which saw the beach transformed to a safe and clean space on Sunday morning.

It was sad to see some news reports apportioning blame on the LGBT+ communities and Pride for both rubbish and gas canisters on the beach. Locals will know that this is, unfortunately, a common occurrence on a busy hot summer weekend and although exacerbated by the extra party goers that use the beach over Pride, many come to Brighton not to attend any of the official Pride events but instead head to the beach.

Pride will as always continue to engage with the businesses on the seafront to share the responsibility of the clean up after a bumper weekend for their businesses. As well as cleansing and clearing all of the Pride event sites, this year we also contracted and paid for road sweeping machines to follow the Pride Community Parade through the city, cleaned London Road and jet washed the streets of the Pride Village Party on Sunday August 5.

When I first took over Pride in 2013, the previous organisation had gone bankrupt, had not raised any funds for our local LGBT+ groups for many years and there was no provision for deaf or people with disability requirements. I passionately felt that Pride needed to become accessible for people with disabilities.

On a personal level my father was a disability champion and as a young boy I regularly went along on trips from Crawley to Fairfield Hall in Croydon where he volunteered, driving for the disabled and riding for the disabled. This meant, from a young age I picked up an awareness of the challenges and discrimination that people with disabilities faced.

Therefore, one of my first priorities was to work with the LGBT Community Safety Forum (LGBT CSF) to ensure that access provision was an integral element of Pride in Preston Park. This included wheelchair recharging points, accessible toilets across the park, dedicated changing facilities and a high dependency unit.

BSL interpreters were introduced in the cabaret tent and on a platform in front of the main stage, and the signed performances were relayed across the park on big screens. Over the years, due to the excellent work done by the LGBT CSF, Pride has received some amazing feedback. However, after Pride 2018 and due to other commitments the LGBT CSF stepped back to focus on Disability Pride and so this year we appointed new access providers.

I don’t believe in making excuses, there are things that didn’t work this year and I make a heartfelt apology to anyone who didn’t receive the quality of access provision we would have hoped for. Our aim is to deliver an outstanding access service and to attain the Attitude Is Everything Gold Standard, and the work starts now on ensuring that improvements are made.

Pride needs commercial partners and sponsors to help us deliver the event as well as contributing to the significant fundraising effort; and striking that balance is always going to be a challenge.

This year, charity and community groups made up two thirds of the Brighton & Hove Pride LGBT+ Community Parade with one third from the commercial sector. There does need to be a debate around the commercialisation of Pride nationally, with regard to how some big brands are capitalising on and benefiting from national branded campaigns without contributing to the organisations and groups that work hard to deliver Prides across the country; but we must also acknowledge the support of genuine partners and allies of the LGBT+ communities who are committed to diversity and inclusion within their organisations.

This year’s campaign #WeStandTogether, was a call to action to all in the LGBT+ communities and their allies to unite and stand together against all types of discrimination and to defend the advances in equality and inclusion over the last five decades, since Stonewall.

This year the head of the Pride parade was made up of an number of organisations and individuals that included The Brighton Rainbow Fund, Trans Pride Brighton, Sparkle the National Transgender Charity, Rainbows Across Borders, The Peter Tatchell Foundation and others who joined us to march together through the streets of Brighton on Saturday, August 3.

Pride still has many challenges ahead with domestic uncertainty and the rise in homophobic, transphobic and racial hate crime. It’s important to me to keep campaigning at the forefront of Pride and I’m proud to have asked local drag artist legend Lola Lasagne (Stephen Richards) to speak on the main stage before our campaign video.

Lola delivered an inspirational and moving speech that was a personal highlight of my weekend. Thank you Stephen.

Finally I’d like to thank the thousands of people who attended Brighton Pride, we respected each other, celebrated and campaigned together in this great City. It is by no means perfect but it’s the place I call home and I’ll embrace the life affirming joy that we celebrated together.

WeStandTogether

Paul Kemp, Director Brighton & Hove Pride

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