August 2019 – Page 10 – Scene Magazine – From the heart of LGBTQ+ Life

Final travel advice ahead of Brighton & Hove Pride 2019

Posted on 01/08/201903/08/2019 by Besi

Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) finalise preparations at Brighton station to help the city’s celebrations for the event run smoothly.

BRIGHTON & Hove Pride attracts thousands of visitors from across the UK so the station and trains will be very busy. To help passengers with their onward journeys, this years a rainbow queuing system will be in place at the station throughout the weekend.

Working with the organisers, this has been extended beyond the station to direct passengers leaving the city into the correct queue before they get to the station. On the Saturday evening, passengers are advised to aim to be at the station for 23:00 as trains will be extremely busy.

♦ The purple queue is for the West Coast, with services towards Hove, Worthing, Littlehampton and Southampton.

♦ The green queue will take passengers to the East Coast on trains towards Lewes, Eastbourne and Ashford International.

♦ The blue queue is for London-bound trains, with service toward Gatwick Airport, East Croydon, London Victoria and Bedford.

Passengers are also reminded that glass will not be permitted on the station; glass bins will be provided at the entrance.

As confirmed last month, GTR – which runs Southern, Thameslink and Gatwick Express services out of Brighton – will operate an enhanced rail service including additional and longer trains across the weekend with trains running late into the night on Saturday evening to help visitors get home from the city.

Stuart Meek, Train Services Director at GTR, said: “We have been working on our plans for this weekend since the beginning of the year in collaboration with the Brighton & Hove Pride organisers, Sussex Police, Brighton & Hove City Council and other local partners. We are looking forward to celebrating this wonderful city event with our customers and staff.”

GTR’s LGBT+ network will be out in force on the day; the firm has a float in the parade for the first time and the station has been decorated to welcome customers as they enter Brighton.

The operator earlier this month unveiled a special Pride ‘trainbow’ to mark the occasion, designed by apprentice Maggie Luckhurst in support of GTR’s active LGBT+ network.

Since officially launching on July 18, the Thameslink Class 700 (unit 700155) has been delighting passengers and staff across the network, with hundreds of pictures shared on social media.

Paul Kemp, Managing Director of Brighton & Hove Pride 2019, said: “Brighton & Hove Pride is an important event for our City with visitors coming in from across the UK & worldwide. We have been working closely with GTR and other partners on the new rainbow queuing system to help with the smooth egress of people leaving the City. We ask that people are patient and respectful of each other and staff who will be working hard to get everybody home safely. We are extremely heartened by the positive working partnership and support over Pride weekend and the enthusiasm from all at GTR.”

REVIEW: Quentin Crisp-Naked Hope @Rialto Theatre

Posted on 01/08/201902/08/2019 by Brian Butler

Quentin Crisp is an enigmatic and controversial figure in LGBT+ culture. At once a brave, totally unashamed gay man, he was also unpredictable and contradictory, preferring to walk his own path in life – regardless of the consequences.

MARK Farrelly has created and performs a near-perfect representation of the gay lifestyle pioneer; he has the camp rich tones, and the delightfully raises his pitch mid-sentence and at the end of every phrase.

Directed tightly and sensitively by Linda Marlowe, Farrelly takes us on an 80-minute tour of the icon’s life – as an advertising man, a civil servant, a life-class model and finally what he describes as a “senile delinquent” living a reclusive if wealthy life in Manhattan.

Crisp – real name Dennis Pratt – had as many one-line aphorisms as dear Oscar Wilde, and many of them are reproduced here with great relish, lingering on every syllable for maximum comic value.

Here are just a few: “sex is the last refuge of the miserable; if we don’t suffer how do we know we’re alive ?; in Soho the world lay before me like a trapdoor.”

He calls himself “a minority within a minority – an effeminate homosexual – stretching out every syllable of the last word. “My way of going on is a protest,” he tells us, describing the attacks he is subjected to in the street as “not savage but sad”, and his response is “other cheekism”.

But this highly physical performance is not just about clever words – good though they are. Farrelly tries to dig below the surface cynicism and apparent carefree attitude.

He no doubt upset many in the community by describing Gay Pride as “an oxymoron” and he seems to have little time for the politics of equality.

His vision is far wider and deeper – he is a true existentialist and though he says throwaway things like “If you can’t beat them, join them. If you can’t join them, grovel” his world view is far more than clever phraseology.

He has deep-seated and worthy beliefs, “I find fame hard to bother with; all that matters in life is style. Don’t try to keep up with the Joneses – drag them down to your level- it’s cheaper.”

But perhaps most moving, in the second section of the show, when Crisp is highly successful and in his 70’s performing on Broadway, he contemplates his own mortality.

“Discover who you are- and be it” he tells us. “Life is not out there, it’s in here,” he says touching his heart with his hand. “there’s only one of each of you,” he concludes.

Farrelly holds us in the palm of his hand and reflects the generosity of his audience with little asides and knowing glances. It’s a wonderful tour de force of a solo performance.

The show is at the Rialto Theatre for a second night on August 1, raising money for the Rainbow Fund.

If you can’t catch him there, look on line for other tour dates.

Review by Brian Butler

O/S Barbers are raising funds for Rainbow Fund today

Posted on 01/08/201903/08/2019 by Besi

O/S Barbers will be raising funds for the Rainbow Fund all day today, Friday, (August 2).

THIS year Joe Steven and George Oakley will, with the help of guest barbers be raising funds at both their Brighton shops in George Street and Castle Square.

Joe and George said: “We hope this will be our biggest fundraising day to date. We think it’s very important to give back to our communities and to the people who need it most.”

Both shops will be open on Friday, August 2 from 10am-7pm and all proceeds from every haircut will be donated to the Rainbow Fund who give grants to local LGBT/HIV organisations that deliver effective front line services to LGBT+ people in Brighton & Hove.

No appointments are needed, just turn up, have a beer and let the boys run their fingers through your hair.

This is the fourth year running they have staged a fundraising event to kick off Pride weekend. In the last two years they raised £990 for the Sussex Beacon at their shop in George Street.

The Rainbow Fund give grants to LGBT+/HIV organisations who deliver effective front line services to LGBT+ people in the city.

Instgram: @osbarbers

BBW raise £10,243 for local good causes

Posted on 01/08/201903/08/2019 by Besi

Brighton Bear Weekend (BBW) raise £10,243 from their fundraising activities in 2018-19 for local good causes – pipping last years record total of £10.060.

Steve Beaumont from Rainbow Fund receives cheque for £7,000 from BBW

BBW raised the money at events during the year culminating in the Brighton Bear Weekend from June 13-16.

They have donated £7,000 to the Rainbow Fund, £1,143 to Lunch Positive and £2,100 to the Brighton & Hove LGBT Community Safety Forum.

Graham Munday Chair of BBW said: “We’d especially like to thank the guys at The Amsterdam Bar & Kitchen, Bar Broadway, The Camelford and Subline, all of whom have been very supportive and hosted a number of events for us throughout the year.

“Given the economic climate we are in, this is a doubly impressive figure we have raised and we really do owe a huge debt of gratitude to everyone who supported us this year, and in particular, all those who came to our events, braved the rain dug deep and created a weekend in June that everyone enjoyed.

“Next year will be our 10th birthday and we are looking forward to making Brighton Bear Weekend even bigger and better.”

Brighton Bear Weekend in 2019 will be held over the weekend of June 25-28, 2020.

For more information about Brighton Bear Weekend, click here:

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Month: August 2019

Final travel advice ahead of Brighton & Hove Pride 2019

Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) finalise preparations at Brighton station to help the city’s celebrations for the event run smoothly.

REVIEW: Quentin Crisp-Naked Hope @Rialto Theatre

Quentin Crisp is an enigmatic and controversial figure in LGBT+ culture. At once a brave, totally unashamed gay man, he was also unpredictable and contradictory, preferring to walk his own path in life – regardless of the consequences.

O/S Barbers are raising funds for Rainbow Fund today

O/S Barbers will be raising funds for the Rainbow Fund all day today, Friday, (August 2).

BBW raise £10,243 for local good causes

Brighton Bear Weekend (BBW) raise £10,243 from their fundraising activities in 2018-19 for local good causes – pipping last years record total of £10.060.

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Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) finalise preparations at Brighton station to help the city’s celebrations for the event run smoothly.

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Quentin Crisp is an enigmatic and controversial figure in LGBT+ culture. At once a brave, totally unashamed gay man, he was also unpredictable and contradictory, preferring to walk his own path in life – regardless of the consequences.

Share this:

O/S Barbers will be raising funds for the Rainbow Fund all day today, Friday, (August 2).

Share this:

Brighton Bear Weekend (BBW) raise £10,243 from their fundraising activities in 2018-19 for local good causes – pipping last years record total of £10.060.

Share this:

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