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FOOD REVIEW: Afternoon Tea on Wheels in Vintage Style

Owner Peter Waldron and the magnificent Regency Routemaster Bus
Driver Peter Waldron and the magnificent Regency Routemaster Bus

If you were there for this year’s Brighton Pride Parade, or if you’ve been in town over the last couple of months, you may have noticed the striking sight of a beautifully restored 1960’s routemaster bus cruising the streets of Brighton, Hove and Rottingdean.

IF so, you were looking at a new and welcome addition to the Brighton and Hove food and drink scene which is both a visitor attraction as well as something fun to enjoy if you live in town.

On a sunny Friday afternoon a friend and I went along to Pool Valley where the afternoon tea tours depart daily Wednesday through Sunday.

Two things struck me immediately. The first was the very personable way we were greeted as we boarded, with the three members of the team – our driver, our waiter and our tour commentator – all welcoming us and giving us a bit of background on the bus and the journey ahead of us.

The second is the really great job they’ve made of the interior of the bus, which has been lovingly fitted out in a plush yet clean-lined retro style, creating a quirky and stylish space for up to 42 guests seated at tables of two and four people.

My friend and I are partial to an afternoon tipple so not surprisingly we opted for the aptly named Gin Lover’s Tour.

The bus started up and headed east towards Hove, and shortly after, two deliciously refreshing pink gin cocktails arrived at our table.

As we cruised through town, taking in the sights from the covered top deck, we enjoyed a delightfully tasty tea which included three types of savoury sandwiches followed by a selection of fine pastries and other sweet things.

I particularly enjoyed my smoked salmon sandwiches with lemon and caper butter, and later a very delicious carrot and pistachio cake, while my friend was very taken with his honey roast ham and mustard fingers and also a lovely selection of macaroons.

Beyond these all of the savoury and sweet elements were of high quality and mainly sourced from local suppliers.

To top it off we finished with a classic buttermilk scone with clotted cream and strawberry jam. Oh yes.

Along with our second gin cocktails which had arrived in timely fashion, we ordered Earl Grey and English breakfast tea respectively to help the food down. Both were full of flavour and refreshing.

Of course we were riding through town on top of a vintage bus so china cups and saucers were understandably not an option, but the smart branded flasks the tea was served in worked well, as did the non-slip table mats.

All in all the guided tour lasted about an hour and a half, winding through town before heading out to Rottingdean and then back via the Marina and Madeira Drive. Along the way our guide’s quirky and sometimes camp commentary kept us all informed as well as chuckling.

This was lovely way to see the city and a unique, relaxing and highly enjoyable take on afternoon tea.

For more information, click here:

Civil Partnerships remain popular option for same sex couples

Relate welcomes Office for National Statistics latest figures on Civil Partnerships in England and Wales.


RELATE, the UK relationship support charity, has welcomed the latest findings from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) which show a continued growth in the number of civil partnerships in 2017.

The charity sees civil partnerships as an important legal option for helping to support and maintain healthy, committed, same-sex relationships, and hopes that the continued popularity of CPs will help inform government consultation on whether to keep civil partnerships in future now that gay marriage is an option, or indeed to extend the option of CPs to those who are not same-sex couples.

According to the 2017 statistics:

♦ There were 908 civil partnerships formed in England and Wales in 2017, an increase of 2.0% compared with 2016; this is the second annual increase since marriages of same-sex couples was announced in 2013.

♦ Almost two-thirds (66%) of all civil partnerships formed in 2017 were between men.

♦ The increase in the number of civil partnership formations between 2016 and 2017 resulted solely from an 8.0% rise (23 civil partnerships) in civil partnerships between women, civil partnership formation among men decreased by 0.8% (five civil partnerships).

♦ More than half (51%) of those entering a civil partnership in 2017 were aged 50 years and over; this compares with 19% in 2013, prior to the introduction of marriages of same-sex couples.

♦ In 2017, the average age of men forming a civil partnership (50.3 years) was higher than for women (49.5 years).

♦ London continued to be the most popular region for the formation of civil partnerships; 37% of all formations in England and Wales in 2017 took place in London.

♦ There were 1,217 civil partnership dissolutions granted in England and Wales in 2017, of these 57% were to female couples.

Nicola Haines
Nicola Haines

Nicola Haines, Vital Statistics Outputs Branch, Office for National Statistics said: “Despite the introduction of marriages for same-sex couples in March 2014, the number of same-sex couples choosing to form civil partnerships has increased slightly for the second consecutive year. Almost two-thirds of couples entering into a civil partnership in 2017 were male and more than half of all civil partners were aged 50 years or above. However, our latest data on marriages from 2015 shows that male couples accounted for less than half of all marriages between same-sex couples while only 16% of those marrying a partner of the same-sex were aged 50 and over.”

Huw Thomas
Huw Thomas

In response to the latest figures, Huw Thomas, Director of Policy at Relate said: “As today’s statistics show, many same sex couples are still opting for a civil partnership, despite now having the right to marry. Relate celebrates the fact that same sex couples now have the option to publicly show their commitment in a way that suits them.

“The government will be looking at these statistics closely when deciding whether to abolish civil partnerships, phase them out, or extend the right to register one to opposite sex couples. More research is needed to understand people’s reasons for opting for civil partnership over marriage. It’s likely that many are drawn to civil partnerships because they associate marriage with patriarchy but still want legal rights, financial protection, and to recognise their commitment to each other. These are also some of the reasons why a number of heterosexual couples may opt for a civil partnership if it were available to them.

“At Relate we believe everyone should have the choice to recognise their relationship in a way that works for them so given the clear demand, extending the right to register a civil partnership to everyone, rather than abolishing them altogether surely makes more sense. Our law needs to keep up with changes in our society and we are also in favour of increasing the legal rights of cohabitating couples.”

To read the full ONS report on Civil Partnerships in 2017, click here:

For more information about Relate, click here:

BBC release 70’s archive featuring revolutionary Trans programme

Archive release from BBC includes ground-breaking programme in which a group of Trans women activists were given complete editorial control over the content of the broadcast providing they remained within the law.

IN THE episode from the Open Door series, broadcast on June 2, 1973, the Transex Liberation Group were given a free platform to address misunderstanding, stereotyping and discrimination around transsexualism and to present a case for acceptance and change in both people’s attitudes and the law. This was a real first for British television.

Back in 1973 The Radio Times listing for the programme read: “Jokes about ‘the operation’ are all that most people know about transsexualism. Tonight’s group discuss their situation in a more serious and comprehensive way, and draw attention to the many difficulties they endure”.

Further context is given on the BBC website where the programme is now available to watch: “Looking at the work of programme makers or reading the ideas of commentators of the time, it would seem they found it impossible to comment on, or construct a programme about the trans community in any way other than in the context of there being ‘a problem’ or a difficult issue to be solved. To some extent this edition of Open Door changes that, allowing Trans Women community editorial control over their own programme. Whilst the then current problems of the Trans community are addressed, there is more a sense of celebration in this all-Trans Women presented programme.”

Though the programme is very much of it’s time and only includes male to female trans people, it remains a genuine piece of LGBT social history which also reminds us of how far the LGBT+ communities have come today in terms of their rights and diversity.

David Hendy, curator of the collection and Professor of Media and Cultural History at the University of Sussex, said: “There’s a real thrill in piecing together the behind-the-scenes story of ‘Open Door’s launch in 1973, not least because even now the programme feels so revolutionary in conception. When we pull together the different evidence – the written memos, oral history interviews, and the programme archive – the picture we get is quite stunning. Here we have the BBC effectively abandoning its traditional concern with ‘balance’ and handing over total editorial control to groups who rarely get a voice – certainly not on a national institution such as the BBC. Nothing like it had been seen on TV before.”

To watch the full Transex episode of Open Door along with a number of other landmark BBC archive LGBT programmes, click here:

They are all part of a wider project entitled ‘100 Voices: People, Nation and Empire’.

The full oral history collection ‘100 Voices that made the BBC: People Nation and Empire’ is available online at https://www.bbc.co.uk/historyofthebbc/people-nation-empire

Festival REVIEW: Adam@Theatre Royal Brighton

Making its English premier at this year’s Brighton Festival, National Theatre of Scotland’s Adam tells the deeply moving story of a young Egyptian man who feels his soul is trapped within the body of a woman.

ADAM recalls growing up and becoming increasingly unhappy and isolated from his family, who see his tomboyish behaviour as just a pre-pubescent phase.  Later, now a teenager working as a shop assistant, Adam develops an intimate relationship with a female co-worker, but any solace from their friendship is tinged with confusion as his new friend perceives Adam to be a lesbian.

When the shop owner catches the pair during a clandestine kiss, Adam is forced to flee home and ends up in a run-down part of town. Increasingly desperate he turns to the internet where he finds that there are others like him all over the world. Given strength he flees to Scotland as an asylum seeker, hoping to start a new life as his true self. But Adam soon discovers that prejudice and inequality are not confined to Egypt.

This is a powerful and ultimately uplifting, true story made all the more remarkable by the fact that Adam Kashmiri plays himself in the lead role. It’s a searingly honest, brave and moving performance.

Alongside him the wonderful Rehanna Macdonald also plays Adam as a kind of alter-ego. This male/female pairing is a device for dramatising the internal dialogue in Adam’s head as he struggles to reconcile his past and move towards a better future. It really does work well.

Frances Poet’s pacey, honest writing and Cora Bissett’s no-nonsense direction help make Adam’s journey both believable and dramatically compelling.

The set design, lighting and score are for the most part also stripped back, but at key moments, a virtual video choir made up of transgender and non-binary people from all over the world switches the soundtrack from minimalist electronic to euphoric and uplifting. We are reminded and inspired that however we see or define ourselves we are all ultimately human and that none of us is alone.

Plays from Wednesday 9 – Saturday May 12, at the Theatre Royal Brighton.

For tickets, click here:

FOOD & DRINK REVIEW: Cosmic Pizza @The West Hill Tavern

If you love your pizza Neapolitan style but with a modern twist, you can add another destination to your foodie bucket list with the arrival of Cosmic Pizza Co, an exciting new venture from the people at The West Hill Tavern.

SITUATED in the heart of town just a stone’s throw from Brighton station, this new pub-dining experience will be serving a selection of delicious, homemade stone-baked pizzas with a range of meat, fish, vegetarian and vegan toppings.

Landlords Ben and Heather want their Cosmic pizzas to be ‘out of this world’ and having tried several samples on their recent launch night, for me they’ve really hit the mark, producing pizzas with high quality ingredients that are a bit different but still feel authentic and above all are very tasty.

From Friday, April 13 you can enjoy a rotating menu of 12 inch pizzas, Tuesday through Saturday evenings. Then at weekends there’s a ‘Let’s Get Pizza’d’ brunch menu of 10 inch pizzas with brunch inspired toppings. And for £25 you can fill your boots for two hours with a 10 inch brunch special that comes with a bottomless supply of either mimosas, prosecco, or Frozen Marys.

For those with a sweet tooth you can finish off your meal with delicious homemade doughnuts (suitable for vegans) and/or gelato ice-cream provided by Brighton based gelateria La Mucca Nera.

Mangia bene!

♦     Pizza served Tuesday – Saturday 6pm – 9pm

♦     Let’s Get Pizza’d brunch menu and bottomless brunch served Saturday 11.30am (doors at 11am) – 3pm

♦     Pizzas range from £7 – £11

♦     All pizzas are made with a caputo 00 flour, and feature a homemade cream or tomato base:

♦     Bottomless brunch (with seasonal mimosas, prosecco or Frozen Marys) for two hours £25

♦     Roasts available Sundays 12pm – 6pm

The West Hill Tavern, 67 Buckingham Place, BN1 3PQ

For full menus, click here:

Facebook/Instagram: @thewesthilltavern

Twitter @thewestiebn1

REVIEW: Warhorse @Brighton Centre

It’s close to two years to the day since the exciting announcement was made that the acclaimed National Theatre production of Warhorse would be coming to Brighton for a two week run – part of a prestigious tour of just a handful of lucky UK cities.

Warhorse premiered at the National Theatre in 2007 before eventually moving up the road to the New London Theatre. By the time it finished its run in March 2016 it had been seen by around 2.7 million people in the capital, with millions more seeing the show worldwide.

Now this iconic play has finally arrived at the Brighton Centre, and judging by the reaction of the packed audience on the first night it was well worth the wait for the city’s theatre lovers.

Warhorse is a simple story told against an epic background. A foal is bought by a struggling Devon farmer on a drunken whim, and the horse is entrusted to Albert, the farmer’s young son, who is tasked with raising the foal as a working animal which can eventually be sold on. But from the moment they meet there is a strong connection between Albert and the horse, who is named Joey by the boy. Both are innocents, and the rest of the play follows their story as they are separately drawn into the epic conflict of the First World War, with Joey first sold to the yeomanry cavalry and shipped abroad, and Albert, underage, enlisting shortly after in a quest to be reunited with his horse.

The play is based on Michael Morpurgo’s best-selling children’s book, with the horse’s journey at the centre. In many ways Joey is the most rounded ‘character’ in the play, with all the other characters, even Albert, deliberately drawn in a one-dimensional, children’s story book fashion. This being the case, and with help from the remarkable and breath-taking puppetry which literally appears to bring the animal to life in front of our eyes, we see events unfold from the horse’s perspective, allowing a powerful message about the pain and futility of war to be be told in a way that is neither judgemental nor partisan. It works brilliantly.

If the horses and puppeteers are the real stars of this show, they are also wonderfully supported by a cast of over thirty actors and musicians. There’s a charming and heart-warming performance at the centre from Thomas Dennis’s Albert, and Bob Fox is also excellent as the folk singing, accordion playing chorus, hauntingly delivering John Tam’s beautiful folk songs as they introduce and link the narrative.

Adrian Sutton’s fine orchestral score is at times bucolic and nostalgic, at others discordant and visceral. It’s full of power and emotion and highlights the story and the drama in all the right places.

A great strength of this play is its innovative, unfussy, multi-media staging, with Rae Smith’s brilliant design and Paule Constable’s wonderful use of lighting seamlessly transitioning scenes from peaceful rural pastures to terrifying battlefields.

Much credit must therefore go to the Warhorse team and to the Brighton Centre for transforming the auditorium into a sympathetic space which works for the full scope and scale of the drama. This is a wonderful play, and these adaptations have ensured that it remains a truly immersive and genuinely theatrical experience for the Brighton audience.

Warhorse, plays at the Brighton Centre, to February 10, 2018.

For information about performances and tickets, click here:

BLAGSS celebrates 21 year anniversary in 2018

This year BLAGSS celebrate its 21 year anniversary with a number of events throughout the year, starting with the annual Ten Pin Bowling Extravaganza on Wednesday, February 28.

BLAGSS (Brighton Lesbian and Gay Sports Society) have been providing sporting and social opportunities in Brighton & Hove for the past 21 years.

As winter turns to spring and new year’s resolutions are broken our thoughts turn to trying to get fit, losing a kilo or two and starting something new. With over 400 members and up to fifteen different sports happening every week, there are plenty of opportunities to pick up a sport you used to play, try a new sport, make new friends and most importantly get fit.

Sports on offer include: badminton, tennis, petanque, running, table tennis, golf, football, squash and walking, with netball and croquet to be added in the spring.

With many members new to Brighton and Hove, BLAGSS is an ideal organisation within which you can make new friends.

For more information on BLAGSS, click here:

To contact BLAGSS, click here:

PREVIEW: LGBT+ and BAME works prominent in London Short Film Festival

London Short Film Festival (LSFF) announces its full 2018 programme, screening over 500 UK and international short films over 10 days, from January 12-21, 2018.

Tearoom
Tearoom

Now in its 15th year, LSFF is an established and important addition to the film calendar, bringing inclusive and ground-breaking film-making from a diverse range of backgrounds. And as a champion of diverse and inclusive film, LSFF continues to see a huge contribution from women, LGBT+ and BAME filmmakers. This year for the first time there will also be a programme led by and for the D/deaf community.

LGBT+ content this year is led by long time LSFF collaborators New Queer Visions.

Highlights include:

♦  Don’t Look Back in Anger, a programme of films looking at the nature of hate and positivity, with touching stories about queer characters dealing with ups, downs, and everything in between.
♦  Medium Rare, a programme of medium length short films exploring the mixed-up mind of an impressionable young man.
♦  Radical Softness Through a Haptic Lens, a retrospective of the works of Barbara Hammer, feminist filmmaker and one of the pioneers of lesbian film, and Chick Strand, avant-garde documentary filmmaker. The films examine the idea of ‘radical softness’ – the power that can be found in in being both abrasively feminine and openly vulnerable. Rare screenings of Superdyke and Soft Fictions will also be followed by a Skype Q&A with Barbara Hammer.
♦  Cruelty and Crime, showcasing key works of American writer Chris Kraus. “From feminist readings of Antonin Artaud to Cold War sleeper agents, via dominatrices and New York City crime scenes, these films are filled with humour, sexuality, abjection, metaphor, allusion, an insatiable curiosity and a Dadaist sense of provocation and absurdity.”
♦  Tearoom, a 2007 film by William E Jones reworking 1962 police footage of men cruising in a public toilet. The experimental video art project shows how surveillance is used as a blunt tool of oppression. The footage shown was eventually used as evidence to prosecute the men for sodomy and public deviancy.
Prior to the screening LSFF will also be showcasing Robert Yang’s software game The Tearoom, a cruising simulation made in direct response to the film. On first release the game fell foul of the censors, and so in a bold piece of satirical provocation Yang replaced all the penises with guns. The game was then successfully passed uncut.

Filmmaker Sam Ashby will also present a newly commissioned work in response to Tearoom, followed by a post screening discussion of the themes highlighted in the work.

A screening of one of the early films of Francis Lee, whose critically acclaimed full-length feature God’s Own Country was released earlier this year

BAME Highlights include: 

♦  Julie Dash’s ground-breaking 1991 film Daughters of the Dust, a multigenerational tale of black women from the Gullah sea islands struggling to hold on to their culture. In 2016 the film became an inspiration for Beyonce’s Lemonade tour.
♦  Taqwacore: The Birth of Punk Islam, a 2009 film synthesising an awe-inspiring consciousness of Allah with hard-core punk music and fusing Muslim and American culture. There will also be a panel discussion, Muslim Punk and the New Subculture, hosted by filmmaker Hammad Khan.
Hammad Khan’s Anima State, arguably one of the most important films to come out of Pakistan. The film is an uncomfortable, in-your-face examination of the country’s violence, to its apathy, and to its refusal to recognise its moral corruption in every single facet of Pakistani society.
♦ A focus on pioneer Ngozi Onwurah’s body of work which weaves autobiographical narrative with astute socio-political observation. The first Black British woman filmmaker to have a feature film released in UK cinemas, her legacy is celebrated with a screening of early works and a panel discussion.
The House is Black, a screening of the only known film by one of Iran’s greatest 20th century poets Farough Farrokazad. The film depicts an isolated community of lepers living in North-Western Iran, and is sound-tracked by a reading from the poet herself.

This year’s festival also sees another first with a premiere screening exclusively for D/deaf audiences, curated by LSFF’s Deaf Young Programmer Zoe McWhinney.

Save The Date, a selection of archive and contemporary short films, brings stories about D/deaf culture and experience to the screen. The screening, at BFI Southbank, will be fully supported by BSL interpreters, and films will include BSL dialogue, and/or subtitles.

For more information and a full events schedule click here:

THEATRE REVIEW: The Best Man @Theatre Royal

After making its UK premier at Theatre Royal Windsor earlier this month, Gore Vidal’s 1960 political satire, The Best Man, has landed at Brighton’s Theatre Royal on the second leg of its UK tour.

The plot revolves around the characters and ambitions of two very different fictional politicians vying for the Democrat nomination at the Presidential primaries in Philadelphia in 1960.

Martin Shaw plays ethical, educated William Russell. A one-time Secretary of State, he’s a polymath with a sharp sense of humour and a liberal approach to politics as well as to life. Above all he professes to be true to himself and to his values.

Russell goes head-to-head against the unscrupulous and highly opportunist Senator Joseph Cantwell (Jeff Fahey) a popularist whose focus on public opinion and the use of modern public relations techniques has helped him gain ground on his opponent though probably not enough ground to win the nomination.

Both candidates are out to secure the personal and public endorsement of Democrat Ex-President Hockstader (Jack Shepherd) at the convention.

But when Cantwell decides to introduce a devastating and underhand last-minute smear campaign against his rival, will Russell follow his own campaign manager’s advice and stoop to Cantwell’s level in order to achieve his own ends?

This is a beautifully written play. It’s psychologically thrilling yet playful, and stays dramatically compelling right to the very end. And it’s also very funny.

For me there’s more than a hint of Oscar Wilde in some of the play’s slick and witty dialogue, and at times it has the feel of one of Wilde’s congenial comedies of society as much as political satire. The set itself reminded me of a Victorian sitting room.

There’s also a Wildean vanity about some of the writing. It’s a showcase for the playwright’s cleverness and wit, and it’s not hard to see Vidal seeing himself in his portrayal of Russell as a self-assured, quick-witted, silver-tongued Renaissance man. Still it’s all highly enjoyable.

But beyond the cleverness and joviality this is a powerful, taut play which astutely deals with political machinations and more personal moral questions, all of which are as relevant today as they were when the play was written – perhaps even more so.

In this play Vidal’s characters are truly believable and in some cases perhaps recognisable, and Shaw, Fahey and Shepherd provide an outstanding trio of lead performances that convincingly bring the drama to life.

They are wonderfully supported by Honeysuckle Weeks as the ambitious, vain and comically shallow wife of Cantwell, and by Glynis Barber who, playing Russell’s long suffering, stoic but cuttingly sarcastic wife, gets some of the best one-liners in the play.

Dick Jenson and Don Blades are also excellent as the scheming campaign managers in opposing corners.

This play is a real gem – a stylish political thriller that’s engrossing and entertaining in equal measure and which remains as relevant today as it was when written over half a century ago.

Theatre Royal Brighton till 30 September.

For tickets and further tour dates click here:

 

Seafront Officers save swimmer in trouble off Hove beach

Brighton and Hove’s Seafront Officers have once again demonstrated their bravery and shown how crucial their role is after rescuing a local resident caught in strong currents  last Sunday, September 10.

Oscar Porras Perrez and Ryan Pook were alerted by one of the beach’s seasonal lifeguards who had seen the man and his partner entering the water on Sunday afternoon despite the fact that there was a red flag in operation.

Mr Porras Perrez swam through the heavy waves and round a hazardous groyne and, with the help of Mr Pook, brought the casualty safely out the water.

The resident received medical treatment once on shore and was then transferred to an ambulance for additional treatment and checks.

This rescue follows two weeks which have seen several major incidents and lives saved.

The city’s Seafront Officers are a vital year round resource for the beaches and waterfront and are supplemented by seasonal lifeguards who work from May to September.  

Commenting on the rescue, a council spokesperson, said: “We urge people to take caution on the seafront, especially when the conditions are rough. Even on a calm day sea currents, undertow or a sudden change in weather can create life threatening hazards without warning.

“Luckily in this case our seafront team were on patrol and their swift actions helped save a life.”

For more information about the City’s  Seafront Officers and how to keep yourself safe at the beach, click here:

 

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