BN1 Magazine June 2024

Brighton

Comedy

Garden feat. Josh Widdicombe

N Ext Generati On Neighb Ourhood

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CONTRIBUTORS:

STUART ROLT

ROSIE PALDI EDWARDS

DEAN HARRINGTON

EDITOR IN CHIEF: CHRIS SADLER

CHRIS@BN1MAGAZINE.CO.UK

EDITOR: STUART ROLT

STUART@BN1MAGAZINE.CO.UK

COVER:

BRIGHTON COMEDY GARDEN FEAT. JOSH WIDDICOMBE

NEWSDESK/ GENERAL ENQUIRES: INFO@BN1MAGAZINE.CO.UK

BN1 MAGAZINE

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LATEST NEWS

CELYA AB

GIRLI INTERVIEW

GRILLS (THEATRE)

QUIZ FACE - QUIZ WORD

RED TO ENTERTAIN AT THE I360

DJ PAULETTE

NOFIT STATE CIRCUS

ARCANIC EVENTS

RAYSTEDE ANIMAL WELFARE

DRUSILLAS PARK

PUPPY TRAINING ADVICE

EAST SUSSEX WILDLIFE RESCUE

AVOIDING WILDLIFE HARM

VISIT PETWORTH HOUSE

SUMMER IN THE LANES

NATURE AND MENTAL HEALTH

SUMMER RECIPES

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SUMMER OF CIRCUS RETURNS TO WORTHING

Bringing together a vibrant array of acts, Worthing And Theatre and Museums have announced a new Summer Of Circus programme for 2024. Performing at various locations throughout the town, some of the world’s best theatre, circus, street arts, music and dance artiste offer mesmerising indoor and open-air performances.

WTM’s CEO Amanda O’Reilly said: “Contemporary Circus has long been a passion for WTM. We love the spectacle, the incredible skills of the performers and the wonderful storytelling. This year, our nationally renowned Summer of Circus features incredible international performances from as far afield as America and Australia, as well as many of our favourite UK companies, several of whom are performing outdoor shows for everyone to enjoy, no tickets required. We all need more fun in our lives, to be awestruck and to make memories that will last a lifetime - that is what contemporary circus does.”

As a charity, WTM’s core aim is to enrich the community with exceptional arts and heritage opportunities. Since its launch in 2016, Summer of Circus has offered residents and visitors the opportunity to enjoy thrilling, innovative performances. To enable everyone to access the arts, and Summer of Circus has always provided free, outdoor street arts, clowning, acrobatics and aerial performances. There will be workshops on circus

skills and aerial dance, enabling the community to try new things. Additionally, WTM have programmed an outstanding series of ticketed events to give the feel of a big-top extravaganza all summer long.

WTM’s open-air events and free community workshops in Summer of Circus present a diverse array of inspiring circus acts all around Worthing. The charity engages the community in world-class arts and heritage opportunities year after year. Doing so in 2024 has been made possible by Nationwide Building Society and Chalk Cliff Trust.

WTM’s Head of Programming, Gemma Curtis said:

“Contemporary circus is wonderful, joyful, playful and engaging. I hope that WTM’s audiences will enjoy all that this season has to offer - and fall in love with the genre even more. Circus is a brilliant spectacle, with its ‘wow’ factor and impressive physicality of the performers. It’s also a brilliant vehicle for storytelling. Performances may have a full narrative, or just use music and have no words at all. It’s boundlessly creative.”

The festival begins on Sat 8 June, with an explosion of bright colour, silliness and cake from Levantes with High Tea (with a twist). On Sat 22 June, WTM will host a community workshop on circus skills with the Family Circus Day from Poi Passion

and Friends; drop in and try out juggling, plate spinning, hula hooping, and of course, poi dancing. On the same day, Casson and Friends will present their joyful interactive performance, Arcade Mini, outside the Pavilion, connecting with the community through their playfulness.

July is jam-packed with events starting with Brave Space from Aloft on Fri 12 – Sun 14, which invites the audience to engage physically and build a shared performance space together. WTM will be represented at the Broadwater Carnival on Sat 20 July by Dizzy O’Dare’s Phileas Fogg: Day 79, a whimsical, mobile take on the intrepid adventure in Around the World in 80 Days. Over in the Pavilion, Dummies Corp. are back on Sun 21 July with Trash Test Dummies Circus and their particular brand of slapstick circus comedy, plus a dump-truck full of hilarity. 5 Feet Long & Love is the Drug join the festival on Thurs 25 July with a heartfelt and brave piece, B.L.I.P.S. exploring the mysteries of mental health, told through beautiful imagery and circus virtuosity. On the final Saturday of July Mimbre will take centre ‘stage’ in Worthing Town Centre with their acrobatic and heart-warming piece Weight (Less).

There will be another great workshop on Sat 10 Aug, this time from the European Dance Festival giving a taster on

Aerial Dance where attendees will laugh, float, swing and fly together. There will also be more amazing outdoor performances from Pirates of the Carabina with their ingenious, mechanical Pirate Taxi, and the charming, yet ridiculous Everywhere’s a Beach from Hikapee, which is performed on a giant revolving beach parasol.

WTM rounds out the summer with a visit to Denton Gardens where Nikki & JD and Lost Dog Dance present Fireside, a dark and comedic retelling of Beowulf at sunset on Sat 8 September. Then, in the final festival piece WTM welcomes Kook Ensemble to the Connaught on Sat 21 Sept with their silent movie inspired Filibuster, exploring loneliness, hope and love through an ultimate blend of circus, theatre and thrill.

With a huge roster of contemporary circus to choose from there’s something everyone can enjoy.

O’Reilly added: “Don’t miss Brave Space by Aloft - it blew me away at the Edinburgh Festival last year. A small audience helps to construct a beautiful circus tent, stepping inside to watch the remarkable performances up close and personal - a beautiful and life affirming experience…”

You can see the full line-up, along with news and updates at www.wtm. uk/summer-of-circus

Brighton Comedy Garden returns this July!

Brighton’s biggest stand-up comedy festival lands in Preston Park next month! With an absolutely stacked lineup returning to the Big Top this summer; it’s not to be missed.

Huge names such as Sara Pascoe, Ross Noble, Phil Wang and Josh Widdicombe headline incredible bills featuring the finest comedic talent in the UK.

You can catch Taskmaster faves such as Mike Wozniak, Fern Brady, John Kearns, Sam Campbell, John Robins and Jamali Maddix alongside some of the most exciting up-and-coming acts including Jin Hao Li, Sharon Wanjohi and Fatiha El-Ghorri.

There’s even a smattering of Brighton’s local talent such as Maisie Adam, Jen Brister and Suzi Ruffell.

Arrive early to enjoy delicious food from the leading lights of the local food scene, as well as sampling your share of craft beers, bubbly, or even Brighton’s very own Brighton Gin.

Festival Director Cass Randolph says “We’re stoked to be bringing back the Big Top to host this year’s incredible acts; nothing beats the atmosphere inside a beautiful tent filled with audiences having the best time, the acts really feed off that energy too and give electric performances.”

Brighton Comedy Garden 3-7 July 2024, Preston Park, Brighton

Dot

Sheldon Timmy

Image by Lloyd Winters

Image by Lloyd Winters

THE SOUTH OF ENGLAND SHOW

7 - 9 June 2024

Returning for its 56th year, The South of England Show comes to Ardingly on Fri 7 - Sun 9 June. Organised by the South of England Agricultural Society, the beloved annual event invites visitors to immerse themselves in the charm and excitement of countryside rural industries and pursuits.

It promises a diverse array of attractions, including agricultural and equestrian displays, live entertainment, rural crafts, horticulture, and an abundance of food, drink, and shopping experiences for all ages. Highlights include the much-loved Atkinson Action Horses, renowned for their highenergy and breathtaking stunt shows led by the skilled Ben Atkinson. Attendees can also look forward to international showjumping, heavy horse displays, cookery workshops for kids, scurry-driving competitions, equine showing classes, and livestock competitions.

Corrie Ince, Show Director for the South of England Agricultural Society, said: “The South of England Show is a chance for visitors to see, meet, and learn from the farmers, landowners and craftspeople of our rural communities. There is a fantastic array of countryside activities going on in our region.”

A new Countryside Ring will showcase falconry, axe skills, ferret displays, and search-and-rescue dog demonstrations. The ever-popular Casablanca Steps will provide musical entertainment, while a vintage agricultural machinery ring, a mediaeval re-enactment zone, a British Army village, and more will add to the excitement.

For children, a special trail around the showground offers fun, free experiences, including educational activities about food production and the chance to meet our local emergency services. The sheep show promises laughter for all ages, and the Discover the Countryside area provides engaging content such as fly casting, sheep shearing and wool spinning.

Further additions to this year’s lineup include the Woodland Craft Area, featuring demonstrations in ancient skills, such as trug, stick, hurdle and basket making, hedge laying, and chainsaw carving. You can even make your own corn dolly.

For gardening enthusiasts, in addition to the opportunity to explore the garden design competition entries and indulge in shopping opportunities from nurseries and plant and equipment specialists, there will be a new Wildflower Garden offering a tranquil retreat to wander and enjoy. The Bees & Honey Marquee will provide live bee demonstrations, observation hides, and a showcase of local products.

Numerous street food areas, pop-up bars, cafes, the Grape & Grain Walk with local vineyards and breweries, and the new Gin Alley with locally distilled gins provide an extensive selection of food and drink options. Shopping enthusiasts can explore a variety of stalls, including country clothing, jewellery, pet accessories, and independent boutiques, with a dedicated Made in Sussex area showcasing fantastic items from local producers.

“Visitors will also get a chance to find out more about local and independent traders and discover many items that you just won’t see on the high street or online,” Ince continued. “Overall, the show provides the chance to support the British countryside, our charity work as an agricultural society, and enjoy a fantastic day out with the whole family.”

For further details and tickets, visit: www.seas.org.uk

MARK ALAN PHOTOGRAPHY

MARK ALAN PHOTOGRAPHY

CENTRAL PARK CIRCUS STREET BIG MARKET

Sat 13 July and Sat 3 Aug

Taking over Circus St on Sat 13 July and Sat 3 Aug, the Big Market is a one stop destination for local foodies, music lovers, treasure hunters, traders and community organisers.

It promises plenty of unique finds from talented local makers, free workshops throughout the day and a vibrant market atmosphere, where you can shop till you drop or unwind with delicious food & drinks.

Featuring sheltered stalls for a comfortable browsing experience, and the finest local businesses and artisans. With different pitches each month, from fabulous produce to unique art and crafts, this is the ultimate place to discover vintage treasures, records, ceramics, clothes, homeware, jewellery, candles, clothing, kids-wear and much more.

You can find out loads more on Insta @thebigmarketlondon

TASTE OF THE CARIBBEAN

Sat 22 June

A true food fiesta lands in Hove Park on Sat 22 June, promising to whisk visitors away to the sun-drenched islands of the Caribbean.

Picture this: you’re strolling through a lively street food market, where the mouth watering aromas of local delicacies like jerk chicken and coconut curry fill the air. It’s a true foodie oasis, a place where flavours dance on your taste buds and transport you to paradise.

But that’s not all! This international food fest is a cultural immersion that promises to

delight all your senses: Let the rhythmic beats of reggae, R&B, and Motown classics from the live music stage get your feet tapping. Sip on refreshing rum punch and other tropical libations that will transport you to island bliss. Bring your blankets and chairs for a family-friendly day filled with laughter and good vibes.

Whether you’re seeking a gourmet adventure or simply craving an unforgettable day of epicurean indulgence, this food festival promises to be a flavorful extravaganza like no other.

IRONCLAD CREATIVE WRITERS SPACE

This month you can enjoy two hours of free space to write in the company of other writers (and tea and coffee). Ironclad Creative are bringing The Writers’ Space to Brighton’s Jubilee Library on Weds 5 June and Moulsecoomb Library on Weds 12 June.

Produced in partnership with Brighton & Hove City Libraries and supported by Arts Council England, these writing retreats offer a quiet space to write, and prompts if you need them.

Ironclad Creative are also running their free online Writing

Sprints. You can join them every weekday morning (9am BST) for one hour of writing. Participants log into Zoom, maybe say a quick hello to a few writers in the room, then spend the rest of the hour writing in the virtual space (cameras can be on or off).

Hosted by Michelle, Andrew and Sophie throughout the week - this is a place to find community, accountability and some peer support while you write.

For more details on these events, or their writing hub and regular creative competitions, head to: www.ironcladcreative.org

Fri 14 June - Sun 14 July

A pop-up entertainment venue is coming to the centre of Brighton for a month of music, food and football. Taking over Valley Gardens, Central Park will offer a range of free and ticketed events for up to 2000 people, including big-name clubbing, live music and every game from UEFA Euro 2024.

Running on Fri 14 June – Sun 14 July, will feature the biggest screen in the south of England to show the biggest football event in Europe, with England games accompanied by banter and match analysis from genuine football legends like Paul Merson, Ian Holloway and Matt Le Tissier.

Central Park welcomes globallyrenowned clubbing brands Glitterbox on Sat 15 June and

Hospitality on Sat 22 June, each providing the best international DJs on a top-quality soundsystem.

On Sat 13 July, Rhythm Of The 90’s offers a 100% live, 7-piece band which brings to life all your favourite classic 90’s club bangers.

Music fans can also watch Glastonbury Festival on Thurs 27 - Fri 28 June, as Central Park provides the ultimate place to see the world’s biggest stars – and it’s only a bus ride home… This is going to be THE police to meet friends, party or just hang out and enjoy the unravelled vide.

www.entercentralpark.com

After months of speculation, the Prime Minister has called an election for Thurs 4 July. Now the country decides which direction it wants to take, in potentially the most important vote of a generation.

But are you able to participate? Will your voice be heard when millions of people go out and choose their representatives, or can those who make the big decisions ignore the needs of you and your community?

Registering to vote has never been easier. In the time it takes to make and upload a TikTok video, you can give yourself an opportunity to take part in the democratic process. Yet a lot of people simply don’t bother. Around 44 million people are estimated to be eligible to vote at this year’s May elections in England and Wales. Yet as many as 7 million people are either incorrectly registered or missing from the register entirely.

While it’s not as interesting as watching cat videos, we need to celebrate and take pride in our ability to be part of the democratic process, celebrate and take pride in being on the electoral register.

Amongst those becoming voluntarily disenfranchised are young people, ethnic

minorities, and the disabled – coincidentally the groups most frequently overlooked by politicians. So, elections are an important opportunity for people to have a say on issues which impact them. In these uncertain times, it’s becoming more important than ever that people are registered. Anyone who is not already registered at their current address and wants to cast a ballot in the general elections has Tues 18 June to apply.

There’s also a new voter identification requirement. Voters will need to show photographic ID at polling stations, which include passports and driving licences. If you don’t own acceptable documentation, free voter ID is easily available from your local council.

July is peak holiday time, and many students will be heading home from university, but there is still a way to get your voice heard while away from your constituency. It’s easy to register for an absent vote – which can either be posted or cast by proxy. The deadlines to apply for these are Weds 19 June and Fri 28 June respectively, and further details can be found at: www.eoni.org.uk/ Vote/Voting-by-post-or-proxy

Find out more about having your say at: www. electoralcommission.org.uk/voting-and-elections

EURO 2024 SCREENINGS COME TO AMEX STADIUM

This summer, there’s only one competition anyone is really interested in. It’s the first time the reunified Germany has hosted the tournament, and we can be cautiously optimistic about England’s chances of seizing glory. If you’re not making the trip over there, you can still enjoy an incredible atmosphere with a series of special screenings at Brighton’s American Express Stadium.

They’ll be showing all of England’s matches, where every goal, save, and celebration being cheered on in an electrifying atmosphere. The event is open to anyone over the age of 18 and entry includes a Piglets Pantry pie and a pint (or soft drink) on arrival. Entry

opens an hour and a half before kick-off and will close an hour after full-time. Tickets are nonrefundable. Private Packages are also available.

Whether you’re a die-hard football fanatic or just looking to soak up the atmosphere, the American Express Stadium’s Euro screenings are the ultimate way to experience the beautiful game. So, don your England colours, grab your family and friends for an unforgettable journey as the city cheers on our nation’s team.

TO VOTE VOTE

THE TREAS N SHOW

www.eventsatbhafc.co.uk/events

Photo by Connor Coyne

OLD MASTER COMES TO THE SEASIDE Rembrant Brighton Museum & Art Gallery

10 May - 4 August 2024

A timeless masterpiece by artist Rembrandt has been unveiled for the first time ever in Brighton, as part of a nationwide celebration of the 200th birthday of the National Gallery in London.

Self Portrait at the Age of 34, 1640 was painted by Rembrandt nearly 400 years ago and is considered one of his most beautiful and fascinating works of art. Inspired by the painting, a group of young people have produced self-portraits in a collaboration with Brighton Museum and national arts charity Photoworks which will be displayed alongside the Rembrandt.

“We are so excited to be able to display this wonderful masterpiece in Brighton Museum & Art Gallery for the first time ever,” said Brighton & Hove Museums CEO, Hedley Swain. “Rembrandt is one of the greatest artists in history and it is a privilege to be able to share it with everyone. Even better is that the painting has inspired young people to create their own artworks which will be displayed alongside the Rembrandt – an experience they will never forget.”

Rembrandt’s Self Portrait’s appearance in Brighton, which runs until Sun 4 Aug, is part of National Treasures, twelve exhibitions which opened last month, marking National Gallery’s 200th birthday. More than half the UK population will be within an hour’s journey of a National Gallery masterpiece.

Rembrandt Van Rijn (1606 –1669) was a Dutch, Golden Age painter, printmaker and draughtsman. In the striking self-portrait, the artist presents himself in a confident pose, dressed in expensive-looking fur, velvet and jewels but all is not what it seems. His sophisticated clientele would have noted that the painting style, colours and ‘trompe ‘l’oeil’ pose echo those in the earlier Renaissance paintings by artists such as Titian and Raphael.

Contemporaries would have known that his impressive costume is very old-fashioned. He is portraying himself as a Renaissance gentleman, dressed in the fashions from over a century earlier to pay homage and compare himself to the most famous artists of that earlier time. Rembrandt was projecting an image of himself as he would like to be perceived and claiming a much higher social status than artists had at that time.

artist Alejandra Carles-Tolra, the group has explored visual culture from the past to the modern age. They were challenged to express how they would like to be seen by their peers, when, like Rembrandt, they reach the age of 34.

The resulting images create an exciting dialogue between a long-dead old master and vibrant, young future talent. This innovative body of work compliments the Rembrandt painting and subverts and challenges the traditional conventions of self-portraiture. These new images examine visual culture and self-projection in not only the past and present, but also in a speculative future.

Like Rembrandt, the Photography Club participants who have produced the work shown alongside this self-portrait have also explored the themes of time travel, celebrity and selfprojection. Under the guidance of photographic

Photoworks Learning & Engagement Consultant Juliette Buss said: “We’re thrilled to have been able to collaborate with the museum and the National Gallery to create this opportunity for young people to work with an award-winning photographer and exhibit alongside Rembrandt. Their artworks create a powerful dialogue between past and present notions of representation.”

In addition to the exhibition, Brighton & Hove Museums is hosting a series of talks on the Old Master. The ‘Talking Rembrandt’ series features a range of expert speakers, and continues on Weds 12 and Weds 26 June at Brighton’s Old Courthouse. These will explore a range of subjects from self-portrait secrets to artist palettes.

For more details, visit: www.brightonmuseums. org.uk

CREATE MUSIC PARTNER WITH WEST SUSSEX MUSIC ON NEW MUSIC EDUCATION HUB

Following a successful application, Create Music, in partnership with West Sussex Music, have been appointed by Arts Council England to deliver music education across Sussex as part of the newly formed Sussex Music Hub.

Create Music, part of Brighton Dome & Brighton Festival, will be the Hub Lead Organisation. They’ll work with a network of 42 regional and national partners, including Glyndebourne, London Philharmonic Orchestra and local music and arts organisations such as Brighton Early Music Festival, to co-create a Local Plan for Music Education which offers music lessons and performance opportunities to every child and school in Sussex.

“We have a clear vision for music education in the region,” said Create Music Director, Peter Chivers. “We look forward to supporting music education and developing new musical opportunities and progression pathways for young people across Sussex.”

The £2.6 million funding award is part of a £101 million Music Hub Investment Programme, administered by Arts Council England on behalf of the Department for Education, to ensure every child in England has access to high quality music opportunities in and outside of school.

“The successful outcome of our joint funding bid with Create Music marks an exciting chapter for both our organisations,” said West Sussex Music CEO, James Underwood. ”We have a strong

history of collaboration, and I am confident that together we will improve outcomes for even more young people through music.”

The Sussex Music Hub will employ a targeted approach that identifies and responds to the needs of local schools and communities to deliver improved music education to children and young people across Sussex. The new Hub builds on Create Music and West Sussex Music’s long history of delivering high-quality music education to support a future where children and young people’s lives are forever transformed by the power of music, the value of belonging and opportunities without barriers.

Stewart Drew and Duncan Mackrill, Chair and Vice-Chair of Sussex Music Hub, said the area has a rich history of high quality music, musicians, organisations, venues and producers. ”Music services have evolved over the last decade from council led provision to being agile hubs that are increasingly more inclusive, diverse and industry focussed. This new partnership builds on the coming together of East Sussex and Brighton & Hove Hubs in 2020 to become Create Music, and means we can provide even more high-quality music opportunities to benefit children and young people across the whole of Sussex, cross pollinating our expertise and networks.”

www.createmusic.org.uk www.brightondome.org

Together Co to Launch Social Health Campaign with Mr Motivator

Brighton-based charity Together Co will launch The Campaign for Social Health with the help of fitness guru Mr Motivator at an event highlighting the benefits of community and connection.

Together Co, supporting lonely and isolated individuals, aims to make Brighton and Hove the Social Health capital of the UK during Loneliness Awareness Week. The event, The Motivational Experience, will be held at Horatio’s Bar, Brighton Palace Pier, on Friday, June 14. It focuses on improving social health by fostering connections and physical activity.

Mr Motivator will energise attendees with his enthusiasm, supporting Together Co’s mission to create life-changing connections. He emphasised the importance of holistic health, stating, “Your health and wellbeing is so important, not just your physical fitness and nutrition. It’s about taking care of your entire self, and that includes your social health.”

He added, “When we work with charities like Together Co, we’re not just helping others - we’re strengthening our own social connections. Social health lifts our spirits, keeps our minds sharp, and gives us the support we need to thrive.”

Social Health, essential for wellbeing, describes the quality of our relationships

and community connections. Despite its inclusion in the World Health Organisation’s health definition since 1947, it remains under-recognized compared to physical and mental health, impacting longevity and overall well being.

Together Co CEO April Baker shared, “Our dream is for Brighton and Hove to become the UK’s capital for Social Health. We have partnered with academic and social health expert Kasley Killam to understand what must be done to make a lasting difference.”

She continued, “Every day, we speak to people who are lonely and socially isolated. This lack of connection in society points to poor social health. We invite everyone to join us for a fun-filled day championing health and wellness.”

Anne Ackord, CEO of Brighton Palace Pier Group plc, said, “The pier has connected people for 125 years, making it the perfect venue for launching Together Co’s Campaign for Social Health with Mr Motivator. We look forward to a fantastic afternoon.”

More information and tickets for The Motivational Experience can be found at www.ogetherco.org.uk

FESTIVAL BRIGHTON BEER

Accompanied by A range of more than 60 craft beers and ciders, Brighton Beer Festival returns on Fri 28 - Sun 30 June. Taking over Victoria Gardens, in the centre of the city, this hugely popular event will again showcase some of the county’s finest brewers – assembling a tasty selection of pale ales, IPAs, Weissbier, stouts, porters, sours and lagers.

There’s also plenty of delicious nonalcoholic and soft drink offerings, together with live music, fabulous street food and exciting entertainment. Participants already announced for this keg-only event include Beak, Abyss, UnBarred, Silver Rocket Brewing Hassocks, Arbor, Deya and Thistly Cross, with new brewers being added all the time.

Adult tickets cost £10, which include a commemorative glass and guide for the festival, and there’s loads of offers for groups and beer tokens. Find out more at: www.craftbeerfolk.co.uk/brightonbeer-festiva

Fri 28 - Sun 30 June

Did we all survive May? Wasn’t it amazing?

I am still recovering from good times at the Brighton Spiegeltent, Fringe, Fools Paradise and seeing a show three times a day. Ah May, you get me every year. What a ride. Till next time…

BUT it’s not all gloom as now we are in June and ready to welcome in summer!

The weather will (hopefully) get better, we will all be enjoying sundowners on the beach and slapping on the factor 30 (safety first kids) as we bake in the heat (a girl can dream). I can’t wait for the smell of BBQs and the sounds of Fiveways hoovering their lawns. Bring on summer!

June also sees the return of The Book Festival - making the marginalised mainstream. Organised by Afrori books Founder, the brilliant Carolynn Bain with live events, online events and workshops from 18-23 June, get involved - www. brightonbookfestival.co.uk And remember to check out BARCA celebrating Black Culture with monthly events and mark your

diary for the Brighton BASH Carnival on 27 July - www.brighton-barco.org

As a reminder EVERYBODY is welcome to our Connected Brighton events, we are here to help you have the best experience in our city by supporting local, small and independent businesses. Check us out for all your social concierge needs, and if you are a brand looking to get on our top 100 businesses list then get in touch!

And a perfect chance to come and try us on for size is at our Summer Social on 20th June to celebrate our Connected100 brands with our Social and Business Club members. Join us for welcome cocktails from the fab Bloody Bens, food by Crocus Paella all served up on the sunny terrace at The Joker. Everybody is welcome! Just grab a ticket on our website or app and join in the fun to expand your network by supporting local with me, your friendly social city concierge.

See you in the sun Brighton, Love, Lyndsey

www.connectedbrighton. com

@connectedbrighton

OUTFIT @Emmaus

Emmaus, Drove Road Portslade

@outfitatemmaus

Open Tuesday - Saturday 9.30-5pm

01273 426 472 & 71 London Road

@outfitlondonroad

Open Monday - Saturday 10 - 6pm

Sunday 11 - 4pm

01273 457 960

Brighton Comedy Garden

CELYA AB

“We were just tired of baguettes,” Celya AB gently interjects, with a wry smile. I was curious why the comedian had originally abandoned the romance and divine splendour of the French capital for Birmingham’s numerous canals and its Curry Mile.

Now, I’m wondering if she’s embraced gentle sarcasm, the bedrock of British culture. “I’m from a small-town outside Paris. And the trajectory for someone from a small town outside Paris is moving to Paris and having a job there.” The attraction of our green and pleasant land was more driven by her obsession with music, TV and films from the UK and America, rather than the promise of rubbish weather and driving on the wrong side of the road. The visit was originally intended to last just a few weeks. “But it was that thing where you suddenly notice you’ve been somewhere for six months. I’ll have been here for ten years in October. That’s a long time.”

Celya is amongst the bill of stars performing at the Brighton Comedy Garden in the city’s Preston Park on Weds 3 - Sun 7 July. She’s clearly excited about returning to this travelling festival for a third time. “It’s one of my favourite gigs of the year.” It’s a diary highlight for many comedians – bringing together some of the nation’s biggest stars and the freshest upcoming talent. Over five nights and the weekend’s afternoons, a series of meticulously curated mixed-bill shows are being presented in a Big Top, attracting comedy fans from across the region. Highlights include Harry Hill, Josh Widdicombe, Dara O’Brian, the multi award-winning Sara Pascoe, BAFTA nominee Simon Amstell, Fern Brady and Taskmaster’s Sam Cambell, “It’s perfect timing as well. It’s the start of the summer. It’s got that ‘end of

By Stuart Rolt

a rom-com’ vibe to it. You show up knowing that you’ll have a really great time in the green room. It’s a bit what I imagine doing Glastonbury feels like.”

Her first brush with comedy was writing jokes, just for herself, as a child. “I think I got into stand-up because someone dared me to do it. I was so nervous and was for the first couple of years of being onstage. But I really loved the feeling when I got a laugh. From the first one I got; I knew it was what I wanted to do. I just had to go through the motions of getting confident on stage.”

As a live performer, she’s relaxed and intriguing. There’s no hurry to get gags out or tempt cheap laughs. Even the more physical jokes are offered with some restraint, while callbacks aren’t over-egged or signposted. Room is given for the occasional spot of whimsy, but without detouring into a logical culde-sac (or whatever the French call those). There’s a confidence and charisma as well; Celya is unafraid to offer vibrant imagery and take the audience on the occasional flight of fancy.

“That took a lot of learning. I had to de-romanticise performing because it is a craft. You get better as you do it and learn what works and doesn’t. You find what suits you and feels natural. When you first start doing stand-up, you have to figure out how to do it, whilst actually doing it. If bands could only learn the guitar in

front of people… I do think having the fight or flight response does make you catch up very quickly on what works or doesn’t.”

As the pandemic landed, Celya had started attracting attention and new talent plaudits, so it probably wasn’t the best time to endure any sudden career obstacles. “I’ve actually been really lucky. In lockdown I took a break, and it was good for me to have that time to miss stand-up and think about the relationship I have with it.” She took it as an opportunity to change her management and moved down to London. This all had the effect of sparking excitement for the live circuit again.

“It was almost a way of introducing myself to the scene, but after having done four years in the shadows. It’s been so valuable to build up who I am and my material, without the pressure.” She tells me there’s a big difference between the live circuit in the capital and out in the provinces. Outside London, there’s more warmth, and few are obsessed with ‘making it big’ – instead just focussing on creating the best work they can. “I feel really lucky that I got to learn there.”

One advantage with doing standup in the regions is that you’ll get paid gigs much earlier on. You can also find yourself gigging with established professionals much sooner. “There are ups and downs. You do get rough gigs. I’m learning now to not always be on guard, and relax into being more myself,

rather than worrying about someone heckling. You do surround yourself with stand-ups who haven’t done loads of TV. Meeting those touring comics was really inspiring, because you’re finding out how many ways there are of doing this.”

It gets me wondering how established France’s own stand-up scene is. Aside from Eddie Izzard and Mark Steel’s occasional shows, the only other comedy francophone I can think of is the mercurial Pierre Desproges, although he died in the 80s and I’ve only ever read about him. It’s odd knowing so little about somewhere only forty miles away from my house. Do their comedians just take the piss out of the Belgians? “Actually, we do it more with the French Canadians and the Swiss. Stand-up in France is relatively new. Before that, we’d have one-man shows. I used to watch a lot of sketch comedy, like Les Inconnus and Les Nuls on repeat.” From there, she started immersing in American stand-up. Until moving to the UK she didn’t really know much about our own homegrown comedians, beyond Dylan Moran of Black Books fame. “There were lots of sitcoms, I guess... Like Friends, or 30 Rock Tina Fey is amazing. She’s the best joke-writer. SNL as well, with Kristen Wiig. Really funny, quite expressive comedians with weird characters. I don’t really do that myself, but that’s what makes me laugh the most.”

Later in the summer, Celya makes the all but obligatory visit to Edinburgh Fringe with her new show, Of All People. Those unwilling to leave the south coast needn’t wait until she tours it nationally though. Celya is performing a special preview of the work alongside Rob Auton at Brighton’s Komedia on Mon 22 July. “I did a couple of dates in Brighton this year. It was my favourite place of the run. I love the city, so I’m glad to be back.”

She likes to think of her shows as albums. “I love the Arctic Monkeys, and all of their albums are so different. Alex Turner is a different person on each one. I love that so much, because their sound feels like home – but it also evolves and changes.” As with most conversations with comedians, it’s turned to music. The two practices are not dissimilar, both relying on rhythm and call-backs,

captivating by creating conflict and tension. Celya originally thought she’d turn out doing music, like her brother and father. “I used to play. Then I tried to learn the theory, and it felt like figuring out what was magical about music. I didn’t want to know why something made me feel a certain way. With comedy, there’s so many different variables. Like what room you’re playing, what mood you’re in, what the audience is like, so it’s always exciting. There’s always something to figure out, like a problem to be solved.” She’s actually started DJing at an indie night in London. It is interesting that the two things she likes doing most

involve her being alone and in control. “That’s something for the therapist,” she offers, with a big laugh.

Her writing process seems to be a mixture of both sitting down to write jokes and having those latenight flashes of comic inspiration. “I’ll have ideas for premises, so I’ll write those down. I also have my ‘YO! Sushi’ jokes, which are imagery or observations which aren’t good enough for a full joke, but good enough for what my friend Alex calls a ‘drive-by’. I’ll pick through those and add to them. There are so many different ways of writing, and I’m still figuring out what’s best for me.”

Numerous comedians have come here and fallen in love with British culture; yet remain bemused by its complexities. Which is obviously fertile ground for comedy. Although, Celya says it’s important to strike a balance between exposing the national eccentricities and finding more universal ground amidst love, life and happiness. She’s certainly toned down the wide-eyed Euro-visitor role in recent works. “I don’t want to be just ‘the French comic’. There’s an element of having to introduce yourself to British crowds. They’re very specific, and like you to acknowledge that you’re not British...I think it’s because the British think about the French more than we think about them. There’s almost a perfect length of

talking about it, and then moving on.”

If there’s one person who can offer the observations about somewhere, it’s an ‘outsider’. Visit anywhere, and the foreign bartenders, seasonal workers and service industry staff have the most objective insight. “I’ll let you into a secret. When you’re not from the UK, there’s a bond you have with the taxi drivers, where conversations generally revolve around the UK and British people. It’s almost like a little podcast studio that we have, where we’re talking about politeness and how bad the British are at dealing with their emotions.” I do start wondering if she’s messing with me again. Lord knows what our society looks like to visitors. The average Brit’s feelings are sandwiched between stoicism and toxic repression, steered by an often pathological need to be polite. We dislike eye contact or invading people’s personal space. There’s also rampant binge drinking, dark humour, complaining and incessant commenting on the weather to avoid any uncomfortable silences.

“There’s nothing wrong with small talk,” says Celya. “But there is a lot of NOT talking about your emotions. What’s that thing? ‘Keep calm and carry on’? Actually… have an emotion and pause for a moment. It’s interesting though, as a foreigner I think people tend to open up to me way more. It’s quite sweet really. They’ll then go back to their British friends, and it’ll be like: ‘I’m fine. Let’s get a pint!’ But…I know your feelings. I know your secrets…”

Celya AB is performing at Brighton Comedy Garden, which comes to Preston Park on Weds 3 - Sun 7 July. She also previews her new show, Of All People, at Brighton’s Komedia on Mon 22 July.

www.brightoncomedygarden. co.uk

Countess Luann:

Marry F Kill!

Wed 5 Jun

Concert Hall

Richard Thompson

Thu 6 Jun

Concert Hall

Troy Hawke: The Greeters Guild

Fri 7 Jun

Concert Hall

Ed Gamble

Thu 13 Jun

Concert Hall

Julian Clary: A Fistful of Clary

Fri 14 Jun

Concert Hall

Kerry Ipema & KK

Apple: Six Chick Flicks

Sat 15 Jun

Corn Exchange

Brighton Dome Summer Comedy and Music

London African Gospel Choir

Reimagine

Paul Simon’s

Graceland

Sat 15 Jun

Concert Hall

Dome Studio Live

Fri 21 Jun

Studio Theatre

Chris Fleming: On Stage

Sat 22 Jun

Corn Exchange

Punt & Dennis: We Are Not a Robot

Sun 23 Jun

Corn Exchange

Ed Byrne: Tragedy Plus Time

Wed 26 Jun

Corn Exchange

Sam Campbell

Wobservations

Sat 29 Jun

Concert Hall

Jon Hopkins

Thu 25 Jul

Corn Exchange

BN1 CHATS WITH GIRLI ABOUT THE NEW ALBUM MATRIARCHY AHEAD OF BRIGHTON PRIDE

North London Pop princess Milly Toomey or better known as GIRLI, has been hard at work creating her new album Matriarchy which came out last month. The album is made up of 14 tracks, which follows GIRLI’S emotions grappling with breakups, ending friendships, moving houses - basically some of the most stressful things for a young person to do in their life as stated by good old Wikipedia. On top of releasing an album, GIRLI has often been outspoken and voiced her passion for feminism, queer representation and socio-political issues. Which is why it comes to no surprise that GIRLI launched the Girliverse, her very own digital world centred around a Barbie looking dreamhouse called the ‘Matriarchy Mansion.’ In this dreamy digital location you can explore and learn about the vast history of art, books, science, technology and more created by women and LGBTQ+ people. This space was created by GIRLI to be used as a matriarchal utopia and safe space for people to escape to, whether it's online or at one of her shows. To put it simply in GIRLI’s own words the space is for “anyone who’s been fucked over by the patriarchy.” So BN1 sat down with GIRLI to talk about how she used her latest album to process all the changes in her life. From discussing coming into your own, being open with mental health, to fan encounters and what she wants people to take away from her music.

How did the new album Matriarchy come to fruition?

To be honest, the thing about this album that was different to maybe other projects in the past was that I didn't go into it thinking, I'm going to write an album now. I was just writing songs about what I was going through at the time, my life kind of had a big upheaval. I had a big breakup, then I had a big friendship end and then I was asking so many questions about myself and at the same time I was moving house, so much was happening at the same time. For me, songwriting is kind of like journaling so I was like okay, this is how I'm gonna process what's happening, I'm gonna write songs and then it just sort of turned into an album. Within a six month period I made maybe 30 songs, but ended up using 14. I think it

sort of became an album after it was written in a way.

Are you excited to release your music and see peoples reactions to all your hard work?

Oh my god, yeah. I'm so excited for it to come out. I think there's two parts of being an artist. The songwriting part that's very cathartic and it's the writing of it and then it's the releasing and having other people sort of feel healing feelings from your song, It's kind of like there's that extra

helped me come to terms with my sexuality or, helped me to leave a toxic relationship’ or maybe one of my songs gave someone the ammo they needed to step into a new chapter, that always feels very rewarding.

You obviously aim to inspire and give people confidence with your music, which I love, so I am intrigued to know who inspires you when making music?

I feel like musically, because all of the songs I've released throughout

part. I'm so stoked for people to hear them and be like “Oh my God, I relate to this, because this is happening or this reminds me of this time.” You know, they like to attach their own narrative that relates to them and to the song, which I love. I love that about music in general.

What's some of the most interesting things people have said to you about a song that's had a big impact on them?

The most amazing stuff. I mean, I get loads of DMs about people going through tough times and finding certain songs that really helped them through. I speak to a lot of fans after shows and they tell me their stories. I think one that quite a lot of people have shared with me, which makes me so happy is they're like, ‘this song

By Rosie Paldi-Edwards

of felt like “oh this feels right!” I've struggled so much in the past with writer's block or with getting stuck on songs or redoing them and redoing them and changing lyrics until it's just kind of defunct. Then with this album, everything just flowed so easily. All the songs that made it to the album were the first vocals from the day and all of the writing stayed the same. It just happened in the moment and it was kind of magic. It definitely didn't feel like a difficult writing process at all, which is how I feel like all of the songs that have been my favourite that I've released they've all been effortless in that way. I'm not really a big fan of going in and reworking and reworking songs, I feel like it kind of just sucks the soul out of me.

What are you going to do with the 15 songs that didn't make the cut?

my career have been so sonically different, I feel like the thing that stayed kind of central is the lyricism and the messaging. The sound has always changed and gone on a bit of a journey. I was really into the Boy Genius album and Moona. I was listening a lot to Kacey Musgraves, love her! I also like listening to Troye Sivan. I love this artist called 070 Shake and I feel like a lot of the time it might just be like, oh, that one song from that artist inspired those drums.

Following on from musical inspirations, how was your process for getting this album together? Did you have any difficult bits where you're struggling to finish songs?

I think amazingly this was the first time I didn't have that when making music. That's why it kind

I'm kind of like okay, cool, they're just gonna stay in my own personal collection. When I make the next record, I'll just be writing loads more again and every time I write a song, I want to write a better one than the last. All of the songs that I really wanted to make it onto the album, they did. Initially it was going to be 13 tracks, but then there was this one song that I was like this has to be on as well. I think the ones that didn't make it, there was a reason for it. I do like to sometimes leak little bits of songs sometimes to my discord or my Patreon, but I don't feel sad about those ones not making it.

What is one of your favourite songs from the album that you’re most excited to put out there for people to listen to?

There's a song called Overthinking on the album. I'm really excited for that one to come out. I think it's very different sonically, I don't think I've really released a song like that before. It's like an open monologue about mental health and I'm stoked for people to hear that one!

What sort of message or emotions are you trying to convey with your latest album Matriarchy?

I think that the songs on their own communicate a feeling of healing and Coming into your own and, you know, like vulnerability being

a strength. I hope that the songs kind of empower people and they can relate to them and make them feel less alone.

The concept of matriarchy as a whole, what I wanted to achieve with the visuals and the title and everything around it like the shows I'm doing, the videos and I also have this website called the Girliverse. It is all to do with community and bringing people together and I guess redefining matriarchy in a sense. It's not just to do with women, it's about anyone who's been fucked over by the patriarchy, so you know that's LGBTQ+ people, that's women, that's anyone really. I just want it to feel like a safe space whether that's a physical space, like at one of my shows or an online space or like just a mental headspace where people can listen to my music and they can just feel like they can escape everything for a bit.

I love the style and worlds you create with your visuals. Do you have any more in the works and what's your philosophy around making videos to pair with your music?

There's another music video that's coming out for my song Feel My Feelings which comes out when the album comes out, I'm really excited about it. It's very much in that matriarchy world, kind of futuristic renaissance queer vibes. I worked with this amazing video director called Cassandra Powell, who I've done videos with before. I love the visuals being a very collaborative process.

All of the ideas for the videos and the visuals start with me. I do mood boards and I kind of come up with concepts and then I've been so lucky to work with some amazing creative directors and video directors for this project. I worked with this amazing photographer and director called Claren Chong. She really took some of my ideas for Matriarchy and just ran with them. She shot the album cover as well, we had so much fun doing that, we also did the Matriarchy video together and “Be With Me” and the “Nothing Hurts Like a Girl” video.

Have you played Brighton Pride before and is there anyone you're particularly looking forward to seeing this time round?

2022 I played on the ALT stage. It's literally always such a hoot. I love the vibes, I love that It's kind of like a festival, so I'm stoked. I mean any Pride event is always just fucking great. Peaches,100%. So excited, I've seen Peaches before, so it’s unreal the fact that i'm playing on the same stage as her, it's such a moment! Really, really excited to see her and then Girls Aloud will be an Iconic moment too.

Matriarchy is out now at www.girlimusic. com

Tickets for Pride: www.brighton-pride.org

Girli Plays Pride on Sunday 4th Aug

IMAGE © CLARY N CHONG

BN1 chats with MIRRORBALL Theatre Company ahead of their show GRILLS

Four self-proclaimed queer nerds on a mission to unearth a forgotten gem in Camden’s LGBTQIA+ history.

In Aug 2022, we discovered a video about the Camden Lesbian Centre and Black Lesbian Group (CLCBLG), featuring an archivist from the Glasgow Women’s Library discussing a centre that had existed on Phoenix Road behind Euston from 1985 to 1995. Despite being Camden locals and having filmed a performance about queer protest and spaces, we were surprised we’d never heard of it. We’re queer theatre-makers, so we wanted to respond creatively: we applied for the Camden NoW! Commission, a theatrical bursary granted by the Camden People’s Theatre and The Old Diorama Arts Centre. Our aim was to create a piece of work for the stage about the CLCBLG; we were thrilled to win and subsequently embarked on a two-year journey we could not have imagined.

We spent that summer deep-diving into the Centre. We visited the Glasgow Women’s Library, where the CLCBLG archive was held, feverishly exploring reams of newsletters, flyers, typewritten meeting minutes, and collages about Queer events. We discovered a treasure trove of joy and pain, and how giants on whose shoulders we now stand fought doggedly for the rights enshrined in our current legislation. They fought for recognition of the many forms of oppression and simply also for space in which oppressed people could exist. But now many of their stories have been all but forgotten.

For 10 years, at the Centre, you could find groups like GEMMA, supporting disabled lesbians; Zammimass & Young Zamis, for radical Black lesbians; Shakti Khabar, the South Asian Lesbian and Gay Network’s newsletter; Onyx for socials and discussions among “Black Lesbians and Lesbians of Colour”; and numerous events, socials, and support groups for mothers, unwaged people, survivors, and those still closeted. Even the preservation of these archives in Glasgow, 400 miles away from their original home in Camden, felt like an act of protest in itself. We discovered casual uses of phrases often considered “contemporary” (such as intersectionality, men who have sex with men, and Women of Colour), and realised that the idea of these concepts as politically vogue results from the invisibility of histories such as CLCBLG’s. Where would society be if there had been space to transmit these histories and words of protest, or to display these archives proudly where they were made? If this was what was saved – what have we lost?

Reading the archives, it all felt so tangible. Thirty years ago, for a whole decade, there was a building where queer women could sit to drink tea, play pool, read, and eat a free lunch while talking about radical inclusivity with others who shared their experience. Now, thirty years later, we were holding physical evidence, learning for the first time about a building in North London full of friends. Communicating the same

Image credit: Harry Elletson

messages now would require only a digital click, but we no longer have the tea, pool table, or community space. There is greater clarity of communication in a digital world, but there is also less texture, less quality.

Despite the rise of digital connection, increasing loneliness is often cited as a global pandemic (exacerbated by an actual global pandemic); the need for physical contact with our communities seems clear. The joy we felt at being able to touch these objects from the past inspired a question: is the closing of cultural and community venues for marginalised communities literally a kind of sensory deprivation, as well as a historical loss?

For the Queer community, venues are not just social: they are community hubs where individuals can be themselves, discover their history, and explore new creative expressions. Safe spaces are vital to LGBTQ+ culture and politics yet face significant challenges to remain open. Although London is known for inclusivity, figures from the Greater London Authority show that around 60% of LGBTQ+ venues in the city have closed since 2002, leaving only about 50 (source Evening Standard). For lesbian venues, the situation is even more dire, with only one dedicated lesbian bar in London - which increased to two in 2024 with the opening of La Camionera (still only the fourth Lesbian-specific bar in the country).

It is not all bleak; lesbian nights and culture still exist, and in some areas are actually on the rise. This renaissance, however, has faced criticism for lacking inclusivity, particularly towards Lesbians of Colour. Many of the new events and spaces have predominantly White organising teams and overshadow long-standing events run by Lesbians of Colour, which continue to struggle for mainstream recognition. This is reflected at the celebrity level in the high visibility of figures like Reneé Rapp, Kristen Stewart, and Billie Eilish compared with a lack of well known, openly Queer women from the Global Majority. In an article by Cosmopolitan, a spokesperson for the Pop-Up Dyke Bar acknowledged the foundational work of earlier dyke events, highlighting the contributions of Bristol Butch Bar and Wet London. These were pioneering events which provided valuable guidance on organising inclusive and values-driven nights without charge, and underscored the importance of recognising and valuing QTIPOC history within the lesbian community.

So now there are dual challenges; combatting the fact that there are so few spaces carved out for Queer women overall, and working to ensure that those spaces are truly inclusive. Intersectionallyoppressed groups can too easily be sidelined, even within an already marginalised demographic. Amid governmental indecision on the conversion therapy ban and the politicisation of trans rights, groups like The Dyke Project have emerged, organising counter-protests in solidarity with trans communities. The Pop-Up Dyke Bar highlights a rise in transphobic attempts to restrict terms like ‘lesbian’ and ‘dyke’ to cisgender women, emphasising their commitment to challenging this narrative. They dedicate their dyke bars to being inclusive, safe, and fun spaces for transfem, transmasc, non-binary, intersex, and cis dykes, welcoming anyone who identifies with dyke culture and respects the community's diversity. Similarly, SHE Soho provides a trans-inclusive safe space, standing in opposition to groups like The Lesbian Project (which advocates for trans-exclusionary "single-sex lesbian social spaces"). Tina Ledger, SHE Soho’s PR manager, said in an article for Pink News, “We do not agree with these women’s views, and our full support is with the trans community.”

If you’re not directly affected, it’s easy to think “well, it takes time, but surely it’s improving”. But is this the case? Thirty years ago, we had a centre in London dedicated to queer women; now, we don’t. And government attitudes sometimes seem to be regressing: UK arts and culture institutions were highly represented at this month's Great Futures Trade and Business conference where Oliver Dowden, Deputy Prime Minister, led a 300+ delegation to the Saudi flagship event in Riyadh where homosexuality is still a criminal offence. This led to accusations of ‘art-washing’: allowing Saudi investment in arts to camouflage their poor human rights record. Further, despite a decade-long exponential boom in representation, Queer British artists are consistently underpaid, their performance spaces are repurposed as offices, and they experience increasingly precarious socio-economic environments (particularly those within multiple oppressed groups).

Dykes were instrumental in the most radical protests in the 80s and 90s - abseiling from the balcony of Parliament, chaining themselves to cameras during a BBC 6 o’clock

News live broadcast, and forming the anti-nuclear RAF Greenham Common peace camp. Yet the surviving centres and clubs from the 80s are operated by and serve mostly gay, White, men. If it has never been easier to access lesbian history, why is it still so difficult to see it publicly? Where are the exhibitions? Where are the walls of framed news articles? And why were the lesbians in the movie "Pride" mainly used for gags?

Our discovery of the CLCBLG women immersed us in this protest and their desire to be intersectional. Exploring the archive, however, we also found examples of institutionalised racism and a constitution that flip-flopped between accepting “women born as women” and excluding “constructed females.” Seeing even a snippet of their debates around this – the redactions, photographs, and hand-scribbled notes - you have to wonder: where would these conversations be now if this centre had continued to exist, allowing the dialogue to continue and progress? Would we be facing a nationwide rollback of the Gender Recognition Act, Section 28-style gender and sex education policing, and public claims from our Secretary of State for Business and Trade—Kemi Badenoch that the UK has not profited from slavery or colonialism? Where would we be if this centre had continued to thrive and if radical queer women had continued to have a space to organise?

From our research we have developed a new piece of theatre. Our play GRILLS confronts the parallels between the 80s and 2024: the rise of fascism, the policing of LGBT+ rights and the closing of essential community spaces, and asks what we miss by being unable to gather freely, then and now. Interrogating the structures that govern public services and the silencing of marginalised groups, GRILLS is a show about intergenerational queerness. We hope that in our research, and this subsequent piece of new writing - which we are delighted to be performing as part of the Camden Roar Festival - will go some way to imagining a better future, where everyone has a voice.

www.cptheatre.co.uk/whatson/grills

GRILLS will be performed at the Camden People's Theatre from 4th June to 22nd June 2024.

DOWN

1. Which Edwards Hopper painting was one of the influences Ridley Scott used for the style of the film?

3. Which dystopian city is Blade Runner set?

4. GO TO PAPER ANIMAL what animal has been made out of paper?

5. What was the name of the composer of the film who just won an oscar for best original score for Chariots of Fire?

7. GO TO LOGO 2

9. What year is Blade Runner set?

10. GO TO QUIZ FACE OFF

11. Alan E. Nourse wrote a novel in 1974 called The WHAT which was also bought by Ridley Scott for the film?

12. Fill in the blank to this Blade Runner quote “All those BLANK will be lost in time, like tears in rain.”

15. Fill in the blank to this Blade Runner quote “You’re watching television, suddenly you realise there’s a WHAT crawling on your arm?”

17. Who wrote the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep which the film is based on?

18. The music sitting on Deckard’s piano is a Concerto in D major for Guitar, Strings and Continuo written by which famous Italian composer?

QUIZWORD

The Quizword is like a crossword but a little bit more trivia based. Once completed, the letters in the pink boxes spell out a CODEWORD when rearranged. When you have figured it out email us at prizes@quizface. co.uk FOR A CHANCE AT WINNING THIS MONTH’S PRIZE!

ACROSS

2. Deckard finds one of the replicants Zhora as an exotic dancer in which bar?

6. The CS-80 synthesiser was an instrument heavily used in the soundtrack for Blade Runner, which company made it?

8. GO TO LOGO 1

13. What is the name of the orchestra who will be performing the music of Blade Runner live at the Brighton Centre?

14. What is the name given to the style of Japanese paper folding seen in the question Paper Animal?

16. What was the name of the corporation that was a hightech firm primarily focused on the production of androids known as replicants.

18. GO TO WORDOKU

19. GO TO MAGIC EYE

WORDOKU

Fill out the grid using the letters above each Wordoku. The letters in the pink boxes will make up a word relating to something in Blade Runner. (18 ACROSS)

LOGO

Here are two brand logos that feature in the film Blade Runner however we have changed thier brand name to Quiz Face. Can you name the brands?

MAGIC EYE

Solve the Magic Eye to see what word is being spelt out. (19 ACROSS)

QUIZ FACE OFF

WWhich Bladerunner character are we covering with our Quiz Face? (Fun fact the picture taken from this orchestra’s Royal Albert Hall performance)

LOGO 1 (8 ACROSS) LOGO 2 (7 DOWN)

SOULFUL POWERHOUSE RED TO ENTERTAIN 450 FT ABOVE BRIGHTON BEACH

Red, the sensational singer-songwriter who is taking social media by storm by racking up 1.2m followers and 20m views on one-video alone, is set to ascend to new heights by performing 450ft above the iconic shores of Brighton Beach. Pencilled for Fri 26 July, this exclusive event will see Red entertain guests during a unique Sky Dining experience at Brighton i360.

Born and bred in the heart of Glasgow, Red now resides in Kent. Her journey from performing in supermarket trolleys as a young child to sharing the stage with icons like Andrea Bocelli has been nothing short of extraordinary.

Red's big break came when she mesmerized audiences across Europe by performing alongside Andrea Bocelli. This experience not only gave her the electrifying rush of performing to thousands, but also propelled her onto the global stage.

"The recognition I received from Andrea Bocelli's team was a defining moment for me," says Red. "It held personal significance because my dad was a huge fan of Andrea’s work, and he is sadly no longer with us. Being given the opportunity and trust to perform alongside Andrea on a European tour was an honour. Standing in a stadium next to such an icon and receiving applause from thousands is every artist's dream."

After the European tour, Red graced the stages of both the Queen's Platinum Jubilee and the King’s coronation alongside artists such as Diana Ross, Ed Sheeran, Alicia Keys, Lionel Ritchie and Katy Perry.

In a remarkable move, Red is set to perform solo within the glass enclosure of the Brighton i360. As the pod ascends to a breathtaking height of 450ft, guests will enjoy an exclusive 'Evening with Red' experience, promising an unforgettable night filled with mesmerizing music, tasty food and spectacular views.

From hen parties to anniversary getaways, Red's connection to Brighton runs deep, making the i360 event a dream come true.

"Over the years, I've had the pleasure of visiting Brighton on numerous occasions. Early in my career, I performed in one of its venues while providing backing vocals for John Newman.

By Laura Pauley

So, participating in this event feels like a long-awaited opportunity for me. I have a deep affection for Brighton. it's truly one of my favourite places. The pier's ambiance reminds me of fun holidays in Santa Monica; it exudes a blend of sophistication and British charm. And let's not forget the fish and chips - nothing quite compares!"

I also attended a friend's hen party and celebrated my five-year anniversary with my fiancée in the city.

For Red, Brighton holds a special place in her heart, having celebrated milestones and created cherished memories within its vibrant streets.

“The Brighton i360 pod has always caught my eye; it's an incredible feature in the skyline.

Despite her fear of heights, Red is determined to deliver an unforgettable experience for her fans. “I do have a slight fear of heights, but I am excited to perform as the glass pod moves into the sky and the phenomenal view unfolds around me. It’s incredibly iconic! I also love the fact that I’ll be walking around the guests and able to interact personally with new people and potentially some fans – what an experience that will be!” From soulful ballads to infectious dance beats, Red's performance will cater to every mood, ensuring a night to remember for all in attendance.

“As the evening unfolds, guests can expect a curated mix of my most beloved covers and TikTok sensations, as well as some original music too,” she says. “I will verymuch be reading-the-room with this performance, basing my song selection on reactions to certain tracks. I will likely start off with some relaxing music, and then as the drinks start flowing and the vibes increase, I can move on to tracks such as Whitney’s “I wanna dance with somebody”, and hopefully by the end of the night we will finish with some “Free from desire” vibes. It will certainly be a night to remember.”

Red performs an exclusive Sky Dining show at Brighton & Hove’s i360 on Fri 26 July. For tickets and more details on this once-in-a-lifetime musical journey visit:

www.brightoni360.co.uk/tickets/skydining-with-red

Everybody Is Welcome

By Stuart Rolt

From the early days of UK club culture to the biggest stages in the world, DJ Paulette is unadornedly a pioneer. Hers is an authentic story which helped shape modern British culture. A titan of the house music scene, she’s won numerous honours over a career lasting three decades, not least DJ Mag Lifetime Achievement award in 2022. She found fame DJing at Flesh, a weekly night at Manchester’s Haçienda – at a time when Section 28 was fuelling all kinds of new problems for the LGBTQ community. From the hippest labels to the inception of Channel 4, via London and Paris, she’s inspired legends and thrilled millions. But that’s quite enough superlatives for now.

She’d been buying records long before becoming a DJ, accumulating a collection of tunes nobody else had. Paulette puts that down to the main reason for her first proper booking - spinning funk, soul, hip hop, disco and house at Manchester’s Number 1 Club, although she'd long been a face on the Manchester club scene through modelling and dancing. “I’d never DJed before and didn’t have any equipment. I could have said ‘no’, but I didn’t… because I love music, nightclubs and people. The combination was there. I've been a singer and love performing. DJing was just a way of performing, which wasn’t singing, but did the same thing. I could entertain and make people dance. And I like making people dance. That’s who I am. There’s no other agenda for me.”

She’s intently kept pushing house music forwards, when a lot of other contemporaries are leaning into the lucrative heritage circuit. She has no problems with that scene, but isn’t enamoured by playing retrospective sets packed with bangers from a different generation. “It’s really dangerous to get stuck in that ‘all our yesterdays’ thing. It’s 2024. I’ve never stopped DJing. I didn’t take a hiatus and suddenly come back. I’ve seen it change from being vinyl led to digital. I have zero interest in playing just back-to-back heritage sets. I can do it, and there is a place for it.” But even when playing shows celebrating her time at the Hacienda, she’s mixing in upfront sounds. “Most of the people in front of the decks aren’t even 30 years old, so it’s meaningless to them. Why would I play a load of old tunes that they don’t care about? They might hear a Chaka Khan record and think she’s sampled something which was made in 2022! I play for everybody, not just those who came to see me all those years ago. There’s a responsibility to be relevant and up-to-date.”

When she was called in to provide an Essential Mix for Radio 1 last year, she offered up a thumping selection of tunes bridging a connection between the sweaty warehouse days of the last century with the most up to date sounds. You can honour the old school without being cheesy, apparently. While Paulette can honour the forefathers and foremothers, she says it’s important to highlight that there is a future. “I keep an ear to the old-school, as this music and culture did come from somewhere, but it’s also

DJ Paulette

going somewhere. It’s not just stuck in the past. Otherwise, we’d all be stuck in a museum, and that would be the end of it.” She’s happy to talk about past masters like Frankie Knuckles, Ron Trent, Kevin Saunderson in the same breath as Leftwing, Carly Wilson and DJ Minx.

I try to get her to narrow down her sound a little, in the vain hope of pigeonholing what she does. Are there any flirtations with the increasingly tougher tech house sounds which are now dominating festivals? “It’s not really tech anything! It’s all just house. If you look at Armand Van Helden, Josh Wink, Masters At Work, Roger Snchez… They were all making really solid, chunky beats. That’s where house was; and is.” Those producers have been a constant influence, throughout her career, and across the wider music scene. She points out that Todd Terry’s beats can still be heard, in some way, throughout modern club tunes. It’s all house music. And that’s what she plays.

The philosophy around her craft is fairly simple. “I want to make people get out of themselves for an hour or two, and to have a good time. If I want to be clever, I’ll write,” she says with a chuckle.

“That’s when I stretch the brain. But when I’m playing music, I come at it from a more emotional place. It’s out of the head and into the heart.”

Her ambitions seem to revolve around bringing everyone together for a great time. The approach to playing music unites tracks which are physical and spiritual, all of it able to move a crowd. From a tearing techno track to a dark and bluesy thumper, if it provokes an emotional response she’s going to play it.

This summer, she’s bringing her trademark style to Brighton Pride’s FABULOSO in the Park, firing up its huge Dance Tent for a third time. She’s got strong links with the charity, having known Dulcie Danger (who works behind the scenes there) since the 90s. “When I got chosen to do the

Saturday nights at The Zap, she was my warm-up.” The local legend also gets her own section in Paulette’s recent book, Welcome to the Club: The Life and Lessons of a Black Woman DJ.

I’d increasingly been having conversations about how many areas of our culture are dictated by, and tend to venerate, white, straight men. Disappointingly, for all its pretences to equality and unity, dance music is no exception to the issue. When I started looking deeper into the issue, in some attempt to get my head around it, Paullette’s biographical account was the first search result of real relevance. So, here we are…

She’s a great interviewee. Knowledgeable to an almost obsessive degree, patiently explaining when I’m slow to catch on, calmly forthright and quick to laugh. And that’s lucky because I’m clearly not immune to the twisting of history. I was sure Paulette and Dulcie played regular Friday nights at Brighton’s legendary Zap Club (big shout to the cloakroom crew…). In my defence, it was three decades ago, and I didn’t document anything back then.

“People talk about Red, which was Eric Powell and Carl Cox’s night, which WAS on the Friday, or about Coco Steel & Lovebomb on the Saturday, who I took over from... But no one ever talks about my night! And it was packed! I’ve got the pictures and the fliers and everything, but it’s just something that’s been erased. It’s the same as the Hacienda. I’d be there every week, but nobody talks about it.” The book rebalances the scales between the most celebrated superstars and those who have been overlooked. It’s not necessarily rewriting history but giving it a confident nudge back on course. There are a few tough life lessons, several instances of intolerance, plenty of humour and an overriding message of optimism.

Through the pages of Welcome To The Club, Paulette has stuck a flag in the ground and endeavoured to tell the wider story of the last truly great British cultural phenomenon – not least the women DJs, club promoters and tastemakers who made an unspoken impact. “It was massively important to talk to all the people in that book. Not because it’s just a ‘name-dropping clang-fest’. My story is part of a lot of others. I’ve had the benefit and good luck to be involved in lots of key moments in dance music history, and to

work with lots of people who were important. So, I wanted to let them speak and tell their story. It’s not all about me. The big thing about rave was the collective. Everybody all at once. Peace, love, unity and respect. We were all in this thing together. And a lot of queer people, who never get talked about.”

Contrary to what breathless homages in the Sunday supplements might have you believe, the UK’s house music explosion wasn’t solely triggered by a quartet of DJ lads going on holiday in Ibiza and discovering a fresh new sound. Of course not. That’s ludicrous. Just like the computer wasn’t created by a single team of engineers. Lots of small groups drew inspiration from those who came before them to innovate and improve. Paul Oakenfold,

and their mates set out to steal the credit. “The more it’s repeated, the more it becomes the only story. I think, for a very long time, even up until I’d written the book, no one was challenging this. One of the points I make is that it was Danny and Paul… but Nancy Noise and Lisa Loud actually brought the music back for that pair to play. The women’s contribution, even in that story, is missing.”

Even on the gay scene, where so much innovation flourished, people only talk about the iconic Trade nights at London’s Turnmills. She tells me history has overlooked the influence of Vague in Leeds, London’s Queer Nation and Manchester’s Flesh. There were innovative LGBTQ events taking right across the UK. And it comes back to a familiar theme. “Trade

That’s when I stretch the brain. But when I’m playing music, I come at it from a more emotional place. It’s out of the head and into the heart.” “

Johnny Walker, Danny Rampling and Nicky Holloway didn’t import house music culture into the UK, it was developed by a cast of thousands long before the four landed on the White Isle.

But it is a romantic legend to create hundreds of breathless magazine articles around. “Lots of things were happening all around the world at the same time, which contributed to this electronic dance music culture. Before then, at the end of the 80s, you had Chicago and Detroit creating house and techno music as we know it. The difference between Danny and Paul’s story and that of Derrick May and Juan Atkins, and what was happening in Manchester, is that they didn’t have photographers and journalists there to document it.”

We shouldn’t totally discount Oakenfold and Rampling’s influence, especially when most of us come back from the Balearics with little more than Baby Shark as an earworm. It’s also unlikely the pair

this point, where for some people it’s happened a lot quicker. There are valid reasons for that, and that’s what the book was for. It’s not about understanding it for myself, but to explain it to other people.”

Last month saw her participate in a groundbreaking show at the British library. Called Beyond The Bassline, 500 Years Of British Black Music, it charts 500 years of history through a sumptuous array of materials from the sound and vision archive. Everything from jazz, afroswing and reggae to jungle and grime is represented until August in the landmark show. Paulette was playing alongside Jamz Supernova in the Library’s grand entrance hall, along with participating in a conversation about the true history of the dancefloor. It’s another packed summer for her. There’s shows at Glastonbury, Sonar, Berlin and Ibiza. There’s also a few ideas for the theme of her next book.

was documented. The journalists wrote about it. There was also Tony De Vit, so they had a big DJ who was getting a lot of heat. So, that becomes the only story people want to tell, and everything else drifts into the background.”

At least now there’s some light being cast on those standing in the shadows. Because everyone’s experience is important. We can talk about legends, but we have to recognise how these legends are created. “Is it just the way the media works? You’re either celebrated or hated, and those are the only two stories you hear. But there’s lots of other things happening. Who decides to tell the stories?”

Paulette says she was already aware of her place in the world before writing the book. So, the process wasn’t a journey of personal discovery. While it’s mostly biographical, it makes a great effort to explore the various challenges for her and her peers. “It’s taken 30 years for me to get to

“It’s all ongoing really. There’s notebooks all over the house with ideas. I’ve three really strong ones. I’m going to continue to write. This book was the proof that I can do that. And now I know how to write a book, I’m going to do another. Who it’ll be for, I don’t know. Those are all the intangibles.” She’s originally an arts and literature student, and keen to prove the past isn’t just kings, queens and wars. “History is now, viewed from tomorrow. What we’re doing now is becoming part of history. My frustration was, as a young black British woman, I was only taught one side of history. I think it’s important to understand that every person’s story is important. Gay, straight, white, black - we mustn’t fall into the trap of only telling people certain stories. We must leave the door open so that all stories are told and read, and be available to everybody, so we can inform our opinions.”

DJ Paulette plays the Dance Tent at FABULOSO in the Park, as part of Brighton Pride, on Sat 3 Aug. Her book, Welcome to the Club: The Life and Lessons of a Black Woman DJ, is available now from any selfrespecting bookshop.

www.brighton-pride.org www.djpaulette.co.uk

NoFit State Circus leads the Brighton Festival Extra with their ’awe-inspiring’ show SABOTAGE

Wales’ flagship contemporary circus company NoFit State, make a long-awaited return to Brighton this August as part of Brighton Festival’s extended summer programme Festival Extra with an energising and uplifting large scale circus spectacular SABOTAGE

Festival audiences in Brighton will be the last in the UK to see SABOTAGE this August 2024 in the Big Top at the all-new Black Rock Event site on Madeira Road, before it heads to mainland Europe.

SABOTAGE is an exceptional large scale circus spectacular with breath-taking skills, stunning imagery and NoFit State’s signature theatrical feel. Audiences can also enjoy the power of live music with an incredible live band at the heart of the show. Audiences in Brighton were wowed by LEXICON back in 2018 which performed to sell out audiences.

It also explores the journeys we take; the struggles and privileges that shape our lives. We have all travelled different paths to get to where we are today. Yet those different journeys bring us together in the meeting place of the circus tent, to celebrate our common ground.

SABOTAGE challenges the status quo. SABOTAGE explores their separation, and their belonging. Saboteurs stand out. They stand up. They challenge the establishment. They are heard.

Tickets for SABOTAGE are available from the Brighton Dome Ticket Office.

Box Office: 01273 709709 / www.nofitstate.org/sabotage

Performances: August 2024

Tickets: £18.50 - £22.50 Family Ticket £74

Performance Address: Circus Big Top at Black Rock, Madeira Drive, BN2 1EN

SABOTAGE has nothing in it that makes it unsuitable for children, but it is not made for them specifically.

Created by NoFit State Circus.

Directed by Firenza Guidi.

Supported by the Arts Council of Wales, Arts Council England and the Garfield Weston Foundation.

"Britain’s leading large-scale contemporary circus company" - The Times

“The future of British Circus” - The Guardian

“awe-inspiring” - Buzz Magazine

© Mark Robson

© Mark Robson

The Arts

Arcanic Events

The new circus in town bringing affordable workshops and skillswaps to Brighton

By Rosie Paldi-Edwards

BN1 sat down with two people making quite a big difference in the circus scene. Steve and Natalie are the proud owners of ARCANIC, a Brighton based Community Interest Company (CIC), that represents a community of performance artists who collectively provide unforgettable experiences for events and festivals across the UK. I chatted to them about their experience in a turbulent industry, their most recent show for Brighton Fringe EMOTION IN MOTION and what permanent plans they have for the future.

The couple started by telling me about their experiences in the industry, they have both lived in Brighton for 15 years and were “very lucky to have opportunities to get involved with events a long time ago.” They start to explain their individual roles at Arcanic over the phone to me whilst juggling a newborn baby in the background. Steve points out in admiration that his partner Nicole is CEO of the company who manages everything from customer outreach, bookings and community opportunities. Steve modlestly said he is more behind the scenes or technical director in charge of supporting the community, stage building or sourcing and applying for funding.

The couple explained how Arcanic formed organically from just a few friends in a park messing around to meeting up more regularly in different practice spaces. After some time this gradually became Arcanic as we now know it today! They always have a few core performers in the group and then open the floor to applications, Steve described that “we get applications from other people, and we support performers from other places

apart from Brighton. It’s growing like every month, every year, we just grow and flourish.” He continues to explain that Arcanic is a community interest company, “set out as a point to make sure that all the work that we do actually supports the community. We work across loads of different festivals as individuals and with Arcanic.” This collective community supports each other in all forms and often falls into other aspects of performers’ lives, as they get support with jobs or projects outside of Arcanic.

However, their main focus is on building, supporting and promoting their invaluable roster of performers. They do this by reinvesting the money they make from their events back into the community by “content creation, performance photo shoots, Fringe shows to showcase their skills and form profiles as well as the general running costs you have for businesses.” It is really inspiring to see performers’ wellbeing at the forefront of a business and with the hopes of opening a permanent location in Brighton, you can soon get involved too.

Together Steve and Natalie both sound like a force to be reckoned with and I’m eager to find out more about their new show - EMOTION IN MOTION - which unfolds as a tapestry of human emotion, skilfully woven together by an array of mesmerising circus performances and hypnotising dance routines. Each act is a testament to the power of the circus to change lives and leave an indelible mark on the performers and the audience alike. Steve describes the show as something a little bit different,

“instead of being like a cabaret circus show, we focus a lot on the journey of a circus performer. Our story starts about a man that works a 9-5 job and he wants to run away to the circus, but to get there he goes through different emotions, with each act representing a different emotion.”

This emotional rollercoaster is one I want to be a part of. Steve wasn’t wrong when he described the show as something a bit different, to centre the show around a very real and difficult human experience of leaving a job you don’t like in the hope for your dream job is a challenging and powerful story to tell. They have performed sell out shows over Brighton Fringe and have their last two shows on June 1st & 2nd.

I asked Steve and Natalie if they had any favourite past shows or projects, they both jumped at the moment to tell me about the Equinox Festival in Lincolnshire. Adding that they’ve been working very closely with the festival and have been running a variety of circus workshops for children there. Making circus skills accessible for children and teaching them how to juggle, hula hoop and more. Arcanic also highlighted how it’s not the first time performing at Brighton fringe

© Sam Elfer

“we’ve been part of many different shows at the Fringe. We collaborated with other performing troupes such as Malice in Wasteland, which is a group that focuses mainly on sustainable costume making. We have made costumes out of upcycled materials and have worked with them at Boomtown Festival and we’re working with them again this year. Small World Festival is another one we have worked in the past with some great groups there.” Arcanic has been busy and you can only expect more this summer with guest shows and community projects popping up all over the country.

To find out what else Arcanic have planned for the future aside from touring, festivals and events. Nicole and Steve have decided they want their own permanent location. This way they can make a big difference for people struggling to get into the performing arts and circus world. They want to break down barriers by organising affordable classes to learn skills and to host skill swaps for people looking to share knowledge and learn from each other. A space like this is crucial for Brighton as most clubs, workshops, exercise classes or anything extracurricular ends up costing quite a bit and starts to really add up if you have more than one hobby. To combat this, Natalie is in the process of putting an application together for “the Arts Council for lottery funding. I’m aiming to secure funding so that we can cover the cost of a dedicated space and then make it an affordable space for people to host their own workshops.”

The UK has been seriously lacking in providing a space for young people to go, hang out and be creative, without it costing them an arm and a leg. At last It sounds like Arcanic could be about to remedy that.

Steve goes on to add that Natalie is also trained to help people with special needs children, “I used to work in St.John’s College in Kemptown. I was running circus skills every week, It’s one of my passions! I really love working with people specifically with autism and learning disabilities, I really connected with them and it’s so amazing to see them grow.” Natalie is doing great things to bridge the gap in the performing arts by giving people with special needs or low income families the chance to get involved, get trained, and have the space to unleash their creativity. I am rooting for them and hope to see Arcanic studios up and running soon!

In the meantime, catch their next show at Brighton Unitarian Church on June 1st 3.30pm or at Brighton Open Air Theatre (BOAT) on June 2nd 2pm.

Tickets cost £15 pp or £10 concession. www.brightonfringe.org/events/emotion-inmotion

www.arcanic.events

© Sam Elfer

© Sam Elfer

© Sam Elfer

RAYSTEDE CENTRE FOR ANIMAL WELFARE

For over 70 years, Raystede Centre for Animal Welfare has cared for a huge variety of creatures. From cats and dogs to alpacas and parrots, it’s become one of the most diverse rescue organisations in the UK –its staff, volunteers, and supporters helping more than 1,200 vulnerable animals each year.

“When

we were set up, it was around three guiding principles,” says Raystede’s Communications Manager, Simon Bennett.

“A place to offer sanctuary for animals that had nowhere else to

go.

A place where

animals

could be rehomed. And education, to help people ensure they can care for their animals. We stay true to these today.”

Located just outside Ringmer, on a 43-acre site amongst the picturesque Sussex countryside, the charity was established in 1952 by Miss M. RaymondeHawkins. Bennett tells me they’ve received over 4,500 requests to take in animals last year. People look to surrender their pets for a variety of different reasons. “The cost of living is obviously a factor,” he tells me. “Owning a pet is expensive, and there’s a number of things you need to do as a responsible pet owner to ensure they stay well – like taking them to the vets… paying for medication or a special diet. Other reasons include not being able to look after the animal. Failing health can often lead to older people surrendering their pet.” Other reasons often involve changes in living or relationship status. When moving into rented accommodation, landlords are at liberty to bar pets. In most circumstances, owners will look for alternatives, like friends or relatives who can provide care. But, failing that, a rescue centre will try to step in.

Raystede is seeing a large upturn in the number of dogs needing care. Many people took on pets during lockdown. Most of the training classes were shut during that period, so it was more difficult to socialise puppies and young dogs. Also, everyone was at home all the time, so pets became reliant on their owner being around 24/7. As people started returning to work, now adolescent animals were being left alone, which is an opportunity for certain behaviours to surface.

A dog’s needs can often sit at odds with our increasingly busy lifestyles. “If you’re going to be out all day, maybe a dog is not right for you. They shouldn’t be left alone for more than four hours, because they can start to get worried and anxious. You can’t shoehorn it into your life. If you’re lucky enough to be able to take your dog to work, that's great. But obviously that’s not always the case.” Bennett tells me prospective owners need to do a

lot of research into which breed of dog will suit them. “There’s a lot of popular ones… like Cockapoos which are part Cocker Spaniel, so they’re working dogs and need a lot of exercise. You might consider a dog because it looks cute or it’s small and might fit with your lifestyle, but often it doesn’t.” All animals have their own characteristics and behaviours, so taking on the responsibility of bringing one into your life demands understanding these and dealing with them in an appropriate way. Some breeds just want to run around and jump into stuff.

There’s plenty of people who don’t want to hand over their animals but they have no other choice. Raystede had 181 requests to take dogs in a single month recently, despite only running 31 kennels. “We can’t take in all of the dogs that people ask us to. We do try to signpost to other places which can help, but obviously want people to be able to look after animals in their own home.” There’s a team of experts working to help some extremely anxious animals get to a stage where they can trust people again – and hopefully, help them find a loving home.

To encourage and enable this, Raystede puts a lot of effort into their animal welfare education programme. They run regular pop-up events in towns like Brighton, Eastbourne and Hastings, where owners can come and speak to them about any worry. Especially with dogs, some behaviours are specific to breeds or triggered as a result of their circumstances. “People should always seek advice. Most people know when to visit the vet. But, if it’s a behavioural issue, what do you do? There are people who can help. And it’s better to ask for advice early, rather than getting to the stage where you’re at your wit’s end.” The charity also offers a wealth of materials online and organises learning opportunities with schools and community groups.

The centre at Raystede is open 10am - 4pm every day, so visitors can see the work they do and some of the diverse animals which live there. Entry is free (although, it is essential to book tickets) to see their goats, horses, ponies, alpaca and sheep, a rodent room full of furtive activity, roaming rabbits, a colony of tortoises, sun-worshipping terrapins and aviary walkways. There’s also a free guided tour every day, where you can find out more about the animals and their routines. For obvious reasons, the kennels and cattery are not open to the public.

As a charity, Raystede receives no government funding, and relies entirely on public support. The entire operation costs around £6,000 a day to run, so the staff are truly appreciative of all the donations, individuals raising money through activities like marathon running or parachute jumping and those remembering with legacies. You can also sponsor larger animals like donkeys and get an opportunity to go and meet them in person and find out more about their lives.

Obviously, one of the most important ways people can help Raystede is by providing a home to one of their animals. They’re happy to consider anyone who can offer a stimulating environment and a new start. Anyone considering this is encouraged to visit their website, where you’ll find details of all the animals up for adoption, along with details about their characteristics, including likes, dislikes, history and any medical issues.

The next step is to fill out an application, which asks about your circumstances, home and routine. One of the key things asked is why you think you’d be a good match for an animal, as opposed to the other way round. Raystede staff get to know each animal fairly well, not only medically assessing them but studying them closely for

any behavioural quirks and working through those. This information is used to match any animals up with suitable adopters. If a submission is successful, it’s time to visit the centre and your family’s prospective new member. “It might take a few visits. Which is fine. If everything goes to plan, we’ll arrange a time when you come to collect your animal.”

Those who miss the companionship a pet brings, but are unable to take one on full time, Raystede also offer a fostering scheme. Here people can look after dogs, cats and even rabbits, on a temporary basis. As with adopting, animals are matched to candidates, with the care period usually lasting for three months or until your furry guest finds a new home. “It’s very much about educating people as to what makes a responsible pet owner, and what’s good for the animal and the owner.”

And when you all head home, it’s not necessarily the end of the relationship. “One of the things Raystede does, as well as offering dogs up for rehoming, is we become a partner to those adopters, because taking care of a rescue animal can take a little extra time and patience. “They can always come back to us to ask questions if something is happening or there’s anything the new owners are unsure about. The teams, particularly in the kennels, will have worked with those dogs a lot.”

“Adopting an animal is great,” says Bennett. “Because you’re giving it that second chance. It might have found itself here through no fault of its own. You know that you’re helping an animal find a better life.”

Raystede Centre for Animal Welfare is at The Broyle, Ringmer, BN8 5AJ

For more information, head to: www.raystede.org

THINKING OF A PET DOG?

Getting a dog is a big commitment, and something which should be thoroughly researched and thought through.

Here we cover some of the important things to consider.

Which dog might be a good match?

It is important to understand the breed characteristics of any dog that you plan to share your home with, to ensure that you are fully able to meet their needs and enable them to thrive.

Do you have the time?

Dogs are social creatures who cannot be left home alone for hours at a time. You need to consider how long your dog might be left alone, and how often, and then make plans for this (e.g. dog walker, doggy day care, etc) before you get the dog.

Adopting a dog from a rescue centre may take time and require some patience. Whilst we strongly believe in rescuing animals, if you do decide to look into buying a dog, it is important that you ask lots of questions of the seller and expect (and want) to be asked lots of questions in return.

You need to see proof of a dog’s microchipping and vaccinations and should also enquire about the dog’s vet history. Finding out about the dog’s current food, exercise and training regime, and what words the current owner uses to communicate with the dog, will help the transition from one home to another.

By adopting a dog through a rescue centre such as Raystede, you will be fully supported throughout the process of finding the right one and settling it into your home and life.

DRUSILLAS WELCOMES NEW MONKEY BABY

Nestled in the Cuckmere valley, Drusillas Zoo recently welcomed the safe and healthy arrival of their first baby Goeldi's monkey in a decade. This offers fantastic news for both the Park and conservation efforts for this diminutive species, which is currently classified as 'vulnerable' on the International Union for Conservation of Nature red list.

The proud parents are Penelope and Neville, who met less than 2 years ago, after Penelope arrived from Blackpool Zoo, and Neville was transferred from Paignton Zoo. Keepers had high hopes for the lovestruck pair from the start, who seemed to fall head over heels almost immediately, grooming each other and spending every moment together.

"The arrival of the Goeldi’s monkey baby is very exciting,” said Drusillas Head Keeper, Gemma Romanis. “We’ve been working towards breeding this vulnerable species for some time. The new baby was expected, as Penelope was showing signs of pregnancy, but that doesn’t make it any less special - this is our first birth of this vulnerable primate for ten years!”

Covered in shaggy, black hair, with lighter coloration around the face, the Goeldi's monkey’s native habitat is in South America. Although they’re members of the Callitrichidae family (which includes tamarins and marmosets), they have lots of distinctive characteristics – like having three molars instead of the usual two, giving birth to single children and eating mushrooms as a significant part of their diet.

"Goeldi’s monkeys are inquisitive in nature, vulnerable in the wild, and are a completely unique species,” adds Romanis. Neville is quite laid back, while Penelope is a bundle of energy who zips around their habitat. It will be fascinating to observe their behaviour as a family group and see which parent the new babe takes after.“

Goeldi’s monkeys are relatively small primates, measuring just 2123cm - not including their tails, which can be 25-30cm long. Their coats can make them look much larger than they are. They live in dense rainforest vegetation in the Amazon region, but the species has become vulnerable, mainly due to the illegal pet trade and deforestation.

"The

little one is thriving, and we’re thrilled with how well Penelope and Neville are getting on as first-time parents. They share the responsibility of carrying and looking after the infant and are super gentle and sweet – they’re both clearly naturals and doing all the right things for the baby.”

Visitors may have noticed the tiny baby beginning to explore the world, snuggled safely onto their devoted Mum's back. The cute infant can be hard to spot because of the Goeldi's monkey characteristic 'cape’ of lush, thick hair on their neck and back, which the fluffy youngster blends right into.

Drusillas also offers a loving home to over one hundred exotic animals, including sloths, meerkats, monkeys, penguins, red pandas, giant anteaters and more!

The park also offers a range of large adventure play areas, including Mungo’s Maze and children’s rides like the Hippopotobus, Flying Cheetahs and The Rainforest Carousel. There’s even a chance to splash about on the Get Wet! splash pad. The park also offers the very latest technology at SPARK, the UK’s largest immersive play experience. Extensive 360° projection software transforms an ordinary space into an extraordinary world, offering a highly unique, interactive, sensory space. See little eyes marvel in wonder as they discover a magical world where reality and technology collide, in an explosion of colour and light. Explore the vibrant jungle walls, touch and play with the wondrous watery floors, slide into a magical seabed, visit the plains of Africa, and get lost in the enchanted forest.

Located just off the A27 in Alfriston, Drusillas Park is open daily from 10am. For more information, visit: www.drusillas.co.uk

Ask the Expert

Giving your puppy the best start to life

Bruce's Doggy Day Care advice on puppy training

Welcoming a new puppy into your home is an exciting time. The playful energy, boundless curiosity and unconditional love of a pup brings nothing but happiness to any household (and maybe a little bit of chaos!) However, it’s important to remember that taking on this new bundle of fluff comes with a responsibility to ensure that your furry friend gets the best start in life.

We sat down with Bruce’s Expert Dog Behaviourist & Trainer, Georgina Snow to help you navigate this crucial period and provide you with essential tips around socialisation, puppy pre-school, training and early years care for your pooch.

When should I start training my puppy, and what should I teach them first?

When you first bring your puppy home it can be hard to know where to start and you can feel a lot of pressure to begin training right away, but actually the most important first step is letting your puppy settle into their new environment and build a relationship with you.

After a few days, you can then start introducing some training. I like to begin with recall, lead skills, crate and toilet training. 5 minutes, a couple of times a day is enough to keep it fun. Nothing is going to be perfect straight away and that is normal (don't let social media fool you into thinking otherwise!) Remember that they are still a baby and you are both learning how to train together.

Outside of training make sure you are giving your puppy mental stimulation, enrichment and play, as these are just as important for giving your puppy outlets for their natural behaviours and further build their bond with you.

You also want to be socialising your puppy by exposing them to new environments, sounds, objects, cars, people and animals in a safe, positive and controlled way (socialising isn't just interacting with dogs and people). The socialisation period for puppies is from 3 to 12 weeks, so it actually starts with your breeder and then continues when you bring them home at 8/9 weeks. Puppy preschool can be a great way to help with this, as it offers a safe, positive and monitored environment for your pup to socialise in from 12 weeks of age. Day care also helps puppies to experience differing play styles, build confidence around interacting with other dogs and make best furiends!

How do I choose a good puppy trainer or training program, are there qualifications or certifications I should look out for?

Unfortunately the dog training and behaviour industry isn't currently regulated, which means you do not need qualifications to become a trainer or behaviourist. There are however some great governing bodies that qualified professionals can register to. I’d recommend searching these bodies for accredited trainers and behaviourists:

• The National Institute for Canine Ethics

• The Animal Behaviour and Training Council

• Association of Pet Dog Trainers UK

• The Institute of Modern Dog Trainers

• UK Dog Behaviour & Training Charter

If you work with a dog trainer/behaviourist or attend a puppy class and it doesn't feel right or you don't like the way you are being told to interact with your puppy, don't feel like you need to continue. Find a trainer that aligns with how you want to interact with your puppy.

Do you have any top tips for common puppy behaviours like biting, chewing, and house training?

All dogs have natural instincts and these needs need to be met. Puppies will chew and mouth and get into things they shouldn't if left unsupervised and not given an opportunity to meet these needs in an appropriate way.

The first step is to puppy proof your home. If you think your puppy will chew or eat something, chances are they probably will! So make sure you’re putting items like shoes, TV remotes, glasses etc away. If they are always getting a hold of items they shouldn't, they will rehearse this behaviour. The novelty of these items will wear off eventually and you can bring them back out again. Baby gates, pens and crates can help to corner off safe rooms or areas that they can be when you can't supervise them.

© Bruce’s Doggy Day Care

Animal Welfare

Puppy-centric enrichment games and activities, like those provided at Bruce’s Doggy Day Care can help to give your puppy outlets for things like chewing, sniffing, foraging, digging etc, and the more appropriate outlets they experience, the less they will seek out for themselves in your home!

Mouthing and play biting is again a normal part of puppyhood… but it still hurts! So here are some tips to help reduce some of the nipping:

• Make sure your puppy is getting between 18-20 hours of sleep a day - when they are overtired they will mouth more.

• If your puppy is mouthing your hands, put them under your armpits and try to remain cool as a cucumber. This stops you moving them around and raising your voice which can exacerbate the behaviour by causing more excitement or frustration. If they start biting elsewhere, remove yourself from the room for 3 seconds before reentering again.

• Don't use a toy to redirect the mouthing from you as this only creates a behaviour loop of ‘if I nip mum/dad they will play with me!’

Toilet training can be cracked quickly if you put in a solid routine. Once your pup starts to toilet inside regularly it can take a while to re-train them to go outside. My advice would be to:

• Avoid puppy pads if you can, start taking your pup outside from day 1 after every feed, every play, every sleep.

• Corner off a small area in the garden where they can toilet. This stops the distraction of exploring everything when they go outside and the smell will trigger them to go to the toilet quicker.

• Make sure you’re going outside with your puppy and wait with them until they toilet. Come rain or shine, wait it out. It can take a while for them to go but the time spent doing this pays off in the long run as you avoid accidents indoors and you can be there to reward the behaviour with a treat!

• Add a cue word when your dog toilets like “Busy Busy”. This will help when you're out and about and you need to ask your dog to toilet before a car journey or going to your friend's house.

How much exercise does my puppy actually need and can day care help with this?

The general rule of thumb is that puppies need around 5 minutes of exercise per month of their life. So if they’re 4 months old, they should have around a 20 minute walk a day. Walks aren’t everything however, enrichment based activities are just as important to stimulate your pooch’s mind as well as their body. You can find out more about the impawtence of doggy enrichment on the Bruce’s website:

What are some common early years mistakes that you should try to avoid?

Letting your puppy greet every person and dog when out on a walk. Ideally we want our dogs to be neutral to people and dogs on walks, that's what makes it enjoyable for us knowing that they can walk by another dog or person on or off lead without bolting over to them, jumping up or pulling on the lead. Instead choose to reward your pup for walking past dogs and people out and about and save the greetings for people and dogs you know.

Becoming a dog parent for the first time can be a pretty full-on experience, with so much to learn and understand about your new puppy, but it should be also fun! By following Goergina’s expert advice on socialisation, training, day care and early years care, you’re setting the stage for a well-adjusted, healthy and happy dog. Remember, the time and effort that you invest now will pay off in the form of a loyal and loving companion for years to come!

To learn more about Bruce's Doggy Day Care and their commitment to providing exceptional care and enriching the lives of dogs, please visit www.bruces.dog

Instagram: @brucesdoggydaycare

© Bruce’s Doggy Day Care

East Sussex Wildlife Rescue and Ambulance Service (WRAS)

It’s been a remarkably busy time for East Sussex Wildlife Rescue & Ambulance Service (WRAS). 2023 saw several months setting new record-breaking figures, as they handled over 5965 casualties, which is 904 more than in the previous year. Last June marked a significant milestone as the charity dealt with over 1000 casualties in a single month for the first time in its history.

Trevor Week MBE, the charity’s founder and Chief Operating Officer, says it’s difficult to be certain about how much human activity has impacted the figures, but it’s likely to be as high as 90%. “This can include the victims of cats and dogs, road casualties, disturbance to nests, dens, access to feeding grounds, collisions with windows or trapped in buildings and basements.” Increasingly, animals are being injured by fences, entangled in netting, electric barriers or rope swings, along with illness and disease caused by inappropriate feeding, persecution, poisoning and more.

The surge in casualties is a result of various factors, including the closure or reduction of services by certain groups, individuals, or charities, the growing conflict between humans and wildlife due to increased countryside

exploration post-COVID, heightened traffic on local roads and an increase in people willing to aid injured wildlife. The most common mammal being rescue is the hedgehog mainly coming in from Eastbourne, Polegate, Hailsham, Lewes and Seaford, while the most common bird was feral pigeons.

The charity covers a large area of East Sussex, working with 11 different veterinary practices and relying upon volunteers to operate its ambulances. These have been involved in numerous rescues; including helping to deal with a seal trapped in a nuclear power station, an albino deer with its antlers caught in a rope swing, a badger stuck in a disused swimming pool, a fox trapped in a drain, a bird caught up on a chimney, birds flying round inside a house, run over hedgehogs and much more. WRAS also operates several sites at Burgess Hill, Uckfield, Lewes, Eastbourne and Lower Dicker to help with the outside rehabilitation of treated casualties.

Weeks praises his dedicated team for their efforts in helping the casualties and alleviating their suffering. As injured wildlife often finds veterinary centres stressful, WRAS decided it needed to help improve the situation by setting

up its own hospital. Built in 2010, their Casualty Care Centre is now able to accommodate 300 casualties. Facilities include a treatment room, three hospital rooms, an indoor area containing four pens and aviaries, a prep room, volunteer rest area, orphan rearing area, education room, store and an acclimatising room.

Trevor Weeks was recognised in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List 2012 for his wildlife work. In addition, WRAS has won numerous commendations and awards for their work. He says a concerning trend amongst the injuries they’re dealing with involve catapults being used. “They can cause more damage than an air gun and inflict significant damage and suffering to wildlife. This has especially been the case around the Cuckoo Trail between Polegate and Hailsham and north of Hailsham and Hellingly. With road casualties we are finding less are surviving and their injuries are more significant and life threatening than they used to be, which is thought to be due to the change in the designs of vehicles on our roads.”

While there’s been a substantial rise in casualties, the organisation faced a decrease in income last year, resulting in a financial loss. This is mostly due to the ongoing cost-

of-living crisis with the charity anticipating low-income levels in 2024, necessitating the use of reserves to sustain current services. Despite being a modest charity, East Sussex WRAS now incurs annual running costs of approximately £550,000.

East Sussex WRAS has been setting funds aside for a new hospital for several years. However, they now face a dilemma where they must dip into some reserves to sustain levels without overburdening their staff or cut back on services. “We have reached the limit of what we can currently do on our existing site and have very little outdoor space available for pens and rehabilitation at our current hospital. This means we are currently unable to rear and rehabilitate baby gulls and waterfowl. We also want to establish some new facilities for rehabilitating deer and seals.” There’s also plans to expand their capacity to deal with swans and geese, in response to the increased threat from Avian Influenza they also need to increase their isolation facilities to help protect casualties already in care. There’s also a need for help to maintain the charity’s crucial services, including professional rehabilitation and treatment at its Casualty Centre, rescue operations, ambulance responses, and nighttime emergency services.

Trevor expressed gratitude to supporters and donors for their contributions, highlighting the limited funding sources available to wildlife rescues compared to conservation and other

animal welfare charities. In 2023, WRAS handled a diverse range of casualties and situations, including successfully treating and releasing an oiled guillemot, rehabilitating a fox with severe facial injuries in Hove, and rescuing and releasing two large stags entangled in electric rope in a major operation near Uckfield.

There’s plenty of ways that people can support WRAS, whether that be financial or in-person. “Setting up a Direct Debit would be amazing! However, we need people to organise coffee mornings, invite me to give talks at community groups or other fundraising activities.” They also need physical help from volunteers with fundraising collections, working at their charity shop in Eastbourne, helping with feeding and cleaning of the animals as well as undertaking rescue shifts or working in the centre’s reception. They’ve also just launched their Our Pen Friends scheme, where you can donate £3 a month and choose which pens you would like to support (from Hedgehogs and Badgers to Foxes and Birds of Prey). There’s also a Special Pen Friend scheme, which helps support the many other animals they care for.

To find out more about the work of East Sussex Wildlife Rescue & Ambulance Service, or how you can contribute, head to: wildlifeambulance.org

WHAT CAN WE DO TO AVOID HARMING LOCAL WILDLIFE?

We need to acknowledge we coexist with other creatures on this planet, and they don’t comprehend human boundaries or our notions of ownership. So, here’s Trevor Week’s top 10 tips for living alongside wildlife.

OPEN OPEN DAY! DAY! OPEN OPEN DAY! DAY! OPEN OPEN DAY!

1: BONFIRES & FIREWORKS

Remember to build or reconstruct a bonfire right before lighting it. Light it on one side to prevent trapping wildlife inside. Choose a location for the bonfire that is away from other plants and trees. When setting off fireworks, make sure to keep them a safe distance away from woodlands and trees.

2: NETTING & ELECTRIC FENCING

Remove sports netting and electric fencing when not in use. If in constant use, secure the netting 12-24 inches above the ground overnight using cable ties to prevent wildlife entanglement. Also, remember to promptly repair or replace any damaged sections.

3:

POISONS & TRAPS

Remember, we coexist with other creatures on this planet. It's important to refrain from using poisons in gardens or sheds. Avoid setting any traps, including snap traps, glue traps or fly papers, that could harm unintended animals, causing distress, injury, or even fatality. Placing traps or poisons in areas where non-target animals may be affected could be against the law.

4: ROAD CASUALTIES

If you come across a deceased wild animal on the roadside, take note of the location. When you travel along that road again, stay alert for other animals crossing. Keep an eye out for animal road signs and exercise extra caution when driving in the dark.

5: TREE AND HEDGE CUTTING

Try to refrain from cutting down trees in the spring and summer months. When maintaining garden hedges, only trim the new growth during these seasons. If you must trim a hedge or tree, make sure to check carefully for nesting birds to prevent disturbing them, which is illegal.

6: WASTE DISPOSAL

Dispose of waste properly by engaging licensed contractors only. If you are uncertain about the correct disposal method, reach out to your local council for guidance. Additionally, store chemicals in secure containers that wildlife cannot access. Dispose of litter in bins or take it home and cut up netting or plastic packaging to prevent harm to wildlife.

7: DISTURBANCE

When walking in the countryside, it's important to watch over children and dogs to prevent disturbing wildlife unnecessarily. Make sure to keep them close to public paths and away from dense vegetation where young animals might be hiding. Remember that some wildlife parents do not stay with their young constantly, so young animals on their own are not necessarily abandoned. Seek advice before intervening if you come across any animal that appears to be abandoned.

8: BE RESPECTFUL

If you encounter a wild animal, maintain a safe distance and show respect for its wild nature. It's best to refrain from approaching animals, especially for photo opportunities, when they are resting, such as seals on beaches or swans on riverbanks, to prevent causing them distress.

9:

FEEDING WILDLIFE

Avoid improper feeding with unsuitable food types or in locations that could endanger wildlife. Offer food sparingly and infrequently to prevent dependency. Steer clear of fatty, salty, spicy, and processed foods, and do not feed near buildings or hazardous zones.

10: PROFESSIONAL HELP

Sick, injured, and orphaned wildlife require specialised care. It is important not to try to care for them on your own. Always entrust injured animals to a wildlife rescue organisation registered with the British Wildlife Rehabilitation Council. In cases of critical condition or severe injuries, seek immediate veterinary help.

Petworth House & Park

Inspired by Baroque palaces of Europe, the 17th-century Petworth House displays one of the finest art collections in the care of the National Trust. See the state rooms featuring paintings and sculpture, including artwork by Turner, Van Dyck, Reynolds and Gainsborough.

Petworth House’s history has been created by one family over 900 years, with the collection highlighting a journey through history including the Gunpowder Plot and Napoleonic Wars. Collection highlights include the earliest English globe in existence, dating to 1592, and carvings by Grinling Gibbons.

The Servants’ Quarters, including the historic kitchens, show a glimpse into the life of the people who worked there. Outside, the Pleasure Garden features formal borders, woodland walks, and architectural features, such as the Ionic Rotunda. The 700-acre Deer Park, which was transformed by the landscape

architect Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown, is home to ancient trees and fallow deer. www.nationaltrust.org.uk/petworth

Opening times:

House: 10.30am – 4.30pm Pleasure Garden: 10am – 5pm

Café:

The Audit Room Café in the Servants’ Quarters serves drinks, sweet treats, and lunch options including hot and cold food, such as sandwiches and pasties. Eat in or takeaway option available.

Dogs:

Dogs on short leads are welcome in the Pleasure Garden and under close control in Petworth Park. Assistance dogs only in Petworth House, Servants' Quarters and Café.

June/July Events: Archaeological Dig at Petworth From 19 – 31 July archaeologists will be

Petworth House & Upper Pond National Trust Images © John Miller

at Petworth on a special mission to trace the footsteps of Henry VIII, with the aim of finding evidence of two lost buildings that would have stood in the Park in Henry’s time.

The local community will be digging alongside archaeologists and processing their discoveries on-site as they are unearthed. There will be free familyfriendly activities and daily tours of the dig site.

Summer Holidays

Every day throughout the summer holidays there will be free garden games and activities for families to enjoy. Join us for Tudor Tuesdays and Thursdays and immerse yourself in the court of Henry VIII. Activities include jousting, archery and crafts, inspired by Petworth’s real-life archaeological dig.

Normal admission to Petworth House applies.

Summer fun at Bodiam Castle and Bateman’s

are

of family-friendly activities coming to Bodiam Castle and Bateman's this summer.

A mediaeval fair is pitching up at Bodiam Castle, offering a unique opportunity for you and your family to enjoy playing mediaeval-inspired games and activities. Set against the backdrop of Bodiam Castle, activities include hobby horse races, quoits, castle building, straw bale hurdles, and more. Additionally, don’t miss the chance to enjoy a magical evening with a new adaptation of Beauty and the Beast performed in the open-air courtyard. You can also try your hand at longbow archery or join Knight School to discover what it takes to be a true knight. Free entry for National Trust members. Visit nationaltrust.org.uk/bodiam-castle for dates, times, and prices.

Bateman’s is offering a Jungle Book-themed summer. Get active and compete in the Jungle Book Games. Run, balance, and play your way through the garden for this summer of sport. Try your hand at Mowgli’s rhythmic ribbons, maintain your balance in the Kaa sack race, aim for a high score in the Hathi hoopla, and even compose your own games’ opening song on Baloo’s music station. This action-packed trail offers plenty to keep the whole family entertained. Plus, don’t forget to catch the children’s storytelling sessions in the garden throughout the summer. Free entry for National Trust members. Visit nationaltrust. org.uk/batemans for dates, times, and prices.

Cunningtons LLP Awarded ‘Standard of Excellence’ and ‘Best in Postcode’

The ESTAS Customer Service Awards to be held in October this year is the biggest annual event for the UK residential property industry. The awards recognise the best Estate Agents, Conveyancers, Mortgage Brokers and suppliers for customer service, with the winners determined purely on verified reviews from customers who are asked a series of questions about the service they have received through the whole moving process.

Senior Partner for Cunningtons, Jason Bradshaw, based in our Brighton Office said “Customer feedback is crucial to any business, and we’re no different. It allows us to understand our customers better and improve the experience for them. We’ve been using the ESTAS platform from our Brighton Office for the last year or so, and to be awarded the ‘Standard of Excellence’, ‘Best In Postcode’* and shortlisted to receive an award at the ESTAS ceremony, at the first opportunity, is excellent news.”

Cunningtons already hold an “Excellent” overall customer service rating** with TrustPilot and pride themselves on the number of returning clients happy to instruct time and again.

There

a host

National Trust Images © Jennifer Coe

National Trust Images © Betsy Ogilvie

Hannington’s Lane gets set for summer

What do people think of when they think of Brighton? Seaside, fun, festivals, fish and chips, street art, the Pier, camp, kitsch, green, vegan, swimming, outdoor sports…. The list is endless and depends on your age, experience and what you look for in a city.

But one thing you can be sure of is that locals like to shop in Brighton and visitors come to Brighton to shop. And by that we mean, they seek out the huge range of independent retailers that Brighton and particularly the Lanes and North Laines have become known for.

Brighton is awash with indies and thousands of visitors a year flock to explore the Lanes, discover something different around every corner and like nothing more than whiling away a few hours browsing and shopping for homeware, clothes, records, gifts, accessories and art.

So what happens when you create a new area of the city with new shops? Which retailers move in and why? Hanningtons Lane was completed by Redevco just five

&Halt 7-9 Hanningtons Lane

Nick and Alex live facing the sea front in Brighton and after years of obsessing about homewares, they took the plunge and made &halt their life full-time. The disruption of lockdown made them look inward and reassess what made them and loved ones happy. The conclusion they came to was that they wanted to source products that added to people’s lives.

Now they spend their time sourcing from independent studios across Europe and Japan, seeking ethically responsible practices and shying away from trends. They sell products that will stay with you forever. “We like our products to have a backstory. Products with provenance. And this is why we’re &halt…a subconscious reminder to pause and reflect.”

&Halt started life at 9 Hanningtons Lane and has been so well-received, that last year they took the plunge and expanded into the neighbouring store too, offering a much wider range of products.

www.andhalt.com

years ago and the area is now home to 17 Brighton independents, as well as new national and international retailers on North and East Street.

Hanningtons Lane has become a celebration of what Brighton does best and what it offers shoppers – unique gifts, one-off finds, makers and artists selling their goods with love and a story. People passionate about their speciality and products, selling direct to consumers. Retail is a tough business and despite covid closures and economic uncertainty, many businesses have flourished in this area over the last few years.

July is Independent Retailer month, which aims to shine a spotlight on the economic and social impact local shops have on a community. So we thought it was fitting to take a closer look at some of Hanningtons’ independents and share their stories. Many of the area’s retailers live close to their businesses and are an integral part of the fabric of the city. There is much to celebrate!

nationaltrust.org.uk/petworth

BouSham Gallery 14 Hanningtons Lane

BouSham Gallery was founded by dynamic co-owners Clair (Bou) and Shyama (Sham), who have been lifelong best friends and share a love of creativity and craftsmanship. Each of the pieces they sell in their light-filled gallery tells a unique story and will add a touch of elegance to any space. Both partners are makers in their own right: Clair hand crafts jewellery, fusing diverse materials from across the globe, including cast gold, silver and brass, alongside Brazilian semi-precious seeds and stones; and Shyama creates unique and vibrant botanical inspired wall art and textiles.

They have created a space opposite Hanningtons vibrant circus mural, where passion and friendship converge to create a truly special shopping experience. And their success at Hanningtons Lane has meant they have been able to also showcase the work of 17 further local artists and sculptors within the store. By shopping here you are directly supporting local artists and makers and are putting money back into the local economy.

www.boushamgallery.com

The Stanley Road Store 54-55 Market Street

Stanley Road Store, founded by Maxine Michaelides, began in December 2015 as part of Brighton’s Artists Open Houses festival and has now grown into an independent department store showcasing the work of almost 175 local Brighton artists and makers.

The concept grew fast from the get-go. A four-month pop up shop in FiveWays, lots of workshops, a week-long “Open Heart Surgery” Valentine’s event plus a month long pop up at the Warren in Brighton for the Brighton Festival. But it wasn’t until Max and her team spent a month taking part In Artists Open Houses from 3 Hanningtons Lane, that they found a home ‘round the corner within the Hanningtons Estate and a 3 month stay turned into a permanent pitch. The store is much-loved by locals and visitors alike and is a sensory delight. If you haven’t yet visited, you must!

www.thestanleyroadstore.co.uk

Shopping locally is a wonderful way to support small brands and businesses. We know that many Brightonians do this in spades, but July’s Independent Retailer month is a gentle reminder to us all, so help pass the message on and spread your net wider if you can, to incorporate new local shops into your everyday life.

For more information about events in July at Hanningtons, subscribe to their newsletter at www.hanningtonsbrighton.com or follow @hanningtonsbrighton on socials.

Five Ways Connecting With Nature Improves Your Mental Health

Getting back to nature and connecting with the world around us is one of the best ways to boost our mood and improve mental health.

In an increasingly urbanised world, where many of us live in towns and cities, we have to make an extra effort to get back to nature.

However, you don't have to get out into the wild to experience the benefits of nature. Spending time in any green or blue spaces, such as parks, community gardens, rivers, wetlands, beaches or canals, can have a profound impact on wellbeing.

Interestingly, even watching nature documentaries has been shown to be good for mental health.

How does nature keep us emotionally, psychologically and physically healthy?

1. Connecting with the earth can boost your immune system

Any time spent in nature is beneficial, but the more connected you are to the world around you the more beneficial it can be.

Try immersing yourself by listening to bird song, smelling the flowers, touching the bark of a tree or taking your shoes and socks off to walk barefoot on the grass.

Nature connectedness is associated with improved mental health and lower levels of depression and anxiety.

Connecting with green and blue spaces has also been shown to reduce inflammation, boost the immune system and accelerate healing (Oschman et al., 2015).

2. Being outside increases your vitamin D levels

Insufficient vitamin D levels can lead to depression-like symptoms and seasonal affective disorder (SAD).

Symptoms of vitamin D deficiency include mood changes accompanied by overwhelming feelings of sadness and hopelessness, as well as fatigue, anxiety and a loss of interest in activities that previously sparked excitement.

People who are outside more naturally get more vitamin D from the sunshine. In fact, you can even get a vitamin D boost on a cloudy day.

3. Sunlight can boost your mood and improve sleep

Getting out in the sun also increases your serotonin levels. Serotonin is often referred to as the body's natural “feel good” hormone and it helps to regulate your mood.

It also plays a role in sleep, digestion, wound healing, bone health, blood clotting and sexual desire.

4. Increased physical activity is good for psychical and mental health

Most of us already know exercise is good for our physical and mental health, but exercising outside has the increased benefits of a serotonin boost.

Any exercise is good for boosting happy hormones, but wild swimming has lots of extra benefits.

Immersing yourself in cold water increases the production of the mood-elevating hormones dopamine, serotonin and beta-endorphins.

Being in the water also reduces anxiety and stress and increases physical and mental resilience.

5. Getting outdoors improves self-esteem and body image

Studies have found that people who spend more time outside have higher levels of self-esteem and feel more confident in their own bodies. They can also cope better with the stresses of modern life.

Are you interested in eco therapy and the benefits of using nature alongside your counselling work?

At The Link Centre we are running a one-day course called "With The Earth In Mind: Integrating Ecological Working Into Any Practice".

The online course, run by Rebecca Elston, MSc, CTA,UKCP Reg, aims to explore what it means to work ecologically as a counsellor or psychotherapist.

It will highlight how counsellors can harbour the benefits of nature alongside their work.

Participants will take part in the workshop indoor and outdoors, in a space that is accessible to them.

This can be a garden, yard, local park or nearby green space within a 5 minute distance of wherever participants are joining from. We will weave from the outdoors to indoor online spaces throughout the day.

Course aims to:

• Provide an overview of the different approaches to eco-psychology

• Examine who can work ecologically, and from where

• Provide participants with an opportunity to experience how forging an alliance with the natural world might impact them in their role as therapist

• Examine different cultural, social, political and environmental impacts on working ecologically from the perspective of therapist and client

Course fee: £100

BOOKING DATE: 22nd June 2024

To book go to: bit.ly/3x6WbCq

www.thelinkcentre.co.uk/courses/with-the-earthin-mind

25%OFF ALL TICKETS with promo codeOfferCOMEDY2024 not valid retrospectively. Subject to availability.

In the spirit of embracing the coastal offerings of summer, this seafood paella throws a British twist into the Spanish classic. Expect a chorus of seafood harmonising with chorizo and a saffroninfused orchestra, promising a culinary fiesta that could make even the sun wear sunglasses!

INGREDIENTS

• 300g paella rice

• 200g chorizo, sliced

• 2 onions, finely chopped

• 2 cloves garlic, minced

• 500ml fish stock

• 1 pinch saffron threads

• 1 red bell pepper, sliced

• 200g shrimp, peeled

• 200g mussels, cleaned and debearded

• 150g squid rings

• 1 cup peas

• 2 tomatoes, chopped

• Lemon wedges, to serve

• Fresh parsley, chopped, for garnish

DIRECTION

01. Sauté: In a large paella pan, sauté chorizo until it starts to crisp. Add onion and garlic, cooking until softened.

02. Simmer Rice: Add the paella rice and stir until the grains are well coated with the oils and flavours. Pour in the fish stock, sprinkled with saffron, and simmer gently without stirring.

03. Add Seafood: When the rice is halfway done, nestle in the shrimp, mussels, and squid. Scatter the peas and bell peppers around the pan. Let it cook until the seafood is done and the rice is tender.

04. Finish: Top with fresh tomatoes and give the dish a generous squeeze of lemon.

05. Serve: Garnish with parsley, serve with more lemon wedges, and accept the applause graciously as if you’ve just landed the big fish.

Zesty Lime and Coconut Shrimp Skewers

Capture the essence of tropical summer vibes with these zesty lime and coconut shrimp skewers. The combination of tangy lime and sweet coconut provides a burst of flavor, making this dish a perfect addition to any summer BBQ or beach party.

INGREDIENTS

• 500g large shrimp, peeled and deveined

• 1 cup coconut milk

• Zest and juice of 2 limes

• 2 tablespoons honey

• 1 tablespoon soy sauce

• 1 teaspoon chili flakes (optional, for a spicy kick)

• 1/2 cup shredded coconut, toasted

• Fresh cilantro, chopped, for garnish

• Lime wedges, for serving

DIRECTION

Marinate Shrimp: In a mixing bowl, whisk together coconut milk, lime zest, lime juice, honey, soy sauce, and chili flakes if using. Add the shrimp and toss to coat evenly. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to marinate.

Grill: Preheat your grill to medium-high heat. Grill the shrimp skewers for about 2-3 minutes per side or until they are pink and slightly charred.

02.

Prepare Skewers: Thread the marinated shrimp onto skewers, pressing them snugly together.

Garnish and Serve: Sprinkle the grilled shrimp with toasted coconut and fresh cilantro. Serve hot with extra lime wedges on the side for squeezing over the shrimp.

DIFFICULTY

6 / 10

Summer Berry and Mascarpone Tart

Indulge in the sweet abundance of summer with this delectable summer berry and mascarpone tart. The rich, creamy filling paired with a medley of fresh, juicy berries nestled in a buttery crust makes this tart a stunning centerpiece for any summer gathering.

How To Cook

DIRECTION

01. Make the Crust: Pulse flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor. Add butter and pulse until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add beaten egg and mix until dough forms. Press into a tart pan, prick with a fork, and chill for 30 minutes. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for 20 minutes or until golden. Let cool.

02. Prepare Filling: Whip mascarpone, heavy cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla together until smooth and fluffy. Spread evenly over the cooled crust.

INGREDIENTS

For the crust:

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

• 1/4 cup granulated sugar

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, cold and diced

• 1 large egg, beaten

For the filling:

• 1 cup mascarpone cheese

• 1/2 cup heavy cream

• 1/3 cup powdered sugar

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the topping:

• 2 cups mixed fresh berries (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries)

• Mint leaves, for garnish

• Optional: honey or berry coulis for drizzling

Assemble Tart: Arrange the mixed berries on top of the mascarpone filling. Garnish with mint leaves and, if desired, drizzle with honey or berry coulis.

04. Chill and Serve: Refrigerate the tart for at least one hour before serving to allow the filling to set.

Grilled Halloumi and Peach Salad

June in the UK brings not just warmer days and longer evenings, but also the perfect excuse to fire up the grill. This grilled halloumi and peach salad offers a playful clash of flavours and textures, mixing the salty squeak of halloumi with the sweet juiciness of peaches. It’s a summer flirtation on a plate!

DIRECTION

Grill Time: Heat your grill to a medium-high heat. Brush the halloumi and peach halves with a little olive oil. Grill the halloumi for about 2-3 minutes on each side until you’ve got lovely grill marks and it starts to melt but isn’t falling apart. Grill the peaches cut-side down until caramelized, about 2-4 minutes.

Prepare the Salad: Toss the rocket with the grilled peaches and halloumi, sprinkle with toasted almonds.

INGREDIENTS

• 250g halloumi cheese, sliced

• 4 ripe peaches, halved and pitted

• 150g rocket (arugula)

• 1/2 cup almonds or walnuts, toasted and roughly chopped

For the Dressing:

• 3 tablespoons olive oil

• 1 tablespoon honey

• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

• Salt and pepper to taste

Whisk the Dressing: In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, honey, balsamic vinegar, salt, and pepper.

Dress and Serve: Drizzle the dressing over the salad and serve immediately. Enjoy the bewitching smiles it brings, along with a mildly competitive conversation about who gets the last piece of cheese.

DIFFICULTY

8 / 10

Raspberry and White Chocolate Pavlova

This Raspberry and White Chocolate Pavlova is like a summer romance: sweet, a bit messy, but utterly unforgettable. It’s a meringue-based marvel that pairs airy crispness with creamy decadence, topped with the tart zing of fresh raspberries. Perfect for when you want to impress or depress (depending on your baking skills).

How To Cook

DIRECTION

01. Meringue Base: Beat egg whites until peaks form. Gradually add sugar until stiff and glossy. Whisk in vinegar, cornflour, and vanilla.

02. Bake: Shape into a circle on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake

INGREDIENTS

• 4 egg whites

• 250g caster sugar

• 1 tsp white vinegar

• 1 tsp cornflour

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• 300ml double cream

• 200g white chocolate, melted

• 300g fresh raspberries

• Mint leaves, for garnish

TV GUIDE

STAR WARS: THE ACOLYTE

WEDS 5 JUNE

DISNEY+

We return to the Star Wars franchise, but this time during the demise of the High Republic – roughly 100 years before the events of Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. Launching them into the flying space-wizard action are Amandla Stenberg, Lee Jung-jae, Manny Jacinto, Dafne Keen, Charlie Barnett, Jodie Turner-Smith, Rebecca Henderson, DeanCharles Chapman, Joonas Suotamo and CarrieAnne Moss, in a detailed look at how the Jedi started to decline.

An investigation into a shocking crime spree pits a respected Jedi Master (Jung-jae) against a dangerous warrior from his past (Stenberg). As more clues emerge, they travel down a dark path where nothing is what it seems.

SWEET TOOTH

THURS 6 JUNE

NETFLIX

Based on the DC comic book series by Jeff Lemire, It’s season three for this fantasy drama. Having defeated General Abbot in the battle at Pubba’s Cabin, Gus, Jepperd, Becky and Wendy journey to Alaska in search of Gus’s mother, Birdie. She was last seen attempting to uncover the mysterious origins of the deadly virus which wiped out most of the world’s population.

Along the way, the quartet are joined by Dr Singh, who may have his own dangerous beliefs about reversing the virus. There’s also a new threat emerging with the ferocious Wolf Boys, who seek to restart human birth and view Gus as the solution to their plans.

THE BOYS

THURS 13 JUNE

PRIME VIDEO

It’s season four for Prime Video’s gloriously violent and potty mouthed superhero show, and we’re a bit excited. Once again, the world is on the brink - as Victoria Neuman is closer than ever to attaining ultimate power in the Oval Office.

Butcher, who has only months to live, has lost both Becca’s son as well as his job as The Boys’ leader. The team is fed up with his lies. But, with the stakes higher than ever, they must find some way to work together and save the world. What will happen? We don’t know, but it will push the boundaries of common decency in this eternal battle of evil versus not quite as evil.

HOUSE OF THE DRAGON

MON 17 JUNE SKY ATLANTIC

The Game of Thrones prequel is back, and promising to be bigger, more spectacular and thoroughly more dargony. The civil war which ripped apart Westeros almost 200 years before Robert Baratheon seized the Iron Throne rages on. Tensions are reaching new highs between the Greens and the Blacks, so expect plenty of drama amongst the Targaryens on the battlefield, on the seas and on the back of massive flying lizards.

The rivalry between Alicent Hightower and Rhaenyra Targaryen is about to spill over into the lives of those around them. The death of Rhaenyra’s son isn’t helping matters, and a huge battle is set to unfold as the two factions prepare to unleash all their might.

LAND OF WOMEN

WEDS 26 JUNE

APPLE TV+

This new comedy drama stars Eva Longoria as Gala, a New York empty nester whose life is suddenly turned upside down. When her husband implicates the family in financial improprieties, she is forced to flee the city alongside her ageing mother and college-age daughter.

To escape the dangerous criminals to whom Gala’s now vanished husband is indebted, the three women hide in the same charming wine town in northern Spain from where Gala’s mother fled 50 years ago, vowing never to return. The women seek to start anew and hope their identities will remain unknown, but gossip in the small town quickly spreads, unravelling their deepest family secrets and truths.

HOUSE OF THE DRAGON

SUPACELL

THURS 27 JUNE

NETFLIX

A group of five ordinary people who unexpectedly develop superpowers. They have little in common except for one thing: they are all Black South Londoners. It is down to one man, Michael Lasaki, to bring them all together in order to save the woman he loves.

A brilliant ensemble cast, including Tosin Cole (The Force Awakens), Nadine Mills (The Strangers), Eric Kofi-Abrefa (Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom), Calvin Demba (Kingsman: The Golden Circle) and Adelayo Adeayo (Some Girls) has been assembled. A new spin on familiar superhero tropes, this promises to be something homegrown and rather special. They might all have abilities, but saving the world can wait – they’ve just got bills and relationships to sort out.

FANCY DANCE

FRI 28 JUNE

APPLE TV+

Since her sister’s disappearance, Jax (Lily Gladstone) has cared for her niece Roki (Isabel Deroy-Olson). Scraping by on the SenecaCayuga reservation in Oklahoma, every spare minute goes into caring for the youngster or searching for her missing sister.

At the risk of Jax losing custody to Roki’s grandfather, Frank (Shea Whigham), the pair decide to hit the road and scour the backcountry to finally track down Roki’s mother. What begins as a search gradually turns into a far deeper investigation into the complexities and contradictions of Indigenous women, moving through a colonised world while at the mercy of a failed justice system.

WONDLA

FRI 28 JUNE

APPLE TV+

Eva is a typical teen: curious, enthusiastic and spirited. The only difference… She’s being raised alone by a robot caretaker, Muthr, in a state-ofthe-art underground bunker.

On her 16th birthday, an attack on this sanctuary forces her onto the Earth’s surface, and it’s not what she expected. The planet is inhabited by aliens, covered with otherworldly fauna, and there are no other humans to be found. In fact, it’s no longer called Earth - it’s now called Orbona. Otto, a lovable giant waterbear with whom Eva shares telepathic powers, Rovender, a cantankerous alien with a troubled past, and Muthr join Eva as she embarks on a quest to find humans, her home and her true destiny.

WONDLA

SUPACELL

FANCY DANCE

FILM

BAD BOYS 4

FRI 7 JUNE

Fighting crime through the medium of expensive suits, million-dollar sports cars and dysfunctional male relationships, Will Smith and Martin Lawrence return for a fourth instalment of this buddy cop franchise.

Uncompromising detectives Mike Lowery and Marcus Burnett are the scourge of the Miami crime world, toppling notorious drug kingpins and crushing the circulation of illicit drugs in their city. The pair are rocked by the revelation their former Captain was in cahoots with some shady people. Determined to clear his name, the ‘carguing’ cops uncover a massive conspiracy within the police force. Suddenly they’re persons of interest and forced to go on the run.

INSIDE OUT 2

FRI 14 JUNE

Arguably Disney and Pixar’s most inventive and nuanced release of this century, the hugely successful Inside Out finally gets a follow-up. Maya Hawke joins an already impressive voice cast of Amy Poehler, Lewis Black, Phyllis Smith, Tony Hale and Liza Lapira, with everything directed by Kelsey Mann.

We return to the mind of newly minted teenager Riley, just as headquarters is undergoing a sudden demolition to make room for something entirely unexpected: new Emotions! Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear and Disgust, who’ve long been running a successful operation, aren’t sure how to feel when some more colleagues show up to help steer Riley’s life.

THE WATCHERS

FRI 14 JUNE

Written and directed by Ishana Night Shyamalan and based on AM Shine’s novel of the same name by, this unsettling and thought-provoking supernatural horror stars Dakota Fanning, Georgina Campbell, Oliver Finnegan, and Olwen Fouéré.

We meet 28-year-old artist Mina, who was about to make a lot of money but instead becomes stranded in an expansive, untouched forest in western Ireland. Searching for shelter, she suddenly gets dragged into a cabin by a young woman. This is where she unknowingly becomes trapped in a bizarre living hell, alongside three strangers - who are all being observed and stalked by mysterious creatures every night.

GUIDE

KINDS OF KINDNESS

FRI 21 JUNE

Starring Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons, Willem Dafoe, Margaret Qualley, Hong Chau, Joe Alwyn, Mamoudou Athie, Hunter Schafer, Yorgos Lanthimos directs this triptych fable.

We follow three distinct, but loosely connected, stories – all darkly comedic and absurdist. There’s a man without choice, who attempts to take control of his own life. Meanwhile, a policeman is alarmed that his wife, who was missing-at-sea, has returned and seems to be a different person. Could she be an imposter? There’s also the curious tale of a woman determined to find a specific person who can raise others from the dead, who is destined to become a prodigious spiritual leader.

THE BIKERIDERS

FRI 21 JUNE

Inspired by a 1967 photo-book of the same name, Jeff Nichols directs a gritty drama which unwaveringly examines an iconic section of American counter-culture. Austin Butler, Tom Hardy, Jodie Comer, Norman Reedus, Mike Faist and Michael Shannon star in this depiction of life amongst a motorcycle club.

The Vandals MC are a group of outlaws in Chicago, Illinois. Viewed from the perspective of its members and their families, we see the gang evolve over the course of a decade. As their reputation grows, the group mutates from being a surrogate family for local outcasts into violent organised crime; threatening the original founder’s unique vision and way of life.

A QUIET PLACE: DAY ONE

THURS 27 JUNE

Directed by Michael Sarnoski, and starring Lupita Nyong’o, Joseph Quinn, Alex Wolff, and Djimon Hounsou, we’ll finally get to see the day Earth went quiet. The previous two instalments in this horror franchise introduced us to a postapocalyptic society, where people live in fear of making any kind of sound - lest it attract blind, but powerful, alien conquerors.

But what if you don’t know the rules? What if this invading menace were still a terrifying and unknown foe? Sam (Nyong’o) is visiting New York on the day the invasion begins. She meets Eric (Quinn), and the pair reluctantly join forces in this terrifying new world.

HORIZON: AN AMERICAN SAGA - CHAPTER 1

FRI 28 JUNE

Academy Award-winning filmmaker Kevin Costner directs this multifaceted chronicle. In the great tradition of iconic Westerns, this ambitious goliath explores the lure of the Old West and how it was won (and lost) through the blood, sweat and tears of many.

Spanning the four years of the Civil War, from 1861 to 1865, Costner also stars alongside Sienna Miller, Sam Worthington, Giovanni Ribisi, Abbey Lee, Will Patton, Jena Malone, Luke Wilson and a cast of thousands. Audiences will go on an emotional journey across a country at war with itself, experienced through the lens of families, friends and foes all attempting to discover what it truly means American.

Climb up the 5m multi-level champion tree tower & slides

Conquer St Leonards dragon

Experience the thrill of a 32.5m zipline

Play in a miniature Leonardslee House

Navigate balancing beams

Wallaby talking tubes

Swing into the fun on one of our many swings, including baskets, cradles, and more!