Tuesday, 25th March 08

Pride in Brighton & Hove had plenty to celebrate this Easter as it scooped the Gscene Community Award at this years Golden Handbag Awards ceremony on Sunday 23^rd March at the Brighton Metropole Hotel. Described as Brighton’s gay Oscars the event was attended by the great and good of Brighton’s scene. Following a jam packed night of awards and entertainment the final award of the evening was presented to Judith Manson and Paul Smith of Pride in Brighton & Hove by James Ledward of Gscene magazine.

The award was in recognition of the work undertaken by the volunteers and trustees of Pride and referred to by James Ledward as ‘the best Pride in the country!’ Paul Smith, one of the members of the volunteer board was obviously thrilled, as was Judith Manson, Fundraising and Communications Manager for Pride; she said

This was a complete surprise; we are thrilled to receive such a prestigious community award. It’s wonderful to have the hard work of the volunteers and trustees recognised; and to hear that our efforts in recent months to work more closely with the local community is paying off’

As part of our efforts to refocus on community involvement, Pride held a ‘Get Involved’ open evening on Tuesday 1^st April at the Friends Meeting House. The event gave everyone the opportunity to find out all the different ways they could take part in the Pride celebrations this summer. There were lively discussions around fundraising, joining the parade, having a stall at Preston Park, becoming a local business support, advertising in our programmes and how to apply for one of Pride’s community grants, for events during the summer festival week.

The evening was a great success, with over sixty attendees representing both local community groups and businesses, some of whom were almost old hands and others who were totally new to the event. Feedback taken was very positive from all those who came along, and it gave everyone the chance to exchange advice and improve on any difficulties experienced last year.

All of the information available on the evening can be found on the Pride website at