Last Friday we hosted two Cabaret performances for our local seniors at The Bevy which was a roaring success. It was very uplifting to welcome back familiar faces who’ve been absent for so long and make a fuss of them – serving food and beer as well as entertainment.
Known as “the people’s pensioner” Ida Barr is a former star of the British Music Hall and has developed her own brand of urban RnB which she calls Artificial Hip Hop. Ida was the opening turn at The Spiegeltent this year – the first act after the Covid days, and we were honoured to host her two additional performances at The Bevy.
As well as enjoying the show, people were delighted to be out seeing one another. Many were asking about the lunch clubs starting up again and we’ll be looking at getting Chatterboxes up and running again towards the end of June.
The Ida Barr shows were part of Our Place in Moulsecoomb and Bevendean – Brighton Festival on the outskirts. We formed a steering group and organised a walking trail, we made and decorated arches, and we put on a show for kids at Moulsecoomb primary, as well as running a few digital projects. The Bevy’s Helen also supported the Brighton Dome Heritage project and involved a few local people to create the Bevy window art.
There’s been plenty going on at The Bevy as lockdown rules have eased. Last weekend, Friday Friends’ Dave & Barb ran the annual spring plant sale with support from Warren, Daisy and Shirley. It too was a great success both in terms of bringing in funds and getting people together.
Bevy Meals on Wheels continues to serve 45-50 meals each session and we have three individuals preparing the meals each week – getting one to one training and work experience. The project also involves several volunteers both in the kitchen and as delivery drivers or cyclists. We continue to work with Fareshare to deliver the project and have links to Bevendean food bank.
In other news, lots is going on behind the scenes at The Bevy to support local people. We are working with Trust for Developing Communities to look at developing The Bevy as a community hub. Sunflower support group are going to be holding some of their parent/carer sessions at the pub, the job club will be up and running again soon and Bevendean Parkrun have asked us about Saturday breakfast starting up again.
As always, we are doing all we can to be more than a pub.
