LGBT Switchboard marks 50 years with a fundraising gala on the Palace Pier

Brighton & Hove LGBT Switchboard^1,2,3,4,5 is holding a fundraising gala for its 50th anniversary at the Palm Court on Brighton Palace Pier on Wednesday 25 November. Comedian Suzi Ruffell headlines.

The evening is called Still Switched On. Hannah Brackenbury, a Brighton Fringe Best of the Festival award winner, brings her comic songs, and Anubis from RuPaul’s Drag Race UK is also on the bill. Brighton drag artist Ophelia Payne hosts. There is a silent auction on the night. Tickets are £85 and cover a glass of fizz, a two-course meal, wine or drinks and a goodie bag. The charity says the night will “raise funds for the work still ahead”.

Switchboard took its first call on 25 April 1975, according to a history of the service by Alf Le Flohic in Scene⁶ magazine. It was called the Lavender Line then. The Open Café at 7 Victoria Road gave it a home and the use of the café’s phone number. Members of Sussex Gay Liberation Front and Brighton Campaign for Homosexual Equality helped staff the phones, and by February 1976 it was running seven nights a week. It was renamed Brighton Gay Switchboard soon after.

What it does now

Its BOLD service runs coffee meet-ups for LGBTQ+ people over 50, bereavement groups and a dementia and carers’ group in Brighton. Rainbow Neighbours matches LGBTQ+ people in Brighton & Hove who are isolated, bereaved or living with dementia with trained volunteers for regular visits and check-ins. It is free and confidential, and you don’t need a referral. Switchboard also runs a gambling harm service and social prescribing for trans, non-binary and intersex people.

Much of that work rests on volunteers, who also do admin, IT and communications and sit on the charity’s lived experience panels. Anyone who would like to talk about Rainbow Neighbours support, for themselves or someone they know, can email volunteer@switchboard.org.uk.