Brighton Bear Weekend (BBW) volunteers gathered last Saturday afternoon to present a cheque for £4,000 to the Brighton Rainbow Fund. The cheque, which represented the proceeds from the 2021 Bear Weekend was accepted by Maria Baker, a panel member and treasurer of the Brighton Rainbow Fund.
Presenting the cheque at Centre Stage bar, which will be ‘bear central’ for this year’s weekend, Graham Munday, chair of BBW said that “we are particularly delighted to be able to donate these funds, as until the middle of last year we had no idea whether we could run the Bear Weekend at all. The fact that we managed to run the weekend at such short notice was a testament to the efforts of all our volunteers and talent who pulled together at the last minute to bring the event to life”.
Accepting the cheque on behalf of the Brighton Rainbow Fund, Maria said “we’re very grateful to the BBW team and their supporters for this donation, particularly given the restrictions and hurdles of the ever-changing Covid regulations last year. Covid has caused problems across many communities, and Brighton’s LGBT+ community is no exception. These funds will help provide much-needed support, thank you!”
The event was also a chance for BBW volunteers old and new to get together over a drink and a buffet kindly provided by Centre Stage Bar and talk about how we plan to use our volunteers to help realise this year’s weekend.
Robbie Seaman, the Volunteer Manager for BBW, said “It was nice to see so many existing and new volunteers getting together in a relaxed environment. As well as helping others, volunteering can be great way to meet new people, and as the whole BBW team are volunteers, you’ll benefit from being part of a really strong team”
If you’d like to volunteer for BBW 2022, please complete the form at brightonbearweekend.com/volunteer/