We will be updating this information regularly, so check back here often or sign up here to be notified of updates to the site by email. We also have a very exciting RSS feed if you’re into that sort of thing.

If you’re of the Twittering variety, you can now also follow us on Twitter. You can  see our Twitter feed on the right hand column of this very page, but that’s much less fun than Twittering with us yourself.

Also, don’t forget that we still are accepting applications for our 4 hour a week Marketing & Sales Assistant position. It’s a great opportunity to earn money implementing your marketing and sales assisting skills whilst really helping to make a difference for local LGBT people. For more details view the vacancy.

…wondering what to do with your time?

Q:alliance Needs You !!!

We are looking for new volunteers, in particular for Admin Support, Web Contributors & a Minute Taker (see below for more info).

Admin Support
- You can help us with anything from simple filing and sealing / stamping envelopes to replying to letters, emails, phone calls and recording data on spreadsheets.
- We also need help to keep our offices tidy and the centre clean.

Web Contributors
- The Q:alliance website (www.qalliance.org.uk) is *your* website and we’d love for you to be a greater part of it!
- We’re currently looking for some LGBT bloggers / writers to help contribute to this website.
- You can blog / write about almost anything – topics you’re into, your daily life, opinions on news stories / LGBT issues.
- Blogging is really easy, you can even just email us your entries and we’ll do the techy bits.
- Have a look at Bex’s Bits for inspiration!

Minute Taker
- The minute taker for Q:alliance needs to prepare and send out agendas to Trustee’s, as well as write and type up meeting minutes for distribution.
- You will need to be able to attend Trustee meetings, currently held on a six weekly basis on a week night.
- It would be helpful if you have previous experience of minute taking in a voluntary or community organisation.
- You will need to be familiar with MS Word and able to send the minutes out via email. Training can be given.

If you are interested in any of these volunteerining opportunities, please email Jim our Volunteer Co-ordinator at volunteer {at} qalliance.org(.)uk

You can also find out more about volunteering with Q:alliance here.

It will be a circular walk around the country lanes, fields, and canal tow paths near the scene of the Great Train Robbery. Meet at the Hare and Hounds pub car park, in Ledburn. (They have permission to park at the H&H as long as we have a drink after the walk. Please share cars if possible.)

Ledburn is 3 Km south of Leighton Buzzard and 2 Km east of Wing. Nearest railway station is Leighton Buzzard.

OS 165 Ref 905222.

Multimap ref : http://www.multimap.com/maps/?qs=SP905222&countryCode=GB#map=51.89102,-0.68631|15|4&dp=904&loc=GB:51.89102:-0.68631:14|SP905222|SP905222

Bring packed lunch Co-ordinator : Melvyn C on 07814 642300 Great Train Robbery on the night of 8th August 1963 the mail train was stopped and  £2.6  million  stolen by Buster Edwards, Ronnie Biggs and others. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Train_Robbery_(1963)

If you have any queries about the walk, please contact Melvyn on 07814 642300, or email him at melvyn.corby {at} btinternet(.)com

For more about the Gay Outdoor Club click here.

 

The local branch of the G.O.C.  (Gay Outdoor Club) have organised a picnic this Sunday on the West Wycombe this Sunday – 24th August 2008 at 12 noon

For more info, please call Robert on 07833 794770

Click HERE for more information on the G.O.C

The picnic is at West Wycombe, which is just north of the A40, 5 Km north-west of High Wycombe. Meet at the car park near St Lawrence church – on West Wycombe Hill, with the Golden Ball at the top of the tower. There is a grass area next to the car park that we can use for the picnic. There is no shelter at the picnic spot so come prepared if it looks like raining. Also in the true spirit of adventure and the GOC there are no picnic benches so you should also bring rugs/chairs etc. 

After lunch, you could take a trip around West Wycombe Park (house and/or grounds). Admission prices £6 (house & grounds) £3 (grounds only) or free for National Trust members.

For those that do not wish to visit West Wycombe Park there is a circular walk or a tour of the village.

Lunch: Bring sandwiches.

OS 175 Ref 827951

Multimap:

http://www.multimap.com/maps/?hloc=GB|SU827951#t=l&map=51.64862,-0.80607|15|4&dp=841&loc=GB:51.64862:-0.80607:14|SU827951|SU827951

We will end the day at the café in the Plant & Harvest garden centre between 16.00 & 16.15

http://www.plantandharvest.co.uk/

“Our next social evening will be ten-pin bowling on Wednesday 6 August, at City Limits in the Excape building, Central Milton Keynes.

Lanes will be booked for 7:30pm, with the aim of getting two games of bowling in at a cost of £5.00 including shoe hire. If you wish to eat there, City Limits will bring food out to our lanes. They do chicken in a basket, deli sandwiches, hot dogs, chicken nuggets and fries, which can be ordered on arrival. They also have a licensed bar.

Please let us know by 30 July if you wish to join us, so that we can confirm the number of lanes required. Thank you.

Andrew & Adrian
Friends Together ”
(email andrewfriendstogether {at} hotmail(.)com)

Love him or hate him, we can’t deny that John Barrowman is an out and proud rising star.

With various successful TV projects under his belt, he can now be seen in the first episode of “The Making of Me” in which his ‘gayness’ is scientifically tested! John tests whether his sexuality is due to his environment and upbringing or whether he was just born that way.

On prime time BBC1, Thursday 24th July at 9:00pm, John “challenges scientists to explain why he’s gay. With the help of friends, family, psychologists and geneticists, and conquering his claustrophobia to have a brain scan, he asks whether nature or nurture determine who we are“.

Do you want to see more things happening for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual & Trans people in Aylesbury Vale?

Do you want to make a difference in your community?

Q:alliance, the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual & Trans (LGBT) charity for Bucks & MK is looking for Community Champions to develop, support and promote local LGBT services, community groups and events; along with other volunteering opportunities in Aylesbury.

Community Champion’s are caring and proactive people with ideas about how they can make their community more interactive. Q:alliance helps its Community Champions with support and training. Together, they build better communities for LGBT people.

Want to find out more? Come along to our open evening on Monday 21st July at 7:00pm in the Multicultural Centre, Friarscroft, Aylesbury.

- WHY SHOULD I VOLUNTEER FOR Q:ALLIANCE? Q:alliance is a strongly community and volunteer-led organisation, therefore we are always seeking new volunteers to become involved in our work. For all roles, you should be a LGBT-friendly person and have a non-judgemental understanding of some of the issues that may affect LGBT people. You do not need to be LGBT yourself.

- AM I THE RIGHT SORT OF PERSON? If you are proactive and enjoy talking to people then this opportunity can make a big difference to the LGBT people who are looking to make contact with each other.

- WHAT COMMITMENT IS NEEDED? Just a few hours once a month. Q:alliance is very flexible around time volunteers can commit and recognises people lead busy lives.

For more information, see http://www.qalliance.org.uk/volunteer/

BluePrint are launching a brand new regular gay night on Fridays.
“Friday Night Boyz” launches on Friday 18th July.
Join them to celebrate their launch from 7.30pm

Click HERE for more info on the new BluePrint Bar…

‘Celebr8′ is a celebration of the diversity of our community which welcomes people from all horizons. This is the closing event for the first Milton Keynes Big Moo Fringe Festival of the Arts (BMFFA) and the launch of next year’s festival. We wish to raise the profile of international human rights and promote all strands of diversity and understanding through the arts.

‘Celebr8′ will set off from outside the Church of Christ the Cornerstone after the close of the evening Creative Meditation. It will then proceed with flags and banners through the shopping and theatre districts into Margaret Powell Gardens, where there will be juggling, live music and spoken performances from TLC Creative as well as guest speakers. This is an event for people of all ages, backgrounds and disabilities who may take part as actively or as passively as they feel appropriate.

Organisations participating and supporting the event include: * BMFFA * Q:Alliance * MAD * MKC *MK REC * MKCVO * Blueprint Bar * KIK Music * The Big Moo2 * The Church of Christ the Cornerstone (non-denominational, ecumenical) * CMKP* and many more….

- 6.00pm Evening Creative Meditation at the Church of Christ the Cornerstone
- 7.00pm End of service. Groups gather outside front of the church. Blessing from Ernesto Lozada-Uzuriaga
- 7.30pm Start of pedestrian procession, led by the Wolverton Samba Band and followed by flags representing the six strands of diversity, accompanied by street performers and jugglers
Route: From the front of Christ the Cornerstone Church to Margaret Powell Gardens. MK Theatre
- 8.30pm Closing speeches and thanks, followed by the launch of next year’s Fringe Festival. Speakers: John Goss, Charles Buckman, Gavin Anderson and Sally Annett, plus special guest speaker.
- 9:00pm end

For further information go to – www.bmffa.co.uk