🚚Humanitarian aid trip to Ukraine, more young people in A&E for their mental health, folk festival, and more 🪕

Good morning everyone, and welcome to our Monday update, this week a lunchtime special courtesy of our editor visiting family this weekend. We don't know about you, but the mornings are slowly starting to feel better: it's lighter earlier, sunnier, warmer, and a sign that spring is creeping ever closer. This week we're talking a local charity's convoy to Ukraine, the death of a beloved local businessman and a folk festival!

Please share this with anyone you think would be interested, and if you think you've got a story to tell about our city, consider signing up to contribute here.‌‌

Dontatello and Pinocchio's founder dies aged 83

Pietro Addis, the 83-year-old founder of two popular restaurants in Brighton, has died.

The restauranteur, who founded Donatello and Pinocchio's in The Lanes and North Laine, died on Tuesday 8th of March after suffering with dementia.

Born in Sardinia, he came to Brighton in 1975 and became well-known in the city for his generosity, giving thousands of pounds to charity over the years.

He opened Brighton's first Italian restaurant, Topolino, shortly after moving to the city and of course, the mark of any community figure, has a bus named after him.

He is survived by his sons, Mikele, Leonardo and Stefano.

His funeral will be at The Downs Crematorium on Friday 25th March at 4pm, and the family want as many people as possible to go to say their goodbyes.‌

Is park and ride coming to Brighton?

Tomorrow will be a big day as councillors are set to decide if a trial park and ride scheme is taking place this summer.

The scheme, which would take place in Mill Road from June to September, has been the subject of contention between Labour and Green councillors, with the former enthusiastic but the latter concerned that more people would drive to Brighton.

The scheme will be aimed at those around Brighton for whom public transport links are not available, not regular, or not at good times.

The scheme is set to cost £100,000 with the operating and promotion costs the responsibility of Brighton and Hove Buses.

If agreed on tomorrow, a 12-week consultation will begin for any objections to be heard. An exciting meeting to come, and one that Seagull will share more about.

'Dramatic increase' in children and young people going to A&E because of their mental health

The last year has seen the number of young people going to A&E because of problems with their mental health 'dramatically increase', according to a report.

The Brighton & Hove Safeguarding Children Partnership Annual Report, which covers April 2020 to March 2021, has revealed the impact that the first year of the pandemic has had on young people in the city.

Referrals for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) were at 1,490, up from 1,340 the year before.

Only 30 children have been seen, according to the report, of the 69 children referred to Sussex Children's Sexual Assault Referral Centre (CSARC) by the end of March 2020.

Throughout the report, safeguarding figures remind readers that 'far-reaching restrictions' will have longer-term repercussions for children, as well as deaths from the pandemic, and that during the report's year we had lost the input of safeguarders due to children not being in schools and clubs.

🖋 NIBS 🖋

• Students at the University of Sussex are set to protest in support of the Save Democracy Campaign, 'a new initiative aimed at alerting world leaders, international and local non-state governance providers/actors, civil society and many more, to rise in defence of democracy in a way that makes it much more safe and secure for sustainable development to take place', says the students' union. The protest will take place at midday on Thursday 17th March in Library Square, Falmer Campus.
• Acoustic cameras might be coming to the streets of Brighton to catch noisy drivers. They're currently used in Kensington and Chelsea to catch those driving at more than 100 decibels and fine them £100. The legal limit is 72 to 74 dBs, depending on when the car was made.
• Brighton Museum and Art Gallery has been granted £1.46 million to repair its grade II* listed roof.

This edition of The Seagull is sponsored by Cybersyn, a friendly digital analytics consultancy based right here in Brighton.

What's happening? Jim Deans, founder of Sussex Homeless Support, is travelling to Ukraine with a convoy today to to provide aid and help those trying to leave.

Why is he doing this? Jim said:

There will be a small convoy delivering what the frontline have asked for and transporting refugees, women, children and disabled away from the war.

Personally all the hype about arming the public in Ukraine is wrong, teaching them how to make and throw bombs is wrong. It's not Playstation, when you get shot you are not a hero you are dead.

Let's get the people out of Ukraine and Putin can have it. Hungary are refusing to allow weapons to go over its border int Ukraine but allowing refugees, easy crossing with support and onward free travel, the whole of Europe is offering free travel, that is the way to go.

What is he taking? Jim has reassured Sussex Homeless Support supporters than a separate fund has been set up so SHS money is not used, and he has been inundated with donations of shelf stable food, clothes, medicine, cooking supplies and more.

How can we help? We're sure this won't be the last we hear of Jim helping out, so we'll share any other efforts going to Ukraine ahead of time. Until then, we encourage anyone who can to donateto the Disasters Emergency Committee here. The UK government is currently match funding the DEC appeal up to £20 million.

We will be sharing updates from Jim next week.

🎵Gigs: The Weather Station, "earthy, lyrical" Canadian folk music, our technical director saw them supporting The Mountain Goats a few years back and really liked them; Tuesday 15th March at Komedia, tickets here.

🎶Gigs BONUS: wonderful local folk promoter Folkroom have announced this year's Brighton and Hove Folk Festival. The editorial team had tickets for last year's but unfortunately ended up not being able to attend, so we're hoping to change that this year; Saturday 10th September at Patterns, tickets here.

🎥Cinema: Rebellion, documentary about the launch of Extinction Rebellion, being shown with a Q&A from one of the directors; Friday 18th March at the Duke of York, tickets here.

🖼Art: Electric Laser Flares, the latest project from Seb Lee-Delisle who is very much "the man" when it comes to cool laser display stuff, part of new-ish arts/music/culture programme Third Thursdays; Thursday 17th March at Polo in Nile Street, unticketed.

🎭Theatre: Dark Sublime, "a play about joy and heartbreak, quarries, and transmat beams" sounds extremely sweet; Tuesday 15th-Saturday 19th March at the Brighton Little Theatre, tickets here.

Swoop in

If you have a story for Seagull, please get in touch with our editor at [email protected]. And if you want to contribute:‌

☕️ Where to eat? 🥪

Brunch: Moksha on York Place, a family-run local mainstay, is great not just for food but for coffee too! Spacious and friendly, we'd recommend the tofu benedict and a dirty chai.

Dinner‌: Fatto A Mano has several locations in the city—London Road, the North Laine and Hove, and you can see why: delicious pizza at remarkably reasonable prices is a winning combination. Their vegan options are particularly good.

Pint: ‌Daddy Longlegs on Arundel Road is very near where our editor used to live, making it a favourite of the team. Lovely and light inside, pop in for a pint if you're down near the Marina.

Bonus: The BRAVO awards, for Brighton's best restaurants across a range of categories, are midway through voting, which is free, open to everyone and closes on Thursday 24th March, so get voting here!

🔜 Next Time 🔜

That's all for this week—don't forget to fill in our contributors form if you'd like to get involved, forward to friends who might be interested and if you've been forwarded this and enjoyed it (or are reading on the website), please subscribe.