Desperately seeking Gscenes

Are you a secret hoarder (in a good way)? We’re looking for early issues of Gscene, from when it was a printed magazine found in every self-respecting LGBTQ+ club and bar in the Brighton area.

It’s hard to believe but Gscene, now Scene magazine, is 30 years old this year. The brainchild of James Ledward in 1995, it provided local listings and community chat that was sorely needed. The impact of Gscene on our gay scene (see what I did there), has been significant and deserves a proper appreciation. That’s not what we’re doing here though – we’re trying to gather a complete set of the magazine, and we’re almost there.

Thanks to co-ordinated efforts from the Bishopsgate Institute in London and The Keep at Falmer, we need fewer than ten issues for a complete run from 1995-2020. The missing issues are all from the period 1995-2000 and are listed here - this will be updated as we receive donations.

We’re also looking for The Queer Guide 1994-95, the short-lived prototype for Gscene, when Brighton wasn’t quite ready to embrace the Q word.

Donations for the missing issues (please check which ones we need), can be deposited at Jubilee Library in Brighton. Once we have a full set they will be taken to the Bishopsgate Institute where they will be scanned, and a digital copy sent to the Keep, who sadly don’t have room for the physical copies.

Please help if you can. It’s a fitting legacy to James Ledward. That and I sort of promised him I’d make sure it happened. So, open those attics, and venture into your velvet vaults, you never know what you might find! Thanks.