Good day all my little Cubs and Cubettes

What a busy couple of weeks it has been for my Phat sista’s & me of ‘Bears Aloud’

Last week on Sunday 5^th June we headed into Leeds and arranged to have our first official photo shoot with

‘David Timothy Photographs’ (www.facebook.com/DavidTimothyPhotography)

Even though ‘Bears Aloud’ is two years old, we have never actually done a staged set photo shoot and with the help of ‘David Timothy’ we managed to finally get one sorted.

It was decided by us to host our scenes/back drops within as many local venues within Gay-Leeds as we could, we wanted to captivate all the places we have had many a happy day/night. We also want to say a big thankyou to everyone at Blayds Bar, the Bridge, Queens Court, the Viaduct and ‘Nice n Naughty’ for allowing us to take shots within their establishments, which we tried to accomplish without any disruption to their everyday trading.

Big thanks to Michael & Terry for letting us in and allowing us to use their apartment for shots too, also for letting us lounge all over their floor!

We are very happy with what was achieved from our first session, which you can view via David’s and our profile on Facebook, we also look forward to doing our second shoot sometime later in the year and to incorporate other venues we couldn’t get too on Sunday, so thankyou to everyone that was involved.

Now with a quick costume wash, a bit of ironing and packing of cases through the week, we headed over the Pennines and into Lancashire for

‘Blackpools Gay Pride 2011’, where we were performing at the Carousel bar on the North Pier. Thankfully the weather brightened up and became really sunny for the main event on Saturday 11^th June.

What a brilliant day was had in Blackpool, the council had the rainbow flag flying from the Blackpool Tower, at the ‘Pride on the Pier’ there were Market stalls, information stalls, folk dressed as brightly as they could, there were helpful stewards, bars, food, a massive inflatable slide which ‘Ginger Roberts’ and myself tumbled down! Then there were so many acts to be captivated by.

On the stage we performed at which was hosted by the wonderful ‘Dj Pudsletta Horrormoan’, was the huggable ‘Showbears’, Mandy Gap, Cookie, Topping & Butch, Fonda Cox and Glitter Lipz (Tilly & Pam catz)

It didn’t end with that collection of FAB act, there was so much more to be entertained by on the other stages, Sinitta, Toyah, Diva Fever, Ryan Jagger, the Boy George Experience and so much more, you were literally spoilt for choice which performer or performance you wanted to see.

All the girls in ‘Bears Aloud’ just want to say a massive thankyou to everyone who gave up seeing Sinitta & Toyah to come and watch us dance, sweat, also don’t forget entertain you all. It really made our day with a big smile when we were given a standing ovation to our show and we give a heartfelt hug to each and everyone who was there.

After an amazing day on the pier the ‘Wilde Rose’ and I hit the bars of Gay-Blackpool, lets just say we partied and danced our little paws off till the very early hours of the morning, which I vaguely remember was becoming daylight!

With a few hours sleep and the power of a really good cooked breakfast, we did it all again on the Sunday as the Pride event carried on within the bars that day, which was a blessing really as the haven’s just opened all day, sadly this put a dampener on the outside rides they had on offer, however there was plenty of entertainment provided at Kaos, Mardis Gras and the Flaying Handbag, with a plethora of host’s, like Captain Ginger, Stella, Dj Pudsletta Horrormoan and Dj Carmen.

Thankfully our ever so loveable ‘Grizzbear’ was in town over the weekend too, which helped capture those happy times with his camera.

It’s been an amazing couple of weeks and we look forward to the rest of our ‘2011 Pride Tour’ and the ‘Leeds Pride’ fundraisers coming your way.

Big Mamma-bear hugs

X x x