Ava's leaving party 07/07/1994 Ava a long standing regular of the Sussex Club left us to sail off to Amsterdam

Photographs of a birthday celebration and a Christmas party at the Sussex Club.

Images of: When we went to the Rocky Horror Picture Show. We were dressed up but when we got to the Theatre Royal Shakespeare was playing. We had got the wrong night! Photos include Pat, Shirley, Tanya, Rachel, Elaine. Inside the Sussex Club on my (Tanya's) birthday. Although the club was for over 25's only, I started going at the age of 21.

Photographs of Pete's birthday party at the Sussex Club. Pete was a friend of Shirley's and for a short time worked at the Sussex Club.

Photos of Sussex Club members at Pride 1995. The Sussex Club was a members club, but also a social group, and in 1995 the club had a float at Pride. The theme for the float was 'sisters doing it for themselves' and alongside a Doc Martin boot, two large paper mache thumbs were made as a 'thumbs up' for women. However, causing some controversy the thumbs were as large as the float itself, and could be mistaken for phallic symbols from some angles.

The Sussex Club 1992-1995. A great space for women to meet and party. Down in the basement of 5 Regency Square, a private members only club, £1 for lifetime membership! Regular live music, free Space Invaders machine and a free Pool Table and bargain price beers!!! What more does a girl need?!?!

Tommy and Betty’s collection of personal memorabilia was found in a house clearance sale in Worthing in 2017. It includes a lifetime together of photo albums, all taken on Betty’s Icarex Camera, c1966.

The digital poster for Traumfrau queer party event which took place on the 22nd of February 2013 at The Haunt. The event was a Valentine celebration, celebrating the value of consensual love, over romantic love. "Forget about heart shaped chocolate boxes and Valentine blues... and come celebrate all kinds of (consensual) love with us!" Special guest for this edition: ANNEKA DJs: Mrs Norman Knows: Bedroom Electropop Siouxie Nag: Femtronic, Electronica, Alternative dance

The digital poster for Traumfrau queer party event which took place on the 30th of November 2012 at The Haunt. Traumfrau started in April 2012 at the TUBE, but by the autumn of that year it had outgrown its first venue and moved to a larger space, The Haunt. Special guest for this edition: Sabrina Chap, NYC, “Bouncing rhythms, complex instrumentation, and intelligent lyrics” - BITCH.

Poster for Traumfrau queer party event that took place on the 6th of October 2017 at the Dead Wax in Brighton

The digital poster for Traumfrau queer party event which took place on the 30th of March 2013 at The Latest Music Bar.

The Digital poster for Traumfrau's second ever event, which took place at The TUBE on the 6th of May 2012. This queer party was originally self defined as Brighton's new queer night for girls and their friends, a girls - but not girls only - club night, before becoming a queer party for all genders. Live music by: GAPTOOTH Entertainment by: Frederike. DJ sets from: DJ Lonesome M, Mrs Norman Knows, and DJ Nika Valentina.

The Digital poster for Traumfrau's third ever event, which took place at The TUBE on the 3rd of June 2012. This queer party was originally self defined as Brighton's new queer night for girls and their friends, a girls - but not girls only - club night, before becoming a queer party for all genders. Sports Day Special edition. DJs: DJ Lonesome M (rocking the Rockabilly vibe), Mrs Norman Knows (unashamedly playing all your guilty pleasures), Jenna Price (Retro Grrrl Trash), & Dank Je DJs (tech-house).

Wildblood and Queenie Post Office photobooth, Ship Street, Brighton 1993 We met in late 1992. Josephine aka Queenie called to ask if she and her girlfriend Michele could come play their bongos in my women-only nightclub Shameless Hussies which had just started upstairs at Fagins on East Street that May. Thanks to the committee of Brighton Pride’s Lesbian Strength who I worked alongside with Tiz Cartwright to create Shameless Hussies, this could only be approved by, you guessed it, a Lesbian Strength committee meeting. All of us. So we did. One meeting, many lesbians. Queenie, Michele, Tiz, the Lesbian Strength committee and me. It was at my place on Roundhill Crescent where I lived with my then-girlfriend Melissa. The sun was shining. The doorbell rang. I legged down our hallway stairs in my purple Doc Martens, Womad-purchased multi-coloured embroidered smoking cap and Tank Girl tee to open the door to my destiny. A destiny wearing a short-sleeved, stripey roll neck t-shirt tucked into a pair of oversized khaki high-waisted Bermuda shorts and a pair of dyke regulation black steel toe cap Doc Martens boots. T-shirt tucked in. Obviously. All it took was one look at that lesbian in that outfit walking up those stairs in front of this soul with her glorious backside flaunting its way ahead of me for this queer 23-year-old to become smitten. Completely and utterly. 18th May 1993. Seven months of flirting later we finally had our first kiss in the doorway of a lightbulb shop at the bottom of Trafalgar Street in Brighton. Having invented the term “it’s complicated” long before it was social, we had many dramas to get through before we could meet our disco destiny but it was coming. We were starting a connection. A connection made in dodgy 90s outfits and created in the DJ booths of Brighton. A connection that has lasted over 30 years. A connection I’m forever proud of. So this is our story. In long-kept ephemera, fabulous flyers, fuzzy photos, self-penned tunes, loved fuelled cartoons, xeroxed creations, press cuttings, VHS static, and adored audio. Wildblood and Queenie. Two elder queer disco dears who really should know better. Words by Kate Wildblood April 2024

Iconic Brighton DJ duo, Wildblood and Queenie, share some stories from their queer life in Brighton. Partners in life and music, Wildblood and Queenie takes us on a journey through the gigs they’ve played, the club nights they’ve created, the ins and out of lesbian intrigue, bongos playing, radio shows, love on the scene and beyond, and their renewed commitment to being three times married. Recorded remotely on March 6, 2023 Interview by: Roni Guetta, David Sheppeard, and Rowan Rush-Morgan Editing and original music by Olive Mondegreen