Trips & Adventures – 28 November 2019

Passports – check, walking boots – check, umbrellas – check. We were ready for our mystery trip. Were we going to Tony’s house for tea and cakes? Were we visiting a tattoo studio to get matching “Out In The City” tattoos? Actually, nine brave souls solved the first mystery – which was to find Stand J at Piccadilly Bus Station in the centre of Manchester.

A couple of minutes walk away on Charlotte Street is the “hidden gem” of The Portico Library, an independent subscription library designed in the Greek Revival style by Thomas Harrison of Chester and built between 1802 and 1806. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a Grade II* listed building and has been described as “the most refined little building in Manchester”.

Original entrance to the Portico Library

The library was established as a result of a meeting of Manchester businessmen in 1802 which resolved to found an “institute uniting the advantages of a newsroom and a library”. A visit by four of the men to the Athenaeum in Liverpool inspired them to achieve a similar institution in Manchester. Money was raised through 400 subscriptions from Manchester men and the library opened in 1806.

The library is mainly focused on 19th-century literature, and the first secretary was Peter Mark Roget who began his thesaurus here.

Other notable members include John Dalton, Reverend William Gaskell, Sir Robert Peel and more recently Eric Cantona.

We enjoyed tomato and basil soup and a range of delicious sandwiches with our teas and coffees. Whilst soaking up the relaxing atmosphere, Michelle told us about the history of the building and some of the incredible books in the collection.

Part two of our mystery trip was to visit Gaydio, the UK’s first LGBT FM radio service which launched full-time on 18 June 2010.

The station attracts around 850,000 listeners per month, making it one of the biggest LGBT media platforms in the UK. Matt, who presents the morning Breakfast Show, gave us a talk and a tour of the studio. Gaydio is broadcast on 88.4 FM in Greater Manchester, as well as online and via mobile apps. We were made thoroughly welcome and really enjoyed our visit.

Finally, we popped into The Richmond Tea Rooms in the heart of Manchester’s gay village for refreshments and rather large slices of cake!

More photos can be seen here

Trips & Adventures – 21 November 2019

We travelled by train from Manchester Victoria to Clitheroe, a town 34 miles north west of Manchester. It’s a little known fact that Jimmy Clitheroe (1921–1973) a comedian well known for his radio shows was born in the town.

The name Clitheroe is thought to come from the Anglo-Saxon for “Rocky Hill”, and the town’s most notable building is Clitheroe Castle, said to be one of the smallest Norman keeps in Britain.

Before we climbed the steep hill up to the Castle we stopped off at the “Mechanics Institute”, which served traditional English meals such as steak pie with local homegrown vegetables and sticky toffee pudding with custard.

The climb was worth the effort as the views from the top of the Keep were fantastic. The Castle stands atop a 35-metre outcrop of limestone and is one of the oldest buildings in Lancashire. It is also the only remaining castle in the county which had a royalist garrison during the English Civil War.

According to local legend, stepping stones across the River Ribble near the town are the abode of an evil spirit, who drowns one traveller every seven years. We were lucky though and managed to get back on the train to Manchester.

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The Transgender Day of Remembrance has been observed annually on 20 November as a day to memorialise those who have been murdered as a result of transphobia. Out In The City would like to mention this to draw attention to the continued violence endured by transgender people.

Trips & Adventures – 14 November 2019

Red button alert: Mr Essoldo left the Out In The City meeting early on Wednesday to travel to Littleborough as a specialist independent bookseller had telephoned him to confirm that his first edition had arrived. Imagine his delight when the Metro newspaper advertised the fact the very next day!

We had arranged to meet at Piccadilly train station near the ticket office to catch the 11.19am train to Marple. We made our way to Platform 1 and sat at the back of the train, but one person was missing. My telephone rang and we discovered that Walter had rushed to the front of the train to see if he could sit on the driver’s knee.

We arrived at Marple railway station about half an hour later and made our way to Marple Bridge, an area downhill from the small town of Marple. The pavements were wet and slippery as the council had neglected to clear the leaves. However, we soon warmed up when we reached the Norfolk Arms. This is a fantastic pub with an open fire, fabulous homemade food and a great atmosphere.

Marple Bridge is a predominately stone-built village situated on the banks of the River Goyt, just to the north east of Marple. Historically the location had significance as a bridging point on the route between Stockport and Derbyshire and where water power was available initially for a forge and corn mill. Marple Bridge developed from the 18th century as a small urban centre. Of special importance is the landscape setting of Marple Bridge formed by the steep-sided valley of the River Goyt.

After dining we took a short walk through Marple Bridge, but the weather was not favourable. It was wet and cold, so we ducked into a café for teas and coffees!

Miss Marple is a fictional character in Agatha Christie’s crime novels and short stories. Christie may have taken the name from Marple railway station, through which she passed.

Some members of the group caught an earlier train in order to attend the Older & Bolder meeting at the LGBT Foundation. There was a film screening of Pay It No Mind featuring Marsha P Johnson.

Marsha P Johnson was an American gay liberation activist and self-identified drag queen. Known as an outspoken advocate for gay rights, Johnson was one of the prominent figures in the Stonewall uprising of 1969. A founding member of the Gay Liberation Front, Johnson co-founded the gay and transvestite advocacy organisation STAR (Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries), alongside close friend Sylvia Rivera. A popular figure in New York City’s gay and art scene, Johnson modelled for Andy Warhol, and performed onstage with the drag performance troupe Hot Peaches. Known for decades as a welcoming presence in the streets of Greenwich Village, Johnson was known as the “mayor of Christopher Street”. From 1987 to 1992, Johnson was an AIDS activist with ACT UP.

Trips & Adventures – 7 November 2019

Our expected train was cancelled due to a break down, but we found an alternative train, direct to Mossley Hill, from Oxford Road Train Station. Our destination was Sudley House, a historic house in Aigburth, a district of Liverpool.

The house and the art collection are unique and were bequeathed to the city of Liverpool in 1944 by Emma Georgina Holt. Although she never married, she had some close female friends. Sudley House is now managed by National Museums Liverpool. Art UK described the house as being “the only British collection of its kind still in its original setting”.

We visited the cafe and tried the home made leek and potato soup and various sandwiches before meeting our guide, Tim, in the library.

There we were treated to an informative talk about the history of the building. Tim was very knowledgeable and gave us some real insights into the paintings on display by Gainsborough, Reynolds, Landseer, Millais, Turner amongst others. Our favourite was:

Tim also recounted the story of Mickey the monkey. Liverpool Zoological Park was a short-lived affair, only open from 1932-1938. The star attraction was a chimpanzee called Mickey. Not just any old monkey, Mickey was billed as “The World’s Cleverest Chimpanzee”. His cleverness manifested itself in such ways as being able to light his own cigarettes, which he would also smoke.

In a copy of The Mirror newspaper of 1937 there is a small article about an escaped chimpanzee in Liverpool, “Escaped ape attacks and bites two men,” says the headline. In 1938, Mickey escaped again. This time he escaped into a schoolyard, mauled some of the children and was eventually shot dead. Poor Mickey was stuffed after he was shot, still on display even after death. He ended up exhibited in Lewis’s Department Store in Liverpool until the shop was badly bombed in the 1941 blitz.

George Melly, the jazz singer, critic and famous bisexual, was related to the Holt family. In his autobiography he described aspects of life at Sudley House during his various childhood visits in the 1930s.

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Trips & Adventures – 31 October 2019

I told everyone that the train from Piccadilly to Shrewsbury was 10.38am when in fact it was 10.31am, but disaster was averted as we all arrived in plenty of time.

The journey took just over one hour to the historic town of Shrewsbury (Amwythig in Welsh). It’s a market town whose centre is largely unspoilt with over 660 listed buildings, including several examples of timber framing from the 15th and 16th centuries.

We made our way to The Bull for lunch, which was fine except that the chips were served ten minutes after the rest of the food and there was a mix up over one meal, which was entirely of our making!

I’m eating my sweet.

I’m still waiting to be served!

What? No chips!

I’m also eating my sweet!

Not much gluten free on the menu

We didn’t have time to visit the Castle founded in 1074 or the Abbey dating back to 1083, but we did see the Museum and Art Gallery. There we learnt that the town is the birthplace of Charles Darwin, where he spent 27 years of his life.

The town centre still retains its medieval street pattern and many narrow passages. Some of the passages, especially those that pass through buildings from one street to the next, are called “shuts” (the word deriving from “to shoot through” from one street to another). Many specialist shops, traditional pubs and local restaurants can be found in the hidden corners, squares and lanes of Shrewsbury. Many of the street names have also remained unchanged for centuries and there are some more unusual and gay-friendly names, such as Grope Lane, Bear Steps and Pride Hill.

At the bottom of Grope Lane, we found a Costa and we were given complimentary gingerbread men with our refreshments. When we were enjoying a coffee, someone said to me: “You’ve got a big one!” It wasn’t true – I had a medium Americano.