Bury Pride Rainbow Train

We were all excited to join the 3^rd Annual Bury Pride Rainbow Train on Sunday, 25 September.

We arrived early at Bolton Street Station in Bury and were treated to a great performance by Kathy Sings, while we waited for the train.

We celebrated Pride by experiencing a trip on the East Lancashire Railway’s Heritage Steam Engine. Out In The City had our own carriage as we travelled through Ramsbottom to Rawtenstall. There we were greeted by Bloco Ashe Samba Band and, after a half an hour break, we returned to Bury.

Wolf (the oldest and heaviest boy band in the world!) were there to keep the party going with songs like “The Locomotion” and “Love Train”. They put in a fantastic performance as we danced along on the platform.

There are a lot of fantastic photos to see here.

Happy Banned Books Week! – 40^th Anniversary

Banned Books Week took place from 18 – 24 September this year. It was launched in 1982 as a way to celebrate the freedom to read and in response to the surging number of books being challenged in bookstores, schools and libraries.

In the US in 2020, 273 books were targeted. In 2021, the number was 1597. So we’re not doing very well.

We live in a world where writers and journalists are routinely targeted by vindictive dictators and brutal warlords. Reporters Without Borders state that, so far this year, 35 journalists have been killed in connection with their work, with 480 of them in prison. In the west journalists don’t have targets painted on their backs, but just ask them about the hate emails and threats they regularly receive.

In 2021, six of the ten books most often challenged in the US were challenged because of LGBT+ content.

The freedom to seek and to express ideas, even those some consider unorthodox or unpopular, is a precious human right. It will slip away if we can’t protect it.