Southport Model Railway Village

I remember Southport’s Merrivale Model Village, known as the “Land of the Little People,” which was a popular attraction in the 1960s. It was a two-acre site featuring a miniature English town with various scenes, including a castle, lake, airport and farms. The village, built on the former Winter Gardens site, was known for its meticulous landscaping and detailed models.

The Model Village quickly proved a very popular family attraction – noted for the very high standard of workmanship and maintenance – with about 100,000 visitors every season; between 1957 and 1962 there were over one million visitors.

Sadly, The Land of the Little People eventually faced closure and demolition in 1987 due to redevelopment plans for the site.

 However, the legacy continued. In 1995, Southport residents Ray and Jean Jones were granted permission to design and build a new model village at King’s Gardens, Southport.

Together with their team of craftsmen they transformed an area within the seafront into a miniature landscape. This became the first model railway village in the United Kingdom, due to the focus of the attraction on the miniature railway. When it opened to the public in 1996 it was the largest outdoor display of G gauge railway in the United Kingdom.

Movement is generated in the model railway village by one of the largest 45 mm garden railway systems in the United Kingdom. It has five LGB trains continuously running on 500 metres of track. By the way, LGB stands for Lehmann Gross Bahn!

The Jones family still run Southport Model Railway Village today.

Pride protest pioneer honoured

LGBT rights champion Ted Brown, who helped organise the UK’s first Pride march 53 years ago, has been awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Brighton.

Ted, 75, was honoured at the university’s summer graduation before leading Brighton’s Pride parade.

The activist, who joined the Gay Liberation Front at the age of 20, was recognised for campaign work spanning more than half a century.

He said: “I never imagined that standing up for who I am and for what I believe in would become what it is today”.

He added that being recognised “not just for the march or the moments people remember, but for the long road it took to get here, means everything to me”.

Born in New York to Jamaican parents, Mr Brown’s campaigning efforts with the GLF saw him help stage the now-iconic “kiss-in” protest in London in 1972.

He later co-founded Black Lesbians and Gays Against Media Homophobia in 1990 as a direct response to the treatment of the world’s first openly gay footballer, Justin Fashanu.

Mr Brown also successfully campaigned against the violent homophobia in reggae artist Buju Banton’s controversial song, Boom Bye Bye.

The university’s vice chancellor, Prof Donna Whitehead, said: “Ted has not just shaped British civil rights history, he has helped to write it. As our city prepares for Brighton Pride this weekend, it’s clear that Ted has changed this country for the better.”

Mr Brown was made an honorary Doctor of Letters on the final day of the University of Brighton’s summer graduation ceremonies, where more than 3,000 students from 97 countries were recognised.

Canada celebrates with four beautiful LGBT+ postage stamps

The designation for the community used by the Canadian government is 2SLGBTQI+, or Two Spirit, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex+.

Canada Post, Canada’s postal service, issued the new stamps called “Places of Pride”.

One stamp celebrates Hanlan’s Point Beach, a beach that has been a meeting point for nearly 100 years. Located on Centre Island in the Toronto Islands (in Lake Ontario), the beach was known as a gay gathering place since the 1930s, since it was close enough to Toronto to be accessible to residents of that city but required taking a boat to get there, reducing but not eliminating police harassment. In 1971 it hosted the Gay Day Picnic.

The other stamps celebrate Club Carousel in Calgary, the city’s first gay bar; Truxx in Montreal, a bar that was raided by police in 1977, leading to mass protests; and the 3rd North American Native Gay & Lesbian Gathering in Beausejour, Manitoba, where the term “Two Spirit” was introduced as a term for a gender variant or queer social role in Native American tribal life.

NHS begins rollout of world-first gonorrhoea vaccine programme

• Vaccination against gonorrhoea now available in sexual health clinics in England for those at greatest risk of infection
• Vaccine will protect thousands of people and save the NHS over £7.9 million over next decade
• Rollout is part of shift from sickness to prevention under government’s Plan for Change

People at highest risk of infection with gonorrhoea will now be better protected from the disease, as the NHS and local authorities begin the rollout of a world-first vaccination programme in England.

From Monday 4 August, sexual health clinics will be able to offer a free vaccine to patients at highest risk of the sexually transmitted infection (STI), including gay and bisexual men who have a recent history of multiple sexual partners and a bacterial STI in the previous 12 months.

The 4CMenB vaccine will help shield those most at risk of gonorrhoea – potentially averting up to 100,000 cases of the disease, while easing pressure on vital NHS services.

It will play a key role in the government’s shift from sickness to prevention as it makes the NHS fit for the future as part of its Plan for Change.  

Minister for Public Health and Prevention Ashley Dalton said:

“Rolling out this world-leading gonorrhoea vaccination programme in sexual health clinics in England represents a major breakthrough in preventing an infection that has reached record levels.

This government’s world-first vaccination programme will help turn the tide on infections, as well as tackling head-on the growing threat of antibiotic resistance.

I strongly encourage anyone who is eligible to come forward for vaccination, to protect not only yourselves but also your sexual partners”.

The groundbreaking vaccination programme comes at a critical time, with diagnoses of gonorrhoea reaching their highest levels since records began. In 2023, a record 85,000 cases of the disease were reported in England – three times higher than in 2012.

This vaccine will protect thousands of people and save the NHS more than £7.9 million over the next decade. It will also help combat increasing levels of antibiotic-resistant strains of the disease.  

The rollout is part of this government’s commitment to keep people healthier via an array of prevention and community health initiatives. This includes the Department of Health and Social Care’s National HIV Prevention Programme delivered by the Terrence Higgins Trust, which has worked with local activation partners to deliver National HIV Testing Week and the summer campaign for the past 4 years.

Consultant Epidemiologist at the UK Health Security Agency, Dr Sema Mandal said:

“This roll out is hugely welcome as we’re currently seeing very concerning numbers of gonorrhoea, including even more worryingly antibiotic-resistant gonorrhoea. The vaccine will give much needed protection to those that need it most – making the UK a world leader in the fight against gonorrhoea.

And it’s excellent to see that at the same time other important vaccines will continue to be offered in sexual health services to those eligible, protecting against mpox, hepatitis A and B, and HPV. Sexually transmitted infections aren’t just an inconvenience – they can have a major impact on your health and your sexual partners, so if offered I strongly urge you to get these jabs, you’ll be protecting yourself as well as others. Don’t put it off and regret it later”.

Guncle’s Day

Guncles’ Day, also known as Gay Uncles Day, is celebrated on the second Sunday in August. In 2025, this falls on 10 August. It’s a day to celebrate the special role that gay uncles play in families.

Out In The City Party!

It’s our 20^th Anniversary Year – It’s Manchester Pride Month – That can only mean one thing:

P A R T Y !

Thursday, 21 August from 2.00pm to 4.00pm

Cross Street Chapel, 29 Cross Street, Manchester M2 1NL

Entertainment from Wolf – Buffet – Raffle (prize donated by Morrisons, Whitefield)

RSVP for catering purposes

Please contact us here or text 07434 485 000