We have just had confirmation “on the red button” that our website is no longer “blocked” in Bury libraries. Well done to common sense.

Also click on this link https://outinthecity.org/resources/ to hear a podcast made for Sonder Radio featuring interviews with members of Out in the City.

Trips & Adventures – 8 November 2018

We arrived at Bradford Interchange at 11.25am and headed immediately for Bradford Library. Apparently our website has been “blocked” by Bury Library and we wanted to check if this was the case elsewhere.

Fortunately, we were able to see the website and fully access all areas, so we will have to sort out the issue in Bury.

The next stop was Wetherspoons where we sampled a variety of the meals on offer. The place was packed out with customers and we just about beat the queues.

We then made our way to the National Science and Media Museum. In September 2011 the museum was voted the best indoor attraction in Yorkshire by the public, and it is one of the most visited museums in the north of England.

The museum has seven floors of galleries with permanent exhibitions focusing on photography, television, animation, videogaming, the internet and the scientific principles behind light and colour. It also hosts temporary exhibitions and maintains a collection of 3.5 million pieces in its research facility.

We watched some iconic moments from television including snooker on a black and white television from the 70’s. This led to commentator Ted Lowe giving his famous quote: “… and for those of you who are watching in black and white, the pink sits behind the yellow.”

We were particularly impressed by some of the interactive exhibits which explore light and sound in the Wonderlab.

Finally, we headed over to the The Alhambra Theatre, named after the Alhambra palace in Granada, Spain, for refreshments. It was built in 1913 at a cost of £20,000 for theatre impresario Francis Laidler, and opened in 1914. In 1964, Bradford City Council bought the Alhambra for £78,900 and in 1974, it was designated a Grade II listed building. It underwent extensively refurbishment in 1986. Today it is a receiving house for large-scale touring theatre of all types and the main house seats 1,456. There was a performance about to start but Stuart and I were given a quick tour.

As well as visiting Manchester Pride, Oldham Pride and Happy Valley Pride, recently Out in the City has been networking with other LGBT groups aimed at the older generation.

We have visited “Over the Rainbow” in Todmorden (picture on the left) and “Out & About” in Oldham (picture on the right). We are planning to link up with “Silver Rainbows” in Cheshire in the near future.

Watch this space for news of further meetings …

Whilst we have been travelling out, people have been visiting our website. The website has been going for just over a year, but we have had 8,547 viewers from the UK.

There have also been views from round the world: USA 65; Slovakia 33; China 6; Spain 6; Canada 3; Germany 3; Ireland 3; Jersey 1; and Philippines 1.

Trips & Adventures – 25 October 2018

We had a great day out in Halifax starting with a coffee at the Square Chapel Arts Centre which is just opposite Halifax Railway Station. The Arts Centre is a beautiful Grade II listed red brick Georgian Chapel and is a wonderful conversion. It’s a friendly and relaxing place.

We then made our way to the Minster where we had lunch and listened to a very enjoyable organ recital. There were 12 short pieces including J S Bach and Cesar Franck.

This was followed by a private tour of the Minster lead by David, a local historian. He guided us around the Minster and gave us a very interesting and informative talk. He told us about Anne Lister who was baptised in the 900 year old font and whose grave stone was apparently vandalised because she was a lesbian.

Anne Lister was a well-off Yorkshire landowner, diarist, mountaineer and traveller. Throughout her life she kept diaries (written in code) which chronicled the details of her daily life, including her lesbian relationships, her financial concerns, her industrial activities and her work improving Shibden Hall. The Hall is currently closed to the public as there is filming of her life story.

We had a look at some of the quirky shops in the Piece Hall before returning to the Square Chapel Arts Centre for another coffee and cake!

Halifax Railway Station was the location for the film Brief Encounter, a 1945 British romantic drama film directed by David Lean about British suburban life on the eve of World War 2. It centres on Laura, a married woman with children, whose conventional life becomes increasingly complicated because of a chance meeting at a railway station with a married stranger, Alec. They fall in love, bringing about unexpected consequences.