Trips & Adventures – 16 August 2018

We met at Victoria train station and travelled to New Brighton via Liverpool Lime Street. There were not many people on the train so we travelled very comfortably.

The purpose of our visit was to see the group show bringing together for the first time the New Brighton pictures of internationally renowned British photographers Martin Parr, Ken Grant and Tom Wood. Showing in the town from which the pictures stemmed, this exhibition records three decades of New Brighton through the eyes of the photographers as they lived and worked there.

However, we wanted to eat first and by chance found the Queen’s Royal Hotel. Between us we sampled most of the items on the menu: scampi, steak and ale pie, cheese and onion pie (with three cheeses), salmon as well as beer, lager and cider!

Somebody said “Five queens in the Queen’s Royal”, but I don’t know who could have made such a statement?

We decided to sample the sweets and although the cheesecake was a big hit, the apple dish created a mumble and a grumble as it wasn’t a genuine crumble.

Hmmm! Cheesecake.

We then made our way to the exhibition, showing as part of Imagine Wirral and Liverpool Independents Biennial, at The Sailing School, Marine Point, New Brighton.

There was a fantastic view of the Mersey and we spotted container ships travelling into Seaforth as well as Crosby beach. The photographs were fantastic as well bringing up nostalgic memories from the mid-80’s.

Mermaid – fact or fiction?

Trips & Adventures – 9 August 2018

Today we visited the city of Liverpool to see the Minton Floor at St George’s Hall and the Double Fantasy exhibition (about John & Yoko) at the Museum of Liverpool.

As we were too early for lunch we made our way to the St George’s Hall cafe, just a short walk from Lime Street train station. There were framed prints of famous Liverpudlians decorating the walls and we recognised most of them, whilst we enjoyed our tea or coffee.

The Great Hall is two floors up and has a tunnel vaulted ceiling supported on massive red granite columns – the largest of its kind in the whole of Europe – and interior architecture which cannot be beaten; including figures portraying qualities Victorian Liverpool aspired to – art, science, fortitude and justice. The Hall houses a breath-taking Minton tiled floor of 30,000 mosaic tiles, which is normally covered by a removable floor to protect it. The floor was uncovered just for a two week period.

We lunched at the Fall Well pub and then made our way to the Pier Head where the Museum of Liverpool is located. John Winston Ono Lennon MBE was an English singer and songwriter, who co-founded the Beatles, the most commercially successful band in the history of popular music. He married Yoko Ono in 1969. The Exhibition “Double Fantasy” explores John and Yoko’s story of their deep and powerful love.

John Lennon was highly political as a peace activist and in 1973, he contributed a limerick to Len Richmond’s The Gay Liberation Book (now out of print):

“Why make it sad to be gay?

Doing your thing is okay.

Our body’s our own,

so leave us alone

And play with yourself today.”

“All we are saying is give peace a chance.”

Two Virgins

People Power

Another fun day Out in the City!

Trips & Adventures – 2 August 2018

Another fantastic day out although we picked a day when the weather was not at its best and we had a slight drizzle when we set off for a cruise down Lake Windermere … but more on that later.

The journey from Manchester (via Wigan and Oxenholme) took less than two hours, and was uneventful except we got chatting to a very nice woman who asked us each, in turn, if we were married or single. She seemed surprised that we were all bachelors gay!

Buzz 599 took us down to the lake at Bowness (with a running commentary on the history of the area and the sights to be seen) and we headed straight for Lake Windermere – we were all dying to have a cruise. Windermere in the Lake District – ten and a half miles long and 219 feet deep – is England’s largest lake. Its name comes from the Scandinavian for ‘lake of a man called Vinandr’. The boat took 35 minutes to get to Ambleside and we were starving by this time. A fish and chip shop had been recommended and we dined there on the classic fish, chips and mushy peas. The fish was delish but the peas were too salty.

We had read about the harmful effects of blue / green algae so we avoided getting our kits off and having a “skinny dip” in the lake and settled instead for a short walk and a sit down.

Peter chasing the birds (that’s not like him!)

We took the cruise back admiring the castle nestled in the forest and islands where people picnic-ed or camped out (one was privately owned by a family).

The village of Bowness was very pretty and we soon found a Costa for much needed refreshments. Although the advertised bus timetable was very confusing, and we were considering ringing for a taxi, a number 599 arrived and took us back to the train station. We passed Dove Cottage, a house best known as the home of the poet William Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy from 1799 to 1808, where they spent over eight years of “plain living, but high thinking”. During this period, William wrote much of the poetry for which he is remembered today.

Dove Cottage?

The return was even quicker than the outward journey and we arrived back at Manchester Piccadilly at 6.30pm having enjoyed a great trip out.

Albert from Out In The City tells his story.

There is now a new video page on the website at https://outinthecity.org/videos/ showing Albert’s story and also a short documentary about 5 transwomen who met at voice coaching at the NHS Charing Cross hospital.  One of the transwomen, Barbara didn’t begin her journey until she was 55. Thanks to tellyjuice.co.uk who produced this video as a labour of love (as opposed to a profit making project).

Trips & Adventures – 26 July 2018

We met at Piccadilly bus station and walked to the far end to catch a bus to Gorton to visit the famous Gorton Monastery.

In 1997, Gorton Monastery was placed on the World Monuments Fund Watch List of 100 Most Endangered Sites in the World alongside Pompeii, the Taj Mahal and the Valley of the Kings.

The church and associated friary buildings underwent a £6 million restoration programme and the project was completed in June 2007 when the restored buildings opened as a venue for conferences, business meetings and community events.

However, before viewing the building, we dined in the “secret cafe” (a cool basement room) of the Victorian Pantry cafe.

We tried on some hats, relaxed in the garden and Stuart even posed as a monkey!