As part of Greater Manchester’s Festival of Ageing, the first of its kind, Out In The City held a special event for older LGBT people on 4 July 2018.

About twenty people attended and were well fed by an excellent veggie / vegan buffet prepared by Sidney Street café and supplemented by chicken and plantain donated by a member of the group. Church House also donated a selection of teas and coffee.

In order to celebrate our LGBT history, and have a bit of fun, we played “Who am I?” – a game based on LGBT icons and we did a Polari quiz.

Polari is a form of British gay slang that gay men used before homosexuality was partially decriminalised in 1967. Although it derives from 19th century theatre folk, sailors, showmen and criminals, 20th century gay men used it as a way to discuss their lives at a time when being gay could get you fired, thrown in jail and chemically castrated.

As feely homies, we would zhoosh our riahs, powder our eeks, climb into our bona new drag, don our batts and troll off to some bona bijou bar. (As young men, we would fix our hair, powder our faces, put on our new clothes and shoes and walk down to a trendy bar.)

Because Polari provides a way to gossip and talk trash there was some hilarity about the backhanded phrases. But we all had a fantabulosa time!

And no flies! It’s was so bona to vada you all! Sharda that we don’t palare more often! (Honestly! It was so good to see you all. What a shame that we don’t talk more often!)

Trips & Adventures – 28 June 2018

Today, 49 years ago, there were a series of violent demonstrations by members of the LGBT community against a police raid that took place in the early morning hours of 28 June 1969 at the Stonewall Inn in the Greenwich Village neighbourhood of Lower Manhattan, New York City.

The Stonewall riots of 1969 are widely considered to be the single most important event leading to the gay liberation movement and the modern fight for LGBT rights in the United States.

With this in mind we headed from Piccadilly on bus 142 heading for Fletcher Moss Park & Botanical Gardens in Didsbury Village. We met another member of the party under the clock tower (“quite a striking feature”, said Chris). Before rioting we decided to fuel up and ate at the Saint & Scholar. Everything was fine except the venison pie came with chips instead of mash potatoes.

We were all fired up to re-enact the riots … honestly, we were going to paint the park pink, but the weather was too hot … so we had ice creams instead at the park cafe.

Trips & Adventures – 21 June 2018

We had a great day out visiting Ordsall Hall – the oldest building in Salford and also a Grade I listed building. It dates back more than 750 years, although the oldest surviving parts of the present hall were built in the 15th century.

Four of us met around noon at the Deansgate/Castlefield tram stop and travelled to Salford Quays where we met four more members of the group.

After a very good meal (reasonably priced and good quality) at The Matchstick Men pub in Salford Quays, part of the Hungry Horse chain, we returned to the tram for one stop and then it was a short walk to the hall.

The house was bought by the old Salford Council in 1959 and opened to the public in 1972, as a period house and local history museum. Stuart donned a cloak and took his place at the head of the table.

There is much to see and experience and the guide was knowledgeable and quite amusing. All in all we had a great time.

Sandra in the stocks

Peter taking a break

I was asked to join the diversity panel for the television programme “Granada Reports”.

Lise McNally who works on the programme sent me a message asking me if I would go the following day. So off to Media City I went.

After introductions to the other members of the panel we were taken to the studio control room to see the show go out live. I sat next to the director who had a console in front of him which was all alight with bright yellow buttons. I asked if he knew what they were all for but he said no.

Someone did a countdown and there was a reporter who did a live report from the front of Liverpool Lime Street station.

Of course there were numerous screens on which the various sections, recorded and live, were to be seen.

The two presenters, Lucy Meacock and Tony Morris were sat behind a glass wall behind us.

Behind them is a window through which the Imperial War Museum North can be seen.

After the live broadcast we went to another room where refreshments were provided and we were joined by Tony Morris and shown some films of reports already seen on the show. One was a report by Tony Morris from Preston railway station about the breakdown of the new Northern Rail timetable.

The two live presenters use an autocue. They also have foot pedals behind the desk which the viewer is unable to see. I have no idea what these pedals do and I don’t think we were told. It’s one of the mysteries of the magic of television!

Trips & Adventures – 7 June 2018

It was Norman’s birthday on 8 June. What year? Every year of course!

It has now become an annual event to celebrate Normski’s birthday at the New York, New York on Bloom Street, Manchester.

Sorry for the poor quality of the photos, but the lighting was not suitable for a camera phone. There were tons of sandwiches as usual to accompany the chicken wings and sausage rolls.

Norman’s birthday cake

Norman certainly knows how to throw a party as we all had an enjoyable afternoon.