Lancashire Mining Museum

The Astley Green Colliery began operations in 1912 but closed in 1970. In 1927 there were 222 working collieries in Lancashire, and Astley Green was one of the largest pits.

We set off from Piccadilly Gardens and rode on bus 34 through Salford, Worsley and Boothstown eventually arriving in Astley after an hour. It was a bit of a walk to the last pit site still surviving in Lancashire, but we walked on towards the Bridgewater Canal where the Old Boatyard Pub was sited.

The head gear, which dominates the skyline in the area, and the engine house are managed by the Red Rose Steam Society whose volunteers have lovingly restored the steam engine. The coal miner’s cottage was the highlight of the visit for me, and some fantastic photos can be seen here.

Everything You Need To Know about Manchester Pride 2022: Dates, Tickets and Parade

Bursting with fun, colour and love, Manchester Pride returns to the city over the August bank holiday weekend and plans are, as expected, well under way. Manchester will no doubt be rolling out the rainbow carpet for the annual four-day LGBTQ+ celebration, which takes quite a different shape this year after event bosses said they wanted Pride to reclaim its activist roots.

While firm fixtures including the Gay Village Party and Candlelit Vigil will remain, the MCR Pride Live Festival has been scrapped following a consultation with residents and visitors. Meanwhile, the much-loved parade will make its grand return after a two year absence, with floats and outfits inspired by a ‘March for Peace’ theme.

The Canal Street neighbourhood will once again be at the heart of the event, with an ‘exciting and diverse’ range of performers including Spice Girls’ Melanie C, Girls Aloud’s Nadine Coyle and Drag Race star Bimini performing. Taking place across three different stages – the Alan Turing stage, the MancUnity stage and the Cabaret Stage – the party will be kicked off in style on the Friday evening by Trans organisations, Trans Creative and Milk Presents.

Festivities will stretch across the entire city as the parade weaves its way through the streets, while the free Superbia programme will pop up at venues throughout Manchester. Here’s everything you need to know if you’re joining in the fun at Manchester Pride 2022.

When is Manchester Pride?

Taking its usual spot on Manchester’s busy cultural calendar, over the August bank holiday weekend, the festival returns from Friday, August 26, through to Monday, August 29. Thursday night sees the launch of the Human Rights Forum, which will bring together activists and thought leaders, before the Gay Village Party kicks off on Friday evening.

Alongside entertainment across three stages, the Gay Village will also host the ‘ultimate street party’ with an array of markets, performances and parties across village venues. The party will be brought to a close by the annual Candlelight Vigil on Monday evening in Sackville Gardens with HIV support charity George House Trust.

Other events announced as part of the Pride celebrations include Youth Pride MCR and Family Pride MCR, where young people and families will be able to join in the celebrations with a series of free curated events. Superbia, Manchester Pride’s year-round programme of culture, will host the Superbia Weekend, will also offer a series of alcohol-free events for those who wish to enjoy Manchester Pride in a more tranquil and relaxing environment.

When is the Manchester Pride Parade?

The Pride Parade is the city’s biggest, bringing traffic to a halt as thousands of LGBTQ+ people and their allies march together for equality. The parade aims to highlight the ‘importance of peace in a world where all LGBTQ+ people are free to love and love without prejudice’. Organisers say they hope the event will send the world a ‘big, bright, colourful message’ of hope.

Taking place on Saturday, 27 August, it sets off along Deansgate from the junction with Liverpool Road at midday and makes its way to Fairfield Street. The route takes it via Peter Street, Oxford Street, Portland Street, Princess Street and Whitworth Street along the way.

The roots of Manchester Pride are definitely in the heart of it’s famous Gay Village. Taking place from Friday through to Monday, the four-day party boasts an impressive line-up, which has been created in collaboration with Manchester’s queer communities in direct response to the Pride In Our Future report.

The opening party on Friday will be a trans-led event -Trans Filth & Joy- and will continue into the weekend with an ‘exciting and diverse’ programme including takeovers from Black Pride MCR, Fat Pride and Queer Women’s Takeover. Headliners, DJ’s and performers will take to The Alan Turing Stage in Sackville Gardens over the weekend, including Melanie C, Nadine Coyle, Charity Shop Sue and Drag Race star Bimini.

The MancUnity stage at Chorlton Street Car Park, meanwhile, will host a variety of takeovers co-designed with some of Manchester’s best promoters and DJs to highlight the best queer talent that Manchester has to offer. Fat Pride will kick off the stage on August 26, celebrating big bodies with an evening of dancing, partying, and feeling good.

Black Pride MCR will celebrate the black roots of house music, disco, funky house, vocal and tribal, with performances from DJs and iconic dancers from the Northern Vogue Ballroom scene. Some of Manchester’s best female talent will also be taking to the MancUnity stage for the Queer Women’s Takeover including DJ Mix-Stress and DJ Róis, founder of What She Said Club.

The cabaret stage at Sackville Car Park will host a number of brilliant cabaret acts, and The Bitten Peach, a gender-diverse, pan-Asian collective showcasing joy and excellence will also perform. There will also be appearances by all-female/non-binary theatre and cabaret company Pecs Drag Kings and Duncan James from Proud Cabaret.

How to get Manchester Pride 2022 tickets

Tickets for Manchester Pride 2022 officially went on sale at the end of April, but don’t fear there’s still some left. Now that Manchester Pride Live has come to a close, the main event to buy tickets for is the Gay Village Party. The following tickets are still available on Ticketmaster.

Can you enter the Gay Village over Manchester Pride Festival without a wristband?

The Gay Village Party is the only ticketed event, meaning that Manchester Pride’s programmed areas within the Gay Village, such as the three performance stages and event spaces, require a ticket to attend. Pride do not operate any events within the Gay Village bars and venues, so you will not be charged by Manchester Pride to enter individual Gay Village bars and venues.

What can you bring in?

While some people may want to bring in a bag to carry your things around, or for personal reasons, organisers ask that you bring a bag only if it’s really necessary, as this may delay entry into the event. Customers with access needs are more than welcome to bring a bag to any Manchester Pride events though.

HIV Timeline

For a timeline of HIV history in Manchester see here.

Your guide to the Alan Turing 50p Coin

The Royal Mint has issued a 50p coin to celebrate the life and work of Alan Turing.

The new 50p was designed by Christian Davies and Matt Dent, and the reverse side of the coin features the British scientist’s name alongside a representation of the Bombe machine used during the Second World War.

In a special nod to his work, the designers have incorporated hidden word sequences as part of the 50p design, representing a Turing quote and significant location, as well as the designers’ initials.

Hidden codes on the coin

Look closely and you will see that the coin features a what3words address – gears.grin.than – which pinpoints the location of his alma mater, Cambridge University.

The what3words system has divided the globe into a grid of 3m x 3m squares and given each one a unique combination of three words: a what3words address. This means that people can accurately and easily communicate their exact location.

The design also features his famous quote ‘Only a foretaste of what is to come’ whilst the text ‘CDANDMD’ refers to the coin’s designers.

Will the coin be rare?

The Alan Turing coin is the final release in the Innovation is Science 50p series, which also recognises Charles Babbage, John Logie Baird, Rosalind Franklin, Stephen Hawking and the Discovery of Insulin.

All the coins in this series have been issued as Brilliant Uncirculated coins and were not entered into general circulation. You will need to purchase the coins from The Royal Mint or from other coin dealers or collectors.

The Brilliant Uncirculated coin has an ‘unlimited’ mintage, so it is not likely examples of the coin will go up in value any time soon. The coin retails at £10 from The Royal Mint, and so this is the value and the coin is not rare.

The 50p also coin comes in gold Proof, silver Proof, and silver Proof Piedfort editions, as follows:

Gold Proof – 210 minted: £1,150.00

Silver Proof – 3,210 minted: £57.50

Silver Piedfort – 1,510 minted: £102.50.

About Alan Turing

As the father of modern computing and a code breaking genius during the Second World War, Alan Turing was a truly extraordinary individual. 

In recent years, Turing has become a figurehead for gay rights following his posthumous pardon from Her Majesty The Queen in 2013, which has since led to further pardons to gay men and created what’s become known as ‘Turing’s Law’.

For a man who passed away far too young, Alan Turing’s ingenuity and intellect both still have an enduring impact in the fields of computing, mathematics and science today. His groundbreaking theories remain revered to this very day, which suggests he was a genius way ahead of his time.

Recently honoured by the Bank of England with a portrait on a new £50 banknote, this is the first UK coin to commemorate the life and legacy of Alan Turing. 

LGBTQ+ 50p coin

The LGBTQ+ commemorative 50p celebrates the 50th anniversary of Pride UK and is the first time Britain’s LGBTQ+ community has been celebrated on official UK coinage – and the coin will be entered into circulation!

The Royal Mint have now revealed that five million copies of the Pride 50p will be entered into circulation, so you might find one in your change!

The reported mintage of five million means the coin will be common but we’re yet to know how popular the coin will prove to be – collectors could snap up the coins and take them out of circulation, meaning demand could soon outstrip supply, and the value may go up.

How Did We Get Here? – The Journey to Equality

On Saturday 20 August at 2.00pm at the LGBT Foundation the Legacy of ’67 project will be exploring the changes to people’s general attitude towards LGBTQI+ people and the changes in the law, and examining how this relates to activism.

We’ll be hearing from solicitor Josh Dawson about the changes in the law, and from a panel consisting of Paul Fairweather, Tony Openshaw and Arthur Martland about personal experiences as advocates and/or activists of equality. There will be time for you to discuss the matter and tell of your own personal experiences.

There will also be an update on the progress of the project during its first three months.

To attend please RSVP to David@DavidDolanMartin.com

Rainbow Lottery

Pride Events

Bolton Pride: 5 August – 7 August – Facebook: @boltonpride

Levenshulme Pride: 12 August – 14 August – Facebook: @levenshulmepride

Wigan Pride: 13 August – Facebook: @OfficialWiganPride

Prestwich Pride: 13 August – Facebook: #prestwichpride

Manchester Pride: 26 August – 29 August – Facebook: @ManchesterPride 

Didsbury Pride: 3 September – Facebook: @didsburypride

Chorlton Pride: 17 September – Facebook: @ChorltonPride

Stockport Pride

The first in-person LGBT+ festival in Stockport since 2019 was held on Sunday, 31 July.

There was a parade through the town centre ending in Stockport’s Historic Market Place. The atmosphere was fantastic and in the market place the number and range of stalls was impressive. There was something for everyone. It was absolutely excellent, full of life and very enjoyable.

We met friends old and new, and the weather was brilliant too.

Rudolf Brazda, Concentration Camp Survivor

It’s eleven years since Rudolf Brazda, believed to be the last surviving man to wear the pink triangle, died on 3 August 2011. He was 98. The pink triangle was the emblem sewn onto the striped uniforms of the thousands of homosexuals sent to Nazi concentration camps, most of them to their deaths.

Mr Brazda, who was born in Germany, had lived in France since the Buchenwald camp, near Weimar, Germany, was liberated by American forces in April 1945. He had been imprisoned there for three years.

It was only after 27 May 2008, when the German National Monument to the Homosexual Victims of the Nazi Regime was unveiled in Berlin’s Tiergarten park – opposite the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe – that Mr Brazda became known as probably the last gay survivor of the camps. Until he notified German officials after the unveiling, the Lesbian and Gay Federation believed there were no other pink-triangle survivors.

In a statement, Mémorial de la Déportation Homosexuelle, a French organisation that commemorates the Nazi persecution of gay people, said that Mr Brazda “was very likely the last victim and the last witness” to the persecution.

“It will now be the task of historians to keep this memory alive,” the statement said, “a task that they are just beginning to undertake.”

One of those historians is Gerard Koskovich, curator of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender History Museum in San Francisco and an author with Roberto Malini and Steed Gamero of “A Different Holocaust” (2006).

Pointing out that only men were interned, Mr Koskovich said, “The Nazi persecution represented the apogee of anti-gay persecution, the most extreme instance of state-sponsored homophobia in the 20th century.”

During the 12-year Nazi regime, he said, up to 100,000 men were identified in police records as homosexuals, with about 50,000 convicted of violating Paragraph 175, a section of the German criminal code that outlawed male homosexual acts. There was no law outlawing female homosexual acts, he said. Citing research by Rüdiger Lautmann, a German sociologist, Mr Koskovich said that 5,000 to 15,000 gay men were interned in the camps and that about 60 percent of them died there, most within a year.

“The experience of homosexual men under the Nazi regime was one of extreme persecution, but not genocide,” Mr Koskovich said, when compared with the “relentless effort to identify all Jewish people and ultimately exterminate them.”

Still, the conditions in the camps were murderous, said Edward J Phillips, the director of exhibitions at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. “Men sent to the camps under Section 175 were usually put to forced labour under the cruellest conditions — underfed, long hours, exposure to the elements and brutal treatment by labour brigade leaders,” Mr Phillips said. “We know of instances where gay prisoners and their pink triangles were used for guards’ target practices.”

Two books have been written about Mr Brazda. In one, “Itinerary of a Pink Triangle” (2010), by Jean-Luc Schwab, Mr Brazda recalled how dehumanising the incarceration was. “Seeing people die became such an everyday thing, it left you feeling practically indifferent,” he is quoted as saying. “Now, every time I think back on those terrible times, I cry. But back then, just like everyone in the camps, I had hardened myself so I could survive.”

Rudolf Brazda was born on 26 June 1913, in the eastern German town of Meuselwitz to a family of Czech origin. His parents, Emil and Anna Erneker Brazda, both worked in the coal mining industry. Rudolf became a roofer. Before he was sent to the camp, he was arrested twice for violations of Paragraph 175.

After the war, Mr Brazda moved to Alsace. There he met Edouard Mayer, his partner until Mr Mayer’s death in 2003. He has no immediate survivors.

“Having emerged from anonymity,” the book “Itinerary of a Pink Triangle” says of Mr Brazda, “he looks at the social evolution for homosexuals over his nearly 100 years of life: ‘I have known it all, from the basest repression to the grand emancipation of today.’ ”

Anne Frank

It has been 75 years since one of the most beloved books of the 20^th century first appeared. Improbably, its author was a teenage girl who initially began writing only for herself, in order to confide her private thoughts to her diary, which she named “Kitty”. The young girl, whose name is now known around the world, was Anne Frank.

She continued writing regularly until her last entry on 1 August 1944. On the morning of 4 August, an anonymous tip was given to the security police who arrived at the house on Prinsengracht aided by Dutch police in order to seize the Jews in hiding.

Subsequently she was transferred to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where she died in 1945 of Typhus, a few weeks before the camp was liberated.

Holiday suggestions!

Get away for Gay Weekends or enjoy a voyage on a Gay Cruise …

Together as One Exhibition

The exhibition ‘Together As One – A Celebration Of Manchester’s LGBTQIA+ Community’ launches on Thursday, 28 July at 7.00pm at the Refuge, Oxford Street, Manchester M60 7HA, with a free party.

The exhibition features a collection of photographs by Peter J Walsh and Jon Shard capturing two iconic moments in Manchester’s vibrant history – the Clause 28 Demonstration and Flesh at the Haçienda – and runs until 30 September 2022.

Clause 28 Demonstration, Manchester 1988

Clause 28 was a controversial clause in the Local Government Act 1986 that prohibited the “promotion of homosexuality” by local authorities; including a ban on schools teaching the “acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship”.

Coming into force in May 1988, Clause 28 (now Section 28) was an attempt to suppress the gay community at a time when it was already struggling to deal with the Aids epidemic and the backlash towards the gay community fuelled by the media.

On 20 February 1988, a huge anti-Clause 28 protest was held in Manchester, with over 20,000 people taking to the streets to protest their anger towards the Thatcher led government. The march which culminated in Albert Square was one of the largest LGBT demonstrations ever held in the UK.

Peter J Walsh, who is more well known for documenting the city’s nightlife during the ‘Madchester’ years is one of the few who documented this important protest that would help change the face of LGBT+ rights in the UK. The photographs are © Peter J Walsh.

Peter stated: “The Anti-Clause 28 demo was one of the largest demonstrations I had covered in Manchester during that period. The starting point was on Oxford Road, by the Poly and the participants seemed to go on as far of the eye could see. Manchester City Council reckoned there were 20,000 people on the demo. It was loud, happy and vibrant. The country had been under Thatcher’s rule since 1979 and people were determined to fight back against this law. The left wing council of Manchester welcomed the marchers and stood with them in solidarity against the divisive Tory Government. The LGBQT communities civil liberties were under attack by Thatcher and we were prepared to stand shoulder to shoulder with them and say enough is enough.”

The law was finally repealed in 2003.

Flesh at the Haçienda

Jon Shard’s imagery captures The Haçienda’s hallowed dance floor club night, Flesh.

Launched in October 1991, Flesh was the flamboyant mid-week night at The Haçienda, which welcomed everyone: black, white, gay and straight, and was also the home of the club’s first female resident DJs, Paulette and Kath McDermott.

Imperial War Museum

The Imperial War Museum North explores the impact of modern conflicts on people and society. The museum occupies a site overlooking the Manchester Ship Canal, an area which during the Second World War was a key industrial centre and consequently heavily bombed during the Manchester Blitz in 1940.

The museum building was designed by architect Daniel Libeskind and opened in July 2002.

We headed to the Café and enjoyed sourdough baguettes, soups and jacket potatoes before visiting the museum’s permanent exhibitions supported by hourly audiovisual presentations which are projected throughout the gallery space.

One of the exhibits was about the Holocaust where six million Jews perished, but they were not the only victims of Nazi racial, biological and political theories. Gypsies, Soviet prisoners of war, non-Jewish Poles, people with disabilities, homosexuals, Jehovah’s Witnesses and political opponents were also persecuted and murdered during the Second World War.  

It was an interesting visit and more photos can be seen here.

Stockport Pride

Plans are progressing on the return of Stockport’s annual LGBT+ festival to Stockport’s Historic Market Place on Sunday, 31 July.

Due to be the first in-person LGBT+ festival in Stockport since 2019, it will include a range of entertainment and stalls.

Filling the streets of the town centre with rainbows, a parade will be taking place. The march will start on Bridgefield Street, travel up to Suffragette Square, through Merseyway and up to Stockport’s Historic Market Place.

Stockport Pride will be free and open for all to attend from 11.00am until 6.00pm on Sunday 31 July.

1971 Burnley Meeting

The 1971 Burnley meeting was called by the Campaign for Homosexual Equality (CHE) in response to a local controversy about the proposed opening of a gay club in the town.

Leading members of CHE, including Allan Horsfall and Ray Gosling had been promoting the Esquire Clubs project to create club facilities to be run by and for gay men and lesbians, inspired by the example of COC (Cultuur en Ontspanningscentrum) in Holland and by the model of the traditional English Working Men’s Clubs that had been a feature of many northern industrial towns.

When the site of a former Co-op cafe in Burnley became available, plans were drawn up to establish such a club in the town. There followed a heated debate in Burnley Council, which discovered to its dismay that it had no powers to prevent it, and sought unsuccessfully for a change in the law to enable gay clubs to be banned. Public opposition was whipped up in the press led by two local Catholic priests.

The CHE Executive decided to call an open public meeting to confront the opposition, an occasion which has now gone down in gay history.

The meeting was co-sponsored by the National Council for Civil Liberties. Manchester students handed out leaflets headed “Homosexuals and Civil Liberty” in the town centre, in an attempt to broaden the topic beyond the clubs issue. The meeting itself in Burnley Public Library on 30 July 1971 was attended by over 250 people including the two priests leading the opposition. Police stood at the back of the hall and a police van waited outside; a group of 15 skinheads turned up and were escorted into the meeting after being asked to remove their boots and leave them at the door. A party of Gay Liberation Front (GLF) supporters organised by CHE’s Glenys Parry travelled up from London, but most of those attending were locals who were assumed to be hostile to the plans. As the meeting progressed, however, and Ray Gosling who was in the chair, invited contributions from the floor, the tone changed. Andrew Lumsden invited any gay people in the audience to stand up to declare themselves and about two-thirds did so. And in a very moving intervention a blind woman said that she felt sickened by the intolerance shown by those who claimed to be Christian, and, addressing the priests directly, said that she believed her gay son who had committed suicide would still be alive if there had been such a club for him to go to.

In the end the plans for the club never went ahead. CHE’s local groups grew in a less formal way, but still provided a network of support and encouragement for lesbians and gay men who came together to develop the ideas and campaigns that have contributed to today’s out and proud gay community. But the Burnley meeting was reported in the national as well as the local press, giving rise to the first of CHE’s complaints to the Press Council. It also gave an enormous boost to CHE’s public profile and its sense of self-confidence.

On the 50th anniversary, 30 July 2021, a Rainbow Plaque was unveiled at the Library.

Just Announced: Superbia 2022

Superbia is a series of arts and culture events as part of the Manchester Pride Festival taking place from 24 – 28 August.

This year’s Superbia programme is bigger than ever!

Superbia is designed to celebrate Manchester’s extraordinary queer talent through a diverse range of media. An alternative way to celebrate Pride, many of the events are delivered in alcohol-free, accessible spaces across the city centre.

This year, the event has been curated by creative producer, Beau-Azra Scott, and has once again been cultivated with love, acceptance and inclusivity at its core. Find out more about this year’s events and the full programme here.

Ending new HIV transmissions in the UK is within our grasp!

We have the knowledge, ambition, and the tools to achieve this goal: if everyone knows their HIV status, and commences prompt HIV treatment if diagnosed positive, or accesses effective prevention initiatives if negative and at ongoing risk, then we can STOP new infections. We need to convey this message succinctly and create enthusiasm in the broader healthcare setting and wider community.

The Brighton-based Martin Fisher Foundation has created the HIV animation “AIDS is over, if you want it” for YOU to use, for FREE, everywhere – in educational programmes, on information screens, as part of social media messaging, across healthcare services and on public information websites. Please also disseminate through your professional and personal networks. Let’s get this viewed by everyone in the UK!!

This animation was co-produced following focus groups with the general public coordinated by Terrence Higgins Trust as well as people living with HIV. Creative Connection Animation Studios and HIV specialists used focus group information to develop the script and animation. The narration is by Nathaniel J Hall. It was funded by a Merck Sharp & Dohme Community Grants Programme (2021/22).

We hope you like it as much as we do.

Pardon? Britain’s Forgotten Criminalised Gay Men

Philip has been telling his story as part of a new documentary called Pardon? about the law change in April 2022 which means that more gay and bisexual men who were criminalised for ‘homosexual acts’ under former laws can apply for a government pardon. It features the stories of a number of men who have been affected by this issue, and also features interviews related to the political and legal context of the issue.