On the first Wednesday monthly we meet in the Chief Librarian’s Office, Manchester Central Library, St Peter’s Square, Manchester M2 5PD from 2.00pm to 4.00pm. Take the lift to the third floor and turn left through the doors signed “Meeting Rooms”.

For the rest of the month we meet weekly at Cross Street Chapel, 29 Cross Street, Manchester M2 1NL on Thursdays from 2.00pm to 4.00pm.

Monthly Women’s Meetings held on last Thursday of the month at Cross Street Chapel, 29 Cross Street, Manchester M2 1NL from 2.00pm to 4.00pm.

Meetings are “drop-ins”. There is no need to book, just turn up.

On Wednesdays (and occasionally other days), there are different activities, but you do need to book. Please contact us here. You are welcome to attend on one or both days.

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Next activities:

Trips need to be booked. Please note that some trips have a limited number of places and are available on a first come basis. If a trip is “Fully Booked Up”, please ask to go on the reserve list as there are often late cancellations.

Please contact us here.

Please note no meeting in Central Library in February

Thursday, 5 February – 2.00pm – 4.00pm – Meeting in Cross Street Chapel

Saturday, 7 February – 7.30pm – BBC Philharmonic – Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances – Free – (Fully Booked Up)

Bridgewater Hall, Lower Mosley Street, Manchester, M2 3WS

BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
Adam Hickox conductor
Elisabeth Brauß piano

Camille Pépin Les Eaux célestes
Ravel Piano Concerto in G
Rachmaninoff Symphonic Dances

Camille Pépin is making waves. A brilliant new voice in contemporary music, her addictive, luxuriant work sits somewhere between the seemingly opposite worlds of French impressionism and American minimalism.

Tonight, the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra performs her work in Manchester for the very first time. Les Eaux célestes tells the musical story of star-crossed lovers Orihime and Hikoboshi, a sky god’s daughter and a celestial cowherd who are drawn together by fate.

Before the interval, pianist Elisabeth Brauß returns with Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G, a work bursting with jazz energy and Basque-inspired themes, and featuring one of classical music’s most moving slow movements. The concert concludes with Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances, music characterised by soaring melodies, lush harmonies, and deep emotional intensity.

Adam Hickox makes his Bridgewater Hall debut in this sparkling and generous programme of technicolour musical delights.

Tuesday, 10 February 2026 – Saturday, 14 February 2026 – “The Night Larry Kramer Kissed Me”

Hope Mill Theatre, 113 Pollard Street, Manchester M4 7JA

The Night Larry Kramer Kissed Me. Part love letter, part rallying cry, David Drake’s award-winning solo play is a fierce, funny and deeply moving journey through queer life and the legacy of ACT UP. It’s theatre as activism. Urgent, uplifting and made for LGBT History Month.

Fresh from his standout performance in Jock Night, Gabriel Clark takes the stage for a blistering, intimate performance that celebrates community, confronts stigma and reminds us how hard-won our rights really are.

In Manchester for just 8 performances. Get your tickets now because when they’re gone, they’re gone.

Book tickets here – £21.50 – £29.50

Wednesday, 11 February – 2.00pm – 4.00pm – Games Afternoon at Mayes Gardens – Free

Meet at Piccadilly Tavern, 71-75 London Road, Piccadilly, Manchester M1 2BS at 12.00 noon for lunch.

Wednesday, 11 February – Saturday, 14 February – Iris Prize LGBTQ+ Film Festival

HOME Cinema, 2 Tony Wilson Place, Manchester M15 4FN

Wednesday, 11 February – 6.30pm – Iris 2025: Best Bits + Q&A

Award winners, audience favourites and unforgettable stories

Thursday, 12 February – 6.00pm – Blue Boy Trial + Q&A

The ground-breaking true story of the moment that changed LGBTQ+ visibility in Japan

Saturday, 14 February – 3.30pm – When Love Broke the Law + Q&A

Celebrate desire, protest and the power of love this Valentine’s Day

Thursday, 12 February – 2.00pm – 4.00pm – Meeting in Cross Street Chapel

Thursday, 12 February – 7.30pm – The Hallé – Beethoven’s Eroica (1) – Free – (2 tickets available)

Sunday, 15 February – 4.00pm – The Hallé – Beethoven’s Eroica (2) – Free – (Fully Booked Up)

Bridgewater Hall, Lower Mosley Street, Manchester, M2 3WS

Kahchun Wong conductor
Jan Vogler cello

Unsuk Chin subito con forza
Shostakovich Cello Concerto No.1
Beethoven Symphony No.3, ‘Eroica’

‘Wong’s expansive gestures are audience-pleasing; sometimes it looked as if he was channelling the music from the performers to the audience in a very visual way.’

A cellist of international renown, Jan Vogler is no stranger to either of Shostakovich’s cello concertos. His 2020 recording of the Second garnered critical praise for its thoughtful introspection and ‘flawless intonation’ (The Classic Review). Shostakovich’s formidable First, generally agreed to be one of the most difficult concerto works for the instrument, performed by Jan, is certainly not to be missed. Unsuk Chin’s subito con forza, written in 2020 in tribute to Beethoven’s 250th anniversary, provides a characterful opening to the programme. In a reflection of this innovative work, Beethoven’s much-loved ‘Eroica’ – which broke expanses of new symphonic ground at the time of its composition – closes the concert.

Saturday, 14 February – 1.30pm to 3.30pm – LGBTQ+ History Month Film Screening: “Of Time and the City” – Free

World Museum Liverpool, William Brown Street, Liverpool L3 8EN (5 minute walk from Liverpool Lime Street Station). The film screening is hosted by LGBT Foundation’s Pride in Ageing Programme.

“Of Time and the City” is a 2008 documentary film directed, written and narrated by gay Liverpool-born director Terence Davies recalling the Liverpool of his youth in the 1950s and 60s. The film uses news reel archive footage of Liverpool, contemporary shots, poetry and prose to tell the story of Liverpool from the close of the Second World War as Terence Davies personally remembers it. The film explores, like many of his other works, what it means to be Liverpudlian as well as touching on what it means to be Catholic and to be gay.

The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and won Best Documentary in the Australian Film Critics Association awards in 2009. Since Davies’ death aged 77 in 2023 the film has been shown as part of full retrospectives of his work at the BFI Southbank in London and the Museum of the Moving Image in New York.

“Of Time and the City” is rated 12A and contains infrequent strong language and discrimination. Doors open at 1.30pm with the screening starting at 1.40pm. The main feature lasts 75 minutes and will be preceded by a short film about LGBT Foundation’s Pride in Ageing programme in Manchester and Liverpool in 2005.

Get free ticket here.

Wednesday, 18 February – 11.00am – Museum of Transport, Boyle Street, Cheetham, Manchester M8 8UW – Free

Meet at Victoria Train Station at 11.00am and we will take bus 135 to the museum.

The museum has a traditional 1950s cafeteria which offers a wide range of drinks and snacks as well as hot and cold light meals, such as soup, sandwiches, toasties, hot pies as well as traditional favourites such as beans on toast.

Thursday, 19 February – 2.00pm – 4.00pm – Free

LGBT+ History Month Party in Cross Street Chapel

featuring Joe Cockx (from the Golden Age Big Band) performing Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra and Andy Williams.

There will also be a raffle and buffet. RSVP for catering purposes.

Thursday, 19 February – 6.30pm – 8.00pm – Jewish & Proud: with KeshetUK

A Celebration of LGBT+ Identity, History and Belonging in the North

Come along to this inspiring evening of conversation, learning and reflection as we celebrate LGBT+ History Month in partnership with KeshetUK. Together, we’ll explore what it means to be LGBT+ and Jewish today, uncover the stories that have shaped our communities, and engage in thought-provoking discussion about identity, history, and belonging.

This event is open to everyone whether you’re part of the Jewish community, the LGBT+ community or simply curious to learn more. Come with an open mind and leave with new insights and connections. We look forward to welcoming you warmly to this special evening of shared history and dialogue.

Full Price £10

Wednesday, 25 February – Gorton Monastery, 89 Gorton Lane, Manchester M12 5WF

Meet at 11.00am at Bus Stop E0 (near Piccadilly Tavern, London Road, Manchester M1)

Bus 205 at 11.02am (every 30 minutes) – stops outside the Monastery

An hour’s silence followed by lunch and self-guided tour.

An hour of silence between 12.00 noon to 1.00pm. You can stay for as long (or as little) as you like. This time is for you. A small gift to yourself.

Being in silence and peace is incredibly healing, a rest from the fast pace of modern life and a time to slow down. Leave all your baggage, worries and busy life at the door and take the time as a space for rest and recovery. A mini escape, a sanctuary of peace and urban retreat. A chance to get away from it all and gain some peace and perspective.

It is estimated that we have at least 10,000 to 50,000 thoughts each day. You can learn to turn down the thoughts. It takes a little practice, like when building up a muscle, but after a while you can learn to turn your thoughts down and let them float away (they will be back if they are important).

Come and experience The Silence for yourself.

Wednesday, 25 February – 6.15pm – 7.30pm – Polari and Poetry – £4.00

Manchester Central Library, St Peter’s Square, Manchester M2 5PD

Voiced, the UK’s first creative festival for endangered languages, presents an unmissable evening of queer poetry and performance.

Presenting Polari, a hidden language of Queer experience, which will come to life in performance with Jez Dolan. 

Rosie Garland performs poems from Polari Prize-shortlisted What Girls do in the Dark and her recently published This Is How I Fight, an Observer Poetry Book of the Month.

Poet afshan d’souza-lodhi
explores Queer language through her mother tongue Konkani, a minority and national language in India. Join us for this electric evening exploring the intersections of Queer languages, poetry and performance.

Tickets: £4 here.

Thursday, 26 February – 2.00pm – 4.00pm – Meeting in Cross Street Chapel

Thursday, 26 February – 2.00pm – 4.00pm – Women’s Meeting in Cross Street Chapel

Tuesday, 3 March – 2.00pm – 3.00pm – Out On The Radio Show (Live) on ALL FM 96.9 with special guest Jide Macaulay from House of Rainbow.

Wednesday, 4 March – 2.00pm – 4.00pm – Meeting at Manchester Central Library.

We are meeting in the Chief Librarian’s Office, Manchester Central Library, St Peter’s Square, Manchester M2 5PD. Take the lift to the third floor and turn left through the doors signed “Meeting Rooms”.

Thursday, 5 March – 6.00pm – The Hallé – Rush Hour: Shostakovich’s Symphony No 1 – Free

(10 tickets available)

Bridgewater Hall, Lower Mosley Street, Manchester, M2 3WS

Euan Shields conductor

Janáček Taras Bulba
Shostakovich Symphony No.1

Euan Shields takes to the podium to lead the Hallé orchestra through this dark and supernatural programme. Taras Bulba, based on the Nikolai Gogol novel of the same name, was written in the midst of World War One. It leads the listener through three key moments in the life of the Russian Cossack, including the death of each of his two sons (one at his own hand), and finally, his own capture and demise. Shostakovich’s First Symphony was a huge success right from its premiere, launching him into instant international stardom at the age of just 19. Written as a graduation exercise from Maximilian Steinberg’s composition class, the symphony possesses a profound maturity, as well as the simultaneous sense of wit and tragedy that would go on to become characteristic of Shostakovich’s later works.

Thursday, 5 March – 7.30pm – 8.30pm – The Em Show: Tales From A Little Laughing Lesbian – Free 

(3 tickets available)

53two, Arch 19, Watson Street, Manchester M3 4LP

Tales from a Little Laughing Lesbian is an electrifying one woman show packed with stand-up, improv and clowning, all delivered through Em’s signature energy and joy. From therapy to parenting, marriage to motorbikes – no topic is off-limits in this hilarious journey of self-discovery. Uplifting, bold and wildly funny, this is a show for everyone (yes, even non-lesbians!). So, are you ready to laugh, reflect, and maybe even see yourself in a whole new way?

Em Stroud is The Comic Coach. She’s an entrepreneur, performer, clown, speaker, emcee, best-selling author and two times TEDx speaker – having done one dressed as a banana! Produced by Manchester based artist Charlie Ayers this evening promises to be a night of laughter and joy.

Saturday, 7 March – 2.00pm – 4.00pm – Golden Age Big Band – Free

The John Alker Club, Flixton Road, Urmston M41 6QY

Sing and dance along to the classics, with our seventeen member big band. Honouring musicians such as Glenn Miller, Frank Sinatra, Ted Heath, Nelson Riddle and so many more!

Afternoon tea and raffle included!

Wednesday, 11 March – 10.30am – Coach trip to National Memorial Arboretum, Burton-on-Trent, Staffs – Free – (Fully Booked Up)

Meet at Chorlton Street Bus Station, Manchester M1 3HY at 10.00am.

Coach returns at 4.00pm arriving in Manchester at approximately 5.30pm.

Thursday, 12 March – 2.00pm – 4.00pm – Meeting in Cross Street Chapel

Friday, 13 March – 7.30pm – Philharmonia Orchestra with Alisa Weilerstein, cello – Free

Bridgewater Hall, Lower Mosley Street, Manchester, M2 3WS

Marin Alsop conductor
Alisa Weilerstein cello

Arturo Márquez Danzón No.2
Gabriela Ortiz Dzonot
Rimsky-Korsakov Scheherazade

Alisa Weilerstein joins Marin Alsop and the Philharmonia for an outstanding new work by one of the world’s leading composers. 

The first cello concerto by Grammy-winning composer Gabriela Ortiz is inspired by the extraordinary landscape of the Yucatán Peninsula in southern Mexico. Ortiz wrote it for ICS favourite Alisa Weilerstein, who will be performing it in its Manchester premiere.

We begin in Ortiz’s native country with Arturo Márquez’s exhilarating Danzón No.2. And then we’re hurtling across the Atlantic for Rimsky-Korsakov’s vibrant musical retelling of One Thousand and One Nights. 

Saturday, 14 March – 7.30pm – BBC Philharmonic – Four Last Songs – Free

Bridgewater Hall, Lower Mosley Street, Manchester, M2 3WS

BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
Nicholas Carter conductor
Sarah Wegener soprano

Wagner Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde
Edmund Finnis The Landscape Wakes (UK premiere)
Bax Tintagel
Strauss Four Last Songs

Nicholas Carter, one of the leading opera conductors of his generation, makes his Bridgewater Hall debut.

Wagner’s Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde explores love and death through unresolved dissonance and ecstatic bliss, showcasing some of his most sumptuous music. Soprano Sarah Wegener joins the orchestra for Strauss’s Four Last Songs, the composer’s final, heartbreakingly wistful reflection on life, written in 1948 as he anticipated the end. For pure concentrated personal expression, there’s little like it.

Alongside, Tintagel by Arnold Bax, a rhapsodic tone poem inspired by Cornish myths and the mystery of Tintagel Castle. But before that – hear the latest work from Edmund Finnis, a fast-rising British composer of delicate melodies and glistening, sinewy textures.

Monday, 16 March – 7.30pm – National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine – Free

Bridgewater Hall, Lower Mosley Street, Manchester, M2 3WS

Volodymyr Sirenko conductor
Maria Pukhlianko piano

Berezovsky Symphony in C Major (Symphony No.1)
Beethoven Piano Concerto No.5, ‘Emperor’
Delius Two Pieces for Small Orchestra
Beethoven Symphony No.7 

The National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine makes a welcome return. 

Musical ambassadors for their homeland, the NSOU tonight pay homage to our nations’ bond with works from both Ukraine and England. Maxim Berezovsky’s Symphony in C, the first Ukrainian symphony, is a landmark in the country’s musical history. And music doesn’t get more English than Delius’s sumptuous ‘On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring’. 

That’s not all: there’s drama, too, courtesy of Beethoven. Maria Pukhlianko stars in the ‘Emperor’ concerto, before the same composer’s glorious Seventh Symphony. Slava Ukraini! 

Wednesday, 18 March – Trip to Harris Museum, Preston (to be organised)

Thursday, 19 March – 2.00pm – 4.00pm – Meeting in Cross Street Chapel

Thursday, 19 March – 8.00pm – 9.20pm – 1 Waterside Plaza, Sale, Trafford M33 7ZF – Jarman

Derek Jarman: film-maker, painter, gardener at Prospect Cottage, gay rights activist, writer … his influence remains as strong as it was on the day he died in 1994. But his story, one of the most extraordinary lives ever lived, has never been told. Until now.

This vibrant solo play from Mark Farrelly brings Derek back into being for a passionate, daring reminder of the courage it takes to truly live while you’re alive. A journey from Dungeness to deepest, brightest Soho and into the heart of one of our most iconoclastic artists.

Jarman’s works include taboo-breaking films like Sebastiane, Jubilee and  Caravaggio, pop videos for the Pet Shop Boys (It’s A Sin and Rent), his extraordinary borderless garden in Dungeness, his shocking last paintings, and his unforgettable final film Blue, consisting of a single continuous frame of blue and chronicling what it’s like to lose your sight … but never your artistic vision.

Get Tickets here £15

Thursday, 19 March – 7.30pm – The Hallé – Mullova plays Brahms (1) – Free

Sunday, 22 March – 4.00pm – The Hallé – Mullova plays Brahms (2) – Free

Bridgewater Hall, Lower Mosley Street, Manchester, M2 3WS

Kahchun Wong conductor
Viktoria Mullova violin

Wagner Tannhäuser: Overture
Brahms Violin Concerto
Bartók Concerto for Orchestra

The exceptionally versatile violinist Viktoria Mullova teams up with Kahchun Wong for a performance of Brahms’ Violin Concerto. Intended to be a test of both the soloist’s technical ability and their musicianship, the work overflows with cadenzas – short, often improvised passages of notes – which give the soloist ample opportunity for real virtuosic display. Viktoria Mullova, whose playing has been praised by critics and audiences alike for its immense agility and richness of tone, is sure to bring us an unforgettable performance. Where concertos are usually a work comprised of a solo instrument accompanied by an orchestra, Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra treats each instrumental family as if they were soloists in their own right. Let’s get ready to shine a spotlight on all sections of the orchestra.

Saturday, 21 March 2026 – 3.00pm – “At the Rainbow’s End” by Clare Summerskill – Free – (Fully Booked Up)

Hope Mill Theatre, 113 Pollard Street, Manchester M4 7JA

Presented by members of Artemis Theatre Company.

A verbatim play addressing homophobic and transphobic abuse of older LGBTQ+ people in care and receiving care in later life.

These script-in-hand performances of At the Rainbow’s End by Clare Summerskill at The Hope Mill Theatre are all FREE.

Clare Summerskill’s latest play is based entirely on interviews with older LGBT people who have experienced homophobia and transphobia in care settings and when receiving care in their own home. It tackles an extremely important issue concerning older LGBT people who, having perhaps been out for their whole adult lives, are faced with the possibility of having to go ‘back into the closet’ at the point of accessing care in later life.

Each performance will be followed by a Q&A with the writer, the audience and informed panellists.

Performance and post-show discussion last approximately 1.5 hours.

Saturday 21 March – 7.30pm – BBC Philharmonic – Anthracite Fields – Free

Bridgewater Hall, Lower Mosley Street, Manchester, M2 3WS

BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
BBC Singers
John Storgårds conductor

Julia Wolfe Anthracite Fields
Laura Bowler New Work (world premiere)

‘I guess I have a bias towards the grit.’  – Julia Wolfe

Grit courses through Julia Wolfe’s Anthracite Fields, her Pulitzer Prize-winning oratorio for choir and ensemble that serves as a musical memorial to American miners and their struggle.

Wolfe grew up in coal-rich Pennsylvania – with vast deposits of anthracite, coal’s purest form – and saw firsthand how intertwined the means of fuelling a nation were with human toil and sacrifice. Through extensive research and oral histories, Wolfe weaves together stories of labour, loss, and resistance – stories that could just as easily come from the Yorkshire pits or the South Lancashire coalfields, where mining was not just a job but a way of life.

We hear testimonies from men risking serious injury, communities remembering the fallen, the fiery words of union leader John M. Lewis, and a few voices daring to hope. Wolfe’s writing is equal parts fluid and direct, drawing from her established sources — chorales, rock music, minimalism — as she looks unsparingly at the past.

Death and danger, community and power, all delivered with Wolfe’s trademark forthrightness.

Wednesday, 25 March – trip to be organised

Thursday, 26 March – 2.00pm – 2.30pm – Annual General Meeting in Cross Street Chapel

Thursday, 26 March – 2.30pm – 4.00pm – Meeting in Cross Street Chapel

Thursday, 26 March – 2.30pm – 4.00pm – Women’s Meeting in Cross Street Chapel

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Please contact us here if you are interested in attending the trips. There is no need to book to attend the meetings – just turn up. However, you may contact us if you wish.

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