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:

All 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

Wednesday, 10 June – 12.00 noon – 3.30pm – Age Without Limits Day at Manchester Art Gallery

Meet in The Waterhouse Pub, 67-71 Princess Street, Manchester M2 4EG for lunch at 12.00 noon. We will walk to the Art Gallery at 1.00pm.

The Pride in Ageing group at LGBT Foundation are taking inspiration from Manchester Art Gallery’s WORN: the life within clothes exhibition, which showcases pieces of clothing that have lived fascinating and vibrant extended lives through mending, altering, customising and recycling. Don your glad rags or attire that feels most comfortable for an afternoon for over 50s to mark Age Without Limits Day.

Activities include:

• Drop into our mending, altering and customising workshop in the gallery atrium throughout the event – bring along an item of your own clothing to transform with stitching or patches
• Experience a 30-minute highlights tour of the WORN exhibition at 2.00pm or 2.45pm
• Soak up some nature with the summer blooms in the Derek Jarman Pocket Park just outside the Mosley Street Entrance, looked after by older LGBTQ+ volunteers from the Pride in Ageing programme and decorated especially for the day
• Plus an LGBT Foundation information stall and ‘Style Without Stopping’ photobooth.

The Art Gallery is an accessible venue – please contact prideinageing@lgbt.foundation if you have any accessibility needs for the day. The Cafe at the gallery will be open throughout the event selling drinks and cakes – please note that refreshments have to be consumed in the cafe or outside in the garden and cannot be taken into the exhibition tour.

A huge thanks to the Derek Jarman Pocket Park Volunteer Gardeners for helping with the planning for this event.

To book a place, please contact us here.

Thursday, 11 June – 2.00pm – 4.00pm – Age Without Limits Party

(with Wolf & Jennifer)

Cross Street Chapel, 29 Cross Street, Manchester M2 1NL

Buffet, raffle and great entertainment to celebrate ageing without limits and to challenge ageism.

RSVP for catering purposes.

Saturday, 13 June – 1.00pm – 9.00pm – Salford Pride (Pink Picnic) – Peel Park, Salford

For more information, please see Salford Pride (Pink Picnic)

Saturday, 13 June – 7.30pm – BBC Philharmonic – Mahler’s Symphony No 2 – Free

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

John Storgårds conductor
Siobhan Stagg soprano
Stefanie Irányi mezzo soprano
CBSO Chorus

Mahler Symphony No 2, ‘Resurrection’

‘The whole thing sounds as though it came to us from some other world. I think there is no one who can resist it. One is battered to the ground and then raised on angel’s wings to the highest heights.’ – Gustav Mahler

Mahler’s Resurrection is a colossal work of drama, beauty, and power. From its gripping opening funeral march to its earth-shaking finale, this is music on the grandest possible scale that demands to be experienced live.

This is a work that redefined the possible, pushing every musical and emotional boundary. The massed forces of a vast orchestra, offstage brass, vocal soloists, and a powerful chorus combine to create a truly overwhelming experience.

130 years after its first performance, Mahler’s Resurrection remains one of the most profound and life-affirming works of art ever created.

Sunday, 14 June – 7.30pm – 10.00pm – Penny Magpie Theatre Company Presents: Five Lesbians Eating a Quiche – £18 + booking fee

Hebden Bridge Town Hall, St George’s Street, Hebden Bridge HX7 7BY

It’s 1956 and The Susan B Anthony Society for the Sisters of Gertrude Stein are having their annual quiche breakfast. As the assembled ‘widows’ await the announcement of the society’s prize-winning quiche, the atomic bomb sirens sound! Has the Communist threat come to pass? How will the ‘widows’ respond as their idyllic town and lifestyle faces attacks? 

Winner of a national ‘Best Amateur Production’ award after a sell-out run at Theatre@41 in York in 2024, The Penny Magpie Theatre Company bring ‘5 Lesbians Eating A Quiche’ to Hebden Bridge in a tasty recipe of hysterical laughs, sexual innuendoes, unsuccessful repressions and delicious discoveries.

Buy tickets here.

Wednesday, 17 June – Coach trip to Blue John Mines, Castleton, Derbyshire and Eyam (Fully Booked Up)

Meet at Chorlton Street Bus Station, Manchester M1 3HW at 10.00am. Coach leaves at 10.30am for optional trip down the mines (245 steps down and 245 steps back up!)

Then we visit Eyam, known as “the plague village”, in reference to how it chose to isolate itself after bubonic plague was discovered there in 1665, so as to prevent the infection spreading.

Lunch at Eyam Tea Rooms.

Thursday, 18 June – 2.00pm – 4.00pm – Meeting in Cross Street Chapel

Wednesday, 24 June – “Queer Lens” Exhibition at Manchester Jewish Museum

Meet at The Seven Stars (The Printworks), 6-8 Dantzic Street, Manchester M4 2BS at 12.00 noon.

Bus 135 to Jewish Museum. View exhibition at 2.00pm approximately.

Thursday, 25 June – 2.00pm – 4.00pm – Meeting in Cross Street Chapel

Thursday, 25 june – 2.00pm – 4.00pm – Women’s Meeting in Cross Street Chapel

Friday, 26 June – Sunday, 28 June – Sparkle Weekend

History of Sparkle

Sparkle Weekend has its roots in Manchester’s long-standing trans community gatherings. In 2005, the event began as a beauty pageant, creating a rare and important space where people could come together, express themselves freely, and build community at a time when visibility and acceptance were far more limited.

Over the years, the event grew and evolved alongside the community it served. What began as a small gathering has developed into Sparkle Weekend, due to celebrate its 21st year. Sparkle Weekend is the world’s longest running, and also widely recognised as the UK’s largest celebration of trans and gender diverse life. The weekend welcomes thousands of visitors to Sackville Gardens for a vibrant programme of performances, wellbeing spaces, workshops, activism, and community celebration.

Sparkle – The National Transgender Charity supports and celebrates trans and gender diverse communities across the UK through wellbeing services, advocacy, and accessible community events. The charity is entirely volunteer-led, with no paid staff or sessional workers.

From Friday 26 – Sunday 28 June 2026, Sparkle Weekend returns to Manchester’s Gay Village, where it celebrates its 21st year as the UK’s longest running celebration of trans and gender diverse life, welcoming thousands of visitors for a weekend of community, culture, and visibility.

Introduction of Paid Ticketing

Sparkle Charity has made the decision to introduce paid tickets for 2026.

In recent years, the rising costs of delivering safe, accessible events have created significant challenges. While the team has worked extensively to secure sponsorship in order to keep Sparkle Weekend free to attend, this has become increasingly difficult due to changes in the financial and corporate landscape, alongside the challenges faced by grassroots trans organisations.

As a result, ticketing has been introduced to ensure the sustainability of the event and the continuation of Sparkle’s wider work supporting the gender diverse community.

So – Sparkle Charity needs your support 🩷⁠

The cost of tickets are as follows:

£1 trans hardship ticket (limited number)

£5 youth ticket

£7.50 standard ticket (18+)

£7.50 accessible ticket 

£12.50 allyship ticket

£25 pay it forward ticket

All proceeds from ticket sales are directed straight back into the charity, to financially support our year-round events for our community and service users.

⁠Ticket purchase link: spkl.uk/tickets

11 July – 12.00pm – 5.30pm – Oldham Pride

Parliament Square, Oldham

For more information, please see Oldham Pride

Saturday, 11 July – Weaste Pride

Weaste & Seedley Social Club, 168A Weaste Lane, Salford M5 5JL

We would like to sincerely apologise …

Yes, apologise … for putting on a completely FREE event with an absolutely stacked line up to celebrate Pride right here in Weaste, Salford. The cheek of us, honestly.

On 11 July 2026 we are bringing you a full day of joy, music and pure camp chaos. You’ve got the fabulous Tina Tuna hosting, a daytime disco with DJ Tasha, Disco Doyenne and Ben to keep you dancing, and the ultimate showdown Madonna vs Kylie with Dawn Spry. Because why pick a side when you can have both?

Add in the incredible Manchester Proud Chorus, the brilliant Beautiful Mancs, and a Queen tribute from Phil Kinsella and it is basically impossible to stand still.

And if that was not enough, we are doing all this while fundraising for the amazing Jaks World charity. So while you are having the time of your life, you are also helping make a real difference. Party with a purpose and all that.

So once again, sorry for giving you a free Pride party packed with entertainment, community spirit and good vibes … we will try to do worse next time.

For more information, please see Weaste Pride

Sunday, 12 July – 8.00pm – Golden Age Big Band – £13.00

Do you fancy yourself a connoisseur of Television?

Do you love the sound of a 17 piece big band?

Do you want to know more?!

The Golden Age Big Band are coming to your TV sets at 8.00pm on Sunday 12 July at the LMRCA Railway Club Altrincham to perform 20 of your favourite TV Themes!

You can expect a delectable variety, from the excitement of Cagney and Lacey to the indestructable Captain Scarlet.

Incredible memories from Rainbow all the way to calm evenings in with Coronation Street. I can assure you there is something for everyone!

So what are you waiting for? Come and be a part of something amazing! The link for your tickets is below, if you’ve got any questions please feel free to contact the band on 07403 376 620!

Buy tickets here.

Friday, 24 July – 6.00pm – 11.55pm – Veterans Pride – £20.00

HMS Eaglet, 80 Sefton Street, East Brunswick Dock, Liverpool L3 4DZ

Veterans Pride 2026 will be on the eve of Liverpool City Region Pride and we would love you to attend.

This event encourages the coming together of LGBTQIA+ Veterans, Serving Personnel and their Ally’s, to reflect, recognise and celebrate their unique experiences.

Join Veterans and members of the Armed Forces LGBTQIA+ Community for a Rainbow Honours recognised cabaret style event in the heart of Liverpool.

Included: arrival drink, a hot buffet with dessert and entertainment.

Dress Code – In traditional terms the event is Black tie, but we don’t want, or expect, anyone to go to any expense. We are asking for guests to be ‘authentically glamourous’, so please dress in what makes you comfortable, with a bit of Glam!

There will also be an opportunity to network with local community-based Charity Stalls.

Book here

Saturday, 25 July – Liverpool Pride

For more information, please see Liverpool Pride

Sunday, 26 July – 11.00am – 7.00pm – Stockport’s Historic Market Place

For more information, please see Stockport Pride

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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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Also have a look at our other pages: Trips & Adventures, Photos, Resources, Audios & Videos, Timelines (Dropdown menu to see: LGBTQ+ Timeline, LGBT+ History Timeline, Significant Events Timeline and LGBT+ History in Manchester).