Charity, Hilarity, Pride Events, Remembrance? . From the Bookshelf . Zena Remembered . 1973: Naughty Schoolboys and Cottaging Crackdown . Make Life Beautiful! . Lord Alfred Douglas . Thank-you One and All

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Charity, Hilarity, Pride Events, Remembrance?

Hi folks, its been a busy Summer at the Brighton Ourstory Project! As we go to press we are in the final negotiations with the Charity Commission. They have largely accepted our charitable aims and once registered we will be in a better position for funding and promotional work and to realize our ambition for a permanent home in which to place the archive which is fully accessible to the lesbian and gay communities, and has permanent display and work space. I would like to pass on thanks to our management group members who have work so hard to make this happen and especially to Linda, who slaves away tirelessly and works her magick!

We also pass on grateful thanks to Sally who is leaving us for a year in Australasia, she will be much missed but we expect to see her back full of bright ideas from the queers down under (and don't forget the lifeguard you promised to send me from Sydney, Sal!!).

What a great Summer! We had a stall at Brighton Pride, where we met lots of old and new friends and did three events the day after Pride.

All were a great success, the first was a walking tour of queer historical Hove, in temperatures approaching 100 degrees! The tour started and finished at the Dudley hotel which was then the venue for our second event, a 1930s musical tea.

Stewart, Basil, Colin & Jacquie helped us to melt 'too charmingly'
on the hottest day of the year

We were entertained to stunning renditions of songs which thrilled lesbian and gay theatre goers in the ‘30s and ‘40s after a very elegant tea in period surroundings. My spine’s still tingling at Stewart Barlow’s gorgeous rendition of Love for Sale and who's eye could fail to be dry when we all sang I'll See You Again! at the end. As ever with our events massive attention was paid to period detail. And I for one was delighted when a guest of very senior years commented, 'This really is what it was like!"

A quick change after the ‘30s event transformed the venue into a 1960s drinking club, for our Lavender Lounge Bar. With contemporary readings from the archive about peoples real life experiences and wonderfully queered versions of songs from that era, this proved a great success.

Chris at the Old Steine war memorial with our pink triangle wreath

From celebration to remembrance, a representative from Ourstory laid a pink triangle wreath at the war memorial in Brighton as part of the Remembrance Day ceremony on Sunday November 9th. Our inclusion in this ceremony, on behalf of the Lesbian and Gay Community marks the culmination of many years struggling to get the sacrifice of Lesbian and Gay Service people recognized and all the victims of the concentration camps remembered. The ceremony was dignified and rubbing shoulders with MPs and civic leaders we felt included at last! And to our own queer fallen folk, darlings We will never forget You x

So dear friends as we plan for another hard year of preserving the gay past we wish you the most sincere compliments of the season and hope to see you all again soon.

Chris