Pride in Plymouth – Pride in the Park website

Cornwall Pride returns to Truro on the August Bank Holiday Saturday 25th August, and Pride Torbay is taking place a little later this year 7th – 9th September. The Grosvenor Hotel (as seen on C4 ‘The Hotel’) are offering three nights accommodation and in house entertainment for the Pride Torbay weekend at £120 per person book early to avoid disappointment.

To Book Call Christian on 01803 294373

 Other South West Pride celebrations

Gloucestershire Pride – Saturday 26th June

Bourne Free – Bournemouth’s Pride festival 14th – 15th July

Pride Bristol – Saturday 14th July

Swindon Pride – Saturday 4th August

For a complete listing of UK Gay Prides please visit the UK Gay Pride Calendar at GaytoZ.com

View the map here: http://www.london2012.com/torch-relay/route/

If you are in the city to celebrate the torch relay you may also like to visit the City Museum and Art Gallery where there is another rare opportunity to see the Warren Cup on show outside of London as part of the Pride in Our Past Exhibition.

The Museum is open 10 am – 5 pm on Saturday’s.

More details about the Pride in Our Past Exhibition:  http://lgbt-history.prideinplymouth.org.uk/

Plymouth provides the first overnight stop for the torch and there is a mega party planed on the Hoe in the evening with Chart topping star Labrinth  headlining an evening of live, free entertainment on the Hoe.

This thought-provoking exhibition is based on new research into the City’s LGBT communities and includes personal stories, objects, photographs and more. It spans three centuries and captures the heart of the changing ‘scene’ over the decades, as well as the political struggle both past and present.

The exhibition includes the priceless 2000 year old ‘Warren Cup’ that is on loan from the British Museum in London, a portrait by Plymouth artist Robert Lenkiewicz, and one of the Beryl Cook paintings from the Lockyer Tavern.

iPADs at the Pride in Our Past exhibition surrounded by material contributed by Out Youth

The latest technology has also been incorporated in the exhibition with iPADS available to view hi res photo galleries or hear more of the oral histories that have been collected over the past year.

Relevant excerpts from the oral histories can be heard through PEN friends that hang next to many of the display panels.

One corner of the gallery is dedicated to ‘In Other Words‘ Plymouth’s famous gay bookshop, many books have been frozen for a period of time before being put on public display. Visitors are welcome to sit in the comfy seats and browse through the books, on the coffee table there is selection of children’s books.

Photo by Anna Whittall - 'In Other Words' at Pride in Our Past

Hilary Bracegirdle from the Heritage Lottery Fund spoke at the reception held on 4th May saying how pleased she was that Pride in Our Past is not a ‘token’ project and this is reflected in this amazing exhibition. Hillary will be providing positive feedback to lottery headquarters informing them how well the grant of £35000 has been spent.

Alan Butler was thanked by the chair of the forum,  he has worked tirelessly on the project with co-ordinator Helen Philips and whole series of volunteers.

Pride in Our Past 2012 - Everyone's Business

The exhibition will run until 30th June 2012 admission is FREE

Planning your visit 

Visit the Pride in Our Past project website for more information about the project and exhibition

The First Arte Latte will be on Wednesday 18th April and then every 3rd Wednesday of the month.

PRIDE in the PARK will take place on Saturday 28th July 2012 in the glorious grounds of Devonport Park.

Pavilion Cafe

The event will be centred around the new bandstand which will provide the main stage, there will be marquees for health, LGBT History and a Bar Tent. Traditional Devon cream teas will be served around the Sicilian fountain in the quieter rose garden.  There will be a range of hot foods and refreshments on sale from the Pavilion Cafe and hopefully a BBQ too.

There is plenty of space for stalls and will be able to rent out a limited number of gazebos for stall holders. Please contact us if you would like to have a stall at the event.

Cream teas will be served in the Rose Garden

This event has been made possible by the fact that the Heritage  Lottery encourages HLF funded community groups to promote and support each other. Our own Heritage Lottery Funded Pride in Our Past project has linked with the community group ‘The Friends of Devonport Park’ who have received a substantial lottery grant to rebuild the bandstand. One of the 10M marquees available will be used by the Pride in Our Past team for history displays and to conduct further research for the Plymouth LGBT history archive.

Contact us if you would like to volunteer to support this fantastic opportunity, we will need volunteers to help with fund-raising events between now and the 28th July.

PRIDE in the PARK event on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/events/387493761275593

Sign the Petition>>>

A religious charity which provides free interns to MPs has been linked to a ‘gay cure’ event, and the MPs benefiting from its support are being called to distance themselves.

CARE, a Christian charity, which provides interns for 16 MPs including South West Devon’s Gary Streeter, co-sponsored a ‘gay cure’ conference in 2009.

In 2000 Exeter MP Ben Bradshaw described CARE as `a bunch of homophobic bigots‘, and even The Telegraph said ‘Christian Action Research and Education (Care) has borrowed the tactics of America’s religious Right in its attempts to affect policy‘.

Those tactics involve, along with the ‘gay cure’ conference, campaigning against the legalisation of equal marriage rights and actively fundraising to provide sex and relationship education material to primary school age children.

When PRSD covered Gary Streeter’s relationship with CARE he said the group was ‘a moderate compassionate group trying to make the country better‘.

A petition has been set up calling for the MPs with CARE interns to publicly distance themselves from the organisation, as David Lammy has done.

The petition site says: “We are concerned that by accepting material support from CARE and actively participating in its Educational Leadership Programme, which seeks to place interns with Christians in public life, the MPs listed below [check out the site] could be seen to be implicitly supporting the views of the charity and, in turn, their co-sponsorship of a conference held on 24th and 25th April 2009 at which discussed “Therapeutic approaches to and understandings of Same-Sex Attraction.”

While we wait to hear if Gary Streeter thinks he is ‘implicitly supporting the views’ of CARE, pop over to the petition site to find out which MPs are involved and add your signature.

Follow updates and news on the Peoples Republic of South Devon

This Saturday is St. Patrick’s Day which can only mean one thing PARTY PARTY PARTY…

Hawkins Meeting House are providing a FREE BBQ between 5 and 7.30pm. Then the fabulous Jo James will be on stage from 8pm.

This is a themed night so turn up in your 80′s or Irish gear for a free shot.

Join the event on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/events/118006821662363/

The Warren Cup is in the top 100 UK artefacts a museum can exhibit – An ancient Roman drinking cup made from solid silver with relief decoration of homoerotic scenes, this object takes its name from its first owner in modern times, the art-lover and collector Edward Perry Warren (1860-1928).

The cup was acquired by the British Museum, in 1999 for £1.8 million (including Heritage Lottery Fund, National Art Collections Fund and The British Museum Friends contributions) to prevent its going abroad. This was, at that time, the most expensive single item ever acquired by The British Museum, and many times the price at which it had been offered to them in the 1950s.

In addition there will be a portrait by Plymouth artist Robert Lenkiewicz that has never been publicly exhibited before.

The Exhibition will make available to the public historical, cultural, and artistic materials related to the lesbian, gay bisexual and trans communities in Plymouth will open on 28th April 2012.

Volunteers working on the Pride in Our Past project have recorded loads of oral histories and collected memorabilia from a cross section of the LGBT community that has provided plenty of rich material for inclusion in the exhibition.

Visit the exhibition page on the Pride in Our Past project website.

Keep up to date with the latest project news on WordPress and Facebook

Hawkins Meeting House are providing a range of popular dishes and snacks daily from midday.

All Day Breakfast consist of 2 eggs – 2 bacon – 2 sausages – 2 hash-browns – tomatoes – mushrooms – beans – 2 toast all for £ 4

Sunday Roast is amazing and there are many other favourites on the menu.

Keep up to date with Hawkins Meeting House and their latest offers on Facebook

Hawkins are also offering free venue hire for your parties and functions and are open till 3am Fri and Sat.

Loving Men X is a once-a-year adventure for gay and bisexual men who want to develop more intimacy in friendships and relationships.

Spend a week in a supportive and fun-loving community, using a range of activities to build deeper relationships with other men.

There’ll be many opportunities to make connections, stretch your comfort zone and gain personally from the respect, care and love of other men.

For more information and to view activities go to: http://lovingmen.org/eventsFull.php?id=3&start=0

There is also a bursary fund to support people with low disposable incomes to attend.