F AND THE LGBT R EE PLAQUE WENT TO …. QB Nottinghamshire’s Queer Bulletin May/June 2021 Number 120 In this issue The £50 note Gravity A postal library Queers Part Two Places to retire Beergardens Gardening at Sissinghurst A walking tour and other stuff From a short list of four, including The New Foresters has been an Nottingham Women’s Centre, the LGBT friendly venue continuously Flying Horse and the National Jus- since 1958. The pub has won tice Museum, the vote went to the many awards e.g. in 2018 for the New Foresters as the first building 2nd year in succession, it won in Nottingham to receive an LGBT the “Best Bar None” award and plaque. also the “Best Independent Ven- For those unfamiliar with the ue” award. LGBT history behind these four places, here’s a quick run down: The National Justice Museum has recently held several exhibi- tions with LGBT themes and helped organise the “Desire, Love, Identity” book of local LGBT mem- oirs. Its darker history was when it If you have any information, news, was a court which saw several gossip or libel or wish to comment prosecutions of gay men in pre- on anything in QB, please contact 1967 days. QB The Flying Horse was the main Notts LGBT+ Network gay bar in the 1950s and 1960s 35 Park Row and was apparently world famous They have regularly raised mon- Nottingham NG1 6EE and known as the “pansy’s par- ey for charities including Notts lour”. LGBT+ Network and Stonebridge or e-mail The Women’s Centre continues City Farm. Landlady Debbie Law [email protected] described the pub as “A commu- to be lesbian and trans women The deadline for the next edition friendly, but in the past it housed nity centre with a liquor licence”. will be June 24th Nottingham Lesbian Line and sev- eral lesbian social and support On Sept. 25th (Covid willing) she Notts LGBT + Network groups. will be celebrating 20 years of is registered charity number 1114273 So, why the New Foresters? managing the pub. CORONA VIRUS & NOTTS PRIDE 2021 UPDATE NOTTS LGBT+ NETWORK It is extremely frustrating to still have nothing defini- tive to share about the fate of Notts Pride 2021. The THE CURRENT SITUATION event is at the mercy of the government’s roadmap and plans can only match that pace. Everyone will be aware of the precautions which have been stressed in order to minimize the chance of infection. Though the situation has improved, It’s important to be clear: the trustees desperately working from home, where possible, has been rec- want a Pride event in Notts this year. Other events ommended. seem to be steaming ahead: Brighton Pride, Man- chester Pride and Splendour among them. However, Some people are not aware that the Network is en- these events have a strong economic component. It tirely run by unpaid volunteers. We do not feel that is proven that most people, having bought a ticket, the Network’s volunteers should have to make un- will not seek a refund for postponement, preferring necessary journeys which may put them at risk. Some of our volunteers now feel comfortable with instead to keep the ticket for when the event is re- working in our new office while more vulnerable vol- scheduled. Notts Pride is free to all that want to at- unteers continue to work from home. tend and will remain so. Additionally, none of the government event trials fit the free-to-attend model. They’re all strictly ticketed. It is unclear, therefore, what restrictions will be placed on events like Notts Pride. The event cannot be ticketed and free. Restricting numbers in any way doesn’t seem fair and would require a significant increase in costs, even if we move the venue. Events with millions of pounds of turnover (like the ones mentioned) can always afford this; Notts Pride can’t. WHAT WE CAN DO Contact us by e-mail. For several years, e-mail has been the favoured route for people to contact us. Our volunteers can deal with these at home. Our e- mail address is [email protected] Contact us by texting. We can deal with these at home if neccsary. Text 07481 344040 Contact us by online messages. In the centre of the home page of our website, there is a facility to reach us by instant messaging where it reads “to talk to us by instant messaging, click HERE”. If you feel like a chat, go to www.nottslgbt.com Contact us by phone. On some nights, the phone line will be staffed and on other nights there will be voicemail. If you leave a message on voicemail, along with your number, we will get back to you as soon as we can. Our phone 0115 9348485 Contact us through social media. We can respond THERE IS HOPE! to messages via Facebook, Twitter etc. see the de- tails below. Follow us on Facebook at We are working towards the event happening on Saturday 31st July. Our paperwork will be submitted www.facebook.com/NottsLGBT in early May with a view to the government making Twitter at announcements about the complete lifting of re- https://twitter.com/nottsLGBT strictions in early June. A final decision can then be Instagram - nottslgbt made. NEW VOLUNTEERS We’re not dithering; we’re being honest. We won’t be swayed by armchair virologists; we will take guid- We normally train new volunteers in the Autumn ance from experts with the depth of knowledge and and sometimes in the Spring. The current situation experience to make sure we make the right decision has meant that training will be on hold until face to to keep everybody safe. face training becomes safe. WELCOME BACK - IT’S BEERGARDEN TIME Reopened on April 12th Reopened on April 16th Open Friday to Sunday MISOGYNY AS A HATE CRIME Misogyny will now be rec- ognised and recorded by police as a hate crime na- tionally! The vital lever for this move started in 2014 in Nottingham with Notting- ham Women’s Centre and Chesterfield Pride returns on July 18th. in particular with Mel Duffill -Jeffs, the then manager of We will be working closely with Chesterfield Bor- the Centre. ough Council and also following Government guidelines for outdoor events. This event will be On February 28th 2018 Mel was given an award subject to the covid restrictions in place at the for this work at the Nottinghamshire’s Rainbow time. Heritage Celebration Evening. Troy Jenkinson is a primary school headteacher. Start—1—Market Square He has published two LGBT-related books for chil- dren. The first book is “The best mummy snails” The Yellow Walk takes around one and a half hours. The story can be used with younger children to The traditional meeting place is by the lions. Facing begin to introduce the notion of same-sex parents the impressive Council House; walk to its left. Tucked bringing up children or can be used as an introduc- away down a narrow alleyway (Greyhound Street) tion to discussing equality and tolerance with older was The Casablanca. This small venue over several children. floors became Kitsch in 1995. Today it has been converted by the City Council into public lavatories. The second book is “The most contented snail” Heading away Now he has produced an LGBT walking tour of Not- from the square, tingham. The route map is shown above and some down another tiny extracts from the 34 sections of the tour are de- alley is Five tailed to the right and on the following pages of QB. Leaves, an inde- pendent book The full tour can be seen on Troy’s website at shop that has a good stock of tinyurl.com/nottinghamlgbtwalk where it can be fol- LGBTQ literature lowed on your mobile. and friendly, help- ful staff. It was set Troy hopes to have printed versions of the tour up following the available to pick up at the following venues: closure of Mush- room Bookshop The Tourism centre (another gay- Five Leaves Bookshop friendly independ- ent) on Heathcote 200 degrees Street. The Lord Roberts 2. Black Boy Hotel (Primark) As we walk down this now pedestrianised street, a number of gay and gay friendly venues sprung up with This modernist building is now Primark. Originally built a welcoming vibe. Former home to the GAi Project by Littlewoods following the demolition of The Black on the right, a little further down is the ever popular Boy, a salubrious hotel that housed one of the gay Broadway (Independent) Cinema that shows a bars of the 1960s. All that remains is a small plaque range of LGBT films and hosts many community on one of the pillars of the esplanade. groups. On the left a group of short lived gay bars popped up in late 2018/19 including Bar 96. Carrying on down Broad Street, The Lord Roberts is nestled onto the corner of the road. Building on its reputation as a theatre bar, in the late 1990s it be- came more gay friendly and opened its Green Room to many LGBT groups. It has a predominantly gay cli- entele these days. Pop in for a refreshing drink and a happy hello. 3 Blackamore’s Head (Zara) At little further along Pelham Street (behind The Council House) is a branch of Zara. This is where the Blackamore’s Head public house once stood. When Lord Byron died, his “immorality” prevented him being buried in Westminster Abbey. On the way to his final resting place in Hucknall, his coffin was laid in state for four days here as people queued to view him and pay their respects.