4 | The Pride
If the world has made it hard for your community to keep going, how do you still find the pride?
In this episode, Tash travels to the northeast of England, to the old mining town of Stanley in County Durham. They hear about the history of mining and shipbuilding, and what the wake of those industries has meant for queer people living there. There are stories from Sharon McIlvaney, who reflects on her own upbringing as a bisexual woman who now runs a local queer community youth group called Freedom Zone. Tash meets two of the groups young members, Grey and Matt, who talk about the importance of Freedom Zone and the impact the group has had on their lives. Sharon’s son Jake and his partner Charlie also sit down for a chat, to talk about their experience of growing up trans in the North East. Lastly we hear from Glenn Wigham, who moved to London as a fashion student but is now returning to County Durham to train as a firefighter (one of the first gay male ones in the area!).
As Glen, Sharon and others speak movingly about their connection to their community and its history, we’re reminded what it’s like to have pride in a place.
For this episode we’d like to thank Sharon McIlvaney at Freedom Zone, PACT House in Stanley, Durham Pride and the staff at Beamish: the living museum of the north.
The Quilt is an Aunt Nell Production, in partnership with Queer Britain, the UK's first and only LGBTQ+ museum, and funded by Mindsets and Missions.
It is hosted and produced by Tash Walker and Adam Zmith.
Music by Rhiannon Takel.
The assistant producer was Marnie Woodmeade.
The associate producers for Queer Britain were Sue Shave, Siân Williams and Katharine Dick.
Mixed and mastered by David Pye.
Mindsets + Missions is funded by UK Research and Innovation in partnership with the Arts and Humanities Research Council and delivered by the Museums Association in partnership with The Liminal Space and the Association for Science and Discovery Centres.
Queer Britain museum is located at Granary Square, Kings Cross in London. It is free to visit and is open from Wednesday to Sunday, 12-6pm.
If you’d like to talk to anyone about any issues raised in this podcast, you can always contact Switchboard - the LGBTQIA+ helpline on switchboard.lgbt or 0800 0119 100.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
