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Change of Address
As a result of downsizing by the LGBT Consortium we are changing our postal address. We're delighted to announce that we will now be hosted by London Friend (which began many years ago as an off-shoot of CHE) at their offices in King's Cross: the new address is: CHE, c/o London Friend, 86 Caledonian Road, London N1 9DN.
CHE Meeting at Ealing Town Hall
We
held our autumn Quarterly Meeting at Ealing Town Hall on the 8th of October,
by special invitation of John Gallagher, CHE member and Mayor of Ealing. The main speaker was Ray Collins (Baron Collins of
Highbury) until recently General Secretary of the Labour Party.
fter the meeting we had drinks and nibbles in the Mayor’s Parlour. The photo shows (left to right) Lord Collins, John Gallagher, and Ross Burgess (CHE Executive Member).
AGM and Conference
We held our AGM and Annual Conference on Sunday 4th July at the Soho Centre for Health and Care. The main business was a debate on Gay Marriage between Peter Tatchell and Andrew Lumsden. Full details are in the Conference Minutes, available on request.
CHE and Pride
As in previous years, CHE funded the refreshments for older LGBT people at St Anne's Soho, on the afternoon of London Pride
John Gallagher elected Mayor of Ealing
Congratulations
to CHE Member, John Gallagher, who has been relected as Mayor of Ealing for
2011–2012, having been Deputy Mayor the previous year.
Michael Brown gives the Robert Cook Lecture
On the 10th of April, Michael Brown, recipient of the Derek Oyston Achievement Award, gave the first Robert Cook Lecture on the subject of “Before the Act – being gay in the 40s, 50s, and 60s.”
The lecture is in memory of Robert Cook, one of CHE's longest-standing supporters, who died in 2009.
Derek Oyston film prize awarded
CHE
is once again presenting the
Derek Oyston Film Award at the London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival. CHE's three
judges (pictured, left to right, George Tregaskis, Ian Stewart, and Nettie
Pollard) have met with a BFI programmer and made a selection.
The winning film is Mutantes (Punk Porn Feminism) and the runner-up is We Were Here.
See our film award page for more details and more photos.
Derek Oyston prize given to Michael Brown
The
2010-11 Derek Oyston Achievement Award, in conjunction with the LGBT Consortium,
was presented to Michael Brown, veteran gay campaigner, at a ceremony on the
29th of March.
The presentation took place at a Consortium event to launch the lgbtlondon.com website and the LGBT Pledge for London’s statutory providers.
See other pages for more about the award (with another photo), our Press Release, and a page of tributes to Michael Brown.
See the video of Michael Brown's interview following the award.
CHE at the Consortium Conference again
CHE again had a stall at the conference of the LGBT Consortium, held this year in Leeds. All delegates attending the Conference received a form inviting them to nominate people or organisations to receive the Derek Oyston CHE Award, 2010–2011.
CHE meeting and reunion
It
was standing room only at Friends House, Euston, on the 27th of November,
for a special CHE Quarterly Meeting.
There was a special invitation to all who contributed to the book Out of the Shadows or are mentioned in it, and the meeting began with Tony Walton, editor of Out of the Shadows, describing how the book came to be written. Other items included a commemoration of the life of Griffith Vaughan Williams, an inroduction by Peter Scott-Presland to the book he has been commissioned to write about the history of CHE, and a general discussion about CHE's future. It was standing room only, and CHE recruited a number of new members.
Death of Griffith Vaughan Williams
We very much regret to announce the death on 15th November 2010 of our Secretary, Griffith Vaughan Williams, a very long-standing campaigner for gay rights.
Griff's funeral was on Wednesday 8th December 2010 at Mortlake Crematorium, conducted by Rev Sharon Ferguson of the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement.
Contract signed for book on CHE
At the November 2010 meeting
of CHE's Executive Committee, it was agreed to commission
Peter Scott-Presland, the noted gay author, to write a history of CHE. This
was one of the last things Griff did for CHE, before his untimely death less
than two weeks later.
Our photo shows Griffith Vaughan Williams (Secretary of CHE) and Peter Scott-Presland at the Executive meeting. More about this in our Press Release.
CHE at the LGBT History Month pre-launch
CHE
paid for LGBT History Month to use the Twickenham rugby centre on the 2nd of November 2010 for the pre-launch of LGBT History Month 2011.
Our picture shows the CHE stall at the pre-launch.
Book launch at CHE AGM
CHE's AGM
at Friends House on the 4th of July was the setting for the launch of Out of the Shadows, edited by Tony Walton,
a history of the pioneering London gay groups and organisations, 1967–2000. See the Out of the Shadows
web page, which includes information about the
book and its contributors and how to order it.
Special guests at the AGM included Angela Mason (recently appointed a Commissioner of the Equality and Human Rights Commission) and Michael Black and John Morgan, the gay couple who hit the headlines in March when they were refused a double room at a Berkshire B&B.
London Pride Parade and festival
Saturday 3rd July: CHE funded the refreshments at the afternoon Relaxation and Entertainment Area at St Anne’s Dean Street (which also featured entertainment by the London Gay Symphonic Winds).
John Gallagher elected Deputy Mayor of Ealing
Congratulations to CHE Member, John Gallagher, who has been re-elected as Councillor for South Acton Ward, and subsequently elected as Deputy Mayor of Ealing for 2010–20011.
CHE joins the Cutting Edge Consortium
CHE has become a corporate member of the Cutting Edge Consortium, a unique coalition of faith-based and non-religious social justice organisations, civic groups, trades unions and professional associations, opposed to religious exemptions from legislation on sexuality and gender identity. For more information about the Cutting Edge Consortium, e-mail cuttingedgeconsortium1@googlemail.com.
General Election 2010
Our campaign of writing to prospective parliamentary candidates has its own page on this website.
Second Derek Oyston Film Award
For the second year running, CHE has presented the Derek Oyston Film Award as part of the London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival. This year it went to The Kuchus of Uganda, directed by Mathilda Piehl. See our Film Award page for more about this.
CAGS affiliates to CHE
Croydon Area Gay Society (CAGS) voted to affiliate to CHE, under CHE's new affiliation arrangements.
Death of Alan Louis
It's with great sadness that we report the death of Alan Louis, CHE's
Community Liaison Officer and a long-term member of the Executive Committee. Alan died on the 4th of March at Bart's Hospital.
Alan had been an active supporter of CHE for many years and took a particular interest in services for older LGBT people and the "murder music" campaign.
CHE Executive members and friends were much in evidence at Alan's funeral on the 29th of April at Golders Green Crematorium. We heard tributes from several people who had known Alan, plus a selection of his favourite music. Afterwards we went to the Tea Room for light refreshments.
CHE Quarterly Meeting
CHE's quarterly meeting was held on Sunday 14th
February: at Friends House, Euston Road. The meeting included a
commemoration of the late Robert Cook, a very long-term
supporter of CHE, and discussion of campaigning priorities and other future
activities.
CHE at the Consortium Conference
At
least five CHE members (including three Executive members) attended the
Consortium Conference (that's the
Consortium of lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and
Transgendered Voluntary and Community Organisations) at an hotel in London on the 30th of
January 2010.
A lot of the delegates visited our stall and took copies of the leaflets and the Annual Report and Spring Newsletter.
We had some interesting discussions, and are hoping to pick up some new members as a result.
Robert Cook dies
We were very sad to hear of the death on 28th December 2009 of
Robert Cook, a very long-standing supporter of CHE. He died instantly of a
heart attack while waiting at a bus stop.
Bob set up the original lesbian and gay policing initiative about 20 years ago, and was one of the leading members of LMG (London Monday Group for Homosexual Equality) as well as Returning Officer for CHE's annual elections. He was always a good person to talk things over with, and will be much missed.
The funeral was held on Thursday 14th January, at St Mary Abbot's Church Kensington, where Bob acted as archivist.
Special CHE Meeting
We held a special meeting
on the 17th of October at the Consortium offices in
Bermondsey, where we have our office space. We had a private DVD showing of the
film Darling, which won the
2009
Derek Oyston Film Award, and discussed plans for the future.
The meeting asked the Executive to:
- investigate a new scheme for other organisations to become members of CHE
- consider arranging a special mini-conference to discuss issues of false accusations of sexual abuse.
It's now planned to have similar meetings about once a quarter.
SLAGO Garden Party
SLAGO's annual Garden Party was held in Purley. Griff Vaughan Williams of CHE presented the SLAGO cup and shield to the winning groups.
Derek Oyston CHE Award
The first Derek Oyston CHE Award, in conjunction with
GALHA was presented to Sue Sanders of Schools Out during the
GALHA (Gay and Lesbian Humanist
Association) 30th
anniversary event (also commemorating 40 years of CHE), in the Great Hall of
the Bishopsgate Institute.
CHE Conference and AGM
The annual conference, held at Friends House, heard about CHE's successes during the past year, and planned its activities for the future..
London Pride
The parade was followed by a relaxation event at St Anne's Soho, from 2 to 5 pm, with tea/coffee provided by CHE and entertainment by the London Gay Symphony Orchestra.
Chris Smith becomes a Vice-President
CHE is delighted to announced that Lord Smith of Finsbury has agreed to
become one of our Vice-Presidents. As Chris Smith he was Britain's first openly
gay MP and he's currently Chairman of the Environment Agency.
Sue Sanders honoured
Sue Sanders, co-chair of Schools Out, has been announced as the first recipient of the CHE Derek Oyston Award, in conjunction with GALHA. More about this...
CHE moves offices
CHE has agreed to take up office space provided by the
Consortium of Lesbian,
Gay, Bisexual and Trans-gendered Voluntary and Community Organisations in the Tower Bridge Business Complex, Bermondsey.
The agreement, confirmed
at the CHE Executive Meeting on the 29th of May 2009, takes
effect from the 1st of June, and gives CHE much improved office
facilities plus the benefit of being co-located with other LGBT organisations.
CHE launches film award
For the first time, this year CHE, in association with the London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival, presented The Derek Oyston CHE Film Award. The award, value £2,000, was for the film screened in the London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival which most reflected the aims and objectives of CHE.
The intention of the Award is that it will encourage filmmakers to make films which document the experience of campaigning and the continuing struggles for LGBT rights in the UK and around the world.
Old campaigners reunited
CHE held a very
successful reunion event on Sunday 15th February 2009
as part of LGBT History Month.
The event, at Friends Meeting House in Euston Road, was open to all
present and former members of CHE and their
friends.
We had an excellent turnout including members from different periods of CHE's 40-year history. Our Vice-president Ray Gosling cut the cake, and several of those present renewed their membership of CHE.
The CHE Executive have decided that the Reunion is to become an annual event.
CHE leaders talk in Croydon
Allan Horsfall (CHE's Life President) and Ray Gosling (a CHE Vice-President)
spoke at a meeting of Croydon
Area Gay Society on the 2nd of December 2008.
See the CAGS press release for more details.
CHE — past and future
CHE's Life President, Allan Horsfall, writing in the November 2008 issue of Out in the City magazine (page 91), talks about the origins of CHE and why it is still very much needed today.