A new project supported by The National Lottery Heritage Fund will co-create a heritage project that explores and celebrates the identity and histories of older LGBT+ residents of Stoke-on-Trent and the North Staffordshire area. GRAIN Projects, will be working in collaboration with the Older LGBT+ Peoples Group, to save, protect and share LGBT+ heritage.

Amongst the outcomes will be a new LGBT+ community archive that features photography and oral histories that tell the unique story of LGBT+ lives in the area and their connection to Stoke-on-Trent, delivered in 2025, the city’s 100th year anniversary.

An exhibition and publication will be curated featuring this unique heritage content, celebrating and commemorating the participants, their lives, achievements and identity.

The project will see individuals and groups sharing stories, recalling memories, identifying photographs and ephemera, that illustrate their LGBTQ+ lives and identities, set against the backdrop of the city and region.

As well as personal and family photographs and histories, the project will include key milestones in LGBT+ history, including; Lesbians & Gays Support The Miners (during the 1984-5 strikes), the first PRIDE in Stoke-on-Trent, the first LGBTQ+ Night Club, Stoke’s first listing in Gay News, the first years of the North Staffordshire LGBT Switchboard, and the first civil partnerships.

The new archive, publication and exhibitions will save and transform access to this heritage and acknowledge its significance, ensuring that the histories are not lost in time and the stories are heard.

Volunteers, local groups and individuals will be able to take part in the project through events and opportunities, from one to one oral histories and workshops, to drop-in activities at Stoke-on-Trent PRIDE, allowing even more people to take part, enjoy and understand the heritage and community.

Maurice Greenham, Chair and Founder of OLGBT: “The North Midlands LGBT Older Peoples Group, in its fifteenth anniversary year, is proud to be partnering with GRAIN Projects in this exciting new project to document personal stories of the local LGBT+ community. Our aim is to create a heritage project about LGBT+ identity, people and places in Stoke-on-Trent and the North Midlands, made during the city’s 100th year anniversary in 2025. We want to collaborate, with older LGBT+ residents to record
memories that speak of individual identities, lived experiences and connections to the city.”

Robyn Llewellyn, Director, England, Midlands & East at The National Lottery Heritage Fund: “As the city of Stoke-on-Trent marks its 100th year we’re delighted to support this project to record and share the history made and experienced by local older LGBT+ people in Stoke-on-Trent and North Staffordshire. It’s thanks to National Lottery players that we’re able to fund this important work.”

Image Credit: Stephen Malkin, top of Scafell Pike, Lake District, 1978