Manchester Pride 18th birthday

Augst 11 2008. Barbara and Lois represented our group at Manchester Prides 18th birthday celebrations at Manchester Town Hall. Various community groups and VIPs attended, and 18 18year olds released 999 pink balloons outside the Town Hall in celebration This was followed by a party which took place in the Great Hall.

Manchester Pride 2008

Manchester Pride is a ten day festival to celebrate lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender life with an exciting programme of cultural, community, heritage,debating as well as non stop partying in the gay village over the Bank Holiday weekend.

The parade through Manchester city centre took place on the Bank Holiday Saturday. There were over 70 floats and the atmosphere was electric. Our float was decorated like a fairy tale castle and we were dressed up as fairy tale characters. We had a magical time and the reception we received from the crowds lining the streets was phenomenal. Thanks to Lois and her team for preparing and decorating the float and also for providing many of our costumes. Another memorable day at Manchester Pride! See the photos and video from Manchester Pride 2008

BBC Radio Manchesters Gay Hour

October 12 2008. BBC Manchester's Gay hour were looking into the news story of Mr Simpson and his son who took his own life after taunts and malicious phone calls from jeering peers because of his sexual orientation.
Christine from Manchester Parents Group took part in the programme which was a disscussion about story.

The affects of bullying are obvious and the emotional strain that a youth undergoes as a teenager can be very hard to deal with. Growing up and finding oneself, dealing with new responsibility and puberty and so on is tough; yet to mix this with self-questioning feelings about ones own sexuality and whether this is accepted by those around you, makes the time a whole lot more stressful for some. Worrying about acceptance into society and especially acceptance by parents can be the hardest part.

Mr Simpson in the recent story was supportive of his son, yet despite this, thanks to persistent bullying a life was lost.

Resheath College

April 9th 2008. Manrgaret and Inga had an information stall at a Sexuality Day at the above college.The event was a new initiative organised by the LGB students.Unfortunately due to lack of publicity the event wasn't very well attended. However, we were able to network with the LGB young people and make them aware of the services we offer.

Gaydio

April 2008. Lois and Inga were interviewed by Brian Day on Gaydio, a gay radio station in Manchester, about Manchester Parents Group and our involvement with Manchester Pride. It was good publicity for our group.

Seminar in Florence

April 2008. Lois travelled to Florence for the Euroflag conference Family Matters. She represented Manchester Parents Group and FFLAG and met  parents of  Lesbian, gay and bisexual sons and daughters from counries throughout Europe. It was gratifying to see a mother and son from Turkey attending the conference.

Christmas  Get Together

Dec 1 2007. Our Christmas meeting was an informal Get Together for parents and friends to socialise and celebrate Christmas and a very successful year for Manchester Parents Group. There were nibbles and drinks.

Icebreakers Meeting

January 16 2008. Sue, Dave and Lois gave a presentation about Manchester Parents Group and the work we do and told their stories at the Icebreakers  meeting at the Lesbian and Gay Foundation . Icebreakers is a group for men who are coming out or who are new to Manchester. The meeting was attended by about 20 men, between the ages of 18 to 66

Sugar & Spice

Feb 1 2008 Lois attended the above womens event at the Lesbian and Gay Foundation. It was a chance to network and distribute information about Manchester Parents Group.

Interview for website

Feb 2008 Christine & her son Adrian were interviewed about their story for Fifty Forward website. You can listen to the interview or visit the FiftyForward website for more information.