During lock-down 2.0, Jenna set up a Facebook group "LGBTQ+ Nottingham" formerly "NG-the old gays", initially for old friends from the Notts LGBTQ+ community to share pictures (a lot of us were still using actual cameras back then!) but this quickly grew and today has a following of 2050 members. 

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We have members that remember the scene in the 1980’s, when the gay night at The Astoria (now Ocean) on the first Monday of the month brought in coach loads of people from all over the country, including some famous faces such as Boy George! When it later became MGM, live acts such as The Village People, The London Boys and even a young Take That performed - on a Monday night!  Retro video footage has been shared from a night out at The New Foresters Christmas 1990, it’s been great to have the opportunity to learn how bustling and vibrant the scene was back then. 

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Amongst the many posts there’s one common theme, our friends were like family.  With the recent loss in LGBTQ+ venues, we felt inspired to bring the LGBTQ+ Community together again. It makes us sad to think that local people just embarking on “coming out” may not have the same opportunity to build support networks that we had, unfortunately even today not everyone has a positive experience. We saw that there was a need, and we wanted to contribute to addressing it. 

 

After discussions with a passionate group of friends, The Spencer Trust was born!  We are overwhelmed at how it has all grown, are deeply grateful for the support it has received and privileged to have the opportunity to help grow the community.