Out Together was a fantastic help to me when I joined them in 2018, providing a group of people in my own age group who had a common background. We all had different stories but could relate to elements in each of them and this was a great comfort knowing we weren’t on our own. As a trustee I can now provide that same help and comfort to others, brightening their lives and giving them something interesting to talk about with people they meet.
I live in Leeds, West Yorkshire, but was born and raised in Doncaster. I am married to a wonderful wife, who deserves far better than me. We have two amazing daughters, and five of the most awe-inspiring grandchildren anyone could wish for.
Road running is how I keep fit, taking part in a local weekly Parkrun, and competing in 4 races each year.
I am transgender, male to female, and working my way through transition while living full time in role, as well as being an active member of 3 LGBT support groups.
We now have the opportunity to build more structure into the organisation, which will help us gain additional funding and provide further ways we can help our members.
As a charity we can reach out to partner and co-operate with other organisations, building on their expertise to help improve the lives of older LGBT+ individuals.
This organisation does something that no other organisation in Leeds has done and that is important. It strives to build on a history of community that the LGBT+ family has developed over years of being cast out from the mainstream and being involved in this as a fairly young person is incredibly important to me, it is on the backs of the people served by Out Together that I married my wife, and for that I am eternally grateful. It is also important to assist with social isolation, we have empirical evidence a plenty about the damage that this does to older folk’s life chances and in a community that suffers from the excesses of this particularly, particular care must be taken in challenging it and I am incredibly happy to be involved in that.
I am a firm believer in the importance of youth and youth activities so spend a lot of time organising stuff for my guides and guides around the city to get involved in. I have taken girls to India, Mexico and around the UK. I have also put on theatre shows and involved myself in celebrations of key events in the UK through the movement. I am passionate about improving peoples life chances and exercise that through my work as a politician and in my personal life with campaigning across the city and getting involved in grassroots activism. I particularly enjoyed getting involved in a period poverty protest down in London. My family is currently myself and my wife with our three cat babies, but we are currently adopting (another gift from the campaigns of those who came before) so hopefully before to long our family will have ballooned, of course I will happily bring said children to events for cuddles!
I can’t wait for us to get deep into the service delivery that our members of Out Together want and need, and do even more to change the lives of those that we serve.
The opportunity to facilitate mutual support from all generations within the LGBT community for its elderly members and signposting institutional care as required.
I have been partnered with Malcolm for 45 years, living happily in the same village, where we have a strong social network. We are passionate about gardening, looking after our two dogs and enjoying good food and wine in great company.
The growing awareness that community matters, encouraging us all to participate in helping each other.
Making sure that we abide by our constitution and act as guardians of the Charity and its funds. We are also responsible for deciding the future direction of the charity and having oversight of how resources are being used and most importantly, finding the right offerings for the members in these difficult times, which brings its own unique challenges.
Being new to Yorkshire, we moved here in 2018, we are still finding our way around! I am and ex Essex girl married to my wife Chris who is Swiss, we have been together for 28 years. We have a daughter who is married, lives in Leeds and has our first grandchild (currently 4) with whom we have regular granny duties! We also have two Labradors one yellow and one black, who Chris trains and we have a cat who rules us all. We love to garden, enjoy a good meal with friends and the odd G & T.
We know there is a need for an organisation like Out Together and I am excited about finding ways to collaborate better with other LGBT+ groups, to grow our connections to the community and of course to serve our older LGBT+ friends.