Norena Shopland
Here are a few ideas for using the county timelines – if you have any others please do send them in.
Collecting items
Contact celebrities/named people and ask for donations, e.g. Carmarthenshire and Merthyr could ask Owain and Arran if they would be willing to donate photographs/invites/etc of their wedding.
Virtual Exhibitions
Use free online platforms such as Artsteps to create 3D Virtual Exhibitions and Spaces to showcase collections/artefacts/archives 365 and not just for celebratory periods.
Library Books
Stock biographies/autobiographies of named local people. Such as in Cardiff, Colin Jackson’s autobiography; or for Cardiganshire, Jane Aaron’s biography of Cranogwen.
Wish lists
Take a stall at local Prides with wish lists of items to purchase and a collection bucket – encourage people to contribute to their own history. Several counties could include a King Edward II coin which sell on the internet from a few, to thousands, of pounds.
Pride in the Pocket
Have a Pride in the Pocket event – get people to search their change to see if they have the celebratory 50p coin made at the Royal Mint, Llantrisant in 2022. Ask visitors how it feels to have this in general circulation.
Print copies for people to colour.
How would they design their own Pride coin?
#onthisday list
Create an #onthisday list to share on social media related to items in the collections. Use the LGBTQ+ Inclusion and Celebratory Calendar which gives guidance on how to schedule posts months in advance. https://lgbtqcymru.swansea.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/LGBTQ-Inclusionary-Celebratory-Calendar.pdf
Some examples:
(27 March) Today is World Theatre Day – what’s your favourite LGBTQ+ play or character? #WorldTheatreDay #theatre
(Pembrokeshire, 27 April) #onthisday Llwyth [Tribe], a story about five gay men, is staged at Milford Haven’s Torch Theatre.
(18 May) On #InternationalMuseumDay, what are your favourite LGBTQ+ items in a Welsh museum?
(6 July) Give us a kiss! It’s International Kissing Day. Who would you most like to kiss? #InternationalKissingDay
(Monmouth) #InternationalKissingDay Should Admiral Nelson’s last words “Kiss me Hardy” be included in LGBTQ+ history?
Films/TV
Stock relevant films/TV and hold viewing days.
For example, in 2011 five Gwent Police LGB&T liaison officers produced a short film to spread the message to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGB&T) young people that “It does get better and we can make it happen” The film ‘It gets better today,’ was made in 2011, hold discussions about has anything changed – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgeg-YthHwA
For Denbighshire, show the short film, Sally Leapt Out of A Window Last Night written by Tracy Spottiswoode. Set in Ireland 1778, it features Sally and Eleanor who flout convention and scandalise society to escape the fate their families have planned for them. They elope and live together for 50 years as the legendary ‘Ladies of Llangollen’.
Host Proud Writing Workshops
Take extracts from the timelines and hold creative workshops. Much of LGBTQ+ history, due to being forbidden and hidden, does not have images, so hold art/drama workshops to creatively interpret the past. See the Proud Writing, held in 2023/24, workshop for some details.
Reading Lists
Compile local reading lists. For example, for Ceredigion biographies on – the poet Katherine Philips; on poet/writer/preacher Cranogwen; Welsh antiquary George Powell and poet Algernon Charles Swinburne, where they mention George Powell; suffragette and newspaper editor Rachel Barrett; journalist, poet and publisher Edward Prosser Rhys; artist May Morris and her partner Mary Lobb; actor Roger Rees; journalist and author Goronwy Rees; historian John Davies; novelist and academic Patricia Duncker and her book, James Miranda Barry (1999) featuring the famous trans doctor; and others.
Do the same for watching lists (films, TV, videos, etc) and listening lists (podcasts, radio shows, etc).
Create a Word Cloud
Create a Word Cloud using free online apps. These example takes words and phrases from the Ceredigion timeline and uses WordArt.Com. Different colours and shapes are available and are free to download.
Word Search Puzzles
Create a Word Search puzzle. There are apps available online to do this; or create one in Word by inserting a table, add the word/phrase with one letter in each cell, add random letters in the empty cells and add the list of search terms. This example uses the Ceredigion timeline:
Search words:
Katherine Philips pride
Sappho Bisexual
Cranogwen Lesbian
Abberation Trans
Queer Gay
Atgof Hoyw
GLF Roger Rees
Crosswords
Use words/phrases from the timelines to create crosswords. There are numerous free online apps.
Or download free examples from the internet.
Proud Dragon
At events, get people to colour in the dragon. A copyright-free version is available on Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wiki15_Welsh_Dragon.svg
Further research
Encourage further research into extracts included in the timelines. Take a volunteer group to the local archives and see what can be found. Create LGBTQ+ volunteer groups to expand the information. Use Census returns to look for addresses and who is living with who. Sarah Jane Rees, Cranogwen, with her parents in the 1851 Census:
People’s Collection Wales
Create a page on the free platform, People’s Collection Wales. Highlight items from collections, or events and tag with LGBTQ+ terminology.
