By Dr DeAnn Bell, Llandudno Museum
When I came into the role of Community and Education Officer here at Llandudno Museum and Gallery in 2020, the museum was undergoing major refurbishment. Pandemic aside, part of the museum strategy was to uncover and share previously marginalised histories and find ways to support the diverse people and groups to create a more inclusive space, better interpretations, and better represent the multi-layered history of Llandudno.
I was pleased to learn that volunteers Graham Morgan and Rachel Evans attended a training session with historian Norena Shopland called “Queering Glamorgan Archives: A Research Guide to Sources for the Study of LGBT History”. Through that training, Graham and Rachel were able to create Llandudno’s very first LGBTQ+ Heritage walk in 2018. In Spring 2021, University of Manchester Masters student Tessa Fox joined Llandudno Museum’s Digital Student Placement project. She expressed an interest in working on a revision of the 2018 walk for 2021.
Having Tessa identify the initial figures and events to include in the walk was a method of understanding what aspects of LGBTQ history an audience younger than myself was interested in.
To read about Tessa Fox’s experience of working on Llandudno’s Hidden History: LGBTQ Heritage Walk 2021 in her own words please see:
The revised walk ran 6 times between July 16th and September 7th, 2021. A special update of the walk featuring some new research shared by Norena and by Conwy Culture Centre ran on July 23rd, 2022 alongside L-Fest.
We had a wonderful time creating this walk and speaking to a wide range of people and were encouraged to share our experience. Below are some of our top tips.
Step 1: Write what excites you rather than every detail.
History is a story that is profoundly interconnected, and it is easy to fall down a research rabbit hole and feel obligated to share every detail but as American poet Robert Frost (1874–1963) once said, “If there is no surprise in the writer, there is no surprise in the reader.” Write the parts that you love first then suggest places where your walk participants or readers can find out more.
Step 2: Don’t be afraid to have fun.
Formal language is okay for essays, but it can quickly kill the thrill of your story. Don’t be afraid to use humour, informal language, and hedge an opinion while you are delivering this information.
Step 3: Remember that it isn’t necessary for the places, events, or people to be ancient in order to be history.
Because the partial decriminalisation of homosexual relationships didn’t happen in the UK until 1967, a lot of your most prominent figures and events are likely to occur after that date. As a historian, 55 years ago feels modern but it is this history where first-hand accounts still exist that is both valuable and vulnerable.
While doing our research, we discovered that a very prominent member of the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement, Reverend Jim Cotter (1942-2014), had spent his final days here in Llandudno. We spoke to people who knew Reverend Cotter well and were willing to share personal accounts of how his work influenced their lives. The conversations helped us understand what the 1967 restrictions really meant to the LGBTQ community and how the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement still fights today against regulations in the Church of England that state that though a Reverend can be homosexual, they are not allowed to have sex.
Step 4: Read “Queering Glamorgan: The Study of LGBT History” compiled by Norena Shopland and Daryl Leeworthy.
This short guide not only helps you to understand how some of the terminology has changed over the years, but it is also a good place to start to understand how to piece together a history that might be reported with extreme bias.
For instance, in Llandudno on August 14th, 1909, William Rowlands, aged 19, was arrested in Llandudno for obtaining lodging under “false pretences.” The article said that Rowlands had successfully presented himself as a “young woman” and had been arrested before on charges of larceny for obtaining women’s clothes. Though both articles present the cases as theft, the act of wearing the clothing would have been unnecessary if Williams’s purpose was to steal and re-sell the clothing.
Step 5: Check the archives for local newspapers but don’t forget to also look at LGBTQ specific periodicals.
Periodicals such as The Pink Paper give UK-based information covering gay and lesbian issues which include dates and locations for events and conferences. It is also helpful to look at advertisements for clubs, group meetings, and other products and services and have a look at where they were made.
This is particularly important for clubs as they often change names, change hands, or only have occasional dedicated gay and lesbian nights. For instance, The Buzz Club here in 2002 was in The Washington Hotel, a very prominent place on Llandudno Promenade. That is interesting but by tracking the name of the club in newspaper archives, we discovered that the first openly gay Conservative party member, Alan Duncan (1957-), was refused entrance to The Buzz Club for not looking “gay enough.” This article let us know Alan Duncan was here but also gave us an opportunity to discuss two important contemporary issues, the first is the rise of attacks on LGBTQ clubs and the other was the necessity or importance for members of marginalised groups to conform to stereotypes.
Step 6: Contact your local LGBTQ+ support groups.
Why? Because they are a part of this history. When were they established? When did the first office open and where was it? Do they have photos? Do they still meet? Can you share that support group information? Including information on the history of LGBTQ support networks in your area often leads to stories of wonderful people and groups who worked to set up these groups.
Step 7: They don’t have to be born at your location to have a history there.
For instance, Henry Cyril Paget, the 5th Marquess of Anglesey was included on the Llandudno Walk even though he lived at Plas Newydd on Anglesey. Why? Because some of the items sold after his death to recover the family fortune were sold here in Llandudno at an auction house that is now a prominent bank. The sale of the items here in Llandudno made the local newspaper and the extravagance of the 5th Marquess of Anglesey, and the necessity to sell his things, was repackaged as the Marquess having been very charitable to the people of Llandudno. Henry Cyril Paget’s personal journals were destroyed by his family after his death. This allowed us to talk about the difficulties of uncovering hidden histories and opens a very interesting question for research. Is there any record of the Marquess doing charitable work in Llandudno?
Step 8: Walk the walk while planning.
It is necessary to tie your figure or event to a particular location for a walk, but it is equally important for that place to be within a reasonable walking distance. According to Google Maps the distance between The Winter Gardens (which is the first location on the Llandudno walk) and Bodafan Farm Park (which is somewhere in the middle) is 27 minutes. If you were to walk that distance all you would see is a very nice green field. The location is significant because Bodafan Farm Park actually hosted L-Fest, a lesbian culture festival, in 2018 and again in 2022. It was connected to the Winter Gardens because that was the place that wouldn’t allow Griffith Vaughan Williams to host the Campaign for Homosexual Equality (CHE) conference in 1977. The contrast between the two illustrates the town of Llandudno’s social movement towards being more inclusive. At first, I thought I might not be able to include L-Fest because of the distance, but when walking the walk during the planning stage, I realised that I could stand on the promenade bandstand and clearly point out the locations that were just out of walking range.
Step 9: It doesn’t have to be nationally significant to be locally significant.
This is perhaps the most important step in putting together any local heritage walk. You are sharing the history, culture, stories of figures, events, and places, that shaped history in your town. The church that performed the first same-sex wedding in your town is as significant to your community as the one that performed the first ceremony in the nation. These so-called small stories are interconnected and are influenced by the larger figures and stories that shaped LGBTQ culture.
My last bit of advice is don’t give up. It takes time to build relationships with people and to earn the trust of a community. If your first walk isn’t a sell-out, keep working on it. Run it again, advertise it in a new way, keep asking questions, keep uncovering this wonderful history and sharing what you have learned.