May 2023

Eleven of us watched 2 short films about transport, both with a gay theme.

On 23 May 16 of us listened to a speaker from the youth group Moziac telling us about the work the charity does for young LGBTQ+ people. We also had a book sale with the proceeds going to Mozaic. This raised £41.

The Met Police area liaison officer gave us a talk on how they are responding to the recent critical report on their handling of the murders of four young gay men in East London. He also answered general questions that our members had. We hope this reporting to us will become a regular event.

Our Coronation picnic on the 8 May was successful with 16 members attending, also 1 friend with dog. We all enjoyed the food, a Coronation quiche made by Jonathan and a spectacular cake made by Brian. We were so lucky with the weather with no rain, despite a forecast of torrential rain. We are looking forward to our next picnic at the end of August.

April 2023

Our Eurovision evening was very popular, 19 of us took part in a sweepstake of the winner.

At the AGM on 18 April we had 28 members attending this important event. The committee recommendations were adopted and a new committee elected.

On the final event that our current Chair hosted, 4 of us enjoyed an evening of videos and chat.

On Easter Monday, 6 of us met in Rickmansworth for a pub meal. We then walked around the Aquadrome in sunshine. The 5 mile walk was very enjoyable.

Our Easter Egg hunt and hot cross buns evening had 22 members, thank you Raymond. We also had a most interesting talk by Paula on her trans life growing up in Harrow and eventually becoming Head of a large school in Cheshire. We hope she will be able to visit us again and we can hear more about her interesting life.

March 2023

For the last meeting in March nearly half the members were present to discuss what they wanted from the group going forward.

On the 21st March, 16 of us listened to Gerry giving a talk on St Patrick and St Prides, this was followed by slices of Guinness cake made by Paul. A very successful evening, thanks guys.

The High Five quiz set by Rob had a good attendance and everyone enjoyed exercising their gray cells.

Our Group has been given funding by Harrow Giving. This will help us with publicity, group health events, speaker and function expenses. Your committee worked hard to achieve this. It is a great opportunity to expand and promote our group. Further details will follow.

February 2023

Bingo was very well attended on 28 February and was the usual success, thank you Ken.

On 21 February unfortunately our speaker was unwell, but 20 of us enjoyed a very sociable evening.

We all congratulate Roger and Tony on their 47 years together, it was lovely to celebrate with them. They provided some nice snacks for us and we thank them for their generosity, we wish them all the best in the future.

On 7 February we enjoyed a brief history of the Chinese New Year and reading of our horoscope. The spring rolls and snacks from Hong Kong were well received.

January 2023

Ken’s Address to the Haggis and the plate of haggis and neeps were well received by members. Joe’s demonstration and instruction of the Scottish dances was good. Ken wore his kilt, we all thought he looked very smart.

Our Zoom quiz from Cyprus had 16 members in the Trinity and 2 remote participants. We also had a celebration of Roy’s special birthday.

On a cold 17 January 17 members viewed a video on the new LGBTQ+ museum in Kings Cross to be opened in spring 2023, some of us remember the old sleazy Kings Cross with the occasional huge gay dance evenings. We followed this with a quiz to see how gay we were. By the low scores it might be necessary to remove any reference to gay in our literature and logo.

On 10 January Gerry hosted an informative panel of social media users. Several interesting points were made. We were warned to be careful what we publish and who is allowed to see our content. Our panel also considered how a general discussion can easily degenerate into a slagging match. Many questions from the floor showed how our members interact on social media.

It was a wet day on 8 January when we did our walk from Hatch End to Stanmore, but we still had 17 people from NWLLGG and the Gay Sunday Walking Group.

Twenty of us celebrated Trevor’s birthday on 3 January. A nice evening with nibbles and a cake baked by Gerry. Several members enjoyed dancing later on.

Eight of us saw the New Year’s Day Parade. There were very large crowds, but we managed to get a good view. We then had a drink in Halfway to Heaven pub.

December 2022

Bank Holiday Tuesday 27 December was our mine pies evening. Fourteen members and friends viewed a video showing the special events that NWLLGG attended or hosted during our 50th Anniversary commemoration year.

At our Christmas party on 20 December we had 40 members and guests enjoying the buffet and cabaret. It was great to be able to have a Christmas party after an absence of several years. We hope that the new guests that came to the party will be able to visit us regularly.

The presentation on the 13 December by Dr Clare was very interesting. Some of us older members can relate to her stories of life in the last century. We thank her for coming a long way to see us and hope she will be able to visit again.

Trevor and Gerry’s quiz on 6 December was very popular with 14 members and friends attending. The Christmas themed questions were interesting and some were quite challenging.

On 1 December your committee agreed the programme upto the next AGM in April. They also discussed our finances and membership. The minutes of the meeting can be found on the drop down menu ‘Members page’.

November 2022

Joe led 19 members through the Ceili dance steps on 22 November. Some were so good at the dance, they are thinking of applying for an Irish passport.

On 17 November, 11 of us enjoyed an evening visiting the refurbished Battersea Power Station and taking the high speed boat to the Tower. We then watched the Son et Lumiere and finished the successful evening with a meal in a pub near the Tower

Ken’s bingo was the usual success with many members enjoying the evening. Our newest member managed to win a prize.

Our Remberance event was not popular by the attendance, but it’s a sacrifice made by millions and worth remembering.

Age UK spoke to 16 of us about what they do for local older people. Some group members belong to Opening Doors, this is a charity run by Age UK specifically for LGBTQ+ over the age of 50.

October 2022

The 18th October we visited Roger and Malcolm via zoom. Not only did we have a very entertaining quiz, we had a remote guided tour around their new house in Cyprus.

On the 11th October We watched a couple of videos showing what the Black community has contributed to our society.

As it was the Jewish New Year celebration for several members, a decision was made to postpone the planned ‘Social media – friend or foe’ forum to a later date.

September 2022

Our celebration of the Jewish New Year on 27th September had an excellent turnout, the cabaret from Colin and Mark was a big draw helped by the lovely food.

We had a social on the 20th September where the main discussion was centred on the death of Queen Elizabeth II. The only reigning sovereign a lot of us remember.

On 13 September Ken was our bingo caller. Lots of prizes were on offer. Trevor was the most successful player. We also said our au revoir to Roger and Malcolm with a short video, no dry eyes in the house, but we will be having a Zoom meeting from Cyprus on 18 October.

We had a visit from 2 Met Police from the Safer Neighbourhood Team. They discussed how the Met handle any complaints and covered policing in general. Our members had several interesting questions that were fully answered by the team. We hope that they will be able to visit us again in the future.

August 2022

The last event on 30 August to celebrate our 50 years of meeting regularly, was a great success with 25 members attending.

Eleven of us enjoyed Herts Pride, a very well organised and run event. Our Pride contact looked after us and our banner was prominently displayed.

On16 August we had our Pointless quiz. Rob had some very interesting questions based around the 50 years we have been meeting. Our winner was a new meetup member, we are very pleased to welcome him to our group.

The committee meeting on 11 August agreed our new programme. Committee members will follow up the actions raised. Details are in the minutes of the meeting that will be in the members section within the next week.

On 9th August we watched a video of our recorded history, the photos went back to the early 1990s. An extract of our many excellent shows were seen, so much work, but such fun. We also remembered those no longer with us. It was very nice to welcome 2 guys who came via our meetup profile.

We only had 3 members on the group visit to Brighton Pride, but it was a great day. As it was the first for 3 years it was very busy, the weather perfect and the bodies, honed and sexy. We had a few comments asking about our group when they spotted the group 50th Anniversary t-shirt being worn by us.

On 3 August sixteen members watched a video of a walking holiday in Nepal. We realised what a difficult existence the hill tribes have, but the mountain scenery was beautiful.

July 2022

We had a lot of members come and enjoy the music in Pinner Park on the last day of July. There are concerts every Sunday from 2.30pm until the end of August if anyone wishes to attend, the group is not organising any more concerts this year.

The group history was on display in the form of Events Programmes from the late 1990s and old financial information.

On Tuesday 19 July when Harrow was 39C, we enjoyed the aircondioned Trinity room to examine Simon’s painting titled Cabaret. He is also very well travelled and had lots of interesting stories. A very entertaining evening.

We had a large turnout for the Trinity Trophy, it was a close final, but Steve was the winner.

The Chesham walk was popular, we had time to explore the High Street with their Hat Event. The weather was perfect for a lovely Summer walk. The views were great, we had plenty of rest stops as it was around 27C.

Our Chair made a short speech at the beginning of Wembley Park Pride. We had a lovely summer afternoon being entertained by various drag artists together with comedians and singers. Our banner had another outing and was displayed prominently.

We had a most enjoyable day at London Pride. Our distinctive t shirts and banner stood out. There were crowds up to 5 deep in places, we had lots of cheers and waves. After a tiring day it was lovely to chill out in a beautiful courtyard in Soho.

June 2022

We had a very enjoyable visit to a local crazy golf course. None of us were surprised that our expert golfer won!

Our midsummer walk attracted several members despite the transport disruption. It was a perfect evening for a walk over historic Harrow on the Hill. We were joined in Trinity after the walk by women who had seen our website.

May 2022

Our very own Queen made an appearance, Regal ever despite her advanced age. We were delighted that she could join us for cream scones and a Royal Quiz. Thanks for all the hard work Roger.

The rain held off for our Platinum party, the 2 members that attended enjoyed a drink to commemorate this special event.

Our video on Her Majesty the Queen’s 70 years on the Throne was from a Canadian perspective. This gave us an insight into how people from the Commonwealth view the Monarchy.

The visit to the new Elizabeth Line was interesting. We were surprised at the number of people using the service. We explored all the new stations and their architecture.

On 24 May we were entertained with a video of Colin’s holiday in Southern Africa. Lovely scenery. The snacks provided were popular.

Roger hosted our Anniversary quiz. I think everone was extremely impressed with the content and professionalism of the graphics. A great evening to continue our Anniversary celebrations. We still have a few more events listed with an Anniversary theme.

The Committee meeting on 12 May decided the way forward. Lots of new and innovative ideas were put forward and accepted. We now have a programme of events planned for the next 8 months. We also have decided on our key priorities and a plan will be published shortly. We are planning for an increased and involved membership.

Nearly half our membership heard Inspector Zhang and Sergeant Mackin of the Safer Neighbourhood team gave us a presentation of the Police structure and how they respond to any LGBTQ+ hate crime. Most crime is on the decline, but hate crime is increasing. They stressed that any crime should be reported before it escalates.

At the beginning of May, soon after the new Committee started work. we held a workshop to plan the way forward for the group. A high percentage of current members were there or sent inputs on what the group should be doing in the immediate and longer term future. This will be used by your Committee to ensure the group represents what members want from NWLLGG.

April 2022

The 50th Anniversary event on the 19 April was a huge success. There were over 40 attendees. We had the Mayor, Deputy Mayor and the Chief Superintendent of North West London in attendance. After short speeches, the Mayor presented Roger and Malcolm with a life time membership, recognising their contributions over many years. The Mayor then presented to the Chair a specially commissioned Trophy. A toast to the Group was proposed by the Mayor. After that a film showing some of our history was played and the guests then were served a buffet. An evening to be remembered with pleasure.

Her Majesty has sent a letter congratulating us on our 50th Anniversary. The letter is on the photo page of this website.

Easter Monday saw us celebrating our 50th Anniversary in Pinner Memorial gardens. We had 24 members enjoying the food, prosecco and company. The weather was perfect.

Easter came early to the group on 11 April, we had some Easter Eggs.

The quiz had some interesting facts, not that obvious to everyone.

March 2022

We had a very interesting talk about the City Guilds, we learnt about their history and what Guilds do today.

Irish Guinness cake and music, a great evening.

Your committee met to plan our Anniversary Party and events for the future. The group is having good attendances and plans for attracting more members were agreed.

A double attraction on 15 March, we had Liz from Harrow Voluntary Action Harrow telling us how she can get us known more widely. Then Trevor presented his music quiz with a broad spectrum. A very popular evening with an excellent attendance.

Our Polari evening attracted 22 members. We had a film in Polari and an explanation of how the language evolved.

We had a presentation from a member who has been volunteering with switchboard for 19 years, he gave us a brief history of the organisation. It was interesting to learn that 15000 people use their services every year.

February 2022

At the first of 3 evenings to celebrate our history we saw a video that schools present to pupils. Other videos by Museum curators told of our long and proud history.

The Committee met to plan our 50th celebrations and our future events. These are now published on the events page.

Our bingo night was successful again, also an entertaining evening.

The fortune cookies at the Chinese New Year celebration gave us a chance to see what the year of the Tiger will bring us.

January 2022

Burns Night celebration attracted a large number of members. We heard Ken give an Address to the Haggis, and we all tried some Haggis, neeps and tatties. Jonathan in full highland regalia and sgean dubh lead us in a series of Scottish reels. A good time was had by everyone.

Our plans for the 50th anniversary party on 19 April were shown to the members. No further suggestions for the evening were put forward.

The New Year started with good intentions, we had a keep fit session enjoyed by all.

We had an entertaining evening at the pantomime, very adult humour.

Our first meeting of 2022 in Trinity Bar had a good turnout and it was nice to catch up with everyone after what had been a difficult Christmas and New Year for some us.

The first walk of the year had 18 people, muddy and a bit wet, but enjoyable.

December

We had a zoom meeting on New Year’s Eve. It was nice to celebrate with a lot of our friends.

Unfortunately at the last minute we had to cancel our Christmas Party, the huge increase in Covid cases meant that our members could have been put at risk. Such a shame as a lot of planning and rehearsing had taken place. Instead at short notice, Roger hosted a Christmas zoom. We had several members taking part and the winner got a very respectable score.

Our friend Joseph, a retired Barrister and Judge, gave us a very interesting talk on some of the more objectional people that he had met in his long legal career. We had a really good attendance.

Several of us enjoyed a boat trip with commentary on the Thames to view the illuminated bridges. These have been newly illuminated as an art installation. We had a interesting commentary by a London Guide telling us about places of interest. The Committee hopes this will be the first of many trips we can do as a group of LGBT friends.

John gave us a very informative talk on how cruising has changed and developed. I think we were all surprised to learn that cruising in the 1920s was very similar to the modern day experience. A well attendended evening.

November

The local police visited us and give an insight into how they handle any hate crime reporting. Members put several questions to them and all were answered to everyone’s satisfaction. We had a good turnout for this interesting evening.

Peter’s music quiz was a chance to recall earlier popular tunes and groups. We also had a chance to recall advert campaigns that used popular classical music. An enjoyable evening.

Bingo was as popular as ever, our resident caller Ken did his usual fabulous job.

Our monthly Zoom meeting had our long time members currently living in the warmth of Cyprus and several of us enjoying the cold in the UK.

Several of our members seem to be contenders for Strictly come Dancing after the excellent Ceili dance evening.