Timeline of LGBT+ History for Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire
1977 – North Staffs Gay Switchboard
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Introduction
Logo and title from an archived document created for the twenty fifth anniversary in 2002.
The North Staffs Gay Switchboard was founded in 1977 by students at Keele University, the name was later updated to The North Staffordshire Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Switchboard. The organisation became a registered charity in 2000 but it no longer operates having closed in 2007.
Switchboard volunteers provided information and support to our local lesbian, gay and bisexual community decades before the advent of the internet dominated digital world that we now live in. During the thirty years that the helpline operated thousands of calls were handled providing essential help and support to local people. It was the longest running of all the community groups that emerged in Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire during the gay liberation movements of the 1970s and the decades that followed. The tremendous contribution made by the volunteers of our local Switchboard deserves to be remembered.
Founded in 1977 at Keele University
The North Staffs Gay Switchboard was founded in 1977 by students at Keele University. Mike Jackson was one of the founding members – Mike graduated in 1980 and went on to become co-founder of Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners (LGSM) during the 1984 Miners’ Strike – which was immortalised in the award-winning film ‘Pride’.
Gay Switchboard was not the first gay community group established at Keele University. The Keele Gay Liberation Society was formed in 1972 as part of The highly influential national Gay Liberation Front movement. Read about the early history of the group at Keele in our post about the Gay Liberation Front.
The North Staffs Gay Switchboard began to appear in listings in Gay News in 1977. The Switchboard operated on just one evening a week, Wednesdays 7-10pm. The launch of a local Gay Switchboard is a significant milestone in our LGBT+ history and would have been hugely helpful in connecting people to local support in these early years. Creating social connections did not just have individual benefits, it also enabled the growth of gay rights activism as more people came on board.
Listing in Gay News, Dec 15th 1977
An archived document signed MJ (Mike Jackson) dated 2nd September1979 describes North Staffs Gay Switchboard and sets out a case for moving it to the Knotty Action Resource Centre in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent’s city centre:
First page of document dated 2nd Sep 1979 – archives of the North Staffs Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Switchboard
The following transcription of the first part of the above document describes the purpose of Switchboard and why it was needed at that time.
What is a Gay Switchboard?
An entirely voluntary, non-commercial welfare agency operated by and for homosexual men and women. We are political in as much as we believe that there is nothing wrong with homosexuality and that the only problems homosexuals face are the results of centuries of prejudice. In other words, the only ‘wrong’ is the abuse, degradation and ignorance inflicted on Gays. ‘Switchboard’ is a telephone link for people to phone in and ask questions, tell us their problems and anxieties and we try to offer a sympathetic ear and helpful advice. There are no governmental, municipal or commercial organisations offering such a service, although a handful of local authorities have provided some financial help.
Gay Switchboards came into being some five years ago. There are now over thirty in operation throughout the country.
North Staffs Gay Switchboard operates 7pm-10pm Wednesday evenings . It has run from the Students Union at Keele University with the full support of the Union and the sponsorship of the students Gay Group.
What are the problems facing gays then?
The problems stem from a basic need of homosexuals to overcome the isolation which is the result of hostile attitudes. One way to understand this, perhaps, is to put yourself in a gay persons position. If you were gay, where would you go, who would you feel you could talk to, what would you think of yourself? Most homosexuals are forced into a life of secrecy, confusion and desperate loneliness until such time as they meet another gay person who is brave enough to ‘come out’ to them.
1980 – Move to Knotty Action Resource Centre
The above document goes on to set out the case for moving Switchboard to the Knotty Action Resource Centre in Hanley in order to provide a stable base that is more easily accessible for community volunteers and is independent of the local commercial gay scene.
However, some of the Executive Committee of the Knotty Action Trust had raised objections suggesting that “many Local authority employees and local councillors would not support Knotty’s work if they felt that Knotty was also directly involved in gay politics”. Mike Jackson comments that “if local councillors are prepared to abandon all the good work that Knotty does simply because Knotty has shown support for homosexuals then surely the value of their support is questionable anyway”
The ban was successfully overturned, and according to the following article, Switchboard was set to relocate to the Knotty Action Centre in December 1979. The article, published in Gay News, notes that the ban was lifted with the support of Peter Kent Baguley from the Potteries Gay Community Association, who had recently been elected to the Knotty committee at its annual meeting.
Article published in Gay news 4th Oct 1979
The Knotty Action Trust was a local registered charity that aimed to support local neighbourhood communities around Stoke-on-Trent. They opened an advice centre with a coffee bar at 4 Mollart Street in Hanley around May 1978. Mollart street no longer exists, it was in the area near Smithfield that is now part of the Potteries way.
Having overcome the initial objections to a gay organisation using the same facilities as local families, Switchboard is likely to have moved into the Knotty Action Centre soon afterwards. We can see evidence of the change of location in the Gay News listings when the phone number changes in February 1980. The move may have taken place earlier, perhaps even in December as originally planned, the listing would only be updated when someone contacted Gay News with the new details.
Gay News, January and February 1980, the change in phone number signals the move from Keele University to the Stoke-on-Trent city centre in Hanley.
The North Staffs Gay Switchboard was listed in national community magazine Gay News (later Gay Times ) from 1977 onwards. Reaching out to community members who were not yet connected to gay social networks would have been challenging. Advertisements in the local press would have faced barriers of both cost and editorial policy. Gay News magazine was sold at a few local gay venues but not on the mainstream high street.
The monthly listings are helpful in reconstructing some of the past history of the group. We can see from the above entries that following the move to the Knotty Centre in Hanley the helpline was open on Saturday afternoons as well as on Wednesday evenings.
1981 – The Gay Centre in Hillcrest Street
Following a successful fundraising campaign the Potteries Gay Community Association (PGCA) opened a gay centre in 3 Hillcrest Street Hanley in 1981. The North Staffs Gay switchboard moved in to these premises and was based there until the centre closed around 1983.
By 1981 the helpline had extended to operating on Monday, Wednesday and Friday 7pm-10pm and on Saturday 2pm-5pm. The expanded opening times likely coincided with the move to the Gay Centre and a larger number of community volunteers.
The following advertisement appeared in the Newcastle and Longton editions of the advertiser in August 1982. The advertisement was paid for by sponsorship from local community members. The advertisement tell us that Gay Switchboard (North Staffs) offered “Information and counselling for gay people by gay people every Monday, Wednesday and Friday 7pm-10pm and Saturdays 2pm-5pm.
Advert published in the Newcastle and Longton editions of The Advertiser in August 1982
The main newspaper for Stoke-on-Trent was the Evening Sentinel. Searching the newspaper archives yields no results for either articles or advertisements advertising the gay Switchboard in the Evening Sentinel during the 1980s. This may have been down to the cost but was more likely due to editorial policy.
1981 to 1990 – The Lesbian Support Group
After the partial decriminalisation of male homosexuality in 1967, the word “gay” was openly adopted as a positive term for same-sex attraction and early activist movements such as the Gay Liberation Front (GLF) used “gay” to include both men and women. In practice, however, gay men dominated leadership, culture, and media attention. By the mid 1970s through to the 1980s many women shifted towards “lesbian” as their preferred identity and lesbian only groups, publications and spaces expanded across the UK.
Towards the end of 1980 Gay News began to separately list telephone support services for women, albeit not as prominently as the local listings for Gay Switchboards. By the following year this section of listings had grown and was given greater prominence. In June 1981 our local Switchboard began to separately advertise a Lesbian Support Group with the same contact telephone number.
This would have been around the time that Switchboard moved to the gay centre in Hillcrest Street. It is likely that services were able to expand and diversify as a result of that move both due to better facilities and more community volunteers.
Gay News 11th June 1981
Initially the times advertised to call were Wed and Sat at the same times advertised in the listings for the North Staffs Switchboard. Maybe both gay men and lesbians were on hand to take the calls on these advertised days. By 1983 the services had become more differentiated with the main switchboard operating Monday, Wednesday and Saturday and the Lesbian Support Group being available on the number on Fridays from 8pm-11pm. It can be assumed that if women rang the Switchboard on any of the days advertised for the Switchboard they would have received a helpful and supportive response but for those women that only wanted to talk to other women the Friday slot fulfilled that need.
It was later called “The Lesbian Line” and continued to operate on the Switchboard number on Friday evenings until 1990 when Switchboard rebranded as the the Lesbian and Gay Switchboard becoming a single inclusive helpline service again.
A few years later switchboard volunteers started a new group for women. Read more about the history of local women’s groups…
Evening Sentinel 22nd Feb 1990
The above article is not particularly clear but the groups being referred to are the North Staffs Gay Switchboard and the North Staffs Lesbian Line. The change is reflected in the Gay Times listings from April onwards when the service is shown as the Lesbian and Gay Switchboard (below). The ambition to operate seven days a week was short lived. By the end of 1990 the advertised times were Monday, Wednesday and Friday 8pm-10pm and Sunday 1pm-3pm
Gay Times April 1990, the first appearance of “Lesbian and Gay Switchboard” in listings for Staffordshire
1983/4 – Move to Citizens Advice Bureau
Following the closure of the Gay Centre in Hillcrest Street the North Staffs Gay Switchboard moved to the premises of the Stoke-on-Trent Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) in Marsh Street, Hanley. This would have been around 1983/1984 (date to be confirmed). Gay Switchboard remained independent of CAB but greatly benefitted from using their premises as a safe space to meet and operate the helpline.
The following compliments slip shows the new address:
Compliments slip from the archives of the North Staffs Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Switchboard
CAB had a long history of providing support and advice to the local community. The Marsh Street branch of CAB was established when CAB launched around the nation in 1939. Mike Wolfe became the new “organiser” there in 1980 and was supportive of the local gay community though he did not come out as a gay man until much later. For three decades Mike played a huge role in the support of our local LGBT+ community, advocating for equality and supporting local community forums. He eventually became the first openly gay person to be a directly elected executive mayor in England, serving Stoke-on-Trent from 2002 to 2005.
In 1996 CAB relocated to new premises in Advice House, Pall Mall and Switchboard moved there with them continuing to benefit from their support. Mike Wolfe was still at the helm of CAB and remained very much committed to supporting our local LGBT+ community.
1999 – Move to The Piccadilly Project
In 1997 the Gay Mens Health Alliance Project (G-Mhap) was launched as part of an NHS funded initiative to address HIV prevention and sexual health promotion in North Staffordshire. The project later occupied premises in Piccadilly, Hanley and became know as “The Piccadilly Project” with a wider remit for LGBT+ health promotion.
Switchboard worked closely with The Piccadilly project and moved into their premises in 1999 as reported in the following article published in local community newsletter “Pink Lobby”.
Article in Pink Lobby, September 1999
Some of the other articles published in Pink Lobby give us glimpses of the wide range of activities that Switchboard volunteers were involved in as illustrated by the following examples:
Parents Group in Partnership with Switchboard (Article from Pink Lobby, July 1999)
Women’s Group Befriending Service in Partnership with Switchboard (Article from Pink Lobby, Jan 1999)
There are, no doubt many other examples. We know that Switchboard provided support to women through a “Lesbian Line” in the 1980s and that volunteers offered befriending services through the “Buds Community Group” in 1989/90. Switchboard volunteers also played an active role in the local LGB Forum and helped to improve community relations with Staffordshire Police.
2000 – Registration As a Charity
For more than twenty years all the funding for Switchboard had been raised by members themselves through various discos, bucket shakes and sponsored events. On 31st January 2000 The North Staffs Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Switchboard became a registered charity opening up new opportunities to apply for funding. A successful bid to the ‘National Lottery Millennium Fund’ enabled the purchase of much needed equipment including a minicom, to make services available to the deaf community.
Both sides of a business card used around 2006 onwards
In 2005 Switchboard received a £5,330 grant from Robbie Williams “Give It Sum” charity enabling the purchase of new computers and other essential equipment. The organisation was also able to set up its own website.
In a press statement published by the BBC secretary Mary Hollinshead said: “Our hope will be that we will continue to find sources of funding to ensure that Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered people feel there is a support network for them wherever they may be – particularly in a time where advances and changes in technology mean a greater demand for, and improved access to information and help”
A screenshot of the website launched in 2006
2007 Closure
The North Staffordshire Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Switchboard was removed from the UK register of charities on 22 October 2009, having “ceased to exist.” The final annual return submitted to the Charity Commission covered the period ending 27 November 2007 and was filed on 23 July 2008.
Financial records indicate that, in its final reporting year, expenditure significantly exceeded income. The grant received from Robbie Williams “Give It Sum” was for two years and would therefore have come to an end in 2007.
While financial pressures were likely a key factor in the decision to cease operations, closure may also have been influenced by wider changes in how people access information and support. The growing popularity of the internet and social media had progressively reduced demand for a single centralised helpline service though for some community members the support of Switchboard will undoubtedly be missed.
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Copyright Notice
Any news clippings featured here have been compiled by the posts author, Andrew Colclough, from various archives as part of his personal research into local LGBT+ history and are shared here on the basis of fair personal/non commercial use. Copyright, where applicable, belongs to the newspapers and magazines that published the articles. I believe that any photographs used in this post are in the public domain – I have acknowledged specific sources where possible but please contact us if there is anything here that needs further permission or acknowledgment. Text written by the post’s author is copyright of Andrew Colclough. Thank you!
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