I don’t feel my age or my sexuality (gay man) define me, there are aspects of me. However I did recognise that as I retired at 65 yrs, 18 months ago, that life would change. The great thing is I have not missed work and I was aware I needed to take a positive approach to my future life and take the advice of my mother ‘ the need to make friends all your life’.

I have taken the opportunity of making use of the fantastic resource of the Birmingham LGBT in a walking group, literature group, coffee morning etc and met some interesting new people. I have not restricted myself to the LGBTQIA+ community as go to a couple of Tai Chi classes. One been going for the past six years and the other I discovered at my local Health and Wellbeing Centre in Shard End just from a passing comment from a friend I meet at local S hard End community events and this one is free!

As I grow older and I expect to make new connections and also reconnect to those friends my link has dropped to just a Christmas card to actual go and visit (started already). Although I said my sexuality does not define me I never want to feel I can’t be honest about mine in appropriate situations. So when I applied as a school governor I was open on this issue. Going back to my mother I was brought up to have respect for myself and others, treating everyone as an individual.

 

Birmingham LGBT is proud to announce that, following on from last year’s successful event, it will be holding its fifth annual Christmas Day party for the LGBT community.
Steph Keeble, Director at Birmingham LGBT, states that: “Christmas can be a difficult time for many LGBT people who may be estranged from their birth families. It is traditionally a very heteronormative festival with a big focus on family. For many LGBT people, the concept of family is different and it may be that their family of choice is their community. With this in mind, Birmingham LGBT will open for a community Christmas celebration on Christmas day – everyone is welcome.”
Held at the LGBT Centre, between 2- 7pm on 25th December 2017, the event will include food, drink and presents. The event is provided free of charge, thanks to generous donations from community members.
If you would like to attend, please get in touch with Cecily Stevenson (cecilystevenson@blgbt.org) or call 0121 643 0821, so we have an indication of numbers. We can also help with transport to and from the centre within Birmingham if required.