Memories by Hilli Rishworth
Signed in by a member
Hilli finished with an account of what it was like as a lesbian trying to get into gay clubs years ago. The only way to gain entrance to the ‘Gale was by being signed in by a member, who would be male. She declares it was more of a homophobic world i...
Slap Police
Hilli was part of the charity Slap FM which was scene-led HIV/AIDS prevention. “We dressed as policemen and went on the scene, we were the ‘Slap Police’. We had a pink riding crop with a slap hand on the end and arrested people, booked them and asked...
Discrimination from a gay bar!
Hilli Rishworth (formerly Scrannage) recalls vividly the incident “I saw an advertisement in the gay press for staff at a new gay venue which was to be opened by Ansells Brewery. I applied for a job as did my girlfriend and another female frien...
Making the Fox friendlier
Hilli said she wanted to make The Fox a more friendly venue. She started to organise entertainment, and won awards e.g. Best Lesbian Bar. The Fox started to attract a wider range of people, with the pub becoming more of a community venue, and less of...
What women wore in the 90s
Hilli described the 1990s as the era of checked shirts, leather waistcoats, short hair and sensible shoes (for women); there were femmes in the 1990s but these were not out....
Hilli's first impressions of the Fox
Hilli was working in the Nightingale and in 1994 was invited to help with managing The Fox but turned it down; she wasn’t very comfortable in The Fox as it was very clique ridden. She enrolled in a British Sign Language course which was being held in...
I was voted best Bar Person in whole UK in 2008!
“On Tuesday 18th March (2008) I was invited along to the Publican awards in London, and I was voted the winner in the Bar Person awards for the whole of the UK and Ireland; it is truly the most wonderful honour as it's the highest achievement within ...