Lots happening for lesbians in the 1980s
1985
Betty ‘Henrietta's Out’ (after Henrietta the Engine in Thomas the Tank
Engine) had a logo with this train on it that somebody created.
Catherine M was involved, the moving light in that was Liz Davidge.”
Gill:
“This was back around the same time as we used to have community discos
at Tindal Street, which weren’t specifically lesbian, but it was very
much a Balsall Heath thing ‘cos Liz Davidge was with Lynne then and
they were living on Tindal Street. In those days it was possible to get
funding from the Birmingham City Council to have events like International Women's
Day and things, and I think they got funding for a couple of years to
run [lesbian social events. And there were conferences, I remember
something at St Pauls, where there were all sorts of different groups.”
Betty: “There were all sorts of things; a workshop on erotic writing, a
workshop on lesbians with a disability which ended up in the sports
hut.”
Betty: “I got involved to some extent with Unison’s lesbian and
gay thing, because they sent me off to some weekend conference in
Scotland on lesbian and gay issues.”
Contributed by: Gill Coffin, 63, Betty Hagglund, 50