Diverse Llandudno: our LGBT+ walk

Back in February 2019, two of our volunteers, Graham Morgan, and Rachel Claire Evans, attended a training opportunity led by Norena Shopland of the Glamorgan Archive’s called “Queering the Archive”.

Norena Shopland who has worked for the British Museum, National Museums Scotland, and the Museum of London, led volunteers through techniques and tips for interrogating archive material to reveal the ‘Forbidden Lives’ of the LGBT+ community. Shopland explains, the primary aim of the training is to encourage better understanding of historical and contemporary LGBT+ experience and to help historians and researchers understand how and where to look for information concerning historical LGBT+ experience.

For instance, the Sexual Offences Bill 1967 decriminalised homosexual acts between two men over 21 years of age in private in England and Wales. The 1967 Act did not extend to Scotland, Northern Ireland, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man, where all homosexual behaviour remained illegal. The privacy restrictions of the act meant a third person could not be present and men could not have sex in a hotel. These restrictions were overturned in the European Court of Human Rights in 2000. This means research into these matters often comes from news articles or legal records where the information is presented with negative bias and unfamiliar terminology.

The one day course allowed Rachel and Graham to meet a number of workers in this research field and to engage with people who advise the Welsh Assembly Government on equality issues. As a result of their networking and research, Graham and Rachel went ahead to assemble historic material for an interesting historical walk around Llandudno.

Rachel and Graham met with local groups, individuals, and trawled through Llandudno’s relevant archive material to discover Llandudno’s LGBT+ hidden histories. Attendance at a Unique Transgender Network North Wales and Cheshire event was most fruitful in terms of making contacts, understanding contemporary issues, and getting the word out to parties who might be interested in participating in or attending the walk. UNIQUE is a voluntary organisation supporting Trans people in North Wales and West Cheshire.

Twelve people attended our walk on May 18th, 2019 which coincides with the international Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia held on on May 17th every year.

Historic Site Number One: The Astra

We met outside the museum and moved a couple of feet to our right to the site of the former Astra Cinema and Conference centre. It was here, in 1977, that C.H.E. ( Campaign for Homosexual Equality) were first offered conference facilities which were subsequently and inexplicably withdrawn. Norena Shopland devotes a whole chapter in her book Forbidden Lives showing how discrimination took an institutional form. Griffith Vaughan Williams ( Griff) was one of the leaders for reform at this time and had been a pioneer in setting up a helpline for LGBT+ individuals.

Historic Site number Two: The Oval

The group walked the short walk to the Oval where a football match of a bizarre nature was played in 1907. Men dressed as Suffragettes and Policemen played a football match with much hilarity and mockery. A few weeks earlier the Suffragists had their first meeting in The Cocoa House temperance establishment and it is hard to see the ‘football’ match as anything other than mocking of women’s fight for equality.

Historic Site Number Three: The Cocoa House

We stopped at the Cocoa House to continue our discussion of the ‘Football Match’ and to reflect on how much pioneering discussion had been begun in the Cocoa House led by Suffragists and other activists. We noted that the Museum’s good friend Barbara Lawson-Reay had written a great guide to the suffragists and more in her recent book Votes for Women: North Wales Suffragists’ Campaign for the Vote 1907-1914.

Wil Unwin, museum volunteer and Welsh learner, read both the Welsh and English inscriptions of the plaque. The emphasis on “law-abiding” is important because suffrage members differed in their political strategies from the suffragettes who believed that more radical and disruptive activities were needed in order to win the vote.

Historic Site Number Four: Club 147

Finding shelter from the sun and bustle of a busy Llandudno led us to the alleyway of Club 147.
This club has a proud record of being a venue and meeting place of the LGBTQ+ community, today and in the past. It gave us a chance to read journalist Ruby Williams email setting out her memories of being a gay woman coming out in the 1970s. She gave us a wonderful nostalgic tour of ‘ the scene’ and really brought home to us the ‘forbidden love’ aspect of those times. This prompted members present to share their own memories.

Historic Site Number: Five Police Court, Court Street

Here we heard the sad tale of the severe sentence meted out to a young transgender person who dressed in female attire. From the Llandudno Advertiser 31 August, 1907, William Thomas Rowlands (whose preferred name is unknown) was only 17-years-old was sentenced to six months of hard labour for presenting herself as a woman. She arrived in Llandudno and went from shop to shop dressed as a woman obtaining ‘ladies attire’ by so-called false pretences. Obtained boarding in an establishment on South Parade at two and a half guineas a week, the Landlady said she believed William Rowlands was a woman because she spoke so very well. The newspaper reports suggest suspicions about her identity arose after she was recognised as William by a friend. Other witnesses, shopkeepers, and a draper in particular, gave evidence against the young person. The draper allowed the lady to obtain four skirts on approval. A purchase on approval means that the product may be sent back if it does not meet expectations. The draper’s objection is implied that the skirts had been irreversibly damaged simply by being worn by William Rowlands.

Historic Site Number Six: The Prom

At this site, we discussed L-Fest the UK’s only Lesbian Musin, Arts, and Comedy Festival at Bodafon farm which launched in 2019. Our guide also pointed out various hotels that had gay or LGBT+ clubs in the past and currently. In the 1970’s a local group of the Campaign for Homosexual Equality met here in Llandudno and in 2013 a bar called The Lounge was described as, “newest and trendiest gay venue, spread over two floors.” Llandudno’s has come a long way in its journey towards acceptance but it still has a ways to go.

Through this walk, we learned that there is much more LGBTQ+ history in Llandudno yet to be uncovered and that the help of the community in uncovering this history is vital. Llandudno Museum and Gallery will continue to work to make this fascinating histoy public and accessible for all. We hope to use the material gained here to support further activities, talksm and publications on Llandudno’s LGBT+ history.

Many thanks to Graham and Rachel for their work and enthusiasm in organising and presenting this event

The LGBT+ walks form part of our Llandudno Museum Community Heritage Project Activity Plan. This project is supported by the Welsh Government, National Heritage Lottery Fund, Conwy County Borough Council, Gwynt Y Mor, Garfield Weston, Headley Trust, & The Foyle Foundation.