On the 15h of March, 1974, Trans people from across the country came together, in the upstairs of the Guildford Hotel in Leeds, for the coffee evening of the first Trans conference in the UK. Honouring this momentous occasion AGE OF THE have commissioned the artist and historical interpreter, Jude Kershaw to remember this event, almost 50 years on. The pub, now closed down, sits empty and no longer celebrates this event and so diving into 1970s aesthetics, Jude celebrities those pioneering people, while reflecting on the experience of Trans people today and 50 years in the future.
Warm Reception – First National Trans Conference Free entry 23rd September 2023, 10am – 4pm Location: Wharf Chambers
This installation piece is a representation of the Guilford Hotel on the Headrow in the year 1974.
Here was held the reception for the first conference for Transfemmes. Transgender women (at the time described as Transexuals) and Transvestites met the following day at the University to discuss everything from their place in society to recommendations for clothes shopping. In this installation you will be immersed in the world of 1974 to reflect on the progress on the past 50 years; the lives of Trans, Non-Binary and GNC people today and where we might find ourselves in 2074. So, dust off the platforms, don your Bay City Rollers tartan scarf because the 70s are here!
Lead Artist and Researcher Jude Kershaw with collaboration from Wharf Chambers
Reading oral histories, as part of West Yorkshire Queer Archives, and meeting people for chats, AGEOFTHE have created an artwork commemorating the women’s, and lesbian discos of the old Dock Green and Woodpecker pub. Facing the site of the old pub, which still bears its name the clothing, described as a uniform, of the lesbian community in 1980s Leeds, namely dungarees and Doc Martens, are displayed here to remember wild nights on the dancefloor. The discos, alternating between the two pubs, were well attended and gave a place for lesbians to come together in a queer community often focusing on gay men. Lesbians in Leeds also formed all women squats and housing co-ops, supported those with HIV/AIDS and stood up against violence and murder of women.
Photo credit: West Yorkshire Archive Service Leeds, LC/ENG/CP, box 44, no.5
Lesbian Discos, The Dock Green Free entry 23rd September 2023, 10am – 4pm Location: Beckett Street, across the road from the site of the old Dock Green Inn
In an interview for West Yorkshire Queer Archives, Susuan, The other Susan, Val and Ray discuss the Lesbian Discos at the Dock Green, and the way they dressed. This has inspired us to commemorate these disco using imagery from their words, the words of workshop participants painted on to the uniform of their youth – dungarees and Doc Martens.
The other Susan: We were also involved in supporting The Miners’ Wives; and so that was also – it wasn’t only lesbians who were involved in that, but it was certainly led by lesbians – so it’s really interesting actually that lesbians were at the forefront of a lot of feminist activity that supported heterosexual women like the miners’ wives, and women fleeing violence, and Rape Crisis – I was involved in Rape Crisis as a volunteer for quite a long time and other activities like that.
Val: Just to say Dock Green disco was – I can’t even remember how often it was – it was something like once a month? But was a women’s disco. Again, it wasn’t only lesbians. But it was probably lesbians who organised it but I can’t remember. And it was through–- I lived in a housing co-op at the time – and it was through a woman who was a lesbian who lived in the co-op but she told me about it – again it was a lot of word of mouth, but it was, it was a lovely atmosphere, a lovely disco.
Susan: Oh it was! Do you remember it was upstairs wasn’t it? There was a bar there on the corner and a bit of seating down there and the disco was a bit further down.
The other Susan: That’s right.
Ray: What sort of music was there?
The other Susan to Susan: I would have no idea that we probably met then – way back – and never met again since.
[group laughter]
Karen: My wife was probably there as well!
Val: The music, I’ve no idea! Apart from I probably liked it in terms of dancing music cos I’ve always liked disco dancing – don’t do it so much these days – [laughter]. I was never on the scene and didn’t want to be. I’m not now and I wasn’t then in terms of going to gay bars or that sort of thing. I can’t remember the music, it’s too far back, but it was good dance music.
Ray: What would you wear?
The Other Susan and Val: Dungarees!
[group loud laughter]
Val: Or onesies
The Other Susan: Doc Martens
Val: No, I didn’t have Doc Martens
Susan: Yes, Doc Martens.
Ray: It’s all back in fashion.
Susan: I still have a pair.
The other Susan: Flat caps – if you were working class enough. There were quite a lot of class issues running at the time amongst Leeds lesbians.
Val: A lot!
Ray: Tell us more about that Susan.
The other Susan: Well, there was a sort of feeling of the working class women feeling that they needed to be heard more and they did… middle class feminism taking over and running the show So there was some conflict. There was also conflict sometimes around dress code, so we might have been in dungarees and Doc Martens, but there were some who dressed in leather and that wasn’t appreciated
Ray: Why?
The other Susan: So there was quite a lot of…
Val and The other Susan: It was to do with the S & M.
Val: Very male.
The other Susan: It was seen as part of the S & M scene and that didn’t fit with the feminism. So, it was quite a stressful time actually the ’80s in Leeds lesbian world [laughs].
——–
JD & NH discuss the discos
JD: Yeah, I lived in Harehills, so I’d – it was kind of, it was just dead exciting. Yeah, that’s what I was saying, the disco room was like a room upstairs, so you’d go in like the side entrance of the pub and you didn’t have to go into the bar, which was – God knows who was in there, in the bar in those days [laughs] I don’t remember – there was never any trouble between the two separate groups of the pub users. So, we used to go up stairs and disco just during pub hours, from I don’t know what, about half eight ‘til 11 o’clock. And I used to take – records are quite heavy, so I, I went everywhere on a bicycle in those days, so I used to strap all my records on the back of my bicycle, I had a cardboard box on a rack on the back of the bike or something… Yeah, that was good fun; that went on for quite a few years as I remember. I don’t even know when those discos stopped. I can’t, you’ll have to ask somebody else. But it seemed like the went on for a long time.
NH: Is this through the ‘80s then?
JD: I would say so, yeah. I’m sure. Probably, probably into the ‘90s, I dunno.
NH: Was it packed out? Was it just women that went there, did any men go?
JD: Yeah. No, they were women’s discos, so it was separatist in that sense. The bar staff would be women as well.
Develop by artists Alice Boulton-Breeze, China Duke and Hollie-Grace
Legendary Hyde Park pub, The Fenton, has been host to many misfits and movements throughout its history. A hub for music, activism and LGBTQ groups, the Fenton is the birthplace of our very own AGE OF THE, hosting transgressive drag nights in its upstairs room, and before that famously was a centre for Lesbian and Bi Feminist activism, Rock Against Racism, Reclaim the Night, University of Leeds LGBTQ Society and a stage for the Mekons, Gang of Four, The Sex Pistols and Sister of Mercy. As part of Visions in the Map, artist Rosie Reynolds has worked with AGE OF THE, and local LGBTQ groups to create a banner installation bringing together protest placards, Trade Union banners and the spirit of rebellion and resistance to reflect on this rich history.
Photo credit: West Yorkshire Archive Service Leeds, LC/ENG/CP, box 44, no. 3
Pride and Protest at The Fenton Free entry 23rd September 2023, 10am – 4pm Location: The Fenton
‘I understand fully that recognising brutality and violence is so important and incredibly central to queer history, however I want to make a positive piece of and steer away from the violence- make it celebratory’ – Rosie Reynolds, artist
Rosie’s banner has been influenced by themes from her research; the imagery of underground meshed networks and physical entanglement, safety in community, power and innovation in coming together and being together, looking out for each other and co-existing in a safe space – ‘we are here and this is ours.’
Rosie wanted to use the idea of underground movements, not as hidden or negative but making a space where it’s safe and then making it ours. ‘Underground’ meaning, independent, resistance, opposition, movement, network.
‘Cruising’ describes the act of searching a public space in search of a sexual partner. ‘Cottaging’ more specifically refers to the act of seeking a sexual partner in a public lavatory, which became known as cottages. This has historically been a practice for gay men to discreetly find a partner in periods where their sexuality was deemed unlawful or immoral.
On 9th May 1843, 55-year-old Edward Rayner and 18-year-old Thomas Sykes were arrested in The Regent Inn on Kirkgate after they were caught cottaging in the toilet of the pub. Sex between two men had long been criminalised, but amendments to the law had dramatically increased arrests at this time. The two men were sentenced to death by a judge in York, but later had their sentences commuted to life in prison and transportation. They were taken to Millwall prison in London, then shipped to Australia to serve their life sentences.
Their story serves as a poignant reminder of the damage that can be caused when the law is weaponised against marginalised people, and the evolving attitudes towards the LGBTQ+ community over time.
The Regent still stands proudly on Kirkgate after 200 years. An installation and performance in tribute to Edward and Thomas will be staged at CLAY, a stone’s throw away from the original pub.
For this project, China worked in collaboration with Michael Lawton, Archie Brooks and Elliot Raine to develop a performance and installation that paid homage to the rich, salacious and poignant history of cruising and cottaging. Drawing on Edward and Thomas’ story, the oral histories of the men of Sage older gay men’s group and the social history archives of Leeds Discovery Centre, fashioning an artwork that reckoned with the ideas of intimacy in a dirty, tucked-away place when your sexual identity is made illegal.
China Duke is an artist, performer and shapeshifter based in Leeds. China has been working in live performance for eleven years, beginning in Birmingham’s drag scene before slithering back to the North. Since returning, they have joined the performance collective AGE OF THE, consulted with other artists on makeup for art projects, and performed locally and nationally. China’s work utilises elements of drag, performance art and cabaret to explore queerness and monstrosity.
Performed by China Duke and Michael Lawton in collaboration with Elliot Raine and Archie Brooks
Known in legend as Leeds’ oldest gay pub, first opening 1744 as the Horse and Jockey. Those who’ve set foot inside say tell stories of the two lives of the building, for businessmen in the day time. However when the sun set they were replaced by a community of gay men. The pub is known to have had a two way mirror upon entry, allowing those inside to see who entered, and importantly if those people were safe, and those outside to be unaware of the identities of the men inside. The pub is also said to have had a nightly visit from local policemen, who were taken to the back room of the pub for a drink, protecting those inside. Formerly on Commercial Street, the building no longer stands, and so Visions in the Map re-imagines The Mitre in a mythic 1-to-1 performance, inspired by the pub’s grand decor, religious name, and space for men to meet, now set in Leeds’ oldest pub, Whitelock’s.
Evening at the Mitre Hotel – Confessional Free entry 23rd September 2023, 10:30 – 4pm Location: Turk’s Head, Whitelocks
Confessional: A 1-to-1 Exploration of Queerness and Healing
In this 15-minute, one-on-one performance, ‘Confessional,’ we delve into the history of Leeds’ first gay bar, The Mitre Hotel, to unravel the complex relationship between queerness and religion. Our shared goal is to release and heal the hurts we carry, acknowledging the pain we’ve experienced as queer individuals.
As we navigate this intimate ritual, we confront past wounds and celebrate our resilience within the queer community. ‘Confessional’ is a space for vulnerability, connection, and collective healing. Join me in this transformative encounter, where we emerge stronger and more united.
Performed by Hollie Grace in collaboration with China Duke and Rhiannon Armstrong
