Event | Solidarity Forever: 40 Years of LGSM

• Delve into original documents from the LGSM archive, including the minutes of the first meeting.
• Discover a photographic travelling exhibition complete with custom made suitcase, created by LGSM for Pride 1985.
• Join a conversation and Q&A (1.45pm – 3.00pm) exploring key moments in LGSM’s history, solidarity between communities, and the legacy 40 years on, with LGSM member Jonathan Blake and former Swansea East MP Sian James, who was an activist in the Neath Valley community that LGSM supported during the 1984 to 1985 Miners’ Strike.
• Explore the 2024 Banner Exhibition featuring historic and contemporary banners relating to miners and strikes, and the Collection Spotlight case highlighting the role of women in the 1984 to 1985 Miners’ Strike including material from LGSM and more.

Suitable for all ages 16+ (under 18s must have an accompanying adult).

• If you require British Sign Language (BSL) interpretation please contact access@phm.org.uk or 0161 838 9190
• Hearing loop provided for the conversation and Q&A

Speaker biographies:

Jonathan Blake is an LGSM member and HIV activist who has lived with the virus for almost 42 years.  He was born in Birmingham in 1949 and was working as an actor in 1982 when he first contracted the virus.  In 1983 Jonathan met Nigel Young and together they joined LGSM.  He designed the original LGSM badge and retrained as a tailor before medically retiring in 1996 and starting anti retro-viral therapy in 1997.  Jonathan volunteered at various HIV drop in centres.  Globally outed as HIV positive at the end of the film Pride (2014), Jonathan returned to acting and has featured in Patrick Cash’s HIV Monologues (2017) and Positive (2021).

Sian James is the former MP for Swansea East representing the constituency from 2005 to 2015. Raised in the Welsh speaking mining communities of the Swansea Valley, she began her political journey during the 1984 to 1985 Miners’ Strike.  As a young mother and the wife of a striking miner, Sian witnessed first hand the attacks on mining communities, a story featured in the film Pride (2014).  Sian’s interest in Welsh politics and community action has never gone away.  She remains an active member of the Labour Party and her trade union – UNISON.  She is particularly interested in promoting community activism and the rights of women and children.