In Oct 2019 we went with a group of young lesbian, bisexual and pan sexual women on a residential weekend to the Lake District. The young women came from our Proud Trust groups across Greater Manchester and Cheshire and we were also joined by young women from Merseyside. They ranged in age from 15-24. The purpose of our weekend was to discuss Young Women’s experiences of the spaces we provide and the wider issue of women only spaces. Over the course of the weekend the young women also discussed other issues which were important to them. The recordings that capture some of those discussions, can be found here
Young Women’s Health Project Residential
In April 2019 the Young Women’s Health Project went on our residential trip to The Castleshaw Centre. We did a range of activities including a comedy workshop, a self-defence class and arts and crafts like rock painting, clay sculptures and calligraphy. My highlights were the French and Spanish workshops as well as singing in a group whilst someone played the guitar, as part of our pamper session on Saturday night. Every morning a small group went on a poetry walk and it was really special to listen to others read feminist poetry whilst surrounded by the countryside. We also played team games so that we could all get to know each other. It was so special to just spend the weekend with other lesbian, bisexual and pansexual women and I am so grateful to have had this opportunity. As a new member of the group I was so nervous but everyone was so welcoming and made the effort to speak to me. I have made some really good friends and I would highly recommend going on a residential trip – no matter how nervous you may initially feel you will be sure to make friends and feel welcome. – By Sophie
Rainbow Playground
Rainbow Playground
Rainbow Playground is a Pride festival for LGBT+ young people ages 14-25. The idea has come directly from young people who want a safe and fun space to celebrate their identities with other LGBT+ young people. A young people’s planning group has started to meet, alongside the interagency planning board.
The event will include activities such as a climbing wall, music inspired session, Tai Chi, mindfulness and many more.
The event is free and will take place on Thursday 23rd August in Manchester, with 250 places available for young people. We are grateful to receive funding from Manchester Pride and Greater Sports towards the event, and in kind support from Manchester Metropolitan University.
Contact Sally.carr@theproudtrust.org for further information. Publicity and booking forms can be found here.
T-shirt printing and discussions at the LGBT centre!
This week at Young Women’s we spent the evening at the LGBT centre making statement t-shirts from screen printing, and they turned out pretty awesome! The ideas for each statement came from discussions we were having throughout the session, ranging from abortion laws in Ireland to stereotypes among lesbian/bisexual women and how we identify ourselves.
We ended up spending so much time deep in conversation that it was a bit of a rush to get the stencils cut out and get the paint on the t-shirts but with the help of Chloe, we got it done!
This was a really enjoyable session that we hope to have more of in the future, and we can’t wait to get our t-shirts back next week as soon as the paint has dried!
Table tennis brings out our competitive side!
At this evening’s session in the Sheung Lok centre, we made use of the awesome table tennis facilities and things got a bit heated!
It may have taken us what felt like three hours to successfully learn to serve and keep a rally going but by the end of the session, we almost went to sudden death in a doubles match of first to 25 wins. Victoria and Myrtle ended up victorious even though Laura and Olivia had a 7-point lead at one stage.
So despite knowing none of the rules and hitting each other with ping pong balls on numerous occasions, the session was a lot of fun and we definitely needed the snacks on the table at the end to refuel!
As well as the table tennis, we discussed where we’d like the group to go over the next couple of months and came up with some ideas for activities and discussions we could have in the future. But if you want to know what our oh-so-fabulous ideas were you’ll have to join us at Sheung Lok centre next week to find out.
See you then!
YWHP
Welcome to our new site!
Welcome to the new home of Young Women’s Health Project!
We’re currently working on our new site and can’t wait to share all of our fresh content with you in a new way. Please bear with us as we get this site up and running and very soon we’ll be posting regular content for young lesbian and bisexual women, and all of the fun stuff we get up to at our group each week!
See you all again very soon,
YWHP
First cycling session with Bike Right!
We kicked off the first of six weeks of cycling this evening with glorious sunshine and a handful of Chewits – just the right concoction to keep our energy levels up!
We met at 4:15pm at Sidney Street Cafe to bring the bikes over to the Sheung Lok centre. This proved slightly more difficult than expected as the bikes outnumbered the people! Thankfully, Claire used all of her biking experience to carefully carry two bikes at the one time. A mighty feat it was. Helmets off to you, Claire!
After snacking on some treats at Sheung Lok and doing our introductions, we all headed over to the grounds of Medlock Primary School to learn the basics of cycling. Snigger all you like but even those of us who have been cycling for years struggled to pull off an emergency stop and swerve!
Not everyone was as confident with one-handed cycling or turning corners at the beginning but by the end of the session, we all felt capable of hitting the road next week. So confident even that some of us tried our hand at, well, no-handed cycling… It’s safe to say we won’t be attempting that on the roads any time soon!
LesBiCon returns on Thurs 9th March 4:30-7:30pm
LesBiCon: What do young lesbian and bisexual women want and need?
The Proud Trust and Young Women’s Health Project are recognising International Women’s Day 2017 with an event bringing together young lesbian and bisexual women aged 14-25 alongside women professionals and decisions makers. This event is organised in collaboration Sylvia Pankhurst Gender Research Centre who are hosting the evening.
When: Thursday 9th March 2017 4:30-7:30pm
Where: The Ormond Building Council Chamber, Manchester Metropolitan University, All Saints Campus, M15 (Entrance off Lower Ormond Street)
Influential Women and Women leaders are invited to attend the event which will offer an opportunity to a engage with young Lesbian and Bisexual women directly to help bring about local change in Manchester. Women do not need to identify as lesbian or bisexual themselves but are coming with a willingness to hear from the young women involved in the event.
What the event will offer:
– An educational, open and safe space for women who love women and other women allies.
– Learning around specific health needs of lesbian and bisexual women
– Guidance on how to make your own work or service more inclusive of young lesbian and bisexual women
– Information to feed into financial decision making in the city around inclusion, health and youth and other agendas
– Free health resources to use in work with young people developed by young lesbian and bisexual women
– Accessible intergenerational space for both young lesbian and bisexual and women leaders to collaborate and exchange thoughts and experiences
The event will comprise a range of different activities and inputs including:
Living libraries
Research presentation
Discussion groups
Political cake decorating
Quizzes
Refreshments
RSVP to myrtle.finley[@]theproudtrust.org / 07530 316 656 by 2nd March 17
Download the invite here: LesBiCon IWD 9.3.17 Invite.
Weekly Sessions Start 3rd November!
We’re excited to annouce that starting Thursday 3rd November we will be offering young lesbian and biseuxal women aged 14-25 a weekly youth group. The group will run each Thursday 4:30-6:30pm at a venue close to our offices at the LGBT centre, M1 7HB. Get in touch with myrtle on myrtle.finley[@]theproudtrust.org / 07530 316 656 for more information.
Freedom and Fashion Exhibition Trip
On Saturday we took a trip to the Manchester Museum to visit the Freedom and Fashion exhibition inspired by the large increase in UK women’s entry into the workforce during World War I.
‘I really enjoyed seeing the different types of fashion at the exhibit and learnt a lot of things about women’s freedom and fashion’ – Olivia
‘Freedom and Fashion – The clue is in the title. When viewing the different styles of the outfits I was able to see how women and designers showed how free they felt in their designs’ – Charlie
