LGBT History Cornwall UK
Sprocket Trust Archive est.1995
"One Queer Gay Life"
Over 25yrs of Gay Equality Campaigning
This website is included in the National Community Archive. License has been granted for inclusion in the British Library UK Web Archive. The website has been made recommended reading by staff member to University students studying LGBT Queer Studies
NB: 2016 :This website in its entirety accepted & acknowledged by the UK Statutory Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse
as CSA victim witness testimony submitted by Malcolm Lidbury against organisations & authorities primarily in Devon & Cornwall
(ie homophobic police & Intercom Trust) which collaborated in ignoring & covering up Child Sexual Abuse
(& further perpetuating homophobic abuse & hate crimes by authorities & organisations).
"When the highly respected LGBT historian Rictor Norton tweeted that gayhistorycornwall.com website was very interesting
...we categorically knew we were getting it right".
SPROCKET TRUST: est. 1995
(A Discretionary Beneficial Trust)
ICT Cornwall’s LGBT Newsletter ceased publication
Lidbury’s partner Andrew as a result of his HIV/AIDS symptomatic conditions had gone blind & repeatedly required emergency stays in hospital as well as virtually 24hr personal care when at home. Lidbury did not feel he could continue with both producing the LGBT newsletter as well as providing personal care Andy needed. Lidbury ceased publication of the ICT LGBT Cornwall newsletter.
OUTRAGE activists letter to ICT
Several other A5 formate newsletters in Cornwall followed the groundbreaking work of the ICT LGBT Cornwall newsletter with its closure .
The short lived 'Way Out West'
Whereas Lidbury as ICT editor had always encompassed both women's & men's subjects under the ICT LGBT newsletter umbrella the publicatins which subsequently followed split the male & female gay community into two seperate newsletter publications. The Cornwall LGBT community subsequently became more divided and less cohesive on LGBT political issues.
The gay men only 'Writing on the Wall'
The women only 'Outback'. The Outback women's newsletter publication ran for some ten years.
SPROCKET TRUST: est. 1995
(A Discretionary Beneficial Trust)
1995: Lidbury & his partner Andrew Smith drew up terms with Nalder & Sons solicitors for ‘The Sprocket Trust’. An HIV/AIDS & equality discretionary beneficial trust fund. The trust named after Andrews former pet dog ‘Sprocket’. Andrew, terminally ill was concerned as to what would become of his various other pets after he died. Dogs Pickles, Jazzy & CeeJay, & cats Timmy & Kizzie.
‘Sprocket the dog’ (painting by Lidbury)
The primary objectives of the Sprocket Trust;-
-
To help provide care to Andrews pet cats & dogs after Andy died
-
To raise awareness & challenge discrimination & prejudice towards both HIV/AIDS sufferers & LGBT persons.
April 1996: Malcolm and Andrew publicly contributed taking part visibly & featuring in an HIV/AIDS documentary made by West-country television ‘Days of Judgment’ about HIV/AIDS in the south west of England. At the time it was publicly dangerous to be open with both ones gay sexuality and his partner Andy’s HIV/AIDS status in Cornwall.
Letter from Charlotte Fisher Documentary Producer Westcountry Television
Letter from Charlotte Fisher Documentary Producer Westcountry Television
Pickles, one of Andy’s dogs cared for by the Sprocket Trust for the remainder of her life.
May 96 West Briton 'Going Walkies'
Jun 96 Packet newspaper article 'Pickles goes walkies'
There was open hostility & prejudice towards Lidbury & Smith campaigning to raise HIV/AIDS awareness in some quarters of the Cornwall LGBT community, general population & discriminatory authorities, in particular Cornwall Social Services & Police.
Jun 96: There were those who were very supportive to Andy. In particular Andy’s family, Nursing staff Treliske Hospital ICU, Cornwall AIDS Council, Cornwall GU Clinic, District Nurse staff, Veor Surgery Camborne, Women’s Acorn Group, RAIN Trust volunteers, Body Positive Somerset & others
There were some LGBT persons in Cornwall far less supportive & did not approve of raised awareness or openness about gay life in Cornwall or Andy living openly with HIV/AIDS. Whilst attending the local gay club (Op’s Room) to promote the ‘Sprocket Trust’, Andrew, blind & frail, was jostled, punched & even spat upon by some from within the Cornwall gay population.
Incensed by the prejudicial & discriminatory attitude of some in the LGBT population of Cornwall towards Andy & his HIV+ status, Lidbury during making a local radio broadcast he referred to the ability to "prove the gentic make up of some gay people in Cornwall by the yellow streak where their spines should have been" .
June 1996: Pink Paper June 96 'Cornish pasted for £2 raised'
Andy & Lidbury visited Bethany Trust, an HIV/AIDS retreat in Bodmin. Being an open gay couple Bethany Trust, a Catholic run institution did not suit Lidbury & Smith at all. Andy & Malcolm were not willing to be appologetic for being gay & being in a happy, loving relationship. They fortunately found genuine support for gay people with Stewart & his happy gang of BodyPositive Somerset. The BPS retreats quite precious.
Lidbury painting on BPS retreat Dartmoor of Andy after he’d gone blind.
Lidbury sketch painting of BPS retreat on Dartmoor 1996 (& Andy’s pet dogs Jazzy & Pickles went on retreat too)
Lidbury not one to be idle organised and ran art & craft classes on the BPS retreats. Happy people left retreats with bamboo windchimes, kites, & gaint origami toads they had made. Not to mention the swimming pool Lidbury stocked with inflated rubber swords, mallets, clubs & axes, with which spectacular water battles ensued amongst the HIV+ positive & other retreat guests.
Somewhere there exists a video made for the Bishop of Taunton of people on the BPS retreat blowing up the bums of gaint origami paper toads to inflate them. Stewart branded the Lidbury craft sessions as 'BPS toad rimming classes'.
July 1996: Julian Clary, comedian, becomes patron of the Sprocket Trust
Aug 96; West Briton item 'Clary accepts trust patronage'
NB: Since 2007 The Sprocket Trust has supported the making of over 100 videos raising awareness & challenging discrimination.
Mch 2015: These videos had received over 3.5 million views on youtube alone. The figure would have exceeded 4 million views however a court gagging order (2013) obtained via civil court action against Lidbury (Trustee of the Sprocket Trust) forced removal of a number of LGBT awareness videos.
The removal, compelled by the court, partly in order to cover up that Lidbury had reported to police again in 2010 in a 6hr video his having been raped & sexually abused as a 6yr old child & subsequent incidents of multiple homophobic misconduct of Devon & Cornwall police officers.
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