Art

LGBT+ History Month 2022 logo

Fifty Years of UK Pride

Every February, the LGBT+ History Month charity promotes equality and diversity for the benefit of the public. As an educational charity, it increases the visibility of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, their history, lives and their experiences in the school curriculum and culture of educational and other institutions, and the wider community. It also tries to raise awareness and advance education on matters affecting the LGBT+ community, works to make educational and other institutions safe spaces for all LGBT+ communities and promotes the welfare of LGBT+ people by ensuring that the education system recognises and enables LGBT+ people to achieve their full potential, so they contribute fully to society and lead fulfilled lives, thus benefiting society as a whole.

Scrap the Section! badgeThese aims were impossible while Section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988 were in force (until 2000 in Scotland, and until 2003 in England and Wales). It made expenditure by local authorities for the purpose of ‘promoting’ homosexuality illegal, without defining what ‘promoting’ means. It would have been impossible for us to hold exhibitions and events celebrating either LGBT+ History Month or Pride Month while Section 28 remained in force, as the Museum Service is funded by a Local Authority. Although the Act applied only to Local Authorities and not to schools (‘Section 28 does not affect the activities of school governors, nor of teachers … It will not prevent the objective discussion of homosexuality in the classroom, nor the counselling of pupils concerned about their sexuality’), its greatest effect was on the education sector, which took an ultra-cautious approach.

By the late 1990s, Section 28 was becoming irrelevant. Social changes had led away from the view that homosexual behaviour was wrong (a view held by almost 70% of people at the time that Clause 28 was written) to a much more accepting attitude. LGBT+ people were becoming more visible in the media and different campaigning groups had begun to influence public opinion. In 2000, the government attempted to repeal Section 28, but it was defeated in the House of Lords, a defeat that Theresa May (later Prime Minister) called ‘a victory for common sense’. The Scottish government did repeal it. In 2003, the Local Government Act 2003 finally did away with Section 28 in England and Wales.

The Arc Is Long

This year is 50th anniversary of the very first UK Pride March in 1972. A popular slogan of the early Gay Rights Movement was ‘the personal is political’ and political action is necessary to bring the personal lives and experiences of LGBT+ people into equality with the rest of society. The journey is continuing and often winding; it has suffered many setbacks, such as the passing of Clause 28, while still moving forwards. The charity chose the tagline ‘the arc is long’ for this year’s event, from Dr Martin Luther King Jr’s ‘The arc of the moral universe is long but it bends towards justice’.


Creator: Molly Des Jardin  Copyright: Copyright Molly Des JardinArt is probably the most individual of pastimes, so the charity chose Art as its National Curriculum link for this year. The organisers looked for five artists (one each to represent L, G, B, T and +) who had either used their art for political ends, or expressed their orientation through their work. Lesbian Doris Brabham Hatt and intersex (the + of the charity’s name) Fiore de Henriquez both fought against fascism in the 1930s. Keith Haring’s well-known dancing figures were used to draw attention to the growing AIDS crisis of the early 1980s. Jean-Michel Basquiat began as a graffiti artist and Mark Aguhar’s short life was spent ‘confronting white hegemony’.
The charity has produced poster-sized factsheets for each artist, which are on display at North Hertfordshire Museum. There is also a short quiz designed for young adults to encourage them to read the posters.

Our display

The museum has put up a small display in the Terrace Gallery. It includes the first Civil Partnership certificate issued in North Hertfordshire (21 December 2005), paintings by Margaret Thomas (who lived with her same-sex partner for sixty years) and Katie Wilson (a local transgender woman), and information about James Allen, a transgender man who was landlord of The Sun (now The Victoria) in Baldock about 1809.

Creative, Relaxed, Yourself


This project will support the mental health of young people aged 14–18 through engagement with the collections at six Hertfordshire museums (Watford, Royston, North Herts, St Albans, Stevenage and Welwyn Hatfield). It is an early intervention for those at risk of, or already suffering from stress, anxiety or depression as identified by schools and health professionals.

Museums are recognised as venues which can have a major effect on health and wellbeing. Working with collections which ideally need interpretation including newly acquired objects we will use arts practice to draw out stories which reflect participants’ own experiences.

Participants will develop a sense of belonging to their local community, combatting isolation and engendering increased wellbeing. It has been amply demonstrated through academic research that the arts have a positive effect on wellbeing, this is not art therapy, simply an opportunity to express oneself in a safe, supportive and non-judgmental environment.

The project provides for Mental Health awareness training for staff and volunteers at participating museums. There will be ongoing celebration/sharing of work by individual groups but the culmination will be a coherent online record set up in consultation with the participants.

What is it?

9 weekly 2-hour workshops.

We provide pizza, so won’t go hungry!

Who is it for?

Anyone ages 14-18 who needs a bit of time out in a friendly, relaxed space.

When is it?

Wednesdays after school, beginning in the New Year.

What will I be doing?

Different venues will be hosting different creative activities – it might be photography, art, writing, music, collage.

Most importantly, you don’t need any experience; everyone is welcome, including complete beginners.

It is NOT a formal art class.

Where does it take place?

Our sessions will be happening at North Hertfordshire Museum, in Hitchin. Others will take place in Royston, St Albans, Stevenage, Watford and Welwyn Garden City.

What if I miss the school bus?

We may be able to provide transport.

How do I find out more?

Call or text 07746 578292, email us or talk to you teacher.

Hooks Green Farm, Clothall by Alfred J Bamford

Hooks Green Farm, Clothall by Alfred J Bamford (c) North Hertfordshire Museum

One of our many tasks while preparing for the new North Hertfordshire Museum is to understand the collections we hold and where they came from. This often helps to tell us more about the objects, and it is why, when people donate items, we collect as much information about the person giving the item as we do about the object itself.

The Bamford family were one of the families involved in setting up Letchworth Museum and providing items for the collection. We were in correspondence with current members of the family about some of these items shortly after Letchworth Museum closed, and this has led to helping them with an interesting Art Exhibition, The Artful Gene, currently at the Letchworth Arts Centre until the end of August.

This is an exhibition of paintings and drawings by A.J. Bamford (1849 to 1929)  and his great grandson M.J. Bamford (b. 1959) who lives in Australia. 100 years after the first exhibition of Alfred’s work this new exhibition explores the Bamford family tree and features sketches, drawings and more by both artists comparing the similarities in style and subject between the two artists, and exploring whether artistic talent and style exist in the genes.

Reverend Alfred J Bamford was born in Folkestone in 1849 and although he was interested in the study of animals and a talented artist and illustrator, he trained in Christian ministry. His first church was in Kent after which he served abroad for six years in India and China. He returned to England and became minister of a church in Lancashire for twenty years, but retired early, and moved to the new Garden City of Letchworth in 1907.

The Hidden Stream on Norton Common by Alfred J Bamford

The Hidden Stream on Norton Common by Alfred J Bamford (c) North Hertfordshire Museum

One of Letchworth’s earliest residents, he took an active role in many of the town’s organisations. He was a member of the Literary and Debating Society and became Chairman of the Naturalist Society in 1916 during the period when the Society ran Letchworth Museum. He was a member of the Brotherhood Church, he lived on Hillshott and was known locally for his art work. Some of his paintings were shown in an exhibition of local Arts and Crafts mounted for the newly extended museum in 1920. He died in September 1929. Seven of his paintings were donated to Letchworth Museum, and can be seen on the BBC Your Paintings website and copies of them form part of the current exhibition.

Do visit the exhibition, particularly as there are sketches on show of local scenes that the family have not been able to identify and they are hoping to make use of local knowledge to fill in the gaps. Look out too for the workshops run in connection with the exhibition over the coming weeks.