The northwest of England is famous for progressive thinking, from women’s liberation to power for the working classes.
In this episode, Tash meets some of the folks who are bringing this forward-thinking towards faith and spirituality. From Adelaide Harris and the pioneering church of St James and Emmanuel in Didsbury Village, to Saha (Surabhi Kandaswamy), a trans woman who moved to the UK from Southern India and feels connected to her ancestry and queerness through the birds, butterflies and old ruins found in Williamson Park, Preston.
Their powerful ways of thinking about the history of faith and spirituality offer a way to explore the queer future.
For this episode we’d like to say thanks to Didier Muller from Lancs LGBT, Vicci McCann at Lancashire Archives, Scott Schiavone from Preston City Council, Rev Nick Bundock from St James & Emmanuel, and the Butterfly House at Williamson Park.
The Quilt is an Aunt Nell Production, in partnership with Queer Britain, the UK's first and only LGBTQ+ museum, and funded by Mindsets and Missions.
It is hosted and produced by Tash Walker and Adam Zmith.
Music by Rhiannon Takel.
The assistant producer was Marnie Woodmeade.
The associate producers for Queer Britain were Sue Shave, Siân Williams and Katharine Dick.
Mixed and mastered by David Pye.
Mindsets + Missions is funded by UK Research and Innovation in partnership with the Arts and Humanities Research Council and delivered by the Museums Association in partnership with The Liminal Space and the Association for Science and Discovery Centres.
Queer Britain museum is located at Granary Square, Kings Cross in London. It is free to visit and is open from Wednesday to Sunday, 12-6pm.
If you’d like to talk to anyone about any issues raised in this podcast, you can always contact Switchboard - the LGBTQIA+ helpline on switchboard.lgbt or 0800 0119 100.