OutStories Bristol

Photo: National Trust

Clevedon Court is a 14th-century manor house with 18th-century terraced gardens near Clevedon, North Somerset. Begun by the de Clyvedon family and purchased by Abraham Elton in 1709, it was passed to the National Trust in 1961.

This tour is a fund-raising benefit for OutStories Bristol, kindly offered by Julia Elton who will host the event ending with tea and coffee in the Great Hall. She has generously allowed full access to areas not normally open to National Trust visitors, and will welcome us with a few words about the house and its history. As well as family portraits etc, there is a fine collection of prints and ephemera reflecting the industrial history interests of Julia’s late father Sir Arthur Elton.

This tour is a rare opportunity to see the private quarters and learn about its architecture, contents and history. It is not specifically LGBTQ+ related. Maximum 40 people. Tickets are £15/person (+£1.96 booking fees) and includes refreshments.

Saturday 22nd November 2025, 10:30am-12:30pm
Clevedon Court, Tickenham Road, Clevedon, North Somerset, BS21 6QU
Map and getting there     Accessibility

Prior booking on Eventbrite is essential. Maximum 40 people.

The £15 will go to OutStories Bristol. Please note that this is a private tour and National Trust membership benefits will not apply.

OutStories Bristol wish to thank Julia Elton for generously hosting this event.

Myles-Jay Linton. ©Ajamu X

Since 2013, photographer Ajamu X has set up portrait studios in select cities to create celebratory, distinctive and aspirational images mapping contributions of Black Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, and Queer individuals, who have often been overlooked within mainstream narratives and histories.

Last year the Martin Parr Foundation commissioned Ajamu to make ten new portraits, adding a Bristol chapter to the ever-evolving Fierce archive. This new work is presented alongside archival materials, exploring and providing more context to Black queer histories in Bristol.

Fierce: Bristol will be displayed alongside images from Fierce: London and Fierce: Toronto.

3rd July to 21st September 2025
Martin Parr Foundation, 316 Paintworks, Arno’s Vale, Bristol BS4 3AR
Getting there and accessibility

Gallery opening times: Thursdays to Sundays, 10am to 5pm (closed Monday to Wednesday).
Free entry.

FIERCE: Bristol

Bristol Lesbian and Self Organised Tales – or BLAST! – are a collective of lesbians with a mission to capture the history of lesbian self-organised groups in Bristol.

We are running a workshop on 30th June from 11am at The Station in central Bristol.

The workshop will begin with a short introduction before we move into small groups to talk and share our history. These recorded histories, together with any memorabilia you can share, will become part of the BLAST! collection held at the Bristol Archives.

The workshop is open to all ages, but aimed at older lesbians who were members of self-organised lesbian groups in Bristol between 1970s – 2000s. Free, but please book to help us with planning.

For more information, and a booking link: https://bristolpride.co.uk/events/blast-from-the-past/

Monday 30th June 2025,  11am to 1pm
The Chill Out Room, The Station, Silver Street, Bristol BS1 2AG
Map     Accessibility

BLAST! is supported by Bristol Pride Community Fund.

Kin: transgender history with and beyond the human

Join Dr Onni Gust, cultural and intellectual historian of the British Empire at the University of Nottingham, for the 2025 Gender & History lecture. Dr Gust will explore historical debates about species classification – from mermaids to ‘human monsters’ – and the role of sex, gender, and sexuality in constructing the boundaries of the ‘human’.

Thursday 15 May 2025, 3pm to 4:30pm
Lecture Theatre 2,  Arts Complex,  7 Woodland Road,  University of Bristol, BS8 1TB
Map

This free lecture takes place in-person and online via Zoom. For those attending online, a link will be sent out in advance to those who have registered.

Click here for further information and to register via Ticketpass.

All are welcome!

OutStories Bristol’s Annual General Meeting will be held on Saturday 11^th January at the Bristol Archives.  The meeting will be short (approx 30 minutes) and though primarily to conduct the formal business of the group, it is an opportunity to hear about our activities and plans for the coming year.

Everyone is welcome. We particularly encourage you to come if you are interested in getting involved in our projects. Just turn up and say hello!

Saturday 11^th January 2025,  2pm
Bristol Archives, B Bond Warehouse, Smeaton Road, Bristol, BS1 6XN
Enter via Create Centre.  The AGM will be in the Bristol Archives Education Room.
Getting there      Accessibility

OutStories Bristol in collaboration with the University of Bristol Institute of Greece, Rome, and the Classical Tradition (IGRCT) present the 11th John Addington Symonds Annual Lecture.

Saturday 5th October 2024,  2pm to 4pm
The Old Council Chamber, Wills Memorial Building, Queens Road, Bristol, BS8 1RJ
First floor of Wills Building – go up main stairs and turn right
Map    Accessibility

How to Bring Your Canon Up Gay: John Addington Symonds, Eve Sedgwick, and the Intellectual History of Male Homosexuality

Symonds in 1880s
Photo: Eveleen Myers

Sedgwick in 2007 Photo: David Shankbone

In his talk, Dr Sam Rutherford will compare the life and work of the English classicist and historian John Addington Symonds (1840-1893) with that of the pioneering American queer theorist Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick (1950-2009), to interrogate the history of Western gay male culture and the creation of gay male communities.

Dr Rutherford will discuss how Western gay male cultural heritage of the 19th and 20th centuries, drawing on Greek antiquity, became bound up in racism and transmisogyny, but could also become a site of transmasculine possibility. Through a trans reading of Sedgwick’s lifelong desire for belonging in gay male community, Dr Rutherford proposes a different understanding of gay cultural heritage which moves beyond narrow conceptions of individual, ‘born this way’ gay (or trans) subjectivity.

Sam Rutherford is Lecturer in LGBTQ+ History / History of Sexuality at the University of Glasgow. His first book, Teaching Gender: The British University and the Rise of Heterosexuality, 1860–1939, will be published by Oxford University Press in 2025.

The event is free and open to everyone. Tea and coffee will be provided after the talk – and cake to celebrate Symonds’ 184th birthday! He was born 5th October 1840.

This is also an opportunity to chat with members of OutStories Bristol about our activities.

Please register to attend on Eventbrite – not essential but helps us anticipate numbers for catering.
You do not need to print your ticket or show on entry.

The talk is an annual celebration of the life of John Addington Symonds (1840-1893), Bristol-based writer, art historian and pioneer of homosexual rights.

This event is held by OutStories Bristol in collaboration with the University of Bristol Institute of Greece, Rome, and the Classical Tradition (IGRCT). Our thanks to the IGRCT for hosting this event.

Find out more about the IGRCT on their website; you can also find them on Facebook and X (Twitter).

Join Bristol Pride and Outstories Bristol for a special LGBT+ history tour on the water.

A Bristol Ferry Boat will take you across the historical harbourside of Bristol and tour guides from Outstories Bristol will rerun their insightful tour into Bristol’s LGBT+ history drawing on the surrounding areas and sights you will see during this one-hour tour. By popular demand we are running two sessions this year, at 12:30pm and 1:45pm.

Sunday 7th July 2024. 12:30pm and 1:45pm
Tour starts from Prince Street ferry stop, near Arnolfini
Map

£11 + £2 booking fee. Booking is essential and spaces are limited. Book via Bristol Pride.

Our thanks to South Gloucestershire Council for supporting this event.

OutStories Bristol in collaboration with the University of Bristol Institute of Greece, Rome, and the Classical Tradition (IGRCT) present the 10th John Addington Symonds Annual Lecture.

Saturday 7th October 2023,  2pm to 4pm

Museum Bums explore the inspirations for John Addington Symonds

Jack Shoulder and Mark Small take a closer look at some of the characters in John Addington Symonds‘ works, in their own trademarked cheeky way.

Jack and Mark are the duo behind the eponymous viral Twitter (‘X’) account @museumbums. They’re also going to do their best to sell their new book “Museum Bums: A Cheeky Look at Butts in Art” to you!

This free lecture, which is open to everyone, will take place in hybrid format: both in-person at the Wills Memorial Building and streamed online via Zoom.

To attend in person:

Wills Memorial Building, Queens Road, Bristol, BS8 1RJ
Map    Accessibility

The talk will be held in Lecture Room 3.33 on the third floor.

After the talk and Q&A, which will last around an hour, you are welcome to join us for tea/coffee in Room 1.5 on the first floor. This is your opportunity to come and chat with members of OutStories Bristol about our activities.

From the main entrance on Queens Road there are stairs to each floor. There is also a ramped entrance at the front of the building and a lift to each floor.

To attend in person please book via this Eventbrite page. Due to room capacity, attendance is limited to 22 people so book early! You do not need to print your ticket.

To join the online webinar:

If you wish to join the online webinar instead, please register here. Prior to the event you will be sent an email with Zoom joining instructions.

Mark Small and Jack Shoulder

The talk is an annual celebration of the life of John Addington Symonds (1840-1893), Bristol-based writer, art historian and pioneer of homosexual rights.

This event is held by OutStories Bristol in collaboration with the University of Bristol Institute of Greece, Rome, and the Classical Tradition (IGRCT). Our thanks to the IGRCT for hosting this event.

Find out more about the IGRCT on their website; you can also find them on Facebook and Twitter @Bristol_IGRCT.