As the project began to take shape, Alan Butler met Ted Whitehead and Don Brown at history event in the Plymouth Civic’s Centre. At this time, Alan had got quite used to some people being a bit bemused by the project and the idea that Plymouth’s LGBTQ+ history could be important and worth collecting. “What exactly are you trying to achieve?” Ted asked Alan as they approached his stand at the event. Alan inwardly sighed and steeled himself to try and explain yet again about how important he felt this project was. “Only we made a list”, Ted continued. “Of all the places that we used to go when we were courting”. Looking back, Alan feels this was the moment the project really began to take off.
Ted and Don continued to support the project throughout both their lifetimes. Alan interviewed them mutiple times and those interviews also created a legacy of friendship. They found books, leaflets and flyers all of which they generously donated to the archive. Each time, Alan visited there would be a folder with newspaper cuttings, letters etc marked “Big Al” (he’s lost a little weight since then!) and the archive continued to grow as did the friendship and a sense of shared community.
When the Pride in our Past project launched at the Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery, Ted and Don stood proudly next to the painting they had commissioned Robert Lenkiewicz to paint at their first “unofficial” wedding ceremony. Long before civil partnerships or same sex marriage came into law.
When Pride in Plymouth held the first outdoor Plymouth Pride Event in 2012, they were there as we were presented with the Community Archive and Heritage Group‘s national award for most inspiratonal archive.
Ted sadly passed away in 2014 but his voice is literally still heard in the archive, through the interviews he recorded with us and the sheer enthusiam with which he engaged with the archive. Don remained involved with the archive until he sadly left us in October 2023 following a battle with pancreatic cancer. Their connection, born through the archive, and the friendship they had forged meant Alan was able to be part of Don’s support network up until the end. The painting you see in the first picture is now part of archive with the wish that we can continue to share and celebrate the two men’s story.
These connections are a legacy of why it is so important to record, share and be proud of our history. This is how we create a community where we can support and value one another.