This evening I went to the Mayor of London's Pride Reception at City Hall. It was good to see the big rainbow flag fluttering in the wind, and catch up with a lot of contacts from various other events.

Mayor Boris spoke briefly and to the p…

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This morning I took part in a special event for Age Conern Croydon staff - a training morning on LGB (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual) awareness. It was conducted at Age Concern England's smart headquarters (a far cry from Age Concern Croydon's rather cramped premises although only a couple of miles away in Norbury) by Antony Smith, who looks after Age Concern's Opening Doors project,and included a number of exercises including a quiz about gay-rela… Continue

We've rebranded our monthly lunch club for older gay men and lesbians as "Silver rainbow", and has its own pages on the CAGS website. We're continuing to meet for lunch at the Waterside Centre, South Norwood, on the fourth Thursday of the mo… Continue

Yesterday was IDAHO (the International Day Against HOmophobia) which as the name suggests is celebrated in many countries all over the world. Croydon's IDAHO event was more low-key than in previous years: a few of us gathered in the… Continue

Today was a busy day. The big event of the day was the official launch of Crocus, Croydon's LGBT Network at the town hall. The event was opened by the D… Continue

This evening's Aurora meeting began with a photoshoot as we celebrated our fifth year. Naill from the Guardian and Sue Ackon, a local photographer snapped us smiling awkwardly, around a 5-foot-high cake, with five ti…

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Did you see the item about Crocus in today's Croydon Advertiser?

It's on Page 8, in the "In brief" column.

Does anyone know what gay venues we have at the moment? Bird in Hand - The Oakfield and Black Sheep Bar seem to be 'gay friendly' only as a means to attract more punters. I hear there is another venue in the norht of the borough. Anything south, east or west?

The Croydon LGBT Survey is now live. if you're lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender, and live or have an interest in London Borough of Croydon, we'd be glad to hear from you. You can complete the survey form online or on paper. More details on the Crocus web site.

We're gearing up for the formal launch of Crocus, Croydon's LGBT Network, on the 12th of May. The launch will highlight a survey of LGBT people's experiences in Croydon. The survey form will be available in paper and on the Crocus website. Additionally, we're working on an online version, hosted by Talk2Croydon. You can see it at http://www.talk2croydon.co.uk/node/696. but please note that it's still in beta test and is likely to change bef… Continue