TAUNTON GAY GROUP EVENTSCOMING UP NEXT:
Please note face to face events are suspended until further notice. This will be reviewed as and when any Government restrictions are eased. Thank you for your understanding. During the Covid-19 restrictions we are also adding some 'virtual' events via our social media channels. Please click below to enjoy a specially dedicated live acoustic set from Dave Not the Cat, in celebration of TGG's second birthday on 4th April x View the current Events Calendar here
View the current Other Events list here Our events include:
other local LGBT+ EVENTSSAVE THE DATE:
SAT 17 JULY 2021 - TAUNTON'S FIRST PRIDE IS HAPPENING! Visit the Taunton Pride Official Website Donate to the Taunton Pride fundraising campaign Follow the Taunton Pride Facebook Page Follow the Taunton Pride Twitter Feed Do you know of anything coming up in Taunton Deane area? Are you organising an LGBTQ+ related event? Please contact us and we can post on here and help people know about it. |
TGG NEWS22/12/2020 - Happy Christmas and bring on 2021!
It continues to be a tough time for us all, and I hope that you are keeping as well as possible, physically and mentally. The main aim of TGG has always been to get people off their computers and making new friends, face to face, but as you know we've only managed 3 real events in 2020 - a pub social, our brilliant night out dancing at Retro Bar back in March and a coffee meet up in Sep. Just when we thought we could get going again, we were restricted just a few days later. We tried a few zoom calls, our birthday facebook live show was a hoot, and many thanks must go to Azzy for his brilliant fun quizzes. But we're sensing a bit of 'virtual fatigue' after the last one, and these things take planning and blocking of our own time on top of our day jobs (of which mine is on screen all day as it is), so unless we get a big show of demand we'll hold off for a bit now, and will see if more appetite after the new year for something. In the meantime I'm encouraging people to please share any other networks, groups or events that you know about that may be of interest and might help with wellbeing, over at our Facebook community discussion place/group or please tag us with anything on twitter or facebook. Thank you to everyone who has joined us this year for real or virtual events, please stay safe and well, and let's keep everything crossed that we get more control back of our lives as we move out of winter. Happy holidays! x Stephen PS. I know Spotify isn't great for various reasons, but here's one last alternative playlist for an alternative year... TGGs Alternative Christmas Playlist 19/11/2020 - Keep in touch Due to the further restrictions in place on meeting in groups and upon public venues, face to face events are still suspended. We will continue to hold some virtual keep in touch socials, quizzes etc as time in our lives allows, but appreciate some people are getting online fatigue, so will only continue do these if there is demand. Please keep an eye on our social media feeds if possible as these tends to be updated more frequently. Tomorrow (20th Nov 2020) is Transgender Day of Remembrance, an opportunity to reflect and honour the loss of trans and gender-diverse people reported murdered across the world in the past 12 months. We stand with our trans and non-binary family this week, and every day. 10/09/2020 - Revised Covid guidance - 12 Sep meet going ahead Just when you think it's safe to get back in the water... We wanted to try to resume some face-to-face meet-ups and planned to hold a series of monthly afternoon coffee meets starting Sat 12th Sep at the Great Western Hotel. Following discussion with the hotel and authorities this one WILL go ahead, but in best interests of the group and venue, further dates are now postponed following updated government rules effective from 14/9. This limits groups to 6 people in pubs/restaurants etc, and states no socialising between those groups even if you know each other. Although the new rules apply from 14/9, which are to help stem a national increase in Covid cases, we ask you to please note the special information with thanks in advance. When rules are eased again we will try to put dates back in, but unsure if this will happen before end of 2020. 05/09/2020 - Resumption of some events! We are pleased to resume some face-to-face meet-ups starting from Saturday 12th September 2020! These will be held 2-4.30pm in The Lounge at the Great Western Hotel, Station Approach, Taunton TA1 1QW unless otherwise indicated. Visit the TGG Events Calendar for planned dates. Social distancing will be observed as per guidance from hotel. 26/08/2020 - Apologies 'real' events still on hold. No real/face-to-face social nights are currently likely to happen in remainder of 2020 to be honest, unless restrictions on 'party size' etc are lifted inside venues such as pubs. We are still considering other things like a picnic or walk weather depending, but we have to find an appropriate way of limiting numbers for such things and not putting ourselves or others at greater risk of illness or repercussions. We also need to re-evaluate the venues we meet at ongoing, as for example, our usual haunt the Plough Inn has changed management, and we had good allies that understood what we were trying to do and looked out for us, so we need to build that again if to return. Also it was a space that was proving almost too small for us sometimes. Combined with social distancing rules it feels this may have run it's course for us as much as we love the pub. I cannot thank Karina Cooper and her team enough for their past support, and Karina is opening a new pub of her own in Wellington which we hope will be a great success. We are planning more quiz nights or other socials via Zoom before end of the year, but please bear with us, and in mind, that we all have personal commitments, situations and jobs that impact our capacity to sort these things out! Please do keep an eye on the Taunton Pride social media, as there are many things you can engage with online, such as their 'Pride in Art' project which is aiming to work individually and as a group to produce banners and artwork in the lead up to Taunton Pride 2021. There is a possibility of a regular LGBTQ+ night happening in the town next year which could help us find a home again fingers crossed. As we speak, the Great Western Hotel has re-opened (home of our lunchtime meets) so I will talk to them soon about how we might be able to hold a socially distanced lunch time meet. 03/07/2020 - We're getting through this.... We won't I'm afraid be hosting any face-to-face social meets just yet. The pubs/venues need to settle themselves back in to a different world and at this time do not want groups of people trying to head out, space is limited for a few people from households which need to be pre-booked, so it's not really going to work for us yet and many people (myself included) don't want to push things when Covid-19 is still very much out there and systems are not robust in terms of track and trace, testing etc and the NHS is still under pressure. We know many of you are craving a 'real' social meet-up and behind the scenes with partners, we're starting to talk about 'something' outside for August that could be done with minimal risk, and we hope to bring some news on that soon. We'll also try to get in another zoom quiz/game soon. Please stick with us, we will get back together and when we do I particularly want to support venues like the Plough and Great Western Hotel who will have missed so much business, as much as we have missed them. Thanks for your understanding x Stephen 26/04/2020 - Remembering Lindsay I'm sorry to say that this morning we lost a beautiful member of our community, and a friend, Lindsay Pickering. Many of you will have met Lindsay if you attended any of the 'Out in Taunton' nights (Handsome Harry's/Winchester Arms) around 2016/17, which he instigated and brought so many of us together. I think It's fair to say, some nights Lindsay would be enjoying himself so much socialising and entertaining he'd forget it was his idea and leave Peter to do a lot of the grind! Without 'Out' it's unlikely I'd have gone on to start TGG. Lindsay was a caring, giving, loving gent with a wicked sense of humour. He was also a great advocate in speaking up for those who survived the peak of AIDS in the 80s and living with HIV today, and cared about wider LGBT+ issues. If you know/met Lindsay please remember him, talk about him and think of him. We send our condolences and love to his family and friends at this distressing time. Cheers to you Lindsay, I would say rest in peace but that would be really boring - party on wherever you are! 04/03/2020 - Taunton Pride new date and replay TGG's 2nd birthday live music special! Today was TGG's 2nd birthday! Can't believe it's come around so soon. A little idea has come a long way and thank you to all who have come along to our events and supported what we try to do. We're stronger when we come together. Obviously our planned birthday social meet had to be cancelled, but instead at short notice we pulled together an online lockdown party at our Facebook page, featuring live music stream courtesy of Dave Not the Cat and LGBT+ DJ 'watch party' beamed live from the Beefmince team (London's Royal Vauxhall Tavern DJs). Dave, pulled a great acoustic set together specially for us, and if you missed it you can replay it over at Dave Not the Cat's Facebook page. Don't miss a grown man trying to play Lady Ga Ga's Poker Face whilst being pelted with giant playing cards! Thank you Dave, and if you like it he has an EP available to download, plus he is a budding fiction writer and you can check out his published books out on Amazon (Dave Holwill). In other news, sadly Taunton Pride (like many others) has had to be postponed in the best interests of all. It is now planned for Saturday 17th July 2021. This gives more time for it to be bigger and better, and already artists and supporters are re-confirming their bookings and commitment to this much needed event. It also means we're not clashing with some other key events who also need support form the region, so this will be positive for all. Thank you Jenny at GoCreate for keeping in touch with developments. Stay well, stay in unless essential and we'll see you all when we can. In the meantime more online/virtual events are in the pipeline so please stay in touch via our social media channels if you can. x Stephen 11/03/2020 - Statement re cancellation of events due to Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak advice. I’d not wanted to cancel any TGG events if we could help it but here we are. Aside from anything else health wise, I fear for the businesses that may suffer such as our friends @theploughtaunton and @thegreatwesternhoteltaunton, but to actively try and encourage people to meet socially when clearly we are now being told to avoid doing so, would feel inappropriate. If a primary aim is to stop the NHS from imploding too soon, then it feels the sensible thing is to play our part and cancel at least our March and April events as it stands, then review again for May onwards. I hope you understand this decision. I want to thank so many lovely friends through TGG for your moral support. I’m glad our last event was such a BANGER!!!! So a few things to ask - if you see any good ‘online social events’ and I know a few are appearing such as online festivals, please feel free to share anything that will keep us entertained over at our TGG Facebook Page. Please feel free to chat and keep in touch with each other via our Facebook Community Discussion Group. If the Coronavirus news and direction is causing you anxiety or worries, please check our Support and Information links. For health advice go to nhs.uk as your first port of call for latest information. We hope you and yours all stay well, and you all create some good parties with your close ones at home! Get out that old bottle of whiskey from the back of the cupboard, crank up the stereo and dance in your kitchens! Stay fabulous and we’ll see you soon x Stephen 11/03/2020 - A note re the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak Whilst at present we're not yet making any decisions about cancelling any of our planned social meets in the coming weeks due to this emerging situation, if NHS/government advice dictates or we feel it is in best interests for ourselves or attendees to postpone dates, we'll let you know as soon as able. If they do go ahead, but you have pre-existing health issues or concerns, or fall into the more vulnerable 'bracket', you are best placed to make that decision about attending. Priority is everyone keeping well and safe as much as possible. Please visit https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/ for information and guidance, and if you are worried about your health please use NHS 111. Thank you. |
