Today, Swindon & Wiltshire Pride are excited to announce a £69,500 grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund to deliver ‘We Were Always Here’ – a community heritage project to discover the hidden social history of LGBTQIA+ people in Wiltshire.
The project focuses on two centuries of social history from the beginning of the 18th century, when strict laws against any kind of homosexual behaviour were introduced, to 2014, when equal rights were achieved with the passing of the same sex marriage act.
‘We Were Always Here’ will discover the stories of how ordinary queer Wiltshire folk lived and loved, suffered and triumphed against social attitudes. By being awarded this grant SWP will be able to undertake this community research project and produce:
- An exhibition – an easily transportable, free-standing item suitable for indoor and outdoor display. It will be available for loan to interested organisations and educational establishments, with a permanent home in the Pride Hub, Swindon town centre.
- A concise, illustrated history book – offered free-of-charge to every senior school, college, library and LGBTQIA+ organisations in Wiltshire
- Free historical resource pages on our website www.swindonwiltshirepride.org.uk.
To help deliver this project, Swindon & Wiltshire Pride are actively recruiting for the following paid project roles:
- Project Coordinator
- Oral History Coordinator
- Heritage Interpretation Creators (designers/writers)
- Project Evaluator
- PR Consultant
They will work closely with project partners, Wiltshire & Swindon History Centre and Swindon Local Studies Library, also Kate Parsons (Heritage Interpretation Design Lead) and Andrew Foyle (Historian Advisor).
The organisation is also looking for volunteer researchers and contributors. If you think you can fulfil any of these roles, or to find out further details, please visit their website https://www.swindonwiltshirepride.org.uk/pride-history-project. Applications for paid roles close on 3 April 2026.
James Fraser, Vice-Chair at Swindon & Wiltshire Pride said:
“We’re excited to be able to start work on ‘We Were Always Here’, this is an important project which will help us uncover and preserve the hidden history of the LGBTQIA+ community in Wiltshire. Thank you to National Lottery players and The National Lottery Heritage Fund for helping make this possible.”
Kate Parsons, Heritage Interpretation Design Lead said:
“We hope very much to hear from people who were in, or around, the LGBTQIA+ community before homosexuality was partially decriminalized in 1969. Members of the community who were adults before the legal change will be now around 80 years old; we’d like to capture these stories and experiences before those voices are lost.”