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Some changes to our social events in the South West

We asked what you wanted; and here’s what you told us.

By
Andrew Cowler and Katharine Sendell
Published
13 June 2019

Back in November 2017, we held our first Civil Service LGBT+ Network social in Bristol for the first time in almost two years. It’s been really great to meet so many people from other departments, but we quickly realised that our socials were clashing with other popular LGBT+ events in the city.

To make sure as many people can get involved as possible, we launched a questionnaire at the beginning of May to find out what our you would like to see in the South West. Here are the main things we found:

  1. You’d like to meet on Thursdays instead of Wednesdays
  2. The second week of the month works best for more people
  3. You’d like to meet at an LGBT or LGBT+ friendly venue around Cabot Circus and Old Market
  4. You’d like us to organise some extra events like quiz nights and theatre trips

We’ve taken all your responses on board and are acting on some right away! We’ll also be putting some thought into how best we organise some extra bits too, so keep an eye out for updates in the next few months.

To re-launch our South West events, we will be having our next social during Bristol Pride week on Thursday 11 July 2019 at The Phoenix. Your regional organisers, Andrew Cowler from Ofsted and Katharine Sendell from the Cabinet Office will be there from 5pm to greet you – and hopefully we’ll be able to sit in the garden if the weather is good. If you’re worried about coming along on your own, you can bring a colleague because allies are always welcome or get in contact with us if you’d like to meet us beforehand.

The questionnaire will stay open so that even more people can tell us what they want and we can keep adapting to what’s best for you. If you haven’t already had your say, complete the survey and feel free to share it with other civil servants in the region.

You can see a list of future events across the country on the Civil Service LGBT+ Network website and remember to join our Facebook group for all the latest updates and events in the South West.

We look forward to seeing you on 11 July.

Andrew and Katharine