The Free to be Me Exhibition at Preston Park Museum Stockton-on-Tees

December 20th 2024 heralded the grand opening of the Free to be Me LGBT+ exhibition at Preston Park, a collaboration between Ellie Lowther’s Free To Be Me Project, Age UK Teesside, The Civil Service LGBT+ Network and Tees Valley Museums Service who put the exhibition together.

The concept originated from a visit made by members of the Free To Be Me LGBT+ over 50’s group, many of whom are transgender, to Preston Hall Museum at Preston Park and after seeing the community space where temporary exhibitions were held by the local community, suggested an exhibition of the LGBT+ history of the area.

This resulted in various meetings between Tees Valley Museums staff and the over 50’s group with the concept being that the group themselves would decide what was to be exhibited and the Museum would then facilitate it.

This culminated in the exhibits we can see today which include:

Martin’s Civil Service LGBT+ Network/a:gender t-shirt worn at local events including Stockton-on-Tees Pride supported by the network, this t-shirts helps maintain our visible support for LGBT+ members of the Civil Service..

The Free To Be Me Diversity Den sign – from the wall of the Diversity Den which is situated on Yarm Road Stockton-on-Tees and serves as a welcoming community safe space that promotes inclusivity and is the home of the Free To Be Me Elders group.

A Scrabble game which represents an important part of the group’s weekly meetings

A picture of Rick Hooton, Ellie Lowther and Steph Bowes, local LGBT+ advocates at Stocktons first Pride event in 2023, Steph runs the Hippie and the Witch an eclectic and inclusive retail offer and Rick runs Free 2 Be U drag cabaret evenings in local pubs and clubs around the Stockton-on-Tees area and of course Ellie who has created and continues to be involved in many community initiatives over the last decade.

A picture of Ellie by performer and avant-garde cabaret artist, singer, actor, comedian and film director David Hoyle who pulled her from the audience at ARC Stockton and immortalised her on canvas. Ellies name is painted on the side and if viewed sideways it appears as 37713 which added together makes the number 21 which is personally significant to Ellie’s journey!. Hoyles work has often focused on themes in the LGBT+ community, attacking what he sees as dominant trends in “bourgeois Britain and the materialistic-hedonistic gay scene”.

A pair of size 9 heels showing how fashion is a huge part of a transgender woman’s identity as it can be difficult to find a fashionable pair of shoes that fit.

A framed cover of A Fantastic Woman film directed by Sebastian Leilo a transgender woman who faced discrimination after the sudden death of her partner, the screening of which was attended by Ellie and many other community members at Arc Stockton Arts centre. The picture is usually proudly displayed in the Den.

A photograph of Lesleigh Taylor and Billie and a poem by Lesleigh read at her funeral about hope and how it guides you on your journey to where you want to be and who you want to be, through the darkness of dysphoria, days of despair and mental health issues no one sees.

Lesleigh Taylor was a transgender Army veteran who died suddenly in the town in her friend’s arms after having a heart attack in the street. The 65-year-old who transitioned in 2016 was supported by Steph who knew her before transition and gave her lots of clothes and make up. She didn’t have the best family situation when she was younger but knew she wanted to be a girl from six years old. Her mother supported her but her father didn’t so she found different ways to hide it for years including going into the Army.

When her father passed away, she felt she could be her true self and became a part of the local community joining the Stockton Trans aware support group and a knitting group. She was well known in the town and I knew her when she used to sit on a bench outside of Aldi (which became known as Lesleigh’s bench) knitting, watching the world go and having a kind word to anyone who would sit next to and talk to her. She put up with a lot of discrimination, had threats and secret videos of her put on Facebook with derogatory comments, but she said that for every bad comment she had 100 good ones and if anybody has a problem it’s their problem not her problem.

The video – Masked. In 2017 Ellie delivered her Trans101 awareness sessions to more than 5000 national Citizen Service graduates around the Uk with many in the Tees Valley. She inspired Team 6 at Darlington to produce the video which won an award for the most innovative social action project of the year. In the display are masks created by the over 50’s group inspired by the video containing their own fears and what lies behind the masks we all wear every day.

SYSTEMIC inclusive choir poster (sing your song true equality matters inclusive choir) which meets weekly at the ARC Arts centre Stockton and performs at many local inclusive events and Prides in the local area.

Lastly a picture of the Free To Be Me wall mural which lies on the wall outside the ARC Arts Centre Stockton and serves as a welcome to all who visit. The Free to be me Project champions inclusion in Stockton and beyond with an ever growing range of community initiatives, it includes the over 50’s group and the SYSTEMIC choir and is based on the premise that is explained in Ellie’s quote “any of us can be bullied or discriminated against, until we are all truly free to be our authentic self we will never enjoy the safer more inclusive society that benefits us all”.

It is hoped the exhibition will raise the profile of the local LGBT+ community, create a greater understanding of the issues transgender people face, educate the public and reduce discrimination.

The exhibition runs from now until February at Preston Park and costs £5 entry which lasts for a year and after the exhibition closes the Free to be Me Project intends to work with the museum on many more exciting projects in the future.