The History of Gay Surrey, the Charity Success Story
Gay Surrey launched in 2005 and on the 18th April 2006 became a registered charity (1113772) just over one year of its creation. What started as a group of friends talking via the current Gay Surrey forum board just less than three years ago has blossomed into a countywide success story. The boys and girls of Gay Surrey Charity have developed their own areas of expertise and interests so that Gay Surrey Charity now embraces almost all aspects of gay living.
Our ongoing objective is to be able to apply for funding to help the Charity grow and so become grant makers for other charities and voluntary organisations in Surrey.
We are proud to list below some of the projects undertaken to date:
Patron : We are immensely proud to have Bill Buckley as our Patron and look forward to many years of working together.
Gay Surrey Website : Our mission is to offer the gay community of Surrey a website full of information including clubs, bars, social events, news and local support and advice, with dedicated pages supporting us from Connexions, THT, Blanche Heriot, NHS, Surrey and Met Police, drug awareness programmes, RAISE, Equality and Human Rights Commission and more.
The aim of the website is to be the main portal for the gay community when seeking information only. The site has grown dramatically over the last six months and has now become a recognized and respected community site. We currently have over 10.000 unique visitors to our site a month. Gay Surrey currently has over 3500 subscribers who regularly receive e mail updates on news, local events and aims for the future.
We have already created a successful Over 30's Social Night, which started on the 23rd June 2005, where over 50 people meet monthly. This gathering encompasses a social outlook and on occasions informative talks and presentations. Over the last three years we have seen the group grow and grow. On the 5th July 2007 we saw the launch of the Ladies Only night which has really taken off and growing every month. Now combined and relached in 2008 as the GS Lounge. Bar Noir in Weybridge first Wednesday of every month promoting the Club4good campaign
We have also partnered with Connexions in launching a new Youth Group called Twister for the 13 to 19 year olds; as a result of the latter we created a new sub section to our site called "Young Gay Surrey".
We introduced a Gay Night at Quake and Time Night Club in Woking and Guildford, called club4good allowing the community and their friends to enjoy a club night with all the money at the door going back to the charity to help fund campaigns.
The new Civil Partnership section has already shown many couples how to apply for this in Surrey and with two major venues supporting the section has highlighted how gay friendly Surrey is to gay weddings. The section has now grown in with new pages offering our range of friendly hotels and suppliers around Surrey.
Parents Support Group This section has already grown and we are proud to have our Woking group and new partners coming on board to help gay families in so many ways from support, anti natal, adoption rights, family support and the list goes on. In less than five months the group has expanded offering a great support network, including new initiatives to bring in the NHS to help with the problems LGB families have to deal with on a daily basis.
Lifestyle Survey
We have probably started Surrey's first regular gay lifestyle and attitude survey. Our aim is to publish regular information on the feelings and experiences of our community here in Surrey. We will then be able to show authorities like the council, police and health care services why they should take your opinions seriously. The first set of stats were released one week after the launch on the 18th April 2007 and with some amazing results which have been recognised by Surrey Police, NHS, Surrey County Council and Connexions.
See the results or take the survey Click here
StopHatenow.org.uk
Our campaign site aims to help the gay community with information, news, support and ways of reporting including third party
We believe there are many reasons why reporting is so low in Surrey and we can all do our bit to help raise the profile of hate crime and ways we can all report it.
We understand that while confidence is low its time we speak out and tell the authorities about the issues surrounding our everyday lives
Surrey Police and its partners including the charity Gay Surrey take Hate Crime very seriously and treat it as a priority when reported. Not only does reporting an incident provide valuable information to the police that may lead to the arrest of offenders, but recording incidents enables the police to build up patterns of behaviour and areas of concern. Costs : £3600
IDAHO Surrey
17th May 2007
International Day Against Homophobia. The second event to be held by Gay Surrey and this time the programme has expanded to the Oatlands Park Hotel, with speakers from Surrey and Met police, NHS and the gay rapper QBOY. Bill Buckley to open the show and exhbitors from Gay Surrey, NHS, Connexions, Surrey Police, THT, Falcons Football Club and Blackford Solicitors. Find out how the night proved such a success
IDAHO 2008 - a huge success
International Day Against Homophobia, May 17th Woking. Over 300 people supported the night with a jammed packed night of stars, bands and speakers - see the line up IDAHO 2008
IDAHO 2009 - Third succesfull year
International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia, May 17th Woking. Over 160 people supported the day which was all about the community, their familes and friends. IDAHO 2009
Surrey County Council
Gino Meriano has become a consultant for the Surrey County Council's Equality and Diversity programmes in Surrey. This involves running through their full policies on Equality and Diversity, tender applications for training within the council and interview process.
Human Rights
Gay Surrey have presented stats, reports and current affairs surrounding the issues behind gay life in Surrey for the EU.
The Equality Act
Raised over 1500 signatures for the petition to Number 10 against Ruth Kelly
NHS Our Health, Our Care, Our Community Conference - 16th May 2007 / 14th May 2008 / 13th May 2009
Gay Surrey exhibited at this amazing one day conference surrounding all strands of diversity within the NHS, the service itself and offered a great opportunity to meet key people in the industry who were proactive in their approach to helping the gay community of Surrey and our charity. We are pleased to announce a series of new projects and campaigns in partnership with the NHS which will highlight key issues affecting the gay community of Surrey.
The charities ongoing programme of awareness is a key factor and our secured partnerships with Surrey Police, NHS, Connexions and Surrey County Council have only enhanced our work as a charity.
Local Press. In such a short space of time we have seen fantastic support for our work, and we are especially thankful to the local press in raising awareness to Gay Surrey.
 ASACP created the website label to better enable parental filtering, and to demonstrate the online adult industry's commitment to helping parents prevent children from viewing age-inappropriate content. Gay Surrey have been accredited by the ASACP
18 U.S.C. Section 2257 Compliance Notice
In compliance with United States Code, 18 U.S.C. 2257 and associated regulations with respect to the content included herein are kept by the custodian of records listed below and are available to the Attorney General for inspection
In compliance with the Federal Labeling and Record-Keeping Law (also known as 18 U.S.C. 2257), All content and images are in full compliance with the requirements of 18 U.S.C. 2257 and associated regulations . "Mr Gino Meriano Pad 108 15 Church Street Weybridge Surrey KT13 8NA"
Young Gay Surrey
New youth club opened in partnership with Connexions, TWISTER Epsom launched on the 29th March 2007.
YGS : Speak Out Website launched
Gay Surrey have been awarded £9342 to create a brand new website for the young. The best part of "YGS Speak Out" is the very fact that young people will have the say to the look, feel and content of this new website, we will be launching a competition for ideas over the coming weeks and the winner will receive a fantastic prize, but remember this only applies if your aged between 13 and 19.
YGS Crossroads
Well, its a youth support group for 13 to 19 year olds for you to meet new and old friends in a safe relaxed place in Woking. Dedicated people will be on hand to make sure all goes well and help out with information about your sexuality and about HIV related issues
Twister
Another Twister blows into Surrey and opens in Spelthorne for first time on Thursday 22nd November 2007 at 7pm
Child Protection Policy
Gay Surrey Child Protection Policy |
