mardi gras

Interview with Julia Grant (video)

A 70-minute interview with legendary Manchester gay village business woman Julia Grant. A decade ago, Julia Grant was one of the best-known business owners in Manchester’s gay village and an outspoken voice in both the LGBT and mainstream media. After Mardi Gras 1999 raised nothing at all for good causes, she ran the successful and Interview with Julia Grant (video)

How a fake descendent of the Russian Tsar fooled gay Manchester in 1991 (video)

It’s the evening of Monday 26th August 1991 and Manchester’s second ‘Carnival of Fun’ weekend is coming to a close. Of course, this is the forerunner of the current Manchester Pride.

In those days before the ‘no-money-left-for-charity’ scandal of 1999, the event attracted the support of some big names. Princess Diana sent a telegram wishing every success in 1991 and there was a buzz that someone important might make a surprise appearance on the final night.

The Manchester Pride 2007 website

The website for Manchester Pride 2007 is up. In the past year, the Charity Commission has told Operation Fundraiser and Manchester Pride that they must be more open with the public about where money goes and how they account for the income.

Bye bye Operation Fundraiser

The Manchester Pride website reports that Operation Fundraiser will be ‘will be hanging up its buckets’ this year.