FEED YOUR MIND
WITH 2014 NOW WELL UNDER WAY, NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS ARE PROBABLY A DIM AND DISTANT MEMORY. SO WHAT ABOUT LEARNING SOMETHING NEW INSTEAD? STEVE BUSTIN TAKES A LOOK AT SOME OF THE COURSES ON OFFER FOR LGBT PEOPLE
Learn something new for 2014
When we look to make changes to our lives we tend to focus on our waistlines and our love lives so why not focus on your mind instead and make this the year you learn something new?
There are hundreds of workshops and classes, courses and online learning tools to give you access to new skills and hobbies, from learning a new language to dancing, or from more self-awareness to stand-up comedy. Here are some suggestions for things you could be learning in 2014.
LEARN TO… DANCE
Fancy shaking your booty and getting cheek to cheek with a partner (whether that’s your own partner or not)? Salsa Rosada is one of the longest running LGBT dance classes, shimmying since 1994. Open to men and women, no experience or special clothing needed, and you can join and start learning any time. Classes take place at the London Welsh Centre with beginners doing their stuff at 7pm and intermediates showing us how it’s done at 8pm. See salsa-rosada.co.uk. Manchester is also up and dancing, from gay-gordons-manchester.co.uk to manchesterprairiedogs.co.uk.
LEARN TO… BE BETTER AT RELATIONSHIPS
Learn to love someone and form meaningful relationships, with these online short courses aimed at gay men. Adam Clark and Tony Dines, a couple for more than 20 years, are both life coaches specialising in helping gay men boost self esteem, build relationships, and lead more fulfilled lives. Online courses cost £2.99 or download their iPhone app, GayLife, for 69p. gaylifecoach.co.uk/self-coaching.php for details. Also check out courses on self-development offered by thequestawaitsyou.com, and more spiritually focused courses from the Findhorn Foundation in far north Scotland, findhorn.org.
LEARN TO… BE FUNNY
Are you always the one making your mates laugh down the pub? Or have you watched Alan Carr doing stand-up and thought, “I could do that!”? Jill Edwards is one of the UK’s top comedy coaches and helped launch the careers of comics including Jimmy Carr, Sean Walsh and Shazia Mirza. She runs weekend, week-long and 10week courses in Brighton but people travel from around the country to work with her. Learn to write and perform comedy – and maybe even make your stand-up debut in her end-of-course show. The 10-week course takes place on Saturday afternoons, costs £255 (£195 concs).
Go to: jill- edwards. co. uk
LEARN TO… COME OUT
Coming out isn’t always easy, especially when you’re young, and for many of us it’s an on-going process rather than a one-off event. The Sexual Debut course run by GMFA and Pace helps participants gain skills on how to negotiate in the gay scene and build confidence around sex and relationships in a safe and supportive environment. The eight sessions also help to develop communication and assertiveness skills to help us make the right decisions. The course is free and takes place in North London on Thursday evenings. Go to: gmfa.org.uk/event/ sexual-debut. London Friend run a group for women that offers support and discussion about coming out. Changes takes place on the second and fourth Monday of every month.
Go to: londonfriend.org.uk/get- support/social.
LEARN TO… WRITE
Have you always felt there was a novel in you, just waiting to be written? Or do you want to write short stories – or poetry? There are a
number of LGBT writing groups who can help nurture your inner author. Try Pink Ink on the third Monday of every month at London Friend in North London (londonfriend.org.uk/getsupport/social) or in Brighton check out events run by Queer Writing South (queerwritingsouth.wordpress.com). If you’re in or around Manchester, Young Enigma run monthly workshops and other events for LGBTQ writers (youngenigma.com).
LEARN TO… IMPROVE YOUR CAREER
Have you ever applied for a new job, only to be told that you lack the necessary qualifications? There are plenty of options for continuing with your education, even if you’re well past school age. Every city or county council will have an adult education programme where you can study for GCSEs, NVQs or A-Levels. Check your council’s website for details.
The other option worth exploring is the Open University. Gone are the days of boring programmes presented by men in dodgy knitwear at 6am on BBC2. These days, courses are largely online with occasional evening or weekend tutorials and you can learn at your own pace. The range of courses is enormous and you can just do a unit on a topic that interests you or work towards a degree or even a masters – and OU courses are now internationally recognised as being among the best university degrees by employers. Have a browse through open.ac.uk/ study to get a feel for the courses on offer.
LEARN… JUST FOR FUN
There are any number of organisations running classes and opportunities to learn purely for pleasure. Look in local papers and on community noticeboards for local evening classes but there are two national charities who run thousands of classes on hundreds of topics every year.
The WEA (Workers’ Educational Association) has been around for over 100 years and runs classes in everything from numeracy and literacy to art appreciation and languages. For example, one class in Herne Bay in Kent will be studying the life and work of Oscar Wilde in 2014. See wea.org.uk/courses to find courses near to you. The U3A (University of the Third Age) is a similar organisation, catering to retired people. Find their courses on u3a.org.uk.
LEARN TO… SING
There are plenty of opportunities to sing with your LGBT friends, with gay, lesbian and mixed choirs across the UK (See uk-ireland. proudvoices.org/choirs to find your nearest chorus) but sometimes you just want to sing for the hell of it. Camp cabaret favourite Lorraine Bowen runs singing workshops where no experience is necessary, just a desire to turn up, open your throat and sing along. On 16 March you can learn Rogers & Hammerstein songs with her in Bexhill-on- Sea in Sussex, or on 6 April you can Sing-a-longa-Abba with Lorraine in the very venue in Brighton where the Swedish supergroup won the Eurovision Song Contest back in 1974.
Go to: lorrainebowen.co.uk for more dates.