For older and old LGBT+ people, the things they’ve experienced over the decades might look really different to your own life. After all, many of them will have lived in a time when it was illegal or dangerous to live authentically as themselves.

Which means that if you're a service provider, they might not interact with you or your service in the same way your other clients do, or they might need different support than you usually offer.

So to help you understand where the people you interact with now are coming from, we’ve produced this video series - mirrored in podcasts, Hearts & Histories.

Over the next five episodes, we'll be speaking to six incredible older and old LGBT+ people who currently live in Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin.

They’ll be openly sharing their own personal stories; reflecting on how those experiences have made them the person they are today; and considering how that might alter how they interact with the world.

Our hope is that by listening to this, you’ll be able to better understand the older and old LGBT+ people you interact with as part of your work.

If you'd prefer to watch the episodes rather than listen, you can do that on our EMBRACE Inclusion YouTube channel.

We hope you find these conversations insightful and engaging, and we’d encourage you to share them with other service providers you think would benefit from understanding how the lives of older and old LGBT+ people might look different from our own.

Welcome to our podcast Hearts & Histories, hosted by Ryan Kennedy and brought to you by the Shropshire Rainbow Film Festival and EMBRACE A Culture of Inclusion.

During this five episode series, older and old LGBT+ people who live in Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin reflect on how their lives and experiences have made them the person they are today.

This episode’s guest is Mike Southern. Mike is a gay man who lives in Shrewsbury. He was born in 1937, and is currently 87 years old.

During this conversation, Mike shared memories of his childhood, including the dual discrimination he suffered being both an illegitimate child and homosexual.

He spoke of being arrested for cottaging when he was younger, but also about how he found a community of LGBT+ people when he moved to Shrewsbury.

If this episode has inspired to you to make your own provision more inclusive to LGBT+ people, then head to www.lgbtsand.com to see more of our resources.

These resources have been split into beginner, intermediate and advanced; and each resource includes an indication of how much time you need in order to get value from it.

So whatever stage of the inclusion journey you’re on, and however long you’ve got, these resources can help you to EMBRACE A Culture of Inclusion.

Welcome to our podcast Hearts & Histories, hosted by Ryan Kennedy and brought to you by the Shropshire Rainbow Film Festival and EMBRACE A Culture of Inclusion.

During this five episode series, older and old LGBT+ people who live in Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin reflect on how their lives and experiences have made them the person they are today.

This episode’s guests are Lis and Mary, who are both in their seventies, and live in the Telford area. They also recently got married in a Quaker ceremony.

Despite being a couple, they’ve had very different experiences of growing up as lesbians, and it’s really interesting to hear how those experiences have contributed to their conversations around ageing.

If this episode has inspired to you to make your own provision more inclusive to LGBT+ people, then head to www.lgbtsand.com to see more of our resources.

These resources have been split into beginner, intermediate and advanced; and each resource includes an indication of how much time you need in order to get value from it.

So whatever stage of the inclusion journey you’re on, and however long you’ve got, these resources can help you to EMBRACE A Culture of Inclusion.