The Wandsworth LGBTQ+ Forum will be celebrating their one year anniversary of the 50+ LGBT coffee mornings.

Tomorrow, Thursday, April 26, the forum will have celebratory coffee morning from 9:30am until 12:30pm, where members will reflect on the last year as well as previous guest speakers returning.

The morning is hosted every Thursday at The Furzedown Project in Tooting and is the only weekly service for the over 50s LGBTQ community in South London.

The main focus of the group has been to provide a safe space where older LGBT people can meet and talk freely and discuss issues of common interest.

It was initially meant to be a six week project funded by the Wandsworth CCG, but the group have gone onto have remarkable success attracting members from all over London.

A regular attendee of the coffee morning said: “I am a shy 68 year old gay man who has been attending these coffee mornings on a weekly basis since last summer. I happen to live in an area of Furzedown where homophobic abuse is still seen as acceptable, or defensible, by quite a few people.

“Attending these coffee mornings provides a wonderful oasis where for a few hours I know with certainty, not just that I will be free from abuse, but also that I am amongst friends, including the lovely people representing the Furzedown Project itself who greet me on arrival.”

Tooting MP Dr Rosena Allin- Khan, who has been a keen supporter of the project since it begin, said “One year on and I am thrilled to see that the LGBTQ+ coffee morning has thrived here in Tooting. It’s a testament to the hard work of the Wandsworth LGBTQ+ Forum and The Furzedown Project. It’s such a warm, welcoming environment and long may it continue.”

To find out more about the coffee morning or the Wandsworth LGBTQ+ Forum contact David Robson on wandsworthlgbt@hotmail.co.uk or call on 0207989933.