Meet the 2016 team!

After a successful open/recruitment/annual general meeting, we now have a team of six who will work together to coordinate the 2016 programme – including our contribution to the National Festival of LGBT History – and develop our outreach work. Below you’ll find profiles of each of them.

We do still have a few roles available which we hope to elect at our next meting on Tuesday 14 July. If you or anyone you know might be interested, do get in contact! The roles to fill are:

• Publicity Coordinator (getting our message into the media by developing links and writing press releases);
• Social Media Coordinator (developing our social media presence and engagement);
• Volunteer Coordinator (recruiting and organising volunteers to support events, deliver outreach sessions, key in information on event listings websites and circulate programmes).

Just before we get to the profiles, we’d like to say a big thank you to exiting Assistant Coordinator Trudi Jackson who helped develop the organisation in its early stages and organised this year’s fantastic spoken word and poetry closing night!

Our team for 2016

Andy Law, Lead Coordinator

Andy works at York St John University and led the 2014 campaign as its LGBT Staff Network Secretary, before forming an independent organisation to oversee its future development. They are also completing an MA at the University of York. Former Secretary of both York Pride (now a Support Officer) and York LGBT Forum, Andy has been involved with York’s LGBT groups and organisations since 2010 and is part of regional and national LGBT bodies.

Kit Heyam, Secretary and Outreach Coordinator

Kit is a postgraduate teaching assistant and PhD candidate at the University of Leeds with a thesis entitled ‘Literary and historical representations of Edward II and his favourites, c.1305-1700’. They have been coordinating York LGBT History Month’s school outreach programme since 2014 and now also serve as Secretary. Kit delivered a talk at the University of York as part of the 2015 programme and another talk as part of the national academic conference.

Colin McNichol, Treasurer

Colin is a self-employed electrician working in property maintenance. He has been actively involved in York’s best-known LGBT organisations since 2012 and joined the York LGBT History Month team in 2015. He has previously served as Events Officer for York Pride, coordinating regular club nights to raise funds, and currently manages the charity’s finances as Treasurer (he’s York’s LGBT treasurer!). Colin is also a member of York LGBT Forum.

Nikki Spalding, Fundraising Coordinator

Nikki joined the York LGBT History Month team in 2015 as Fundraising Coordinator and also leads on national matters. She has worked at the Higher Education Academy in York since June 2012, prior to which she was a research postgraduate in museum and heritage studies at Newcastle University. Nikki is also the Women’s Liaison Officer for York Pride and involved in Campus North, a federation of LGBT staff networks in northern higher education institutions.

Adrian Lee, Assistant Coordinator

Adrian works at the University of York where he previously completed a BA with a dissertation on secondary school homophobia and heterosexism and a PhD on the identities and welfare needs of gay men in later life. He is part of the university’s LGBTI Matters staff forum and joined the team in 2015 after helping organise talks for the 2014 and 2015 programmes. Adrian also actively volunteers for a health charity across York, North Yorkshire and Teesside.

Philip Newton, Assistant Coordinator

Philip is an Assistant Curator of History at York Museums Trust, based at York Castle Museum. He joined the York LGBT History Month team in 2014 and for the 2015 programme jointly hosted an event that invited the public to bring in objects, documents and stories with relevance to LGBT history and also delivered a talk on gender and sexuality of soldiers in the first world war, both at York Castle Museum. Philip has an MA in Heritage Management.

The following two tabs change content below.

• Bio
• Latest Posts

Ynda Jas

Ynda created York LGBTQ+ History Month in 2014 while working at York St John University. They then developed it into an independent organisation, and served as Lead Coordinator from 2014 to 2016, which included overseeing its registration as a charity. They remain loosely involved from a distance, mostly helping with web updates. During their seven years in York, Ynda also studied at both of York’s universities and served periods as secretary of York Pride and York LGBT Forum. They also founded Non-binary London and are the DJ coordinator at the queer cabaret event and community Bar Wotever at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern.

Latest posts by Ynda Jas (see all)

• Call for events for 2020! - 17 September 2019
• Call for events for 2019! - 13 October 2018
• Call for events for 2018! - 3 August 2017