"London Friend is the UK’s oldest LGBT charity dedicated to the health and mental well-being of the LGBT community in and around London and the South East."

History

London Friend was originally a part of Friend which was a befriending offshoot of the

Campaign for Homosexual Equality The Campaign for Homosexual Equality (CHE) was a membership organisation in the United Kingdom with a stated aim from 1969 to promote legal and social equality for lesbians, gay men and bisexuals in England and Wales. Active throughout the 1970s ...

(CHE) and first operated from a flat in

Earl's Court Earl's Court is a district of Kensington in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in West London, bordering the rail tracks of the West London line and District line that separate it from the ancient borough of Fulham to the west, the ...

, before moving to a community centre in Church Street,

Westminster Westminster is the main settlement of the City of Westminster in Central London, Central London, England. It extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street and has many famous landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace, ...

. In 1974 London Friend appeared alongside CHE in a documentary titled 'Speak for yourself' produced by

London weekend Television London Weekend Television (LWT; now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV (TV network), ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties at weekends, broadcasting from Fridays at 5.15 pm (7:00&nbs ...

at which time the organisations offices were in at 47 Church St, London NW8. The organisations were working closely together through social events, Friend was a counselling service, whereas CHE was a campaign and political group London Friend was separated from CHE in 1975 and then obtained premises in London Friend was separated from CHE in 1975 and then obtained premises in Upper Street"> London Friend was separated from CHE in 1975 and then obtained premises in Upper Street, temporarily in Seven Sisters Road, and later in Caledonian Road, London">Caledonian Road. The Caledonian Road premises were reported by January 2011 to be under threat and an appeal was launched to safeguard the building. During 2012, as a result of the appeal, and also additional funding following a merger with another charity, London Friend was able to purchase the property. Meanwhile continued expansion has meant that additional space is now being used at the GMFA office elsewhere in Islington.

Provisions

London Friend has at various times provided befriending, counselling, meeting spaces, helplines, support groups, a library of gay and lesbian books, and training for volunteers, police cadets and social workers.

Charity single

In 2011 British electronic singer Andi Fraggs recorded a charity single "Reality" for London Friend, followed by a fundraising show at Madame Jojo's in London's Soho.

Awards

Queen's Award for Voluntary Service The King's Award for Voluntary Service, previously known as The Queen's Award for Voluntary Service, is an annual award given to groups in the voluntary sector of the United Kingdom and the Crown Dependencies. Until 2022, awardees were announce ...

2016 * GSK IMPACT Award 2016 *

National Diversity Awards The National Diversity Awards is an awards ceremony which honours positive role models, entrepreneurs and community organisations across several different strands within the equality and diversity sector. It is held annually in various venues a ...

2014

Official website

References