We are joined by poet Tom Juniper (he/they) who has written a number of poems about Maurice Dobson and his partner Fred Halliday as a way to tell their many stories.

Maurice and Fred ran the local shop in the 1950s in Darfield, Barnsley and were open about their relationship at a time when it was illegal to be a gay man. They are now so revered in South Yorkshire that their shop has been transformed into a museum.

In this episode, we discuss what and how Maurice and Fred had to be in order to be accepted in the community, how this would have compared with other, more affluent areas of the country, how this affected their relationship and we share some of the stories (including a foul mouthed parrot and a chair with a wonky leg).

This interviewed was conducted by Fiona Moorcroft from SAYiT and was recorded at SAYiT's offices in Sheffield.

SAYiT is a charity in South Yorkshire that works with young people aged 8-25 and professionals to make real lives better. They provide practical support to LGBTQ+ young people, host a parent and carer group, and their training helps organisations improve knowledge and address discrimination.

Proud Changemakers is a voluntary group that celebrates and elevates LGBTQIA+ folks from across civil society and make noise about issues affecting the LGBTQIA+ community today.

Follow, subscribe, get in touch with us at https://linktr.ee/proudchangemakers

This forms part of our LGBT+ History Month series and was released in connection with National Poetry Day.