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Initial Interviews - David

David is from West Derby.  We met up at FACT where he likes to hang out as it's a calm place with good films thrown in.
He's found growing up as a young LGBT person in Merseyside has been OK as he's been blessed with supportive friends who don't care about his preferences.
From the trip, he's looking forward to gaining a better understanding of what happened during the Holocaust.
In general he believes that life for LGBT people in Poland will be worse than it is over here as it's something that people in Poland frown upon. He'd like to have the opportunity to ask Polish Polititions their thoughts on the whole gender issue.

Initial Interviews - Kieran

Kieran is one of the co-ordinators at GYRO (Gay Youth Are Out), one of the longest running gay youth projects in Livepool.
For them, this is a really different departure, bringing together 4 different youth groups from Merseyside that have never worked together before. It's a great opportunity for the young people to be able to compare their experiences with people from another country.
One of the issues GYRO comes up with is that young people don't have an awareness of LGBT history as it's not taught in school.  Some of them don't know that the age of consent was ever different or that male homosexuality was ever criminalised in this country.
He says 'I don't know quite what to expect in Poland, but from what I've read and what I've been told, the government is quiet conservative and homophobic.  It's going to be exciting and challenging but supporting the young people through their questions will be quite rewarding'. 

More from The Fire Workshop

Natalie Hayes from Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service explained to us the benefits people get from attending the fire fighting workshop. These include increased confidence, team building and communication skills.

Good communication is one of the main requirements a Fire Fighter needs, so the training starts and then builds from there.

It was obvious everyone really got a lot out of the day - It looked like great fun and it brought everyone together. Natalie thought our group had done really well. They'd motivated and supported each other and worked well as a team. Infact, she thought some of them were naturals and could potentially be Fire Fighters of the future - she'd be very happy to provide a reference.

Fire fighting workshop

Attended a team building workshop with the young people and the fire
service today. Lots of hose pipes and foam.

Initial Interviews - Jade

Jade lives in Widnes, where she says there's not much to do and not many places to go. Parts of it are safe, parts of it are rough, just like anywhere.

She likes being with friends, enjoys art, drama and english and is about to start college. Ultimately she would like to go to university and study to be a drama teacher.

Her perceptions of Poland are that life and lack of freedoms will be worse than over here.

Initial Interviews - Jenny

Jenny lives in Runcorn where she says there is nothing really to do, although she enjoys playing the drums and horse riding as well as hanging around with her friends.

Runcorn is pretty safe, but it depends on who you know. If you hold your girlfriends hand in Murdershaw you're liable to get a bit of abuse. You'll be alright if you're in the closet. She thinks there were only a couple of people who were out at school due to the fact that there wasn't any lessons on hate crime or sexuality to provide information and advice.

Jenny's Grandad is from Poland - infact he was one of the liberators from some of the concentration camps, so she's really interested in learning more about the histrocial side as part of the trip.