A social group for local gay men and their friends is celebrating 15 years of meeting up.

February is LGBTQ+ history month and the Weymouth Gay Group is celebrating 15 years of social gatherings, good times, friendships and even relationships.

A spokesperson said: “There are two aspects to our group, our twice-weekly pub meets and our outreach to the LGBT community in Dorset and beyond.

"Our guys have a wide range of interests, backgrounds and ages. This helps ease in new people into our group as someone is bound to have a similar or same interest around our tables.

“It’s great to see a new shy person blossom over time and form lifelong friendships and even relationships in our group.”

At one time the group had over 30 LGBT people regularly attending, with people travelling from Dorchester, North Dorset and even Somerset.

Additionally, during the summer the group's numbers are boosted by LGBT tourists visiting the area.

The group meets twice weekly at table 26 at the Swan in Weymouth on Thursdays from 8pm, and ‘Meals Out on Mondays’ where the group eats out at the many restaurants that our seaside town offers.

The summer months are enjoyed with beach BBQs, and trips to Pride events.

A second aspect of the group is the website. It includes 25-30 LGBT events each month, local LGBT news and a page of helplines.

The spokesperson continued: “We are very pleased that our website has been called ‘The LGBT Bible locally’ by the NHS.

“During 2022 we produced a poster promoting our helplines page and sent this to all the local Doctors’ surgeries and other NHS outlets, which has been very well received.

“It also helps with some of the enquiries we get every year, while we offer friendship, we are not a support group, but we are happy to signpost to a range of local, regional and national organisations.

“We will be celebrating our 15th anniversary this year, especially in LGBT history month, February, and Pride month, June, and you are welcome to join us.”

Find out more on weymouthgaygroup.weebly.com