I think playing a show and performing in a DIY space and going into that performance with the knowledge that this is a space run by your peers in the scene ... feeling like just the freedom to be able to express yourself like in a DIY space, it just changes the whole vibe … Seeing people letting their freak flag fly, there’s just something really wonderful about that. Ian Lynch It enticed me in by being quite a safe place … I’m from a traveller background. And I guess as traveller kid you kind of are already a little bit outside of general societal norms, already segregated a little bit. I think it was quite normal for people my age within traveling communities to get into alternative kinds of music and leftist politics. So it was probably through a cousin who was like, “Oh, yeah, there’s this punk gig at the 1 in 12 Club Bradford.” I think we were on a site in Bradford at the time. So yeah, a bunch of us all went down and went to the gig. And yeah, I guess I kind of fell in love there. Erik Rattus I felt the 1 in 12 club, you’ve got to remember this is the 80s so there was still a lot of homophobia around and I just got a sense when I walked through the doors that that wasn’t an issue I didn’t have to feel unsafe. Deek Good Also at that time, it was LGB friendly, LGBT friendly. And that was really important for me, and has been for, for many years. And it’s nice to have places that are warm, empathetic and a part of the struggle in a place like Bradford, where it’s always been quite a tough place anyhow. Derek Simmonds I think my identity was very strong and the 1 in 12 Club gave me a place where I could live out my identity in whatever way. Noel Batstone I felt like it was a place where I belonged, and I wasn’t judged. And yeah. I did feel like I could be myself there. And I’m coming to this idea that I probably have autism. I’ve not actually had a diagnosis yet. And obviously back then, you know, if you weren’t like the guy in Rainman then no one was going to think you had autism. Certainly not if you were a girl. But I think it was a place where I could be very neurodivergent before that was a thing, and no one was going to go “Oh, my God, you’re a weirdo”, which is basically what I was told for however many years at school, the weirdo, and it was, it was just nice. Jane Graham
I’ve always been into it the more visceral level, because I’ve got ADHD … and it was just, it was a fucking refuge, and it was like, it’s like a secret society ... The neurodiverse female friends of mine diagnosed with fucking high functioning autism … we all, we’ve all kind of clotted together subliminally, we’ve been drawn together. Yeah, and it’s a safe space almost to act out, just do what you fucking want to do without being interfered with. Russ Snell I think about, like, relatively recently, rocking up to 1 in 12 … and a young lady behind the bar … it was a pupil that Dom and I worked with at primary school a long time ago … She’s on the autism spectrum, and she’s found a safe space to volunteer at the 1 in 12. And, you know, it really touched my heart because I was just like, well, she’s found a tribe. Because, you know, I think working in education at the time, you know, I often thought, you know, how were some of these young people gonna get on moving forward. And, yeah, I love the fact that she found a tribe at 1 in 12. Dipak Mistry I would hope that there are people at the moment that come in feeling maybe a little bit overwhelmed, like I did, I was not sure I belonged. There was the language thing, but it’s a very close, tight knit group of people. And when you arrive and everyone knows each other and everyone is really close and everyone has got that common language and common history and you’re like, ”I don’t know what I’m doing here.” But if you pass over that moment and embrace the place and open yourself to the people the same way that they will open themselves to you, then it’s just full of potential. Jeremie Cauchois I think being in an alternative space automatically creates a sense of community and camaraderie … even if people are in that space because they just support the space and they’re not necessarily into that style of music or what have you, it contributes to everybody knowing that they’re just creating a safe space for culture that doesn’t belong to the mainstream to exist … So I really felt a kinship with spaces like the 1 in 12 because of that chance for people to gather who didn’t belong. Steve Von Till
PART TWO: A PLACE OF COMMUNITY
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