by Max Hope | Dec 5, 2025 | Blog
Why would a 12 year old get up at 5.45am so that they can be one of the first to arrive at the gym? The short answer is free merch. It’s 15 years since the gym opened and they are giving away free hats, water bottles, sweatshirts and mystery bags. One per member. We...
by Max Hope | Aug 17, 2025 | Blog
Max Hope and Jo McAndrews met for the first time in March 2022 during a Soul Fire writing retreat in Devon. It was one of those occasions when we wondered how it was possible that we had never met before. Strange but true. We talked, laughed, and ate apple crumble in...
by Max Hope | Jul 28, 2025 | Blog
On 16 April 2025, the Supreme Court made a landmark ruling about gender. What the judges said – and the full 88-page document is accessible on the internet – is that in relation to the Equalities Act 2010, the terms ‘sex’, ‘man’ and ‘woman’ refer to biological...
by Max Hope | Jul 25, 2025 | Blog
The old stories are the best Or so they told me Pass them on Pass them on But the thing about stories Is that they are not always real And fiction can become fact And fact becomes truth And truth Becomes law Like the one about Nemo You know the...
by Max Hope | Jun 28, 2025 | Blog
Imagine The very first Pride March Saturday 1 July 1972 It was a hot, dry summer in London They showed up A crowd of 700 Probably scared, anxious Excited Defiant They walked They swaggered Danced Staggered Imagine The very first Pride March ...
by Max Hope | Apr 28, 2025 | Blog
Tales of the City, a 10-book series about life in San Francisco from the 1970s onwards are my all-time favourite books. The characters created by Armistead Maupin have accompanied me through all of my adult life. Michael ‘Mouse’ Tolliver. Mary Ann Singleton. Brian...