Chris Mottram Wooster

Chris Mottram Wooster identifies as a lesbian and came out to her family in 1970. Living in High Wycombe, she was attracted to Milton Keynes by its newness, visiting friends to go to the gay disco at The Cannon. Chris is a jazz musician (playing bass) and previously an artistic woodturner. in 1980 her band won Melody Maker Rock Band of the Year. She moved to MK, living with a partner and now lives in a bungalow in Stony Stratford. Chris talks of life in High Wycombe, her membership of the CHE (Campaign for Homosexual Equality) and campaigning. She believes  there is still a need for safe spaces for the LGBTQ+ community, both the young and the more mature members. She has found an MK café that’s very supportive. Chris recalls entertainment in her younger days – the Cellar Bar at the Open University , a disco in Leighton Buzzard, and parties! Now she socialises at gigs & jazz jam sessions. She and her partner used to go to Pride in London, sometimes taking a woodturning stall. Nowadays it doesn’t appeal and is less important: the gay community is more visible.

Chris believes that the stories of the development of the MK LGBTQ+ community should be told in the Museum: it is a visible community now. She appreciates the ease of travel in MK in a car; the newness of the city; the open space. She says: ‘with the right attitude you can live in Milton Keynes and it can work for you…but be prepared to accept that it’s different’. But there are some areas of housing that now need replacing. Finally, Chris discusses problems she experienced when caring for her late wife; the need to constantly explain their relationship to new carers, who assumed they were either sisters or mother and daughter. But overall, she acknowledges, if she referred to ‘my wife’ nowadays ‘you’d rarely get any kind of blink of the eyes’. She has a lesbian friend who campaigns within the Shenley Wood Village Community where she lives; they had a successful 2023 Pride with entertainment by Clare Summerskill.