The Canary Wharf Gay and Lesbian Association (CWGLA), a Social Group for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people. The group was open to anyone who lived, worked or just wanted to pop into the Canary Wharf area of London and it was absolutely free!

We formed out of ignorance and homophobia and the Group was established in 1999 by Andy Heath-Richardson, a Senior Project Manager for the Canary Wharf Group, part of the team that owns, builds and maintains the buildings at Canary Wharf.

What started as a small informal event attended by a handful of people, steadily grew into a membership of over 1000, with between 100 and 140 people attending each gathering.

The CWGLA acted as a focal point for many diversity groups run by the array of the banks and companies resident at Canary Wharf and has acted as hosts for Barclays, Citigroup, Credit Suisse in the past at one of the drinks evenings.

The motto was - We meet. We drink. We mingle. We chat. This group gets together for you to meet other men and women. You make it what you want.

The events were held twice a month. mainly at The Beluga Cafe, West India Quay and they remain a LGBT friendly bar, so pop along and mention us - you may get a free drink!

We also instigated the exclusive Ladies Only night, which still continues on the last Tuesday of each month at La Tasca - Ladies To Dine For is organised by Ali Bell, e-mail her for more details Ali@cwgla.net.

We grew out of homophobia and we succeeded in forming a Social Group that gave people confidence and allowed them to socialise in a predominately straight white male environment.

We are looking to attract more women to our group and under Ali's remit to bring more women and by way of the monthly "Ladies To Dine For" events, see http://www.cwgla.net/ltdf.html.

E-mail Alison Ali@cwgla.net

We also marched at Mardi Gras under our CWGLA banner, and have had numerous articles printed about us in the Gay and National Press, and also hosted our first ever Canary Wharf Pride Event in June 2006.

We also adopted a local charity so that when we held any fundraising events, they benefited. Positive East is a local East London AIDS Help Centre. Find out more at www.positiveeast.org.uk.

We were awarded the 2006 Community Champion Award by PositiveEast, thank you to all that helped us achieve this award.

Thank you to all those people that have attended over the years, the friendships we have all made and for the support of media and bars.

Ther CWGLA will be an enduring memory to me and I personally will miss it hugely, but time moves on and we have established equality and an environment where others can lead through.

Andy Heath-Richardson

September 2007