The dark days of homophobia and the battle to achieve equality have been remembered in part of an exhibition about to arrive at the Rose Theatre.

The exhibition, 1967 and All That, charts the history of the gay rights movement with a national archive of press cuttings and campaign material.

Graham Goldspring of the Kingston Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Forum (LGBT), said: “I have lived in the Kingston area since 1970. In those days, Kingston people were generally quite homophobic and I used to go to Richmond where there was, and still is, a relaxed attitude to gay people.

“In Kingston was a very strong gay social group called the Kingston and Richmond Area Gay Society (Krags), set up in 1972 to provide a means for gays to meet and socialise.”

The group folded in 2002 after equality legislation came through. At its peak had 130 members with social events, cinema visits and pub visits including in what is now the Druids Head, he said.

The exhibition is currently at the Penrhyn Road campus of Kingston University but will arrive at the Rose on February 7.

Kingston LGBT forum will hold its first AGM on February 19.