Catherine Pestano will perform at the LGBT reception. Photo: Community Music Services

A rainbow flag will fly above Croydon Town Hall on Saturday to mark the start of this year’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender History Month.

Croydon Council has collaborated with local LGBT groups to organise a variety of cultural events across the borough. Activity highlights include a film festival in the David Lean cinema, a history trail at the Museum of Croydon that explores advancements made by the gay rights movement in the borough, and an exhibition about Croydon-born Roberta Cowell, the first British person to have sexual reassignment surgery.

Local LGBT groups that worked with the council – Crocus, Croydon Trans Group, Croydon Area Gay Society and Insight  – see the month as an opportunity to showcase their history and promote a sense of community spirit.

Croydon-based musician Catherine Pestano, who performs at the event’s reception at Croydon Clocktower this Friday, said: “Music helps people to come together and feel the connection.”

Pestano, who is also head of the Scratch Croydon Queer Choir, added: “I am very interested in inclusive work. Having experienced exclusion myself it has made me interested in other people who have been excluded.”