National Friend

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Friend was set up in the London, England in 1971 as a Campaign for Homosexual Equality (CHE) taskforce intended to become CHE's counselling arm.

By the end of the year Friend had become a separate national counselling and befriending organisation. As the London-based organisation began to spread across the UK, and local groups grew up, the whole network began to be known as National Friend.

It was incorporated as a limited company in 1987 with the name of National Friend Ltd.

National Friend became a network of groups whose volunteers provided information, support and befriending to lesbians, gay men and bisexual people. Local groups were affiliated to National Friend, though they remained autonomous within agreed guidelines, which included a constitution, code of ethics, code of practice, an equal opportunities programme and a complaints procedure.

In 1995 there were 31 local groups calling themselves either Friend or Gay Switchboard.

The National Committee supports the local groups, provides guidance, advertises the work of Friend to outside agencies and hold conferences on subjects of mutual interest.

In 1998, a grant from the National Lottery Charities Board enabled the development of a permanent office in Birmingham where two members of staff deal with administration, publicity and fundraising.

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