HobbyWhores
Lucy Morgan
Lucy Morgan started HobbyWhores way back in 2016 as a hobby for herself.
Since then it has turned into a huge joyous movement, cherished and clasped to the bosoms of the crisp eating, beverage drinking women of Belfast and beyond!
We caught up with Lucy to find out about her motivation for starting the events, where she gets her incredible outfits, and discussed the wonderful impact this community has had on both her and her audience.
Alongside being a parent and marketing manager extraordinaire, you have created and bring joy to a whole community of women in Belfast. What inspired you to start Hobbywhores?
It was 2016. I was busy doing everything everyone is supposed to do at all the average ages you're supposed to do it. I'd gotten married, I'd climbed the career ladder, and had just had my first little boy. And then this crushing absolute blackness hit me and for the first time in my life I didn't feel cheerful or creative or hopeful. I realise now it was post-natal depression but, like many folk, I was too ashamed to say anything. I loved being a mum but I wasn't sure I was very good at it. I'd always been a very sociable critter who loved to try new things and meet new people but I felt so sure that I would never be able to leave the house again and that, if I did, there was nothing I would want to do anyway.
I didn't want to go out and not have a seat. I didn't want flirty attention. I knew I'd be hungry and if there weren't to be snacks I would not be going. I wanted to learn how to do stuff and feel like I was making the most of my free time. And I wanted to connect with other women. I felt so, so lonely. I had stuff to say but I didn't know how to say it. I knew other women had stuff to say too, and in a world that didn't seem to want to listen to any of us, I wanted there to be somewhere we could be visible and heard and have FUN.
During a night feed, inspiration finally struck. I had a notebook beside the bed and I wrote down the name "Hobbywhores" and drew a logo. I wrote a list of things I would want in a night out and a list of hobbies I would like to know more about. And the next day I called my sister. Within a month we'd the first show on sale.
That's a very long answer - the short version is that I wanted to hang out with fucking brilliant women. And now I do, on a regular basis. And there are seats and crisps and wine.
How do you choose your guests for each show?
The week after each event I go into a tailspin in fear of not finding a line-up for the next one. But I always joke that Hobbywhores is like the masons with mammaries - somebody always knows somebody who knows somebody. So-and-so will know an artist, but the artist's sister is a puppeteer, and she knows someone who has pet chickens, and her next door neighbour once shagged a 90s popstar and is willing to tell us about it. I will re-read this answer each month when I am having a nervous breakdown at 2am to remind myself it is usually OK in the end.
Through the years has the Hobbywhores team intentionally bridged divides and encouraged solidarity between different groups, rather than just reinforcing existing social circles; or has that happened organically?
When I started Hobbywhores I had only two stipulations for the kind of women who I wanted to attend - nobody who is easily offended and no dickheads. I hope that has continued to be the case. Because the events are seated around tables, you'll usually end up sitting with someone you haven't met before, and by the end of the night that person is often a new friend. Because we're mostly women and enbies aged 35-75, we're long enough in the tooth to muck along with folk and cheer good people on in their endeavours. Also the dancefloor at the shit disco has a unifying effect - when you've Irish danced to B*witched with some doll you just met, then followed it up by screaming a bit of Bonnie Tyler in her face, you can't help but be bonded.
What goes through your mind when you step up onto the stage to host each show, is it exhilarating or terrifying, and do you rehearse, or just go for it on the night?
Oh I do lots of prep. I love a Powerpoint. Everything is done on Powerpoint. My brain is wired in such a way that I like structure and order, but I also really enjoy a crap animation and bad sound effects. Therefore Powerpoint is the one for me. That helps keep me on track on the night.
I never set out to be any kind of MC and I feel a bit sick when people say I'm a comedian because I couldn't tell a joke to save my life. My role was always just supposed to be facilitator of proceedings. But I would say I know most of the women who have been over the past 10 years by name, and if not by name I probably remember their favourite tune at the disco, or a rubbish craft they submitted to the "Smugshots" section 6 years ago. (Smugshots, for the uninitiated, is where I show off photos of what hobbies the ladies have been trying out, with varying degrees of success.) So when I get up on stage I just feel like I'm hanging out with pals. I don't think anyone wants me to muck up and we're all gearing up for a good night's craic, so after I've had an extended visit to the bathroom I feel excited to see them all.
Your style and outfits are iconic, and part of the excitement of HW is what you're going to wear. What/who are your style influences, and what has been your favourite HW outfit.
Is it?? That's very kind. I love clothes - the more ridiculous the better. I'm not particularly concerned about whether my arse looks misshapen as long as I feel joyful. I have absolutely no concern at this juncture for the male gaze, or in fact the gaze of anyone except myself. I just want ridiculous amounts of tassels, sequins, shiny leather, frills and whatever else I can get my hands on. As a toddler, my son used to say I looked like Mr Tumble. Maybe he is my style influence? There is a lady who came to Hobbywhores who wore her jammies under her clothes so she could get comfy as soon as it finished. She's pretty iconic.
What is your favourite funny or most memorable moment(s) from your years hosting Hobbywhores?
Far too many to mention but the most ridiculous was breaking my foot whilst learning a dance routine from the Barbie movie, then DJing for two hours whilst sporadically boking at the side of the stage, and waking up with a foot like a Belfast bap. Went to A&E and met a lady in her 80s who, by falling behind her TV whilst trying to reach a dropped biscuit, had also broken her foot. I remember marvelling at how there are no two better ways to break a foot.
But generally when you get that many eejits into a room there's always something hilarious. We're all hitting peri-menopause, menopause or out the other side with no fucks to give, so we neither care to toe the line or can remember to do so with the brainfog.
What is a dream element, guest or activity you would love to include in Hobbywhores?
I have discovered that I absolutely love interviewing people, so I would like more victims to practice on. Dream guests would be Caitlin Moran, Kathleen Hanna, Grace Dent, Lauren Laverne, Jeanette Winterson, Hollie McNish, Shirley Manson...
Honestly I just want to find as many local women with funny, inspiring or downright nutty stories to tell or hobbies to share, so I can put them on the stage and introduce them to the gang.
What impact do you hope HW events have on your audience?
I hope they wet themselves laughing. I hope they finally get a date in the diary to catch up with their friends and all manage to motivate themselves to get off the sofa and head out. I hope they get a compliment from another Hobbywhore in the toilets. I hope they dance without worrying about what anybody thinks. I hope they eat crisps with wild abandon. I hope they wake up hoarse from singing and covered in bits of pipe-cleaners and sticky-back plastic.
Do you have plans to expand Hobbywhores to other cities or in other creative directions, or are you happy with how thriving it is in its current format?
I would absolutely love to try something in another city but that's when my imposter syndrome kicks in. What if no-one comes? What kind of NOTIONS do you have? Nevertheless, I said 2026 would be the year I try something new so let's see if I manage it.
We ask this of each of our interviewees in an attempt to inspire readers, so if someone was thinking of starting their own community event what advice would you give?
Like attracts like, so be authentic. Hobbywhores was the start of me giving myself permission to be completely me, for better or worse, and when that happened all the other weird feminist hoarders with sweet dance moves and an insatiable appetite for Space Raiders came and found me. And how glad I am they did.
