Out Together: How farmer who hid a secret all his life is helping gay community after his death
Mike Potter was a much-loved figure in rural life but he held a secret for most of his life. Now his legacy aims to help people in the LGBTQ+ community through charity, Out Together. Emma Ryan reports.
The late Mike Potter ran a successful potato and arable farm business, he stood for Parliament in the 1980s (narrowly missing out to William Hague), he was a mentor, and the numbers at his funeral were testament to how respected he was within the industry as a farmer and as a friend.
He was interested in politics, reading, running, passionate about being from North Yorkshire and, of course, Bedale where he farmed.
He died in 2022 at the age of 76, but for most of his life Mike had hidden his true self.
Mike was gay but didn’t come out until he was 72. He loved his life in rural North Yorkshire but didn’t feel it allowed him to fully be himself.
The legacy Mike has left is to ensure people like him, living and working in rural and farming areas of the county – don’t have to hide who they are, or feel fear about connecting with the LGBTQ+ community.
And this year’s Great Yorkshire Show (GYS) is about to become a platform for breaking down barriers between the LGBTQ+ community and the farming community.
Mike’s good friends Adam Bedford, a former East Regional Director for the NFU, and Graham Clarke, a fellow farmer from Thirsk, were appointed executors of Mike’s will and, in accordance with Mike’s wishes, set up the Michael Potter Charitable Foundation.
So far it has distributed funds to young people getting started in agriculture and a boxing gym, for example.
It is also funding Out Together, a Yorkshire-based LGBTQ+ charity, working to reduce isolation, improve wellbeing and support LGBTQ+ people who may feel disconnected, excluded or left behind.
Out Together became a charity in March 2020, but met as a social group for a couple of years before that.
Becoming a charity has allowed Out Together to work more strategically, have different events and work with older generations.
In the early years, the work of Out Together was primarily in Leeds, West Yorkshire and urban areas but now has a particular focus on rural North Yorkshire – made possible by Mike’s legacy.
Matt Jameson is the operations manager and will be on the Out Together stand on each of the four show days.
He said: “The Great Yorkshire Show is a massive platform, there are so many people coming from far and wide.
“A big focus of ours is the rural community and making sure they know we are here to support anybody who identifies, or wants to be involved, in the LGBTQ+ community.
“The funding from the legacy has enabled us to focus on that. A hundred per cent the barriers are still there in the rural and farming community – and there is an LGBTQ+ community within that community.”
In 2024 and 2025, Out Together hosted an ‘Out on the Farm’ day where the charity’s supporters and members of the farming community enjoyed a day out in the fresh air with some entertainment, food and drink.
Adam said it was, “perhaps the most diverse group ever gathered in a North Yorkshire farmyard – truly inspiring”.
Out Together is also creating an online programme of events to help LGBTQ+ adults who feel unsure, anxious or frustrated using technology, to get started.
Called Digital Inclusion, it helps with online shopping, sending emails, accessing NHS, council and government services online and simply keeping in touch.
It is specifically aimed at marginalised groups, including older adults and rural communities.
Matt said: “Agriculture is a sector which is isolated anyway due to the nature of the work and the lifestyle, so it is even more important.
“We have had people that have come to both farm days and identify as LGBTQ+ but don’t have a connection with it in their rural community.
“We can create that, they can come to an event and meet people. Doing it online takes away a little bit of that fear. It is an opportunity for people to dip their toe in, see what is going on, what we are doing and feel more comfortable about having these conversations.”
Out Together’s presence at the GYS, one of the country’s oldest and traditional shows, is a huge step forward in breaking down barriers, opening conversations and connecting people who otherwise wouldn’t.
Matt says from here on in, there is a “massive opportunity” to do collaborative work to benefit both the LGBTQ+ community and the agricultural community.
He said: “There are so many people within the agricultural community who don’t even think about the identity of LGBTQ+, and there are people who don’t feel confident opening up about it.
“The opportunity is for us to fly the flag for the LGBTQ+ community, show the collaboration with the rural community.
“I can’t thank the GYS enough. They have been so open and receptive to it and seen how important it is to show this collaboration. People will be pleased to see presence from the LGBTQ+ community.”
Adam said he and Graham were looking for an organisation to work with from the LGBTQ+ community as part of their work with Mike’s estate and believe Mike would have benefitted from projects and connections made possible by Out Together, if he had known about it.
He explained: “Our guiding light, because we are running the foundation in Mike’s memory, would this be something where Mike would have had a network of people like him, would he have wanted to go?
“Mike would have benefitted from knowing more people like him. By no means was he a recluse, he was a really sociable guy, but was of an age where society had different views.
“There was a certain part of him that had regret. He might have liked to have had a relationship or led a fuller life.
“Mike loved living in North Yorkshire and was proud of that, but equally didn’t feel able to be himself in that community. We miss him a lot but it is a real privilege to distribute some of these funds this way.”
Out Together
After starting in Leeds, Out Together now has hubs in Huddersfield, Bingley, Bradford and Hebden Bridge where there are meet-ups for Sunday lunches, coffee, cake and a chat.
The charity is run by a small and dedicated team of people with the help of volunteers and digital champions.
To help with isolation, fear and stigma, the charity’s website has an online health hub with blogs and information on a range of issues from men’s health, diabetes, cancer, menopause, arthritis, joint problems, brain and nerve conditions amongst many more.
Discover more about Out Together via www.outtogether.lgbt or visit their trade stand (no. 318) on Fifth Avenue, near the Sheep Shearing Stage at the Great Yorkshire Show.