Thousands gather to celebrate West Norfolk’s LGBTQ+ community for town’s ‘biggest Pride yet’

Love was all around as thousands of people celebrated Pride in Lynn at the weekend.

The event started with music from the local radio station KL1 Radio on The Tuesday Market Place.

Saturday, which marked the fourth King’s Lynn and West Norfolk Pride event since its launch in 2018, saw a parade through the town of people dressed in rainbow colours – representing the Pride flag – and some carried banners and placards with supportive or rallying messages.

This was followed by the Party in the Park at The Walks, with stalls from local businesses, organisations and charities, as well as funfair attractions and live music from the Marham Military Wives Choir, Big Summer Blowout, Soul Sisters.

Organisers hailed the event as their “biggest yet” and thanked guests for supporting their message of “love, freedom and equality”.

“An incredible turnout for our parade today and Pride in the Park has just welcomed our last music act on stage before the Bar One Hundred disco takes over,” they said in a post on Facebook.

 

“King’s Lynn’s fourth parade since 2018 and our biggest yet!

“Thank you for being a part of our message of love, freedom and equality.”

The Party in the Park was once again hosted by Norfolk drag queen and entertainer Titania Trust, who told the crowds that the volunteers “work all year round” to put on the event.

“Believe it from my experience, it’s hard work organising a parade because not everyone wants a Pride in their town, not everyone wants a Pride here in West Norfolk, but this lot make sure there is one for all of you to enjoy,” she said.

“Pride isn’t just about us right now, it’s about everybody around the world in solidarity, where it’s still illegal to be gay in some countries, where in some countries some people have no rights, where there’s violence or aggression.

 

“And even in this country there are people who don’t like anyone who is LGBTQ+ or who identify as anything, and we are here to show them we are here and we are proud.”

Meanwhile, vice-chair of the Pride committee Josh Elms said: “While we are here to have a party, it is really important to remind ourselves why we are here and why Pride matters.

“There is a dark climate in our country at the moment for queer people, so make sure you are checking in on your queer friends, make sure you are making your spaces as welcoming and as inclusive as possible.

“And we will keep trying to do this, we can do more work in the community to make West Norfolk more friendly towards our community as we possibly can be, because we’re here, we’re queer – it’s time for the rest of West Norfolk to get used to it.”

There was support throughout the community over the weekend, which included a rainbow parkrun at The Walks earlier in the day and Pride-themed drinks were offered at Lynn’s newly-reopened Lattice House pub.

Staff from Lynn’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital, police officers and protestors from Extinction Rebellion were among those who showed their support during the event.

“Pride is a protest, and we marched yesterday as queer people and in solidarity,” a post on the Extinction Rebellion King’s Lynn and West Norfolk page said.

Among those to support Pride was housing developer Lovell, which stepped in to help ensure the celebrations went ahead with a donation towards the organisers’ fundraising target.

The event had been in danger of cancellation if the organisers had been unable to cover the costs through donations or sponsorship, so Lovell stepped in with a £1,500 donation.

 

Simon Medler, managing director of Lovell in East Anglia, said: “King’s Lynn Pride had announced that this year’s event was under threat and, without a corporate sponsor, had set up an online fundraising page to save the event from being postponed.

 

“As a developer with very close ties to King’s Lynn, we were very keen to support Pride and we hope that our donation will go a long way towards keeping the event alive this year.”

Francis Bone, Pride secretary, said: “We are thrilled to have the leading developer of the borough sponsor our local pride event, and that sponsorship couldn’t have come at a better time.”

Do you have a story for the Lynn News? Email newsdesk@lynnnews.co.uk

---

---