Dereham Does Pride scraps its parade over lack of support

Dereham Does Pride held its inaugural march in July but will not be returning next summer because it has struggled to find enough volunteers.

Kerry King, who was a co-chairwoman of the event, also claimed Pride events in the county had "taken a bit of a lashing" recently and were not receiving enough support.

"It's really hard to get volunteers who are willing to commit to the whole process and so we are really left with no choice," she said.

The Dereham Does Pride event last year was attended by more than 800 people (Image: Anthony Harris)

"We were also planning a fundraising ball for February but have had to cancel that too."

Mrs King, who runs Rainbow Assured, a company offering training for businesses to "educate them to be more LGBTQ+ aware", also added: "I think Pride in Norfolk is taking a bit of a lashing at the moment.

"It's not being supported," she said. "Clear homophobia and transphobia is going unchecked on social media."

The organisers had wanted to use the Dereham parade to encourage people to "educate themselves" about pronoun uses and gender identities, as well as promote trans causes.

When the event was launched, Mrs King explained its success would be judged by the way it got councillors and the community involved.

"Dereham has, in the past, been quite a conservative area," she said at the time.

"Certainly they've voted that way politically but the Conservative government is not always the most supportive to our cause.

"Until I see our councillors and councils working for our community as a whole, Pride will always be necessary."

When outlining reasons why Dereham should get behind a Pride event, before it launched, she said locals should "lend their voice to petitions to ban trans conversion therapy, educate themselves on pronouns and gender identities" and "dismiss negativity around different sexualities".

The demise of the event has disappointed councillors.

Alison Webb, Linda Monument and William Richmond, ward members for Dereham Neatherd, said: "Events like this one bring together members of our communities, so it is such a shame when they have to be cancelled.

"They often rely heavily on local people volunteering their time and energy to make them happen, so we urge residents to look out for opportunities to get involved in events and organisations that are close to their hearts."

Ray O'Callaghan, deputy mayor of the town, said: "Pride brought together so many threads towards understanding, fun and merriment.

"It's all voluntary and takes an incredible amount of hard work and dedicated effort to carry the event off.

"Hopefully pride will return with a bang in 2026."