Article: published on 21 March 2024

The organisers of Chippenham Pride say they want to build on the success of the event's debut in 2023.

Almost 5,000 people attended the celebrations in Monkton Park, and this year's festival will take place on 15 June.

The free event costs £30,000 to run, and to date £27,000 has been raised.

This year there will be entertainment, education and cabaret stages.

Penny MacDivitt, 44, chair of Chippenham Pride and said she was surprised by the success of last year's event.

"Having never done it before, we guessed that maybe about 100 people [would attend], but we had nearly five thousand."

She added: "It was pretty awesome. The feedback [we had] from families saying how the whole town, regardless of gender, age and sexuality felt really included.

"Although I know it's a LGBTQ+ event for me it was always about the entire community - bringing everybody together."

The event's main sponsor is Good Energy and so far £27,000 has been raised.

Mrs MacDivitt said: "The entire event costs £30,000 so we're looking for those extra couple of sponsors, and we also need volunteers."

Chippenham's youngest elected mayor and the first to be openly gay, Declan Baseley, said it was a coincidence that his first year in the role coincided with the first Chippenham Pride event.

He said: "It's a complete coincidence but it's extremely heartwarming for me to be in that position during that time, I think it's quite fitting."

Mr Baseley, 28, said: "For me pride's always been a celebration of identity, about expression of the self and being a safe place for people to become who they are and shout about who they are.

"For decades it was a protest to try and get civil rights, to try and be recognised as a legitimate group in society and earn the same rights everyone else has."

He said the Chippenham event is now a "celebratory" way of marking how "everyone wants to celebrate people's identities and share in that happiness".