A glittering line-up of famous faces will be appearing at the first ever UK-wide Silver Pride, aimed at tackling loneliness in the older LGBTQ+ community.
The FREE online event on Saturday, July 25 and Sunday, July 26 includes celebrity appearances, masterclasses, health and wellbeing sessions and live DJ sets, with guests including Miriam Margoyles, Carol Vorderman, Ru Paul’s Drag Race finalist Divina De Campo, fashion designer Ben de Lisi, BBC presenters Owain Wyn Evans and Oly Woodcock, TV personality Jsky and Gaydio DJ Jessie Brooke.
Tickets to the event, in partnership with O2, are free, with voluntary donations supporting Friends of Dorothy‘s vital tele-friending service which helps re-connect older people in the LGBTQ+ community.
Renowned playwright and famed Talking Heads writer Alan Bennett is patron of the Leeds and Manchester-based charity Friends of Dorothy, which has organised the Silver Pride event.
Alan said: ‘I’m incredibly proud to be a patron of Friends of Dorothy. I usually decline such requests – I am getting on after all – but I couldn’t say no to this. Simply, it’s too good a cause, born from kindness and enthusiasm, and in response to a very real need among older LGBTQ+ people.
‘The Silver Pride event is a fantastic initiative and reflects the charity’s ethos of bringing more comfort, connection and company to the lives of the older LGBTQ+ community.
‘The road, yellow-brick or otherwise, may be long, but with the right company, the journey isn’t so bad.’
Craig Burton, Silver Pride organiser and founder of Friends of Dorothy, said: ‘The support we’ve had for the first ever Silver Pride event has been overwhelming, and we’re thrilled to offer such a wonderful line-up for the inaugural event.
‘Any voluntary donations will go towards our vital tele-friending service, which is a lifeline for older people in the LGBTQ+ community, who are twice as likely to live alone, and six times more likely to suffer from mental health issues.
‘A sense of belonging is the opposite of loneliness, and this important inter-generational outreach offers a friendly voice to those who need it. It might just be that they want someone to talk to, or they might need to discuss more serious issues – whatever it is, we want them to know we are here for them.’
For tickets and more information about Silver Pride, visit their website
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