Members of the IW Pride Committee engaged with a large number of Island people across the last weekend at two big events to raise money for IW Pride.
The First fundraising event, held at Coburgs in Ryde, saw a packed venue play host to various Island and mainland talented performers. There were rainbow balloons, rainbow glitter beards and an energetic and fun-packed atmosphere which left a lasting impression on everyone who attended.
Peter Andrew, who performed in his role as Proud Mary, said: “The passion and energy in the room made my job a whole lot easier. I’ve had some amazing feedback and it was great to see everyone getting into the spirit and supporting what is definitely going to be one of the ‘go-to’ events of 2017.”
The event at Coburgs finished at 0200 and the next event started at 0900 at Quay Arts in Newport, meaning a lack of sleep for everyone involved! The Quay arts event enabled people of all ages to attend.
Various primary and secondary schools went along to show support for IW Pride showing a real desire to get involved in the event.
Pictured below is an amazing drawing presented to the Pride committee by Lola Parsons (Aged 8) who drew what Pride meant to her.
Numerous Dogs paid a visit during the day and this has given inspiration to a future Doggie Pride Pet event, – watch this space for details.
In all, well over 400 people engaged with IW Pride in one way or another over the weekend. This includes people who wanted to get involved in sponsorship as well as people who volunteered their skills.
John Brownscombe, Treasurer of IW Pride, said: “We are thankful to those organisations who showed a desire to support IW Pride and we look forward to working with you all. If any organisations feel that they can bring something to Pride, whether that is Money, or other forms of donations, we would be willing to talk further to you and the benefit that this could bring to your organisation.”
Both events enabled people to make donations towards the cost of staging the Summer event.
Chairman Joe Plumb, said: “We are overwhelmed by the support shown this weekend, not just from the LGBT+ community, but also the wider Island community who wanted to show their solidarity. We raised over 1200 pounds this weekend which will be vital to helping ensure we put on a safe, exciting event for the Island on Saturday July 15 in Ryde.
Whilst we are hopeful that many visitors will come to the Island for the event, we also want to encourage Islanders to be able to participate and feel that they are an important part of Pride.
I want to thank all those who donated their time or skills this weekend to help with our Launch and look forward to working with many more eager people over the coming months with lots more events being planned prior to our main event.”
To sign up for IW Pride mailing list, click here:
You must be logged in to post a comment.