Chichester to get its very first Pride parade in historic moment for the city

Chichester Pride is promising seven hours of fun and frolics as it returns to the city for its third edition on the leafy green front lawn at Chichester College between 12 and 7pm on Saturday, May 25. But for the first time ever, it will be preceded by a parade, confirms Stuart Burrows, one of the team of volunteers looking forward to delivering a special and inclusive day for the LGBT+ community and all their family and friends – and all their straight allies as well. The addition of the parade was always the intention, Stuart said.

“We have been running Chichester Pride for three years in the city. Having had two very successful family-friendly festivals we thought it was the right time this year, having developed it all into good position, to add a Pride parade which is so often a key component of Pride. We just wanted to establish it first. We are just a small organising committee putting on Chichester Pride for more than a thousand people and we wanted to make sure that we got that right first before thinking about the parade.“The point of the parade is to ensure the visibility of the LBGT+ community in the city. Our first two years have taken place at Chichester College and they have been incredibly supportive but Chichester College is slightly on the outskirts of the city and we were concerned that it's not a very central location and that it is possible people didn't realise that Chichester Pride existed let alone that it was a successful family friendly event and open to all. We have improved our visibility over the first two years and now it's time for the parade in our third year. The parade allows us to bring in organisations that may not have been part of Chichester Pride before but who are keen to march with us.”

For this first year the plan is to keep it “short and sweet”, Stuart says, with the parade itself this year an invitation-only event for perhaps 200-250 participants: “But it will be noisy and colourful and what we really want the public to do is to line the streets as it goes by. We want everyone to come and support us and be as colourful as they possibly can.”

The hope is to extend the parade in size and also to extend the route in years to come: “The route at the moment is that the parade will leave from Priory Park on Saturday, May 25 at 10.30 and it will parade along Guildhall Street and then turn left down North Street towards the Market Cross. It will then sweep around the Market Cross and will finish outside the cathedral when there be a couple of speeches and then it will disperse.” The hope in future is that it will continue to the College, a route that clearly would involve a partial closure of the ring road which was too much to contemplate in the first year: “The idea is to make sure that it is done properly and that everyone feels safe and included. It is a bit of a trial but we've had huge support from the City Council and the District Council and West Sussex County Council in terms of organisation. Everybody has been really helpful.”

The parade will disperse bang on 11.30. The parade will be moving for about 45 minutes prior to the speeches. It will be led by the Big Noise Samba Band and will include Chichester University, Chichester College, the LGBTQ+ drop-in group, CAOS Musical Productions etc.

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