Reading Pride 2014

Reading Pride 2014

August 30, 2014

Reading Pride – Reading, England

The eleventh Reading Pride Festival takes place on Saturday 30th August 2014 at Kings Meadow Park. The Festival kicks off when the Parade arrives at 12pm with a full line-up of entertainment through to 7pm along with a Fun Fair, Youth Zone, a wide range of food & drink including a new mini Beer & Cider Festival, and a wide range of marketstalls.

This year’s Pride theme is Musicals which will be inspiring aspects of the Festival as well as some of our on-stage performers!

Reading Pride was formed in 2003 by a small group of committed LGBT+ people in Reading as an opportunity to celebrate the best of their community and to promote the ideals of equality and diversity in the Thames Valley and beyond. In the last ten years there have been many advances, however LGBT+ people still face many hurdles – in addition to our annual Parade and Festival we aim to promote and support the work of organisations providing advice, support and social activities for LGBT+ people, re-investing all proceeds from our activities to support these organisations in their year-round work.

Since the first Reading Pride festival in 2003 attendance has grown steadily year on year. In the festival’s inaugural year, there were 2,500 visitors; in 2013 numbers grew to 5,000 on the festival site at one time with over and above 10,000 people visiting the event throughout the day including over 300 participating in the parade.

Mission Statement

At Reading Pride, the aims of our charity are to promote equality and diversity, advance education and eliminate discrimination in relation to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) people. We work for the benefit of the community in Reading and around the Thames Valley. The purpose of Reading Pride is to raise awareness on issues affecting LGBT persons, by staging an annual festival.

We also support other charitable and voluntary organisations within the community throughout the year, developing an environment in favour of LGBT equality by providing information, advice and support.