We took Pride at Northern Pride 2023 🌈
26/07/2023
Disclaimer: The following gives an account of Tyneside & Northumberland Mind’s experience at Northern Pride 2023. This is the north easts biggest festival celebrating LGBTQIA+ people, acknowledging the need for change within society, and showcasing solitary with those part of the community. We understand attending does not fix the on-going societal barriers experienced by those who identify as part of the LGBTQIA+ community, but believe being present, supporting and advocating for change is part of the solution. It was a privilege to attend and we are proud to support every person with their mental health.
We quite literally took Pride on Saturday and attended this years Northern Pride event in Newcastle Upon Tyne. Here’s how it went.
Despite the rain, Tyneside and Northumberland Mind marched proudly with our partners Rainbow Home; a charity that supports LGBTQ+ people seeking asylum in the North East.
It was a privilege and a joy to see people in the group being able to celebrate their gender identity and sexuality freely!
Northern Pride saw people singing, whooping and dancing down Northumberland Street and Monument to a warm cheering crowd of supporters and shoppers 😊
Once at the Pride Village, the Rainbow Home group braved the mud to explore the many stalls of information, advice and free Pride goodies! The Tyneside and Northumberland Mind stall offered free wellbeing information leaflets, advice and donation based activities. The bespoke badge making proved to be very popular giving people the opportunity to express themselves and literally wear their Pride badge of honour.
In preparation for the occasion the ‘Solace project’, our weekly wellbeing group with St Vincent De Paul and Rainbow Home, made it their mission to make some paraphernalia for the event. This lead to the creation of tissue paper pom pom’s. Those that survived the rain were taken home by the artists, with others adding them to the decoration of the Wellbeing Corner constructed at St Vincent De Paul.
You can find this featured below, and will also find the heart installation too. This was created over a number of weeks for Refugee Week. People were invited to cut out an individual heart from patterned paper to add to the bigger collective heart ❤️
It was a brilliant day not eclipsed by the disastrous weather and we thank all who braved the storm and thank you for making Northern Pride as magical as it was. Find below just some the photos taken of the day.
