Swindon & Wiltshire Pride Calls For Volunteers
Last year’s Swindon and Wiltshire Pride event saw 10,000 people fill the Old Town Gardens with colour, but this year’s event could face difficulties.
The charity now needs a chairperson, parade manager, events manager, volunteer manager, social media manager and trustee following several volunteers stepping back following last year’s return following the COVID outbreak.
The organisation is now in a race against time to fill those positions ahead of this year’s proposed event taking place in the Summer to ensure that it can go ahead as fully planned.
Community engagement officer Phoenix Stewart has now issued a call-to-arms to the Swindon & Wiltshire community to get on board and help run this years’ event, making an announcement on Facebook.
“We are working hard to plan Swindon and Wiltshire Pride 2022 but without volunteers to take on key committee roles within our charity, this process becomes a lot more challenging, Without that support we would not be able to put on the normal Pride event that we have come to expect and love. Covid continues to make things challenging and this seems to have affected people wanting to volunteer. WE NEED the support of the LGBTQIA+ community and allies to continue what we do.”
Phoenix was keen to stress that the event would not at risk of cancellation if no-one comes forward, but explained that it might have to be scaled back.
” We ideally need people to come on board as soon as possible to make sure we’ve got enough time to put things in place. But we do have a Plan B or Plan C, if that doesn’t happen, where this year’s Pride could be smaller or a different thing altogether. This would be a shame because we have everything in place to do this year’s event properly, we’ve got a date, the Town Gardens is an amazing venue and they’re happy to have us back, Nationwide are a great sponsor and financially the charity is actually in a comfortable place. “All we need is people to volunteer to help make it happen.”
Last year’s event, which saw crowds flock to see East17 perform, was a resounding success thanks to the hard work and dedication of the Swindon and Wiltshire Pride committee.
More information can be found on the Swindon & Wiltshire Pride Website
