Pride in the Moorlands - a Civic Success
- 18 minutes ago
- 5 min read
Sunday, 28th of June, saw supporters of the Moorlands LGBTQ+ community gather in Leek for a colourful and reasonably loud celebration called Pride in the Moorlands. It was the culmination of months of hard work and two previous days of activities across the Moorlands.
The torch arrived in Leek - its final destination, having travelled from Flash via Cheadle and Endon. The torch is significant because not only does it symbolise a beacon of hope, but also a coming together of Moorlands communities to support one another.
This was a lovely community event with dancers, a market space, and some shops - including the indoor market offering pride merch to top off any outfit, along with both indoor and outdoor activities too.
Shopkeepers and visitors told us they had really enjoyed the day and felt it was wonderful to have something so upbeat in the town. Companies, charities, and other organisations, including The Green Party & the Labour Party, hosted stands to show support, and one of our favourites was that of the National Trust in the Peak District, who were completing a small but significant Chain of Hope. They had asked visitors to their stand to write a message of hope on a colourful strip of card, and each strip was added to another to build a chain of hopeful words from anyone who wanted to send a message to other visitors. Emma covers the whole of the Peak District and is based at Illam where they have a White Peak vision for people and nature to thrive together - just 25 minutes from Leek. They are hoping to work with transport groups to get more people out to the Peak.
The Programme...
Meet the Team from the Last Bank Standing:
Leek Co-operative Bank
We met with Kelly from the Co-operative Bank in Leek just around the corner from their stand. Kelly told us why being at community events was so important to them.
Kelly explained that she'd been with the bank for 15 years and works as a customer services officer, very much helping in the local community. She told us that they are the only bank left on the High Street now and that they have a lot of people who still want face-to-face banking, so it's really important that the Co-op looks after them. Staff like Kelly are there to help, opening accounts and everything they need: "A lot of people, of all ages, come in, especially younger people, and they look after the older and vulnerable residents too. They are there for everyone, trying to be the friendly face of banking."
The Co-op ladies were all donning "Marching towards equality since 1872" t-shirts. It's more than one pride weekend. The Co-op is an ethical bank and supports lots of different types of events. They were all delighted to be a part of Pride in the Moorlands and described it as an amazing event with a great turnout of local people, and it's really important to the team that they support the event to grow each year, promising even more glitter and more elaborate costumes in the future.
I promised to pop in and see them when I find myself struggling with the online banking or am just nearby. Like many people locally, I can see the value in having a local friendly face of finance, and I'm very likely to see them out and about supporting the local community too.
Leek Hockey Club - A Club for Everyone
Hazel from Leek Hockey Club spoke with us about their presence at this year's Pride Event. Hazel told us that she organizes all the events and fun days at the Club and that they are officially a charity. "We provide hockey facilities for over 300 members," said Hazel. "We've got 4 ladies' teams, 6 men's teams, 2 badgers' teams - that play on it every Saturday in the season and juniors from age 4 upwards."
"We also raise a lot of money for other charities. Last year, we raised £10,000 for a specialist piece of equipment at Royal Stoke, and we're a real community club. In less than a year, we'd raised the funds for the equipment - as well as keeping ourselves very financially sound. There's not a lot of funding out there for clubs at all, so we do incredibly well. We own our own clubhouse, we own our own pitch, and we are very much a club for all. We just thought that we had to come to Pride in the Moorlands and just show that hockey is for everybody."
The club had a very colorful stand, and Hazel told us that the flags will go in the clubhouse afterwards and that they had taken part in the parade. "One of the biggest things we do is we've got a fantastic junior section, and we create our own players through picking them up as kids and letting any child know that they're welcome and they're safe with us. We have now built such a club that our men have just been promoted to the 2nd highest league in the country. A lot of people locally probably wouldn't realise the levels that we're competing at."
Hazel told us that if anyone is interested in hockey, this time of year is a really good time to start because they are just about to head into their preseason. This means they have lots of sessions for someone who hasn't picked a stick up ever or in years past. They have a lot of people starting in their 40s and 50s who have never picked a stick up before. Their website: leekhockey.co.uk/
It has a lot of information on there, and if you ping them a message, there's always somebody who will have a chat because there will be someone within our committee who has been in exactly the same place.
They have people who just want to come along and be part of the club - you don't even have to play. They hold a beer festival every year, and lots of events. It's just a wonderful place to be and particularly a wonderful place for children to grow up, learning to play sport. The ethos is very much respect on the pitch; things aren't tolerated as much as they are perhaps in other sports in terms of your respect. You look after everybody, you look after your teammates, you look after the opposition.
Hazel told us about her own experience at the club. "It's given me so many opportunities, just in life, friendships, sports, you name it, it ticks all the boxes."
From the Organisers
OUTSIDE would like to thank everyone who attended and all of the organizations that helped make the weekend possible: Coliberate, Heard Storytelling, Co-op Leek, Leek College, Arts Council England, Alton Towers, Morrisons Leek, The Co-operative Bank, Ornua Foods, Your Housing Group, The Peak Climbing School, Staffordshire Moorlands District Council, Support Staffordshire, PH Production Services Ltd, Community Foundation for Staffordshire, Foxlowe Arts Centre, and Leek Town Council.
Pride in the Moorlands brought communities together across the Staffordshire Moorlands from 26–28 June, culminating in a vibrant day of celebration in Leek featuring a parade, live performances, creative activities, and community events.
The three-day celebration welcomed more than 3,000 visitors to 16 events and activities across the Moorlands, celebrating local LGBTQ+ communities and allies. The event was made possible with the support of 29 volunteers.
We spoke with community portfolio holder Bill Cawley, who told us he'd enjoyed the day and that the event sends a clear message that Staffordshire Moorlands is an inclusive place.
COGNEWS would like to thank everyone who worked so hard to put the event together, especially all the team from Outside who produced a well-organised and joyful 3 days of activities.
Pride in the Moorlands - A Civic Success
