The sun was out and although there were no weather-related rainbows, Firstsite in Colchester was full of rainbow Pride!

A massive welcome to Hazel and well done on your first GoodGym task! Hazel got stuck in with helping sell tickets at the door while Louise went to marshal and the fabulous Pride parade and then came back to scan tickets. Meanwhile Tav and I were on litter picking duty.

As usual the event was great fun with lots of food, music, performers, acceptance and love!

A great day we were proud to be part of.

Hot weather, poetry, dancing, Shakespeare, bands, stalls, food, drinks...and lots of positive messages of equality and inclusion...

Every year there are a few events in Colchester that do make me feel proud (as well as over 50 Goodgym events of course). The running events go down pretty well with people achieving physical feats often to fund-raise or raise awareness of an issue, a few years back the Black Lives Matter demonstration was passionate and well planned and Pride has been a great family event.

What this year made me think about was the phrase "they live amongst us". What do you think of when those words are uttered? Aliens? Many of the stalls are designed to show people about acceptance and to breakdown stereotypes. Proud Police for example as well as the local political parties may focus on their day jobs 99% of the time but occasionally show that they have overcome prejudice to get where they are...and future generations shouldn't have to go through that...

The after party at Coda was fun and JamJar Band smased it!

Twas a pleasant Essex day on the lawn of Firstsite. Three Goodgym people put their kit in to help out.

We helped with bunting repairs, litter picking, smoothie making (via the power of a bike hooked up to a blender) and generally enjoyed the atmosphere and food.

It was great to see that the Mayor and Mayoress had bought together Cycling and clean air projects, Indian and Sri Lankan foods with Colchester Pride adding even more colour to the festival - you could even meet the police, fire service and get a covid vaccine!

Great event...well done all.

Just a little look around ahead of tomorrows volunteering.

Met the Mayor but also made friends with ducks, rockstar chickens, a lamb and Pygmy goats!