ONE of the organisers of the first-ever Pride festival in Tavistock has admitted it took some courage to decide to stage the event.

But Heg Brignall said the festival, scheduled for the Meadows on June 25, had received ‘overwhelming support’ from the local community.

She said the festival was aimed at providing a voice for the LGBTQ+ community in West Devon, but that anyone was welcome to turn up.

Heg said: ‘We’ve been absolutely bowled over by support from the town. When me and my partner moved to Tavistock two-and-half years ago from Bristol, I wanted to set up Tavi Pride to connect with the LGBT community.

‘We got a small group of volunteers together, held a meeting and received an outpouring of support (for Tavi Pride). People were very pleased that it was going ahead.’

She said the event, which starts 2pm, will involve and a picnic in the park with music and other family-friendly festivities followed by a parade and speeches ending in the town square at 5:30pm. Organisers hope that local pubs will want to join in and help the celebrations continue into the evening.

Heg said: ‘We don’t know what it’s going to be like in the first year we have put it on. We don’t know how many people will turn out. Thousands would be really wonderful, but we’d like to see hundreds of people there. Hopefully, it will become an annual event.’

She said organisers had been trying to get businesses involved in the festival, with some of them already agreeing to hang multi-coloured Pride flags outside their premises during the days leading up to the event.

Heg said: ‘We’ve been overwhelmed by the amount of support we’ve received in the town - in fact, we’ve been bowled over. It seems people want to see diversity.’

She added: ‘The festival is about education. You don’t have heterosexual pride because it isn’t needed. People don’t realise what gay people have to face and the bullying they have to put up with.’

Heg admitted it had taken some courage to decide to go ahead with the event and added: ‘I definitely felt cautious as a gay woman putting myself out there, but I think it’s something people need and I think minority groups need a lift.

‘We have had amazing support from the community, although there’s been or two hateful comments and there’s still a bit of discrimination. But I have to say I’m really excited about the whole thing.’

Organisers say their mission is to enable all LGBTQ+ people in Tavistock to have a voice and a place where they can celebrate who they are, to promote inclusivity and diversity in the town, to create connection, community and positivity.

They add they want to help LGBTQ+ people feel more visible as a community and to actively stand against discrimination and violence towards LGBTQ+ people.

And they want to promote the message “Love Who You Are” and to to make Tavistock a place where all sexualities and genders are accepted and celebrated.

They are also asking for who wanted to support the event to contact organisers at [email protected].

Heg said: ‘The festival is open to everyone to come along and have a good time. We want people to enjoy themselves.’