During the summer of 2019 Hilary Cooke CEO of Medway Gender and Sexual Diversity Centre began disussions with the Medway Pride 2019 team to discuss future plans. The result of these discussions led to the formation of a steering group to move plans forwards for a Medway Pride 2020 event.

Hilary invited Metro Charity and Intrested Parties to join the steering group. The group members are formed from the existing Medway Pride Team and representatives from LGBTQI+ organisations working in Medway & Kent.

Medway Pride Steering Steering Group Members

Chair – Hilary Cooke – CEO MGSD Centre

Member – Natasha Steer – Founder of Creatabot & lead on Medway Pride 2019 Team

Member – Martha Abernathy Member of Medway Pride 2019 Team.

Member- Mark Delacour – Director of External Affairs Metro Charity

Member – Helanna Bowler-Irvine CEO Gravesham Pride

The steering group began planning for a larger Medway Pride 2020 event #MPride2020 in August 2019.

Published: 06:00, 18 February 2020

Published: 06:00, 18 February 2020 | Updated: 20:23, 19 February 2020

Medway is to host its first LGBTQI+ Pride festival this summer with a fancy dress parade and packed programme of entertainment for the family.

Plans for the extravaganza are to be unveiled at an exhibition, entitled Outing Prejudice, at Nucleus Arts in Chatham High Street from next Friday (February 28) to Wednesday, March 4.

Organisers Hilary Cooke and Helanna Bowler-Irvine spoke to Keilan Webster at KMTV

The event on Saturday, August 22, aims to attract not only the LGBTQ+ community, but anyone who wants to celebrate diversity across the Towns.

Local talent will be showcased at Rochester Castle where there will be a grand finale. There will also be a procession from Chatham to Rochester.

The annual worldwide fiesta celebrates diversity of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBTQ+) community, but everyone is invited to join the party.

The steering group behind Medway Pride 2020 includes representation from Medway Gender and Sexual Diversity Centre, METRO charity which supports equality and identity issues and Creatabot, which uses creativity to promote health and wellbeing.

Hilary Cooke, chief executive of the MGSD Centre, said: “We look forward to continuing the positive conversations we have had with Medway Council in regards to the organisation of the event and believe that it is vital that Medway is on the map as an LGBTQ+ friendly area for all those who live here and might consider living here.”

Last year saw the largest number of Pride events throughout the world and, as a result, the idea of holding one in Medway grew.

In previous years, proposals have been scuppered because of a lack of funding, but organisers are determined that 2020 is the year that it will go ahead and are appealing for community groups and organisations to participate as well as individual sponsorship. Volunteers are also needed to help out on the day which runs from 1pm to 8pm.

Information on parade registration and how to get involved is yet to be released. To find out more visit contact us

Similar festivals are already held in Margate, Canterbury, Folkestone, Dover, Tunbridge Wells, Faversham and Sheppey with Gravesend staging its inaugural event this summer.

From Kent Messenger Published: 00:01, 04 November 2018

Medway’s first Gay Pride festival will go ahead next year, despite lack of council funding.

Organisers of the LGBT+pride event, which will include a fancy dress parade, live performances and stalls, have started a crowdfunding campaign this month.

It will be held in Rochester, based around the Castle Gardens and town centre on a Saturday in the summer.

It is being co-staged by Natasha Steer, a Chatham-based creative community arts co-ordinator, and Martha Abernathy, an American ex-pat living and working in Medway who is a trade unionist and LGBT rights campaigner.

Natasha said: “We want the first Medway Pride event to be a collaboration between services. We want it to be non-partisan but also supported by local parties and the local authority.”

Martha added: “Crowdfunding will give the LGBTQ+community and their allies in Medway the unique ability to support both the local community and the event.”

As a grassroots organisation, Medway Pride will look at various sources of funding as well as partners to be able to make the event happen.

Similar festivals have now sprung up in towns up and down the country to celebrate the culture of lesbian, bisexual, transgender and other groups.

Medway Council has said it would welcome such an event, but does not have the money to organise one itself.

Deputy leader Cllr Howard Doe (Con), speaking to members last month highlighted a series of events organised by external organisations which have benefited from support from the council.

He added: “It should be borne in mind that there is currently no provision within any existing budgets for any costs that would be incurred in hosting such an event.

“We agree that planning for a pride event should be transparent and inclusive, and would look to the organiser to be so.”

Natasha and Martha began planning for Medway Pride 2019 and started to look for funding routes. All pride events are self funded with a mixture of grant, sponsorship funding and donations raised by the community. It was never a question of asking Medway Council to fund the event, but it was paramount to its success that the council was on board with the event going ahaead.

Medway Council are very supportive of the event, they are working to help the Medway Pride team meet its requirements, supporting road closures, and facilitating meetings with Medway Events and Heritage Teams

As time went by it became apparent that more help was needed to promote and fundraise the event