BBC News Covers The UK's First National Pride March Being Recreated

The UK’s first ever National Pride took place in Huddersfield on 4th July 1981. To mark the forty-first anniversary, an immersive theatre event called “The Day The World Came To Huddersfield” restaged the Pride march in Huddersfield Town Centre. Actors joined their audience to become the protesters, shouting slogans and waving placards and banners. As the march progressed, the actors told the stories of the people who marched that day.

Inkbrew Productions, OUTing the Past’s production partner, have commissioned the 10 monologues that make up the show to capture the story of the Pride 1981 march based on startling characters and compelling histories that they’ve unearthed for the first time. The monologues are written by award-winning playwrights Stephen M Hornby, Abi Hynes, Peter Scott-Presland (who was on the original Pride 1981 march) and Hayden Sugden.

BBC News reported on the recreation on their website and BBC Radio 5 Live interviewed two of the writers about the work and the experience of being a part of the project.

The street performance recreating the original march assembled in the courtyard outside the Lawrence Batley Theatre at 2.00pm on Saturday 2nd July. The circular route through the town centre included parts of the original Pride 1981 march route. That march set off from the Huddersfield Town AFC ground and the football club was represented on the march by Terriers Together.

The project is funded by the Arts Council of England, Kirklees Council and LGBT+ History Month UK. There are several different strands to it which you read about on other blogs on this site, including archive work with West Yorkshire Archive Service and new portrait exhibition from Ajamu X.