A highlight of the city’s calendar, Northern Pride 2025 took place over Saturday 19th – Sunday 20th July. As in previous years, it was a slightly damp affair, although unlike in previous years, the location was Newcastle City Centre rather than the Town Moor and Exhibition Park. Also unlike previous years, we were marching down John Dobson Street due to the rather large holes littering Northumberland Street. Before all that, though, it was time for the traditional Pride Prayer Service led by Rev. Kai Millar at St James’ URC church, for which we were happy to be joined by Rev. Tom McCready and Brigitte McCready from Doncaster Unitarians. Jane Simpson from our congregation was among the readers during a powerful and uplifting service, ending with a Glitter Blessing and some excellent singing! And followed by some cake and buns.

After that, it was time to start the march! Unfortunately, it was also time to start the downpour, but no-one let that put them off. Having collected the flag and flagpole, I headed over to the Civic Centre to join the Pride march gathering on Ceremonial Way. Whilst there are no official sections in the march, it’s not uncommon for similar organisations to gather together, so I joined St James URC, Northern Lights MCC, and various other inclusive-minded churches to wave our banners and wait for the start. Finally, we were off, possibly to the relief of the person behind me; our flag is over a metre long, and whilst the flag pole is 3m long, if you’re not careful with the angle you can end up with the person behind you inadvertantly wearing the flag!

We marched down John Dobson Street with the brass band playing, whistles blowing, and music blasting from the truck parked by the YWCA. Tenants of Princess Square hung rainbow flags from their windows, and people nearby waved from their windows as we passed! It might not have been as crazy as Newcastle United’s Carabao Cup parade, but the city turned out despite the weather. It was a joyous and somehow very British event, capped off by a lively performance by Drumdin troupe at the Civic Centre as we reached the end of the march. Here’s our photos!

And here are Drumdin performing at the Civic Centre at the end of the march: