Carers at Belong Care Home share the love with residents at Pride weekend

Ahead of the Pride events in Leigh today, Wigan's Pride Festival took place in the town centre on Saturday, August 13.

Soaking in the August sunshine, carers and residents from Atherton's Belong Care Home got involved in the celebrations and flew the flag for older people in the LGBT community.

Celebrating this year's theme of sunshine, energy and vitality, the Belong party marched with the community in vibrant outfits to spread joy in the now annual tradition.

Belong Residents with support worker Abi Booth (Image: Tyldesley Library)

Coinciding with the 50th anniversary since the UK's first Pride event in 1972, care residents had prepared for the event by creating brightly coloured banners to showcase on the day.

Kim Calland, experience coordinator at Belong Atherton, said: "This year's Pride is especially important as our customers have lived through decades of law changes, evolving attitudes and eventually, acceptance of LGBT+ people in society.

"They wanted to attend the event and be part of it, so we've made that happen for them." 

Mingling with the local community, drag artists, and the council and emergency services, the Pride event was deemed a great success, which also included a special performance from 2000s pop duo, Cheeky Girls.

Emergency services getting involved in the celebrations

Kim Calland added: "We all had a wonderful time celebrating Wigan Pride again this year; it was fantastic to see so many people from different backgrounds come together.

"Inclusivity, diversity and individuality are very important to us at Belong and this was a perfect opportunity to celebrate our values with the Wigan LGBT+ community."

Leigh Pride will take place today (Saturday, August 20), with music and community events hosted at Spinners Mill.