This year’s Pride in Surrey marks the 5th anniversary of the event and takes place on 21st September in Guildford. The event will span throughout the day with a Parade through town and a park festival, celebrating Surrey’s LGBTQ+ community and showcasing its talent and joy. The Parade begins the day with a procession through Guildford High Street, before arriving in Stoke Park, where this year’s park event takes place.

It has been a difficult week for us all following the news of the charges made against two former Pride in Surrey volunteers. Conversations have taken place between Pride in Surrey, Guildford Borough Council and other stakeholders about how the organisation, and this year’s Pride in Surrey event, go forward. Following these discussions, we have decided that this year’s Pride in Surrey event will go ahead on Saturday 21 September. Alongside our usual steps to safeguard our event, we are taking extra measures to ensure event-goers are protected. In particular, we have arranged for additional security around the event site. In previous years, our security have done an amazing job at ensuring our visitors have been safe, and this extra precaution will ensure that work will continue this year. Pride in Surrey marks an important date for Surrey’s LGBTQ+ community, acting as an opportunity for people to be themselves unashamedly and to call for the extension and protection of LGBTQ+ rights, which are under constant attack. To cancel an event that means so much to people would allow those who would weaken our community to win. We understand that many who have worked with us and attended our events over the years may feel uncomfortable attending this year’s event - we understand this. We hope to rebuild the trust that many have placed in us and will continue working to make Surrey a better place for LGBTQ+ people. We have been overwhelmed by the support we have received and would like to thank organisations and individuals who have reached out to us as allies. With a month until our event, we look forward to sharing more details about our plans for our upcoming event and we are continuing the hard work to ensure our visitors can come together for a welcoming, and most importantly, safe day.

Conservatives:

Surrey is celebrating Pride Month with a variety of events and activities all over the county... from open mic nights to creative workshops to social groups, there is something for everyone to get involved in.

Pride in Surrey are excited to announce that they will be partnering with The Fallen Angel, Guildford’s only cocktail and cabaret bar, to bring the first cabaret stage to a Pride in Surrey event. Bringing comedy, outrage and amusement to Guildford every week with their fabulous cabaret nights, the award-winning Fallen Angel bar has been host to a range of queer talent since it opened in 2022. As an LGBTQ+-friendly venue, the bar has brought joy to Guildford’s local community with its welcoming, yet always daring attitude. Charlie Watts, Pride in Surrey’s Chief Executive: “We are thrilled to be partnering with such an inclusive venue, and we know the Fallen Angel’s cabaret tent will add yet another amazing element to our event in Stoke Park this September. As Pride in Surrey grows, it is great that we can continue to introduce new and exciting things that we hope Surrey’s LGBTQ+ community will love!” The cabaret tent joins the Pride in Surrey main stage in hosting a wide range of talent from Surrey and beyond, bringing beloved names as well as celebrating local talent. On top of the incredible acts, this year’s event features a huge variety of food and drink, stalls from local businesses and charities, as well as a funfair. Tickets for this year’s event are available here!

Pride in Surrey are excited to announce that this year’s Pride event will be taking place in Stoke Park, Guildford on Saturday 21st September. This year marks the fifth anniversary since Pride in Surrey’s very first Pride event in Woking back in 2019. Pride has come a long way in last five years, bringing annual events around the county, growing the event with every town visited. It's an exciting opportunity to bring the LGBTQ+ event to Guildford town for the first time. Pride in Surrey were in a fortunate position to be able to open a bidding process for the first time this year, after receiving a number of requests from different councils to bring Pride in Surrey to their towns. Charlie Watts, Chief Executive: "After much deliberation, we have decided that Guildford would be a great fit for our 2024 event. Pride in Surrey would like to thank all the councils who reached out to put themselves forward to host our event. I am so thrilled that we will be bringing Pride in Surrey to Guildford this year. It is a truly wonderful town and Stoke Park will make for a beautiful location for our event. Being the 5th anniversary of our first event, we hope to make this year’s event our biggest yet and encourage the people and organisations of Surrey to get involved to celebrate our community.” Cllr Julia McShane, Leader of the Council: “I am delighted that we have been able to work to bring Pride in Surrey to Guildford for its fifth anniversary year. Having attended a few of their celebrations around Surrey I know how valuable it will be for our LGBTQ+ communities to be seen, heard and celebrated here in Guildford. We very much look forward to 21st September and welcoming everyone to what will be a very colourful event in Stoke Park.” As in previous years, Pride in Surrey’s event will commence with a parade through Guildford town towards Stoke Park. The day itself will bring Stoke Park alive with a whole host of live music, highlighting amazing talent from Surrey and beyond, as well as food and drink, outreach stalls and much more. Cllr Catherine Houston, Portfolio Holder, Commercial Services: “Bringing Pride in Surrey to Guildford, the heart of Surrey, is incredibly exciting. On 21st September our town will be buzzing with colour, laughter and joy. It is important to let our LGBTQ+ communities know that they are valued and supported and this event reflects this message loud and clear. Additionally, we know that host towns are always thrilled with the effect that Pride in Surrey brings to their local economy and so we look forward to the financial boost Pride will bring to our local businesses, large and small.” The Pride in Surrey team are gearing up to share more details about this year’s event in the coming weeks. Tickets for the September event are now available via the Pride in Surrey website and are offered on a 'pay what you can basis' keeping Pride accessible for as many people as possible.

Pride in Surrey are thrilled to be included in the annual Kelly's Guildford 10K and 5K charity run raising funds for Pride in Surrey, organised in partnership with the University of Surrey Students' Union taking place in LGBT History Month.

For the first time, Pride in Surrey have opened a bidding process for Borough Councils to enter to host the 2024 event in their own towns. This year Pride was held in Reigate on September 9th and each year the event that attracts thousands of visitors moves around the county. The 2024 event will mark the organisations’ fifth Pride event. Charlie Watts, Pride in Surrey Chief Executive says, “Reigate this year was a huge success, it enabled us to grow our event and reach out to a different area of Surrey, each year we are getting bigger and bigger, and we already have the ball rolling for the next Pride”. Straight after Reigate, Pride received requests from three Surrey borough’s requesting Pride to be hosted in their towns. Because of this, Pride in Surrey have decided to open an official bidding process for Pride 2024, and if needed, Pride 2025. Charlie also said, “This is the first time we have been in this situation, but it’s great to see councils’ activity seeking to host Pride in their boroughs”. Pride in Surrey aims to announce the location of Pride 2024 before Christmas. For more Information on Pride 2024 and the bidding process, please click here.

Pride in Surrey are delighted to announce that this year's main Pride event will feature two full size stages for the first time. The new second stage will be a community stage, operated by our friends at Trans Radio UK. Trans Radio UK are based in Surrey and are the only trans radio station in the UK. The vast majority of their presenters and team are trans or non-binary and although predominately UK-based, members of their team are located around the world. They are a community radio station run by the community, for the community. "Trans Radio UK are excited to return to Pride in Surrey and this year we will be hosting the community stage for the first time. We have lined up some amazing people who will be performing as well as a couple of our own DJs. Some of our TRUK family will also be there managing our stall so come and say hello!" Lucy & Avril, founders of TRUK The whole community stage will be broadcast live on Trans Radio UK from midday until 7pm. The full event line-ups will be announced soon.