ONE of the organisers of Oldham Pride has claimed this year's event currently has ‘zero funding whatsoever’ – though the council insists it has not been approached yet.
The yearly celebration of everything LGBTQ+ in the borough is due to be held on Saturday, July 23 and Sunday, July 24.
Terri Fox is the landlady of The George Tavern – one of the focal points for Oldham Pride in recent years. She helps to organise Oldham Pride.
She said: “We’re trying to get Oldham Pride off-the-ground once more as a main event, we would like to possibly have outside stages and market stalls within George Square.
“At the moment we’ve got zero funding whatsoever.
“Oldham Pride used to be on the map, but it’s not anymore.”
She added: “Last year we had a very small pride that was just within the George Pub, which was phenomenal.”
She added: “When I was young, we had four to five gay bars just within Oldham, now this is the only one left.
“Not everybody wants to congregate in the city centre constantly.”
Oldham Lib Dem Cllr Louie Hamblett, Oldham’s only openly LGBT councillor and a member of the Oldham Pride Committee, said: “[The council] used to be the main organisers, the main front people. Now they’re almost on the backstep.
“They don’t have a main involvement, they’re not the main sponsor anymore – it’s become quite a shame, to be honest.”
Cllr Hamblett shared Ms Fox’s views on the financial situation facing Pride.
He said: “We haven’t got massive amounts of money, to be honest. That’s a genuinely honest answer.”
Councillor Arooj Shah, leader of Oldham Council, however, insisted the local authority was eager to help the ‘well-established and popular event’.
She said: “Oldham Council has always been very supportive of Pride, as it lives and breathes our values as a local authority, and funding has previously been made available to support it.
“Unfortunately, due to Covid-19 restrictions, Oldham Pride has not approached the council to host an event for the last two years so no funding has been allocated.
“However, subject to approval at Cabinet later this month, funding will again be available to support Oldham Pride this year.
“We would encourage the event organisers to get in touch, so we can support them to help plan the event.”
Ms Fox thinks Manchester Pride, the charity that organises the city’s Pride festival, should also be helping Pride festivals in other parts of Greater Manchester.
She said: “I think Manchester Pride should help other smaller Pride events and help them to succeed because all the local events are pre-Manchester Pride, so obviously the local events are also advertising Manchester Pride.
“Nobody’s helping – we’re sort of brushed to the side and nobody really cares.
“I think it’s because they think we are so near to the city centre, you know, ‘what’s the point’ – I’m sure that is what is in people’s minds.”
In a statement to The Oldham Times, Manchester Pride said it was committed to providing grants to LGBTQ+ groups throughout Greater Manchester.
The organisation added that it had recently updated its grant application process – with the new policy to be finalized by the end of May this year.
The charity said: “Oldham Pride will be welcome to apply for a grant to support the organisation ahead of their upcoming celebration.
“The team at Manchester Pride has reached out to Oldham Pride directly to offer guidance and continued support throughout this process.”
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