Town celebrates first ever Pride festival

Ulverston town centre was lined with stalls and a stage for the performances

A town is hosting its first ever Pride festival.

Ulverston Pride put on a series of performances and family activities in the Cumbrian town to celebrate the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

Several shops in the town decorated their fronts with pride colours in preparation, and stalls by services like Cumbria Police and St John Ambulance were in attendance.

Drag queen Patty Dale, who hosted the stage, said: "Many people think in Ulverston the LGBT community is quite small or it's non-existent but they're wrong."

The performer from Ulverston, added: "We have a huge [LGBT] community in Ulverston, let's celebrate everybody."

A stage was set up at the Market Cross, with performances scheduled from 10:00 to 17:00 BST.

Evening entertainment, including dancing and comedy performances, is also scheduled.

Drag queen Patty Dale opened the event with the Ulverston Town Mayor and local MP Michelle Scrogham

Patty Dale said his scheduled work hours were from 10:00 to 03:00 the next day.

"I love it, this is my day job, this is why I do my job."

He said it felt like "the whole town" was taking part in the festival.

"Bright colours, loads of people, everyone's spreading love, everyone's dancing, it's great.

"It's so important, especially in Cumbria when we're facing so many challenges with being recognised."

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Ulverston in Cumbria saw pride decorations go up around the town centre

Organisers said the idea to host a Pride festival came from a community group.

Ulverston Pride Community Group have online and weekly meetings to help members have a "safe place for finding partnerships, companionship and advice".

Director of the festival Alasdair Wilkinson-Marsh said: "A good first half of the performers on stage are members of the community group themselves, so it's not about getting big names in, it's about letting them have their space on the stage."