Town praised for supporting first official Pride

A town is set to hold its first official Pride celebration after a mini-event in 2025 proved a hit.

Ross Pride Connections, the organising committee behind the Ross-on-Wye event, was formed after the mini-Pride last year, instigated by the mum of a local trans teenager, to support her son.

The march will start at the bandstand near the river at 1200 BST on Saturday and head to the Market Place, before finishing at the Hope & Anchor pub on the banks of the Wye.

Ross Town Council are on board, providing support as well as funding while businesses have been invited to enter a window display competition that will be judged by town's mayor, councillor Sarah Freer.

Members of the committee said their message was about inclusion, acceptance and love, as well as a celebration of diversity, something they admitted needed promoting in their rural Herefordshire town.

"No matter how small the town or village you live in, diversity exits... gay people are everywhere, trans people are everywhere, it just isn't as obvious as when you're in a really big city," said committee member Gigi Ermoyenous.

"I'm very, very lucky to have grown up in an incredibly supportive and understanding household.

"But I have many friends who didn't grow up in that environment.

"Being able to embrace that should be available to everyone and if it's not available at home we want to make sure that we provide a space where it is available."

With a grant from the council and the pub keen to host the celebrations, organisers said the mood had been optimistic, with a little negativity reported, as they believed the time was right for Ross to expand its involvement in the Pride movement.

Rob Sykes, 26, grew up in the market town before moving away, as he said he looked for more acceptance as a trans man, before being pleasantly surprised when he came back.

"When I was younger, growing up here, it never felt like there was much of a place to be openly or visibly queer," he said.

"I moved away to London for a few years and when I came back to Ross a couple of years ago, it was just so exciting to see that there was this Pride group starting up."

Sykes said that, as a child, he thought there was something wrong with him.

"When I was younger, I didn't know there was a word for being trans... the only language I could use to describe how I felt, was 'wrong'," he admitted.

But he added that since coming back, he could tell things have changed for the better, in his view.

"Seeing the Pride flag in the market place... it makes my heart soar. I just feel very seen in a way that I didn't think would happen in a small town like this," he said.

The chair of the organising committee, Sam Smith, said the rest of their volunteers had been amazing and they have all spent the last year working on the event, including organising several fundraisers.

"Ross Town Council have been really generous and awarded a grant as well," he explained, saying on the whole everyone had been supportive.

"It's about representation and it's about visibility," Smith said. "I think the queer community have always been in and around rural areas, we just haven't had that visibility.

"Yes, it's a minority, but that doesn't mean that your lives matter any less and it's really important to take up your space within the wider community."

The Ross Pride march will be accompanied by a Samba band, Forest Thump, with entertainment and live music continuing through the afternoon at the Hope & Anchor.

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