Thousands turn out for second year of Chase Pride event

The Hednesford Park event, which was attended by around 4,800 people, kicked off on Friday with a movie night, which saw attendees enjoy a showing of Matilda The Musical.

A parade through the town, attended by around 350 people, marked the beginning of Saturday's celebrations, with a performance from dancers at the Crystal Academy.

A special tribute was also paid to young transgender victim, Brianna Ghey, with a stage named in her honour, which featured a number of performances including from RuPaul's Drag Race star Danny Beard.

There was also musical performances from Union J band member, Jamie Hemsley, and soul singer Angie Brown.

Meanwhile, a second stage gave local performers a chance to shine, while comedy from Queer As Joke inspired laughter among festival goers.

Festival director Kathryn Downs said that while numbers were down from last year due to the impact of the weekend's train strike, the atmosphere was still "electric".

The 43-year-old continued: "(Feedback was) overwhelmingly positive. We put a little post out on our social media yesterday on the event and the comments are just heart warming.

"Lots of people feel that we really put Hednesford on the map holding something like Pride in our little town – it gives people a sense of pride that we are such an accepting and diverse community.

"(The atmosphere) was electric. Before the parade we had music playing and you could tell the anticipation was there, and when we got under way it was fabulous.

"Numbers were slightly down on last year. We were impacted primarily on the train strike that was called, so we had quite a number of festival goers who couldn't get to us."

Kathryn, who is from Hednesford, said she is hoping the Pride event will return to the town for the third time next year.