There were smiles and splashes of colour as hundreds of people braved the heat to take part in Swale Pride 2019 yesterday.

Both members of the local community and visitors arrived to take part in the parade through Faversham.

The day aims to allow members and allies of the LGBTQ+ community to come together to celebrate pride in a safe and fun environment

This is one of two events in the town, with Faversham Pride held in June.

But this was the first time Swale Pride has been held in the town and Lisa Pullen, one of the founding members of the event, was overjoyed with how the day went.

She said: "We think that it went really well, we were a bit surprised about how big the crowds were.

"The weather was swelteringly hot but that didn't stop anyone having a fantastic time.

It is thought that around 700 people went through the gates to enjoy the live music and entertainment at Faversham Football Club later that evening.

Around 70% of the acts who performed were from the LGBTQ+ community, and most were from Kent.

Lisa said: "We are extremely proud of the fact that our acts were mostly from the local area and from our community. The majority of them gave up their time for free so we are very grateful."

She continued: "We want to say a massive thank you to Faversham FC, who really helped us out when we needed it after our first venue fell through.

"We also owe a lot to Shane Horton from The Corner Tap, for all his help in coordinating all of the businesses in the town centre.

"Thanks also to our sponsors, and of course we owe so much to our volunteer team who gave up so much time and effort

Lisa is keen to build off the experience and use lessons the team have learned.

She said: "Something I do want to emphasise is that as this was our first event, we are obviously in a learning curve, and we've been taking all our feedback on board, both positive and negative.

"There was some feedback from local residents about the noise levels, so we have listened to that and will work on it for next year's event."

You can see a gallery with more pictures from the event below. There will also be more photos in a full pictures spread in this week's Faversham News.

Gallery1

*An earlier version of this story said this was the first pride event in the town. This is not the case and Faversham Pride will return for the third time on June 27, 2020.

For upcoming pride dates including the first ever Dover pride, click here.

Read more: All the latest news from Faversham