Stoke-on-Trent Pride 2021 Review
Purpose
The purpose of the document is identify areas of strengths and weakness from the 2021 Pride event, campaign and supporting events that occurred. The aim is to build on these strengths and develop the areas that we’re weak within the organisation.
The document is written with the purpose of improving Pride as an event and nothing else.
Audience
The document is intended as a review document for trustees and 2021 committee. It is not for public circulation. Elements of this document will form the chairman’s report that will be circulated publically after the AGM.
Weather
Wet with heavy showers. Very challenging, especially during derig. It also interfered with the band at the parade.
Fundraising
Bucket Collections
None Done
A small amount of change was raise this was collected in and paid in with the final pride takings
Arts Council
Stoke-on-Trent Pride received funding to the value of £33,069
Just Giving
No Just giving information was collected this year.
Sponsorship
Shaw and Howard £40 Amazon Smile £5 Arts Council £23,148 S-O-T Council £3,100 KP Snacks £70 VAST £3,750 Unison £670 General Donations £1,600 Totalling £32,383.00
Gate Entrance
This year the event was free to attend by visitors and businesses.
Council Funding
This year we received support and funding from 5 councillors/wards.
Council Support/donations raised £1,200
These were:-
| Abi Brown Lilian Dodd Ross Irving Shaun Pender Paul Shotton Jackie Barnes Gurmeet Singh Kallar David Williams Lesley Adams Ally Simcock Andrew Platt Melanie Baddeley Desiree Elliot Jo Woolner |
Meir Par Dresden & Florence Weston Coyney Hartshill & Bassford Fenton East Springfield & Trent Vale Bradeley & Chell Heath Chell & Stanfields Burslem Park Sandford Hill Boothen & Oakhill Abby Hulton & Townsend Meir North AbbyHulton & Townsend |
£250 £100 £100 £150 £500 £250 £250 £200 £200 £250 £50 £150 £250 £250 |
|---|---|---|
Stalls
This year there were 72 stalls that attended. No revenue was generated by the stalls as the event was free.
Newspaper
Pride was supported this year with supportive stories from the Evening Sentinel.
The Evening Sentinel stories were placed on the day of pride and Monday after Pride.
Radio
This year Pride was extensively advertised on the radio. One radio station was involved, this was:-
BBC Radio Stoke – Who provided free advertising and support on the build up to pride on the day.
Social Media/Web Platform
Facebook:-
This year we continued to grow our social media platform. At the start of 2020 we had 3,036 likes on our Facebook pages, this grew throughout the year to be 4,285.
As a result we are now able to post and reach on average over 2000 people without needing to boost promotions.
Twitter:-
Remained Stable and continued to grow to 1,417 from 841 followers, up by 220 from the previous year.
Web Platform:-
The Web platform this year was updated very late on. Unfortunately this saw a significant decrease in people using it, and added little value to the organisation the majority of interaction was done through social media.
Leaflets:-
5,000 leaflets were produced for distribution, some of these were handed out prior to the event.
Billboards/Posters
No Billboard or advertising was done other than in the newspapers or social media.
Equipment/Resources
This year saw Pride increase its infrastructure. This included the addition of generators & trailer for storage. Total spend on new infrastructure £7,325 of which £3300 was attributed to the arts council grant
All equipment has been catalogued so we now have an asset list.
All equipment is stored at Chatterley Whitfield, im also looking into getting access to the old security lodge onsite.
Pride Event
Signs
Installation occurred throughout the week before Pride by 6 persons. Installation on average took approx. 2 hours per team.
This extended from Tunstall in the North to Longton in the south. Newcastle –Under Lyme in the East to Bentlee in the West.
Derig of signage needs to be done quicker, some of these were left out for several weeks after the event..
Infrastructure collection must be better organised going forward.
Litter
Litter Management worked well. The Park was left in a relatively clean position post event. We have clearly improved on the previous year.
Litter Picks were highly effective and the same process is recommended going forward on future events.
Pride had 10 x 1500L Euro Bins placed around the park.
Stalls
There was yet again a good mixture of stalls attending pride this year.
The new layout of the stalls spanned both the top and the bottom of the park. This created a vibrant heart at Pride. It would have been enhanced if the 2[nd] stage had been used.
More food stalls were needed as there was significant queues at the ones that were there all day.
Setup/Derig
Setup for the event commenced on the Friday daytime. This was a great help in preparation.
Pride was rigged before our start time for the first time ever and opened on time due to better logistics planning.
Derig was more fraught with the weather playing a part. We did not get away from the park until 2:00am this was terrible and it was again left to the few hard-core priders and pups to get the job done. A massive thank you should be highlights to Stoke-on-Trent Pup Community (Doghouse) for setting up running and derigging pride.
Stage
Main Stage
Main Stage ran far better this year with no technical issues thanks to the return of Ozz and the use of a new stage and better generators.
Acts flowed well, and stage management (Dan Rich) kept everything running smoothly.
Stage times were constant with little technical issues, the biggest being with Lloyd Daniels and his corrupt MP3 of 54 seconds!
The main stage provided entertainment from 1pm through till 6pm in the main arena with a mixture of acts both local and international.
Live Stage
This was fraught with issues in organisation, it was left far to late to get the acts in position and though Carl tried to step in towards the end to keep it functional he was not able to get the acts needed. On the day we were left with just two acts and one of those was limited by Covid. The decision was made to pull the 2[nd] stage. This left a hole in the park and a bit of a dead space.
This stage cannot be left as an afterthought. Anyone taking on stage duties should ensure that this is used to showcase local live talent.
Fringe Tent
This was used to showcase more contemporary and edgy pride performances. Including Spoken word, poetry and pride films.
Street Performers
This was again provided by Pastiche, providing mirror man, stilt walkers and circus performers.
Group Shared Spaces
We’re not implemented this year, instead both star Marquees were erected for all to use in the main arena.
Dog House
Well received and steady stream of visitors throughout the day.
Changing facilities
No Changing facilities were provided as such, but public toilets were available for use.
Arts/Activities
Wishing tree was again successful and thanks to volunteers for assisting in setup.
Additional activates were provided by the Cultural Sisters throughout the day including costume making and the creation of our first ever float. As well as activates to engage the public.
Many thanks to Deborah for organising this.
Estimated Expenditure for Project
| Expenditure | Description | Amount £ |
|---|---|---|
| Artists Fees Stages Street Performers Brass Band Hosts Live Stage Acts Live Stream Parade Advertising Licenses |
Debs Teams Main Stage Hire Street Performers Brass Band Hosts Live Performers Online Streaming Park Parade/Floats Media & Advertising Park Licenses |
4,700 5,000 1,150 1,000 450 4,250 2,000 4,925 250 150 |
| Equipment | Infrastructure Misc Equipment |
3,300 2,300 |
| Venue & Catering | 45 | |
| Transport | Fuel | 113.14 |
| Security | Site Security | 2,062 |
| Other Expenditure (please provide details) |
Fencing Hire Toilet Hire Generators Repairs Cleaning Waste & First Aid |
872 1,000 1,725 4,506 350 924 |
| TOTAL EXPENDITURE | £45,913 |
Parade
Great to see the parade around the park. Very successful, many thanks to Deborah. Use of Quad bike and trailer to create a float
Facilities
Toilets
The number of toilets was adequate for the visitors to the park. This was increased to 20, Toilet paper levels should be checked an additional loo rolls placed regularly throughout the day.
Bars
Bar did well serving customers. Gossips new setup was very effective and provided great service.
This was provided under Prides Premise License held by Dominic Gratty.
Gazeebos
Pop up gazeebos were far quicker to setup than older pole versions. At least 4 people should be on hand to deal with this due to weights and pulling legs apart.
Star Marquee
Successful as a general shared space with tables and chairs. This was used throughout the day.
A fault was identified with the poles on the second marquee that will require rectification as part of the equipment audit.
Transport
Many thanks to Carl Gratty and Robert Mole for driving the van and being available to pick up and drop off acts throughout the day.
Radios
Call signs need to be learnt as the frequencies used are not scrambled.
Volunteers
For the most part positive reports have been received. Issues were identified with training, there was no training sessions arrange.
Team sizes restricted flexibility and members from teams were constantly being split off to perform separate takes. Recommendation is next year to operate a buddy system so that people pair up to give greater flexibility. These pairs will then report into team leaders and ultimately the Volunteer master coordinator.
When recruiting next year we must also ascertain the suitability of all volunteers and their ability to deliver what we need. People suffering disabilities should be given special dispensation to step out as required.
Was good to be able to collect volunteers at the beginning of the day to assist in setup. More needed for next year.
Teams should have identified strengths so that these can be played to. Challenges and missions should also be assigned to each teams/sub team couple.
Security
Good responses were received from security presence. Many thanks to Staffordshire police for providing these.
Security was low key but visible, CCTV was hardwired into the park giving better coverage than in previous years. ARZ was enforced in the Park
Number of Incidents:- 0 Attendance for the day:- 5,000
Gates/Entrance
Gates were open gates, however at setup people were effectively martialled to their pitch location. Andrew and Fiona manned gate A at the bottom to ensure access was available all day and were a point of contact on entrance.
Strict gating could not be performed at the event. The event this year was free to the public.
Fair Ground
Just covered costs. This was mostly due to the bad weather.
Additional Events
Financial Standings/Breakdown
Current Bank Balance £1903.58
Outstanding invoices in the region of £7,792.04
Outstanding income in the region of £9,921
Stoke-on-Trent Pride 2020/2021 Profit Loss sheet on next page
stoke-on-TrentPide finances 202012021 This docurnentcontain5Stoke-on-Trent Prides financial acrounting Moneys in outstanding £9,921.(X) Moneys Outoutstanding .792.ts1 Bank Balance £2.355.80 Total Income alreadYreIVed £32.383. Total ExpenLliture Paid £38.120.84 Overall Income £42.3. Over811 Expendrfcure £45.912.88 This gives Pride 20213 deficit of £3,608.88
General Summary
Event ran well however weather caused issues (third time in a row its rained in Hanley Park). Great improvement in most areas. Some areas need greater control to avoid falling back into bad habits.
The new park layout worked well spanning the canal.
Date for 2022 will be Saturday 18[th] June. The general feeling is 3[rd] weekend in June to capture student population.
Many thanks to all involved in making this year’s pride so special, it could not have occurred without you.
Thank you for reading this report.
Kind regards,
Carl R. Gratty
Chairman of Stoke-on-Trent Pride Registered Charity Number 1157754