TAMESIDE Pride celebrations have been cancelled.
The borough’s celebration of diversity and equality was due to take place in Cheetham Park, Stalybridge on Saturday, July 15.
However, poor weather conditions has forced organisers to cancel the much-loved event.
In a statement posted on social media, chair of the committee said:
“Hey everyone, we’ve just held a meeting to discuss the weather forecast for tomorrow and sadly it isn’t good news. I have the sad task of informing you all that we’ve decided to cancel the daytime event for this year due to be held tomorrow in Cheetham’s Park from midday.
The evening after-party at Sykes will still carry on as that’s indoors.
Owing to the continued forecast rain throughout the event times, high wind speeds forcing the closure of the fairground, and high possibility of thunder and lightning we weren’t comfortable in gathering a large amount of people in an open field exposed to the elements.
Even though the forecasts are changing by the hour – the weather is quite unpredictable at the moment – we just can’t run the risk of something happening.
We did briefly discuss the possibility of moving fully to an indoor venue but it’s just too last minute to organise something in time for tomorrow afternoon.
A handful of stallholders had already pulled out and a local ‘street food festival’ due to be held tonight have cancelled owing to the inclement weather forecast. The Council have also raised concern regarding the field drainage and damage, imposing restrictions on vehicle movements even if the weather doesn’t turn out as bad as forecast.
We profusely apologise to everyone for this – visitors, sponsors, stallholders, etc – but I’m sure you understand the risks involved and repercussions on us as the organisers being ultimately responsible for everyone’s safety.
If you are a stall holder or supplier: me, Ellesse or James will contact you individually this afternoon to discuss options for refunds if we haven’t already.
Thank you for your support!
I hope to see everyone next year in slightly better conditions”
For more updates you can follow Tameside Pride over on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/PrideTameside