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Manchester Pride was the busiest weekend of the year for FGH Security. Many thousands of attendees descended on the city centre for The Manchester Pride Festival 2018. The award winning four-day event, which celebrates LGBTQ+ life, was a fantastic weekend full of colour and a party atmosphere. The parade on Saturday had over 10,000 participants and for all involved was the heart of the pride weekend. We deployed security staff to oversee the safety of the Parade and events in the village. Our team worked efficiently providing crowd control and crowd management at busy points throughout the parade route whilst working closely with local police, medical teams and other authorities.
Pride transformed the city into a rainbow celebration over the weekend. Thousands cheered on the floats travelling through the city’s streets. This year’s theme was ‘the Circus of Acceptance’; there was a dazzling array of costumes and floats at the annual celebration of Manchester’s LGBTQ+ community. Organisations taking part in the parade this year included Greater Manchester Police, the fire service, local businesses and charities. Our friendly team joined in the festivities and wore stickers, face paint and glitter to show their pride, reaffirming the positive relationship our team has with the community.
After the parade the celebration continued in the village with performances from Gok Wan, Rita Ora and Sigala. The event drew to a close on Monday evening with a Candlelit Vigil held in Sackville Gardens. The park turned into a sea of candles taking a minute to remember those lost to HIV. The community and authorities pledged to work together to fight the epidemic worldwide and the stigma that still exists.
Peter Harrison, Managing Director and Head of Security said, “Our 6th year at Manchester Pride was our best yet. With sales up 6% year on year we saw record footfall at the event. Our whole team worked very hard to overcome the challenges that a site like this presents in relation to crowd management. Amazing work everyone. A big thanks from me. Especially to all who went the extra mile.”
