The year is 2006. Line dancers and flat bed trucks showcasing fabulously dressed people are heading down the promenade in the first ever Pride parade headed to Bank St car park where the Cheeky Girls will perform next to a wrestling ring borrowed from Trades hotel.
We’re Still Here! is back for our second History Club on Wednesday 8th July to celebrate 20 fabulous years of Pride in Blackpool with our very special guest, the brilliant Catherine Mugonyi.
A community organiser, Catherine was a key part of shaping early Pride celebrations here in Blackpool while working as Equalities Advisor for Blackpool Council and a Parade Coordinator for almost a decade. As a keeper of an amazing personal archive, she will be sharing stories, photographs and ephemera from some of the first ever Prides in Blackpool.
We’re also going to learn about the process of getting the first ever pride flag flown at the top of the Tower which once blew up Catherine’s sewing machine when she was trying to repair it.
Plus, we’ll be sharing what we captured and archived during this year’s Pride celebrations!
WSH! History Club also wants to hear from you… We are opening the invitation out to anyone who has experienced Blackpool Pride over the past two decades (including this year’s 20 year celebration), to come down for conversations about your experiences. Bring photographs, memories, items of clothing you wore, stories from your day. We want to have an evening filled with reminiscing about what Pride looks and feels like from the people and the community who lived it.
And if you haven’t ever been to Pride before and would love to learn what they were like then and now, this is a perfect environment in which to explore that too.
Presented in partnership with Aunty Social, the event starts at 6pm, with Catherine in conversation with artists Garth Gratrix and Harry Clayton-Wright between 6:15 pm and 7:15 pm, plus sharing our items and ephemera over tea and cake from 7:15pm to 7:55pm.
Tickets are free. Refreshments will be provided. Spaces are limited*.
*We ask that if you book a ticket and can no longer attend, please let us know so we can make that space available to someone else.
ACCESS
Please note that this session is in the upstairs workshop. This can be accessed by lift or up a single flight of 14 steps (then you go around the corner and there are two small steps).
We can provide level access – please let us know if you need a ramp at the front door (4 inch step)
There is an accessible toilet on the first floor, adjacent to the workshop space.
We can also offer a portable hearing loop and large print resources.
‘We’re Still Here!’, the first permanent collection of LGBTQIA+ Heritage in Blackpool, is a project run by Abingdon Studios. With thanks to The National Lottery Heritage Fund and National Lottery players.
Posted: 1st July 2026 by Abingdon Studios
We’re Still Here! History Club – 8th July
The year is 2006. Line dancers and flat bed trucks showcasing fabulously dressed people are heading down the promenade in the first ever Pride parade headed to Bank St car park where the Cheeky Girls will perform next to a wrestling ring borrowed from Trades hotel.
We’re Still Here! is back for our second History Club on Wednesday 8th July to celebrate 20 fabulous years of Pride in Blackpool with our very special guest, the brilliant Catherine Mugonyi.
A community organiser, Catherine was a key part of shaping early Pride celebrations here in Blackpool while working as Equalities Advisor for Blackpool Council and a Parade Coordinator for almost a decade. As a keeper of an amazing personal archive, she will be sharing stories, photographs and ephemera from some of the first ever Prides in Blackpool.
We’re also going to learn about the process of getting the first ever pride flag flown at the top of the Tower which once blew up Catherine’s sewing machine when she was trying to repair it.
Plus, we’ll be sharing what we captured and archived during this year’s Pride celebrations!
And if you haven’t ever been to Pride before and would love to learn what they were like then and now, this is a perfect environment in which to explore that too.
Presented in partnership with Aunty Social, the event starts at 6pm, with Catherine in conversation with artists Garth Gratrix and Harry Clayton-Wright between 6:15 pm and 7:15 pm, plus sharing our items and ephemera over tea and cake from 7:15pm to 7:55pm.
Tickets are free. Refreshments will be provided. Spaces are limited*.
*We ask that if you book a ticket and can no longer attend, please let us know so we can make that space available to someone else.
ACCESS
‘We’re Still Here!’, the first permanent collection of LGBTQIA+ Heritage in Blackpool, is a project run by Abingdon Studios. With thanks to The National Lottery Heritage Fund and National Lottery players.
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