Worthing Pride donates 200 free tickets to NHS workers

A truncated version of the summer favourite is taking place in Beach House Park on July 10, after the parade along the promenade was cancelled due to Covid restrictions.The Beach House Park event will be ticketed only and NHS staff have been offered their free passes as a thank you for, according to organisers, ‘going above and beyond in a selfless act of support, care, empathy and compassion’.

Event directors said: “We wanted to give something back to the hard working team of people at the local NHS, and give them something to look forward to and enjoy.

“We all couldn’t have got through recent times without the love shown by those amazing people, so it’s just a small gesture from us, and a light at the end of the rainbow.”

Worthing’s event is going ahead despite the cancellation of Brighton Pride.Organisers said the Worthing event’s much smaller scale and ticket only admittance policy meant Covid safety concerns were much easier to manage.

The chief executive of University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust, Dame Marianne Griffiths, said she was delighted to accept the tickets on behalf of the newly merged, Sussexwide trust.

“Inclusion is one of our key values as an organisation and we are proud to support our LGBTQi communities and local Pride events,” she said.

“We will ensure the tickets are given to staff who have actively engaged with the Inclusion agenda and/or have just gone the extra mile in supporting either our patients or their colleagues in this incredibly challenging year.

“Thank you to everyone involved in organising the Pride event, including chair of our LGBTQi Network, Sarah Kahn.”