The weather forecast was not encouraging BUT the support that a cheery bunch of members from our various GOC groups was most welcome and made whatever the weather decided to do it was irrelevant. Smiles abounded and all those on the Pride March interacted with the crowds on the street and our GOC banner and flag certainly caught the eyes of many members of the public. The March wended its way through Reading Town Centre eventually ending up in Kings Meadow beside the Thames.

Our stall with its pink roof and LGBT flags draped all over was sited next door to the Out door Lads stall in the Sport area of the showground. Not a bad position to be in. There was a steady flow of people who showed an interest in GOC and the GOC pins, beer mats and pamphlets were popular containing as they did QR Codes which were invaluable and an easy way to spread the word about GOC.

As the afternoon wore on the clouds began to darken and by the late afternoon the wind had increased and the slight rain turned into a horizontal onslaught.  We reluctantly concluded to shut up shop and call it quits after another successful Reading Pride.

May I finally say a big thank you to all those who supported GOC at Reading Pride and in particular thanks to Mike Brice for manning our stall whilst we were marching and to Andrew Walker for helping us get our stall up and running on the Saturday morning and for providing his easel for mounting our outdoor colour photos.

Vas and I look forward to seeing you all again next year at Pride.

Simon