Pride event in church to return for second year

A Pride celebration held inside a Shropshire church will return in June after last year's event was a huge success.

Shifnal Pride's inaugural event saw more than 100 people attend a special service in St Andrew's Church, which has since been streamed more than 8,000 times.

The event will return again on 1 June at 18:00 BST.

"It was quite new to us, we weren't sure how it was going to go... but it was so successful it's back again," said organiser Ian Handley.

He told the BBC that the team of organisers wanted to connect people from the LGBT community and people of faith.

"We felt this huge need to pull these communities together," he said.

"We're hoping to tie in some of the things from last year to try and link it all nicely together."

The event is shaped by feedback from the community.

"With it being slightly different in a church, we had things to shape from from the Church of England," said Mr Handley.

"That really helped us kind of weave into our service things that were important to both communities.

"We're trying to keep a mix of contemporary and traditional songs and hymns… to make sure that we tick all boxes for all people of all faiths."

Like last year, the town's youth theatre group - CentreStage - will perform music at the service.

In attendance will be the Lord Lieutenant and Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Shropshire, as well as some of the town's councillors.

"Come as you like, we want people to feel comfortable as possible," added Mr Handley.

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