As Russell T Davies’ Tip Toe reignites debate around LGBTQ+ rights and visibility, Happy Valley Pride’s founders say their movement is more vital than ever as it prepares to celebrate its 10th anniversary.
The award-winning festival returns to Hebden Bridge from July 18-26 with its first-ever Pride parade, a packed programme of queer arts and culture and a milestone birthday celebration a decade in the making.
But organisers Darren Spruce and Tim Whitehead say the anniversary arrives at a moment when the questions that inspired Happy Valley Pride’s creation feel as urgent as ever.
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LGBTQ+ inclusion, representation and equality have been thrust into the national conversation by Russell T Davies’ explosive new drama Tip Toe, which explores growing hostility towards LGBTQ+ communities and questions whether social progress once thought secure is being eversed.
In Calderdale, where Hebden Bridge is located, the local council’s administration recently refused requests to fly the Pride flag from council buildings during Pride Month, prompting criticism from campaigners and the appearance of Pride flags near council-owned sites.
For co-founder Darren and artistic director Tim it means this year’s anniversary festival arrives at a moment when that founding purpose feels particularly vital. The organisation traces its roots back to 2015, when homophobic graffiti appeared in Hebden Bridge, a town often celebrated as one of the UK’s most LGBTQ+-friendly communities.
Darren had moved to the town from Manchester believing he was arriving in what he described as “this sort of utopia in the middle of the countryside, where everyone was happy that everyone could be queer, gay, lesbian, trans, and no one would care”. But the reality at the time was less straightforward.
“We were shocked by the transphobia that was going on in the valley,” he said. “We were shocked when we saw a big tarpaulin covering a building in Hebden Bridge with a child’s name and ‘gay boy’ scrawled on it.
“We were like, ‘Oh my God, that was happening when we were kids.'”
The graffiti became the catalyst for the first Happy Valley Pride. Local artists transformed the tarpaulin into a public artwork filled with messages of support and solidarity, while Spruce and three fellow founders launched a grassroots Pride movement built around arts, education and community engagement.
Over the following years the organisation grew, before becoming a registered charity in 2021 under the leadership of Darren and Tim, creating the foundations for the year-round programme it delivers today.
Ten years on, that same artwork will return as part of the anniversary celebrations, with visitors invited to add new messages of hope and positivity.
For artistic director Tim, the themes that inspired the charity’s creation remain painfully relevant today.
The recent row over Pride flags in Calderdale demonstrated that conversations about acceptance and equality are not simply matters of history.
“That’s something that’s happening right now,” he said. “You’re seeing pushback again in a really major way at the moment.”
Darren added: “People are totally emboldened now because of the Donald Trumps of the world.”
Political rhetoric and social media, they say, have created environments where views that were once kept private are increasingly being expressed publicly.
Reflecting on themes explored in Tip Toe, Darren said many in the LGBTQ+ community are questioning assumptions that progress automatically moves in one direction.
“It’s that feeling of, what if it doesn’t swing back?” he said.
Against that backdrop, Tim argues Pride remains far more than a celebration.
“We are a kind of strange model of Pride, in that we are a nine-day festival,” he said. “Most Prides are just one day.
“There are far more opportunities to represent the breadth of the queer community and lots of opportunities for community cohesion as well.”
That approach has helped Happy Valley Pride become one of the UK’s most distinctive grassroots Pride organisations.
Today the charity works with more than 50 volunteers, delivers year-round programmes and reaches more than 13,000 people annually. Its Prism youth programme works with 26 schools and youth groups, helping thousands of young people explore themes of equality, inclusion and diversity through arts and education.
“When I was realising I was gay, there was literally no one telling me I was going to be okay,” said Tim. “If somebody like Terry, who leads our youth work, had come into my school, it would have made a huge difference.
“One of the really important things is just letting young people know that they’re not alone and it’s going to be okay.”
This year’s festival programme reflects both the celebratory and political sides of Pride.
Highlights include comedian and drag performer Myra Dubois making her Calderdale debut, folk singer Grace Petrie, cabaret duo Bourgeois & Maurice, Catwalk Extravaganza from Manchester’s Ghetto Fabulous, a performance from Bradford artist Sid Akbar exploring life as a queer Pakistani Muslim, and the return of cult performer David Hoyle. Festival details are outlined in the official programme.
The biggest addition will be the first-ever Happy Valley Pride parade. After years of requests from the community, organisers have secured funding to stage the event as part of the anniversary celebrations.
“For years our community has been asking us for a parade,” Tim said. “I actually think it’s incredibly timely for all the reasons we’ve been talking about.
“It’s something that harks right back to the first ever Pride.”
For Darren, the aim remains much the same as it was in 2015. If a young LGBTQ+ person arrives at this year’s festival unsure where they belong, he hopes they leave with a simple message.
“That there’s hope,” he said. “That there are other people like me. That those small voices that stick in your head are just a few small voices.”
“Sometimes it feels like pushing a boulder up a hill. It is hard work, but for exactly the reasons we’re talking about, it’s really important work as well.”
For more info visit happyvalleypride.co.uk.
