Why we needed a Pride Forum
1997
"The Police Forum was set up around the same time 96/97 and also the Birmingham Pride Forum – the idea was always to have a separate voluntary body belonging to Birmingham Pride, set up separately, not to get lost in the commercial side. From day one we decided that Steve Ball and those type of people, who were good at what they did, would continue to involve the wider community, and everything else and deal with all the charities and the offshoots of all the things that’s happened in the last decade. Let the commercial people raise the money, to allow you to do the things that you need to do, the commercial side were making enough money all year round, although I believe now there are places that need Pride to help them balance their books, but in those days that was not the case."
Contributed by: Bill Gavan, 56