The company which organises a town's Pride event was left with less than £1 in its bank account after it was allegedly targeted by thieves.

Gravesham Pride Community Interest Company (CIC) feared its annual festival would not be able to go ahead this year following the suspected theft.

Co-director and chairman of the grassroots organisation H Bowler said: “We were absolutely devastated when we discovered that our bank account had essentially been wiped clean last year.

“We were heartbroken that everything we had built over the past five years was gone and we did not think that the project would be able to go ahead.

“Then we remembered that Pride is not about money, it is about people and we could not let the people down so we wiped our tears and carried on.”

Police confirmed they are investigating an alleged theft of funds from a Gravesham-based organisation which took place between June 2020 and January 2023.

Inquiries are ongoing and there have been no arrests at this stage.

Thankfully, the team at Gravesham Pride CIC was able to secure enough funds to hold the fourth Pride event in Gravesend which took place on Saturday, August 12.

H, who has been involved in the company since 2019, said: “We were very clear from the outset that whatever we managed to put together we must have a march and we will not charge the public to attend and we are very proud that thanks to friendship, favours, our own personal credit cards and with the help of our Pride partners – Cohesion Plus and Official Media Partners GlitterBeam Radio – we were able to achieve both of those things.

“It would have been much easier this year for us to charge people for tickets but that goes against everything Gravesham Pride stands for and what the original creators of Pride back in the 1970s set out to achieve.

“We believe that Pride events should always and without exception be free for their entirety.

“When you are creating events designed to bring communities together, charging for tickets or VIP areas or afterparties is basically creating a barrier because you are not providing the same experience to everyone who attends or you are pricing people out of attending altogether.

“We feel very strongly about this as an organisation and that is why we opted to find the funding ourselves.”

More than 2,000 people came out in support of the event which saw a parade through the town centre and a festival in Fort Gardens that included acts such as Gay Elvis, Gifted Young Gravesham, and Gary Goodmaze as Freddie Mercury.

There were also food and drinks on sale, retail sellers and stalls for local charities and organisations relevant to the LGBTQIA+ community.

Gravesham Pride CIC is continuing to fundraise so it can continue to put on events in the future. If you would like to donate, click here.

Gravesham Pride is all about celebrating and recognising the large LGBTQIA+ population in the borough.