What a wonderful weekend it was! On Saturday, 15th August, our team had the pleasure of attending Colchester Pride 2026 at Firstsite art gallery. It was an extraordinary day filled with celebration, community spirit, and incredible support for our local animal welfare work.
A Resounding Success on the Day
Thanks to the generosity of everyone who stopped by, our stall raised a fantastic £477.50 to directly help animals across our region!
Our stall proved to be a major attraction throughout the day. Alongside a brilliant selection of festival stock carefully curated by our retail team, we had some fantastic family-friendly fun on offer:
- Our very popular Tombola had non-stop queues as visitors tried their luck at winning some brilliant prizes!
- Hook-a-Duck & the Lucky Dip Treasure Chest were massive hits with our younger attendees—along with quite a few nostalgic older ones who couldn’t resist joining in the fun!
- Over 200 information bags containing our branch newsletters, stickers and leaflets were handed out to visitors.
- New community connections were formed, including an exciting introduction via Sallee to a talented long-distance runner keen to take on a charity run for us!
Inclusion and Community Spirit
Events like Colchester Pride are deeply important to us. As an organisation, we believe compassion and care extend to both animals and the diverse communities we serve.
The atmosphere throughout the day was brilliantly inclusive, friendly, and welcoming. A huge thank you goes to our dedicated team on the ground – Anna, Sallee, Michelle, Ellie and Derrick – who worked tirelessly right through until pack-up after 7:00 PM to represent our branch so wonderfully!
What’s Next? Help Us Stock Up!
We aren’t stopping here! Following the success of our festival stall, we are calling on our supporters to keep donating festival-style items and tombola prizes.
We are gearing up for another huge outdoor event at Brightlingsea’s Canine Carnival on 26th September 2026, along with a growing calendar of community events lined up for 2027. If you have items to donate, please feel free to drop them off at your nearest RSPCA Essex Mid & North charity shop.
