Rainbow bunting brightened up HSDC Havant at a student-run Pride event celebrating diversity and promoting acceptance.
A team of students worked hard to put on an end-of-term Pride Festival, featuring small businesses, a tombola and some delicious ice cream on offer.
The aim was to raise awareness of Pride and provide a celebration for students to get involved with, and it was all planned and executed by a hardworking group of students.
Held over lunchtime on Friday, the event featured various stalls with jewellery created by talented HSDC students, along with rainbow cupcakes created by the Catering team and a variety of goodies donated to a tombola by businesses including Tesco and Waterstones.
Plenty of students and staff visited the event to support the sellers and get involved, and there was a real buzz in the atmosphere.
Organiser Hayley Edmead said:
“I think it’s gone great. It’s a celebration for the end of term!”
Fellow student Morgan Howard added:
“There was a really good turnout, we wanted to spread awareness and show our support for the community.”
Trustees from Portsmouth Pride attended the celebration to show their support and get involved with raising awareness of Pride and the LGBTQ+ community.
When asked about the event, Portsmouth Pride chairperson Tally Aslam said:
“It’s really positive! They have done a fantastic job and it just goes to show true determination pays off.
“It’s a celebration and it’s also an opportunity to be visible. It’s great that the students have done it off their own back, it shows a real change in acceptance. It’s about having a community around you that wants to understand.”
Christopher Pitts, commercial partnership and strategy manager for Portsmouth Pride, added:
“This definitely didn’t exist when I was at College and to see College students taking it upon themselves to put events on like this is incredible. Doing it on the last day of term is really nice because Pride should be a celebration.”
A vintage ice cream caravan from Havant-based business 
Caravanilla served up delicious refreshments on the day, which proved very popular with visitors to the Pride event.
Three student-owned small businesses selling jewellery and accessories were at the event, and each of them can be found on Instagram:
@mabelrosejewellery
@made.bymilliex
@thecassiopeiajewellery
Following the success of this celebration, the organisers are hoping to put on welcome Pride events at the Alton and South Downs Campuses to show support for the LGBTQ+ community.