25,000 greeting cards handed out along Pride In London route
Around 1.5million people found out how to send a card with pride on Saturday, 29 June, as the GCA’s 75 marchers joined the 52ndPride In London event.
Wearing bright white t-shirts emblazoned with the motto and handing out greeting cards along the route lined by the hundreds of thousands of spectators, the industry association’s group of publishers, retailers and trade suppliers was one of over 500 taking part, with more than 32,000 marchers in total.
“It all happened so quickly,” said event leader Mark Callaby, co-owner of Oh Deer and the GCA council’s D&I lead, “but at least the cards lasted for most of the route this year!”
It’s only the second time the GCA has been involved in Pride In London and, after running out of the 10,000 cards printed for last year’s event before the walkers were even a quarter of the way along the route from Hyde Park to Trafalgar Square, they came prepared with 25,000 specially-printed designs sponsored by The Imaging Centre, Fedrigoni and Enveco – but it very nearly wasn’t to be.
Mark explained: “A massive thanks to Joe, Ohh Deer’s finance manager, who actually saved Pride after the 25k cards weren’t going to make it because the courier broke down on Friday. Joe hired a van and brought down the other 25k cards we had in our warehouse ready for Manchester Pride!”
The procession set off around midday with the bunch of greeting cardies right at the front, a short distance behind the mayor of London Sadiq Khan’s float.
“Another fantastic day in London marching with the Greeting Card Association at Pride In London. We belong to such a nice industry,” was Dean Morris’ verdict.
And Mark added: “If you need more Pride in your life then there are still a few places available for Manchester Pride on Saturday, 24 August. Just let me know if you’d like to join us.”
Photos from the day are still being gathered to be made into a video by Lanther Black, which will be released soon, and there are some below.
