Design students help emergency services mark LGBTQ awareness day

The North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service appliance will lead the York Pride parade and feature at other events across the city on 9 June.

The vibrant, new vehicle liveries have been designed by Hannah Ford and Charlotte Scott. They feature bubbles, rainbows and slogans, intertwined with graphic interpretations of York’s famous landmarks. Describing her artwork, Hannah said: “My inspiration was to create a design that would be representative of the Yorkshire community. I chose an illustration of the Minster to symbolise this, along with the use of the pride colours and rainbow design associated with the event.”

Charlotte highlighted the importance of organisations like York St John and the emergency services actively supporting LGBTQ people in the community: “Everyone should be treated equally regardless of their sexuality. It is also important for the university to be inclusive and against sexual discrimination. It was great to be offered to be a part of the project.”

The newly-wrapped appliance was unveiled at an event on Parliament Street, along with other emergency service vehicles all dressed-up ready for York Pride. Tanya Liversedge-Gell, technician and firefighter with North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service was delighted with the designs and the reaction to them: “We’ve had a fantastic response from the public today, the designs have really come to life and look fantastic on the side of our appliance. People have told me they love how the design makes it personal to York and reflects an important message, and that NYFRS embracing diversity is a really positive thing. We think it’s going to look lovely in the parade!”

Everyone is welcome on the York Pride march which takes place on 9 June, departing from the Minster at 11:45am and arriving at the Knavesmire at approx. 1.00pm. For details of this and all the Pride events taking place across the city, visit the York Pride website.