The Sparkle Story

Sparkle was founded in 2005 by Kim Angel, originally as a day to celebrate all things transgender. By the following year the event had moved to its current weekend format and we now provide a full schedule from Friday afternoon right through to Sunday night!

In 2006 Kim (above) introduced the main stage in Sackville Gardens and in 2007 the ‘Party in the Park’ surely made Sparkle not only the largest, but the highest profile, TG event in the world!

Kim is the co-founder of the TG web support group The UK Angels and her experience and contacts played an important part in building the Sparkle team. Bella Jay, who is the editor of TV Repartee magazine, joined in 2005 originally to help with media and publicity and became Kim’s deputy in subsequent years.

Sparkle is made possible by a group of dedicated individuals who give their time for free in order to organise the various parts of the weekend – and by our wonderful sponsors who provide a large part of the finances required to bring you Sparkle.

This year Bella Jay (above) has taken over from Kim as the event coordinator although Kim is still on hand to provide help and support from her pervious year’s experience.

Sparkle is a celebration of gender diversity, an opportunity to make new friends and obtain help, support and information on gender issues. But above all it is our chance to be proud of who we are and show the world what being TG is all about. The most important person at Sparkle is you, this is your weekend so make the most of it and enjoy being yourself amongst friends!

If you want more information about Sparkle then please do check through the various pages on this site.

For additional help please email
Bella Jay: bellajay@sparkle.org.uk

or telephone 01226 754252.