Walking with Pride: The Colours of History // 2025

A town-wide Augmented Reality (AR) trail uncovering King’s Lynn’s LGBTQ+ histories, co-created with local young creatives.

Walking with Pride: The Colours of History was the fourth project in Collusion’s annual WE ARE LYNN series, co-created with young creatives aged 16–30 from our FUSE programme in King’s Lynn.

Part of Historic England’s History in the Making programme, the project sought to uncover the overlooked histories and lives of LGBTQ+ people regionally connected to King’s Lynn. These stories were brought to life through an interactive augmented reality (AR) trail around the town and an exhibition at Chequer House Gallery, which offered a behind-the-scenes look at how the project was made.

Image: still from Walking with Pride documentary by Alex Thaxton.

Drawing on materials held at the King’s Lynn Borough Archives, 27 participants worked alongside Collusion at every stage, from initial concept right through to delivery. Creative sessions—some led by FUSE members themselves—covered a wide range of skills including animation, audio recording, music making, character development, exhibition curation, games design, scriptwriting, voiceover acting, and AR programming. Beyond developing technical capabilities in creative tech, the project offered valuable work experience and career pathways, culminating in professional commissions for five FUSE members.

“I enjoyed the opportunity to meet and work with like-minded people to create something very important.” — FUSE member

“I was particularly proud of the friends I made and how I went out of my comfort zone to meet new people.” — FUSE member

“I enjoyed how it made me look at my town differently. I’d never worked with AR before, so it was cool to experience something new.” — FUSE member

The project launch in October 2025 drew an in-person audience of 187 people and reached over 10,000 digitally. The accompanying exhibition, which ran from 16–30 October 2025, was curated by a FUSE member and revealed the full making of the project—from the first sparks of archival research to the final digital designs.

Rachel Drury, Director of Collusion, shared:

“Our WE ARE LYNN projects aim to empower the young people of King’s Lynn to feel connected to their town, supporting their self-expression and well-being. We want to help amplify these young creative voices and share their creativity in a way that engages the wider community in their extraordinary take on the LGBTQ+ stories in King’s Lynn.”

Image: still from Walking with Pride documentary by Alex Thaxton.

Two films created as part of this project have since been inducted into the East Anglian Film Archive (EAFA):

Walking with Pride: The Colours of History — A documentary about the making of Collusion’s 2025 WE ARE LYNN project, filmed and created by Alex Thaxton.

King’s Lynn Pride 2025 — A documentary co-created with FUSE, filmed at King’s Lynn & West Norfolk Pride 2025. It captures voices and interviews from the day, featuring an original music score by emerging artist and FUSE member Mikey Wilson-Cosham, commissioned by Collusion.

Preserved as part of EAFA’s collection of moving images relating to the East of England, these films ensure that the LGBTQ+ stories of King’s Lynn—many of them long overlooked—are safeguarded as part of the region’s permanent cultural record.

FUSE recommences in September 2026 and is completely free to attend. If you are aged 16–30 and would like to join us, [sign up here].

This project is funded by Historic England’s History in the Making programme, Arts Council England, Audrey Muriel Stratford Trust. Project partners include King’s Lynn & West Norfolk Pride, Marriott’s Warehouse Trust, Chequer House Gallery, King’s Lynn Borough Archives and The College of West Anglia.