MORE than a thousand people gathered to celebrate York Pride.

Organisers said about 1,500 people took part in the parade, which celebrates the LGBT community in the city, which left York Minster just after noon.

Accompanied by music, including York Samba, the parade made its way to York Racecourse, where an afternoon and evening of live music was held.

Elsewhere in the city, the Pride Flag was flown above the Mansion House, as a tribute to the community, and Council Leader James Alexander spoke to the crowd ahead of the parade, commenting on how attitudes in the city had changed for the better in recent years.

Greg Stephenson, chair of York LGBT Pride, said planning would start next month for the 2015 event, but he was very happy with how this weekend's event had gone.

He said: "We reckon we had about 1,500 people just on the parade, last year we had about 700, so we've more than doubled, which is amazing.

"The atmosphere has also been amazing, everyone's enjoying themselves and having fun, and it's a really good community day. In July we'll be making plans for next year, but it's all gone fantastically this year, there's not much we would do differently."