Marking WAD in Brighton & Hove

The city’s annual partnership main event for WAD, the vigil and reading of the names, will be mainly online, although New Steine Gardens will be open.

In a normal year, people would gather at Brighton & Hove Aids Memorial to mark the day and hear the reading of names of those who have lost their lives to the disease.

This year, Lunch Positive will be serving hot drinks from a marquee in the gardens from 11am; stewards will make sure social distancing is adhered to and face coverings are worn, but the majority of the event will be broadcast through Facebook.

The focus for 2020 is on frontline staff in the HIV sector and how they have responded over the past six months and adapted a lot of services to online.

Throughout the day there will be regular uploads of 90-second videos of people, including Sussex Beacon nurses, local MPs, volunteers and others, talking about how their HIV work and personal lives have been affected by the pandemic. At 6pm there will be a live reading of the names, which will remain online for a couple of hours. Join in online on the day at: www.facebook. com/worldAIDSdayBH

Brighton & Hove World AIDS Day Community Partnership has announced the following events to mark WAD on or around Tuesday, December 1.

Brighton AIDS Memorial Candlelight Vigil: Tuesday, December 1 @ 6pm, www.facebook.com/worldAIDSdayBH Due to the current situation and restrictions with Covid 19, this year the WAD names reading and vigil will be held online and not as a physical event at the memorial.

The online event will be hosted on the Partnership’s Facebook page World AIDS Day – Brighton & Hove at www.facebook.com/worldAIDSdayBH on Tuesday, December 1. Short speeches by frontline workers, volunteers and local HIV organisations will be available to view throughout the day. The names reading and vigil will take place as a Facebook Live event at the usual time of 6pm.

New Steine Gardens will still be open throughout the day on Tuesday, December 1 so members of the community can visit the Brighton & Hove Aids Memorial and pay their respects to loved ones. Stewards will be present to ensure adherence to Covid-19 guidelines and to signpost people to emotional support if required. For more info, contact Phillip Wragg at THT South on 07552 755161.

More to me than HIV – online at www.moretomethanHIV.life. An online exhibition of self portraits, celebrating the diversity of people living with HIV, championing the fact that HIV does not define us, and that we can live as normal a life as anybody else.

The Brighton & Hove World Aids Day Partnership comprises: Avert, BHCC Partnership Community Safety Team, Frontline AIDS, the HIV and SHAC (Sexual Health and Contraception) teams, the LGBT Safety Forum, Lunch Positive, More to Me Than HIV, Peer Action, The Rainbow Hub, The Sussex Beacon, Sussex Ecumenical HIV Chaplaincy and THT South.