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World Aids Day - Tuesday, December 1 spend some time in personal prayer or reflection, or to talk with the HIV chaplain in a welcoming and supportive atmosphere, for those with some faith or none, ALL are welcome. For more information, contact Revd Heather Leake Date: 07867 773360 or susshivchap@gmail.com.
Brighton & Hove HIV Hankie Quilt to be displayed at Sussex Beacon shop, St James’s, Street for World Aids Day
) Lunch Club members, friends and supporters of people
with HIV are invited to a community WAD Sunday Lunch with Lunch Positive @ Dorset Gardens Methodist Church (1st & 2nd floors), Dorset Gardens, Brighton, BN2 1RL on Sunday, November 29 from 1pm with lunch served from 1.30pm. As part of maintaining a Covid-secure setting, invitations will be sent out in advance or people can enquire about a place by contacting friends@lunchpositive.org or call 07846 464384. ) Tuesday, December 1: WAD Lunch & Community
onwards – 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 exhibition will also be available with other video content on the YouTube channel www.youtube.com/channel/ UCSK3TdZxG6VdiXra8syTV1w. More To Me Than HIV aims to combat stigma by showing the passions and ambitions of people living with HIV, by asking them to define themselves with one self portrait, two pictures of their passions, and three words to describe themselves. People wishing to contribute can do so by visiting www. moretomethanHIV.life. The deadline for submissions for the online exhibition is Tuesday, November 17. For further information please contact David Fray, phone 07871 705575 or email info@moretomethanhiv.life 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.
The Quilt, which will be on display in the main front windows of the Sussex Beacon shop, will be facing outwards into the street, lit throughout the darker evenings, so that everyone can have an opportunity to experience the gentle, domestic, handcrafted power of this historically important and symbolic community artefact. Wayne Stone, manager of the Sussex Beacon’s St James’s Street shop, said: “The Sussex Beacon is honoured to be hosting the HIV Hankie Quilt. “It will be proudly displayed in our window till the day after WAD. Please come along and see this amazing quilt in all its glory, lit up and on display.” Bill Puddicombe, executive director of the Sussex Beacon, said: “The Sussex Beacon has always been at the heart of the community’s response to HIV/Aids. We’re proud to be displaying the Quilt, which represents memories and hope for all people affected by HIV. We’re grateful
for the continuing support of the Brighton Rainbow Fund and to the WAD Community Partnership. This year the day will be different, but the issues and the necessity of remembering the continuing harm caused by HIV are always the same.” Chris Gull, chair of the Brighton Rainbow Fund, added: “The Brighton Rainbow Fund has been entrusted as official guardians of the Hankie Quilt, as indeed we are of the Aids Memorial. We do this on behalf of all the HIV projects and organisations in Brighton & Hove.
CHRIS GULL
) More to me than HIV from Tuesday, November 24
WAYNE STONE
For info, contact friends@lunchpositive.org or call 07846 464384
The Sussex Beacon shop in St James’s Street, Brighton is to be host to the Brighton & Hove HIV Hankie Quilt, on public display for the first time this year from November 23 until Wednesday, December 2. The Hankie Quilt was an independent project created by community HIV activist Maurice McHale Parry to honour those lost in the city to HIV/Aids and to support those living in our communities. The Quilt, handmade by people in the city, references many individuals who were lost during the early days of the Aids pandemic. It is based around hankie-sized squares representing memories of people who had died, embroidered or crafted by their loved ones or groups they were members of. This community response grew to become one of the emblems of the LGBTQ+ communities’ responses to HIV.
BILL PUDDICOMBE
Drop-In with Lunch Positive @ Dorset Gardens Methodist Church (1st floor), Dorset Gardens, Brighton BN2 1RL. Open to anyone, Lunch Positive will open from 12pm till 3pm for light snacks and refreshments in a café style setting. There is no charge, but donations are welcome. This is an open event, though numbers may be limited as part of a Covid-secure setting.
“We’d like to thank the Sussex Beacon, and the WAD partnership for arranging for this important piece of our community’s history to be displayed. “The Quilt is handcrafted and created with love in remembrance of those who lost their lives to this virus. “It is particularly poignant this year as we are reminded how we, as a community, responded and worked together to provide support and love, and demanded to be heard.” D www.sussexbeacon.org.uk D www.rainbow-fund.org
