HIV Activist Claims Trafalgar Sq Plinth

posted: 29/07/2009

A HIV activist mounted Trafalgar Square's Fourth Plinth this morning as part of Antony Gormley's One & Other exhibition.

Eric Page spent part of his hour on the plinth wearing a THIVK you're still negative? T-shirt to raise awareness of the work of Terrence Higgins Trust.

THIVK is a year long campaign developed by the CHAPS partnership and launched by THT to get men to consider if they have HIV without realising. The Health Protection Agency estimates up to 10,000 gay men in Britain have HIV without knowing.

THIVK, Test and Take Control  campaign

Page, from Brighton, who has worked for THT as a sexual health outreach worker for eight years, said: "This is a once in a lifetime opportunity and I wanted to spend my hour on the plinth to highlight the issues of sexual health and gay men in particular as HIV is a risk for all people. I started my time on the plinth in a fabulous outfit, slowly changing my outfits until I end up, in homage to Gormley's previous work, naked. Leaving me, very literally exposed and vulnerable.

Sue Peters from Terrence Higgins Trust said: "I want to say a huge thank you to Eric for supporting us. It's now recommended that gay men test at least once a year, or after any unprotected sex. Yet around a third of gay men in England have never taken an HIV test, with the figure even higher in Scotland and Wales. It's fantastic that Eric is helping us to get the message out to men to take control and make testing for HIV a regular part of their lives in such a unique and visible way."

Watch the action live from the plinth every Friday at 7pm on Sky Arts 1/HD and online at oneandother.co.uk

The THIVK campaign and information website

Source and photo

£100 a Mile Marathon

posted: 29/04/2009

On a very sunny April morning, Nick Eaton and Jono Guildford ran the 26.2 mile London marathon in aid of George House Trust, and both completed it in just over 4 hours.

This was an especially good time because after training in Manchester cold and rain, they faced sunshine and hot conditions on London's streets. The weather provided a lovely day out for spectators, but it was not so kind on the runners!

Nick and Jono between them raised £2600 for George House Trust. Training for a marathon is a challenge, but raising over £100 a mile in sponsorship at the same time makes it a truly massive achievement.

We'd like to express our huge appreciation and say well done from the whole George House Trust team.

Time to add to the total

You can add your appreciation of the efforts of Nick and Jono by sponsoring them now at Nick's JustGiving page, and at Jono's JustGiving page.

Face of Lighthouse

posted: 18/12/2008

Michael Edwards, who was the "face" of the HIV centre, London Lighthouse, warmly welcoming people at reception, has died. Michael Edwards, aged 63, was for nearly 20 years the smiling, welcoming face of London Lighthouse, the north Kensington centre for people infected with or affected by HIV. Diagnosed with cancer, he was given a year to live, but developed pneumonia and died a few days later.

Born in what was then southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), Michael had Scottish and German Jewish grandfathers and two African grandmothers. He was the youngest of nine children, and his siblings spoilt him rotten. After a brief career as a dancer in Salisbury (now Harare), he came to London when he was 19 to train as a nurse, but health problems ruled out this career and he turned to hairdressing.

Almost 20 years of support

Michael joined London Lighthouse in 1989. He worked on the residential unit, where people infected with the virus came for respite or palliative care, until he was moved to the main reception desk, a job that suited him well.

He was very often the first person a visitor to Lighthouse, perhaps newly diagnosed, met, and the warmth of his welcome was something they never forgot. He could, when needed, be a tremendous pillar of strength, and he helped many people come to terms with their diagnosis, which in those early days could be a sentence of death.

His cheerful, friendly, charismatic personality touched everyone who came into contact with him. He had a wicked sense of humour, and was the life and soul of many a party. Over the past 20 years, thousands of photographs were taken at Lighthouse, and it would be hard to find one that did not show Michael's grinning face.

As well as working at Lighthouse, he was a part-time barman at Ted's Place, a gay club in Fulham, west London.

Michael always did things in style, and the funeral was as stylish as the man. A glass hearse, pulled by two black horses with pink plumes, carried the coffin, and the party afterwards at Lighthouse went on into the night.

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