COMMEMORATING THE 30th WORLD AIDS DAY

The World AIDS Day Vigil, awareness-raising and fundraising activities are organised and delivered by the Passionate about Sexual Health (PaSH) Partnership.  The PaSH Partnership is a collaboration between BHA for Equality, George House Trust and LGBT Foundation.

The activities are supported by Manchester City Council and the VLBA.

RED RIBBONS AND COLLECTION BOXES

Donations recived by the PaSH Partnership will be shared equally between the PaSH Partners to support services for people newly diagnosed with HIV, living longer-term with HIV or those most at risk of acquiring HIV. 

CITY CENTRE COLLECTING

Friday 30th November and Saturday 1st December.

PaSH partnership volunteers will be fundraising and offering ribbons & ‘5 Facts about HIV’ cards in Manchester City Centre during the day on Friday 30th November and Saturday 1st December.

You can register to volunteer here https://ght.org.uk/world-aids-day-volunteering

WORLD AIDS DAY

Saturday 1st December

To commemorate the 30th World AIDS Day, the PaSH Partnership is aiming to deliver a very special Vigil.

The Vigil will start at 7pm in Sackville Gardens.

PaSH Partnership volunteers will be offering candles and ribbons from 5.30pm in the area around Sackville Gardens.

• The Vigil will be opened by a Founding Father of Manchester AIDSline, acknowledging 30 years of World AIDS Day, HIV activism then-and-now and the messages that are so important today.
• Positive Speakers will reiterate messages and introduce the Procession, where remembrance will take to the street.
• A short address by the Lord Mayor of Manchester will highlight what’s happening within Greater Manchester today
• ’10 voices’ will reflect a global perspective.
• A wreath of red roses will be laid at the Beacon of Hope
• The National Transgender Memorial will be illuminated for the service.
• Manchester Lesbian and Gay Chorus and the Women Asylum Seekers Together Choir will sing.
• The Vigil will close at around 8pm.

The Village Candlelit Procession

The Village Candlelit Procession is an established and important element of the Manchester World AIDS day commemoration.

To mark the 30th World AIDS day, the procession will feature 30 placards.  Each placard will feature the words depicted on one of the plaques on the Beacon of Hope timeline 1988 – 2018.

These placards will display a very powerful timeline of HIV over 30 years and each placard will be carried by a staff member or other representative from Village businesses as testament to the Village’s response to the early days of the epidemic and its continued support to this day.  As the Procession returns to the park, the placard bearers will be asked to stand at each side of the stage for the second part of the service.

The UK AIDS Memorial Quilt

Weather-permitting, the Procession will lead off with PaSH Partnership volunteers carrying a quilt from the UK AIDS Memorial Quilt.  The quilts are a remarkable and irreplaceable piece of social history, it tells the stories of many of those lost in the early days of the HIV AIDS epidemic in the 1980’s and 1990’s and each quilt is made of up to eight embroidered panels, lovingly made in memory of friends, family and lovers lost to HIV.  The quilt in the Procession includes a panel in memory of David Walburn, a volunteer at Manchester AIDSline (now George House Trust) and a founder Trustee of Body Positive North West.  The volunteers will stop at the end of Canal Street so that everyone taking part can see the Quilt as they walk by.

Village business staff and customers light candles and stand outside their venues as the Procession passes by and this makes the occasion even more poignant.

In total there are 48 12ft by 12ft panels, each comprising up to eight smaller panels.  Each panel is approximately 4^msq.  Each individual panel commemorates someone who died of AIDS and has been lovingly made by their friends, lovers or family.

ADVENT CALENDAR

At the heart of the Vigil is the Beacon of Hope, the UK’s only permanent memorial to those lost to HIV.  The Beacon also stands as a symbol of solidarity with those living with HIV today.  A series of plaques at the Beacon, one for each year, create a moving and powerful timeline of local, National and Global developments and landmarks since the early days of the HIV epidemic.

To commemorate the 30th Anniversary of World AIDS day George House Trust, as part of, and on behalf of the PaSH Partnership will publish each day throughout November the text depicted on each of these plaques as a reminder of how the epidemic attacked, took hold, progressed and has been fought over the last 30 years.

This ‘advent calendar’ will culminate with the positioning of the 2018 plaque on World AIDS Day.  Follow the calendar on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram

WAGAMAMA CONTINUES TO MAKE IT RAIN(BOW) FOR THE LGBT+ COMMUNITY

Last year, to support Pride in Manchester and raise awareness and funds for George House Trust, Wagamama launched their #makeitrainbow campaign. Some of their signage was changed to include the rainbow colours and this included the Manchester St Peter’s Square restaurant. Part of this campaign saw the donating of the daily takings on the sale of steamed buns any time a rainbow was spotted over Manchester to George House Trust.

This Manchester Pride, wagamama is going even bigger with its #makeitrainbow campaign, with a rainbow bench installed in the restaurant in St Peter’s Square for a year, and the sale cost of any steamed buns ordered on this bench being donated to George House Trust. 

Regional Marketing Manager, Kate Dell said:

"We pride ourselves on diversity and inclusivity, with our internal facing message to our team members ‘be you. be wagamama.’ so we always feel really strongly that we show our support to the amazing pride events around the UK".

Information about George House Trust has been included on rainbow placemats within the restaurant, so that guests can find out more about the work we do and really be encouraged to help raise money.

To find out more by visiting the #makeitrainbow campaign website.

BEE A WINNER

To celebrate the launch of the Bee in the City trail which is now live, one of the designers of the Queen Bee in Sackville Gardens, Christian Taylor, is running a competition to raise money for George House Trust and giving you the chance to win a signed original painting of the LGBTQ+ Queen Bee.

To enter the competition, visit the fundraising page and donate! A £1 donation will give you one entry into the draw, £2 is two entries and so forth and the winner will be selected on 23rd September – the last day of the Bee in the City trail.

The painting is at the NQ Gallery too at CAPE, in the corn exchange if you wanted to see it in person.

THE VILLAGE GETS 'ULTRA FAST' INTERNET IN TIME FOR THE MANCHESTER PRIDE FESTIVAL

Visitors to Manchester’s famous Pride Festival in August can expect ‘ultrafast’ broadband thanks to a fast-growing technology firm.

GLEEfi (Gay Lesbian Everyone Everywhere) is the new superfast Wi-Fi broadband product being installed through 1GB internet pipes based in key locations in the village by business support firm OneTek Business Solutions.

It means visitors to the world famous Gay Village can expect speeds up to 1GB, putting it in the top 1 per cent of internet speeds in the UK. Currently, public WiFi in the village runs at around 2MB – 6MB meaning that speeds are sluggish during peak times.  

The Manchester Pride Festival runs over the August Bank Holiday weekend and features performances from artists including Pete Tong, 808 State and Alexandra Burke.

Davina White, Business Development Manager at OneTek, said:

“One of the longstanding issues in the village has been the slow, snail-paced internet speeds especially during peak hours and events like the Manchester Pride Festival. We are delighted to have worked with some iconic venues and business owners in the village to install and deliver as a community based project and offer access to more than 100,000 people at Manchester Pride and throughout the rest of the year, ultrafast connectivity.

 

“Every business relies on reliable excellent connectivity especially where point-of-sale equipment relies on it. We are on a mission to roll out our ultrafast WiFi solution to other events across the UK. We are already in talks with other LGBT specific festivals, music festivals and communities.

 

“The village has always been one of Manchester’s most innovative and entrepreneurial destinations and we are proud to be playing a small part in continuing that tradition of bringing new and emerging trends to the area.”

OneTek was launched in 2008 by Lee Donaghey and provides WiFi solutions to villages, towns and community spaces across the country and as well as IT support to businesses of all sizes. The company head quartered in Winsford, Cheshire has offices in Stoke and Stockport.

Access to GLEEfi for the whole Pride weekend will cost £5 (£4 if bought online before) with proceeds being shared by venues, OneTek and 5 per cent each to four Manchester-based charities popular in the LGBT community: George House Trust, The Proud Trust, Sparkle and the Albert Kennedy Trust. 

Business owners in the village are supportive.

Phil Burke, Chair of the Village Business Association, said:

“This is a very welcome community initiative that benefits everyone. As well as visitors, local businesses in the village and charities close to our hearts will all reap the rewards. Internet speed has been an issue in the village for quite some time now and we are supportive of new initiatives to give village-based businesses a commercial advantage.”

Kim Eivind Krohn, Managing Director of KRO Hospitality, said

“Manchester Pride Festival is the highlight of the year for hundreds of thousands of people who visit the Village.

 

“Velvet Hotel and our new restaurant Mr. White’s Chophouse will be a hub of activity and fun during the event, with many friends and family meeting up so it’s important they can remain in contact as the festivities get underway.

 

“The implementation of the ultra-fast internet will mean our guests can enjoy communicating on social media, or with each other throughout the event, and as a business we can improve the service we provide for our customers.”

Jack Williamson of Richmond Tea Rooms on Richmond Street and Eagle Bar, said:

“We are excited about seeing the effect of faster broadband speeds in the villages. We’re confident it will be good for business even long after the festival has finished when people realise they can get the fastest WiFi speeds in the city here in the village.”

Jordan Allison of Bar Pop on Canal Street, added:

“It’s long overdue. We are delighted that the frustration of slow internet speeds in the village is finally being resolved. We expect to serve more than 10,000 drinks over the weekend and being able to process card payments swiftly and safely is a priority for us.”

Lorraine Bramhall of Churchills, said:

“The Manchester Pride Festival is one of the key dates in the year for us as a business and we are pleased that our community is making higher internet speeds available for the visitors we’ll greet from all over the world.”

Tony D Cooper of OnBar, added:

“We are seeing improvements and development within our world renowned Gay Village and faster WiFi for all will improve the visitor experience not only for here at OnBar but all over our great Village.”

See www.gleefi.co.uk and www.onetekltd.com