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

VOLUNTEER NEWS

VOLUNTEER NEWS

by Rachel, Volunteer Coordinator at George House Trust

Its “bin” a wonderful month of June.  We have partied hard, welcomed new volunteers to Meet and Greet and Saturday Drop in and we are all a flutter with the excitement of Manchester Pride 2018.  For more on Volunteering, drive…I mean read…on

Hello and welcome to July’s Volunteer News.  What a month it has been! We have welcomed two new volunteers to the fold - Philip who will be meeting and greeting and Paul who is helping with our courses, Sessions and Events. They are both already getting stuck in and thoroughly enjoying their roles. We have partied and what a night that was.  We really hope everyone enjoyed themselves, I certainly did! ‘What else?’ I hear you cry.  Well, we finally have the new look Newsletter which we hope you enjoy.  This will give you a good overview of all of the goings on here at HQ and will also mean, for those of you who prefer to skim read our News, you can easily pick and choose what to read.

For more on Manchester Pride, volunteer roles, meetings and bins (yup it is really that exciting) read on… 

5 WEEKS UNTIL MANCHESTER PRIDE!

The Pride Planning meetings are well under way and the excitement is growing for this year’s Pride.  There has been some interesting chat about Queens in baskets and red shoes.  All will be revealed soon.  We recently welcomed our Pride Support Volunteer Jack and our Pride Support Intern Beatrice to the team so you will be hearing from them about volunteer shifts very soon.  Keep an eye out for a shift sign up form over the next couple of weeks.  In the meantime, take a look at ways you can get involved…

  
Parade Volunteering: Have you always fancied being in the actual Pride Parade on the Saturday and strutting your stuff for an extremely worthwhile cause?  This year we are looking for volunteers to fundraise whilst being part of the Parade on the Saturday.

Expo Stand: The Expo is running on the Saturday and Sunday day 11am - 5pm and is situated in the popular community space where organisations and community groups can exhibit their work.  If you fancy showcasing all of the wonderful services delivered by George House Trust then pop your name forward for this.

Candlelit Vigil: This takes place on the Monday evening and volunteers help by fundraising and selling candles making it a memorable atmosphere of remembrance and reflection.  Send me an email stating Vigil if this is something you would like to have more information about.

WANT TO TRY SOMETHING NEW?

Volunteering at George House Trust doesn’t have to mean sticking to the same shift and doing the same role.  We like to see our volunteer opportunities as dynamic and want you to know that you can dip your toes in other roles.  If you fancy trying something new, why not give it a go?  You could always do a taster shift to see if it’s the right role for you.

We are promoting our Volunteer Driver service at the moment and want to offer this to more service users.  It is such an important role, not only to ensure that our service users get to appointments but also to provide support and reassurance on journey.  Many people who benefit from our Volunteer Drivers would otherwise have to travel alone on multiple methods of public transport and when you are nervous about something these can be big barriers to attending.  If you are a car owner and fancy being that friendly face, check out the role description on the Volunteer Page of the website and give Rachel a shout.

There are lots of other volunteer opportunities being advertised currently.  Our Food Parcels on a Friday is in search of an extra pair of hands and our new Community Connections role is almost ready to launch.  All vacancies are advertised on the website so take a look and get on board.

WE ARE NOW BETTER TOGETHER IN CLINICS

As part of the Better Together Project we are providing peer mentoring at HIV clinics for the first time.  In the first year we saw 14 people, many of whom had not heard of George House Trust before, at The Hathersage Centre, Rochdale Sexual Health Centre and Ashton Sexual Health Centre.

In year two we will be launching the service at Bury, Withington and at North Manchester General Hospital.  This means we will be able to reach more people who either don’t know about us or have recently been diagnosed.
 
Our aim is to provide peer mentoring at every HIV clinic in Greater Manchester within the next five years.
 

BINS.  YES YOU READ IT, BINS

Mark and Steph have been quietly scurrying about the place organising our recycling.  Until a couple of weeks ago the only recycling facilities were upstairs at the kitchen where we recycle our food waste, plastics, glass, non-confidential paper and card.  It had been raised that the Meeting Room where lots of our Groups and Sessions take place, did not have any recycling provision.  I am sure everyone has seen those harrowing pictures of or marine life suffocating at the hands of our plastic consumption.  Even Manchester Picadilly has a water fountain to refill your bottle now which is music to my ears.  Platform 11 for anyone who is interested.  Anyway, we digress.  We now have recycling bins in the Meeting Room so we can do our bit and reduce waste to landfill.  There will be more discussion on this at the Courses, Sessions and Events Volunteer Team Meeting.

Our recent team meetings included 

• Pride Planning 
• Lead Volunteers

I am very much looking forward to getting into the swing of these quarterly team meetings and hope they will be a productive way to support each other with our roles and share the good, the bad and the ugly.

Our upcoming meetings for those who volunteer in the following roles are:

• Drivers 19th July 5:30pm
• Admin 1st August 1pm
• MGV 1st August 5:30pm 
• ASV 8th August 3:30pm

See you then!

AND FINALLY...

This newsletter is for you lot so if you have ideas for content or even want to try your hand at guest editing future editions then let me know.  We’d love to get some different voices in here.  Since GDPR we have been asking everyone to update their contact details.  Please keep an eye on your junk mail and make sure that everything is up to date, we would hate to lose touch with you.

Thanks everyone for another smashing month.  July is going to be a busy one so hold on to your seats and get ready for the ride (provided by our Volunteer Drivers of course).

Until next time.

Rachel.

YOU ARE INVITED TO OUR FIRST FUNDRAISING GALA!

YOU ARE INVITED TO OUR FIRST FUNDRAISING GALA!

Manchester, George House Trust, 3rd November 2018.

Save the date because George House Trust will host its first black tie fundraising gala at The Midland Hotel and we want you to be there.  The Gala will raise money to support people living with HIV in the North West.

We’ll start the evening with a sparkling drinks reception and the opportunity for guests to find out more about the incredible and crucial work that George House Trust does.  The drinks reception is followed by an exquisite three course banquet including wine and coffee.

Guests will be entertained throughout the evening with music from West End star Kerry Ellis and iconic drag performer Mary Mac.  We’ll keep the party going until the early hours.

There’ll also be an auction with some amazing items up for grabs, so get your paddles ready and prepare for some high bidding!

TICKETS

You can buy tickets now priced at £60, or you can get your friends together and buy a table of 10 for £500.

For more information about the event please contact community fundraising organiser, Samuel Clarke on 0161 274 4499 or samuel@ght.org.uk

'BETTER TOGETHER IS ONE YEAR OLD!

'BETTER TOGETHER IS ONE YEAR OLD!

Our ‘Better Together’ Big Lottery Funded Peer Mentoring Project has just come to the end of its first year.  It’s been a fantastic first year with people really getting behind the project and its aim of providing high-quality peer support.

In the first year of the project: 

• 11 Peer Mentors were recruited and trained 
• Peer Mentoring was launched in 3 Greater Manchester clinics 
• 40 people living with HIV were supported with over 90 sessions of Peer Mentoring in clinics, at George House Trust and in the community

What have people said about ‘Better Together’?

"I like how I was matched with someone that I was able to build and sustain the rapport with necessary for this to be a truly enriching experience"

"He showed through the sessions real experiences that helped me and mirrored mine as well, providing solutions even sometimes without noticing"

"The service was invaluable in that it gave me a space in which to articulate my worries and fears around my diagnosis and work through them pragmatically with my peer mentor"

PLANS FOR YEAR TWO

In Year 2 of the project an additional 20 mentors will be recruited with the aim of supporting at least 80 more people.  The project will also provide mentoring in a further 3 clinics in Greater Manchester.

If you’d like to get involved with the ‘Better Together’ project contact bettertogether@ght.org.uk