NEW MUMS WITH HIV SET TO BE GIVEN FORMULA MILK

From January 2019 all HIV positive mums living in Manchester will receive a year’s supply of formula milk along with bottles and sterilising equipment.

Steph Mallas, George House Trust CEO, said

“We are delighted to have worked with Manchester City Council to help make free formula milk for HIV positive mums in the city a reality. This is a significant and welcome initiative which removes the risk of HIV transmission through breast feeding and is another step in the direction of our shared goal of ending HIV in a generation.”

Guidelines advise that HIV positive mothers do not breast feed because of the potential risk of HIV transmission.

The scheme will be funded by Manchester City Council Population Health and is a result of collaborative working between them and George House Trust who will administer the scheme.

Councillor Bev Craig, Executive Member for Adult Health and Wellbeing at Manchester City Council, said:

“This move is all helping to give babies and their Mums the very best start in their life together to that both can stay fit and well during those really special and bonding months.”

We are delighted that our work with Manchester City Council has brought about such a result and we will now begin work with the other boroughs to ensure that every HIV positive mum, no matter where they live in Greater Manchester, has access to free formula milk.

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.