QUEER AS FOLK 20 HAS CHOSEN GEORGE HOUSE TRUST AS THEIR CHARITY PARTNER

The partnership will see the anniversary show which takes place on Friday, February 22nd, raise vital funds for the charity.

As well as donation buckets on the doors, £1 from every programme sold for the event will also be donated and it is hoped a good sum of money will be raised.

Carl Darcy, director of the show’s organisers CDC Events and co-executive producer of Queer as Folk 20, said: 

"George House Trust is a charity extremely close to the hearts of the LGBT community in Manchester.

 

People living with HIV continue, even today, to experience HIV stigma and George House Trust work extremely hard to update the public’s perception of the virus. Not only that, the charity offers valuable services to those people living with and affected by HIV. 

 

When we decided to celebrate the shows 20th birthday, we wanted to raise funds for a charity and it just made sense to choose George House Trust.

 

We’re hoping that the money raised can help to keep providing services which really are priceless.”

Queer As Folk 20: Still Doin’ It Live will celebrate the greatest anthems from Queer as Folk and will see performances from guest artists including Strictly Come Dancing & STEPS star Faye Tozer, original soundtrack artist Hannah Jones along with other guest stars and instrumental support from Manchester Camerata’s orchestra.

Actor Craig Kelly has also been announced as the first Queer as Folk cast member joining the glittering line up for the show’s 20th birthday live music extravaganza.

Queer as Folk, written by Russell T Davies, was set around Manchester’s Gay Village. It received international acclaim at the time and a cult status around its epic soundtrack, which included smash hits such as 'I Am What I Am', 'Haven’t You Heard', 'Love Pains' and 'Santa Maria', which filled dancefloors around the world.

Steph Mallas CEO of George House Trust said:

“We are delighted to be part of what we know will be a fantastic evening. In the twenty years since Queer as Folk aired, huge advancements have been made in HIV treatment and today we know that somebody on effective HIV treatment cannot pass on the virus.

 

However, our support services are still much needed and we are hugely grateful to Queer as Folk 20: Still Doin It Live for choosing George House Trust as their charity partner and raising funds to help support people living with HIV from the communities reflected so memorably in Queer as Folk.”

Tickets for QUEER AS FOLK 20: STILL DOIN IT LIVE are currently on sale and the show performance will be on Friday 22nd February 2019, at the Albert Hall, Manchester.

For more information and to purchase your tickets visit the Queer as Folk 20: Still Doin' It Live website.

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.