edited by John Clarkson with Jon Keay, Email news, listings and product info to us at eye@positivenation.co.uk
Countless celebrities and top brands are tripping over themselves to get involved
in promoting Product (RED) to raise money for the Global
Fund to Fight HIV, TB and Malaria. Steven Spielberg, Penelope
Cruz and Mary J Blige are but a few already on board the project
launched in January by Bono and Bobby Shriver.
The idea is simple: corporations launch a (RED) branded product, market it
through their existing channels and a percentage of the profits goes to the
Global Fund. Shoppers are seduced by the products and donate by default.
Amex,
Converse, Gap and Motorola are already selling (RED)
products and Apple recently added a gorgeous RED iPod to
the list. The whole range, including Armani’s fashion
and accessories launched last month at UK Emporio stores, has already netted
over $10 million for the cause. If you thought charity shopping was about
rummaging through other people’s cast-offs, think again.
www.joinred.com
SONGS FOR LIFE
The Food Chain hosts a star-studded fundraising evening of unique
duets with patron Jimmy Somerville and Heather Small, Julian Clary, Andy Bell,
Jonathan Harvey all doing their bit.
The Mermaid Theatre, Puddle Dock • 2 December £20/£50 •
7pm-late • 020 7638 8891 www.barbican.org.uk
Operation Fundraiser Manchester is pulling out all the stops on World
Aids Day with two massive initiatives to raise money for the George House
Trust and LGBT causes.
Red and Wild is Manchester’s new annual WAD fundraising
festival, with venues across Manchester hosting events to show to the world
that Manchester is commited to the battle against HIV.
Running until 3 December • www.redandwild.co.uk
Fire
and Ice on 7 December is a glamorous evening of fashion and dining
with auctions, raffle, a chance to buy couture designs and enjoy entertainment
from the queen of British burlesque, Gwendoline Lamour (right).
Tickets from £150 • Pure Nightclub info@fireandiceevents.co.uk
• 01772 433 822
ON THE BALL
During
the time it takes to play a single football match, 90 children under the age
of 15 will die of Aids-related illness somewhere in the world. This is the
message UKC, in association with the Professional
Footballers’ Association and the League Managers Association,
is sending out to footballers and their fans this WAD. It is asking players
and fans to wear its newly-designed ‘badge of hope’ bearing the
red ribbon and a football. Scores of players have already agreed to wear the
special edition badge on TV on World Aids Day and are urging people to buy
one (£2 each including post and packaging). Sale of a single badge will
pay for a month’s food for an Aids orphan in Jinja Uganda or vital advice
and support for an isolated person living with HIV in the UK.
To order badges email Carl Mills on cmills@ukcoalition.org or phone
020 7564 2180.
Brighton’s LGBT choir The Rainbow Chorus is performing
a concert based on Faure’s Requiem followed by a candlelit vigil on
2 Dec at St Michael’s and All Angels Church.
7.30pm • £8/£6 • 01273 692810
There are thousands of events up and down the country, so for more info on
World Aids Day events and how Graham Norton, Beverley Knight, John Barrowman
and
Steve Jones are supporting the cause visit www.worldaidsday.org
JK
LGBT
safety charity Galop has a new dedicated sexual abuse caseworker
to advise and advocate for lesbians, gay men, bisexual and transgendered people
who have experienced sexual abuse in Greater London. Help with reporting incidents
to the police is a free confidential service and people can remain anonymous.
Shoutline hours are Monday 5-8pm • Wednesday 2-5pm • Friday noon-2pm
020 7704 2040 • www.galop.org.uk
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You’d
have to be a proper Scrooge not to buy Christmas cards that support good causes,
especially those that make a real difference. UKC, the national
HIV patient charity, has six card designs to suit all tastes and at £4
for a pack of ten they are great value too.
Place your order with Andi on 020 7564 2180. Top down on the left:
A Walk in the Snow; Beside the Hearth; Out of Reach; Emerald Tree; Madonna
and Child; Nine Trees
For those looking for something unique, artist Lynn Ramsey
is selling a range of beautiful hand-made cards (below) with 20 per cent of
the proceeds also going to UKC. Email picturecard@hotmail.co.uk
Stuck for Christmas gift ideas? Home360, supplier of quality
home accessories to Harrods and Selfridges, is offering Positive Nation readers
a generous 20 per cent discount on a range of elegant gifts including scented
candles, toiletries and glassware.
To take advantage of the offer, visit website www.home360.co.uk
and enter promotional code POSITIVENATION to receive your discount.
If you are newly diagnosed with HIV or have been living with HIV for some
time and are ready to find out more about the virus, THT’s new DVD Positively
Living may be for you. Produced by the drug company BMS
with THT, the short film includes testimonies from people
living with HIV and contributions from prominent doctors, and covers health,
lifestyle, work and money.
Order the DVD free from THT on 0845 12 21 200 or pick up a copy at your clinic.
HIV
charity Body and Soul’s recently redesigned website
greets you with a throbbing heart swirling with positive vibes and wishes
you ‘new energy every day’. Body and Soul give holistic support
and guidance to families and young people affected by HIV, and this good-looking
site provides all the usual useful information about their services.
www.bodyandsoulcharity.org
Festive revellers are being targeted in the UK HIV epicentre. The UK
Coalition of People Living with HIV and Aids (UKC) is reaching out
to the community this autumn and winter with posters on the London Underground
at Vauxhall Station.
Thousands of revellers pass through the station each week to enjoy themselves
at bars and clubs in the Vauxhall gay village. The area has the largest number
of HIV positive residents in the country. In December, the station will feature
posters advocating HIV testing and highlighting the need for safer sex over
the festive season and new yearw.
Themed Christmases are all the rage this year and PN’s Santa sack is
bulging with black and pink gifts worth £150, courtesy of Boots,
DKNY, Carolina Herrera, Paperchase and Oliver Bonas.
One lucky reader will win the lot. JK DKNY Pure New York box set, £29.
CHIC by Carolina Herrera box set, £27.50.
Black flock stag, £4, spiral tree, £14,
baubles from £2.50 • www.paperchase.co.uk
Moleskine 2007 diary, £15, & deer note book, £6.50 •
www.oliverbonas.com
Boots Gift Card worth £50 • www.boots.com
DIARYDECEMBER
01 CAMBRIDGE DHIVERSE THT and CRUSAID will
benefit from the black tie Red Ribbon Ball at Cambridge Guildhall. www.redandalive.com
01 LONDON Soka Gakkai International, WAD Gongyo. Practising
Buddhists and those interested in Buddhism are invited to remembrance prayers
for those lost to us and to celebrate people living with HIV. SGI-UK South
London Centre, 1 Bernay’s Grove, SW9 • 020 7978 8334.
01 SOUTHAMPTON WAD service at Romsey Abbey starts 7.30pm.
01 MANCHESTER Body Positive North West is holding an open
morning at their new premises with breakfast and taster sessions of their
services. 39 Russell Road, Whalley Range • 8am-Midday.
02 HALIFAX The Brunswick Centre invite you on a WAD Red Ribbon
walk around Ogden Water above Halifax at 12 pm followed by lunch at the Old
Shears. 01422 341764
02 MATLOCK WAD Red Ribbon Ball at County Hall, Matlock is
on 2 December (not 1 December as reported last month). 8pm • £8
• 01332 204 020
03 CARDIFF Aids Trust Cymru WAD dinner-dance with Steve Balsamo
and the Storys at Jury’s Hotel. £30/ £285 table for 10 •
Cerian on 01792 461848 • www.aidstrustcymru.co.uk
09 LONDON gay chamber choir Diversity is
holding its Christmas concert at St Botolph’s Church, Aldgate, 7.30pm,
with Tallis Mass for four voices, Pergolesi Stabat Mater plus plenty of carols,
festive songs and a xmas raffle. www.groups.yahoo.com/group/diversitychoir
13 LONDON Wandsworth Oasis Trading Co celebrate Christmas
with a special appearance by the Royal Opera’s Andrea Hazell at the
Salvation Army, 9 Ram Street, SW18.
7pm • Call Patrick on 07710 228 529
15 LONDON Cara Trust holds its annual Christmas Party with
Santa and a magician. 020 7745 7257
UPDATE
THT Brighton is holding a one day ‘Staying Sane’
workshop looking at things we can do to keep ourselves emotionally and mentally
healthy. 27 January • chris.pearcy@tht.org.uk 01273 764200
Cara & Positively Women’s West London Women’s Group
meets every Thursday, 11:30am-3:30pm, in Ladbroke Grove. Free lunch and range
of activities. Cara 020 7745 7257 • PW 020 7713 0222.
There’s still time to catch Unheard Voices, Hidden Lives,
an exhibition of photographs taken by people affected by HIV and Aids in Cambodia,
Ecuador and India. Brighton’s Jubilee Library till 4 December.
NAT is hosting an expert seminar run by Aids Action
Europe on legislation and judicial systems in relation to HIV and
Aids. 19-21 April in London. Contact yusef.azad@nat.org.uk
National Children’s Bureau has a new training course
called ‘The impact of immigration and asylum on children and young people
living with HIV.’ Birmingham • 19 February • Call Magda
on 020 7843 1911
As winter draws in, keen runners are already braving freezing parks and windswept
streets to get in shape for next year’s Sussex Beacon half-marathon.
Next year’s will be held on 18 February and it is hoped it will raise
over £100,000. To register call 0870 8500 745 or visit www.sussexbeacon.org.uk
Researchers are investigating how gay men cope with living with HIV, in particular
how society’s homophobia and HIV affect their personal growth.
To take part, complete the short confidential questionnaire, either online
or through the post, by 31 March 2007. 07949 313 216 • www.stress-hiv-research.org.uk
