The Brighton & Hove World AIDS Day Community Partnership has announced details of this year’s World AIDS Day Candlelight Vigil, being held from 6 – 7pm on Friday, December 1, in New Steine Gardens.
The vigil is held each year, to remember people connected to Brighton & Hove, who have died with HIV. Hundreds of people are expected to attend this year’s vigil, which is a highlight of the city’s World AIDS Day commemorations. This year’s World AIDS Day theme is Let Communities Lead.
The event will include a welcome by the Right Worshipful the Mayor of the City of Brighton & Hove, Councillor Jackie O’Quinn, followed by a Reading of Names by representatives of a wide range of civic, statutory and voluntary organisations. Volunteers from across the Community Partnership will be on hand at the vigil to distribute candles and candle holders, for anyone wishing to light a candle in memory of a loved one.
A memorial bench honouring the late James Ledward will be a new point of interest at this year’s vigil. The bench is one of a series forming a friendship trail organised by the Brighton & Hove Tourist Alliance. It was decorated by Romany Mark Bruce, the designer and sculptor who created TAY (the Brighton AIDS Memorial) in New Steine Gardens. James was a very much-loved champion of the LGBTQ+ community in Brighton & Hove, for many years. Editor of Scene Magazine (formerly Gscene), James was a true community leader, whose work continually inspired and helped the lives of many.
HIV charity Lunch Positive will once again have its marquee at the event, providing information from 4pm about the vigil and serving hot drinks. There will be a wheelchair accessible area, in addition to a BSL signer providing translation of speeches and the Reading of Names.
The annual World AIDS Day Service of Remembrance and Hope, hosted by the HIV Chaplaincy and the Village Metropolitan Community Church, will be held at Dorset Gardens Methodist Church on Sunday, December 3 at 6pm; all are warmly welcome.
In addition to the vigil, community-focused activities and events have been organised by members of the Community Partnership, to mark World AIDS Day. Brighton & Hove City Council has announced it is honoured to be flying the Red Ribbon flag from the town halls for the second time, to mark World AIDS Day. The red ribbon is an important symbol of awareness. Its display is just one means of demonstrating a commitment to the fight against HIV and to remember that 40 years ago Brighton & Hove lost its first citizen to AIDS.
The Brighton AIDS Memorial will be proudly displaying two UK AIDS Memorial Quilts, last seen in the city at the Corn Exchange in June 1993. Alongside the quilts on display, four stories curated by the project will give a glimpse into the lives of some of the remembered. The exhibition takes place at Jubilee Library from Monday, November 27 until Sunday, December 10.
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Issued on behalf of the Brighton & Hove World AIDS Day Community Partnership, which is made up of: Brighton & Hove City Council – Communities, Equality and Third Sector Team, Frontline AIDS, HIV Hour, Lawson Unit, Ledward Centre, Lunch Positive, Martin Fisher Foundation, More to Me Than HIV, Romany Mark Bruce, Sussex Beacon, Sussex Ecumenical HIV Chaplaincy and Terrence Higgins Trust South.