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Group update
February 2012
HIV Health Forum at the Tagadere Drop-in
Tagadere began the month of February with an HIV Health Forum held at our Drop-in. Impressively hosted by HIV Specialist Clinical Nurse Sue Pennant from Nottingham City Hospital, a diverse array of well considered questions were presented and in return answered with educated and informative responses.
The relaxed approach to a few issues which some of those gathered may have felt uncomfortable with raising in other situations meant that this important forum was a significant event at our Drop-in which we plan to repeat in the not too distant future.
January 2012
Housing Benefits Workshop
Metropolitan Support Trust workers hosted an important workshop at the Drop-in to inform us on the impending changes in Housing Benefit. As this subject can be extremely complicated and the information sometimes difficult to absorb, it was a most welcome opportunity to discuss and understand the alterations and amendments.
Lunch on the day was prepared by a Tagadere member who dazzled us with a wonderfully extravagant Jamaican meal. The hard work and amazing attention to detail was applauded by all who enjoyed the tropical feast as it brought gastronomic sunshine into the dreary January day. The psychedelic presentation pictured is the accompanying salad.
December 2011
Tagadere’s triumphant Christmas Party
A very successful and fulfilling year culminated with celebrations at the Tagadere Christmas Party held at our Drop-in. The yuletide festivities were enjoyed by a record number of Tagadere friends and professionals who came along to enjoy the feast which was prepared by group members. In Tagadere tradition, all united to make it a day of elated togetherness.
Tagadere would like to thank those individuals who have genuinely supported and encouraged us during the past year. We continue naturally evolving as a vital, local support group making a positive difference for people living with HIV in the Nottinghamshire region.
Tagadere Gay Men’s Group Christmas Gathering
The Yuletide limbo-land between Christmas and the New Year was festively filled with the December meeting of Tagadere’s Gay Men’s Group. This was undoubtedly the busiest meeting for the group since its inception in June; proving that we were correct in having the foresight to locate more suitable and accommodating premises as the popularity of the group grew rapidly after only a few meetings.
We were complimented for providing an opportunity for HIV-positive gay men to meet for non-scene social support during the past six months. Many men spoke of how much they valued the opportunity to speak freely without being fear of being overheard as discrimination and stigma attached to HIV is still sadly prevalent on the gay scene. Tagadere would like to thank those many men who have attended and supported the Gay Men’s Group and made it so popular this year – see you in 2012!
Heating and Budgeting workshop
The team from Metropolitan Support Services presented their third annual ‘Staying Warm In Winter On A Low Budget’ workshop held at our Drop-in during mid-December. The valuable information supplied was augmented once more by their own heating and budgeting quiz which was vastly beneficial to the large group who gathered to attentively listen and learn. We were updated on hints provided in previous workshops and learned new tips on how to reduce fuel bills via a wide variety of obvious and not-so-obvious methods of economising.
Tagadere World AIDS Day events a great success
The World AIDS Day 2011 awareness and fundraising events which Tagadere have been working towards came to fruition on Thursday 1st December. Our street collection in Nottingham city centre not only raised funds for our Notts. Hardship Fund but also importantly raised the awareness of HIV/AIDS to the city.
We received many compliments when people learned that Tagadere is a local, volunteer-run group and that we provide social and practical support in a more intimate manner than by being a large corporate institution. The feedback and interest we received by talking to people on the street was that by discovering Tagadere is a local group, people understood better that HIV exists in Nottinghamshire and that it is not something which occurs only elsewhere.
It was extremely encouraging and flattering that during the approach to World AIDS Day and on the day itself, we were chosen exclusively to be recorded and filmed several times for interviews focusing on Tagadere’s unique existence as a volunteer-run, user-led group operating at an approachable, welcoming local level. To generate such interest and following the interviews, receive genuine praise for the support we provide was wonderful validation.
Our awareness-raising success continued with our late afternoon and early evening presence at Broadway Cinema. The extremely popular venue provided a wonderful opportunity for us to publicly showcase our support for people living with HIV in Nottinghamshire.
Tagadere would sincerely like to thank those who freely volunteered their own time to brave the cold weather to make the street collection and awareness-raising a reality and a great success. We would also like to thank all at St. Peter’s Church, St. Barnabas Roman Catholic Cathedral and Broadway Cinema for their valuable support and welcome on the day.
Tagadere World AIDS Day red balloon release
On a bright and sunny last day of November we marked World AIDS Day at our weekly Drop-in. There was hardly room to move as Tagadere group members, professionals and friends joined together in our customary atmosphere of support and unity. Several group members had organised their individual working schedules to enable each of them a day off to attend the lunch and ceremony. This was a wonderful testimony us as an inclusive group.
Following lunch we held our World AIDS Day commemorative red balloon release. The balloons glowed a comforting deep red in the strong afternoon sunshine. Even with the large number people, the ceremony remained comfortably intimate as we gathered to release our balloons. The Reverend Karen Rooms presented an encouraging and considerate dedication which determined the meaning of ‘Tagadere’ as ‘together’ after which, upon a group countdown, we released the balloons and watched as they soared rapidly in commemoration and celebration.
When the balloons had finally vanished from sight we returned indoors; a group member had devoted considerable time and hard work baking and icing an amazing cake especially for our event. The cake was quickly photographed before it was cut for the group members who gathered to eagerly claim a slice. (Please click on the images to view.)
Our day was a wonderful example of unity and friendship and thanks go to everyone who joined in to make it so welcoming.
Tagadere World AIDS Day events and the faith communities
People of faith play an important role by providing support and raising awareness in local communities. To encourage this, Tagadere contacted key people in all Nottingham faith communities to remind them of World AIDS Day and the associated events we had organised to be held around December 1st.
We are grateful to the Dean of St. Barnabas Roman Catholic Cathedral for promoting our work in the Parish newsletter, for celebrating a World AIDS Day Mass and devoting time to make private prayer and reflection possible. Tagadere would also like to give thanks to the Vicar of St. Peter’s Anglican Church for allowing us use of the Seminar Room from which to co-ordinate our street collection from, for a celebration of Holy Communion and a special Ecumenical Service of worship on Sunday December 4th.
Tagadere will continue to make our presence known to the many diverse faith groups in Nottingham throughout the year ahead to illustrate the support we provide for people living with HIV in Nottinghamshire.
November 2011
Tagadere World AIDS Day awareness raising begins
With World AIDS Day less than one month away, Tagadere started their activities ball rolling by holding not one but two HIV/AIDS awareness-raising stalls at Nottingham Playhouse on November 3rd and 11th. The result was a fantastic opportunity to increase the profile of HIV/AIDS to a wide and varied audience who showed a genuine interest in the work and services which Tagadere provide. At the end of both successful evenings the lobby was awash with theatre-goers wearing red ribbons on their clothing and clutching our information sheets.
Tagadere and The Tagadere Notts. Hardship Fund would like to sincerely thank Nottingham Playhouse for their warm welcome and generosity in providing the opportunity for us to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS.
October 2011
Notts. Pride supporting Tagadere
Tagadere is extremely honoured to be amongst the few local charities which Nottinghamshire Pride are supporting. A fundraising event at Jongleurs comedy club in Nottingham promises to be an evening of mirth and laughter! Please support Pride to support others! Thanks to Nottinghamshire Pride for supplying their artwork for us to use.
World AIDS Day 2011
Tagadere and our Tagadere Notts. Hardship Fund are in the process of finalising their plans to mark World AIDS Day 2011. As soon as a schedule is completed, the details will be available in this section.
The ‘Happiness Is Vital’ HIV/AIDS awareness event in Mansfield on Thursday 13th October was a great success. Tagadere’s information stand was well visited which resulted in a great amount of networking being achieved with groups from the county. The day was topped by a delicious feast of Asian and Caribbean culinary delights which was complimented by live music performed by double MOBO nominated artist Freddie Kofi. Congratulations and thanks to Courtney Nangle of Disability Nottinghamshire for his hard work in organising an event unique to Mansfield and for providing their artwork for us to use.
September 2011
In mid-September, the sun shone on a party of happy Tagadere members who travelled by train to Matlock Bath for our final day out of the year. Basking in the one-day Indian summer which seemed to only bless a couple of square miles in the region, we spent a pleasant few hours relaxing in the picturesque spa town, gently exploring its comforting delights. As always, a good time was had by all and we gratefully boarded the train to return to Nottingham to enjoy a cup of tea before heading home.
July 2011
A glorious mini-heatwave bathed the thousands celebrating at Nottingham Pride on the Forest Recreation Ground. The hugely popular festival was a definite success for Tagadere as we were able to reunite with old friends and make many more new ones. Our stall was constantly crowded with interested visitors, meaning that we were able to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS and simultaneously inform a huge amount of people of the support which Tagadere provides in the local community. Our tombola was hugely popular; the unique star prize of a full M.O.T. was gratefully received by the astonished winners.
Tagadere would like to thank the people who volunteered to help and also those who generously donated items to the tombola to make it a great event.
Particular thanks go to:
Mr. Steven Boyles (Barn Garage, Keyworth, Notts)
Sleaford Jewellers (Sleaford, Lincs)
Batley’s Cash & Carry (Bulwell, Nottingham)
Sainsbury’s (Arnold, Nottingham)
June 2011
Gay Men's Group
Due to many requests, the Tagadere Gay Men's Group will be holding an introductory evening meeting on Thursday 30 June from 7 - 9pm. This will enable HIV Positive gay men to socialise in a relaxed, non-scene environment. The meetings will then be held on the last Thursday of each month. Refreshments will be provided. For further details please e-mail simon@tagadere.org.uk or telephone 07766 800 514.
Skegness excursion a great success
In May, group members of Tagadere enjoyed the East Coast air on our excursion to Skegness. We wisely chose to visit in May to avoid the very heavy crowds which cram into this seaside town in the peak season of July, thus allowing our members a more sedate and physically unchallenging day than if they were in the middle of huge numbers of people. The weather was so extremely clement that paddling in the sea was possible, provoking much laughter and mirth. These watery activities were followed by a traditional fish & chips lunch. It was a very touching visit as one of our African members had never seen the sea before; we were very pleased to be able to provide the opportunity for this first experience. The day was voted a huge success and a happy group returned to Nottingham in a very satisfied and relaxed mood.
Sewing Class
The first Tagadere Sewing Class was held at Drop-in with excellent results. So many members attended which resulted in a deafening buzzing of sewing machines in action. Many had never experienced using machines before and were eager to learn. The class was a great success with one of the outcomes of this lesson pictured. This was created by someone who had never thought of sewing before and took to it like a seasoned professional.
May 2011
Things are continuing to progress in wonderful style for Tagadere.
Following almost twelve months of negotiations, discussions and abundant hard work on both sides, we are very proud and honoured to announce that Tagadere has now taken on board the management and administration of The Notts. Hardship Fund. This is a very important step in our development as the only User-Led HIV support group for Nottingham and widens the assistance we are able to offer. We fully intend to continue the excellent crisis support which has been so tirelessly provided by Armorel Young over the years.
Friday 6th May marked two years since Tagadere was awarded status as a Registered Charity. To acknowledge this occasion and to simultaneously commemorate our acquisition of The Notts. Hardship Fund, the obvious thing to do was to hold a joint celebratory party at the Drop-in. The day was a fantastic success where over fifty Service Users were joined by a wide and varied amount of specially invited guests and friends from the professional and voluntary sectors, all of whom came together to enjoy a day of festivity and share the celebratory cake which was generously provided by a Tagadere member (see picture). We were delighted when the previous Hardship Fund chairman Rod Beadles interrupted his busy schedule to travel from London specifically to attend the event. Rod gave a touching and very flattering speech on the success of Tagadere which was rewarded by a huge round of applause. I wish that we had a recording to remind us of Rod’s inspiring words when the hard work sometimes seems too much.
January 2011
Tagadere enter the New Year following a hugely successful 2010 which saw us gather strength as individuals and as a group.
World AIDS Day arrived amidst some of the worst snow this country had seen for some time. As this meant that a lot of people were unable to leave home to come to the Drop-in, we postponed our first (but not last) Grand Tagadere World AIDS Day Red Balloon Race until our Christmas Party on 22nd December.
By this time, the weather was still rather grim, the snow made a rapid reappearance but despite this, we all pulled together and had a wonderful Christmas Party attended by over fifty group members plus professionals. The atmosphere was celebratory and after lunch we were finally able to release our WAD balloons, each with an individually numbered tag stating the reason of the event. Amazingly, as we braved the bracing winter air, the snowfall ceased, the grey clouds dispersed to reveal a perfect turquoise sky and almost as if ordered, the sun blazed down as we released the balloons and watched them begin their soaring, sunlit journey to who knows where. At the time of writing, we have had one notification of a deflated balloon and tag found in a garden in Reigate, Surrey, some 160 miles from Drop-in!) The balloon release was a very unifying and highly emotional moment for all of us.
We are delighted that January 2011 sees the beginning of two new Drop-in activities. To compliment the already popular weekly individual appointments, our Post-Graduate Counsellor is now able to facilitate monthly Personal Development Workshops on the second Wednesday of each month. The first was held on 12th January and from the feedback we received, it was a huge and beneficial success.
Our second recent activity is the formation of our much-requested Tagadere Ladies' Group. This is something which we have been planning for some considerable time and it is wonderful to see it reach fruition. It has already proved to be so successful that we are in the process of extending the amount of opportunities for HIV positive women to meet in a secure, confidential and friendly environment. The group meets on the last Wednesday of each month at The Drop-in. For further information please contact 07766 800 514 or admin@tagadere.org.uk
Earlier update
Tagadere’s Working Party (John, Morgan and Simon) were extremely proud and delighted to be shortlisted into the final ten places for the One Nottingham Small Grants Scheme Award. This gave solid recognition to the continuing hard work and input since May 2009 when Tagadere attained charitable status.
In June a formal function was held at Nottingham’s Council House which gave opportunity to further advertise and promote Tagadere’s role in the HIV community as the only user led, volunteer run self help support group for people living with and affected by HIV in the Nottingham area.
The evening was a great success with a respectable amount of attention shown in the services provided by Tagadere. However, despite the positive feedback and curiosity of many, it was intriguing to observe the continuing general disinterest and discomfort which still surrounds HIV/AIDS. This was exemplified when many visitors to the Tagadere display would approach, view the literature we had produced and upon seeing the content, replace the pamphlets and bid a somewhat hasty and rather embarrassed retreat. It could be easy to wander into the realms of paranoia here, but sadly the evidence was there despite our gentle efforts to explain our work and to remind the public that HIV/AIDS are still present and not going away. Ultimately, our efforts were recognised by the fact that we had been shortlisted for the award which was a real boost to our confidence as a group in a minority area. We’d like to congratulate the three winners and also thank Nottinghamshire Community Foundation for their invaluable assistance.
The continuing success of our own in-house counseling has been extremely rewarding. For the past few months we have been providing confidential, one-to-one appointments for those visiting Drop-in. These individual, private sessions have proved beneficial and are held in the security of the Drop-in. We also hold regular informal group sessions which provide a relaxed opportunity for interaction which gives understanding of each other’s individual and varying coping mechanisms for living with HIV.
At the User/Carer forum in July, a concern was raised that the Tagadere website had not been updated recently. There is good reason for this: the paid independent webmaster has been on leave. However petty this may be, we would like to reiterate that Tagadere is operated solely by a core of three unpaid volunteers who attend to all matters arising; ranging from facilitating the successful weekly operation of the Drop-in, the many funding applications and Crisis Support as well as peripheral activities such as website updating. There are countless time-consuming tasks and duties which need constant maintenance to continue offering peer support and a weekly Drop-in. We are always looking for additional voluntary assistance. If anyone feels able to volunteer and contribute to the HIV community, all offers will be gratefully considered. Please feel free to contact tagadere@hotmail.co.uk The secretary will gladly supply you with a lengthy list of available activities.
Charitable Status
On the day Tagadere launched the new Drop-In, we received notification that we had been approved to become a Registered Charity. This means that 6th May 2009 will be forever remembered for two monumental moments in the history of Tagadere.