NOTTINGHAM’S ONLY INDEPENDENT

VOLUNTEER RUN HIV PEER SUPPORT GROUP

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REGISTERED CHARITY 1129416

 © Tagadere

Registered Charity 1129416

November 2010

Foul play afoot

Our attention has been drawn to the ‘mysterious’ disappearance of the posters advertising the Tagadere drop-in which we were asked put up on the walls of the GU Department at Nottingham City Hospital.

More concerning is that a service user reported to us that they had found two of our laminated posters scrunched up and thrown on the floor near the entrance to GU.

Another curiosity is that within days of Tagadere posters being placed, if they do not suffer the fate of a mysterious disappearance, they are overlaid with posters for THT. Not pointing fingers…

October 2010

Hallowe’en hilarity at our drop-in party

Our 2010 Hallowe’en Party was full of laughter and fun instead of frights and horror.  We leave the frights and horror to others as Tagadere concentrates on vibrancy, being upbeat and together.

A fantastic buffet was prepared by group members; pumpkins were cut into lanterns and all of the usual bewitching pastimes were enjoyed by a capacity gathering!

Workshop: Keeping Warm on a Winter Budget

On Wednesday October 27th Tagadere invited the regular support workers from Metropolitan to present a workshop on how to keep warm during the winter season when you are on a limited budget.

Although a lot of the tips were common sense there were some rather surprising facts and information provided.  Everyone who attended definitely gained something from the presentation.

September 2010

Soothing and educational canal boat journey

On 7th September we stepped aboard a delightful canal boat and embarked on a soothing, serene glide along the Ashby Canal through Leicestershire.

It was a wonderful way to spend a very therapeutic day; we learned a lot of local history and for some of us, an education into the construction and uses of the English canals system was an enlightenment!

August 2010

On Thursday 20th August we took to the waters and cruised along the serene canalways of Leicestershire’s Ashby Canal.

The weather was fine for the majority of the day’s aquatic enjoyment which turned out to be a wonderful way to spend a very therapeutic day.  We learned a lot of local history and for some of us who were not born in the UK there was an enlightening education into the construction and uses of the English canals system and the Industrial Revolution.

July 2010

Tagadere visit Easton Walled Gardens

On a sunny day in early July we took a visit to the delightful Easton Walled Gardens in the lush pasutres of Nottinghamshire.

The remarkable success of reclaiming the lost gardens from an untamed wilderness was an inspiring insight into the dedication and commitment of people who have a combined passion to create something fabulous for the benefit of others.  A parallel with Tagadere was noticed!

May 2010

First anniversary celebration party

’You won’t do it, you know. Other people have tried and failed.  You should just leave it to THT’

Those words from just over 12 months ago were marvellously and justifiably redundant in a community centre crammed full with local people living with HIV who gathered to applaud the success of the new Tagadere.

It has been a fascinating, enjoyable and often challenging twelve months spent since the ‘new’ Tagadere gained status as a Registered Charity.

We celebrated in marvellous style with a fabulous party at our weekly drop-in where a wonderful buffet was prepared and devoured by the appreciative and grateful crowd of Tagadere members, professional workers and our regular attendees to Tagadere; the HIV Specialist Social Worker, Dietitian and also HIV Specialist Nurse. Even though it was a party the professionals still worked hard for their buffet lunch!  

An unexpected and rousing three cheers for the Tagadere Working Party (Simon, John and Morgan) were called in gratitude for the hard work and devotion as volunteers into moving Tagadere forwards to become Nottingham’s only user-led, self help peer support group for people living with HIV.   It has been hard work and very tiring at times, especially when a small circle of people decide to try and scupper our efforts but we are strong and above all, as the word Tagadere means: Together!

Tagadere appear at the One Nottingham Awards

Tagadere’s Working Party (Simon, John and Morgan) 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.

Adhering to our self help, do-it-yourself ethics, Tagadere’s resident in-house design department (a.k.a. Simon) spent many long hours creating a bespoke and unique introduction booklet to present to people visiting the Tagadere information stand.

The resultant booklet was an elegant volume containing information on Tagadere, HIV and a selection of real life experiences from people who use the services which we provide.

Considerable solitary exhausting volunteer hours were spent in designing, printing and assembling the booklet which were worth the effort when dozens of copies of the completed version sprinkled the stall in rainbow colours; one impressed ceremony attendee commented that it had a ‘very Gustav Klimt look to it’.

Many people attending the event were so sufficiently impressed with our DIY efforts that they asked ask where we had had the booklet designed and assembled and were amazed at the attention devoted to presenting a local, volunteer run charity in such a professional manner.

The awards 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.

In-house counselling at the Tagadere drop-in

The continuing success of our own in-house counselling has been extremely rewarding. For the past few months we have been providing confidential, one-to-one appointments for those visiting the Tagadere 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.

 

IV positive people and doing what we consider to be democratically beneficial.

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