Maurice’s story - 19 December 1987 ‘I developed swellings in my glands and my bowel movements became difficult. I told my doctor, whose reaction was “glands, that’s nothing - feel mine. I hope you’re not becoming obsessed with your bowels.” I was sent for a blood test, but as there was no HIV test in 1982, I was told that I must have picked up a virus which had now gone. But I think that it could have been HIV as two years ago I was diagnosed as being antibody positive. Since that day, I have to thank the Sussex AIDS Helpline, from whom I had support from the first moment of the shock of my diagnosis. I very soon joined the Helpline myself - it was the only way I could cope with everything. I had to know as much as I could about AIDS. After a while I realised I wanted to work with people with AIDS, so I did a course in massage techniques, so I could offer something useful to the people I worked with. Because I have had a full life, I can’t be too sad, though I’m not ready to go yet and I’m going to put up a fight. The people I feel sorry for are the young ones who thought they had a full life to lead, and now live in fear and doubt. Today at St. Peter’s Church, I witnessed the most beautiful service of my life – a memorial to those in Sussex who have died of AIDS. Bless whoever in the Helpline who first thought of this. I shall remember it for the rest of my life, however long that might be, and I shall remember my departed friends.’ Maurice died on the 12 January 1988, quite suddenly but peacefully.

National AIDS Memorial Quilt On the 14 March 1992, Our House Body Positive & Pink Parasol held their first support group to encourage Brighton contributions to the National AIDS Memorial quilt at the Morley Street Family Centre. At this first session the film ‘Common Threads – Stories from the Quilt’ was shown, and this inspired me to create a quilt panel for my friend Andrea Philippe Regard. A series of exhibitions of the completed 6’ x 3’ panels celebrating the lives of people who died was arranged as part of the 1992 Brighton Lesbian and Gay Pride. On the 17th May (then known as Lesbian & Gay Remembrance Day - now International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia) some of the quilt panels were displayed in the Brighton Museum, and then between the 19th and 21st May the whole National AIDS Memorial Quilt was laid out at the Holy Trinity Church, Ship Street - now the home of the Fabrica Gallery. The quilt which my ex-partner Alf Le Flohic and his friend John Twoomey helped me to make, was also displayed at the Brighton Gay and Lesbian Pride celebration in Preston Park that year.

Paul Overton “Paul Overton died on the 21 May 1994. In true Overton style, it was one day before his birthday and in the building where he was born 46 years earlier. I am not going to romanticise about Paul now that he is no longer with us - he could be a right pain in the neck when he chose, but he was dedicated to doing as much as he could for the AIDS/HIV community in Brighton. He was the co-ordinator of Our House BP as well as sitting on the management committees of SACH and the Sussex Beacon. He was always either in meetings with the Health Authority or writing letters to organisations and newspapers when there was something printed which he felt was derogatory to those living with HIV. His time was spent tirelessly trying to improve people’s perceptions of AIDS/HIV, he contributed to ‘Inform’ regularly and was a prolific short story writer in his own right. Paul wasn’t the person I’d have chosen to be stranded on a desert island, but I did spend many evenings in his company and realised his bark was much worse than his bite! He wasn’t bothered about winning any popularity contests- he was bothered about getting his job done. I miss him.” (Words by Phil Scott - Our House BP)

Sussex AIDS Centre “We held the first Brighton and Hove public meeting on AIDS in 1984 at offices in Lansdowne Place, Hove. Graham Wilkinson and I split the small cost of hiring the room and invited someone from the recently formed THT to come along and explain what they were doing in London. Both Graham and I had joined THTs small Social Work group which met at their original tiny offices in London – at that time only consisting of a couple of rooms. So, it was at this first public meeting that a handful of us volunteered to set up the Sussex AIDS Helpline.    We knew the person who at the time managed the Well-Women Clinic above a shop on the corner of Western Road and Waterloo Street in Hove. They very kindly agreed to let us use their offices in the evening when they were closed and allowed us to use a telephone line for free.    Graham and I both worked together as Social Workers in the Hanover Team based opposite St Peters Church, and we managed to get permission to use our offices in the evening for training and support groups. As professional social workers we were able to put together a training programme for the early volunteers to help handle phone calls. Graham or I would either take the calls ourselves, or be there as support for the other volunteers.    For the first 2 years Sussex AIDS Helpline got no official funding. We managed to get by with volunteer time and effort, meeting in each other’s homes, raising awareness in pubs and clubs, and by borrowing facilities and resources from the Well Women's Clinic and Social Services Hanover Team. A couple of years later we became the Sussex AIDS Centre and Helpline.” Clive Stevens

AIDS Memorial sculpture – New Steine Gardens The cast bronze AIDS Memorial Sculpture situated in New Steine gardens stands four metres high. It depicts two intertwined figures, one male figure and one androgynous figure, soaring up towards the sky. The sculpture which forms a shadow in the shape of the red ribbon was unveiled by Mr David Furnish on the 9th October 2009.  Artist & sculptor Romany Mark Bruce said:   “My starting point was the internationally recognised Aids ribbon, perhaps not original but poignant. My idea was for two figures, touching at the base as their paths crossed, soaring upwards, intertwining, with no certainty if they would meet again. Many of those affected by HIV and Aids in Brighton is the result of the union of two men, but the disease is not confined to gay men. Two figures would represent all those affected, one male, one genderless. My inspiration was memories of my friend Paul Tay who died of Aids in the 1990s. I wanted the Memorial to represent not only the tragedy of Aids but also hope for the future with the advancement of medical treatment.”

The Hankie Quilt In 2012, Peter Moxom and Maurice McHale Parry revised the idea of the Name Project and reinvented it as the Hankie Quilt Project. Moxom and McHale put a call out for people to sew a name on to a hankie which was then sewn on to a larger panel by Robin Thompson. The project became part of that year’s Brighton & Hove Pride march and was displayed at the Brighton Dome and the Jubilee Library. Andrea Philippe Regard’s hankie is the green one with a representation of white arum lilies.