World AIDS Day Events 2019

Hi All,

How time flies! It will soon be November and World AIDS Day is just around the corner!

To mark the Day we will be holding another of our famous “Busking Days” at the Clock Tower (adjacent to “The Boot” pub and High Street at the bottom of Market Place) from 11am to 3.30pm on Sunday 01 December. There will be a whole host of talented local artists performing on the day to raise awareness and funds for us, so please do come along to enjoy their music !

However to start things off we will be holding an awareness and fundraising event at St Albans City Station from 7am to 7pm on  Monday 25th November ,so you can all get a free red ribbon in readiness for World AIDS Day on Sunday 1st December! You can also find out more about HIV and our work in the community at the same time, as well as help us with any spare change you may have!

On the Monday following World AIDS Day (02 December) we will be holding a similar event at Harpenden Station from 7am to 7pm distributing red ribbons and information to all.

We very much look forward to meeting you at one (or more) of our events.

Thanks as ever for your continued support,

The Crescent Team

 

New Funding for Counselling Services

Hi all,

Apologies for not updating our blog recently, be assured we are busy working in the background to ensure those living or affected by HIV get the support they need.

We are very pleased to announce that we have received generous support from both the Hertfordshire Community Foundation (HCF) and the Make A Difference Trust (MAD) to fund our afternoon and evening counselling services for those living with, affected by, or at risk of acquiring HIV.

The service was officially launched by our Patron, Alex Mayer MEP on Friday in time for World Health Day, a link to the coverage is here http://www.stalbansreview.co.uk/news/16151356.new-hiv-support-group-at-the-crescent-st-albans/

We are now  in our 30th year supporting the community and are thrilled  to have received this support from both MAD and HCF, it will make an immeasurable difference to those accessing services at the Crescent.

There will be more to follow, dates for our next music event, a concert, a street collection and also our regular “Sizzles” with our wonderful friends at “Bunnings” will follow shortly.

Thanks as ever for your support,

The Crescent Team

 

Open Day and Afternoon Tea Party 03 September 2017 from 2.30

Hi all,

Our annual open day and afternoon tea party will be on Sunday 03 September from 2.30, a free event open to all !

Please do come along to find out more about our work, enjoy music from local musicians, homemade cake and refreshments, meet staff and volunteers and see our facilities. It is always a popular event and we would be delighted to see you.

Thanks as ever for your support, we cant do what we do without you!

The Crescent Team

Busking Day and into 2016

Hi all,

A busy time since December apologies for the delay in updating our blog!

Our World Aids Day exhibition of the Stand Tall Get Snapped Project in Luton at the Carnival Arts Centre was very well received indeed and we look forward to exhibiting this in other locations throughout 2016.

Our busking day in December raising awareness of HIV in the community and raising funds went exceptionally well with well almost £1500 raised. Thank you to everyone who helped with the event and of course to the wonderfully talented local musicians who donated their time and talent to make the event such a success yet again.

There will be another of these popular events coming up in the spring so keep watching this space for more details. We will have another open day during the summer and a concert plus a quiz so lots to look forward to.

Our creative writing course has got off to a good start and continues this year every two weeks, after the Tuesday lunch group, until the end of March. Details here: Write It Out at the Crescent

Regular events such as the Sunday Lunch continue with the first lunch on 24 January and then the last Sunday of every month thereafter. In addition our Tuesday lunch continues every week from 12.30.

This year we are continuing with our daily open access drop in service for advice, information, free condoms (by post or collect in person), emotional and practical support, bi monthly complementary therapy sessions, young persons group and free postal HIV testing services for all. Twice weekly counselling sessions are available (with appointments available on Tuesday evenings also) Regular outreach and training work is planned and there are more awareness events coming up.

Plenty to do, we cannot rest on our laurels as late diagnosis of HIV continues to be a problem in west Hertfordshire, most notably Hemel Hempstead and Watford areas in particular where rates continue to be well above national average.

We can’t do what we do without your help so thank you for helping  and supporting us in 2015, and we wish you all a happy healthy and prosperous 2016.

Keep watching this space for further updates and news of our next events.

The Crescent Team

 

Next Event! Busking Day on Saturday15 August at the Clock Tower

Hi everyone,

Our next event will be another of our popular Busking days. It will take place on Saturday 15th August at the clock tower in St Albans from 1030 am to 4pm.

Once again a whole host of local musicians have generously donated their free time and fantastic talents to busk for us all day, help raise awareness and funds for us.

It promises to be as ever a very entertaining day and one not to be missed ! We are immensely grateful to all those who have offered to donate their time and energy to help out and of course to all those wonderfully talented people who will be performing on the day. More details of the line up in the poster below, please do come along to this free event, we are sure you will enjoy it!

Grateful thanks to Denise Parsons for organising the musicians and to the wonderful people at The Boot St Albans for providing the Gazebo again this year!

Thanks as ever for your continued support,

The Crescent Team

Amazing outcome from our Busking Day and World Aids Day Week

A great outcome from our Busking event, we raised over £1500 which will help us continue our work, a huge thank you to all who helped make the Stand Tall Exhibition, World AIDS Day and our Busking Day a great success. We are truly very humbled by the kind generosity of you all !

http://www.stalbansreview.co.uk/news/11659834.Busking_event_in_St_Albans_raises_more_than___1_500_for_HIV_charity/

A link to the latest article above. Huge thanks to all who have helped keep us going in 2014, those who have volunteered, donated, gifted us and generally assisted us along the way, there are far too many to mention individually but together you make a great support team.

Merry Christmas one and all, and a very Happy New Year too.

See you in 2015,

With love and best wishes

The Crescent Team

Free HIV Home Sampling HIV Testing By Post

Latest news  !! You can now get a free home sampling HIV test kit from the Crescent by post ! Visit the website http://www.thecrescent.org.uk or email testing@thecrescent.org.uk for more information!

With this kit you can take the test at your convenience, post the sample to the laboratory, the Crescent will deliver your results to you between 24 – 48 hours (from receipt of your sample at the lab). If the result indicates that you may have HIV a confirmatory test is necessary at the Watford Sexual Health Centre (or another if you prefer). We will support you throughout the process of course.

If you would like to take the test at our centre in St Albans this can be arranged with appropriate support throughout the process as you require.

This is a free service and completely confidential. If you would like to know more about the service please do feel free to email or call us. You can also pick up a kit from our centre in Russell Avenue St Albans if you wish.

Now there really is an easy way to check your HIV status !

The Crescent Team

BBC 3 Counties today after 1pm Nick Coffer show

Hi all,

We will be on the Nick Coffer show this afternoon on BBC3 Counties 95.5 & 104.5FM talking about HIV and our forthcoming quiz night fundraiser. Tune in or listen online at http://www.bbc.co.uk/threecountiesradio.

We will publish a link to the listen again after the programme too.

Thanks for your continued support.

The Crescent Team

Busking Event at the Clocktower A Resounding Success

Hi all,

The busking event on Saturday was a resounding success having raised a wonderful sum for us despite the awful weather and the house (gazebo) being brought down as a finale !!

Huge thanks to the Trestle Arts Base and Denise Parsons for all her hard work getting the event going and also to all the talented musicians who so kindly gave their time and skill to make the event the success it was! We distributed lots of information and red ribbons too, rasing awareness of HIV in the City and beyond.

Here is a link to the latest news article, more photos to come of the day itself !

http://www.stalbansreview.co.uk/news/11237580.Volunteers_dig_deep_to_revamp_garden_for_St_Albans_HIV_charity/?ref=mr

Thanks as ever for your ongoing support everyone,

The Crescent Team

SKY IQ revamp the Crescent Garden

Dear all

A group of lovely voluteers from SKYIQ came along to revamp the Crescent garden last week ! Ten hard working souls cleared hedges and borders, cut grass and painted railings and all in under 4 hours, a simply marvellous gesture ! Huge thanks to Brenda and the team from SKY IQ St Albans.

A link to this week’s newspaper article here;

http://www.stalbansreview.co.uk/news/11237580.Volunteers_dig_deep_to_revamp_garden_for_St_Albans_HIV_charity/?ref=mr

The Crescent Team