The Crescent is nominated for the Queens Award For Voluntary Service

Dear all,

We are thrilled that the Bishop of St Albans has nominated us for this amazing award, (which is the equivalent of an MBE for a voluntary organisation) and especially honoured to be considered on the eve of HM the Queen’s 90th birthday too. Three of our volunteers attended a reception at County Hall in Hertford recently as recognition of our nomination.

The winners of the award will be announced in June and we will of course keep you informed ! If we are successful we will be presented with our award by The Countess of Verulam, Her Majesty’s Lord Lieutenant of Hertfordshire and receive an invite to a garden party at Buckingham Palace.

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

 

The Crescent Team

Crescent volunteers Anita Denise and John pictured at the reception with Deputy Lieutenants of Hertfordshire, Mrs Penny Williams JP DL and Mrs Jo Connell OBE DL

Outstanding Support For Our Quiz Night Fundraiser Last Week.

Hi All,

A HUGE thank you to all those who participated, donated or otherwise supported our Quiz Night on Friday last week. The event was a resounding success with far more people arriving than expected ! We had to put out more tables and rearrange seating to get people in!

The quiz was compiled, and hosted with great skill by our patron CJ de Mooi who is donating a percentage of the sales of his book, “How to Win TV Quiz Shows”, to us. A link to the book can be found here http://www.demooi.co.uk/book.html

Amazing to have so much local support, we raised thousands on the night itself, with more donations coming in this week too. This will help us keep providing essential services for the people living with HIV in Hertfordshire and beyond.

Keep watching this space for more information on our next event, which will feature a book launch by another of our patrons, James Wharton, whose excellent book “out in the Army” is released next month (June). Here is an extract from Amazon describing the book..

“Out in the Army follows the extraordinary career journey of James Wharton, one of the first ‘out’ soldiers in the armed forces as he becomes a man, joins the Army and learns to deal with his sexuality in a sometimes hostile environment prior to coming to terms with it and, in turn, helping the army itself come to terms with homosexuality. Wharton’s experiences in the army form the bedrock to this astonishing tale, from serving in Southern Iraq and with Prince Harry in Canada, to being hospitalized in a homophobic beating, to helping at the 7/7 bombings and serving at the Royal Wedding. His story is told right up until the point where he leaves the army in 2013 after a ten year commitment. The Army is certainly a different place now to when James signed up and there s no question that he s helped change opinions and make life easier for gay service people in the future. James was the first openly gay person to appear on the front cover of Soldier magazine, the British Army’s official publication. By being one of the first highly visible out soldier James has helped the armed services to begin to address its institutionalized homophobia.”

Link here to the publisher https://www.bitebackpublishing.com/search/james%20wharton

Thanks again for your wonderful support, look forward to seeing you at the next event,

With best wishes

The Crescent team

West Herts Drivetime Today at 5.30 pm

Hi All,

Tune into 92.6fm today to hear our wonderful patron Cj de Mooi talking about our fundraiser tomorrow at Homewood Road Church St Albans at 7.30 and why he is supporting the savethecrescent campaign.

Look forward to seeing you there tomorrow if you can make it,

Thanks for your support as ever,

The Crescent Team

St Albans Cathedral and Abbey Church Mission Allocation Presentation

We were so pleased to attend the Abbey yesterday for the presentations, Good to see so many worthy causes, including The Crescent, receiving support from the Mission Allocation.

Especially pleased to have the support of the Congregational giving team, looking forward to working closely with the Cathedral team in preparation for World Aids Day which will also be our 25th Anniversary this year.

The Crescent Team

Spring Basket A Resounding Success Yesterday !

Hi All,

The annual Spring Basket event held with the Diocese HIV Support Group was again a huge success, we filled Homewood Road Church Hall with household goods and clothes, then filled the hall with people living with or affected by HIV who made the most of what was on offer!

This year thanks to a few late comers we completely cleared the hall, everything went ! A huge thank you to Susan Roberts and everyone involved with the Diocese group who made the event such a success again this year.

Please help save the Crescent, we care about those affected by HIV in Hertfordshire and beyond!

The Crescent Team

Quiz Night Approaches !

Hi all,

Link to the herts Advertiser article here;

http://www.hertsad.co.uk/news/quiz_night_set_to_boost_st_albans_hiv_centre_the_crescent_1_2169245

Hope to see some of you there, tickets selling fast be sure to call early for yours !

Thanks for your continued support,

The Crescent Team

Quiz Night 24th May – Article In the Herts Advertiser Today

Hi all,

Article talking about Eggheads and our forthcoming quiz which is being hosted and organised by our wonderful Patron CJ de Mooi the former Egghead star and all round good guy!

Please see here for the article;

Newspaper Article HA 250413

looking forward to seeing many of you on the night, more details of the quiz here;

The Crescent Quiz Night Poster 240513

Thank you for your continued support,

The Crescent Team

HIV Training Service Proving A Great Success !

Hi All,

Feedback from our training sessions today and last Friday shows that there is an ever present need for HIV educators to work with all sectors of the community to spread awareness, discuss the issue of stigma and encourage regular testing.

We had an excellent response from a training session at the University of East London last week, and our presentations to teams of Health Care professionals in Buckinghamshire last month, and again this week.

100% of attendees rated the courses delivered as excellent or good (at least 75% rated as excellent in all categories, such as meeting needs, relevance, content, and delivery)

Comments made during and after the events included;

“Excellent presentation, very informative” ”

“I thoroughly enjoyed the course which added more to my knowledge of HIV/AIDS”

“Really interesting, I’m going to have a talk with my children”

“Thank you for the training, you have opened my eyes and dispelled some myths – it was brilliant”

“An excellent contribution on living with HIV and even better to hear from the 50+ generation too”

“We had a great session demystifying HIV with members of Crescent Support Group. A truly wonderful time spent”

“Good session, cleared some HIV myths and perceptions. HIV is not a death sentence and your social status does not protect you from it”
“The Crescent is really dispelling the myths of HIV”

We look forward to delivering more of our training with those organisations that have already contacted us, and are very willing to assist anyone looking for similar training / education packages or PLWHIV as public speakers. All of our training is delivered by people living with, or affected by HIV.

For more information contact the Crescent on 01727 842532 email info@thecrescent.org.uk or twitter @CrescentSupport.

Looking forward now to our Quiz Night fundraiser on 24th May 2013, more details of this can be found below;

The Crescent Quiz Night Poster 240513

Thanks again for your continued support,

The Crescent Team

The Crescent Quiz Night 24th May 2013 From 7.30

Dear all,

More details on our forthcoming fundraiser in the attached poster. This will be hosted and written by our Patron CJ de Mooi and promises to be a very good night. Teams of up to six, or individuals are equally welcome. All proceeds are to go to the Crescent, refreshments will be available throughout. We very much look forward to seeing you there.

Thanks for your continued support,

With best wishes

The Crescent Team

See here for more details!

The Crescent Quiz Night Poster 240513

CJ has also mentioned this in his blog posting about his forthcoming book, some of the proceeds from which will be donated to the Crescent too; http://cjdemooi.tumblr.com/post/46584676735

Ladies Lunch at the Crescent 11 May 2013 from 12.00 to 2pm

Dear all,

Another event coming up shortly will be the Ladies lunch at the Crescent on Saturday 11 May at 12.00. This is a chance for ladies to get together in a safe environment share experiences, and support oneanother, whilst enjoying a nice lunch. So if you are a lady living with HIV, or supporting someone who is, and would like to come along please do let us know. You can email on info@thecrescent.org.uk, or call us on 01727 842532 for more details.

There will also be a chance for Crescent members to attend the annual Spring Basket event at Homewood road church hall at 2.30 that afternoon too. This is an event where Crescent members can get a selection of donated clothing, toys and household goods for free. This event is organised by the Diocese HIV Support Group in conjunction with the Crescent, and other HIV support agencies in Herts and Beds.

Please do contact us if you have any questions about this or any of the other events coming up soon. Don’t forget also we have a fundraising quiz night on 22 May too. More details on our website http://www.thecrescent.org.uk.

Thanks for your support

The Crescent Team