Highland programme November 2007

Social gatherings
Tuesday 06 12-2 pm at THT LGBT lunch drop-in. Come and have your lunch at THT with your friends or meet some new ones. Browse through the brochures, ask us questions. Tea, coffee and soup provided by THT
Wednesday 14 7-9pm at THT T group (1) Make-up session with professional make-up artist Ronald Flint
Tuesday 20 International Transgender Awareness Day
Wednesday 21 4-6pm at THT LGBT youth: social drop-in
Tuesday 27 7-9pm at THT L Film: When Night is Falling

Sexual Health
Thursday 01 9.30-11.30am at THT Needle exchange (2)

Monday 05 12-2pm at THT Drop-in for sex workers (3)

Tuesday 06 5-7pm at THT Needle exchange
5-7pm at THT Test clinic (4)

Thursday 08 9.30-11.30am at THT Needle exchange

Tuesday 13 5-7pm at THT Needle exchange
5-7pm at THT Test clinic

Thursday 15 9.30-11.30am at THT Needle exchange

Monday 19 12-2pm at THT Drop-in for sex workers

Tuesday 20 5-7pm at THT Needle exchange
5-7pm at THT Test clinic

Thursday 22 9.30-11.30am at THT Needle exchange

Tuesday 27 5-7pm at THT Needle exchange
5-7pm at THT Test clinic

Thursday 29 9.30-11.30am at THT Needle exchange
(1) T group: for those who identify as Transgender - in all its variety
(2) Needle exchange: Intravenous drug users can come in and exchange needles, find information about sexual health and be tested.
(3) Drop-in for sex workers: Off or on street sex workers can come to THT for a chat, to relax and talk with other sex workers, to have a cup of tea, to get information concerning sexual health (including testing and needle exchange)
(4) Test clinic: free and confidential testing, HIV, HepatitisB, HepatitisC and Chlamydia
THT: Terrence Higgins Trust Scotland, 34 Waterloo Place, Inverness IV1 1NB Tel: 01463 711 585

Loopallu press release

Have you packed your condoms

for Loopallu music festival?

The Loopallu music festival is taking place this weekend (21-22 September) and Terrence Higgins Trust Scotland (THT) is offering festival goers free condoms, femidoms, dams and lube from the THT centre in Inverness before they head off.

In Scotland the number of people diagnosed with a sexually transmitted infection is rising. In 2006, the numbers of diagnoses of chlamydia increased by 9%, gonorrhoea diagnoses rose by 7%, and reported cases of warts increased by 7% compared to diagnoses made in 2005. The number of HIV diagnoses in Scotland also continues to rise with 5150 people who have been diagnosed.

Agnes Boes, Senior Health Promotion Specialist in Inverness said "Five thousand people will be heading off to the Loopallu Festival this weekend to see their favourite bands. Some of them will inevitably be having sex. HIV and sexually transmitted infections are on the increase, so it’s important for them to be armed with more than waterproof jackets as protection. We don’t want people to come home with more than their festival wristband."

Agnes adds: “We want to remind people that if you’re going to Loopallu this weekend don’t forget to pick up your free condoms from THT at 34 Waterloo Place, Inverness. The centre is open every weekday from 9.30am -12.30pm and from 1.30pm - 4.30pm. We can also provide all the information and advice you need about safer sex.”

For more information on the services available at THT in Inverness contact: 01463 711 585.

Notes to Editors

Terrence Higgins Trust is the UK’s leading HIV and sexual health charity, providing a wide range of services across Scotland, England and Wales. The charity also campaigns and lobbies for greater political and public understanding of the personal, social and medical impact of HIV and sexual health.
The Loopallu music festival takes place this weekend from 21-22 September and is based in Ullapool, on the shores of Lochbroom in North West Scotland.
Figures are from the Department of Health: Diagnoses and rates of selected STIs seen at GUM clinics: 2002 – 2006; National & Strategic Health Authority Level Summary tables and Health Protection Scotland: HIV Infection and AIDS: Quarterly report to 30 June 2007

Film and Book October 2007

Film 10 October Ma vie en Rose (1998, Alain Berliner)



When seven-year-old Ludovic (Du Fresne) shows a penchant for lipstick and skirts, he unwittingly uncorks a gush of suburban prejudice. It's not that he wants to be a pint-sized transvestite, or even that he's gay, but rather an utter conviction that he should be a girl. His parents (well played by Laroque and Ecoffey) can't understand it or cope with the social stigma that's blackening their name in the tight-arsed, tight-knit community. Crippled by a mixture of liberalism, love and deep embarrassment, they end up in a comic stand-off with their son. Seasoned with spicy humour, the film never preaches. Instead, through Du Fresne's remarkable performance, it deals with a child's innocent exploration of identity and an adult perception that is tainted by sexual insecurity.

Reading Group

27 October At Swim, Two Boys by Jamie O’Neill
Set in Dublin and its near surrounds AT SWIM, TWO BOYS follows the turbulent year to Easter 1916. At its core it tells the love of two boys, Jim, a naïve and reticent scholar, the younger son of foolish, aspirant shopkeeper Mr. Mack, and Doyler, the dark rough diamond son of Mr. Mack’s old army pal.

Out at the Forty Foot, that great jut of rock where gentlemen bathe in the scandalous nude, the two boys meet day after day. There they make a pact: that Dyler will teach Jim to swim, and in a year, they will swim the bay to the distant beacon of the Muglins rock, to raise the Green and claim it for themselves. As Ireland sets forth towards her uncertain glory there unfolds a love storyof the utmost tenderness, carrying the reader through the turbulence of the times like a full blown sail.

AT SWIM, TWO BOYS is written with great verve and mastery. It shares those elements that are the marks of all great books – the breadth of its canvas, the skill of its brush, the intensity of its subjects and, above all, the shining light of its humanity

Venue: Terrence Higgins Trust Scotland, 34 Waterloo Place, Inverness IV1 1NB
Tel: 01463 711 585

Free condoms in demand at the Belladrum Festival

10-11-12 August 2007

Sexual health charity Terrence Higgins Trust Scotland (THT), gave out a massive 18,000 condoms to festival-goers at the Belladrum Festival in Beauly, near Inverness, last weekend. People of all ages, but especially young people took the opportunity to pick up some condoms and get advice and information on STIs, contraception and managing relationships.

Agnes Boes, Senior Health Promotion Officer at Terrence Higgins Trust said: ‘Young people and parents made it clear that they welcomed us being on hand to give advice about safer sex. There is an obvious need among young people to talk frankly about sex and contraception and many festival-goers expressed a wish that they had received this sort of information at school. Agnes adds: ‘Now that the festival has ended we want to remind people about the services THT offers in Inverness.’

THT offers:

· Free and confidential testing for HIV, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C and chlamydia
· Free safer sex materials (condoms, femidoms and dams), by post on request
· HIV support and prevention services
· Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender support
· Counselling and group empowerment
· Education, training and development
· Needle exchange
· Outreach services

For more information on the services available at THT in Inverness contact: 01463 711 585.

Notes to editors
Terrence Higgins Trust is the UK’s leading HIV and sexual health charity, providing a wide range of services across Scotland, England and Wales. The charity also campaigns and lobbies for greater political and public understanding of the personal, social and medical impact of HIV and sexual health.
THT Scotland worked in partnership with NHS Highland and the Highland Brook Advisory Centre to provide advice and information at the Belladrum Festival.

Your space

This blog is an easy to use tool for accessing information but also for you to comment and interact with THT Scotland - Highland Services.

Do you have a comment, a suggestion, a question, are you looking for specific information? This is your space, so please use it.

I will answer your questions and carefully read and consider all of your suggestions.

To view the list of all our postings go to blog archive (top left) and click on the arrow in front of the month.

I look forward to hearing from you!