Make it stand out
The 1990s: A Decade of Firsts
The Thames Valley AIDS Network (TVAN) officially launches, marking a new era of collaboration and support across the region. Around the same time, Thames Valley Body Positive (TVBP) delivers its first ever HIV awareness training for local statutory and voluntary organisations, offering vital insight into what it means to live with HIV.
In response to growing community needs, TVBP sets up a hardship fund and relocates to what we now know as the Burnham Support Centre, a space that would become central to local HIV support.
Later in the decade, members of TVAN unite to form Thames Valley Positive Support (TVPS), becoming the UK’s first combined Body Positive and AIDS service provider. A bold and compassionate move that set the tone for the decades to come.
The 1990’s was also the decade that Sean joined TVPS, initially as a buddy, he went on to join the board of trustees and eventually become the Chair of our charity!
Mark - Diagnosed with HIV in 1997
In this special episode, Sarah and Jess chat with James, a recent Social and Political Sciences graduate from King’s College London. James has just completed a powerful dissertation exploring the roots and impact of HIV stigma, drawing on oral history interviews with a nurse who worked on the frontline during the height of the
epidemic in the 1980s and 90s.