{"id":266019,"date":"2025-07-15T04:37:21","date_gmt":"2025-07-15T04:37:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/266019\/"},"modified":"2025-07-15T04:37:21","modified_gmt":"2025-07-15T04:37:21","slug":"parts-of-uk-aids-memorial-quilt-come-to-knowsley-for-first-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/266019\/","title":{"rendered":"Parts of UK AIDS Memorial Quilt come to Knowsley for first time"},"content":{"rendered":"

This week, Knowsley is displaying an extraordinary and moving piece of living history. A selection of the UK AIDS Memorial Quilt is on show at Shakespeare North Playhouse, in Prescot<\/a>, until Saturday, July 19.<\/p>\n

The installation, presented in partnership with Liverpool-based charity Sahir and AIDS Memorial Quilts UK, brings together art, grief, activism and remembrance. The UK AIDS Memorial Quilt is part of one of the largest community art projects in the world. <\/p>\n

The quilt began in San Francisco in the 1980s during the height of the AIDS crisis. In the face of silence and political neglect, communities responded with care and protest.<\/p>\n

The UK followed suit, with families, friends and activists across the country creating their own panels and refusing to let loved ones be forgotten. Football scarves, song lyrics, photographs, teddy bears and handwritten notes all appear in these deeply personal quilts.<\/p>\n

After years in storage, the quilt was brought back into public view in 2014 by a partnership of UK HIV charities. Today, it remains a powerful reminder of the lives lost before life-saving treatment became available and of the ongoing global fight against HIV and AIDS.<\/p>\n

The exhibition offers an opportunity to reflect on the impact of HIV and AIDS, and to recognise the importance of ongoing awareness, education and support. Visitors are encouraged to take time with the quilts and to consider the personal stories and histories represented in each panel. <\/p>\n

The quilts stand as a powerful reminder of lives lost and the communities that continue to be affected. \u201cThis exhibition matters because stories matter,\u201d said Darren Begley of Shakespeare North Playhouse. <\/p>\n

\"TRUSTPILOT<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cSeveral panels were created in memory of people from the Liverpool city region, which makes this exhibition especially meaningful. It is important that we continue to create space where every member of our community can be seen, heard and remembered. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt has been a privilege to work with AIDS Memorial Quilts UK and Sahir to bring this selection of the quilts to Shakespeare North Playhouse.\u201d Commissioned by Knowsley Council, Sahir supports people living with and affected by HIV. <\/p>\n

The charity plays a vital role within the borough, offering essential services and working to challenge the stigma that continues to surround the disease. \u201cFor over 40 years, Sahir has stood with those affected by HIV \u2013 not just in solidarity, but in action,\u201d said Gill Clotworthy, from Sahir. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve witnessed the fear, the silence and the loss. We\u2019ve also witnessed the fierce love, grassroots resistance, and defiant joy that communities like ours have brought to the fight. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe UK AIDS Memorial Quilt is not just a piece of history \u2013 it\u2019s a fabric of our shared grief, our outrage, our resilience. These quilts hold names and memories that deserve to be shouted from rooftops, not buried in shame. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re proud to honour these lives lost, and prouder still to keep their stories alive.\u201d And while the exhibition speaks to a particular moment in history, it also reminds us of the present. <\/p>\n

People are still living with HIV. Stigma persists. Global access to treatment remains uneven. The fight is far from over.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe UK AIDS Memorial Quilt was made to be seen, and we aim to show it in as many places as possible,\u201d said Siobh\u00e1n Lanigan for the UK AIDS Memorial Quilt Partnership Foundation. \u201cWe are delighted the many visitors to Shakespeare North Playhouse will get to see it this July. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt celebrates all the lives lost to AIDS in the 1980s and 1990s and reminds us that there is still much to be done to break down HIV stigma and eliminate the virus worldwide.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read all the latest news from in and around Prescot<\/a>, Merseyside.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This week, Knowsley is displaying an extraordinary and moving piece of living history. A selection of the UK…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":266020,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8815],"tags":[748,393,4884,12893,179,20552,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-266019","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-liverpool","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-inyourarea-community","12":"tag-liverpool","13":"tag-liverpool-echo","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114855401742969411","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266019","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=266019"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266019\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/266020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=266019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=266019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=266019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}