Dear Members
I trust you are all well as we head into the home straight of what has been another extraordinary year.
I hope those of you who joined us for the November dinner, when Wendy Clark was our speaker, enjoyed the evening. The lesson I will take from Wendy was her warning not to impose the same rites of passage from one generation on to the next, to understand the next generation’s need for a different kind of journey.
We have one last dinner for this calendar year, our Christmas dinner, which will take place on 1st December, which is World AIDS Day. Our speaker will be Gareth Thomas CBE. Gareth is a former international rugby union and rugby league player with 100 test match appearances for Wales. Gareth was voted the most influential gay person in the UK in 2010 and received Stonewall’s Hero of the Year Award. On 14 September 2019, Gareth announced that he is HIV positive. The following day he vowed to “break the stigma” around the virus, having just completed the IRONMAN Wales event.
Gareth’s journey to finding his true self, and then bringing it to everything he does is inspiring beyond belief. I can’t wait for us all to have the opportunity to hear his story in person.
We will also have music from Brooke Combe an up-and-coming artist from Scotland who has just been signed to Island Records.
It promises to be a great night and after a year full of separation, a wonderful time to come together to close out the year.
I’m really looking forward to seeing you all.
Magnus Djaba
Chair
MGGB