These days I like to keep my birthdays low key and hope not too many people notice the passing of another year. Don’t get me wrong I am not embarrassed by my age – quite the contrary I celebrate it. Not everyone has the privilege of becoming an octogenarian…let alone a long-term survivor of HIV.
Perhaps I am the oldest HIV long-term survivor in the country. I know people who were diagnosed years before me (1984) …but all of them are younger than me. I became infected…not as a teenager or 20 something…but at the age of 42. Before you start thinking that the figures don’t add up…I didn’t turn 43 until September. I got my diagnosis in July, after a trip to America with my then boyfriend. I believed for quite a while that I have acquired it alongside a Sexually Transmitted Disease for which we both had penicillin shots. However, I only had unprotected sex with my boyfriend and his test was negative…you can’t catch HIV from someone that doesn’t have it.
Finally, the penny dropped…I had unprotected sex in the backroom of a nightclub in Amsterdam in April. It took three months to be really sure of an HIV diagnosis…and that was amount of time that had elapsed before being tested.
I have digressed somewhat…but I reckon at my age I have earned the privilege.
My birthday began with a visit to my GP practice where they were holding an ‘open day,’ I chatted to all of the stall holders and GP staff. I made sure that the Medical Centre had a good supply of flyers for the North Midlands LGBT Older Peoples Group….before leaving to go to Stoke Minster
At Stoke Minster there was a pop up exhibition featuring people and places of Stoke-on-Trent During English Heritage Open Day. A unique exhibition showcasing images of places and people in Stoke-on-Trent, as recorded by four exceptional artists who capture people and places in their own style and medium of art. These included Phil Crow and Jerome Withington who captured moments of the City’s Centenary Year. In addition I was enthralled with the drone photography by Smithy Sky Stuff who captured fantastic views of the City from the air.
After that I called in at St Mark’s Shelton which was also having an English Heritage Open Day to celebrate the completion of the renovations to the structure of the church. There is much more to be done with the church contents..not least the organ which was badly damaged by water and falling debris. I have seen a photo of the damage to the Great division of the instrument…it looks bad. However, the other divisions…especially the Swell division which is completely enclosed…are in reasonable shape. So, although it will cost a lot to repair…it won’t need a complete rebuild.
In my diary, there was another Heritage Open Day event at the Bethesda Chapel in Hanley. By the time it would have taken me to get there, the event would be over. So I went home to have an early night in preparation for another important event….the 40th wedding anniversary of the Flora and Adrian to be marked with a renewal of their marriage vows. They wanted to have the as much of the same music as at their wedding. I had practiced Handel’s the Arrival of the Queen of Sheba as that is what they seemed to remember along with the hymns. Shortly before the service, they discovered the printed order of service for their wedding. The hymns they had remembered correctly…however, the bride came in to the Tuba Tune by C S Lang and the couple left with Widor’s Toccata. I told them they could have the Lang piece but they would have to wait a bit longer for the Widor as it was work in progress.
Although it has no connection whatsoever with my birthday…I was honoured and delighted to take part in a short film about the Trent Headwaters. It has a number of people whom I highly respect…so when I watched the final result…you can understand my feeling of pride to up there with them.
Watch on YouTube
Maurice Greenham 
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