Labour MP Grant Roberston will be a featured speaker at this Sunday's HIV/AIDS Candlelight Memorial service in Wellington, with a new venue meaning live candles will return to the Capital's annual service of remembrance. In recent years the service, which remembers the many hundreds of people, primarily gay and bi men, who died through the fatal initial decades of the HIV epidemic, has been hosted in the capital at Te Papa. Strict regulations forbidding naked flames at Te Papa have meant real candles have had to be replaced by small electronic candles for people to hold and with a repeating video clip of a burning candle on a TV screen behind the speakers. Organiser Ron Graham of Body Positive says Te Papa was unavailable this year due to a prior booking for the Meeting House space traditionally used for the service. He says live candles will be lit during Sunday's service at the Tararua Tramping Club rooms in Central Wellington and the small electronic candles will be available for people to hold. Robertson has been one of the most regular speakers at Candlelight Memorial services over the years, with addresses by HIV-positive people and messages from political notables such as the PM and leader of the opposition also being read out. In Auckland a kapa haka group will perform at the beginning and end of the service and the GALS choir will be featured. A much smaller service will also take place in a small chapel in Hamilton. Wellington 4pm Tararua Tramping Clubrooms 4 Moncrieff St (off Elizabeth St), Mt Victoria Hamilton 7pm Lady Goodfellow Chapel University of Waikato Auckland 6pm St Matthews in the City Cnr Hobson
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Friday, 13th May 2016 - 12:42pm