Tagadere Information

Tagadere began in the mid 1990's as Positive Attitude; a small group of people living with HIV in the Nottingham area who gathered informally to support to each other and those recently diagnosed as HIV positive. Eventually it was considered that the name was too similar to other groups with 'positive' in their name and therefore a search was undertaken for a name which would be distinctive, to make people think and consequently remember the group. A variety of names were considered until 'Tagadere' was finally adopted as its origins in ancient English mean 'together'. A logo was designed featuring four hands of varying colours gripping supportively together to reflect the connotations of the word. At this time a weekly drop-in service provided by Nottingham City Council Social Services was established at a venue in the outskirts of the city which later moved closer to the city centre. This operated successfully for many years until January 2009 when four Tagadere service users decided that the time had arrived to create a more cohesive, formal group operated on a voluntary basis by Tagadere members; the formative plans were to create a unique group led by the users of the service for the users of the service. Numerous meetings over a period of weeks resulted in the eventual election of a Board of Trustees, the development of a constitution, the creation of a code of conduct for people visiting the Drop-in and the great achievement of becoming a Registered Charity on 6 April 2009. As momentum gathered it became apparent that for a variety of reasons the premises we were using for the Drop-in were not completely suitable. After investigating many properties we relocated to a more appropriate venue which offered more confidentiality and a good level of anonymity which was crucial due to the continuing prejudice and stigma surrounding HIV. This move complimented the introduction of the 'new' Tagadere and in May 2009 the Tagadere Drop-in moved to its current location where it continues to thrive successfully. In ...