Welcome to our Winter 2016 newsletter.

You’ll notice we called this newsletter issue The AGEnda, as it focuses on how our work supports older and elder people in our communities.

You can also read about a research project at the University of Bristol. You’ll see updates from our friends at the Terrence Higgins Trust (THT). And hear news from our partners at Survive (the domestic abuse charity).

Our very own Dave Sully wrote a review on our Easy Read course. It took place in Bristol last month, where we all learnt a lot to help us reach the NHS Accessible Information Standards. It leads into a short article on Writing in Plain English, with some hints and tips from Dave.

Our case study from Aaron Barnes explores our access to sexual health services. Aaron joined us as a freelance trainer and he focuses on working with Trans communities.

We celebrate our close partnership with SARI, your local hate crime charity. Our article highlights how we work with them and on how important it is to encourage hate crime reporting.

We have a heart-warming story from Bristol Community Health (BCH), which shows how essential its palliative care service is.

We’re so pleased to tell you that our Alphabets LGBTQ youth group in South Gloucestershire was awarded a grant from Merlin Housing Society. The funding means we can create a short film for schools on coming out as LGBTQ, what it’s like being LGBTQ in school, and how we can tackle bullying.

Let me tell you about this week. I took a group of LGBTQ young people from Alphabets to run an assembly on coming out as Trans at a school in Coleford, Gloucestershire. I was then a speaker in my role as a Stonewall Education Champion at another school, this time in Dorset, with Years 7-9. I ran a workshop at a conference on rape and sexual assault in Bristol. Cheryl attended both Transgender Day
of Remembrance (TdoR) events in Bath and Bristol. I ended the week meeting Alex Raikes at SARI and Charlotte Gage from Bristol Zero Tolerance. We looked at the inclusion of sexist and misogynist hate within local definitions of hate crime. It was quite a week!

I am also excited to announce we’re working closely with Brandon Trust, Bristol City Council Public Health and SARSAS to launch a brand new group in Bristol. It’s for LGBT+ adults with learning disabilities. We officially launch the group on Thursday 15 December. To find out more visit: Click Here

Keep warm, enjoy the winter holidays! And thank you for reading our newsletters and for helping us create some exciting stories. We look forward to working with you in the new year.
Berkeley Wilde, Director of the Diversity Trust

Here is the link to the newsletter click here