On the 1st December 1991 around 200 people headed by Our House BP marched through Brighton to mark the culmination of AIDS Awareness Week that year. The B&W photo which featured in the Evening Argus, shows Simon Perry (bearded) holding the banner with Kevin Dodd (middle) and his partner Alan holding the banner on the right. On the left of Simon is Jimmy Brown, a Sussex AIDS Centre Helpline (SACH) volunteer. Clive Bentley who was the Information Manager at SACH at the time was quoted as saying ‘I think the challenge is still to convince people that everybody is potentially at risk.’

Arrivals + Departures Wednesday 5 May 2021 Artists Yara and Davina create ambitious public artworks that respond to site, context and audience. Their inventive, issue-based work is wide ranging, and uses a lightness of touch that make their works both poetic and universal. Arrivals + Departures invites the public to share the names of those who have arrived and departed on live boards, to acknowledge, celebrate and commemorate. On Wednesday 5 May 2021 Yara and Davina invited me to ‘takeover’ the boards of their Brighton International Festival exhibit in Pavilion Gardens to commemorate the lives of those who died from an AIDS-related illness in Brighton & Hove. It was an honour & a pleasure to be invited to be a part of this wonderful public artwork exploring birth, death, and the journey in between. ‘In the roaring waters, I hear the voices of dead friends Love is life that lasts forever My hearts memory turns to you...’    Andrea Philippe Regard   Arrival - 16 March 1965 / Departure - 13 May 1991   Graham Charles Wilkinson   Arrival - 08 December 1949 / Died 22 August 1990 (London Lighthouse)   David Andrew Jones ‘Cooch’   Arrival - 17 July 1962 / Departure - 18 October 1999   Gary Beverly   Arrival - 26 September 1956 / Departure - 23 June 1993   Father Marcus Riggs   Arrival -1955 / Departure - 10 July 1998   Clive Bentley   Arrival - 07 August 1961 / Departure - 17 August 1994   Kevin John Dodd   Arrival - 21 May 1962 / Departure - February 1992 The quoted text comes from the film ‘Blue’ by Derek Jarman.

Clive Bentley 7 August 1961 - 17 August 1994 Clive’s Brighton life began at Sussex University when he started an Environmental Science degree in 1979.  After this, he embarked on training as an accountant and thanks to a fascination for detail and his meticulous approach; he was set for a successful career. Testing HIV positive started Clive on a journey of personal discovery which would influence the rest of his life and everyone who knew him. At a time when fear and hostility surrounding HIV were at their most hysterical, Clive made the decision to confront his diagnosis head-on. He was deeply committed to understanding the virus and helping others do the same. Along with getting to grips with the mechanics of the disease, Clive invested huge amounts of energy exploring the personal impact of HIV on his life and others. For Clive, who co-founded Body Positive with Graham Wilkinson in 1985, and then became Sussex AIDS Centre & Helpline’s first administrator in 1986, his work was never just a job. Clive was never simply motivated by his own struggle. He was a committed socialist, enraged by all forms of inequality and discrimination. Where his brain held knowledge, his heart was always in touch with the human consequences of treating others as outsiders. Clive also had a great sense of humour and a tremendous wit which was a release from the collective pain of HIV and a way of bringing people together in the face of it. Not only was Clive a highly efficient administrator but also a skilled trainer and group worker, and when he was able, he loved to travel and experience other cultures, especially Italy and Italian food. Clive made a huge impact on the lives of those who knew him and loved him, but also on those who only met him briefly. He was a unique and special individual and those who met him were different because of the experience. It’s in that difference that we have a permanent reminder of his too brief but explosive presence among us.

The Brighton AIDS Memorial Exhibition was displayed at the Dorset Gardens Methodist Church and the Ledward Centre on Jubilee Street between the 24th November and the 4th December 2021 'Love is life that lasts forever'