Local bands are lending their support

Tyddyn Bach in Penmaenmawr, Conwy, has started a fundraising campaign to secure the future of the hospice which provides respite care to adults and children living with the illness.

The trust needs �125,000 to buy the building which has been its home for nearly five years before the lease ends in July 2004.

On 2 August, it will host an "all-day music bash rock concert" at Bangor University's Student Union to raise money.

Within a six miles radius of this centre, there have been 10 new cases of HIV in the last three months, one of which was a 12-year-old child Dean Horsfield, Tyddyn Bach Trust

There are only two other centres like Tyddyn Bach in the UK and it is the only one that caters for children all year round.

It helps adults and children with HIV and AIDS and their families for up to three weeks at a time.

Charity chairman, Dean Horsfield, says the centre's closure would not only leave a gap in the current UK provision, but will also affect an ever-increasing future need for such services.

'Cases have doubled'

"Within a six miles radius of this centre, there have been 10 new cases of HIV in the last three months, one of which was a 12-year-old child.

"The number of cases doubled in Wales in 2001 and again in 2002.

"It has also doubled in the first quarter of 2003.

The lease on the building ends in 2004

"Yet there is little or no awareness campaigning about the problem now."

Volunteers at Tyddyn Bach say the centre has grown within the community over the past years and is shaking off the stigma that hospices are a place where people come to die.

On Thursday, they will be presented with the Queen's Jubilee Award for excellence in services to people with HIV and AIDS throughout the UK.

Out of 140 nominations in Wales, the centre is one of 12 recipients of the award, which is given for voluntary work in the community.

Local bands

The hospice is currently supported by donations and help from volunteers.

But by buying the building they hope to save on rent and let out some of their rooms to help with running costs.

The trust has been unsuccessful in its bids for funding so far, although they are still waiting to hear about an application put in to the Welsh Assembly Government.

"We have been trying for funds like the National Lottery for a while, but we get knocked back," says Mr Horsfield.

"That's why we decided to organise events like this to try raise lots of small amounts instead."

Manchester punk band Ephesus will head up the all day concert at the Bangor University Student Union on 2 August.

Local bands Casino, Indecline, Lantern and The Suites will also play.