The Terry Higgins Memorial Quilt has now officially joined the UK AIDS Memorial Quilt, as the quilts go on display in full for the very first time in Scotland at Glasgow's Tramway.
While Terry Higgins was the first named person in the UK to die of an AIDS-related illness, his quilt pays tribute to how he lived. The panels are inspired by Terrence Higgins Trust's co-founders, his partner Rupert Whitaker and close friend Martyn Butler, as well as many others that knew and loved him, including the people accessing our services who Terry still inspires today.
Cleve Jones, the AIDS and LGBT rights activist who conceived the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt, spoke passionately at the opening of the exhibition.
Cleve thanked the young people who were in attendance, addressing ‘those who never watched someone they love die’ because of HIV. Continuing: ‘Thank you for being here, this was not your fight – but we failed.’
He warned against thinking of the quilts and the fight against HIV as some work of nostalgia and spoke passionately against the cuts to USAID: ‘AIDS never went away and, as the funding evaporates, you are going to face this and you are going to have to fight.’
The UK AIDS Memorial Quilt represents over 600 people lost to HIV and AIDS in the UK. Every panel in the Quilt was made by someone who loved the person it remembers. These were people with full lives, passions, friendships and families. At a time when AIDS stigma meant many died unnamed and unmourned in public, the Quilt was an act of defiance. It said these people existed, they mattered, and they will not be forgotten.
This display has at its heart, the beauty and sadness that the Quilt represents. We also pay tribute to the founder of the UK AIDS Memorial Quilt, Ally Van Tillo, who sadly died on 30 August 2026.
The UK AIDS Memorial Quilt, including Terry's quilt, is on display in full at Glasgow's Tramway from now until 4 October 2026.
Find out more about the Terry Higgins AIDS Memorial Quilt and the UK AIDS Memorial Quilt.
