for World AIDS Day, Tuesday, December 1, by Sandys Rotary Club.

Three hundred people will pay $100 each to attend a cocktail party at Government House, hosted by the Governor, Lord Waddington and Lady Waddington and then proceed to St. John's Church for a concert of opera. Singers from abroad will join local artists in a selection of favourite arias.

With the World Health Organisation (WHO) choosing A Community Commitment as this year's theme for World AIDS Day, Sandys Rotary have decided to make this their major fund raising project for the year.

Mr. Stephen Lake, director of community services for Sandys Rotary, has announced that the Club plans to establish an ongoing AIDS Education Fund which will assist Bermuda in gaining access to the latest information on AIDS.

He said that more and more Rotary clubs, world-wide, were getting involved with the AIDS problem in an effort to educate communities as to prevention, care of patients and counselling.

"One of the New York Rotary clubs, for instance, is focusing on children who are born with AIDS.'' He said it was hoped that if the Sandys project was successful, Rotary International might be able to match the amount raised.

Rev. David Chisling, Methodist minister of Southampton and Sandys, who is serving on the committee with Mr. Lake, also serves as a chaplain at Agape House.

He said it was vital that Bermuda, as a community, accepts AIDS and that he believed full acceptance could only come through education.

"We are very excited about the Rotary project,'' he said, "because there is so much going on overseas that we, in Bermuda, need to be made aware of. So we will be working with the whole community to assist Government and the various volunteer groups.'' It is hoped that money raised by Sandys Rotary Club will enable Bermuda residents to attend overseas workshops, to bring speakers in and to provide funding for printing and distributing locally produced information on AIDS that is relevant to Bermuda.

Rev. Chisling said the scheme would, hopefully, assist Bermuda in coming to terms with the fact that AIDS is now permeating a wide cross-section of Bermuda and affecting men, women and children from all walks of life.

To date, 161 people in Bermuda have been officially listed as dying from AIDS-related illness.

Since 1988, December 1 has been observed worldwide as a day of action, designed to raise public awareness of AIDS, particularly amongst those who are not regularly confronted by the disease.

By declaring this year's theme as A Community Commitment, the WHO is stressing the importance of each and every community joining in the fight against AIDS.

A recent statement said, "Only through an enormous commitment of money, energy and imagination -- within and between communities, international, national and local -- can the world hope to contain the pandemic.'' The WHO also stated that "the importance of education cannot be over-estimated. For as fact and understanding drive out ignorance and superstition, people learn how to avoid becoming infected and they also lose their fear of caring for people with HIV or AIDS.'' Sandys Rotary Club believes that the establishment of a fund specifically geared towards education is vitally important if Bermuda is to cope with the potential problems posed by the spread of HIV and AIDS throughout the Island.

It has been asserted in some quarters that Bermuda has, per capita, the highest incidence of the disease in the world.

Artists taking part in the gala concert on December 1 include well known local singers Nancy Chisling, Ru-Zelda Nesbitt-Severin, Peter Nash and Franz Wohlmuth, and Dr. Beverley Hay, and Gwendolyn Lytle from the US.

Jane Farge and Lloyds Matthews will provide piano accompaniment, together with Steven Rawlinson on the harp.

In a selection that should appeal to all opera lovers, the artists will include solos, duets and trios from Rigoletto, The Barber of Seville, Rossini's Force of Destiny, Gluck's Orpheus and Eurydice, Delibe's Lakme and Madam Butterfly and all the artists coming together in a grand finale.

A CLASSICAL RESPONSE TO AIDS will be taken by Sandys Rotary Club when they stage a gala concert of opera on World AIDS Day, December 1. Proceeds from the concert will go towards the establishment of an AIDS Education Fund. Pictured are Community Services Director Mr. Stephen Lake (left) and committee member, The Rev. David Chisling, who are organising the event.