Make a Difference Trust
The Make a Difference Trust (MAD Trust) was the British theatre industry's dedicated HIV/AIDS charity, operating from 1990 until its closure in 2021. It began as West End Cares, a grassroots fundraising initiative born from the AIDS crisis devastating the theatre community, and over three decades raised more than £14 million for HIV/AIDS support in the UK and internationally.
Jill Nalder was a founding member and inaugural chair of West End Cares, and organised over 200 cabarets and midnight matinees to raise funds through the London theatre community. She is also the person on whom the character of Jill Baxter in Russell T Davies's drama It's a Sin was based.
Origins: West End Cares (1990)
West End Cares was established in 1990 by Bob West, David Kernan and Geoffrey Henning, initially operating under the umbrella of Crusaid. It was a direct response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic that was devastating the theatre community in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The organisation raised money through Late Night Cabarets, Midnight Matinee performances in West End theatres, and annual World AIDS Day collections.
Funds raised in the early years went principally to the Crusaid Hardship Fund, supporting those in the final stages of illness — covering palliative care and funerals.
Dursley McLinden and the Pink Palace
The human story at the heart of West End Cares was that of Dursley McLinden (1965–1995), a West End actor who had trained alongside Jill Nalder at Mountview Theatre School and shared a flat with her that their circle called "the Pink Palace." McLinden was a performer of considerable talent — he played Young Ben in Follies at the Shaftesbury Theatre in 1988 and was part of the The Phantom of the Opera company at Her Majesty's Theatre from 1992, understudying the role of Raoul. He was also known to television audiences as Sergeant Mike Smith in the Doctor Who story "Remembrance of the Daleks" (1988).
Diagnosed HIV-positive in 1990, McLinden became one of the driving spirits behind West End Cares from the inside, helping organise cabaret fundraising nights at Smith's restaurant in Covent Garden alongside Jill Nalder and performer Jae Alexander, drawing on the talent of the West End community to raise money for those dying around them. He continued performing and fundraising until weeks before his death on 7 August 1995, aged 30.
McLinden's life, personality and death were the direct inspiration for the character of Ritchie Tozer — the lead character, played by Olly Alexander (of Years & Years) — in Russell T Davies's 2021 Channel 4 drama It's a Sin. The Pink Palace flat and Jill Nalder's role caring for Dursley and their circle form the emotional core of that drama.
Jill Nalder served as inaugural chair of the West End Cares committee and played a central role in building the organisation's fundraising programme, organising over 200 shows across the years of the crisis.
The committee at various points included Jill Nalder, Jane Salberg, Katy Bryant, Michael England, David Bingham, Murray Lane, Robert Jon, Neil Peters, Ben Jones and Steve Devereaux. Anthony Lynn served as the initial committee leader, followed by David Pendlebury.
Name change: Theatrecares (2002)
In 2002, West End Cares was renamed Theatrecares to reflect its expansion beyond London's West End and to acknowledge its nationwide reach. By this point the organisation had grown to encompass theatre companies and communities across the UK rather than being solely a West End initiative.
During this period the focus of the charity's work also shifted. As antiretroviral treatments transformed HIV from an acute death sentence into a manageable long-term condition, the organisation moved from funding palliative care and funerals towards supporting people living with HIV, including housing, mental health, and social support. The enormous success of fundraising around Disney's The Lion King also allowed the organisation to expand internationally, funding education, testing and treatment projects in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Formalisation: Make a Difference Trust (2008)
In 2008 the Make a Difference Trust was formally constituted as an independent registered charity — the first standalone HIV/AIDS charity for the British theatre industry. It was founded by David Pendlebury, Melanie Tranter and Julian Bird. As MAD Trust the organisation continued the programme of theatre-based fundraising events while distributing grants to UK and international projects. Over its lifetime it distributed more than £2.6 million in grants.
Closure (2021)
The MAD Trust announced its closure in 2021. The COVID-19 pandemic had shuttered theatres across the UK for an extended period, and the trust's fundraising model — which depended almost entirely on theatre-based events — could not survive the prolonged closure. The organisation operated on a no-reserves model, directing all funds raised directly to grant recipients, which left it without the financial buffer needed to weather the shutdown.
In announcing the closure, chair Melanie Tranter noted that while HIV remained a significant challenge globally, the UK had met UNAIDS targets for treatment coverage, reducing the urgency for some of the palliative care funding that had originally motivated the trust's founding.
Jill Nalder
Jill Nalder trained at Mountview Theatre School (1979–1982) and worked as a performer in West End productions including Les Misérables, Gypsy and Oliver!. During the AIDS crisis she lost three close friends within eighteen months. She provided direct personal care — hospital visits, accompanying friends to appointments, bedside vigils — while simultaneously helping build West End Cares into a significant fundraising force.
Her friendship with Russell T Davies began in youth theatre in Wales when both were teenagers. Her experience during the AIDS years became the basis for the character of Jill Baxter in Davies's 2021 Channel 4 drama It's a Sin, played by Lydia West. Nalder herself appears in the series as Jill Baxter's mother. When actress Lydia West met Nalder at the read-through, she later said she found it impossible to maintain eye contact during their shared scene.
Nalder co-authored Love from the Pink Palace (2022), a memoir of the AIDS years and of the friendships she formed and lost, which was shortlisted for the Polari Prize. In 2025 she received an OBE for services to people with AIDS and HIV.