May Annual Lyme Awareness Month
May Awareness 2026
Help Light Up for Lyme 2026
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Would you like to take part in our Lyme Disease Awareness campaign this May?
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Do you work at a proactive venue?
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Can you think of any buildings or landmarks near you that might be interested in lighting up green for Lyme?
For ‘Light up for Lyme’ 2026, the Lyme Resource Centre, along with our friends at Lyme Disease UK, is calling for buildings and landmarks to light up green during the month of May and we need your help.
Our goal?
In recognition of International Lyme Disease Awareness Month, the “Light Up for Lyme” campaign highlights how to prevent tick bites, spot the signs and symptoms of Lyme disease, and enjoy the outdoors safely.
What is Lyme disease?
Lyme disease is a bacterial infection transmitted via the bite of an infected tick. Ticks are found across the UK, in moors, fields and woodland as well as urban parks and gardens. They are known to be in particularly high numbers in the highlands of Scotland and across the south of England. Lyme disease is a serious and often misunderstood illness that can have long-term health impacts if not diagnosed and treated early.
Why we need you?
By participating, you would help to increase the campaign’s reach and shine a light on the importance of early detection, support those affected, and contribute to increasing public understanding of this condition within our communities.
How you can help to shine that green light:
If you would like to help and have a building in mind but don’t know if they would be interested, you could join our wonderful volunteer team in reaching out via email or phone and asking if the venue would like to participate. Please refer to our outreach email template and informative material for inspiration or contact us directly for more information.
Our example template to encourage an organisation to “Light up for Lyme “ near you.
If you represent a proactive venue, building or landmark and would be interested in participating please fill out our short 2 minute “Light up for Lyme” form and we will be in touch shortly.
May Awareness 2025
Light Up for Lyme 2025
Schedule of Locations and Dates in the UK
Every year in May, a large number of buildings and landmarks across the UK, Republic of Ireland and beyond support Lyme Disease Awareness Month by Lighting up for Lyme.
LRC alongside our friends at LDUK and the patient communities across the UK and the Republic of Ireland are grateful for their support once again in 2025.
May Awareness 2024
May Awareness 2023
Rico Franchi - Chapters
To draw a busy #LymeDiseaseAwarenessMonth to a close, we’re excited to share this new song from @RicoFranchi, using his music as both an outlet for his own pain & anxiety as a result of Lyme infection, but also as a way to raise awareness of Lyme disease.
Expanding Outdoor Tick Awareness:
Scout Adventures and Edinburgh City Council join the cause
During May, Scout Adventures at Fordell Firs (Fife), Lochgoilhead (Argyll) and Meggernie Estate (Perthshire) have installed our signs at their outdoor centres to educate their visitors about ticks and Lyme disease and did a fantastic job sharing the message online.
Edinburgh City Council was another significant request we supported, sending them 20 signs for their urban and country park portfolio, as well as posters for their notice boards.
We were pleased to help lots of smaller organisations and individuals showing an interest and taking signs for local trails / community groups.
Thank you to all those helping to raise awareness of ticks and tick borne infections.
Light Up for Lyme 2023
The Lyme Resource Centre have worked with local authorities and other bodies to enable the lighting of public buildings and other landmarks in green during Lyme Disease awareness month of May. The lighting of the buildings is accompanied by a communications and publicity strategy which answers the question from the public as to why the buildings and landmarks are lit up green. The purpose of this is to raise awareness of Lyme Disease among the public and to encourage them to access further information resources to promote the prevention of tick borne disease, safe removal off ticks and the early recognition of symptoms when a tick bite is detected.
Some examples of public buildings and landmarks in Scotland are illustrated below and include :
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Falkirk Wheel
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The Kelpies Falkirk
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Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh
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Titan Crane Clydebank
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Wallace Monument Stirling
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Milngavie Town Hall
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Kilsyth Bandstand
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Bearsden Halls
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Ness Bridge Inverness
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Marischall College Council Headquarters, Aberdeen
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Strathclyde University Wolfson Centre
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Strathclyde University Technology Innovation Centre
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Church Street Dumbarton
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Bowline, Bowling
Parliamentary Motion - May 2023
EVELYN TWEED MSP- Motion S6M-07769
Evelyn Tweed Scottish National Party Stirling
Members' Business Motion Lodged: 14/02/2023 Due in Chamber 17/05/2023
National Lyme Disease Awareness Month
That the Parliament acknowledges that May 2023 is National Lyme Disease Awareness Month; notes that Lyme disease is a bacterial infection spread to humans by infected ticks, which are tiny spider-like creatures found in woodland and moorland areas that feed on the blood of birds and mammals, including humans; understands that many people with early symptoms of Lyme disease develop a circular rash around the tick bite three to 30 days after being bitten, often described as looking like a bull’s eye on a dart board, whilst some people may develop several rashes in different parts of their body, and around one in three people will not develop a rash; further notes, however, that diagnosing Lyme disease is often difficult as many of the symptoms are similar to other conditions; acknowledges that NHS Scotland advises
that Lyme disease is treatable, however, that without treatment, more serious and longer-term symptoms may develop, including pain and swelling in joints, nerve problems, memory problems, difficulty concentrating and heart problems; understands that there is currently no vaccine available and that the best way to prevent Lyme disease is to adopt simple measures when in the countryside or near wildlife, including tucking trousers into socks and wearing insect repellent, and notes the calls encouraging anybody who is concerned that they have contracted Lyme disease to contact their GP and for everyone to take precautions when in the countryside.