Here you can view films, photographs and artwork and read poems showcased on Something for the Weekend, and find links to websites and online events mentioned on the show. (You can watch the whole shows here including with captions on all videos). The content is usually listed in the order it appears on the show. This page is updated on Friday afternoons and should be complete by 6pm.  We’d love to see any poems, arts and crafts you have created at home using the same themes or activities: info@together2012.org.uk

Click on any photo to see a larger version.

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30 April 2021

Dressing Up to Go Out to Stay In Julie and Ju dressed up for Lesbian Visibility Week – or rather, Disabled Lesbian Invisibility Week.

Poems from the Together! 2012 Pop-Up Poetry Club Theme: Rainbows. If you’d like to join in from home, next week’s theme is The Moon. Find out more here about how to join the Club, which takes place on Wednesday mornings from 10.30am-12 noon by phone (we call you and pay the costs).

Julie Newman: The Rainbow. Reflections on refractions

The dark of the storm has moved to the horizon
And the sun shines through the clouds in rays.
As the trees sit heavy, with branches hanging low
The birds become busy in the puddles.
Captive pools for them to perform their cleansing dance.
Simply celebrating the cycle of sun and rain
Collectively the world stops, draws a breath, now free
Of dust and pollen. Clear air, clear air, fresh air.

Water and light are the alchemists, mixing like magic
The colours that come together. The rainbow is formed
As the world has paused, and there for all to see.
The promise of a new tomorrow, long held dear
In the hearts of humanity. Peace, love, and comfort
Given freely through the kindness of those who care.
Coming together of groups, outsiders wanting to call
The rainbow their own, those inside calling it theirs.

The rainbow lifts the hearts of those trusting
That the world will be a better place than before the rain.
The promise is there for all to see. The bow between
Heaven and earth carries a significance now ancient.
The birds pay no heed, their flight irreverent
In its disregard for human values as they wing their way
Towards a colourful sky. While the rainbow fades,
As it always will, the birds remain in flight.

Alison Marchant :  A Spectrum of Colours

A rainbow is a meteorologic phenomenon
Caused by reflection, refraction, and dispersion of light in water droplets
A spectrum of light appearing in the sky
A multicoloured circular arc
Rainbows are caused by sunlight
And always appear in the section of sky directly opposite the Sun
Rainbows can be full circles
The observer normally sees only an arc formed by illuminated droplets above the ground centred on a line from the sun to the observer’s eye
A rainbow is not located at a specific distance from the observer
But comes from an optical illusion
Rainbows span a continuous spectrum of colours.

Crystal Peasey: Rainbow

I have rainbow trainers they are all different colours everybody likes my shoes,
Everyone likes my shoes,
Everyone of my carers want my shoes,
Rainbows are bright colours purple, red, green, blue, orange and yellow,
Also I have rainbow stamps they are very pretty and you use rainbow stamps like stickers,
The rainbow stamps are very interesting they can be a work of art.

Crystal Peasey: Rainbows

Rainbows are very interesting rainbows are very colourful and it’s nice to see,
When it rains a rainbow is formed,
I like the light from the rainbow and I like the colours,
Rainbows are brilliant and clear and after a cleansing rainfall that clears the air a rainbow is formed.

Dawn Barber: The Rainbow

The rainbow up high in the sky gives us hope and joy to follow our dreams,
It colours our hearts it flows in us like a river down a stream,
When times are bad it looks after us in every way,
So when you see a rainbow look up and smile today.

Glory Sengo: Rainbow

When I was on a boat and I was looking at a rainbow in the sky it began to rain,
I got off the boat to go home and then I bought chips and I took it home and ate it.

Glory Sengo: Rainbow 2

When I was in the weather I was telling everyone that Thursday was going to be sunny and that Friday was going to be sunny,
On Saturday it’s going to be dry and cloudy on Sunday it’s going to be sunny,
Green is my favourite colour as in the district line,
Blue is my favourite colour as in my light blue shirt,
Indigo is my favourite colour as in France rugby team,
White is my favourite colour as in my favourite white jumper.

Dwain Bryan: The Rainbow

The rainbow has many colours but is very rare,
You barely see them once a year,
When it shines and glows you should know,
From orange to purple to bloody mauve,
People look at rainbows as symbols of themselves,  It makes them happy it makes them well,
I’m a rainbow too I’m a rainbow too I’m a rainbow too,
But to the rescue here I am,
With the meaning of the rainbow happiness is the meaning of the rainbow,
I rarely see a rainbow but I know it will appear,
When you see the rainbow somehow you care.

Blake Jarrette Gibbons: Rainbow Ward, Memory Lane, Thank you NHS

When I was growing up as a little lad, hospital was another home. A home which I went to when unwell more often than not because of a seizure or rather cluster of seizures.

My home besides A & E would be the Paediatric Ward aka the Rainbow ward.

On the ward was where medication could be given safely, scan and tests could be carried out, I was safe and was able to recover whether that be for a couple of days, or for over a month. Yes you had to listen to a doctor with some fancy name from off ward say things, to which would normally sound like gobbledygook to a child. But they would leave again but you still had the staff, our angels.

One memory from the ward is:

The ward was decorated in various colours, most of the walls were white but with patients’ artwork on walls in paint, why surely they should be pure white? Well long story cut short, one time the staff let some of us free with paint and brushes, all covered over with the appropriate clothing however annoying it was to wear. Me being me I wrote my name and that little area where my name was, that was my zone by the wall.

The floor had train tracks and trains decorated on, and from the windows from some sides of the ward you could see the trains pulling in and out of Paddington Station or you could see onto the canal. You could get the boring side and just be looking down from seventh floor to Praed Street bellow.

I won’t drag you down memory lane anymore, but if you do want to please just ask.

Since my time the wall have been decorated again back to that boring colour of White but the train tracks are still on the floor, and the play area is now redecorated with big cushions and even more toys and games.

What made the Rainbow Ward another home though?

It was the staff, the angels sent from the other side of the rainbow. They made you safe, helped you recover, would help in your hardest times. The bringing breakfast and dinner around on the portable kitchen disguised as Thomas the Tank Engine. The fixing your drip, doing observations, medication giving, the allowing you to recover while playing games or teaching you in the school room.

On my last visit to see another young family member I had a look at the staff notice board, there was around four members of staff still on the ward from when I was a young enough one to be treated there.

They say good things are found at the end of a Rainbow, definitely true. More than ever through hardest of times finally now, people are starting to show the love for the NHS and it’s workers with a picture of a rainbow.

The Rainbow Colours also used in many other ways including by LGBTQ+, don’t forget skittles with Touch the Rainbow Taste the Rainbow.

My Rainbow is the Rainbow Ward. Just like with a storm following with some sunlight gets a rainbow than you can chase it. My body would do that without even rain being needed outside. As a young boy I would eventually end up on the Rainbow Ward which had the best people at the end of it.

Yes this has been a journey down memory lane, not to vividly, but this is also a thank you to our NHS, you are the special ones at the end of our Rainbow.

Thank you NHS and Key Workers.

Art Club

The Art Club runs a still-life session on Zoom from 11-12 every Friday morning. Click here to find out how to join the Club, and click on the photo to view a larger version and join in from home. We’d love to see your pictures: info@together2012.org.uk

Join in with Tracy: Painting without a paint brush. You can find more of Tracy’s activities to join in with here.

Join in with Sterre: painting a picture on plastic with added flowers. You can find more of Sterre’s films here.

The Clockwork Paralimpics – to join in at home, pick the toy on the right side or the left side of the screen to support before you start the video.

Poet Kuli Kohli talks about her new book A Wonder Woman to Robin Surgeoner. You can buy the book and find out more here: www.kulikohli.co.uk if people are interested in buying a copy of A Wonder Woman.

The Week Ahead

Ju recommends….

Our Zoom Together! monthly ‘open mic’ event returns on Thursday 6 May from 7-8pm.  Email Noel@together2012.org.uk if you’d like to join us.

Friday 30 April is International Jazz Day, declared by the UN in 2011 “to highlight jazz and its diplomatic role of uniting people in all corners of the globe.”  On Sunday there is a free online concert at 7.30pm as part of Cheltenham Jazz Festival with Zoe and Idris Rahman: https://www.list.co.uk/event/1639534-cheltenham-jazz-festival-2021-zoe-and-idris-rahman/

Deaf Awareness Week runs from 3-9 May, with the focus on ‘coming through it together’.  Deaf spoken-word poet Raymond Antrobus is performing at the Hackney Libraries Lockdown Poetry Group on Thursday from 6-7.30pm: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/lockdown-poetry-group-deaf-awareness-week-raymond-antrobus-tickets-149136925559?aff=erelexpmlt

Robin recommends…

Crip Tales Available online from BBC iPlayer BAFTA nominated series of monologues where A life-changing moment, for six Disabled People is captured in six individually presented powerful, dramatic 15-minute films. Written, directed and performed by Disabled people and curated by Mat Fraser: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000p35p NB: Disabled people with hidden conditions have expressed distress and disappointment at the script content of the film featuring the excellent Liz Carr.

Paralympic and Para-Sports News As the Tokyo Paralympics approaches and athletes, teams and countries ramp up their preparations for this incredible festival of sport, the Paralympic Games’ news site contains a great and varied selection of articles re Tokyo and indeed Beijing 2022, and other topical issues: https://www.paralympic.org/news

Tracy recommends….

Affordable Art Fair Online until 3 May 2021 (exhibitions will continue). This is a great resource to be able to look at a huge range of artistic styles, subjects and materials.  The idea is that you can click into any image and then zoom in really close to examine the piece and how it may have been constructed in close detail.  At the bottom of every image is a link to ‘more like this’ where you can explore similar creations: https://affordableartfair.com/search-products-visual?selected=43713

Julie recommends….

The List has a lot of virtual events listed, especially in the arts: https://www.list.co.uk/ There are films to stream including Stowaway, a film about a space flight, which was filmed in lockdown and presents some interesting questions, and Come as You Are, a film advertised as being about three disabled men going to Montreal for a sexual encounter: https://film.list.co.uk/article/125825-best-films-to-stream-this-week-28-apr/

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23 April 2021

Today is St George’s Day, which is celebrated in England and several other countries. Find out more here.

Dressing Up to Go Out to Stay In Julie (left) dressed as Morgan the Magnificent to help Malecifent save the dragon from St George. Ju dressed up to create more tactile sound devices (see our Join in from Home pages), and the Surgeoners dressed up for dinner and a virtual tour of Paris (see The Week Ahead below for details of how you can visit Paris virtually.)

Poems from the Together! 2012 Pop-Up Poetry Club Theme: A Favourite Object. If you’d like to join in from home, next week’s theme is Rainbows. Find out more here about how to join the Club, which takes place on Wednesday mornings from 10.30am-12 noon by phone (we call you and pay the costs).

Julie Newman: The Hares and the Moon

Two brown hares facing each other
Sit on the downward curve of
A white waning moon
A swinging silver star
At the top edge of the crescent.

No gyrating in the moonlight.
No ears intertwined
As three dance their circle.
But peaceful repose.
Sitting in the heavens.

Listening to the song of the Universe.
The stories now part of time.
Boudicca freeing her sacred hare.
Hiding under the skirts
As Melangell found her sainthood.

Ancient heroes of ancient tales
Stay their ride as moonbeams lessen.
Pausing, resting, waiting
Til their Mistress, the Moon, charges
Them to resume their gavotte.

(Julie explains: You can read about how Boudicca used a hare to predict victory against the Romans here: https://www.englishmonarchs.co.uk/celts_2.html and learn the story of Melangell here: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melangell)

Alison Marchant : Remembering Past Objects

An object crystallized in memory
Something from childhood
From the archives of my young days
I remember many treasured objects
Dolls, books, models, gadgets
Entrenched in memory
Played out in our backyards
Something which connects me both
Spiritually and archeologically
To childhood artefacts of lives
Being extremely absorbent
These objects hold time
Emotions
Events
Extinct music.

Dwain Bryan: Growth

Flowers and plants always grow did you know if you held a sunflower or a daisy to your face it will blow.
Trees and flowers flourish and bear fruit you can buy flowers and plants from any shop that sells trees.
You can get what you want for a decent fee.
I have a garden myself but it’s not much to look at it’s quite plain and simple.
One day I might decide to grow something there if the landlord lets me.
If he does beauty will always be next to me.

Crystal Peasey: Pom-poms and my mobile

My mobile when I feel low I can call many people and tell them how I’m feeling and my phone is my lifeline.
Also I like making pom-poms and these pom-poms I made yesterday.
I have many different pom-poms I have mobile pom-poms on my wall and it is different colours
and I like making pom-poms and enjoy making them.
I also decorate my flat with pom-poms and give them as gifts to people.

Paizah Malek: Clock

My favourite object is a clock all daylong it goes tick tock tick tock
That rhythmic sound is a lullaby to me as it helps me to feel sleepy
Although some people are disturbed by the sound as it makes their heads go round and round
I like and treat clocks as my friends they come in different sizes, colours and designs
I hang my clocks everywhere Bedroom, toilets and hallway
So I get to appointments in time
All favours would then be mine
For being punctual and regular
Medical check ups in particular.

Dawn Barber: The Kettle

I use my kettle quite a lot through the day
it’s silver with a wooden handle and a blue light
to make my cup of tea it’s fairly new
our kettles do quite a job give us a nice cup of tea
they make the water nice and hot for us
so on a cold day it’s nice to get home and put your kettle on
to warm the insides of our bodies to make us feel really cosy
I never thank my kettle but I do now.

Art Club

The Art Club runs a still-life session on Zoom from 11-12 every Friday morning. Click here to find out how to join the Club, and click on the photo to view a larger version and join in from home. We’d love to see your pictures: info@together2012.org.uk

The Art Club runs a Make and Natter session on Zoom from 11-12 every Tuesday morning. Bring along your own work, or join in with inclusive recycled craft activities. Click here to find out how to join the Art Club.  Participants are currently weaving using cardboard and wool scraps and are also working on collages using recycled materials.

Join in with Tracy: Make an artist’s paint palette from bottle tops and an old CD/DVD.

Join in with Sterre: Creating art by melting crayons over canvas

The Clockwork Paralimpics – to join in at home, pick the toy on the right side or the left side of the screen to support before you start the video.

The Week Ahead

It’s MS Awareness Week until Sunday https://www.mssociety.org.uk/get-involved/ms-awareness-week #letstalkMS

Julie recommends…

The List always has a good selection of paid and free online events as well as outdoor activities etc: https://www.list.co.uk/

Virtually London has a lovely mix of tours and guides as well as events for the whole family: https://www.visitlondon.com/virtually-london My own favourite for the weekend has to be the virtual tour of Kew Gardens: https://www.kew.org/about-us/virtual-kew-wakehurst

Tracy recommends….

All That Glitters A BBC2 talent show to find the best contemporary jewellery maker in the UK and filmed in Birmingham’s jewellery Quarter, also available on iPlayer – this also provides a fascinating glimpse into how jewellers work: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000v4fr

Virtual Paris Online and mostly free. Why not take a trip to Paris this week over the internet? Here is a link to what is described as the 6 Best Virtual Tours of Paris.  One of the most iconic cities in the world, a hub of arts, culture, fashion, creativity and amazing architecture.  Choose your tour, or do them all!  https://blog.voicemap.me/2020/04/best-virtual-tours-paris/

Robin recommends…

14-Day Creative Challenge begins 27 April 2021. £14 but partial scholarships are available. This looks like a great opportunity for any artists and aspiring artists struggling with motivation. Sign up at the following link and each day you will receive a short email with a video providing you with a creative task.  Audio and text formats are also available, and you can spend as little as10 minutes or as long as you want on these tasks: https://disabilityarts.online/events/haley-mcgee-presents-14-day-creative-quarantine-challenge-online/

The Lazarus Heist BBC Podcast available free anytime. 10 weekly episodes. This is an incredible but true story of the attempt by North Korea to undermine Western internet and digital working through a state sponsored hacking programme. “Almost a perfect crime.” The hacking ring and an attempt to steal a billion dollars.  Investigators blame North Korea. Pyongyang denies involvement.  The story begins in Hollywood:  https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w13xtvg9/episodes/player

Winter Rime is a new poetry pamphlet from Rich Downes and Wendy Young which brings together their creative prose and poetry on Winter and how ‘winter’ thoughts are reflected as part of our thinking. Winter Rime is available from r.downes@yahoo.co.uk or wendyyoung44@yahoo.co.uk price £6 including p&p. More of Rich’s  poetry can be seen here https://disabilityarts.online/blog/richard-downes/ and Wendy’s poetry can be seen here wendyyoung.org

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16 April 2021

Poems from the Together! 2012 Pop-Up Poetry Club
Theme: Trees. If you’d like to join in from home, next week’s theme is A Favourite Object. Find out more here about how to join the Club, which takes place on Wednesday mornings from 10.30am-12 noon by phone (we call you and pay the costs).

Blake Jarrette Gibbons: Trees

Trees are the tower of forests, they are what can make a dull dark depressing street into a nice street, with cleaner air. Yes they may make for uneven roads, but better that and fix it when we get clean air back and plenty of colour. Plant trees and fix the roads, not add speed humps — Brent Council are you listening?

Trees. They make the parks more beautiful with the sounds of birds flying between them, families sitting near by, dogs get the chance to smell more and leave a message for his next friend. They can be covered in lights for celebrations.

Trees can be entertaining, come on why not climb the trees, get up high while being at one with Mother Nature? Or just hide behind during a game of hide and seek.

Forests at times can seem slightly strange a place, suddenly you feel very short around nature’s towers, while water flows either nearby or underneath. But forests can be full of life and various trees, many trees that have stood through some of history’s hardest times, including world wars. The forest is the safe zone for many parts of nature, please respect that. Are trees all together in a forest, are they where we got the ideas for housing estates?

Trees provide us with shelter, they provide us with food, they are someone to hug even when no one else is wanting a hug. They are turned into materials that help us in our lives, from tables and garden fence to the frame of your sofa.

My personal favourite tree is a weeping willow. They are found by where there is lots of water, often a stream or a river, the willow has shape and many shades of brown on its body and greens on its leaves. They hang low and make lovely patches of shade where you can sit and observe Mother Nature. They are a tree that never goes bare, instead the shades of green sometimes even into yellows.

All the trees the different colours, the different heights, shapes, they are all unique. From palm trees to oaks and from your ever green to your barely trees.

Mother Nature trees are amazing, maybe they are Mother Nature’s arms. Thank you Mother Nature.

Paizah Malek: Tree

Where there is space, sunlight and water
Trees, bushes, shrubs grow forever
Smells fresh, looking green
That is where I’ve always been
Sitting on the grass under my favourite tree
Staring ahead as there is a lot to see
In the pool of clear cool and gentle ripples
Caused by the falling leafy thistles
From the beautiful weeping willow
Planted around the pool drooping below
Giving shades and comfortable place
To sit and enjoy the wide space
In the park alone or with friends happily
Under my favourite tree standing elegantly
Admiring the rows of weeping willows
Differently gentle, soothing, full of colours and shadows.

Dwain Bryan: Trees

Trees are bare in the winter in blossom in the sun
Flowers are beautiful you can give them to your mum
Fruit blossoms from apples to strawberries to berries
They can make you very merry
We need trees to give us oxygen
So they say trees need to blossom and you should be OK
We need trees to produce fruit which helps an appetite
and makes us not hungry
It’s true I have fruits all around we need trees around.

Crystal Peasy: Trees

Trees are our best friends they give out food and medication
Wood rubber and gum
Trees provide us with shade and protection
Trees keep the environment cool
Trees give us oxygen trees are green and gold
Birds make their nests in trees trees are attractive
We cannot live without trees so we must grow more trees
When it’s windy leaves blow off the trees and it makes the wind very loud
Trees are important to us in many ways trees are part of the environment
Trees give shelter to the animals birds and humans.

Glory Sengo: Apple Tree

When I went outside I went to get an apple
I went to wash it and eat it and it was very tasty
I went to my friend’s house and I was watching telly
I had chips and wings and I had cake.

Dawn Barber: Trees

The tree stands in front of me blowing softly in the wind
The leaves are lovely and green
I walk up to it and give it a cuddle
You deserve that I say
We must be kind to you for all the lovely things you show us
As you grow
Trees you are lovely to know.

Julie Newman: Hanami. A tribute to the Cherry Blossoms 2021.

Walk under the cloud
And consider the single blossom.
Pause to welcome spring.
Today the warmth of others sharing
The moment has not come.
There is no food, no laughter.
Companionship sits
In the knowledge that this too will pass.
Like the blossom.

But beauty lies in the eyes
Of those who can see the clouds
Sitting proudly on the tree.
The lights still shine,
The blossom sings in silent harmony
Soft colours shroud the harshness
Of what lies underneath.
And for a brief minute of time
It is possible to glimpse heaven.

Alison Marchant : European Trees

Ash is a common tree but ash dieback currently sweeps through the countryside destroying it
Beech is monumental, majestic and a home to rare wildlife
Silver Birch has pretty, pale silver white bark
Black Thorn is early to blossom and later has berries
Bird Cherry is a scented show stopper sending out almond perfume
Dogwood is a broadleaf shub that thrives in damp woodland edges
Elm grows to lofty heights and is common in hedgerows
Hawthorn is an explosion of pale pink blossom in May
Lime sends out a  sweet scented minty honey aroma
The majestic Oak holds a special place in culture and history
Scot Pine towers the glen
Black Poplar is imposing, elegant and rare
The White Beams fruit is a favourite of garden birds
Goat Willow is covered in white male catkins
White Willow is sweeping and romantic draped in water
Yew is ancient, morbid and toxic. It is the longest-lived native species in Europe.

Art Club

The Art Club runs a still-life session on Zoom from 11-12 every Friday morning. Click here to find out how to join the Club, and click on the photo to view a larger version and join in from home. We’d love to see your pictures: info@together2012.org.uk

The Art Club runs a Make and Natter session on Zoom from 11-12 every Tuesday morning. Bring along your own work, or join in with inclusive recycled craft activities. Click here to find out how to join the Art Club.  Participants are currently weaving using cardboard and wool scraps and are also working on collages using recycled materials.

Join in with Sterre: Painting sheep without brushes.

Join in with Tracy: Make a drinks coaster from recycled bottle tops.

You need 7-10 plastic bottle tops, greaseproof paper and an iron and ironing board.

The Clockwork Paralimpics – to join in at home, pick the toy on the right side or the left side of the screen to support before you start the video.

Dalmatian Rex and The Eigentones Dalmatian Rex and the Eigentones are an alternative rock band based around its founder member, Paul Lunn and drummer Pete Cownley. They originated in Leicester in 1997 and have moved base around the country, calling at Hebden Bridge, Holmfirth, Birmingham, Nuneaton and Huddersfield. They are now based in Leicester/Milton Keynes. The band has released six studio albums and one compilation album, and rarely play live. Paul is a Disabled musician who has a diagnosis of fibromyalgia which is a long term chronic pain condition: www.dalmatianrex.co.uk

The Week Ahead

Saturday 17 April is World Haemophilia Day.

Ju recommends…

The fourth annual Seren Cardiff Poetry Festival opened yesterday and continues until Sunday 18 April 2021. All events (except workshops) are free this year.  Seren Cardiff Poetry Festival aims to be as accessible and inclusive as possible by offering live captioning, making poems available as text, and having audio description of images. Several events will also be accompanied by sign language interpretation.

A retrospective celebrating the pioneers of arts and mental health in Scotland is now live with a new online exhibition by Mental Health Foundation Scotland. Thought to be the first exhibition of its kind in Scotland, Reclaiming Our Heritage is an oral history curated over two years by the Foundation. The online collection is an archive of the personal stories of 40 innovators in arts and mental health, spanning six decades from the 1950s to the 2000s.

Robin recommends….

Fix Your Crown – screening and discussion. Sun 18 April 6.30-8pm. Free. Explore the story of historical African queens through a filmed performance by eight community women. Coached by a team of international experts in writing and African Diaspora Performance, the women used the inspirational stories of historical African Queens to create their performances, and reflect the legacy and contemporary relevance those stories deliver: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/fix-your-crown-screening-and-discussion-tickets-149791058087

Unfolding Shrines free online exhibition. Unfolding Shrines is the 2021 Adam Reynolds Award shortlist exhibition, and examines the concept of the walls that we build around ourselves and how through thought and imagination we can breakthrough those walls. Available for computer iPhone and iPad, Unfolding Shrines is an augmented reality exhibition and immersive experience featuring the incredible 3 dimensional digital imagery of Artists: Jason Wilsher-Mills, Sophie Helf, Rebekah Ubuntu and Uma Breakdown.  The walk through experience on iPhone and iPad is amazing: https://www.shapearts.org.uk/unfolding-shrines

Julie recommends…

Explore the culture and history of the Japanese Cherry Blossom Festival Hanami:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanami This article explains how the festival has become international with the gifting of cherry trees from Japan as symbols of peace:
https://festival.si.edu/blog/2014/significance-of-sakura-cherry-blossom-traditions-in-japan/ The Tokyo 2020 Paralimpic mascot was chosen in 2018 by a vote of schoolchildren and the winning figure is based on cherry blossoms. It is called Someity, which translates as ‘So Mighty’, and is a superhuman hero, with many powers:
https://www.paralympic.org/tokyo-2020/mascot

Lego has released Braille Lego bricks for free distribution to schools:
https://www.legobraillebricks.com/ There is a training course available for teachers and the bricks remain the property of the schools. Currently they are not available to buy privately but can be sourced in the UK through the RNIB:
https://www.rnib.org.uk/legobraillebricks

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9 April 2021

Dressing Up to Go Out to Stay In

Ju dressed up for Stress Awareness Month; Julie dressed up to go on the Woolwich Ferry; Robin dressed up to watch the Para-swimming (see The Week Ahead below); and Tracy dressed up to play Escape Rooms (more details on The Week Ahead).

Art Club

The Art Club runs a still-life session on Zoom from 11-12 every Friday morning. Click here to find out how to join the Club, and click on the photo to view a larger version and join in from home. We’d love to see your pictures: info@together2012.org.uk

The Art Club runs a Make and Natter session on Zoom from 11-12 every Tuesday morning. Bring along your own work, or join in with inclusive recycled craft activities. Click here to find out how to join the Art Club.  Participants are currently weaving using cardboard and wool scraps and are also working on collages using recycled materials.

Make it with Tracy Tracy Surgeoner demonstrated how to create a framed flower picture using recycled materials.

You need: a toilet roll inner, scissors, the lid off an empty box of chocolates, and some paint.Trim the edges of one end of the toilet roll, then dip it into the paint and use it to print on the inside of the box.

Finish off the picture with pens, pencils or whatever you have available. Now think about print projects that you could create using other household objects to print with.

Poems from the Together! 2012 Pop-Up Poetry Club
Theme: Music If you’d like to join in from home, next week’s theme is Trees. Find out more here about how to join the Club by phone.

Crystal Peasy: Music

The music is the sound of happiness and the music makes me dance
The music is happy and extreme
The music can be loud or quiet
Music can be attaining and parting and you can rave all night
And you can sing all day and all night
It’s easy to sing when you know the words
When you don’t know the words it can be a disaster
The music never makes me sad even if the music’s sad
Music also boosts your immune system and can create positive emotional experience
It even helps relieve pain and music helps improve my mood.

Dawn Barber: Music

Music makes us feel good makes us feel alive
Like Dolly Parton nine to five
Music’s full of hopes and dreams and makes us feel happy
Gives us a reason to get up and have a dance or just move your body
Music fills the world with joy oh boy
What music can do for us.

Taylor Henville: A Haunting Melody 

I awoke in the middle of the night
To the sound of tinkling piano keys
Unsure of where the sound was coming from
I wandered the house to see.
The melody carried me up the stairs
To the attic space
The door was rattling with the tune
Trying to keep pace.
When the door swung open, I could see inside
A ghostly figure at the piano
Their head bobbing in time.
The ghost went on, playing the keys with flair
Then looked up at me and said
“Make yourself useful, there’s a tambourine over there.” 

The Clockwork Paralimpics – to join in at home, pick the toy on the right side or the left side of the screen to support before you start the video.

The Week Ahead

Trellis online exhibition 12 – 18 April 2021. An incredible new free exhibition bringing together artists, community groups and academic researchers, whom have created a series of exhibition works and films, plus artists conversations and a series of live events.  Trellis is a response to the negative attitudes towards Deaf language and culture, and the damaging and demoralising oppression faced by neuro-diverse citizens:  https://disabilityarts.online/events/ucl-presents-trellis-london-online/

British Para Swimming International Meet 8 – 11 April 2021. This sees the return of International Swimming Competition at Ponds Forge in Sheffield, and the premiere qualifying  event for British Paralympic Swimmers for the 2021 Tokyo Paralympics.  We have already seen world records on the first day of competition, and this four day gala promises to deliver truly exciting performances form those looking to make it to Tokyo.  Free to watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5GyHWsbs7O5m5LohjpKoaQ

Saturday 10 April 7pm Atlantic Institute finger knitting workshop (free): https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/cultural-creations-finger-knitting-with-larahna-hughes-tickets-134664915387?aff=ebdssbonlinesearch&keep_tld=1

Saturday 10 April 5.30-7pm Online Black history course for children and families: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/online-black-history-for-children-and-families-tickets-146569951671?aff=ebdssbonlinesearch

Sunday 11 April 11am-12noon World Parkinson’s Day 2021 | Parkinson’s UK with the theme ‘Start a conversation’.

It’s Bowel Cancer Awareness Month and on Sunday 11 April 2021 from 5-5.30pm there is a ‘Remember together’ event to commemorate lost loved ones: https://www.bowelcanceruk.org.uk/support-us/ways-to-donate/donate-in-memory/remember-together/

Interested in filmmaking? Free filmmaking workshops are running for a week beginning on Monday : https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/easter-series-a-week-for-filmmakers-tickets-142228393955?aff=ebdssbonlinesearch

Ramadan starts on Tuesday.

You can read about Disabled artists, Disability Arts and relevant issues at Disability Arts Online: https://disabilityarts.online 

Audio-described pictures on the Tate website: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/sargent-carnation-lily-lily-rose-n01615/audio-description-carnation-lily-lily-rose

Tate podcast on memory and art: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/pierre-bonnard-781/art-memory

Clue HQ – Online Games £15 per team play anytime. Escape rooms have become increasingly popular over the last few years and with the advent of COVID a number of these have now been created online.  Clue HQ currently offer three online versions for up to six players and can be played from different locations.  The great thing is that depending on your location, once you can visit in person, a number of these escape rooms have been designed with access in mind: https://cluehq.co.uk/