Here you can view films, photographs and artwork and read poems showcased on Together Unlocked! and find links to websites and online events mentioned on the show. (You can watch the whole shows here including captions on the videos).

---

28 August 2020

AppDate with Josh Surgeoner.

Animating with the Stop Animator App as part of Arts Award with Aaima and Hazel Brill

App links:

Stop Animator https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/stop-animator/id494803047

iMovie https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/imovie/id377298193

Art during Lockdown with EJay Surgeoner.

Making Scruffy Puppets with Hazel Brill.

Josh Surgeoner: learning to draw during lockdown.

Sand Art with EJay Surgeoner

How I became an artist: Josh Surgeoner interviews Hazel Brill on her career to date.

---

26 August 2020

AppDate: our new regular feature about all things App-related and the NHS Coronavirus App pilot scheme in Newham.

Poems from the Together! 2012 Pop-Up Poetry Club
This week’s theme was ‘the sound of the seasons’

Julie Newman: Seaside noise

Calm seas, summer breeze. Sounds of the seaside fill the air.
The ice cream van shouts out Greensleeves
And the rush of seagulls threatening the cherished cones
Bring squawks of outrage as parents cover their bare
Shoulders against the attack and heave
Children into safety ignoring their groans.

Like Dorothy Parker, now I prefer Atlantic Storms
Waves too high to dance in, beating against the shore
Shingle rattling, stones singing their timeless songs.
No more the onslaught of noise brought by the swarm.
No sign save the drifting of a lonely oar
A remnant of those relentless throngs.

Let the wind now roar, the waves crash and move
Like ancient monsters filling the skies,
With angry seas that challenge the fish
To swim against the current and survive
As they always have…moving fast as they dive
Safe in the depths, away from the splash and crash.

Duncan Bridgstock: The Sounds of the Season

The sounds of the season
are not beyond reason
swish whoosh kerboomerang
all the little birds sang
and from this cacophony
sprang
the tones of the
dingle dangle dongle man
the “wind in the willows”
rests on pillows
of the
“whistle down the wind ”
there is “the sound of rain
upon my window pane”
“drip drop
drip drop”
then there’s the rustle of commuters
some on computers
“trinkle tinkle”
my sister,
listens to her dansette
transistor
can you hear the noise
boys ?
“boodle am shake”
hippy shake
the sounds
are doing the rounds
but won’t cost you
hundreds of pounds
“skid dat de dat ”
“toot toot tootsie
goodbye.

Glory Sengo: Grass

Sarah and I went to the garden to sit down on the grass and we were kissing each other on the mouth and on the nose,
and we were talking and kissing more,
My girlfriend Sarah went to hide and the neighbours were looking at us,
The next door neighbour asked “Is that your girlfriend?”
and I told them Yes.

Naturewatch with Merlot the assistance dog

Notting Hill Festival 2020 Online: https://aaa.nhcarnival.org

SPORT

The article about the Paralympics is here: https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1097642/canadian-paralympic-committee-tokyo-2020

The Paralympic documentary Rising Phoenix is on Netflix.

GAMING

The article about the gamescom awards 2020 is here: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/cyberpunk-2077-leads-gamescom-awards

2019 Games Awards: https://thegameawards.com/nominees

---

24 August 2020

AppDate: our new regular feature about all things App-related and the NHS Coronavirus App pilot scheme in Newham.

Charlie and the C Monsters: Monsters in the Shop
www.charlieandthecmonsters.com

Guppies Galore

Into the Unknown: Making Frozen 2: https://www.disneyplus.com/series/into-the-unknown-making-frozen-2/6PWutGrMQzCI

Wolf Children book link (Kindle or hardcover): https://www.amazon.co.uk/Wolf-Children-Yuki-light-novel-ebook/dp/B07KPCBHXV/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1598373011&sr=8-5

---

21 August 2020

AppDate: our new regular feature about all things App-related and the NHS Coronavirus App pilot scheme in Newham.

Sketches and Shadows by Dwain Bryan

Ninna Fray: children’s jacket and toy

Paizah Malek: Act Up! Newham in a Covid-free future

 

Something for the Weekend

Free feature films on YouTube: Typing “Full Movie” into a YouTube search brings up dozens of free films to watch. Check Rotten Tomatoes to gauge if they’re any good.

Website full of interesting activities for this weekend and for a long time to come: https://whatsonreading.com/online-events-and-creative-activities

Edinburgh Digital Fringe Festival (until the end of August)
Virtual Fringe Central, a resource for anyone interested in bringing a production to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in future years, and useful more generally.

---

19 AUGUST 2020

AppDate: our new regular feature about all things App-related and the NHS Coronavirus App pilot scheme in Newham.

Naturewatch with Merlot Ploeger

Poems from the Together! 2012 Pop-Up Poetry Club
This week’s theme was Movement.

Taylor Henville: Garden Observations

The cat surveys the garden
Patrolling along the fence
Jumping on the shed
Crouching in the grass
Slinking through the clothes airer
Stretching on the deckchair
Tapping their claws against the metal.
The flies swerve, duck and zoom
Hovering by the garden door
Bashing against the mesh screen
Locked out of the house.
And the birds sit quietly in the tree
Taking in the scene
Except for the occasional gust of wind
That makes them chirp, coo and sing.

Alison Marchant: Untitled

Heavy gusts of wind swirled through the trees,
and scattered leaves before her.
Inside she bustled across the room to close each shutter.
Stirred the fire.
A ribbon twisted,
and fell into curling spinning ripples.

Paizah Malek: Thinking Ahead

I often be on my own, alone
I realise I have brittle bone
One aspect of disability
That is ME.

Dreamingly ambitious
Alert and cautious
Of what I hear and see
For what I want to be.

I keep on thinking
And start imagining
What will I be with this disability?
Will I fit in the community?

Can I make any plan or programme?
For now I am just a community maam
Trying to stay as a Caring n loving
With all my contacts who are always supporting
To help me cope with life in the future
I keep thinking and looking in the mirror.         

Duncan Bridgstock: Movement

Movement is the title of a worn
1963 vinyl lp
by Jamaican free-form pioneer
saxophone genius
Joe Harriott 1928-1973
from a charity shop in Salisbury
in 1981
when my dad gave it to me
i was 19
Joe’s nimble fingers
operating
the complex system
of levers and keys
of his axe
the lacquer
of his
Selmer alto saxophone
was peeling
but
oh my
he played
with such feeling
and immediacy
on his sax
no need for a fax
he was more than a clone
of Charlie Parker
his hero
known as Bird
had flown in ’55
he’d very obviously
paid his dues
and it came across
on his blues-drenched sax
the critics didn’t
turn their back
RIP Joe Harriott
died age 45
in 1973
on my 11th birthday
on his tombstone
it says
“Parker? there’s them over here
can play a few aces too.”

Julie Newman: 1981

Sitting on the floor,
We drew out our messages of hope
And outrage…’Reclaim the night!’
‘Equal pay for equal work!’
‘We fight for our rights!’

‘Fishes don’t ride bicycles’,
A reference to men. Obscure
In its meaning but clear as a picture,
That women can function
Without a man on our arm.

And still the messages flowed
As pens spun their tales
Of anger and pain. Shouting out
For all the world to hear,
‘Women fight back’!

So we took to the streets,
A rag taggly crew uniting
Against an unjust world.
Lonely voices singing our songs
Chanting in harmony.

And soon across the country
Others joined us. The numbers swelled
And millions of marching women
Found their voices, the common cause
Creating a movement.

---

17 AUGUST 2020

Sing along with A Nice Cup of Tea here.

AppDate: our new regular feature about all things App-related and the NHS Coronavirus App pilot scheme in Newham.

Kindle App for phones, tablets and computers: https://www.amazon.com/b?ie=UTF8&node=16571048011

Waterlogue App for adding watercolour painting effects to digital images: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/waterlogue/id764925064

Deaf-initely Women’s Basis Creative Writing: Blogging workshops with Sahera Khan

Coral City Camera based off the coast of Miami, Florida: http://www.coralcitycamera.com/

Comixology https://www.comixology.co.uk NB: Check both the Comixology website and Amazon website for the best price on books.

---

14 AUGUST 2020

AppDate: the first of our new regular features about all things App-related and the NHS Coronavirus App pilot scheme in Newham.

Act Up Newham: Our Zoom Experience

Drawings by Paizah Malek

Tracy Vidal: allegorical figure representing faith

Tracy Vidal: Buffy and Bunny remembering pre-lockdown hugs and fist bumps

SOMETHING FOR THE WEEKEND

Friday 14th-Sunday 16th August 2020 Sensory Arts Festival https://www.sensoryartsfestival.co.uk Organised by the Touchbase Care community group, the festival explores the theme of ‘the senses’ across a wide selection of disciplines including moving image, theatre, music, fine art and food. Each day we will showcase a variety of performances, workshops and interactive events that examine the senses. FREE and accessible to all, with live captions, British Sign Language interpretation and audio description.

Friday 14th-Sunday 16th August 2020 Surveillance: Dance Like No-one is Watching Part of Newham Unlocked, the council’s new-look cultural festival highlighting the rich and diverse mix of creativity that exists in the borough, and organised by Certain Blacks CIC. Performers will appear in an array of Newham locations, with audiences able to watch from anywhere in the world thanks to the internet and social media as online observation becomes part of everyday life. https://www.newhamunlockedfestival.org

Sunday 16th August 2020 UK Black Pride online festival: https://www.ukblackpride.org.uk For LBBTQI+ People of Colour and their allies.

UCLA FilmFest https://www.eventbrite.com/e/uclaxfilmfest-2020-tickets-111984590926?aff=ebdssbcitybrowse</a

Creative FLOW: A mindfulness Art Workshop https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/creative-flow-a-mindfulness-art-workshop-series-tickets-111336741190?aff=ebdssbonlinesearch

Louvre Live Interactive Virtual Tour (paid-for) https://www.eventbrite.com/e/louvre-museum-live-interactive-virtual-tour-tickets-103644126372?aff=ebdssbonlinesearch

BBC Culture in Quarantine series of short films created during lockdown, including Her & Her https://tinyurl.com/y6yfvzqf

Edinburgh Digital Fringe Festival (until the end of August)

BBC Sounds: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds

---

12 AUGUST 2020

Poems from the Together! Pop-Up Poetry Club

The Together! Pop-Up Poetry Club now meets as a phone-based group on Wednesday mornings from 10.30-11am, where we call you and pay all of the costs. Contact info@together2012.org.uk for more information. This week’s theme was positive and negative at the same time.

Taylor Henville: Grey Cloud

A single grey cloud hanging in the sky
Against the crystal blue
Suspended, still
Threatening to unleash a downpour.
Is it friend or foe?
Will it ruin a sunny day
Or free us from summer heat’s
Unbearable grip.
A single grey cloud
It could cause a commotion
Or just float away
It’s rather rebellious
In its own way.

Duncan Bridgstock: Accentuate the positive 

put more hep
in your step
don’t put gloom
in your balloon
eliminate the negative
don’t be thorny
that would be corny
don’t festoon with doom
brightness will loom
walk on the sunny side of the street
let you not
be downbeat
life can be so sweet
on the sunny side of the street
don’t walk in the shade
with your blues on parade
don’t be glum
when you could be a chum
don’t be sad
better to be glad
it’s not so easy
to be kind to yourself
easier said than done
i think you will find
If you can find some peace
let’s hope your blues will cease.

Julie Newman: Magnetism

Positive energy flies in the air
To meet the negative force
That defies gravity.
Floating above the surface
Without wings to flap or engine
To create energy, the source
Will remain endlessly
Suspended without sound or strings.

No weight.. freed from the ties that bind
Us to earth and pull us down
To an existence in constant battle
With the speed of the planet.
We remain on course around our sun
Never faltering, our journey now begun
The trajectory set, all choices gone
We carry on tied as one to inevitability.

Opposites attract, and in that
The spell is broken. Positive to positive
Cannot be sustained. Negative to negative
Repels the same, and so the gravity
Of the situation is lightened.
What is drawn to each other becomes
The magic that creates the force
That fills the space in the middle.

Still a freedom lies within.
The north at one end, the south
Lying opposite. All in between drawn
With magnetism to sit slightly
Over and above the mediocrity
Of an endless existence. Plodding on
Resigned to an earthbound future,
But flying quietly triumphant on the hidden waves.

Alison Marchant: Where I am

The weather is warm
Then too hot – a heat wave.
The music next door is soothing
But becomes so loud I can’t sleep.

The sea is cool and refreshing,
Then freezing.
The fog is a pleasant haze,
Then as thick as ‘pea soup’

The chocolate is delicious,
But has given me a migraine.
The night is lit by stars,
But is pitch black
So I can’t see or feel where
I am.

Glory Sengo: Football

Hold your football, hold your football still,
otherwise it will bounce on the floor,
otherwise the wind will blow away the ball,
hold it before you play it,
but be careful, you might slip over with it,
you might put it in the net, you might score,
Hold the ball still or bounce the ball.

Po(o)em by Ju Gosling aka ju90: http://www.ju90.co.uk/pooem.htm

 

Naturewatch with Merlot Ploeger

---

10 AUGUST 2020

Charlie & the C Monsters (with audio description)World Health Organisation: Covid-19 coronavirus Questions and Answers including the list of 13 common symptoms: https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/question-and-answers-hub/q-a-detail/q-a-coronaviruses

Understanding aperture photography: https://photographylife.com/what-is-aperture-in-photography

Josh Surgeoner: Bee on lavender

Ju Gosling: Beasties in my backyard water barrel

---

7 AUGUST 2020

Act Up! Newham: Flower Power

Lee Brookner: Driving

Pamela Hillyer: Crocheted baby’s jacket

A Nice Cup of Tea – the Shielders’ ShantyLyrics to A Nice Cup of Tea – the Shielders’ Shanty

SOMETHING FOR THE WEEKEND

New US Olympic and Paralympic Museum: https://usopm.org

Virtual Fringe Central, a resource opening today and running until 31 August for anyone interested in bringing a production to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in future years, and useful more generally.

---

5 AUGUST 2020

Poems from the Together! Pop-Up Poetry Club

The Together! Pop-Up Poetry Club now meets as a phone-based group on Wednesday mornings from 10.30-11am, where we call you and pay all of the costs. Contact info@together2012.org.uk for more information. This week’s theme was light and shade. If you’d like to join in from home, next week’s theme is positive and negative at the same time.

Duncan Bridgstock: The blues in my flat

The blues in my flat
are  the blues
where it’s at
the blues in your head
are the blues under your bed
the blues in your cupboard
aren’t so untoward
the blues in the loo
well, they will
just have to do
the blues under the stairs
will make you
eat eclairs
the blues in the tv remote
are the blues
that get my vote
the blues in the washing machine
will make you
vent your spleen
the blues in the toilet flush
are the blues
that will make you blush
the blues in the microwave
will make you
go to a rave
the blues in the keyhole
will drive you
up the pole
the blues in your laugh
make you look like
a giraffe
the blues in salads
they come from Harrods
the blues in your food
will be accompanied by
Glenn Miller’s
In the Mood
that’s the blues dear reds.

Julie Newman: I welcome the dark

I welcome the dark
It carries no fear for me.
My spirits rise as the world sleeps on
Blissful, at peace until the dawn.
No threat for me in the closing of the shutters
Pushing out the day and sending away
The warmth of the light.

I love the night, when all is still
And sounds echo with a strangeness
Becoming unfamiliar in a new world.
Where creatures call and fight,
Hidden in the shadows where the light
No longer shines, but is dimly
Finding corners and nooks.

Colours fade but gathering a new power
In their depth and mystery, they hold
The secrets not to be seen by day.
Yellows seem white, blues become black
And reds no longer blaze in glory.
Shadows loom where once the gloom
Was shining bright with light.

I am not afraid of the dark.
It is welcome as a friend.
The intrusions of the day no longer play
On the surface of my mind.
The night gives peace with time to think
Undisturbed by the rush of other people’s lives.
Alone with the creatures of the night.

Robin Surgeoner: Make Hay in The Grey

Bright light searing in the dead of night
Dream states shattered at the flick of a switch
Flames lick at tinder hearts
Migraine, eye pain, driving people insane
Blinded, blinkered, belligerent
Hostile harsh harassing
The edifice of light, a false dawn, a juxtaposition of encounters

Not darkness, murky hope peeks in through shaded offers of contemplative freedom

Nightmares tamed

Relief, comfort, swaddling auras warming souls

A place to feel, a place to play, a place to love, make hay in the grey

A place to pretend, a place to emerge, a place to feel safe, away from the day

A place to hide, a place to protect, a place to embrace, a place to reflect

A place to discover, a place to repair, a place to shelter from the glare of despair

While others suggest that light is the guide, to love lust and happiness, you must decide

Do you want to be judged, to be put on display? Or would you prefer, to make hay in the grey?

Dawn Barber: Gemma

There was a pretty little girl called Gemma,
who didn’t have an umbrella,
Poor little girl,
She will get all wet,
Time to save her pennies to buy a new one,
She would like it to be red so when it’s pouring,
She can put it over her head, for a very rainy day,
Gemma, the pretty little girl,

Duncan Bridgstock: PARKY

i never had the blues
in the greens
green
of green
greens
parklife
the green trees
and bees
are ever such
a tease
buzz buzz buzz
here come the fuzz
and the cops
love the hops
hop skip and jump
down a country lane
is their refrain

in the park
there’s lots of bark
and fleas
in the trees
where all the local yokels
go for their bifocals

green sleeves
green collar
green cuffs
green pants
in the park
you can get fit
but if you drop litter
then you’re a git
take your litter
back to your bed sitter.

Alison Marchant: Light and Shade

It’s night and the street lights cast shadows around the room moving and flickering,

Leaves and branches of trees in dappled shade glide across the mirror reflecting and hovering in my sleeplessness.

Dwain Bryan: The Earth

How the Earth has changed from day to day,
As I look up to the sky, I see birds fly,
by the creation a flower grows,
Small bugs on the floor creeping and crawling around,
in small moves and not a sound,
The sea filled with fish can look very tasty on your dish,
As the waves beat upon the shore,
It reminds me of so much more,
You can say the Earth’s a beautiful place and you can say the Earth’s an absolute disgrace,
The oil spilling on the birds on the sea by the beach,
The Earth rotates around the sun,
Hot like a hot cross bun.

Dawn Barber: Dark and Light

The trees are shining through my living room window,
Some green leaves are blowing on them outside
making little tiny movements,
Each time the leaves blow another shadow appears,
One of them looks like a spider but it won’t get in,
because it’s only the shadow of the leaves,
How the sun can do wonderful things.

Duncan Bridgstock: Light and Shade

A voyage around me
i step out of myself
and i look around
at myself
from outside
half in light
half in shade
where aliens
can’t invade
and my shoes
are made of suede
but my blues are on parade.

ANIMAL HOSTS

Virtual Naturewatch with Precious Newman

How to get your dog to drink more water with Jazz Gosling

Gaming links for Apple App Store – Android users copy the name:

---

3 AUGUST 2020

Space X Crew Dragon Enterprise return to earth view on NASA https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-astronauts-safely-splash-down-after-first-commercial-crew-flight-to-space-station and on YouTube
https://youtu.be/QVEBO6Zuppk

---

Click here to view Highlights & Links from Together Unlocked! in July 2020 and previous months (or use the pull-down menu at the top of the page).