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 with captions on all videos).
11 December 2020
Dressing Up to Go Out to Stay In Holiday Special
Clockwork Paralimpics Winter Games (our medal wearers usually take part in the international virtual #bearhunt, but today we have seasonal toys instead)
Sterre Ploeger demonstrates how to make an ice picture.
SOMETHING FOR THE HOLIDAYS
Ju recommends that you revisit the exhibitions, workshops, performances and activities within our Making History Together! 2020 Festival, which is now complete and remains online.
Julie recommends…
The Man Who Invented Christmas is about Charles Dickens and his need to make money for his family. It is on Channel 4 on 20 December at 4.50pm.
Netflix has some films to watch as well. These have caught my eye. The Nutcracker and the Four Realms is a fantasy about an orphaned girl who has been left the keys to a fairy kingdom. Some others are The Knight Before Christmas, and Jingle Jangle.
Plus I want to do some baking and have found a recipe for a vegan Christmas cake: https://www.thevegspace.co.uk/recipe-the-ultimate-vegan-christmas-cake/
Josh recommends…
Free free winter colouring pages downloads https://www.hobbycraft.co.uk/ideas/kids/free-winter-colouring-downloads
Free guide on how to make paper bag stars https://www.hobbycraft.co.uk/ideas/papercraft/how-to-make-paper-bag-stars
Hobbycraft DIY Christmas craft kits https://www.hobbycraft.co.uk/christmas/christmas-crafts/christmas-crafts-for-kids?filter=Product+Groups~Kits/
Lebara’s Race the World. The finals of the Para-swimming race the world event will be streamed on British Swimmings YouTube and Facebook pages on 16th December 2020 at 4pm. Competitors from around the world have raced there finals between 2nd-9th December and the race videos will be produced into a “final” to reveal the winners in each event. British Swimming YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/BritishSwimming
Robin recommends….
IMDB – Top 100 Christmas films of all time. This is a fantastic list, with links to sites to watch the majority of the films from. Where there is a cost this is also listed, but generally it’s still far, far cheaper than going to the cinema – just remember to have a good stock of popcorn, mince pies and hot chocolate. If you want to build your own Christmas watch list, this is a great place to start. https://tinyurl.com/y24raxzr
Raymond Briggs – Father Christmas from Tobacco Theatre A great newly filmed production created for this year’s unique Christmas, based on the a Lyric Theatre favourite of recent years. From the comfort of your home, Watch Brigg’s loveable Father Christmas as he gets ready for his busiest day of the year, Christmas Eve. Individual tickets are free, and a family ticket is £15 (support the theatre at this difficult time for the arts). https://tinyurl.com/y5x2f5xt
Northpole.com. A great family resource of things to do at Christmas and over the next couple of weeks, including craft, cooking, tracking Santa on Christmas Eve and much more…http://www.northpole.com
Xmas Song by John Cotham
9 December 2020
You can book tickets for Thursday’s end-of-Festival party and celebration of the new Together! poetry anthology and Open Exhibition here.
You can watch recordings of the live events and many of the shorter films in the Together! 2020 Disability Film Festival here.
The programme for the Making History Together! 2020 Disability History Month Festival (11 November-10 December) is available here. There are currently four exhibitions open to explore; together with Jessica Starns’ live art project; resources to make your own Muerto Ofrenda; the opening night performances from 12 November; Live Art from Rebecca Redican and Gobscure; Act Up! Newham’s interactive online gallery I am Toni…Who am I?; the Return of the Together! Pop-Up Poetry Café; plays to watch; an experimental opera production to explore; and family activities Strings & Things with Collar & Cuffs; Making Fingers & Paper Scruffy Puppets with Hazel Brill; and The Cockerel and the Fox with Sahera Khan.
Poems from the new Together! 2020 anthology
Together: Richard Downes
Together: Emily Bonner
Waiting to Go Out: A sign-poem by Sterre Ploeger
Together: Ellen Goodey
No Space: Pritesh Patel
Come and Dance Together: Glory Sengo
Virtual Naturewatch with Merlot the assistance dog
Gaming
The 2020 Game Awards This is the annual celebration of the games industry, celebrating all aspects of the gaming world, such as game direction, art design, score, in-game sound design, and much more; as well as awards for the best games in each genre and awards for content creators and E-Sport categories. The awards show is being live streamed on Saturday 12 December, details on how to watch the show can be found here, as well as more in-depth detail on each award and the nominees: https://thegameawards.com/watch
Sport
International Paralympic Committee Grant Launch Last week the IPC launched a €1.8m package for grant support for IPC members. More information on the story can be found in the article linked below. https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-paralympics-2020-idUKKBN28D16B
Stonewall Rainbow Laces Day 2020 Wednesday 9 December 2020 is Rainbow Laces Day, this is an initiative set up by Stonewall 2013. This link takes you to the Rainbow Laces website, here you can find more information about the programme, their top tips for allyship in sport, details of the Stonewall Sports Champions who are leading LGBT people in sport. There is also a link to buy your own pair of Rainbow Laces which this year have been expanded to offer laces in colour schemes to match different flags: https://www.stonewall.org.uk/our-work/campaigns/rainbow-laces
Rainbow Laces: Paralympians Lauren Rowles and Jude Hamer. An article by Sky Sports about how they came together as a couple over social media during lockdown and the importance of representation. The article can be read here: https://www.skysports.com/olympics/news/20876/12155217/rainbow-laces-team-gb-paralympians-lauren-rowles-and-jude-hamer-on-finding-love-during-lockdown
7 December 2020
The list of the Together! 2020 Disability Film Festival’s Kat Award winners is here.
You can watch recordings of the live events and many of the shorter films in the Together! 2020 Disability Film Festival here.
The programme for the Making History Together! 2020 Disability History Month Festival (11 November-10 December) is available here. There are currently four exhibitions open to explore; together with Jessica Starns’ live art project; resources to make your own Muerto Ofrenda; the opening night performances from 12 November; Live Art from Rebecca Redican and Gobscure; Act Up! Newham’s interactive online gallery I am Toni…Who am I?; the Return of the Together! Pop-Up Poetry Café; plays to watch; and family activities Strings & Things with Collar & Cuffs; Making Fingers & Paper Scruffy Puppets with Hazel Brill; and The Cockerel and the Fox with Sahera Khan.
Robin recommends:
Guided Meditation Continuing on my theme of self-care and wellbeing I thought that some guided meditation for calmness and relaxation, and indeed aiding sleep might be very useful. I have found two good ways to access these. First is to go to www.youtube.com and search Guided Meditation – you will need to investigate what works for you, but there are plenty to choose from to find something that you like. Another that I have used is on Amazon Alexa – I have found it great for getting to sleep and have asked Alexa for ‘Guided Sleep Meditation’.
4 December 2020
The programme for the Together! 2020 Disability Film Festival (3-6 December) is available here.
The programme for the Making History Together! 2020 Disability History Month Festival (11 November-10 December) is available here.There are currently four exhibitions open to explore; together with Jessica Starns’ live art project; resources to make your own Muerto Ofrenda; the opening night performances from 12 November; Live Art from Rebecca Redican and Gobscure; Act Up! Newham’s interactive online gallery I am Toni…Who am I?; the Return of the Together! Pop-Up Poetry Café; and family activities Strings & Thingswith Collar & Cuffs; Making Fingers & Paper Scruffy Puppets with Hazel Brill; and The Cockerel and the Fox with Sahera Khan. And there’s still more to come!
Lyrics to Petals and Bows by Robin Surgeoner
Take that label and rip it away from me
Blow down those barriers and give me liberty
It’s good to know that happiness is for me
That I can smile and laugh without feeling guilty
It’s good to know that happiness is for me
That I can smile and laugh without feeling guilty
It’s so important no matter who you are
To live and love and play and cry, to do all you want to do before you die
So grab your life by the scruff of who you are
Throw out your doldrums and your blues
Grasp your future tight with all your might
Look in the mirror and see who is really you
CHORUS
Cover yourself with petals and bows
Present yourself as a gift to the world
Search inside your mind for the key to set you free
Cos in your mind, you’re not defined
Each and every one of us has so much to give
So much potential so much life to live
Go show that you’re determined
Go show you’ve got some fight
Go show that you mean business
Go exercise your rights
CHORUS
2 December 2020
The programme for the Together! 2020 Disability Film Festival (3-6 December) is available here.
The programme for the Making History Together! 2020 Disability History Month Festival (11 November-10 December) is available here.There are currently four exhibitions open to explore; together with Jessica Starns’ live art project; resources to make your own Muerto Ofrenda; the opening night performances from 12 November; Live Art from Rebecca Redican and Gobscure; Act Up! Newham’s interactive online gallery I am Toni…Who am I?; the Return of the Together! Pop-Up Poetry Café; and family activities Strings & Thingswith Collar & Cuffs; Making Fingers & Paper Scruffy Puppets with Hazel Brill; and The Cockerel and the Fox with Sahera Khan. And there’s still more to come!
Jessica Starns introduces Walk With Me, interviewed by Hazel Brill.
Virtual Naturewatch with Merlot.
Sport
Nigel Owens is the first referee to reach 100 international Tests in Rugby, and is also a campaigner for mental health and LGBT+ rights. This is a link to a Desert Island Disks Episode with Nigel from 2017. Trigger warning: Nigel talks very openly about his own serious struggles with mental health. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08cr6w9