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).
31 JULY 2020
Rainbows by Pamela Hillyer
SOMETHING FOR THE WEEKEND
29 JULY 2020
Poems from today’s Together! Pop-Up Poetry Club
Greenway by Julie Newman
The Greenway lies on top of the sewer.
Laid down in belief that the grass brings newer
Paths to trample, routes from here to there,
Avoiding the streets and breathing fresh air,
From Newham to Bow.
Who thought we ever could find bright plants,
Trees and woods, giving homes to bees and ants,
And the sewers of London would give such a gift
Brightening our lives, without even a sniff
Of what lies below.
Alison Marchant
Running through the meadow where the butterflies flutter like the flight pattern of a distant bird,
Green-veined White,
Orange tip. Brinstone.
Small Blue. Tortoiseshell. Skipper.
Peacock.
Red Admiral.
Green Calm by Dawn Barber
I love to see beautiful gardens,
All the lovely flowers and trees,
Different pathways, water running,
Butterflies flying onto flowers,
Garden ornaments everywhere,
Hearing the sound of the birds,
Steps you can walk down,
How I love green spaces,
They send me to a place that I always want to be,
Calm in greenery.
Joyce only wore one earring by Dawn Barber
She only wore one earring,
People used to stare,
But Joyce Pearl didn’t care,
She got ready in the morning,
Her earring would go on,
It was a blue stone with little white diamonds,
People would ask Joyce,
Why do you only wear one earring?
Because I want to look different,
And want people to notice me,
Because sometimes I get lonely,
And the only way to get noticed is by people looking,
And that makes me feel better.
The rocks beneath by Taylor Henville
A poem based on the theme of green spaces and inspired by the book Wuthering Heights.
Through the heather, through the shrubs,
Pass the moss, across the soil
I try to find you.
Birds fly through the sky settling in the bare trees,
Their gnarled branches cutting into the landscape,
And in the distance, sprouting from the smothering grass,
I can see the house where you keep yourself.
No foliage on the ground in its ever-changing state,
No spring dew, summer heat, autumn wind, winter snow,
Can ever break us,
Just like the rocks beneath,
We are eternal,
We crush and block the world.
That bracing chill of the wind cannot hurt me,
It only carries me closer to you,
So open the window, take my hand,
Turn away from the abyss.
Heaven for us is not our home
And home was never heaven,
For us it’s outside on the moors,
Exposed to the elements.
Learn to say NO by Paizah Malek
At my younger age
I was never in rage No emotions to express
No one to bless
I was very quiet and timid
Shy and placid
Only look and hear properly
But never ask or query simply nod and agree
Later I learn that is not right
We have to try and fight
Never say yes all the time
When you know it is not fine
I keep on telling myself
Come on, learn to be yourself
Just be brave to say NO
Never brush off or ignore
Be confident and strong As nothing will go wrong
When it is your right To stay cheerful and bright.
Weather by Paizah Malek
It has become a routine to look out
To ensure if it is rain, windy, when and where about
Especially when you’re going somewhere important
To meet or do at that specific instant
The weather decides for you
To go or not to do
What to prepare or wear,
How to cope and bear
Such powerful is the weather
We are being abide everywhere and forever
Put on thick gloves or just use slipper
Leave with big breakfast or just a cuppa.
Weather is a determiner,
Giving you rough idea and manner
how to proceed the day in the right and comfortable way
Chose to be drenched in the rain? – While boarding the train
Or relax indoor all day, singing and play
or hop and skip towards the bay
To Join the sailors, fishmongers
Having tea and fish fingers
Anyway its always best to adjust yourself accordingly
Enjoy the weather willingly and stay happy.
Nature watch with Precious Newman
27 JULY 2020
Online writers’ retreat for Deaf and Disabled writers Spread the Word and Jamie Hale have joined forces to create Experimental!: a brand new completely free and accessible writers’ retreat, running from Monday 31 August-Sunday 6 September. Twelve spaces are open to D/deaf and/or Disabled writers who will embark on a week-long writing venture, including industry talks, masterclasses, guest readings and a sharing event. eature workshops, masterclasses, guest readings, industry 1-2-1s and a sharing event. Guest writers and speakers include Raymond Antrobus, Elsa Sjunneson, Anne Finger, plus industry talks from Verve Poetry Press, Bookouture, Apples and Snakes, Knights Of and more. Deadline for applications is 5pm on 12 August 2020. The link is here: https://www.spreadtheword.org.uk/experimental-writers-retreat/
24 JULY 2020
Act Up! Newham: Carnival on Zoom
Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson’s amendment to the Waterways Bill to enable access for Disabled people: https://www.britishcanoeing.org.uk/news/2020/inland-waterways-public-access-to-the-countryside-debated-in-the-house-of-lords
Sterre Ploeger: Window Art
Knitted hats by Pamela Hillyer
SOMETHING FOR THE WEEKEND
Discover musician Josh Bergmann https://www.facebook.com/josh.bergmann.58
Explore guitar types online: www.pmtonline.co.uk
Try easy craft activities https://www.jumpstart.com/parents/activities
including this bird feeder discussed on the show: https://www.jumpstart.com/common/juicy-bird-feeder-view
Count butterflies – the Big Butterfly Count continues until 9 August 2020: https://bigbutterflycount.butterfly-conservation.org/
Dream of holidays: Barbados welcome stamp
22 JULY 2020
TOGETHER! POP-UP POETRY CLUB: MEMORIES
Next week’s theme is Green Spaces – send your poems or videos of you reading them to tv@together2012.org.uk
Duncan Bridgstock: Memories
looking back
looking back hurts my neck
but heck
what a deck of cards
nostalgia ?
it’s all in the past
at last
a blast from the past
look back in anger ?
what ?
in this old banger
of a body
i’m mature but not shoddy
and i don’t listen to showaddywaddy
time passes
just a memory
shall i put on the kettle ?
i’m in fine fettle.
Taylor Henville: School
Walking past my school
Many years later
I can still hear the sound of
The creaking old wood floors
And the smell of chips and
Turkey twizzlers
Wafting from the dining hall
And running round the playground
Playing tag or Mr Wolf.
Blake Jarrette Gibbons: Memories
Isn’t it strange how our memories can be so practical? Memorizing passwords, things we have read and seen. Other details too. For me going from Paddington to Maida Vale, I have memorized the third carriage from the front back single door that’s by the exit.
Walking the escalators, that can be like walking up memory lane.
A piece of art on the side of the building, or the front, or a building in itself, you memorize to remember where you are. The Shard is next to me and Guy’s Hospital one side, I’m by Tower Bridge station. I see a station with 19 platforms, but it’s only got two terminus platforms, some trains are green in colour, some blue and red, red and blue, some white and orange.
Yes I’m at Clapham Junction, I memorized that, from having used the station often. I was underground and I remember travelling east and coming out into the open, sometimes to rain, sometimes sunlight, sometimes the darkening sky or even a dark sky, but floods of light from electrical lights. To my left another platform, between stairs and escalators and to my right the bus station.
I travel away from the built-up areas and away into countryside.
Hang on I’m sensing and smelling fermenting fruits and can see fields of fruit trees. I’m at a cider farm.
The feel of sand under my feet, the odd puff of breeze and how it loops around and those waves some soft, some crashing with a memorizing splash. The slight differences or big differences take me out and away to different beaches and coastlines.
The different vibes all lock memory’s details.
Hang on where am I? I smell fuel, petrol station, filling up before we drive away to create more memories, a go-kart track ready to race. It’s neither of those.
But I can smell , fuel, what can I see, I’m in a station, I can smell warm diesel as the bigger locomotives able to pull long trains in and out of the station. I see newer trains too, some long, some short, all going to different places. Under feet is a solid floor, I can see information gantrees by the platforms and the ticket office too.
Where will I be taken now, where will I go, I’m going somewhere, it’s time to make more memories.
Alison Marchant: Memories – sketch for an installation
There’s a black and white family photograph of my mother and uncle in sharp suits standing in Epping forest. One day I’m going to enlarge the photograph and mount it into the back of a 1940s wardrobe like a huge picture frame.
Dawn Barber: Stan
His name was Stan, he lived on a farm, he worked very hard,
He loved all his animals,
First thing in the morning he would moo to the cows,
Quack quack to the ducks,
Oink oink to the pigs,
Then he would give them their food,
His animals were his life,
His wife would stand and watch and laugh out loud,
But she loved every minute, “Stan,” she would say,
“You’re the man that fills me with happiness.”
Julie Newman: Memories
He looked at her,
And said, I’m sorry I can’t remember
When we last met…
Was it June or in September?
I think we were outside
With grass all around, long and green
Perhaps in a park?
Or somewhere closer to home?
My memory is fading
And it’s been a long time
Since we sat and talked about the places
We wanted to see…
A world we could find and how we would fly
With wings of a bird
In the heavens above.
He smiled and said with a sigh,
I never did get there…
But stayed here on the earth
And traveled no further than where we are now.
And in truth it seems too far away
To make much of a difference
In my life, day by day.
But it was lovely to see you,
And thank you again, for making the effort
And being my friend. I am sure I’ll remember
In the dead of the night, but the day brings
The clouds that cover my sight.
Naturewatch with Precious Newman
Be My Eyes https://www.bemyeyes.com
Article about the Brazilian Paralympic Committee & Be My Eyes, including an embedded TEDx Talk by the founder which is quite funny https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1096491/brazilian-paralympic-committee-app
20 JULY 2020
Llangollen Fringe On the Line with Signdance Collective International (Tuesday 21 July) and other free performances: https://www.llangollenfringe.co.uk/index.php/en/what-s-on/online-events
FUNDING & OPPORTUNITIES:
-
The Arts Council England has relaunched its Project Grants with some changes: https://www.artscouncil.org.uk/
- Disability Arts Online Magazine has two opportunities for People of Colour as Guest Editors: https://disabilityarts.online/magazine/
- DaDa Fest is commissioning Disabled artists and Disabled-led companies for its 20-21 season: https://disabilityarts.online/jobs/dadafest-call-for-submissions-dadafest-2020-21-season-2/
Positive Affirmations led by Jade Sempare and Act Up! Newham.
17 JULY 2020
Wool designs by Pamela Hillyer
Sterre Ploeger: Making a Shaker
SOMETHING FOR THE WEEKEND
Big Fish Little Fish Family Kitchen Rave https://tinyurl.com/yyahnuwv
Murder of a Music Mogul – Online who Done it? https://tinyurl.com/yxknrnul
There are several astronomical events happening at the moment with the Perseid Meteor Shower running through to mid August… https://www.rmg.co.uk/discover/explore/space-stargazing/meteors-comets-asteroids/Perseid-meteor-shower
There is also the Neowise Comet over the UK currently… https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/advice/skills/how-to-see-comet-c-2020-f3-neowise/
15 JULY 2020
Animation x Paralympic: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFEzXnIQVwV_dCeR1p1FzjmLVXH53YRoj
Poems from the Together! Pop-Up Poetry Club:
My Balcony by Paizah Malek
Six by twelve feet
Enough to look out and greet
Hi everyone, you look so sweet
I get the smile back
The look of shared happiness in tack
Yes we are on the right track ….
Smiling and greeting to escape loneliness
To forgive and forget sadness.
My balcony is my little colony
It is just enough to keep me merry
Looking at the sun flower swaying
Pink lily opening, red roses blooming
Watching neighbours going, waving –
“Have a good evening everybody”
Regards from my cute balcony.
Feathers on the wind by Taylor Henville
A dream is like a feather on the wind,
It can drift anywhere,
Floating in your mind.
The wind of possibility
Can raise a dream to the sky,
Bringing it clear into view
In your mind’s eye.
But the rumbling threat of gloom
Can knock a dream off course,
Negativity may rain down
And conceal a dream in the mud,
And life, like snowfall
Can freeze the dream for a time.
But the sunny breeze can always come back
And the dream begins to fly again,
Until the dream, like a feather,
Floats by and lands at your feet,
Waiting for you to pick it up and start again.
Celestial Homesickness by Julie Newman
My eyes closed, my mind drifted
As I listened to the song of the shipping forecast…
Familiar names of unknown places…
Carrying me away to dreams within dreams…
I swam with the stars and danced on the moon,
My feet not heavy, my spirit light enough
To carry me up and over
The brightness of countless constellations…
Diving in and out of meteor tails,
Delighting in the sparks that light the endless night.
And then I played with asteroids,
Relentless in their pursuit of the path that leads Nowhere.
Looking for partners in their timeless flight
Around the planets…
And as I awoke from the dream…within the dream,
I reached back to the stars and the endless dance…
Longing again to feel the joy of the light
And the wonderful belonging in the night of endless dreams…
To join in the dance and play with the stars,
Forever part of the harmonics that form
Calling to all, but unheard by many…
The glorious song of the universe.
Dream of a portrait by Alison Marchant
I dreamed of a woman as if in a flickering super-8 film. Standing there in a tattered coat with a fur collar. The year ‘1940’ flickered across the film frame in bold text. She stood on an empty battle field where I was a tiny child, collecting stones which I passed to her one by one. She had waited a long time and had a very hard life. I think she was my great grand-mother standing there after looking for her son lost in battle.
Virtual Naturewatch with Precious Newman
Together by Richard Downes
r.downes@yahoo.co.uk
In a Brummie accent like in the advert
Everybody say “We want to be together”
Together. “We want to be together”
Together. We stand together
Stand together. Together
Sit to face each other
Facing one another
Talk about the weather
Like strangers becoming friends
Friends becoming lovers
In a Brummie accent everybody say;
“We want to be together”
Together. We mingle together
Together. We become like one another
Togeher. We speak for one another
Speak for your comrades. Brother
Like you alone can group together
You and me will work this thing together
In a Brummie accent everybody say;
“We want to be together”
Together like this together like that
Two words that go together
Together we get it together
Today’s the same, tomorrow’s a change
Come on let’s get it together
Come on let’s get our world together
All together in a Brummie accent say
“We want to be together”
And lets say it now together
In our own time but together
Like its a new rhyme together
And we’ll speak these lines forever
It will sound fine together
We’lll get along strong together
Everybody in a Brummie accent say…….
13 JULY 2020
New guidance for how community based day services should be provided for Disabled and older people while Covid-19 remains a risk: https://www.scie.org.uk/care-providers/coronavirus-covid-19/day-care/safe-delivery
Image mapping software for 3D projection: https://madmapper.com/
Untitled by Jayne Waters
One of the memory jars made by a young Disabled person during the online workshop led by Hazel Brill for Newham Heritage Month.
Hazel Brill’s website: http://www.hazelbrill.com
This is the Formula 1 site For the Styrian race , the home of the Red Bull Team, the location is Spielberg in Austria. https://www.formula1.com/en/racing/2020/Styria.html and this page provides more information about the Hamilton Alliance: https://www.racefans.net/2020/06/20/hamilton-reveals-the-hamilton-commission-to-promote-diversity-in-motorsport/
10 JULY 2020
Vera Lynn: Wikipedia biography.
New government rules on outdoor performances.
Songs we sing at home: sing along to Stephie with Glory Sengo and Act Up! Newham.
SOMETHING FOR THE WEEKEND
The WILD About Culture festival, celebrating World Independent Living Day and featuring a wide range of Disabled artists from the UK and beyond, streams from 3pm on Saturday 11 July with live captions and BSL interpretation: https://wildaboutculture.com
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat (Andrew Lloyd Webber is releasing new recordings of different shows each week to view for free) https://www.andrewlloydwebber.com/the-shows-must-go-on/
Stonehaven Folk Festival http://www.stonehavenfolkfestival.co.uk/2020-festival/
Beverly Puppet Festival https://www.beverleypuppetfestival.com
This is the Formula 1 site For the Styrian race , the home of the Red Bull Team, the location is Spielberg in Austria. https://www.formula1.com/en/racing/2020/Styria.html and this page provides more information about the Hamilton Alliance: https://www.racefans.net/2020/06/20/hamilton-reveals-the-hamilton-commission-to-promote-diversity-in-motorsport/
Wimbledon classic matches, interviews etc: https://www.wimbledon.com/ and https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/53007200
8 JULY 2020
Virtual Naturewatch with Precious Newman
Dream Cloud by Graham Price
Should I persist?
Not sure I could resist
Why consider slowing
When the juice is flowing?
Perhaps it’s not a matter of choice
More important to use one’s voice
Take care, if it’s too loud
It’ll end under a cloud.
And who will that serve?
Not even me in reserve.
How do I end in this quietening day?
Just stop and try moving away.
And is that good enough
Try it, though it’ll be tough
Should I stop and ask why, why, why?
No, it’s time, I’m off, Goodbye, goodbye.
6 JULY 2020
Penumbral video eclipse on YouTube
- BBC Sound Effects Library
- FreeSound.org
- YouTube audio library (a Google account is required)
- Splice video-editing iPad app (made by GoPro but works with all footage)
Charlie & the C Monsters animation with audio-description
- Dire Straits: Brothers in Arms https://youtu.be/WMZvfpMn_qI
- Pink Floyd: Dark Side of The Moon https://open.spotify.com/album/2WT1pbYjLJciAR26yMebkH?si=EGk7XNv3T0GNsmnxble1Hw
- Dire Straits: Love Over Gold https://open.spotify.com/album/4hJqOIahWodpSJU6uDgjvN?si=8ChWA3gKQYyLhviP9EVIMw
Newham Unlocked Community Broadcasts! www.newhamunlockedbroadcasts.org Newham residents are invited to showcase what creativity means to you and how it has helped you through these challenging times. Do you sing, write, rhyme, garden or draw? Show us how you’ve been creative and submit a video today to be included! You can submit a video here: https://www.newhamunlockedbroadcasts.org/submit-a-video/. For more information see the website or contact justine@upprojects.com if you have further questions. New episodes will be released every Thursday up until 13 August.
3 JULY 2020
Sahera Khan: BSL signs for the arts
Rona Topaz
https://youtu.be/9PJldxKEo5Y
www.soundcloud.com/ilovesjf
www.spotlight.com/2253-5641-0859
www.twitter.com/Ronat
www.facebook.com/Ronatopaz
Rona Topaz sings Be Still
Something for the Weekend:
How to draw comics: https://www.howtodrawcomics.net/comic-art-tutorials
Glastonbury on iPlayer: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/b007r6vx/glastonbury
Wimbledon classic matches, interviews etc: https://www.wimbledon.com/ and https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/53007200
Billie Jean King official website
1 JULY 2020
Act Up! Newham: Swimming in the Bath
Poetry Please by Graham Price
Pleased you’ve kept the poem each day on track
To me, maybe others
It’s great they’ve been kept back to back.
Can’t imagine how otherwise the day could start
As Covid lock down drains sapful purpose
But the poem each day brings a change of heart.
It’s a wonderful treat, not to be missed
But where’s Benjamin and Simon, you know who I mean
Who’s Poetry someone has surely kissed.
I’m one of those inspired by you to have a go
Never before having tried this expressive form
Each day now, but not all, left with a can-do glow.
So wonders of wonders, keep them coming please
There’s an old fan here itching to say
Thank you for such pleasure, including the tease.
On we go, poetry please.
Inspired by receiving the 101st daily poem from Kate (Macavity, the Mystery Cat by T.S. Eliot).
Robin Surgeoner: The Illumination of Hope
Come hither, come gather, come out of the shadows
Come clear your fogged minds, let your inquisition grow
Turn introspection to speculation, disaggregate all your noes
Rivulets, streams, tributaries, flow, to an ocean of hope, come dip in your toes
High, high, high in the sky, a great ball of fire sustains all that we can see
Is this the light that defines what I do, shapes my future and all that is me?
Be sure it brings health and food to our table, but is it the light that forever enables
That shows us the path, that acts as our guide, that puts peace in our hearts, that helps us decide
Do I need this fire to emblazon what is hope?
Or is it hope that flames my conscience, my sentience, my aspirations, my morality
Yet hope needs a fuel, a catalyst, a source of ignition, hope is alive not simply positive premonition
Alive in our hearts, hope is what gives us fight, hope is our belief our truth and our light
Hope is sustenance, that nourishes our well being
That gives us strength in adversity, brings solace to the dying
If music is the food of love? then hope is the song that sings in our hearts
The nectar that sweetens and strengthens and guides us in our path
Of living lives which fulfil and enrich and give meaning to the lost
That makes us shepherds with staffs with fog lights and horns
An iridescence which seeks and illuminates every dark corner
Challenging every fear bringing calm where there was none before
It brings us together, a unification of thought
But together we must separate and share what we are taught
Take your enlightenment and shine with an irradiant incandescence
Be the ignition, the fusion, a human-spirited effervescence
Be all that is Hope and let hope be all that is you
Open your hearts and your souls and hope will show you what you must do.
Virtual Naturewatch with Precious Newman
Click here to view Highlights & Links from Together Unlocked! in June 2020 and previous months.