Survey from Healthwatch Leeds.
Healthwatch are working with Leeds City Council and the local NHS to improve the care, support and experience of people who live with a long-term condition.
Do you have a long term-condition or care for someone who has a long-term condition?
Please can you help improve local services by completing this survey, which is your opportunity to say what works and what could be better https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/ImproveAccess4People
Aire Place Studios is a not-for-profit, Leeds-based Creative Studio, providing exhibition opportunities, low cost workspaces as well as a Community Hub which focuses on giving a platform to artists and creatives who wouldn’t traditionally have had such opportunities.
The two current exhibitons are being presented online and can be seen here: https://www.aireplacestudios.com/events-exhibitions/
Postcards Exhibition:
“Our project idea centres around community engagement and creativity during these challenging and unprecedented times, in which many creative practitioners are struggling with the financial and practical implications surrounding COVID-19. This process of creative documentation and community engagement appeals to us as a means of cataloguing our community’s thoughts and fears, messages of hope, and general experiences at this significant point in our history.
We have specifically chosen to communicate the project and its responses through postcards because of their tangible form, in a time where the world has become increasingly reliant on virtual, two-dimensional connections. The postcard as a souvenir of an experience, a communication tool, and as a memoir of our connections with the physical world echoes our intention to document and archive.”
Print It Exhibition:
“Mixed exhibition, intended to showcase fantastic works from local, regional, national and international artists. It includes work from a mixture of disciplines and media. At Aire Place Studios we hope to reflect the creativity and diversity of artists, as well as providing an important opportunity for artists to exhibit their work to the public. Our intention is to broaden the public perception of art.”
Leeds City Council issued a statement as more cases of the new Covid variant have been found in the city.
Residents are urged to stay home as much as possible and take extra care to keep themselves safe and to help stop the spread.
From Leeds City Council website:
The new UK COVID-19 variant is now believed to be responsible for around one in every five cases of the virus detected in Leeds, new figures have revealed.
Residents and communities across the city are being urged to stay home whenever possible and keep contact with others to an absolute minimum as instances of the highly contagious B117 variant increase.
The latest testing information also shows 344.2 cases per 100,000 people tested, with cases thought to be spreading at the fastest rate in the 20-35 age group.
Case numbers in Leeds have shown some slight fluctuations in the past few days, with more cases of the UK variant, thought to spread much more easily, being picked up during testing. Before Christmas, the variant was believed to be responsible for around just one in 20 local cases.
In light of this, the council is once again reminding everyone across the city to take every possible precaution to prevent the spread of the virus and keep the city safe.
Councillor Judith Blake, leader of Leeds City Council, said: “We have reached a critical stage in our long fight against this dreadful virus, which we know has already taken such a devastating toll on our city and its communities.
“As the rollout of vaccines accelerates, there is at last a real, tangible hope that finally, we are nearing the end of the worst stages of this terrible pandemic and may be able to start thinking towards the future sooner rather than later.
“However, the appearance of this highly contagious new variant means that until that time comes, it is absolutely imperative that we do not become complacent and do all that we can to prevent the virus spreading and cases increasing to the point where our local NHS services become overwhelmed.
“Leeds has shown remarkable grit and resolve throughout the pandemic and as we enter the final stretch, we need to call on those reserves once more to keep our families, loved ones, friends and neighbours safe.”
The council is continuing to work closely with health partners on a major rollout of vaccinations, with vaccination sites being set up at venues across the city and tens of thousands of vulnerable residents and key workers in high priority groups already receiving their first jabs.
Local GPs are working to provide vaccinations to as many care home residents and patients aged 80 as possible. In the coming weeks, the first community pharmacies will be starting to offer vaccinations and four large vaccination centres are being set up in West Yorkshire, including Elland Road.
Across the city’s care home network, efforts to protect some of the city’s most vulnerable have also seen vaccines given to 889 residents and 1,626 staff.
Victoria Eaton, Leeds City Council’s Director of Public Health, said: “Working alongside our partners in the NHS, we are making good progress in ensuring Leeds has a comprehensive and robust network of vaccine sites, equipped to cope with what will be one of the single greatest collective efforts the city and the country has ever seen.
“While it’s hugely encouraging to see vaccinations taking place, this new variant carries with it a real danger that cases could grow exponentially and our efforts to control the spread of the virus and protect local health services may consequently be placed in serious jeopardy.
“There is light at the end of the tunnel, but staying home, minimising contact with others and following the latest guidance around hygiene and social distancing must remain at the forefront of our minds over the coming months.”
Everyone in Leeds can do their bit to help fight the spread of COVID-19 by:
More information and support for residents can be found here: www.leeds.gov.uk/coronavirus.
Dear all,
Dedication Friday is an invitation for you to send in your music dedications. The song you love and wish to share with others, a time to reminisce, to dedicate in memory of those we have lost, and a dedication to family and friends maybe. A wedding or divorce tune… Or just a little something for you!
Dear all, I have been sent someone’s view from their window this morning. Slightly obscured by the dense snow filled air with just the building in the forefront visible. Can anyone guess where this might be? And I am sure the snow is thicker on the ground by now.
Keep safe everyone.
I wish I wasn’t frightened of my own voice because then I could spend all day on social media talking to people I don’t know.
Which, at a time when old-fashioned personal contact is mostly outlawed, would mean I could make a contribution to combating the loneliness and anxiety which is supposed to be the main curse of the lock-down age, even more so than thousands of people dying prematurely, which we don’t like to think about.
My problem is that I don’t distinguish, in terms of difficulty, between talking, texting or ‘proper’ writing; any use of words is a serious business to me, so that I can take 20 minutes to fill in a birthday card. An internet conversation involving me would be made up mainly of long pauses and the only message people could take from it would be that my broadband needs fixing,
I’ve not been able to join in the great socially-distanced virtual hug we’re all supposed to be giving ourselves because, as well as my own voice, I’m frightened of strangers (plus, although it’s not immediately relevant, coat hangers, ironing boards and brassicas).
This is why I find it difficult to get involved in conversation with parcel deliveries, bus drivers, barbers, general practitioners or lost people desperately seeking directions. I know this is wrong but shyness is a terrible thing, not because it makes you unhappy, but because it makes you, in many situations, near-useless.
But although shyness is generally a bad thing, unrestrained self-confidence, as demonstrated all over the net and on radio phone-ins, can be equally problematic, by which I mean absolutely dreadful and isn’t it a pity that all the recent huge advances in popular communication have cumulated in Donald Trump?
This shouldn’t have happened because most of us have access to countless sources of information and opinion and, to quote Areopagitica, John Milton’s great tract on freedom of speech, ‘Let Truth and Falsehood grapple; who ever knew Truth put to the worst in a free and open encounter?’
Which might have been true when it was written in 1644 and when I studied it at A-level a few years later, but now Truth looks tattered and vulnerable; after taking a beating from 20th century totalitarians it’s had to deal with 21st century PR companies, sneaky politicians, conspiracy theorists and the incessant shouting of people who want to drown out every version of truth but their own.
Milton, thinking truth had a pure and unassailable quality, would have been quite floored by the discovery of Trump’s advisor, Kellyanne Conway, that there are such things as ‘alternative facts’, which mean the result of the US presidential election can be whatever you want it to be.
This makes things difficult because when Twitter bans Donald Trump from spreading lies and inciting violence, and Donald Trump Jnr responds by tweeting that ‘free speech no longer exists in America’ I’m not sure where the very small Ariopagitica Support Group should stand.
But I’ve decided that Junior’s statement, published in every corner of America, should probably be dismissed as self-contradictory.
Help your NHS help you this winter by reading ‘Support your NHS’ a guide to better care.
This booklet, which has been sent out to households in Leeds, includes information on how you can support your NHS this winter by choosing the right service, when to access accident and emergency department, accessing your local pharmacy, COVID-19 symptoms and testing, and mental wellbeing.
Visit supportnhsleeds.co.uk for more information and to view this booklet online or you can email leedsccg.comms@nhs.net or call 0113 843 5740 if you’d like a copy
Help your NHS help you this winter by reading 'Support your NHS' a guide to better care. Have you got yours? Visit https://t.co/uAbUtEuVor for more information or email leedsccg.comms@nhs.net or call 0113 843 5740 if you'd like a copy
— NHS in Leeds (@nhsleeds) January 12, 2021
Jack frost had paid a call, The morn was all a-glitter. Icicles dangled from frozen gutters, The day was cold and bitter. Greetings of "good morning " Came from here and there As the hardy left their houses, To face the freezing air. I heard familiar sounds Echoing around our street, Neighbours scraping windscreens And stamping frozen feet. Clouds of exhaled breath Rose up to the sky, As if ghostly, silent steam trains Were slowly drifting by. The sound of engines running, As people warmed their cars. It was the communal defrost, Beneath early morning stars.
sourced http:/ www funnypoemsforlife com
Never seen a ComedySportz match before? Two teams of comedians go for gold with quick-witted gags and games inspired by your suggestions. It’s the all action, all improvised competitive comedy show for all ages you don’t want to miss. Who wins? YOU decide!
ComedySportz have been entertaining audiences of all ages since 2001 with their unscripted, unpredictable and unmissable brand of competitive comedy. In 2021 they’re keeping you laughing in lockdown with interactive online shows that can be watched on any device.
“…a non-stop stream of gags, sketches and general hilarity.” Lancashire Evening Post
“…skilled and funny with a remarkable ability to think on their feet.” Three Weeks ****
“Kids enjoyed the interactive nature of the show and were in fits of giggles all the way through.” Netmums
“…quick, witty, sometimes ingenious, and more often than not – just down-right silly” Yorkshire Times
Shows are every Wednesday and Saturday at 7pm GMT and last approx. one hour:
Find out more on http://www.comedysportz.co.uk/shows/ or watch on the youtube channel https://youtu.be/ep84hWQvkhU
