Category Archives: Community News

National Theatre at Home – A Midsummer Night’s Dream

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This week National Theatre at Home is giving you the chance to watch Shakespeare’s most famous romantic comedy.

A feuding fairy King and Queen cross paths with four runaway lovers and a troupe of actors trying to rehearse a play. As their dispute grows, the magical royal couple meddle with mortal lives in the forest, to hilarious, but dark, consequences.

The Bridge Theatre’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream is streaming from 7pm  tonight until 7pm Thursday 2 July 2020. — The running time is 2 hours 40 minutes with a very short interval. The BBFC rating is 12A with infrequent strong language.

Click on the picture to watch from 7pm tonight

Lockdown easing from 4th July

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The government has annouced further easing of the lockdown rules and a change to social distancing guidelines from 4th July.

From now up to 4th July the rules remain the same and you can read these here

From 4th July the social distancing rules change from 2 metres to what the government is calling ‘1 metre plus’.  This means where you can still stick to 2 metres it is advised that you do but where this is not possible keep a minimum of 1 metre while taking extra care to protect yourself and others – such as hand washing and face covering where appropriate.  The closer you are the greater the risk of infection – scientists believe the risk of infection roughly halves with each metre of distance so avoid close contact with people outside your household as much as possible.

On the same day more businesses will be allowed to open  including restaurants, pubs, cinemas, visitor attractions, hotels, and campsites as well as other public places, such as libraries, community centres, places of worship, outdoor playgrounds and outdoor gyms.

More detailed information is on gov.uk but a summary of the new rules is below:

As of 4 July, this will mean:

  • you can meet in groups of up to two households (your support bubble counts as one household) in any location – public or private, indoors or outdoors. You do not always have to meet with the same household – you can meet with different households at different times. However, it remains the case – even inside someone’s home – that you should socially distance from anyone not in your household or bubble. This change also does not affect the support you receive from your carers
  • when you are outside you can continue to meet in groups of up to six people from different households, following social distancing guidelines
  • those who have been able to form a support bubble (i.e. those in single adult households) can continue to have close contact as if they live with the other people in the bubble, but you should not change who you have formed a support bubble with
  • additional businesses and venues, including restaurants, pubs, cinemas, visitor attractions, hotels, and campsites will be able to open – but we will continue to keep closed certain premises where the risks of transmission may be higher
  • other public places, such as libraries, community centres, places of worship, outdoor playgrounds and outdoor gyms will be able to open
  • you can stay overnight away from your home with your own household or support bubble, or with members of one other household (where you need to keep social distancing)
  • it will be against the law to gather in groups larger than 30 people, except for a limited set of circumstances to be set out in law and unless all members of the group are exclusively from two households. Police will have the power to break up groups larger than 30, apart from these exceptions

These rules may be changed at any time if the infection rate seems to be rising.

Changes in Government guidance for those who are shielding

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Yestercached.imagescaler.hbpl.co.uk/resize/scaleWidth...day the government outlined some upcoming changes for people who are shielding.  This is for those people who have been contacted by the NHS or Government to say they are at high risk (extremely clinically vulnerable) from coronavirus, and advised to stay home and shield.

The advice will change (in England) from July 6th and after that date the changes are

  • you can meet with 1 other household if you live alone or you’re a single parent who lives alone with your children – this is called a support bubble
  • you can meet outside with people you do not live with, in groups of up to 6 – as long as you stay 2 metres away from each other
  • you do not need to try to stay 2 metres away from people you live with

From 1 August the government will be advising that shielding will be paused. From this date, the government is advising you to adopt strict social distancing rather than full shielding measures. Strict social distancing means you may wish to go out to more places and see more people but you should take particular care to minimise contact with others outside your household or support bubble. In practice this means that from 1 August:

  • you can go outside to buy food, to places of worship and for exercise but you should maintain strict social distancing
  • you should remain cautious as you are still at risk of severe illness if you catch coronavirus, so the advice is to stay at home where possible and, if you do go out, follow strict social distancing
  • you can go to work, if you cannot work from home, as long as the business is COVID-safe
  • children who are clinically extremely vulnerable can return to their education settings if they are eligible and in line with their peers. Where possible children should practise frequent hand washing and social distancing

After 1 August, the centrally provided support – ie government food boxes etc will stop, however local council and some nhs volunteer support is likely to continue, at least for a while.  We will be keeping an eye on the situation so that we can advise you on the support (including support from Caring Together) available locally

Information is available on gov.uk  and on the nhs website

Please note: this advice is from July 6 and it is recommended you follow the current advice till then. This advice is as follows:

  • only leave your home to spend time outdoors, for example to go for a walk
  • stay at least 2 metres (3 steps) away from other people in your home as much as possible
  • get food and medicine delivered and left outside your door – ask friends and family to help or register to get coronavirus support on GOV.UKif you need it
  • prepare a hospital bag, including a list of the medicines you’re taking, in case you need to go into hospital
  • wash your hands with soap and water often – do this for at least 20 seconds
  • make sure anyone who comes into your home washes their hands with soap and water for 20 seconds
  • use hand sanitiser gel if soap and water are not available
  • clean objects and surfaces you touch often (such as door handles, kettles and phones) using your regular cleaning products
  • clean a shared bathroom each time you use it, for example by wiping the surfaces you have touched
  • Do Not have visitors inside your home, including friends and family, unless they’re providing essential care
  • Do Not stop taking any prescription medicines without speaking to your doctor

 

 

Have your say on West Yorkshire Devolution

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It may seem a long time now since the chancellor announced The West Yorkhire Devolution deal in the budget and focus has naturally shifted to Covid-19 related issues but progress towards implementing this deal has continued in the background. ,

The deal, the biggest ever of its kind, brings more than £1.8 billion of investment for West Yorkshire into local control. This includes £38 million per year for 30 years with significant freedoms to spend on local priorities.It will see more decisions about the region taken here instead of London and more investment for the things that matter to local people.

In key areas for our future like transport, skills, the economy and climate change, responsibility will be transferred to people who know and understand our region, enabling us to move away from one-size-fits-all national approaches to deliver locally-focused decisions which will bring greater benefits for our communities and improve people’s quality of life.

In the current context, the deal will also provide more essential funding and powers to help our region recover from the Covid-19 pandemic.

A public consultation has now launched and will run until 19 July 2020 on the deal and proposals for a directly elected mayor.

Please take part and share your views as part of this. There are a number of ways to engage:

  • Through the online survey on the West Yorkshire Combined Authority website.
  • By emailing wyconsultation@ipsos-mori.com
  • By calling the freephone telephone number 0800 141 3657
  • By post using the freepost address: Freepost WY Devolution Consultation (no stamp needed).

What would it take for your city to delight you?

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As we emerge from lockdown, what do we want from our city? Do we want to return to ‘business as usual’ or is this an opportunity to think differently and create  the kind of place where we really want to live and where everyone  flourish?

This question will be explored in a partnership between two cities, Liverpool and Leeds. Each city will host one conversation, with a panel of speakers to explore the topic. There will be opportunities for participants to ask questions and raise issues with the panelists.

The Leeds event will take place on Saturday 27th June and includes the four speakers below

If you want to take part in either of the  the events you can book your free place below to join the conversation.

Liverpool Saturday 20th June – 7pm

Leeds Saturday 27th June – 7pm

Engage Liverpool are also going to live-stream it on Facebook and then post it to their YouTube channel.

Whether or not you would like to join the live events, they would still like to hear what you think. Please do get in touch using the survey linked below.

Share your thoughts here…

The organisers had this to say in their press release:

“For an hour on Saturday evening from 7pm on the 20th and 27th June, we’ll hear stories and ideas from each city in turn, looking at exciting and delightful grassroots projects that add significant value to their communities and the city at large.

Over the series we’ll talk about how we scale these ideas and the role of active citizens within them. But we’ll also have space to talk about things that don’t exist yet, but we wish did, and ask what are the areas of the city that we wish would delight us and how we might get there. We’ll hear a broad range of ideas from each city and various communities within them that will spark discussion and ideas.

Each session will be chaired by representatives of both cities and we will draw threads for the things we have in common, and the things that make our cities uniquely delightful.

We will, of course, talk about the Pandemic we’re all facing and what we’re learning during it and what effect it is having on our cities. Are there any new things that are happening right now that we want to carry forward with us into our post pandemic cities? Do we want to go back to business as usual? Are our city leaders aware of these things?

We are building a community of enquiry around this question. We want the challenge of our city leaders and our citizens to go beyond a merely functional city, although we want that too, to how can cities inspire and delight the people that live in them and what role will we all play in this?”

 

The Shows Must Go On goes to Neverland

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This weekend The Shows Must Go On flies to Neverland and premieres Peter Pan from 7pm tonight (Fri 19th) until 7pm on Sunday 21st June.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUun-2hatcY

Alison Williams stars as Peter Pan and Christopher Walken stars as Captain Hook in the 2014 production of the classic Broadway musical that will entertain anyone who refuses to ever grow up. Telling the beloved story of Peter Pan, the mischievous little boy who ran away to Neverland. Get ready for show-stopping stars, stunning costumes, extravagant sets and delightful music that will have everyone singing along.

Note: This is a three hour event, but it does promise to take you on a magical and musical journey to the second star to the right.

Peter Pan was originally due to to be shown on Friday June 5th but the organisers decided to cancel that week’s event in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement.

National Theatre at Home – Small Island

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This week with National Theatre at Home you can see Small Island,  the sell-out production of Andrea Levy’s novel.

NT at Home Small Island - photo of Leah Harvey inset into a photo of the sea

Streaming  from 7pm  tonight – Thursday 18 June, until 7pm  Thursday 25 June.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=pac-Furijsw

Embark on a journey from Jamaica to Britain, from the Second World War to 1948 – the year the HMT Empire Windrush docked at Tilbury, in this moving stage adaptation of Andrea Levy’s Orange Prize-winning novel. Hope and humanity meet stubborn reality as Small Island traces the tangled history between Jamaica and the UK and our characters dream of a better world. Hortense yearns for a new life away from rural Jamaica, Gilbert dreams of becoming a lawyer, and Queenie longs to escape her Lincolnshire roots, in three intricately connected stories.

A little warning: Please note that, as part of depicting the experience of Jamaican immigrants to Britain after the Second World War, some characters in the play use racially offensive terms.  BBFC rating is 15 due to some strong language, discriminatory behaviour, occasional sexual references and mild violence.  The running time is 2hrs 55mins with a very short interval and it is subtitled.  The performance also includes some strobe lighting

 

Poetry Corner take 2: ‘Imagine’ by Lemn Sissay

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Dear all

Caring Together is also proud to be supporting Refugee Week this week too. I was chatting to Karen this morning who let me know Refugee Week 2020 this year is inspired by the theme ‘Imagine’.

The week is about inviting you to do one or more of their eight Simple Acts that can all be done at home. It can be chatting together as Karen and I have done this morning, or read a book, watch some talks on YouTube. It is a collective movement to imagine a better world.

I found this small yet moving poem on the below website.

“The poet Lemn Sissay once described his wonderment at the thought that everything around us was imagined first. Everything physical – the camera he was looking at, the microphone he was talking into – started as an act of imagination. He wrote a poem”:

I will not limit myself
I will not be afraid
If it were not imagined
How else could it be made?

sourced: https://refugeeweek.org.uk/simple-acts/

final-refugee-week-leeds-1 – Copy

Thank you for sharing your inspiring thoughts and words of wisdom this morning Karen.

The Refugee Week Logo | Refugee Week

Poetry Corner: My Lockdown poem – written by Luke Hazelgrave

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We are proud to be supporting Learning Disability Week this week. It is a great way to raise awareness of learning disability across Leeds and the UK
Leeds Learning Disability Week logo - Connect in the North
Luke Hazelgrave who lives at Parkwood View in Specialised Supported Living Service has written a lockdown poem. Luke originally recorded himself reading the poem which he then shared to try and keep spirits up.
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I’ve written a poem about lockdown; a strange time for my generation.

It helps me express myself in this current situation.

I understand that lockdown is to keep me safe and sound,

But it makes me sad that I can’t have my family around.

The virus still scares me but I think I’ve been quite brave.

I like clapping for the NHS when having a shower, and having a good old wave.

I miss their smiling faces now that staff are wearing masks,

I’ve been kept busy by helping with household tasks.

I’m really missing sports but most of all rugby,

I’m really missing cuddles

Now that people can’t hug me.

I can’t wait to leave the house, further than the front door.

I can’t wait to go out to dance on the dance floor.

I really miss my family and I really miss my friends.

I can’t wait until this lockdown finally ends.

The lockdown is something I’ll remember forever.

We’ve all been so strong, let’s get through this together!

Luke Hazelgrave

The return of football and where you can watch some games for free

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I suspect there will be a sharp divide between those who think that the return of football is good news and those who think exactly the opposite.

But, for those who are excited about this – Premier League games start tomorrow and the Championship resumes on Saturday 20th. (Leeds United kick off away at Cardiff on Sunday 21st). All matches will be played without fans present to be broadcast on TV.

Although Leeds will have a crowd of sorts for their home games as they have offered all season ticket holders the chance to send in a photo to be made into a cardboard cut-out to occupy their usual seat.  It’s intended to be of the person who holds the ticket but that’s not compulsory so they may have acquired a few unlikely celebrity supporters when they play the first home tie against Fulham on Saturday 27th June.

Many of the games are only available on a paid subscription channel but a third of the Premiership and FA cup games will be available to watch for free, in a variety of different ways:

BBC will show four Premier league games and four FA cup games including the final

Amazon Prime will be showing four league games – you normally have to pay for an Amazon Prime membership but they have said you will not need membership to watch these games – these will be internet streamed instead of on TV

Sky are making 25 of their games available free on the Pick channel this is free to watch and is on:

Freeview 11                                 Freesat  144                           Sky 159                                    Virgin 165

 

Sadly, it doesn’t appear at the moment that any of the Championship games are being shown for free.

For a full list of all the upcoming games in both leagues and where you can watch them visit,  www.live-footballontv.com

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