» Listings for March 2014

1. The Tapestry of touch - Pompoms and Sense the deafblind charity

   Posted on 10:28am Monday 31st Mar 2014

   One of the great things about what I do is that I am able to become involved with various charity events and lend a hand to do what I can. (Who can forget how much I went on about winning the Strictly Come Dancing event for the Shakespeare Hospice!?)

   Recently I went to see the Grayson Perry exhibition “The Vanity of Small Differences” at the Birmingham Gallery and Art museum and little did I know that soon afterwards I would be visiting another tapestry...this time one made by thousands of people...

   Sense are a national charity that supports and campaigns for children and adults who are deafblind. As a hypnotherapist who works with people using their senses in a very different way the work they do is of course something that I personally can learn from. How we use our senses is something that I work on every day.

   I was delighted when I was asked by Kate Timperley, the ambassador relationship manager for sense, if I would like to attend and open an amazing tapestry of pompoms. Of course, I jumped at the chance.

   Gillian Morbey and I feeling the tapestry for ourselves
   

    

   The Great Sense Pompom Challenge

   The Great Sense Pompom Challenge took place at the end of 2013. Thousands of artists with and without multi-sensory impairments contributed to the tapestry from all over the UK, and it is travelling the country to raise awareness of multi-sensory impairments and of Sense. Over 6000 pompoms were made and then stitched together to create a huge piece of sensory art “The Tapestry of Touch”.
   

   For people with hearing and sight impairment, touch can be important. It helps with communication – many deafblind people use a form of sign language involving touch called hand-on-hand signing, or they may use their fingers to read Braille. It helps with connecting – feeling the touch of their friends and loved ones becomes significant when you can’t see or hear. It helps with learning – especially important for babies and children with sight and hearing problems.

   The tapestry is now travelling around the country and you can see it for yourself. I was delighted to open the exhibition when it arrived at the Solihull Arts Complex. This is a venue I know well having performed there myself many times, and I even got to meet up with theatre manager Lawrence and reminisce.

   I met with Kate herself and I was also really happy to be able to meet the Chief Executive Gillian Morbey and find out more about the tapestry and what Sense do.

   This is not a piece of art with a barrier around it and “Do not touch!” signs. This is the exact opposite. It is something created by real people and it screams out to be touched, and played with. There are pompoms made out of wool, and many other materials, even plastic! Some are small and some are large. It really is stimulating to be able to close your eyes and touch these for yourself.

   If you would like to see the tapestry for yourself then you can find out all about where it has been, where it is going and where it will end up right here...

   http://www.sense.org.uk/tapestryoftouch

   and here you can read about the Solihull exhibition and my involvement..

   http://www.sense.org.uk/content/tapestry-touch-exhibition-opens-solihull-week

    

   I wonder if you could take a moment out of your day to read more about Sense and what they do.

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

2. Conscious uncoupling:Why your opinion about the Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin separation is wrong

   Posted on 5:18pm Saturday 29th Mar 2014

   What is so wrong with the Conscious Uncoupling of Chris Martin and Gwyneth Paltrow?

   The media has been so full of discussion about yet another celebrity couple splitting that I think everyone has missed the point somewhat. The BBC Right to Reply programme even had to justify the amount of coverage on BBC News about the separation. The thing about this split is that it seems to have been made worse by the fact that it was described by the lady involved as a conscious uncoupling.

   What a terrible crime?! Of course I don't really know YOUR opinion about this story, but I do know that the majority of the articles written this week have been scathing in their treatment of the description. But why is this? Would we rather that they were at each other's throats and releasing stories about each other to discredit the other party? In some ways it seems that would be prefered by many writers and users of social media.

   Let's look at this another way. Marriages and relationships break up all the time and this is always sad. When there are children involved then it really is good to think about them and try and behave like an adult however you feel. I am fortunate enough to be connected to a great many people on social media thanks to working in Television and Radio before my career in Hypnotherapy. The downside of this is that I sometimes have to see people play out their personal issues on social media. Of course, I don't have time for this so you would not be surprised by the number of people who I no longer follow or "friend" on facebook and twitter. Life is too short!

   I think we should take a step back and applaud the maturity of Chris Martin and Gwyneth Paltrow in what is a difficult time for them and their children Apple and Moses. Rather than laugh about the Californian way they are treating the situation, just take a step back and admire them for keeping their heads when all around them is falling down. They have even gone on holiday together now, that takes more guts than behaving like a spoilt child.

   Children are the most important people to think about in situations like these. I spend so much time helping clients to deal with issues that arose from things that happened when they were young with their families and also helping children to overcome issues that arise in their own childhood.

   So, let's applaud the mature way that the couple are behaving and stop trying to wish they would behave in a vile way!

   Now, was I right about your opinion? Did you laugh and think it was a strange way to announce a split?  Don't forget there are always different ways to see every story and action in our lives!