Rupert is not too keen on wearing a mask for his walks… thankfully, we’re not at the stage where he’ll be asked to, but for the rest of us the message is clear…ish: yet again, we must use our common sense and keep ourselves and those around us safe. If you have any masks, then please wear it when indoors in a public place and start wearing it NOW – not in 9 days’ time.
It was great to see our friends within the beauty industry, tattoo artists and gyms be allowed to open this week. Fingers crossed there’ll be good news for Leicester city at the end of this week and that the process has begun to get the city well and truly back on track.
One positive we can take from all of this is that (finally) action will be taken to look after factory textile workers and pay them properly in the city. The presence of these sweatshops has been called an ‘open secret’ and we’ve all driven past these factories, not just in Leicester, and not really thought about the people inside them. How can we help? Stop buying fast fashion. We’re all complicit: we know that for a T shirt to cost £2 that someone, somewhere is being exploited. Whether it’s in our city or our country should not matter, it needs to stop. Let’s make that one of the Covid legacies.
Fingers crossed for the coming days.
Stay safe, stay positive and pop your mask on.
Jon, Kevin and the #FUFighters
OBLIGATORY BAD JOKE
What do you call a chicken that counts its eggs?
A mathamachicken
CREATIVITY AND RESILIENCE OF LEICESTER CELEBRATED IN POETRY
Curve has released a digital project created in collaboration with award-winning Leicester poet and Curve Breakthrough Artist, Jess Green.
Not Something That Other People Do, originally written by Jess for the launch of Leicester City Council’s Cultural Prospectus, celebrates the creativity and resilience of the city and its communities. The video features footage sent in by Leicestershire residents showing how people have remained connected to culture and creativity during this time, as well as clips from Curve Affiliate groups Nupur Arts Dance Academy and Sidekick Dance.
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED IN LEICESTER TO SUPPORT WITH COVID TESTING
Volunteers who can speak Gujarati, Hindi, Urdu and Punjabi are urgently needed and proving especially helpful in engaging with the local population and encouraging them to get tested from Coronavirus.
Public Health England are actively looking for people to help support Leicester Local Lockdown and have said; “Once again, volunteers have done an extraordinary job today in Leicester, supporting and encouraging the community to have a test for COVID-19. We simply could not do this without them.”
To find out more and to volunteer your time visit https://www.volunteerleicestershire.org.uk/
EAT YOURSELF HEALTHY WITH A RAINBOW
Trying to consume a nutritionally complete diet can be challenging at the best of times, but not eating yours and everyone else’s feelings during lockdown takes a miracle! However, if you start associating food colours with vitamins and minerals you could improve your diet!
Vitamin B6 – Red
Vitamin B6 helps produce red blood cells so the colour link is easy to remember. Get your daily dose through foods such as bell peppers, red cabbage, radicchio and red potatoes.
Vitamin C = yellow/orange
When we think of Vitamin C, we tend to cast our minds to acidic tastes like oranges and lemons. However, there are sweet fruits that also contain this important skin and cell protector such as apricots and honeydew melon. Don’t forget yellow peppers, too which are low in calories due to their high water content.
Vitamin K and iron = green
Kale is a versatile veg that can be baked, juiced or cooked, and is a good source of vitamin K and iron among other vitamins and minerals. Other green veggies that contain both include broccoli, spinach and Brussels sprouts.
Vitamin A = orange
Orange vegetables are generally high in carotene which gets turned into vitamin A in the body. Found in foods such as carrots, sweet potatoes, orange peppers and pumpkin, this vitamin is important for good eye health
Potassium = white
The mineral potassium is known for regulating the balance of fluid in the body, muscle contractions and the impulses of nerves. Most people know that a good source of potassium can be found in bananas, but it can also be found in potatoes, parsnips, white beans and onions.
FIND OUT HOW TO HOST AN AMAZING EVENT WITH FREE WEBINAR FROM LEICESTER BUSINESS FESTIVAL
Find out everything you need to know about running an event in the LBF, from using the digital platform and what might work well in the Festival, to the key sectors, support for event organisers and how to get started at a free webinar to be held on the 16th July from 12-1pm.
This informal event will run through the application process, and everything you need to consider when planning your event as part of the annual two-week festival. This year’s LBF will run from Monday 2nd November to Friday 13th November and will incorporate a wide range of free business events, run by the local business community. The Festival aims to showcase what the region has to offer, drive economic growth and support local businesses.
Register here.
FILL YOUR HOME WITH VINTAGE CHARM – LEICESTERSHIRE DIFFUSERS ARE HEAVEN SCENT
Created initially as a hobby by mother and daughter team, Jo Lyle and Francesca Scott of Lutterworth, Vintage & Bespoke is now a thriving online business and has been featured and recommended within Country Homes and Interiors.
The team have created a collection of bespoke home diffusers that repurpose lovely old bottles to add some vintage charm to match their heavenly scents. Teamed with handmade, long lasting diffuser flowers, they diffuse fragrance far better than reeds, just like a real flower. Unlike real flowers though, the sets are reusable with customers encouraged to make the most of the flowers and only opt to buy refill fragrances.
Customers can choose from three price levels of antique bottle with special requests welcome – Jo and Francesca love the idea of each fragrance diffuser set being bespoke to each person.
Diffuser flower packs cost from just £10 plus the cost of an antique bottle – available from just £10.
Visit: www.vintageandbespoke.co.uk
FIRST TRACK AND TRACE APP FOR VENUES AND CUSTOMERS AVAILABLE
With the Government admitting that their contact-tracing app will not be ready until the winter, the first track and trace app for venues that can be downloaded from Google and Apple has been created by a British software developer. It allows pubs and restaurants to securely collect the customer data they need while also automatically alerting people if they have been in the same place as someone presenting with COVID-19 symptoms.
SafeVenues is easy to download for both venue and customer and it makes sure the data is centrally stored under strict GDPR conditions rather than kept in a drawer in a restaurant and can immediately be made available to the NHS when requested.
The app has a built in symptom reporter and notification system that will automatically notify the venue if a customer as developed Covid-19 and any customer there at the same time as the patient.
The SafeVenues platform creates a QR code for each venue that signs up, enabling customers to self-scan as they go into the venue using the SafeVenues app on their mobile phone, which is free to download. Once registered, the platform will retain a record of the name and email address of each customer who has scanned in coupled with the date and time they attended the venue. The data will be securely held on the SafeVenues system for 21 days and be provided to the NHS on request.
Venue owners can register at SafeVenues.co.uk for a small fee and will be supplied with the QR code and signage to display at the venue, advising customers of how to scan in and out of the venue.
The app is available to download at Apple App Store and the Google Play store by searching SafeVenues.
£24M GRANT FUNDING APPROVED FOR LEICESTERSHIRE
The Leicester and Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership Limited (LLEP) have announced that £24.43m of grant funding is to be awarded from the Leicester and Leicestershire Business Rates Pool fund. The fund is managed by the LLEP on behalf of local authorities and grants are allocated for priority economic projects that drive productivity and growth across the Leicester and Leicestershire area.
The projects include improvements to town centres and public realm areas, development of transport and highways infrastructure including cycleways and footpaths, upgrades to public wi-fi in town centres, targeted employment initiatives and development of arts, cultural and leisure facilities.
Some of the projects being supported by the funding across the county include £750k to provide grants up to £10k to businesses in the county to assist their recovery from Covid19, £3.75m and £100k to support the Superfast Leicestershire broadband project.
Leicester will see £4m for the Transforming Cities Green Growth Corridors programme that will see investment in sustainable transport schemes to support economic growth and £2.5m to expand and refurbish Jewry Wall to create a national quality Roman Leicester museum along with two new galleries at New Walk museum.
SOPHIE’S SCHOOL’S OUT CELEBRATION KITCHEN DISCO
Whoop whoop!! School’s out for summer (well it would be if schools were on in the first place) so let’s have a party! Sophie Ellis Bextor has decided to revisit her amazing lockdown kitchen concerts and do a one-off kitchen disco to celebrate reaching the summer holidays alive. Let’s dance! Expect the usual kids, chaos, fun, dancing, music and sequins from 6.30pm on Friday on Instagram Live.
STOP PRESS- KITCHEN DISCO TOUR AND ALBUM ANNOUNCED
So popular have the kitchen disco’s been that SEB has announced an album and tour based on the phenomenon. Bringing together all of Sophie’s disco hits in one along with popular covers from the lockdown concerts such as Madness’s Our House and Favourite Things from The Sound of Music. The album will be released in October but you can book tickets on the tour here.
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AN INDIAN SUMMER FESTIVAL LAUNCHES AIS OPEN
An Indian Summer, the UK festival celebrating South Asian culture, has now launched the new inaugural open art exhibition An Indian Summer (AIS) Open marking the 10th edition of the festival.
Artists from across the world have submitted work exploring the theme of Freedom as part of the first AIS Open. 20 artists from across the globe were selected to have their works shown and a panel of prestigious judges are to choose four finalists along with a winner who will be given a £500 cash prize.
The AIS OPEN will be live on An Indian Summer Festival’s website until 23 August 2020. Click here to view it.
NUFFIELD HEALTH HOSPITAL LEICESTER OPEN FOR BUSINESS
Has lockdown meant you’ve been putting off sorting out an existing medical problem? Nuffield Health hospital on Scraptoft Lane, Leicester is now open for new referrals and are offering online, virtual and face to face consultations to patients.
Whilst the hospital continues to work supporting the NHS, some of the award-winning healthcare services from the UKs largest provider have relaunched to help assist patients with expert consultants offering services in a safe and secure environment. Specialists in Orthopaedics, Gynaecology, Ophthalmology, Urology, Ear Nose & Throat, Dermatology are now available to speak to.
To book your appointment or enquire about other specialities call today on 03001311416 or visit https://www.nuffieldhealth.com/hospitals/leicester
BOX SETS MAKING YOU BILIOUS? GET YOUR FILM FIX
Did you know you can still get your fix of independent and avantgarde film from Phoenix but at home during lockdown? Each week, a curated programme of cutting-edge cinema is made available to stream for free, at a discounted rate or with profits split between the cinema and distributor. This week’s programme includes new releases Clemency and In Her Hands as well as the National Theatre’s productions of Amadeus and Birdsong.
Click here to see the full programme.
CAROLE BASKIN FURY OVER TRICK
Someone needs to tell legend of lockdown TV, Carol Baskin, to be discerning and researching when sending out paid for birthday wishes on video messaging service Cameo.
JOIN THE SPACE RACE!
On 16 July 1969, the Saturn V rocket blasted off taking Apollo 11 to the Moon, making global history and marking one giant leap in the Space Race. Did you also know that on 17 July 1975, Astronaut Thomas P. Stafford and cosmonaut Aleksei A. Leonov made a historic handshake in space as part of the first docking of the Apollo and Soyuz spacecrafts, seen by many as the end of the Space Race?
Join the National Space Centre online to discover more about the Space Race, with live lessons, videos, craft workshops and downloadable content to support at home learning.
Click here to join the fun.
MOTIVATIONAL QUOTE…
Weeds are flowers too, once you get to know them.
– A. A. Milne
