Our February meeting: Singing for Breathing

“If I can do that run in one go, 
my breathing is in a good place.”

Singing for Breathing is a charitable organisation based at The Royal London hospital. It is a sociable group activity where techniques for breathing control and posture are taught through singing. The group is provided through charitable donations with no formal referral process or links to the trust. 

Our President, Heather, joined Singing for Breathing some time ago, has found it helpful and enjoyable and joins performances at the Royal London Hospital to raise awareness of the group.

Leader Joanna Foster (pictured above) is an actress, singer and composer. Joanna also works with Singing for Breathing at the Royal Brompton, Harefield and other hospitals. Joanna believes that singing is everyone’s birthright, regardless of experience or ability.

Anna Moore is a respiratory doctor. Anna set up the group because she saw patients with chronic lung disease do preliminary rehab but what next? Anna has seen wonderful outcomes for people and great feedback too on the happiness that singing in the session brings.

Catherine Furlong is Patient Champion. Catherine originally found the group via Anna, who was dispatched to deal with her after a massive asthma attack.

Our session followed the same activities as a regular Singing for Breathing session: stretches, fun vocal exercises and awareness of the muscles that support breathing. Catherine commented, “If I can do that run in one go, my breathing is in a good place.”

We followed on with call and response songs from around the world, with movement helpful for projection.

The session ended with smiles all round.

A big thank you to Joanna, Catherine and Anna, whose talk has been given through funding for outreach to spread the word. 

Singing for Breathing Royal London Hospital meets on Wednesdays at 1pm, singing songs from the 1960s and onwards. To find out how to join, please email singingforbreathingrlh@gmail.com

For further information and other local groups:

https://www.blf.org.uk/support-for-you/singing-for-lung-health 

https://www.blf.org.uk/support-in-your-area

Our February walk

Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park: views, chat and art

Our February walk was led by Heather, also a park volunteer. We met at Timber Lodge, had fun with the acoustics and reflections in the Spiegelei Junior orb, heard about the architecture at the Gantry and enjoyed the peace and nature of the Blossom Garden. Walking across the One Whirl paving made from recycled glass, peering down at the phone box artwork in the wetlands area and reading some of the Fantastic Factology bench plaques, we crossed over past the RUN sculpture and had fun walking through the giant door at Here East. Next, a look at the rapidly-growing new park buildings, a pause to enjoy the flowers and a café stop at The Last Drop. 

Our next walk is on Saturday 12 March, meeting at Mile End Park. Look out for our March update for details.

Coming up in February

Activities, meetings and events – February and beyond

Saturday 12th February, 11.00am 
Walk, talk and coffee

Join us for a walk in the Olympic park, meeting at Timber Lodge café, 1A Honor Lee Avenue, E20 1DY. Plenty of bus routes – 108 gets closest; or DLR to Stratford International. Also a chance to see the London Blossom Garden memorial commemorating those Londoners lost to Covid and paying tribute to key workers.

Thursday 17th February, 7.30pm 
Monthly meeting: Singing for Breathing 

This month's meeting is on Zoom but hopefully we can very soon meet face to face again. Singing for Breathing is a charitable organisation based at The Royal London hospital. It is a sociable group activity where techniques for breathing control and posture are taught through singing. The group is provided through charitable donations with no formal referral process or links to the trust. We will be joined by the group leader. Watch out for the link nearer the time emailed to EEWI members and friends, which will not be our usual Zoom link.

Friday 11th February 12.00 & Sunday 20th February 12 noon 
Tate Britain 

Following the success of last month's trip to Tate Britain to hear and see own own Natasha’s family links to the artist John Singer Sargent. Best to book a free ticket online before going. Make your way to the top of the Manton Stairs where the official guided tours start. Natasha will be there. Any Tate person will be able to direct you.

Friday 25th February 11.00 
Coffee morning

Coffee and a chat at the lovely family run Café Crème, Roman Road. It's situated opposite the Bow Idea Store which if you haven’t visited before is well worth it (also always a good supply of lateral flow kits being handed out there!)

Upcoming EEWI activities

March meeting - we will be treated to a talk from the brilliant Hackney History Society

April Meeting - we are looking forward to a talk about the iconic Florence Nightingale

Other events of interest 

Margaret House – Movement and meet, An exciting new initiative for the over 65s to take part in free hour long gentle exercise classes, yoga, dance, gentle therapeutic exercise. More information at www.stmargaretshouse.org.uk/movement-and-meet or you could call Laura Furner on 020 8980 2092

Tuesday 8th March – International Women’s Day

March 5 to 12th London-wide events for women’s history month – this important annual date will be celebrated with a huge variety of events around London, Arts, music, walks, talks, crafts etc etc. More detail at www.alternativearts.org.uk

Look out for our new newsletter in the coming days that will fill us in on some local and national WI news

Meet the family – Our Tate Britain visit

Tate Britain is wonderful for a wander. But it’s a rare treat to visit a room-full of portraits and hear from someone who’s related to the people in them.

The Wertheimer bequest is a collection of 12 full size portraits full of life, painted by John Singer Sargent at the height of his popularity.

Our very own Natasha, a Tate volunteer, told us about the people behind the pictures and gave us some insights into what Sargent was like as a painter – cross him at your peril!

Sargent was in huge demand at the time and it’s testament to his friendship with Asher Wertheimer, a twinkly-looking man in his portrait, that so many were able to be commissioned.

A number of the paintings were in the family dining room – which came to be nicknamed the Sargent’s Mess. And there were stories in the paintings themselves. Natasha's great grandmother Ena Wertheimer, late for everything, swept in for her sitting and Sargent was keen on getting the movement into the painting. Declaring it impossible, Ena used a broomstick to get her cloak sweeping up behind her.

Sargent is said to have preferred to paint people who were not aristocrats. He liked to have a relationship with his sitters.

He was also famous for his gargantuan appetite. So it’s fitting that we adjourned to the café…

A huge thank you to Natasha for a fascinating talk and thanks to Kate for these photos.

Our January walk

Our January walk: views from the Green Bridge at Mile End, coffee at Blu Ivy in Bow and a stroll around the lake at Victoria Park

Our walks are becoming an enjoyable extra way to meet, chat, swap news and exchange local knowledge. There was a handover of haberdashery too, to Heather, who is making twiddle cuffs for people living with dementia. 

Our next walk will be on Saturday 12 February in the Olympic Park. Look out for details in our Coming up in February blogpost.

The climate crisis: our January meeting

In his talk England’s Green and Pleasant, landscape architect Chris Churchman brought us up to date on the climate crisis, with particular reference to house-building and tree-planting.

Chris’s practice works with schools, residential schemes and on large-scale projects. Its projects local to us include Canning Town, Limmo Peninsula, Rathbone Market and Silvertown Quays.

Chris’s connection with the WI is his mum. She was his route into his profession too, after listening to a piece on Woman’s Hour about landscape architecture.

After decades in his profession, Chris is looking into climate change.

Chris started his talk with a look at quintessential English and Scottish landscapes: pastoral scenes, Langdale, Glencoe, and the literature that made them famous – the views we know made after most of our tree cover had gone.

“The biggest landscape change since Blake wrote Jerusalem”

To get towards net zero, we’re going to have to plant a lot more trees. So those landscapes will change. Chris told us about the push-pull between homes, which generate a surprising amount of carbon not just through energy use but through the building process itself, agriculture and tree-planting.

Chris explained the relative implications of staying within 1.5 degrees and the 2.7 degree increase if no cuts are made.

Looking at our history of carbon emissions, Chris showed that we’ve been making carbon emissions since stone age people lit fires but It was the early 1900s when it changed, with the emergence of coal-fired power stations and home heating.

Our Government has enshrined net zero in law by 2050. It has a target 300,000 new homes per annum. The theory is that new homes will be balanced by tree planting. But the scale of the tree planting that would be needed is huge. 

So Chris’s focus is on the health of our soils. Soils contain four times more carbon than in all the plant life in the world. Most of our soils have been depleted by intensive farming. Peat is a fantastic carbon store. Fens and bogs store 30 times more carbon than dry soils. We’ve lost about 90% of our peat bogs and farmers have been incentivised to farm by area.

So what can we do?

Domestically, we can use additives, for instance volcanic rock dust. Biodiversity funding streams are emerging to replace Common Agricultural Policy. Housebuilding could be done more sustainably and on brownfield sites. 

Chris’s four-point plan:

• Understand the problem
• Create a proper plan
• Pay a proper price for our environmental choices
• Don’t take landscape for granted

Q&A

There was a lively Q&A after the talk, covering the cost of carbon capture, the availability of information, seagrass and other coastal carbon stores, the process through which peat forms, refurbishment versus new build, the connection between farming and landscape, the under-use of wool, alternative housing, particularly with changing social structure, COP26 and the minefield around apparently environmentally-friendly choices that turn out to be resource-intensive. 

A big thank you to Chris, who will be talking to other WIs over the year.

Chris has waived his speaker fee, which will be donated instead to his chosen charity Save the Children.

Coming up in January

Coming up in January

Our January meeting: Climate Crisis – Fact and Fiction

Thursday 20th January 7.30 pm on Zoom

Chris Churchman, a landscape architect, will be bringing us up to date with the latest information about climate change and in particular how it will change the landscape of this country. Chris doesn’t charge for his talk but we will be making a donation from EEWI's funds to Chris’s favourite charity, Save the Children.

The Zoom link will be sent out nearer the time to our list of East End WI members and friends. 

Walk, Mile End Park

Saturday 22nd January 11.00

Meet at the water feature by the Green Bridge in Mile End park. We plan to walk back towards Victoria Park and then choose a venue for a welcome coffee.

Thursday 27th January – Online various times

Tower Hamlets will be marking Holocaust Memorial day with a number of online events. Find out more on Tower Hamlets website - www.towerhamlets.gov.uk/hmd

Tate Britain, Friday 28th January 11.00 am 

Join our own Natasha; a volunteer guide at Tate Britain, for a very personal tour of The John Singer Sargent Wertheimer bequest.

Details of tickets, meeting up spot etc will be sent to members.

And another thing or two…………

WI Resolutions
If you're an East End WI member, you might like to take a look at The WI resolutions in WI life magazine or on the website – ready for the call when we are asked to vote.

Twiddle cuffs 
Our President, Heather is currently making twiddle cuffs. If you have any buttons, small zips, tassels etc she would be extremely grateful for them.

Take care and we hope to see you in one way or another during January.