Day: Apr 16, 2022

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Accessibility: Live Music

Posted on by Jackie B

I’ve been thinking about this a lot recently. I’ve been to a few concerts at venues of different sizes over the last few months and I have to say it’s been a pretty good experience, with staff really going out of their way to help. In most cases there has been a designated viewing area with great views of the stage and plenty of space.

My favourite small venue, The Cluny, is not the most accessible but does pretty well considering that it’s on one of the steepest streets in Newcastle! Before I ever bought tickets there I visited to check out the access and was given the full tour by a lovely member of staff. I now have an arrangement to email the manager to make sure a seat is left out for me on the balcony. It does make me feel like a bit of a VIP! He’ll also take me through a different way that involves the fewest stairs. I can park nearby so manage with sticks.

One thing I have noticed is that once you are sat down in a standing only venue you become invisible to other people. If I had to rely on my scooter or a wheelchair and take my chances on the floor in front of the stage I’m not sure whether my experience would be as positive. Even in my reserved position I’ve seen people hanging over the balcony impeding my view or even thrusting their mobile phone in front of my face to take a photo.

Most people are lovely though. At one gig recently two men who were standing next to me on the balcony asked if I could see ok. I said I could and thanked them but pointed out that there was another reserved seat so they might be in the way of whoever was going to be there. The concert was just beginning when this person arrived and the two men hadn’t noticed. She leaned across to me and commented about us living in an “Ableist Society”. I have to say this annoyed me a bit as she was pointing at the two guys I’d spoken to earlier. She seemed reluctant to ask them to move, even when I said they’d be perfectly fine about it – as soon as I attracted their attention they stood aside and even helped her move her seat to a better position. Then, she thanked me, not them! It almost seemed like she was making herself into a victim unnecessarily.

It made me think. In my experience, if you ask people for help they are generally delighted to do so. In most cases, problems are down to lack of awareness and if you point out what’s wrong it can be put right. When people see me struggling and offer to help, whether I accept their help or not I’ll always thank them – being gracious costs nothing. But I won’t just wait for someone to offer the help I need either. How can anyone help you if they don’t realise there’s an issue? Rant over!

Back to access. We were at a completely different venue last week (Newcastle Utilita Arena) ,huge by comparison and with a much bigger budget, more staff and extensive ramped accessible platform areas.

It’s quite a walk (even from the disabled parking area) so I used my scooter and drove it straight to my seat: perfect! And there was plenty of space with no-one to block my view. I’d been able to book accessible seats online and there is plenty of information about accessibility online.

I’ve learnt that if you do your research and check out online info or better still speak to venue staff and visit beforehand you’ll get a much better idea of the space and facilities, so there’ll be no nasty surprises when you get there. Information is power!

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Wildflower of the Week: Lesser Celandine

Posted on by Jackie B

The Lesser Celandine (Ficaria verna) is a true harbinger of Spring, carpeting shady damp places with with starry bright yellow blooms during March and April. The blooms pale and whiten as they age.

The flowers are 2-3 cm across, each with 8-10 glossy narrow petals, and are carried above rosettes of fleshy heart shaped leaves, growing up to about 15cm tall. Although the flowers produce seed, the plant mainly reproduces vegetatively. Bulbils form at the stem bases and these and the tubers easily break off to form a new plant.

This perennial is a native of Europe and North Africa and is a relative of the buttercup.A number of cultivated varieties with white or orange flowers, double blooms, bronzy foliage and so an have been developed as ornamental garden plants. In North America however it is seen as a serious weed. It outcompetes and smothers out native ground cover plants and, as it dies back to spend six months of the year in dormancy, it leaves bare earth, vulnerable to soil erosion.

The plant is toxic, causing skin irritation on contact with crushed plant material and nausea, with possible paralysis and liver damage if eaten. it is also harmful if eaten by grazing livestock. The toxins disappear with cooking and the plant has been used in herbal medicine for centuries.

Historically, herbalists used the “Doctrine of Signatures” , believing that if a plant (or part of a plant) resembled a part of the human body, then it could be used to treat disorders of that body part. As such, the tuberous roots of Lesser Celandine were thought to resemble hemorrhoids or piles. This gave rise to the plant’s other name – pilewort. Thomas Culpeper describes in his 17th century herbal how he cured his own daughter of the Kings Evil (scrofula or tuberculosis of the neck) using a decoction of Lesser Celandine. He writes that it “broke the sore, drew out a quart of a pint of corruption, cured without any scar in one week’s time.”

The plant and its associations with Spring give rise to its place in literature. William Wordsworth wrote an ode to to the flower.

There is a Flower, the Lesser Celandine,
That shrinks, like many more, from cold and rain;
And, the first moment that the sun may shine,
Bright as the sun himself, ’tis out again!

The Lesser Celandine is also mentioned in CS Lewis’s “The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe” and D H Lawrence’s “Sons and Lovers”.

The Lesser Celandine is certainly a welcome sight after the cold drab winter months.