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VISUALLY IMPAIRED IN CAMDENc/o Somers Town Community Centre150 Ossulston Street, NW1 1EETel: 07980 328 959Email: [email protected]

Newsletter – June 2017

Contents

1. Future Members’ events 2. Report of the May Members’ event3. Camden Council: The Cabinet 2017-184. Healthwatch Camden Community Forum and AGM – 26 June 5. Don’t forget the Macular Week 2017 BBC Radio 4 Appeal – 25 June and 29 June6. Eye drop could revolutionise treatment for age-related macular degeneration (AMD) patients7. Heart failure drug could treat type of macular degeneration8. Switching from white to brown bread may have a protective effect against AMD9. Brain "rewires" itself to enhance other senses in blind people10. Global summit to address epidemic of AMD11. Scrapping EHRC disability commissioner role ‘risks sidelining disability’12. June’s quick quiz

…and finally – What’s in a name?

Plus the VIC Newsletter Supplement: Things to see, places to go

1. Future Members’ events

20 June – This will a turn-up on the day outing to enjoy Kenwood House and Gardens.

Amazing Robert Adam designed interiors housing stunning artwork from the Old Masters, gorgeous gardens created by Sir Humphrey Repton and glorious food – what’s not to relish?

Meet at Kenwood House, at 1.30pm.

For further information, call Rosemary on 07980 328 959.

This issue is sponsored by Earth Natural Foods, 200 Kentish Town Road, NW5 2AE

mailto:[email protected]

Kenwood House, Hampstead Lane, NW3 7JR

18 July - This will be the annual informal (buy-your-own) pub lunch at The Garden Gate in South End Green, NW3 (full address: 14 South End Road, NW3 2QE), at 1pm.

(Please note: There will not be a Members’ event in August and the newsletter will also be taking a rest that month!)

2. Report of the May Members’ event

Anju Bhatt, Development Worker for Camden Disability Action (CDA), explained that CDA is an umbrella organisation for all disability groups in the borough. It also has a sizable number of individual disabled people in membership.

Camden Disability Action has been in existence for some 18 months and is a registered charity. It is run by and for disabled people.

CDA is keen to work in partnership with other user-led disability organisations and subscribes to the social, not medical, model of disability.

Camden has recently given CDA funding for two years.

CDA’s main role so far has been in advocacy and representation of disabled people: for example, it has secured two places on the Camden Commissioning Group’s Patient Participation Group and has provided training for GP Practice Managers and receptionists. Future goals include building links with hospitals training and education departments and participating in the Camden Commission.

Finally, CDA is leading the consortium to run the Centre for Independent Living (CIL).

In response to a question Anju said that CDA does not provide advice; since the demise of DISC advice services have been dispersed among a number of organisations.

Members then gave their views on issues to be incorporated in CDA’s Business Plan which is in development.


As core staff, CDA will have one member of project staff and a part-time development worker. Anju explained that every funding application CDA makes is a project application which includes staff.

Subjects discussed ranged from the issues that stop people living independently and people’s experiences of using local services to how accessibility of services could be improved and where people go to for support.

Members thanked Anju for her contribution.

3. Camden Council: The Cabinet 2017-18The Cabinet is responsible either collectively or individually for many of the most important decisions that the council makes. The members of the Cabinet for 2017-18 are as follows: LeaderGeorgia Gould

CabinetDeputy Leader and Housing – Pat CallaghanChildren, Schools and Families – Angela MasonFinance, Technology and Growth Policy – Theo BlackwellRegeneration, Transport and Planning – Phil JonesSustainability and Environment – Meric ApakHealth and Adult Social Care – Richard OlszewksiCohesion, Equalities and Community Safety – Abdul HaiCulture and the Voluntary Sector – Jonathan SimpsonEmployment, Skills and Youth – Nadia Shah

In addition, in line with the new Leader’s commitment to opening up the Labour group’s policy-forming and decision-making process to ensure backbenchers can play a fuller role, lots of non-executive councillors have been appointed as a ‘champion’ of one topic or another. These ‘champions’ include:

Community Engagement Champion – Nasim AliLiving Wage Champion – Douglas BeattieCycling Champion – Julian FulbrookChildren & Equalities Champion – Samata KhatoonArts Champion – Paul TomlinsonArmed Forces Champion – Heather JohnsonDesign and Heritage Champion – Richard Sampson


Moreover, Camden claims that engagement with residents with a disability or long term condition remains a key priority and that the intention is to develop approaches that are more appealing to a broader range of residents.

Disability Oversight PanelOne such approach is to appoint more councillor champions who will be supported through a newly formed Disability Oversight Panel, made up of champions in the following areas:

Disability Champion – Roger Robinson (Chair)Carers Champion – Larraine Revah (Vice-Chair)Learning Disability Champion – Adam HarrisonMental Health Champion – Sarah HaywardOlder People’s Champion – Alison KellyDeaf and hard of hearing Champion – Abdul QuadirVisually Impaired Champion – Leila Roy

Competition time: What is the ‘proper term’ for a group of councillor champions? The best answers will be printed in a future issue of the newsletter. The Editor’s decision will be final.

4. Healthwatch Camden Community Forum and AGM

Date: Monday 26 JuneTime: 4.15pmVenue: The St Pancras and Somers Town Living Centre

2 Ossulston Street, NW1 1DF (behind the British Library)

Theme: Universal Services – What does it mean to you?Speakers: Sarah McClinton, Director of Adult Social Care,

Camden CouncilRosemary Nicholson, Visually Impaired in Camden

Healthwatch Camden holds its Community Forum twice a year, focusing on local policy relating to health and social care issues.

Healthwatch Camden wants to improve the quality of local ‘voice’ input on public policy developments and so create opportunities for an informed discussion.


The Community Forum puts great emphasis on being inclusive, having a broader conversation with local people.

This time the Community Forum is talking about provision of ‘Universal Services’, that is, council or community services that anyone can use. Everyone is invited. Don’t miss this opportunity to have your say on local health and social care services.

Light refreshments will be provided.

5. Don’t forget the Macular Week 2017 BBC Radio 4 Appeal

As reported in May’s VIC Newsletter, the Macular Society is running a Radio 4 Appeal on Sunday 25 June at 7.54am and 9.26pm, and again on Thursday 29 June at 3.27pm.

The appeal will be presented by the renowned sports journalist, broadcaster and author, Henry ‘Blowers’ Blofeld, discussing his own experiences of living with AMD and the impact it has had on his life and his work.

Please tune in and get your friends and family (and anyone else who knows you) to do so too!

6. Eye drop could revolutionise treatment for AMD patients

Scientists at the University of Birmingham have developed a type of eye drop which could potentially revolutionise the treatment for patients with age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

The results of the collaborative research, published in May in ‘Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science’, could spell the end of injections into the eye for patients with wet AMD.

Scientists led by biochemist Dr Felicity de Cogan, from the University of Birmingham’s Institute of Inflammation and Ageing, have invented a method of delivering the injected anti-VEGF drug as an eye drop instead, and their laboratory research has obtained the same outcomes.

The drop uses a cell-penetrating peptide (CPP) to deliver the drug to the relevant part of the eye within minutes.


Dr de Cogan said: “The CPP-drug has the potential to have a significant impact on the treatment of AMD by revolutionising drug-delivery options.

“Efficacious self-administered drug application by eye drop would lead to a significant reduction in adverse outcomes and health care costs compared with current treatments.

“The CPP-plus drug complex also has potential application to other chronic ocular diseases that require drug delivery to the posterior chamber of the eye.

“We believe this is going to be very important in terms of empowering of patients and reducing the cost of treatment to the NHS.”

The eye drops are yet to be trialled in humans.

Cathy Yelf, chief executive of the Macular Society, said: "This is very interesting research and if it can be shown to work as well in humans it will be a great breakthrough in the treatment of macular degeneration. Treatment for AMD is expensive and very difficult for patients and the NHS so an eye drop would be very welcome progress."

7. Heart failure drug could treat type of macular degeneration

A drug used to treat heart failure is at the centre of a £1 million study in Southampton to establish whether it can save the sight of patients with a type of macular degeneration.

Central serous chorio-retinopathy (CSCR) is a type of macular degeneration, mainly affecting people in their 30s and 40s.

Now doctors believe that the drug, eplerenone, could be used to treat the disease.

The study will involve 104 patients at 20 sites across the UK.

A small number of patients have responded to treatment with eplerenone, but information on the long-term benefit and safety is lacking; it is hoped the trial will establish the first scientifically proven therapy for CSCR.

Every year, there are 10 new cases of CSCR diagnosed per 100,000 men and two per 100,000 women in the UK. While some cases


spontaneously resolve, others persist for years and can recur or affect the second eye with a third of patients suffering permanent vision loss.

Although the cause of the condition is unknown, it can occur in families and some genetic changes have been found.

As part of the research, blood samples will be collected for use at a later date to allow for the study of proteins and chemicals in the blood stream and patients’ DNA.

Once the first stage of testing the effectiveness and safety of the drug is complete, the study will seek to determine what genetic variations are more common in CSCR patients and which proteins or genetic variations help predict who best responds to treatment with eplerenone.

8. Switching from white to brown bread may have a protective effect against AMD

A new study suggests that changing from a high to low glycemic diet could reduce the risk of developing age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

The study, published in the ‘Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences’, involved observing 19 mice fed on a low-glycemic diet and 40 mice on a high-glycemic diet.

In both groups, carbohydrates made up 45 per cent of the diet. After six months, the high-glycemic mice either remained on the same diet or switched to a diet containing starches found in whole grains.

Researchers found that the high-glycemic mice began to develop many AMD features, while mice on a low-glycemic diet did not. When some of the mice switched to a diet with starches found in whole grains, the damage to the retina stopped.

Read the full study here Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

9. Brain "rewires" itself to enhance other senses in blind people

Boston, Massachusetts — The brains of those who are born blind make new connections in the absence of visual information, resulting in enhanced, compensatory abilities such as a heightened sense of


http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2017/05/09/1702302114

http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2017/05/09/1702302114

hearing, smell and touch, as well as cognitive functions (such as memory and language) according to a new study led by Massachusetts Eye and Ear researchers. The report, published in March in PLOS ONE, describes for the first time the combined structural, functional and anatomical changes in the brain evident in those born with blindness that are not present in normally sighted people. “Our results demonstrate that the structural and functional neuroplastic brain changes occurring as a result of early ocular blindness may be more widespread than initially thought,” said lead author Corinna M. Bauer, PhD, a scientist at Schepens Eye Research Institute of Mass. Eye and Ear and an instructor of ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School. “We observed significant changes not only in the occipital cortex (where vision is processed), but also areas implicated in memory, language processing, and sensory motor functions.”

The researchers used MRI multimodal brain imaging techniques (specifically, diffusion-based and resting state imaging) to reveal these changes in a group of 12 subjects with early blindness (those born with or who have acquired profound blindness prior to the age of three), and they compared the scans to a group of 16 normally sighted subjects (all subjects were of the same age range). On the scans of those with early blindness, the team observed structural and functional connectivity changes, including evidence of enhanced connections, sending information back and forth between areas of the brain that they did not observe in the normally sighted group.

These connections that appear to be unique in those with profound blindness suggest that the brain “rewires” itself in the absence of visual information to boost other senses. This is possible through the process of neuroplasticity, or the ability of our brains to naturally adapt to our experiences.

The researchers hope that increased understanding of these connections will lead to more effective rehabilitation efforts that will enable blind individuals to better compensate for the absence of visual information.

10. Global summit to address epidemic of age-related macular degeneration


Three leading sight loss charities, Blind Veterans UK, Fight for Sight and the Macular Society, have joined forces in the global fight against age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

AMD is the main cause of sight loss in the developed world and the third largest globally. There is no cure and treatment options are very limited.

Working with Wellcome Genome Campus Advanced Courses and Scientific Conferences, the charities brought more than 50 leading international scientists and funders together to explore ways to prevent the early stage of AMD developing into the blinding forms. The scientists met at Wellcome Genome Campus, near Cambridge in early June.

The charities say the need is urgent as the world faces a vast epidemic of AMD as populations age.

More than 600k people have AMD related sight loss in UK - this will double by 2050

10m people have AMD sight loss globally - this will be 20m by 2040

288m people will have some form of AMD globally by 2040

The causes of AMD are not fully understood but there is known to be a genetic component. Environmental factors such as poor diet, obesity and smoking are also known to increase the risk of AMD. But the biggest risk is age. The enormous rise in the number of people living into their 80s and 90s is the main reason for the increase in AMD. At age 60 around one person in 250 has sight loss through AMD. This roughly quadruples through each subsequent decade of life so that it affects nearly one in four people at the age of 90.

The Wellcome-funded conference or ‘Retreat’ was opened by Prof Sir Colin Blakemore, a renowned neuroscientist with a particular interest in vision.

Nick Caplin, CEO of Blind Veterans UK said: “Blind Veterans UK currently supports more vision-impaired veterans than at any time in its 102 year history. It is an interesting and sad reflection that two thirds of the veterans we support today suffer from AMD. The projected rate of increase of AMD within the UK and globally is alarming. For Blind Veterans UK, this initial scientific meeting is a call to action to find a successful intervention and to help millions of people avoid this devastating disease in years to come.”


Michele Acton, CEO of Fight for Sight said: “Thanks to the development of treatments and public health actions, the number of people globally with blinding infectious eye diseases has decreased. However the number of people with age-related sight loss is increasing significantly and AMD is becoming a major global health issue. We need to act now to develop new interventions to address this before millions more lose their sight.”

Cathy Yelf, Chief Executive of the Macular Society said: “AMD is a devastating disease that is already affecting millions of older people. We must increase investment in research or we face a vast and world-wide epidemic of sight loss in old age. This scientific meeting is an important step towards making AMD a real priority. On behalf of the three collaborating charities we are grateful to Wellcome Genome Campus Advanced Courses and Scientific Conferences for funding the Retreat and guiding us on its formation.”

Following the Retreat, a report for researchers, funders and others is to be published to guide priorities and continue this new research initiative.

11. Scrapping EHRC disability commissioner role ‘risks sidelining disability’

The “rash” decision to scrap the role of disability commissioner at the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) will make it harder for the watchdog to stand up to attacks on disabled people’s rights, according to two former commissioners.

Both Baroness [Jane] Campbell and Sir Bert Massie criticised the apparent decision not to appoint a new disability commissioner to replace Lord [Chris] Holmes, the disabled Tory peer who left the post in January.

Baroness Campbell was EHRC’s first disability commissioner, while Sir Bert was the chair of the Disability Rights Commission throughout its existence, and then became one of EHRC’s first commissioners alongside Baroness Campbell after its launch in 2007.

The then minister for women and equalities, Justine Greening, had appointed another disabled Tory peer, Lord Shinkwin, as a new EHRC commissioner, but not as the disability commissioner.


This was despite the minister telling candidates last year that the disabled person appointed to the role would “act as the Commission’s Disability Commissioner”.

It is still not clear what parts the government and the commission played in these decisions, but it has come as EHRC’s statutory disability committee, which had significant legal powers, is being replaced by a non-statutory disability advisory committee (DAC) without such powers.

Although the government has no statutory duty to appoint a disability commissioner, both Baroness Campbell and Sir Bert say the role was important.Baroness Campbell said: “I think it is still important to have a disability commissioner because, as the House of Lords reported on last year, the EHRC needs to be more proactive in protecting and promoting equality for disabled people.”

She said the commission used to be more proactive in the area of disability, and had “more teeth” when she was chairing the disability committee, while she had “greater authority” as the disability commissioner to raise disability discrimination issues.

She pointed also to the “ground-breaking” disability hate crime inquiry headed by Mike Smith, Lord Holmes’s predecessor as disability commissioner.

Baroness Campbell said: “I wouldn’t have thought taking away responsibility for disability oversight from a commissioner was going to help this situation.

“The EHRC has now demoted the disability committee from a statutory entity to a non-statutory working group and it now wants to go further and take away the responsibility for ensuring one of the commissioners covers disability non-discrimination appropriately and effectively.

“I think this a rash decision and it surprised me. I wonder what their rationale is, especially at a time when we are witnessing the rights of disabled people retrogressing in so many areas.”

Sir Bert said the EHRC’s disability commissioner had been able to “bring a focus” on disability at the commission in a way that an ordinary commissioner – even one who was disabled – would not be able to do.


And he said he believed that not having a disability commissioner would make it harder for the commission to stand up to the government on disability issues.

He said: “I think it will. It will make it more likely that disability issues are sidelined.”

He said the commission had already proved that it was failing to defend disabled people from government attacks, such as cuts to employment and support allowance, and its flawed disability benefit assessment regime, which he said were “blatant human rights violations”.

“Who is fighting it, apart from a few journalists? [The commission] should be shouting about it from the rooftops.

“It is almost unbelievable that the government has been able to get away with it.”

He said he believed the commission saw having a disability commissioner as a “constraint” on its work.

Anne McGuire, a former Labour minister and shadow minister for disabled people, also criticised the move.

She said: “It really doesn’t matter whether it is a statutory obligation or not to appoint a disability commissioner, the reality of past years was that there was one.

“Moving away from that position potentially undermines confidence amongst disabled people that the EHRC will give much needed focus on disability issues.

“I think it is disappointing at a time of increasing difficulties for disabled people that either the government, the EHRC or both have taken this action.

“The EHRC will have to go some way to prove that disability equality issues will not be downgraded.”

The EHRC has refused to answer questions about what had happened to the disability commissioner role because it was “a government appointment”, although it said that it was “considering what arrangements for chairing and membership of the new DAC will ensure


we are best-placed to develop strong arrangements for engaging with disability stakeholders for the future”.

12. June’s quick quizQ.1. In which country did tarot cards originate: (a) France, (b) Italy or (c) India? Q.2. Genghis Khan and his grandson Kublai Khan were leaders of which race of Asiatic people?Q.3. What is the more common name of diluted acetic acid?Q.4. In the early part of the 20th century, the ‘Olympic’ and the ‘Britannic’ were the sister ships of which famous White Star liner?Q.5. What is musophobia the fear of?Q.6. What was the name of the Italian family, other than Stradivari and Guarnari, who made Cremona famous as a centre of violin making in the 16th-18th centuries? Q.7. In which film does Clint Eastwood play a disc jockey harassed by a disturbed fan?Q.8. What nationality was the explorer Abel Tasman: (a) Dutch, (b) German or (c) Portuguese?Q.9. What biblical name signifies the site of a paupers’ or common grave? Q.10. After which saint is the massacre of Hugenots that began in Paris on the night of 23-24 August 1572 named?And the tie-breaker question!Q.11. Albert Einstein famously said that only two things were infinite; one was the universe, what was the other?

The answers are given after ‘…and finally’

…and finally

What’s in a name?The London Tube map and its 11 coloured lines and patterns are recognised by people all over the world.

But how many people know how the lines got their names?

Here are the origins of three of them.

BakerlooThe brown Tube line opened in 1906 and was originally called the Baker Street & Waterloo Railway because of the two areas of London it linked.


Within months, however, it was being referred to as the Bakerloo line – and the name stuck.

MetropolitanOpening in 1863, the magenta line was the first underground railway in the world. It originally ran between Paddington and Farringdon before being extended out to the suburbs of north-west London, which was then known as Metro-land. The line is now 42 miles long.

PiccadillyThe blue line was named after the famous London circus and comes from the word piccadill, which was a fashionable lace collar worn in the 16th century. It opened in 1906 and originally ran from Finsbury Park to Hammersmith.

The answers to June’s quick quiz A.1. (b) ItalyA.2. MongolsA.3. VinegarA.4. The ‘Titanic’A.5. Mice or ratsA.6. AmatiA.7. ‘Play Misty for Me’ (1971)A.8. (a) DutchA.9. Potters’ fieldA.10. St BartholomewAnd the answer to the tie-breaker question!A.11. Human stupidity

Thank you for reading the newsletter.


VIC Newsletter Supplement: Things to see, places to go

Museums and Galleries

British MuseumAfrican rock art handling sessionSaturday 1 July, 2.30pm-4pmThis is a specially designed workshop for blind and partially sighted people to learn about the Museum’s incredible collection of African rock art images. Curator Elizabeth Galvin and her team will explore African rock art with participants through enlarged images, 3D prints and audio. The workshop will also focus on 3D printing techniques and materials and explore how the technology can make objects accessible. The session is free, but booking is essential. Email [email protected]

Hokusai: beyond the Great Wave exhibitionHandling session and audio described tourSaturday 22 July 4pm-6.15pmKatsushika Hokusai (1760–1849) is regarded as one of Japan’s most influential artists. Remarkable prints, paintings and illustrated books he created in the last 30 years of his life will be displayed together for the first time in this exhibition.

A trained audio describer will explore highlights from the exhibition Hokusai: beyond the Great Wave with the curator.

Tickets are £10 (disabled person concession). A disabled person’s assistant ticket is free.

After the event there will be a focus group to get feedback about your experience (attendance optional). Tickets for the audio described tour will be free of charge for anyone who attends the focus group. Refreshments will be provided. To book, email [email protected]

The Hokusai exhibition also includes the following resources for blind and partially sighted people:- Large print descriptions with images – highlight objects from the exhibition described with accompanying images with large print labels




- Tactile images with braille – tactile versions of highlight objects from the exhibition with braille labels- Large print exhibition text – all the text in the exhibition in large print in a book. These are available at the start of the exhibition at any time. British Museum, Great Russell Street, WC1B 3DG

The National GalleryArt Through WordsSessions for Blind and Partially Sighted VisitorsThese sessions are held on the last Saturday of the month from 11.30am to 12.45pm. Each session begins with a description of the painting and ends with a visit to the galleries. Please meet at the Sainsbury Wing foyer. All sessions are free. Please call 020 7747 2864 or email [email protected] to guarantee a place. The next sessions are on:

Saturday 24 JuneReni: ‘Susannah and the Elders’ (1620-5)

Saturday 29 JulyConstable: ‘Stratford Mill’ (1820)

The National Gallery, Trafalgar Square, WC2N 5DN

National Portrait GalleryVisualising PortraitsThe National Portrait Gallery offers free Visualising Portraits picture descriptions for blind and partially sighted visitors on the last Thursday of each month from 2pm to 3.30pm.

For more information and to book a place phone 020 7306 0055 or email: [email protected]. Meet in the Main Hall.

The next sessions are on:




Thursday 29 June First World War PoetsFind out more about this display which marks the centenary of the First World War, through the work of poets who wrote both from the trenches and on the home front during the conflict.

Thursday 27 JulyLife, Death and MemoryPortraits from the Collection that engage with the passing of time and mortality.

Thursday 31 August BP Portrait AwardExplore a variety of styles and approaches to the contemporary painted portrait in this annual painting competition.

National Portrait Gallery, St Martin’s Place, WC2H 0HE

RA InTouch Artist and gallery educators describe the exhibition in front of selected artworks, followed by a multi-sensory handling session.

These events include refreshments, and volunteer support is provided.

The sessions are free but have a limited capacity. Please book in advance.

Summer Exhibition 2017Monday 7 August, 9-11amArtist Sally Booth will lead us through the 249th Summer Exhibition. This far-ranging exhibition provides a platform for emerging artists to big names in contemporary art.

Matisse in the StudioMonday 4 September, 9-11amGet a rare insight into the personal collection of Henri Matisse, including both objects and the drawings and paintings they inspired.

Jasper JohnsMonday 9 October, 9-11amJasper Johns is regarded as one of the most important artists of the 20 th century. Join us for this audio-described tour to experience the vast


range of paintings, sculptures, prints and drawings in this exhibition detailing the different chapters of Johns’ career.

How to book tickets:Tickets can be booked online or by contacting the RA’s Ticketing Team by emailing [email protected] or phoning 020 7300 8090.

Meet in the Front Hall, Burlington House

The Royal Academy of Arts, Burlington House, Piccadilly, W1J 0BD Theatre highlights: audio-described performances

Anatomy of a SuicideSaturday 1 July – 2.30pm (Touch Tour: 1pm) Royal Court TheatreSloane Square, SW1W 8ASTicket price: £15. 2-for-1 ticket offer for VIC members using promo code ANATOMYAD. Bookings: 020 7565 5000“My mother always said to Live Big. Live as much as I could.”Three generations of women. For each, the chaos of what has come before brings with it a painful legacy.(Please note that the touch tour will be filmed to produce a video that will help the Royal Court Theatre introduce its access offering to more people.)

NinaWednesday 26 July – 7.45pm (Touch Tour time: TBC)Young Vic66 The Cut, SE1 8LZTicket price: From £10Bookings: 020 7922 2922Backed by a brilliant band, Josette Bushell-Mingo mixesstory and song as she draws together tales from the lifeof Nina Simone, her own extraordinary career and the Black Lives Matter movement.

Summer in LondonSaturday 29 July – 2.30pm (Touch Tour: 1.30pm)Theatre Royal Stratford EastGerry Raffles Square, E15 1BNTicket price: From £12



Bookings: 020 8534 0310A hilarious new romcom that takes its inspiration from ‘The Inbetweeners’ and ‘Roman Holiday’.Four cheeky London lads compete for the attention of a beautiful Filipino girl during a steamy record-breaking heatwave. Though secretly homeless – and broke – the streetwise Romeos use every trick in the book to find cost free ways to impress her.

Committee…(A New Musical)Saturday 29 July – 2.30pm (Touch Tour: 1.30pm)Donmar Warehouse41 Earlham Street, WC2H 9LXTicket price: £20 (reduced from £40)Bookings: 020 7845 8573The Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee take oral evidence on Whitehall’s relationship with Kids Company.What happens when something goes wrong? Who holds us accountable? On 15 October 2015, as part of an inquiry into ‘The collapse of Kids Company’, Camila Batmanghelidjh and Alan Yentob gave evidence to the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee. That evidence session has been transformed into this new musical. It asks you to consider how civic life in the UK is really governed.

The MousetrapSaturday 5 August – 4pm (Touch Tour: 2.30pm) St Martin’s TheatreWest Street, WC2H 9NZTicket price: £23.50Bookings: 020 3034 2604Agatha Christie’s ‘The Mousetrap’ has kept audiences guessing for six decades. Now in its 65th incredible year, this world record breaking production continues to attract audiences to the St Martin’s Theatre from every corner of the globe.

The FerrymanTuesday 15 August – 7pm (Touch Tour time: TBC)Gielgud TheatreShaftesbury Avenue, W1D 6ARTicket price: £20-£80 (concessions available)Bookings: 0844 482 5137Rural Derry, 1981, The Carney farmhouse is a hive of activity with preparations for the annual harvest. A day of hard work on the land and


a traditional night of feasting and celebrations lie ahead. But this year they will be interrupted by a visitor.

YermaSaturday 26 August – 2.30pm (Touch Tour time: TBC)Young Vic66 The Cut, SE1 8LZTicket price: From £10Bookings: 020 7922 2922Billie Piper plays Yerma, a woman driven to the unthinkable by her desperate desire to have a child in Simon Stone’s radical production of Lorca’s powerful masterpiece.

King LearTuesday 29 August – 2pm (Touch Tour: 12 noon)Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre21 New Globe WalkBankside, SE1 9DTTicket price: £10-£22.50 (reduced from £20-£45)Bookings: 020 7902 1409King Lear’s tempestuous poetry is shot through with touches of humour and moments of heart-rending simplicity, as the notion of familial love is questioned and torn apart.

How to book…To make a booking, call the number given against the individual show. Please ensure that you tell the operator that you are booking for an audio-described performance, so that you qualify for any ticket discounts and are allocated an appropriate seat.


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