Hayley Sanderson chats to Kate Thornton about working with survivors of domestic violence to record a charity cover of Britney Spears’ ‘Stronger’. The Strictly Come Dancing Band singer created the Bede House Choir in South London, and provided each singer with training from high profile vocal coaches including The X Factor’s Annie Williams and The Voice’s Lucy Potterton. All proceeds from the single are raising money for local and national domestic violence charities, Bede House and Women’s Aid.
England Lioness, Jill Scott, MBE, chats to Kate Thornton about how she’s been spending her time in lockdown posting “Obvious Jill’s Football Challenges” on her social media, to help children all over the country to stay active and perfect their football skills while stuck at home.
Dr Nikki Kanani, Medical Director of Primary Care for NHS England and NHS Improvement, chats to Kate Thornton about adapting NHS services to cope with the impact of Covid-19 and lockdown measures, launching the new NHS track and trace app, and the COVID-19 symptoms and other health risks we should all be looking out for.
Up Close And Socially Distant is hosted by Kate Thornton and features weekly video catch-ups with people who are all doing whatever they can, in whatever unique and special way they can, to help those around them get through lockdown, from frontline heroes, famous faces, and those launching incredible initiatives to help others. This week Kate speaks to England Lioness, Jill Scott, MBE, about how her football challenges are keeping children active in lockdown, to Medical Director of Primary Care for NHS England and NHS Improvement, Dr Nikki Kanani, and to Strictly Come Dancing singer, Hayley Sanderson, about her work with Women’s Aid and Bede House to help raise the voices of survivors domestic abuse.
Actor and comedian Adil Ray, OBE, chats to Kate Thornton about joining Matt Tebbutt to co-present an Eid special of BBC One’s Saturday Kitchen called Celebration Kitchen Live, as well as his efforts to look out for the most vulnerable in our society and to raise money to provide doctor’s with PPE.
Zane Powles, an Assistant Head Teacher in Grimsby, talks to Kate Thornton about delivering food on foot to 84 pupils who qualify for free school meals. To date, Zane has walked over 300 miles and carried 2.5 tonnes of food to underprivileged children, while also checking up on the mental health and safety of both his pupils and their parents. With schools due to reopen on 1st June, he discusses the new challenges that we should be ready for.
Up Close And Socially Distant is hosted by Kate Thornton and features weekly video catch-ups with people who are all doing whatever they can, in whatever unique and special way they can, to help those around them get through lockdown, from frontline heroes, famous faces, and those launching incredible initiatives to help others. This week Kate speaks to Adil Ray, OBE, about co-presenting BBC One’s Eid special Celebration Kitchen Live, to teacher and free school meal delivery hero, Zane Powles, and to the founder of Run For Heroes, Olivia Strong.
Olivia Strong chats to Kate Thornton about starting the Run For Heroes campaign, a challenge that has exploded across the country raising over £5 million for NHS Charities Together to support those fighting the coronavirus. She has now launched a new challenge, the Faster 5K Friday, to support care workers who must self-isolate in their care homes where there are currently the highest COVID-19 infection rates in the country.
Up Close And Socially Distant is hosted by Kate Thornton and features weekly video catch-ups with people who are all doing whatever they can, in whatever unique and special way they can, to help those around them get through lockdown, from frontline heroes, famous faces, and those launching incredible initiatives to help others. This week Kate speaks to presenter and broadcaster Vick Hope about her work helping refugees in her local area, nationwide and overseas, to Oasis food bank and debt advice centre manager Rebekah Gibson, and to BBC Radio One DJ Arielle Free on how she’s been helping families shake off the stresses of lockdown and home-schooling by hosting Kid’s Kitchen Raves.
Foodbank and Debt Advice centre manager, Rebekah Gibson, talks to Kate Thornton about how lockdown has affected her work at the Oasis Hub Waterloo, where she provides food parcels, debt advice and advocacy to those in need in her local area in South London.
Vick Hope chats to Kate Thornton about how volunteering for charities can help us find community and purpose in lockdown, while helping our society’s most vulnerable people. In her local area of Hackney, Vick volunteers for the charity Akwaaba, providing care packages and casework assistance for migrants. She is also involved in the Amnesty UK International campaign to transform the Domestic Abuse Bill to ensure it protects migrants against domestic abuse, and is taking part in Choose Love’s Around The World in 40 Days challenge to support people in refugee camps against the coronavirus pandemic.
Arielle Free chats to Kate Thornton about keeping the country moving by DJ-ing much-needed dance anthems for a community of night-shift workers and early risers every Friday through Sunday on BBC Radio One. She has also been helping families shake off the stresses of lockdown and home-schooling by hosting Kid’s Kitchen Raves via social media.
Dr Adnan Sharif talks to Kate Thornton about leading an investigation into why the coronavirus is disproportionately affecting people from Black and Minority Ethnic communities. Dr. Sharif’s previous research into forced organ harvesting earned him a Nobel Peace Prize nomination in 2016. Now, he is hoping to take on the task of combining NHS data with data held by Birmingham council to find out what health and social circumstances are making people from BAME communities more vulnerable to COVID-19.
Actress and musical star, Kara Tointon, chats to Kate Thornton about launching TELL, the first app to combine storytelling, voice interaction and illustrations. The app is free to use throughout lockdown, with the aim of helping children of all abilities to build their confidence with reading and to bring families together.
Yoga teacher and sales rep, Annemarie Plas chats to Kate Thornton about how she started the nationwide Clap for Carers, our weekly celebration of those putting themselves on the frontline of the coronavirus pandemic.
Up Close And Socially Distant is hosted by Kate Thornton and features weekly video catch-ups with people who are all doing whatever they can, in whatever unique and special way they can, to help those around them get through lockdown, from frontline heroes, famous faces, and those launching incredible initiatives to help others. This week Kate speaks to Strictly winner and actress, Kara Tointon, about her new storytelling app connecting families in lockdown called TELL, to kidney transplant specialist and Nobel Peace Prize nominee, Dr Adnan Sharif, on investigating the disproportionate way COVID-19 is affecting those from BAME communities, and to Annemarie Plas, who started the event that has swept the nation, our weekly Clap for Carers.
Dr Ruth Glynne-Owen, the CEO and Founder of the Blue Sky Autism Project, chats to Kate Thornton about helping children in London and Scotland to learn through play. They are continuing to support children throughout lockdown via video calls and by training parents in Pivotal Response Therapy (PRT), a naturalistic therapy where children develop their communication skills by taking charge of their playtime.
Barrie Knight chats to Kate Thornton about his YouTube show, ‘Big Knight In’, which he hosts every other Saturday night during lockdown. This evening of soul, funk and disco, as well as live music and video chats with an array of stars from Ronan Keating to Lena Headey, aims to help those seriously affected by the economic impact of COVID-19. So far, £7,000 has been raised which, with further support from Morrisons, Barrie and his team of volunteers are using to provide food parcels to 1,500 families a week in South East London.
Denise van Outen chats to Kate Thornton about joining an army of volunteers, all donating their time to sew scrubs for frontline NHS staff in the face of our PPE shortage crisis. The company behind the charitable initiative is Bespoke Interiors, who so far have raised over £13,000 to make more than 1,600 gowns.
Up Close And Socially Distant is hosted by Kate Thornton and features video catch-ups with people who are all doing whatever they can, in whatever unique and special way they can, to help those around them get through lockdown, from frontline heroes, famous faces, and those launching incredible initiatives to help others. This week Kate speaks to Denise Van Outen about volunteering to sew scrubs for frontline NHS staff, to CEO and Founder of the Blue Sky Autism Project, Dr Ruth Glynne-Owen, about helping children in learn through play in lockdown, and to Barrie Knight about his YouTube show, ‘Big Knight In’, which is raising money so that he can buy and deliver food parcels to those most in need.
Emma Blake chats to Kate Thornton about the murals she has been painting in her housing estate in Dublin, using pop culture references including Cardi B and Dua Lipa, to thank frontline healthcare workers and to encourage people to stay home during lockdown. She also teases about new pieces that we can’t wait to see!
Up Close And Socially Distant is hosted by Kate Thornton and features video catch-ups with people who are all doing whatever they can, in whatever unique and special way they can, to help those around them get through lockdown, from frontline heroes, famous faces, and those launching incredible initiatives to help others. This week Kate speaks to Julie Graham about writing and starring in the first YouTube drama to be filmed entirely in lockdown, Dun Breedin’, to raise money for the Trussell Trust foodbank network, to the founder of the Rooms4NHS website, Dr Joseph Alsousou, and to Dublin-based mural artist, Emma Blake.
Dr Joseph Alsousou, a surgeon at the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre in Oxford, talks to Kate Thornton about his experience of being evicted by a landlady who feared he would give her coronavirus, and how this led to him setting up the charity Rooms4NHS to put NHS staff in touch with landlords offering cheap or free accommodation.
Julie Graham chats to Kate Thornton about writing and starring in Dun Breedin’, the first YouTube drama to be filmed entirely in lockdown which aims to help raise money for the Trussell Trust foodbank network. The series follows a group of friends navigating life and the menopause, directed by award-winning director, Robin Sheppard, and featuring a star-studded cast including Tamzin Outhwaite, Denise Welch, Angela Griffin, Alison Newman and Tracy Ann Oberman.
Dr. Katie Rogerson talks to Kate Thornton about working on the NHS frontline treating children and babies in one of the worst hit hospitals in London, and NHS Million, a non-profit campaign which aims to improve care by boosting the morale of NHS staff and highlighting issues they are facing.