Hello everyone, welcome to another audio blog by Matthew Mckenzie a carer from Lewisham working with the South

London and Maudsley along with slamtwigops to promote services and keep carers, service users and health professionals informed. You can check out our acebook page which usually has daily news updates on mental health news in and around South London, we sometimes upload photos to acebook and love likes and discussions. eel free to follow slamtwigops twitter page on updates and perhaps retweet anything you feel interested in. !r for more in depth details you can follow slamtwigops blog which sometimes has similar updates to acebook, but has more in depth topics on many updates concerning mental health and health communities in South London. !n the "#$%%$"&%' ( went off to the Science museum to cover an event and to get out and be sociable, now ( often visit the science museum every so often to marvel at the e)hibitions and displays, but this time ( arrived late in the afternoon, around about #*&& pm. +hy did ( arrive so late, (t was -uite dark, what would be so e)citing for me to go travel from Lewisham all the way to .ensington. +ell ( recently go on twitter and ( came across this /ool0an tweet1 +hich said 2/ool0an3s very own Largactyl Shuffle group are leading a tour on 4!5!0S at this +ednesday3s 6sciencemuseum L708S2 ( thought to myself, that9s interesting. Let9s see if ( can head over there and check the event out. However many of you are probably asking : +hat is /ool0an arts, ( have covered some of the /ool0an arts events before. ( helped check out the /ool0an3s 7;M, ( also went on one of their /ool0an3s shuffle walks over in <unhead, which was a really en=oyable day out. ( hope to go on more of those, although on some of the days, ( have to work.

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7nyway, let me enlighten you about /ool0an 7rts. /ool0an 7rts believes mental well:being is enhanced by the power of creativity. (t9s a charity run by and for adults with mental distress. 0hey run a varied programme of creative workshops from their vibrant arts centre in Southwark9s lively +alworth 4oad, near 8lephant > /astle? these include visual arts, batik, digital arts, video, poetry, and performing arts. 0heir activities include e)hibitions, public art pro=ects and websites which help break down the stigma of mental distress. /ool0an9s gallery$performance space offers

other local community pro=ects somewhere to e)hibit and their volunteering programmes offer meaningful engagement and the opportunity to learn useful skills. +e underpin all our activities with advocacy.

<ow /ool0an 7rts began in %@@& taking their name from the disused /ool0an sun lotion factory where their studios were based. /ool0an remained in 5ri)ton until "&&A when they moved to their current site on +alworth 4oad. (nitially /ool0an funded themselves by organising parties and events. 0hey ran art based workshops aimed at women who had survived mental health issues, se)ual assault and trauma. 0he workshops have grown immensely and /ool0an has become one of the most recognised mental health well:being charity in the B., winnning many awards.

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So then ( arrived at the 2Largactyl Shuffle event at the Science Musuem called : C4obots, friends or foes,D 2 +hat was ( in for, 7nyway...why is the event slightly titled Largactyl shuffle, 0he event is named after the oldest anti:psychotic drug, Largactil, that can have e)treme physical side effects including a distinctive shambolic gait, or Eshuffling9. !bviously such a drug is not really used much at all, but at least the title gives you a hint about mental health and reminding others about the far reaching impacts of mental health. 0he 4obots, friends and foes were Science Museum9s L708S takes place on the last +ednesday of each month, from A*FGpm to %&*&&pm. 8ach month has a different theme and offers a varied programme of free, adults only entertainment with talks, events and activities in the galleries. 7s ( arrived early to see the setup of the /ool0an 4obots, friends or foes tour. ( spoke to .aya HIlke about what was going to happen on the tour. She was very friendly and introduced me to the other volunteers from /ool0an arts. +ithin %& minutes or so we walked over to the entrance of the History of /omputing section and the tour began. b.aya spoke to the audience what the tour is about and dedicated the tour to 4ichard Muzira. 4ichard, age A%, has been a much loved volunteer at /ool0an 7rts since "&&A. He was a key figure in /ool0an9s filmmaking group, leading on many film productions over the years, E (nnovation in Mad /ulture9, E7lternative ashion Show9 and recording /ool0an9s Largactyl Shuffle walks, poetry performances, e)hibitions and events.

!n the %J$%%$%' he was unfortunately killed in a collision with a lorry in south: east London. 0he crash happened at the =unction of /amberwell 4oad and 7lbany 4oad in /amberwell =ust after midday.

/ool0an arts have set up a tribute acebook page for 4ichard. Klus Michelle 5aharier, chief e)ecutive of /ool0an 7rts, said* CYou couldn9t ask for a more lovely person than 4ichard. He was a socialist and feminist who strongly believed in the greater good of the community and that everybody had something to contribute, the heart of what /ool0an does. +e then heard from Sasha who spoke about what the idea of robots meant to him and he also talked about the famous %@"&3s play 4ossum3s Bniversal 4obots. He spoke of the usage of the word robot through out the ages. He mentioned in some civilizations. Sasha then read from his poem called Kosh and 0he Klebs.

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+e then spoke to 4oger and he talked about /harles 5abbege and his difference engine : which is a mechanical calculating machine from %JF# and %JF@. 0he machine3s task was to print mathematical tables, which were to be more accurate than hand written tables and be available to Hictorian engineers, scientists and navigators. 0he /alculating machine was huge and must have taken some time to build, 4oger talked about the binary system and was asking people to try understand the binary system and how they could try and count the numbers on their hand. (t was -uite an educating lesson. He then talked about the different types of robots from famous movies Lsee you tube for slide showM and their characteristics.

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+e then moved across to another section and heard from 7lison who talked about how robots began to become a lot more familiar in tasks where people felt at ease in using them. She then talked a bit about 84<(8 stands for L8lectronic, 4andom, <umber, (ndicator, 8-uipmentM, which again is another massive machine built to aide people.

0hen we heard from ;inny who talked more about automation and reliance, plus about what she loves about the displays of the robots in the Science museum.

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<e)t we had a talk from Keter who spoke about how robots can be -uite confusing because they still lack the capacity to be fully human. He did some impressions of robots with his voice and made a connection between autism and the way robots interact.

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0he ne)t section was my favourite where we had a workshop on how we can make our own robot. ( was really interested on what people were designing and coming out with. (t seemed that most designs ended up looking to what the designer did with their time or what interests they had for themselves or what could benefit humanity. 0he workshop involved tools such as magazines, paper, glue, labels and scissors and other material. +hile people were making their designs, ( took the opportunity to talk to some more volunteers, although ( could not talk to them all. Some were fairly busy working away, so ( did not want to interrupt for too long. irst ( saw a volunteer doing some camera work and ( asked her about why she volunteered and what her interests where. Her name was Yuca and she got involved by being interested in mental health and the arts. Yuca is a graphic designer and artist and ( believe has been one for many years. Her site is www.)yuca).com She was filming for the /ool0an NHN version of the tour.

( then spoke to another volunteer named 7ndrew who is involved in the stress pro=ect all the way in <orth London, however he is near South London and spotted one of the flyers about /ool0an. He recently went on the walk with /ool0an on +orld Mental Health day and en=oyed that so much, he got interested in volunteering. ( then spoke to Heide who was facilitating the workshop on robot design? she is actually doing a research on disability and has been fairly new to /ool0an by being there a month.

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0he last person ( spoke to was .ayte Mcsweeny who is the 7udience 7dvocate and the 7ll !ur Stories 4esearch /oordinator at the Science Museum. 0he 37ll !ur Stories2 pro=ect is part of the public engagement plan funded by the heritage lottery fund. 0he science museum allows different community groups Lone of them being /ool0an 7rtsM to be facilitators or tour guides using a theme for the month. .ayte mentioned that she was in close contact with Sarah /haney who works over at the 5ethlem museum and wanted to thank her for a lot of help on research on mental health.

7fter finding out more about the volunteers and staff, ( took a look at the robot designs the public made and they very imaginative and impressive to look at. LYou can check these designs on our acebook site album or on the Youtube slideshowM.

+ell what did ( think of the Largactyl Shuffle 6 the Science Museum L708S L4obots themeM,

+ell it was -uite easy to find out about the event, which ( picked up off the /ooltan3s website : which is http*$$www.cooltanarts.org.uk$ . ( found the communication of the event clear and effective. !n this event ( learnt a bit on mental distress, plus ( found the supervising staff knowledgeable and helpful. ( most certainly made new contacts and hope others attend /ool0an arts events in future, especially to get more awareness on mental health. /ool0an are usually looking for volunteers. So get in touch with them off their site being http*$$www.cooltanarts.org.uk$

( hope you en=oyed my blog and hope to produce more soon.