RNIB Connect

Guide Dog owner Jason Beal who lives in South East London has freed up the pavements of discarded unauthorised Lime bikes for him, his wife Jessica and other visually impaired people.  
When the discarded Lime bikes were blocking the pavements Jason and his Guide Dog Cain would have to nervously step into the busy London streets to get past the bikes. Following on from raising the issue with their local MP Liam Conlon who took up the matter with Bromley Council and Lime who have now apologised to Jason and Jessica as well as changing their app to stop the hiring of Lime bikes in the borough.
RNIB Connect Radio’s Toby Davey caught up with Jason to find out more about what life was like for him and his Guide Dog Cain having to navigate around the discarded bikes and on occasions stepping in to the busy London streets to get past the bikes and what life is like now since the Lime bike ban was put in place in their area. 
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Each week, on RNIB Connect Radio we sit down with Simon Antrobus, CEO of RNIB, to look at some of the big stories coming from the UK sight loss charity.
This week Simon looks back on his first six months or so as RNIB CEO, noting a few highlights both internally and externally as well as a few RNIB projects that he is looking forward to seeing develop over the next six months that will help to improve the lives of blind and partially sighted people.
If you, or someone you know, would like information on the support and services available from RNIB, go to www.rnib.org.uk.
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In Mere Mortals, San Francisco Ballet takes on the story of Pandora’s Box through the contemporary lens of artificial intelligence.
Composer and electronic musician Floating Points (Sam Shepherd) performs his original score live with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra as 40 dancers perform.
Amelia spoke to Audio Describer Emma-Jane Mchenry to learn more.
Image shows the RNIB Connect Radio logo. On a white background ‘RNIB’ written in bold black capital letters and underline with a bold pink line. Underneath the line: ‘Connect Radio’ is written in black in a smaller font.

Now for a roundup of accessible arts events as RNIB Connect Radio's Toby Davey catches up with Jess Beal from VocalEyes, the national audio description charity providing access to the arts for blind and partially sighted people to share some of the accessible events that are featured in their regular email newsletter.
Audio described shows and events included:
Audio Descriptions - Milestones Living History Museum, Basingstoke, Hampshire,
Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, London -
Love’s Labours Lost, Sunday 6 September, 1pm, touch tour 11am,,
Much Ado About Nothing, Tuesday 8 September, 2pm, touch tour 12noon,
AS you Like It, Thursday 10 September, 2pm, touch tour 12noon,
A Tale of Two Cities, Saturday 19 September, 7.30pm, Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury,
The Choir of Man, Thursday 24 September, 7.30pm, touch tour 5.30pm, Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford,
Wicked 20 – “Pink” Performance, Saturday 26 September, 2.30pm, Apollo Victoria Theatre, London.
To find out more about these and other up-coming described arts events as well as details on how to sign up to the regular VocalEyes What’s On email newsletter do visit -
https://vocaleyes.co.uk

Join RNIB Connect Radio’s Toby Davey for a tour of one of the world’s most famous prehistoric monuments, Stonehenge in Wiltshire.
English Heritage guides, Stonehenge Deputy Operations Manager Scarlott Rolfe and site Supervisor and Historian Liz Purves give Toby an insight into the history of this world heritage site.
During the tour with Scarlot and Liz, Toby found out how the site had developed and evolved over the years through exploring some of the tactile models of Stonehenge that can be found in the visitor centre exhibition, touching the replica stones gave him a real sense of the size and texture of the stones, stepping into one of the replica neolithic houses opening up a window into the lives of the people who constructed Stonehenge and going around the monument itself he learnt more about the Heel Stone, the Station Stones and the Albury Holes too. 
Throughout the tour you will also hear extracts from the recorded audio described guide for Stonehenge that can be pre-downloaded to your smartphone before your visit.
To find out more about Stonehenge and the recorded audio described guide do visit - https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/stonehenge
Image shows Toby and guide dog Boston with the Sarsen stone circle of Stonehenge behind and a clear blue sky overhead.