Monday 21 December 2020

Season's Greetings from the East End Loonies

Please note that 
CURRENTLY there are NO gatherings
or updates until further notice
(Gone on Sabbatical)

Thank you!

Dear Friends,

Only a few days now before the end of 2020, a very challenging, if not horrible, year for us all.
Sending our thoughts, remembering those that have passed away, those that have lost their dear ones, the people that have lost their jobs, homes or that are experiencing any physical, emotional or financial hardship. 

We are very saddened to announce the sudden loss of our dear friend David Amery.

Britain was the first in the World to start vaccinating against covid, from 6th December. Briefly later a new strain of the virus emerged and numbers of contagions spiked (!). 
We are told that since yesterday (20 Dec) we are in tier 4; as consequence foreign borders are shutting their gates to British arrivals now... and we are just days before Brexit enters in action. 

Further chaos and political haziness is what transpires in the fear-filled media announcements that people are flooded with, causing stress and exhaustion. But little we hear about the annihilation of common flu and colds; about the benefits of a generally more paced lifestyle and the increased attention to what individually people really needs to keep well naturally and easily. 

Truly wishing to everyone to find the strength necessary to get through these challenging, yet transformative times. This too shall pass.

May the New Year be filled with all that you might wish for and abound of good health, wealth, happiness and love for everyone.
May faith, hope and fortitude always be with us.

Love from the East End Loonies


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Recruitment to Liberation
Liberation is a new, grassroots organisation led by people with experience of mental distress/trauma (people often given a mental health diagnosis). We are calling for fairness and justice in law and policy and in society and its structures, so Liberation's aim is to champion the full human rights set out in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD). For more info see leaflet attached/get in touch with Dorothy Gould:
Email: liberationrights@gmail.com
Phone: 07565 399 422
Post: PO Box 49677, London N8 8WQ

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What you need to know about the new Covid vaccine

Have you decided what you'll do or say if offered a covid vaccine?

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Surviving the “Bipolar” Label
www.madinamerica.com/2020/12/surviving-bipolar-label

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ECT statistics - Back to Chelmsford: the verdict

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Society, not Covid-19, makes us vulnerable
wellcomecollection.org/articles/X8TzARIAACQAgiGG

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Are we really all ready for this first COVID-19 jab?, by Lucy Wilis
disabilityrightsuk.blogspot.com/2020/12/are-we-really-all-ready-for-this-first.html

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Facts about Covid-19, by Swiss Policy Research 

UK: Mortality 2020 vs. 2000

“The only means to fight the plague is honesty.” (Albert Camus, 1947)

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Waste, Negligence and Cronyism: Inside Britain’s Pandemic Spending

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Assange hearing outcome could set an "alarming precedent" for free speech

Julian Assange In His Own Words - Book (Pre-order)

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How Britain Stole $45 Trillion from India with Trains | Empires of Dirt
youtu.be/x_jGPf764d0

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Don't leave young people out on the streets - Petition
actionnetwork.org/petitions/act-now-to-prevent-youth-homelessness

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VITAMIN C FOR COVID
www.vitaminc4covid.com

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NO! to Qantas + Jetstar mandatory vaccinations 

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Save The Whitechapel Bell Foundry 

Aldgate - Love Your London
youtu.be/4ny1fXfmye8

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F.E.E.L. - Friends of East End Loonies
Find us on the third Monday of each month 6.30 - 8.30 pm at
LARC 62 Fieldgate Street, Whitechapel, London  E1 1ES U.K.


www.facebook.com/feel.campaign

In need of immediate HELP? 

Looking for advice? 

Thinking of coming off meds?
Why coming off is being suggested: www.april.org.uk

Anyone willing to come off psychiatric medication please always seek for reliable info and help before starting.
We are not suggesting pill-shaming, only raising awareness on the serious dangers of medications since some of us have been severely harmed by them.

Saturday 19 December 2020

In Memory of David Amery

David Amery
 31 Jan 1955 - 11 Dec 2020


David @ Winter Shuffle, 
St Clements Hospital, December 2013


We are very saddened in having to share the unexpected news of the passing of our friend David Amery. He died in December from bile duct cancer, which didn't show symptoms until very recently.

An East End poet and a very fond friend and supporter of many FEEL's members, David was well known among others, by many Survivors and in several Poetry circles.

Employed for many years as the service manager at Housing Link, in Tower Hamlets, David and his team offered help to people with mental health problems, in and outpatients that had difficulties to cope with rent arrears and those dealing with the threat of eviction.
The service originally was located in the port-cabin, on the grounds of the old St Clements Hospital in Bow, and it was very familiar to those that worked or experienced a stay in those grounds.

It is thanks to David that the collection for David Kessel 'Ravaged Wonderful Earth' was suggested and came to life in 2013. The book was launched at the warming party of the Shuffle Festival in July 2013, in the Wentworth Stanley Hall, the old site of the social club where in and out patients had a safe gathering space. 

The book and the event will forever stay in our memory as an occasion to celebrate Survivors culture and creativity, while sending a farewell to the derelict St Clements Hospital, before it was transformed from asylum into new homes.
                     

'Ravaged Wonderful Earth' book launch, July 2013


A glimpse of the book (now out of print) is available online 
More about the book can be read on the Asylum Magazine (pag 16) asylummagazine.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Asylum-25.1-2018_compressed.pdf






David was one of the finalist (possibly the winner?) of the New Performance Poet of the Year Award 1994, at Battersea Arts Centre






                               

Eastbeat @ Kingsley Hall, Bow, January 2014


Among some of David's books there are:

- the anthology 'Outsider Poets', published in 1999 with David Kessel and John Zammit); 

- 'Ten Planes', published in 2010;

- '​Urban Shamanism: A London Poetopographical ​A​nthology​', by ​​Niall McDevitt, Aidan Andrew Dun, John Crow, David Amery
 *www.facebook.com/events/poetry-cafe/urban-shamanism-a-london-poetopographical-anthology-launch/564287067111973

- In January 2018 David launched his latest book of poems 'As Real as Any – A Year of day trips', published by outsider poets, described as 'a poetopographical cycle, of biographical tides and geographical traces'.

                               

David performance at the Outsiders Poetry 
Shuffle Festival, Aug 2014




The late John Robert Clarke (aka Jazzman) described David's performance at the 2015 Shuffle Festival, as:
'Mr. David Amery - 
the incomparable artist, edgy erotic sci-fi storyteller supreme.








David and David Kessel were friends and collaborators for a long time.
David K remembers: 
"David's life was that of an English Methodist intellectual.
Primitive Methodism is English Socialism of which Trade
unionism is politico-economics.
David was a magnificent friend for all those reasons,
and he will be greatly missed."


                

Eastbeat @ Kingsley Hall Bow, September 2014


Some of David poems can​ also​ be read here:​ 

​David's review of 'b/w' by Neil ​McDevitt:​ 

We take this chance to send our deepest condolences to his partner Nicola, that shared the message below with us, and all of David's friends and family.



David’s funeral will be at 12pm on 30 December 2020.

This is the livestream link: www.funeralstreaming.co.uk/viewing-room/8003
Please pass the link on to friends, fellow poets and colleagues who may want to watch the funeral. The link will continue to be accessible after the funeral.

Also due to current circumstances, flowers are not passed on after the funeral. We are therefore asking that no flowers be sent.

If you would like, donations in David’s name will be welcomed at St Joseph’s Hospice who cared for him so well in his last two weeks; Mind, the mental health charity and, Crisis the homeless charity. All three have strong East London links.

We plan to organise a memorial event for David at some point in 2021 where we hope to see you all.

With warmest wishes,
Nicola




Thank you for your Creativity & Inspiration David
Farewell, you gentle Friend🙏


The unmistakable colours of David's creations