6 Accessible Events To Explore This Valentines Day
February 2025
Valentine's Day is fast approaching. This can be a personalised and heartfelt experience with the people who are closest to you. We share some ways to celebrate the occasion. The school half-term holidays are coming up too and if you are looking for ways to keep your children entertained, we have you covered with our list of some fun accessible events and activities for the children and the whole family to enjoy.
1) Kew Gardens
9th February 10am 11am (British Sign Language Tour)
3pm – 4pm Sensory Tour
Enjoy the beautiful scenic views of Kew Gardens while taking a walking tour, led by Kew’s specially trained tour guides. They run monthly tours for visually impaired and deaf people, which are free to attend. Places are limited so it’s best to register in advance. To register, please email discovery@kew.org with your name, contact email and postcode, or call 073411 14533. To find out more and to book, follow the link Inclusive and Accessible Events - VisitRichmond.
Accessibility
Kew Gardens offers a range of accessible facilities for deaf and disabled visitors.
- Mobility scooters and wheelchairs
- Accessible toilets
- BSL tours
- Hearing loops
To find out more, follow the link Kew Gardens Accessibility
2) The Southbank Centre
Imagine Festival 18th -23rd February
Join the Southbank Centre for the Imagine Festival this half term, running from the 18th until 23rd of February. They will host arts, performances and free fun for children. There is sure to be something for everyone. To find out more and to book your tickets, follow the link Imagine Festival | Southbank Centre
Accessibility
The venue offers a free access scheme for deaf and disabled visitors so you can make the most of what the centre has to offer during your visit. To find out more, follow the link Access Scheme | Southbank Centre.
The venue has disabled parking with 3 Blue badge parking spaces, offered on a first come first serve basis and are located on the Queen Elizabeth Hall slip road.
A wheelchair can be booked if required. This can be done by emailing hello@southbankcentre.co.uk or by calling 020 3879 9555.
To see full detailed information on the venue's accessibility, follow the link Access & accessibility | Southbank Centre.
3) Understanding And Supporting Cognitive Disabilities
20th February
12pm – 1pm Online
Join host Michael Osborne, the CEO of Accessible Me for his monthly webinar series on accessibility. This month he will be doing a Q&A, providing practical ways you can support individuals with neurodiversity at work. To find out more and to reserve your free ticket, follow the link Neurodiversity Q&A: Understanding and supporting cognitive disabilities Registration, Thu 20 Feb 2025 at 12:00 | Eventbrite
4) Innovative Access Event
27th February 10.30am – 3.30pm
BT Aldgate, London
The Lilac Review and BT group will be hosting the innovative Access Event in London, bringing together disabled, D/deaf and neurodiverse entrepreneurs alongside leaders of Assistive technology and AI. If your passionate about assistive tech and want to learn more about driving change, follow the link to register your attendance Innovate Access Event - 27th February 2025.
Accessibility
The venue is wheelchair accessible. BSL interpreters, live captions and a quiet room will be available during the event. If you require any other access needs or would like to bring a companion with you, please state it on the registration form or you can send an email to hello@lilacreview.com.
5) Rooftop Film Club
If you enjoy watching movies and going out to the cinema, make your Valentine's Day special with an evening out at one of London’s Rooftop Film Clubs. To find out more and to book, follow the link Home - Rooftop Film Club.
Accessibility London Stratford
The film club is located on the top floor of the shopping mall. Lifts are available to the entrance from the ground floor. The venue has a wheelchair accessible toilet and a ramp down to the cinema.
Accessibility Peckham Bussey Building
The film club is located on the top floor of the Copeland Park, Bussey building. They have a service lift available but it may not be suitable for all types of wheelchairs due to the size. It’s best to check with the venue before booking.
There is a small step down to the cinema but they have a portable ramp available at 70cm in width. There onsite toilets are not fully accessible yet and it is something the venue is working on. They do have accessible toilets available at located in their Social Bar.
Carer tickets are free. To get a carer ticket, please send an email to info@rooftopfilmclub.com.
6) Afternoon Tea At The London Eye
Enjoy afternoon tea with your loved one while enjoying the views of the London Eye and River Thames, including sweet and savoury specialities to tantalise those taste buds. To find out more and to book, follow the link Afternoon Tea at the London Eye.
Accessibility
If you book the London Eye with your afternoon tea experience it’s best to contact the attraction to inform them of your needs in advance of your visit. Please follow the link to fill out an accessibility form Accessibility Contact Form | The London Eye.
Happy Holidays And Seasons Greetings!
December 2024 - January 2025
We would like to wish all our connections and partners, Happy Holidays and Seasons Greetings!
Thank you to everyone who has supported us in 2024. We look forward to continuing our work in 2025 and making a difference for deaf and disabled people accessing events.
Please keep an eye out on our website and social media channels for the latest developments and updates as we continue to build partnerships with as many businesses as possible who are interested in making their events accessible and inclusive.
Each year that comes round it's always been a challenge in getting the business off the ground and we hope 2025, will be the year that see's Access My Events launch into a successful business.
Advocating For People Living With Chronic Illness
18th November 2024
In the latest episode of My Voice Podcast, we were joined by Shabnam Rakhiba, who is a mentor and life coach for people with chronic illnesses.
Together with, co-host Raya Al Jadir, we spoke to Shabnam about her work, her lived experience of chronic illness and how it led her to start her own business, supporting and advocating for people in this community.
Follow the link to listen on Spotify https://creators.spotify.com/pod/show/myvoicepodcast/episodes/Advocating-For-People-Living-With-Chronic-Illness-e2r1kmh
If you would like to get in contact with Shabnam you can connect with her on LinkedIn, or email Shabnam@chronicwellenesslounge.com.
Networking Event For Disabled Founders
2nd October 2024 House of Lords
It was a privilege to be invited to the House of Lords on the 2nd of October for a networking lunch, for disabled founders, hosted by Small Business Britain, in partnership with Lloyds Bank.
It was good to hear about the updates on the Lilac Review since it was launched. We also heard from a disabled founder and their journey into business and entrepreneurship.
It was a great opportunity to meet and connect with other businesses too.
Disability In The World Of Sport And Literature
23rd September 2024
In this episode of My Voice podcast, Zubee and co-host, Raya, had the pleasure of speaking to Danielle Brown MBE who is a 2 x gold medal winner paralympic champion in Archery, keynote speaker award-winning author and entrepreneur.
As the Paralympics have come to an end we thought it will be great to hear from a former Paralympian who’s competed at professional level and been through the challenges to winning gold.
She’s now retired from the sport but continues to help others through her work, providing training and consultancy to organisations in inclusion. We spoke to her about her journey and what inspired her to get into sport to becoming a children's author.
Follow the link to listen on Spotify: Disability In The World Of Sport And Literature
You can follow Danielle on Facebook, X, Instagram and LinkedIn
Disability And AI Revolutionising The Way We Work
14th September 2024
In the latest episode of My Voice podcast, our founder, Zubee and co-host Raya speak to Kiran, who is a disabled student studying computer science, specialising in AI and Robotics at the University of Hertfordshire.
She talks to us about her career and what interested her in learning about AI and the challenges she faced while studying as well as her achievements and future plans.
Listen now on Spotify by following the link.
My Voice Podcast Revolutionising The Way We Work
SBS London Regional Business Bootcamp
13th May 2024 250 Bishopsgate
On the 13th of May we attended the SBS Regional Business Bootcamp in London organised by Theo and the SBS team. We enjoyed hearing presentations from Natwest on understanding your customer, Google Digital Garage on understanding Google analytics and SBS winner Fran on Instagram and influencers.
The SBS team had organised a special guest appearance from #SBS creator Theo Paphitiis who was interviewed by James Holian, Natwest's Managing Director of Business Banking. They spoke about SBS and how it started, how to grow your business and mental health.
This was a great opportunity for the SBS community to meet and network. We really enjoyed it and look forward to attending future events.
Access My Events At The Small Business Sunday Event 2024
23rd February 2024
Access My Events attends their first Small Business Sunday #SBS event, organised by Theo and his team. This is an amazing opportunity for businesses in the #SBS community to network and meet with former and new winners. We share our journey from how it all started and what it meant to us to be in attendance among other amazing businesses, including hearing and meeting with #SBS creator himself, Theo Paphitis.
About Small Business Sunday
On the 24th of July 2023, we entered the Small Business Sunday, #SBS, weekly competition on Twitter. This is one of the UK’s leading business networks, founded by Dragons Den star, Theo Paphitis. We didn’t expect to win and when it was announced that Access My Events was a winner of #SBS, we couldn’t believe it. As a winner of #SBS you get a boost on social media through Theo’s large social media following and you get to join a large community of small business owners with the opportunity to attend an annual event organised by Theo and his team.
Planning Our Journey
When the event date was announced for the 23rd of February, we were very excited and couldn’t wait to attend, being our first #SBS event. We started to plan our travel and book accommodation in advance. While doing this, the excitement was building to the day of the event. We decided to travel a day before so that we could take it easy and be there on time because it was a full day from 9.00am until 5.30pm. For the first time we booked passenger assistance for our journey from London Euston to Birmingham by train and both ways Zubee had the assistance with no problems.
When we arrived in Birmingham, we took an Uber to the hotel and the Uber had dropped us off at the wrong hotel because there were two hotels with the same name. When we eventually got to the right hotel we checked in and went to have a bit of a walk around to explore the area. For Zubee, it felt like a mini holiday because she has not had the opportunity to go out of London much and to see some of the well-known shopping centres and restaurants in Birmingham. Event day had arrived, we took an Uber to the event venue, which was not very far and went straight to the reception area located on the 4th floor to get our name badge and were then taken into the hall to our reserved seats towards the front of the stage.
Event Day Highlights And What Went On
It was a real privilege to be among so many amazing businesses in the network from former and new winners. The event was opened on the main stage by guest speaker, Kypros Kyprianou, CEO of Theo Paphitis Group, followed by the creator of SBS himself, Theo Paphitis. It was amazing to hear him speak and how he started SBS, to it becoming a large community supporting small businesses. He said it’s all about planning for the week ahead and it was on a Sunday that he was sitting in Mrs Paphitis’s kitchen thinking how he could help entrepreneurs and small businesses because he knows how lonely the entrepreneurial journey can be. It was back in October 2010, that he created SBS, this being the 11th event, which has since grown with 4000 plus Small Business Sunday winners.
It was interesting to hear some of the stats from Theo, on the winners with 80% being female and 53% sole traders. It was a very motivating and inspiring event with a lot to take away from the day with expert advice sessions from the SBS partners and sponsors with breakout presentations throughout the day. The room was full of so much positive energy. There were many highlights from the event some of which were, hearing from Theo himself, a former SBS winner who turned an idea into a £1 million business, the Natwest panel of entrepreneurs talking about their journeys into entrepreneurship and business success to meeting with Theo and having our photo taken while being presented with our award.
Special Fireside Chat Guest Stacey Solomon
Finally, Theo welcomed Stacey Solomon to the stage for a fireside chat, followed by a Q&A. It was wonderful to hear about her journey from X Factor, presenting on TV, becoming an influencer with 6 million followers, to investing in her very first business, and what it means to her to support small businesses. It was the first time that the winners were so touched by a guest that Theo had to try and take control as she was getting side tracked during the Q&A, and some of the winners were getting very emotional while speaking to Stacey, and even giving her presents. She got off the stage and allowed the winners to take photos with her. It just showed how much Stacey's words meant to the winners.
You can read our article in the latest issue of Business Connect Magazine, which also features an interview with Theo about #SBS in the Press and Media section of our website. It was great to meet with the Business Connect team in person and to see our article in print at the event.
We would like to thank Theo for choosing and awarding Access My Events, to be part of this amazing network and we look forward to attending again next year.😊
If you are a business that would like to be in with a chance of winning, follow the link to our SBS Winners Blog to find out what it meant to us to be chosen as a winner and how you can enter for free. To see images from the event, go to the gallery page of our website.
Small Business Sunday Event 2024
23rd February 2024 ICC Birmingham
All Small Business Sunday winners get an invite to an annual event that is organised by Theo Paphitis and his team. It's an amazing opportunity to meet and network with like-minded business owners and get expert advice from the SBS partners and sponsors.
It was a real privilege for us to attend our very first #SBS event at the ICC in Birmingham on the 23rd of February. As a winner of SBS, we got the opportunity to meet with Theo and have a professional photo taken while being presented with our award. Below are some photos from the event.
Have a read of our blog about our SBS win and what it meant to us when it was announced that we were a winner, and how you can enter for free.
Lilac Review UK Launch Event
1st February 2024 at Lloyds Banking Group
We were excited to be invited to the launch of the Lilac Review by Small Business Britain and hosted by Lloyds Banking Group. This is a 2 year programme, which aims to break down barriers for disabled entrepreneurs in business. We heard a presentation about the review by Lloyds Banking Group and then from the Minister, followed by a panel discussion with 3 disabled founders led by, Michelle Ovens, Founder of Small Business Britain.
To learn more and get involved, follow the link The Lilac Review
