Helen Murray

In 2022 we came home from @joycedidonato.bsky.social's wonderful Eden show at the Barbican with the souvenir of a little pouch of poppy seeds, which I sowed in our scruffy front yard. Now, every year more beautiful red faces pop up to attract bees and brighten the streetscape. Thanks Joyce! ❇️🌸🥰

Somehow didn't expect the sheer physicality of being a #toddlerparent... "Mummy carry me!" I was prepped for, but the dawn body slams, the knee in the stomach as they clamber over you, your hair used as a convenient hand-hold, the blinding headbutt to the temple "Big hug Mummy!", not so much... 🤕

22 smartly dressed members of the Radio 3 team pose, cheering, with their award, which resembles a large cassette tape

Helen (who is 40, has short dark hair and is wearing a black, sequined top) poses with Radio 3's award, which resembles a large cassette tape.

BBC Radio 3: ARIAs UK Station of the Year 2025!
🎊🍾

📣 Calling all altos, tenors and basses aged 11-18! ✨

On Sat 28th June we will host our first ever day for young singers aged 11-18. This is aimed at parish church choir choristers, and other young singers with experience looking to gain new ensemble and leadership skills. 🧵

a man in a suit and a woman in a blue shirt are kissing Alt: Bill Murray hugs Scarlett Johansson at the end of Lost in Translation, the bustle and neon of a Tokyo street scene in the background.

I totally get the problems with orientalist stereotyping, but I've never seen a more beautiful evocation of a hard-to-define but deeply meaningful relationship.

Oh what a wonderful way to spend a year... if only this had existed when I graduated in 2006!

Twitter post asking: Should we be told where we can walk out dogs? Yes or No Above a screenshot of a news headline: 'This is an Islamic area now. Don't walk your dogs here': Police probe sign in east London park

Are Muslims really banning dogs in parks? 🤔

Let’s look at this perfect example of how rage baiting works, and how disinformation spreads, sticks, and fuels division, even years after being debunked…

🧵1/22 (1/1)

Palm Sunday is bizarre...
"Hooray! Today we celebrate fickle celebrity worship and duplicitous mob justice! Lift high the (only briefly fashionable) cross!*

"Upheld by Stillness" by @owainpark.bsky.social - properly cosmic 🌍

Too tired to go to bed is 100% a thing...

Starmer to Zelenskyy: You are very very welcome here in Downing Street. As you heard from the cheers outside, you have full backing across the United Kingdom.

The most incredible world-building... I found the final act a little disappointing but the inventiveness of the magical web she spins in the main part of the book is just unforgettable.

So my friend, who's a warrior of an #SEND mum, responded to a tutty, sweary man on the tube the other day, who was taking issue with her 4yo having a meltdown, by saying
"How dare you swear at my son?! For your information, he has #autism, what's your excuse for having no social skills?" 💪🌻💛

Those parakeets were born here Timmy, they're as British as you.

Jarred my elbow cheering myself for getting a question right on Counterpoint #Middleaged

Singing folk of BlueSky
Please spread the word to the right people?! A bursary for 18-22 year olds, a two week world
Class singing course, and a world class song festival, all
Happening in Folkestone.

soundsfolkestone.co.uk/initiatives/fo…

Apply for our 'Assistant Leader - Trainee' role by 9am tomorrow!

This freelance post is ideally suited to an early-career starter looking to gain experience in music education.

www.londonyouthchoirs.com/work-for-lyc/

Brother in the Land and Children of the Dust in year 7 (11-12), YA books about nuclear war. They both fascinated and horrified me and bits of them haunt me to this day.

The Chrysalids, what a great book to read for school! John Wyndham is brilliant for teenagers; thoughtful ideas, fun action and some good monsters!

Great story! Nobody can humble you quicker than a scornful teenager…!

Or “insect day” as my friend’s son coined 🐞

Bravo @southbankcentre ; soup mug, box for bread, coffee cup & lid*, spoon & stirrer - all will have turned to soil in a couple of years. It’s not hard, could more places make the commitment in 2025?

*yes I know it would have been even better to have remembered my reusable cup!

This is a top melody and the free church would have no qualms I assure you…!

More Haydn??

If it’s on time and wearing black shoes, job’s a good’un

#SaveOurNHS

I was drying my hair the other morning and my cat was looking a bit freaked out - then I saw him look across to my husband, reassure himself that the other human wasn’t panicking, and relax. Nice to know he trusts us ☺️

Carols Across the Country - a Seasonal Journey - A Service for Advent with Carols - BBC Sounds A Service for Advent with Carols, live from the Chapel of St John’s College, Cambridge.

Stellar as ever from John's to begin Advent, with just the right blend of misty yearning and austere awe - and including a modern fave of mine, Kerensa Brigg's A Tender Shoot, from 20:05.
www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...