Forum Meeting, January 2009
The Next Full Forum Meeting will be on Monday 19th January We will meet at Oakengates Theatre (The Place) at 10am for 10.30am the theme will be "Coping with the Credit Crunch". The speakers will be Martyn Clarke, Department of Works and Pensions, Wendy Mitchell, Health Through Warmth and The Affordable Warmth Strategy, Trading Standards on your rights, scams and internet trading. Andrew Eade will be telling us about the council budget for next year. There will be stalls from The Home Improvement Agency, Winter fuel and energy advice and other related topics. Before the meeting there will be tea or coffee and light refreshments will be provided afterwards.Dementia
The interviews and questionnaires for the Dementia Project have been completed. We have interviewed 91 carers and persons suffering from dementia and this is more than the national consultation. We are now collating the information, which at first glance has indicated some areas where improvements can be quickly implemented . We will submitting our report to the national consultation and our report will be published on this site early in December. We are very grateful to all the people who took part and can assure you that your efforts will result in improvements to the help and care you need. We sent a representative to the Dementia Congress in October. Amongst many interesting facts it was stressed that obtaining an early diagnosis of dementia is crucially important.Christmas Greetings From The Chairman
We are coming to the end of a very busy and successful year. We have undertaken some very ambitious projects and were particularly pleased with the results of the dementia survey. We are very grateful for the strong support shown by your attendance at our meetings and in answering questionnaires. It looks as if 2009 will be a challenging year with changes in NHS and social care, not forgetting the effects of the credit crunch. On behalf of the management team I wish all our members a Happy Christmas and a healthy New Year.Martin Brookes, Chairman
Intergenerational Work.
Intergenerational work within Telford and Wrekin is a fairly new concept, but an exciting one! The idea is simply the 'bringing together of older and younger people, doing activities which promote understanding and respect'.Getting rid of the stereotypical idea of 'oldies' being 'grumpy' and 'youngsters' being 'unruly'. Would you like to work on a History project with younger people where you will be able to tell them about your younger days, skill share, work collaboratively, listen and advise and build relationships, OR perhaps Art and Craft, Cooking, Gardening, ICT, etc. All of these are in the pipeline and a good imagination will lengthen the list.
In this instance AGE is on your side. Think of all the skills and experience that you have as a mature person. People of a certain age are in great demand, I NEED YOU, to assist as VOLUNTEERS, heading a group of older people OR as MENTORS, working more closely with children in the school environment. It means a commitment from you, long and short term. You will receive appropriate training and travel expenses.
But people who have been involved in the 3 or 4 projects already undertaken, have said, "how differently they see youngsters now'' and "what a delight it was to be involved with the children". The youngsters thought it was COOL too! We NEED YOU to MAKE these PROJECTS WORK.
Please call me, Jan Griffiths, Intergenerational Project Officer on Telford (01952) 587821 or leave a message. I will look forward to your calls.