Parkinson's UK Farnborough and District Branch
No-one should have to face Parkinson's alone
Lovely to see so many people at the Afternoon Tea yesterday at North Hants Golf Club. They gave us a great time, as they have in previous visits.
Many thanks to Mavis who organized and ran the whole event and to Richard who put on a raffle having collected generous donations from several local companies.
Well done and thank you to Melanie, a regular quizzer at the Squirrel pub in Farnborough. Each month the pub chooses a local charity to support and she persuaded the owner to choose us to receive some of the proceeds from the weekly quiz to us. £270 !
We were blown away at our July monthly social meeting when Andy Blake made a donation to our branch. Andy had been president of the Rushmoor Rotary branch for the past year and in that role he did some fund-raising for a charity of his choice. We knew he had nominated us so we were expecting a donation, maybe £1500? maybe as much as £2000.
It was just over £3200 !!
Thank you Andy and all the people from your branch who contributed in some way to this fantastic total.
We’ve enjoyed two trips with the Accessible Boating Association on their day boat, “Dawn”. On both days we were blessed with good weather and we even had a free table for our picnic at Winchfield.
A relaxing peaceful way to spend a few hours.
Many of us know Anita Dempsey as the excellent leader of our Move It or Lose It class on Thursdays. She is also a passionate gardener and she opened her garden to visitors in late June. It was during one of our heatwaves with very high temperatures forecast for the afternoon. Many people decided to avoid that by coming first thing. By 10 o’clock it was standing room only in her kitchen and her husband was kept very busy serving teas and coffees.
The garden is lovely and a great illustration of what you can do in an otherwise conventional long thin plot. It is full of interest and you feel as though you are going from “room to room”.
She donated the amazing sum of £507 to us – and the same amount went to her other chosen charity: Phyllis Tuckwell. Over £1000 raised altogether. Wow! and well done Anita.
I have finally worked out a method of opening a childproof pill container which requires a squeeze and a turn to open. I had one the other day where the lid was just too stiff to squeeze enough. (see photo)
Solution : stand it upside down in hot water for a few minutes. This softens the plastic and then it is easy peasy! I used nearly boiling water but I am sure it would work if the water wasn’t quite this hot.
I never fully close a childproof lid once I have managed to open it
The Tech Guide is new and, as the name suggests, has listings and some reviews of “devices [eg wearable devices or gadgets] and apps that could improve your quality of life, so you can make more confident decisions about using technology to manage your health and lifestyle”
(Wording and image taken from the Parkinson’s UK website)
Click here to go to the Tech Guide
It is frequently updated, so worth having a look at from time to time.
For our October meeting we were privileged to welcome Katherine Fletcher, who leads the research communication team at National Office. She gave a wide-ranging talk about progress in tackling Parkinson’s. You can find out more about research by clicking here
Health and Living Independent Support (HILS) delivers meals on wheels across Hampshire, 365 days a year, whatever the weather. In their words: “Every visit includes delivery of a hot meal and dessert, along with a caring wellbeing check from our Community Team Members. You can order meals as a one-off, temporarily, or for as long as you would like them.” You can also call on 0330 2000 103. “
Click here for a pamphlet giving more details about their service
Princess Royal Trust for Carers provide emergency planning for carers, tackling the question “Are you concerned what will happen to the person you care for if an emergency with you arises?”
They encourage carers to make an emergency plan which could provide emergency support free of charge for up to 48 hours. The idea is that this gives family, friends and neighbours time to get organised. You can contact the Princess Royal Trust for Carers on 01264 835246 to discuss how to set up your plan.
They also run monthly Carers’ Hubs and have specific links with GP surgeries. A full account of their services can be read here.