Newsletter ¦ 26th August 2022

Happy Bank Holiday weekend! In this newsletter, we announce our new activity at the Jubilee Centre – the community choir which is to start on the first Wednesday of September. There is a new scam to avoid and we make a request for volunteers to help us at our two charity shops. Happy reading.

Community Choir – Starting 7^th September

Our new Community Choir will begin on Wednesday 7^th September from 10.30 -11.30 in the Jubilee Centre. This is a free activity, but donations are welcome.

Singing offers many health benefits. The way singing requires you to breathe increases your lung capacity as well as engaging the muscles around the ribcage. Singing is being used to help rehabilitate people recovering from lung conditions, who experience COPD and, more recently, to benefit people suffering from Long Covid.

Singing can help improve mental alertness, memory and concentration as it involves focusing on multiple things at once, engaging many areas of the brain in the process. Singing is often used to support people with memory loss and dementia as it is a powerful tool in sparking memories often long after other forms of communication have diminished.

There’s an increasing amount of evidence that singing releases endorphins, serotonin and dopamine – the ‘happy’ chemicals that boost your mood and make you feel good about yourself. Scientists believe that’s one of the reasons why people report being on a high during choir sessions and continuing to feel positive, uplifted and motivated afterwards.

The Community Choir will be led by the wonderful Emma from Happy Signs CIC.

Come along and let’s fill the Jubilee Centre with music and song!

Cost Of Living ¦ Turn to us if you need help

Today’s news is that households in the UK face a leap in energy bills from October after the regulator raised the energy price cap, taking the average gas and electricity bill to £3,549 a year. Martin Lewis of Money Saving Expert told the Radio Four Today programme that the new price cap, from 1 October, is 37% of the new state pension. It’s an even bigger proportion for those who retired earlier, and for those on universal credit.

If you are already struggling with increased energy charges, or you know someone who is, please call us on 0161 763 9030 for help and advice. We can offer a free benefits check and make sure you are receiving your full entitlement. We will also inform you of support available in Bury to get through this difficult time.

Bury Council has a webpage on their support to local residents: https://www.bury.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=16755

Our national partner, Age UK is campaigning to protect older people from the cost of living crisis, calling on the new Prime Minister to take immediate action on their appointment in September.

Cost of Living Scam

There is a scam email going around claiming to be from Ofgem regarding Energy rebates. A sample of the email is below. If you receive this, please forward it to report@phishing.gov.uk then delete the email. Never click on the link.

Ofgem will never contact people about energy bills, such communications will always come direct from their energy supplier.

Volunteers are urgently required at our charity shops

Our Charity shop volunteers make a huge contribution to our work, raising vital funds for our work and helping to create friendly shops for our customers.

Charity Shop Volunteers are involved in a wide range of roles and day-to-day activities that support the running of the shops. On the shop floor you could be involved with providing excellent customer service, processing transactions on the tills and replenishing stock. Behind the scenes, volunteers get involved with sorting through donations to find those hidden gems and preparing goods for sale by sorting, steaming and pricing.

We provide training and out of pocket expenses. We can offer hours that suit you - a few hours a week will make a big difference for us.

For more details, call 0161 763 9030 or call in at our shop on the Rock or in Ramsbottom.

Make your voice heard!

There are a few important consultations taking place that affect the lives of older people in Bury. You can find these at https://www.onecommunitybury.co.uk/

The online consultations include:

Bury Council Budget conversation – Summer 2022
Radcliffe Civic Hub Summer 2022 Consultation
Building a digitally inclusive borough
The Grundy Hub Service Review
Public Electric Vehicle Charging Points in Bury

100 Club - This month's winners

Today, we can announce this month’s group of winners in our 100 Club. For August 2022, we had 68 members, and the winners are

1st prize No: 48 Patricia Jones
2nd prize No: 18 Eleanor Murdoch
3rd prize No: 54 Pauline Cavanagh

The numbers were chosen using a computerised random number generator and independently verified. The cheques are in the post.

There are plenty of numbers to purchase and if you would like to join the 100 club, please call us on 0161 763 9030 and we will send you a brochure. Alternatively, click on this link: https://www.ageuk.org.uk/bury/get-involved/100club/

Thank You

A big Thank You to the staff of Crown Oil for joining us at the Jubilee Centre on Wednesday 17^th August and helping us with lunches and leading the Quiz & Bingo Afternoon - it was a great day for all!

We would like to express our sincere thanks to David Lord of Trak-Plus Engineering Ltd who provided his services free of charge. Thanks to David, one of our essential pieces of catering equipment has been fixed, which means we have avoided any disruption in our Café at the Jubilee Centre this week.

Bank Holiday Monday – 29^th August 2022

Our Ramsbottom Shop will open on Bank Holiday Monday from 10 am to 4 pm.
Our Jubilee Centre, services and the Bury Shop will be closed for the day – everything will be open as normal from Tuesday.

Our next newsletter will be out on 9^th September. Please send any news to news@ageukbury.org.uk

Have a great weekend and enjoy the sun!

Andy and all Age UK Bury