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Newsletter ¦ 12th March

Greetings from the Jubilee Centre!

I hope you and your loved ones are well and coping with the third lockdown, the cold winds and the showers.  

It was one year ago to this week that we closed the Jubilee Centre, our shops and our services, not knowing what was going to happen next. We closed on 17th March - St Patrick’s Day - a week before the first national lock down. Even the most pessimistic of us could not imagine that we would still be closed one year later. There is now real hope on the horizon with the fall in the coronavirus infection rate, the roll-out of the vaccinations and more pormising plans to reopen services and shops.

In part three of this newsletter, there is news about more scams, how to vote safely in the May elections, the launch of the Friends of Clarence Park group and yet more of those quiz questions to tease the brain.

Part One: Coronavirus in Bury

In Bury, on Thursday 11th March, 85.3 people per 100,000 were tested positive for coronavirus – that is a fall of 38% from the previous week’s figure. On the same day, the England average was 59.6 people testing positive per 100,000 – a fall of 27% from the previous week’s figure. 

The Bury Council / Bury CCG update is available by clicking on this link.

Bury residents are living under the regulations of the National Lockdown, which are outlined on our webpage https://www.ageuk.org.uk/bury/our-services/coronavirus/

The “stay at home” message remains in place. Every day at home, every covered face, every open window, every video call, every washed hand is making difference. 

Vaccination Update

By 7th March, 71,501 people in Bury had received their first vaccination - that’s about 39% of the eligible population (182,100). This is a tremendous achievement by our council, local health services, the army and local volunteers. 

The Bury Council website has a page about the vaccine at https://www.bury.gov.uk/coronavirus-vaccine

Book a vaccination online - New criteria

You can now book a vaccination online if 

  • you are aged 55 or over
  • you are at high risk from coronavirus (clinically extremely vulnerable)
  • you are an eligible frontline health or social care worker
  • you have a condition that puts you at higher risk (clinically vulnerable)
  • you have a learning disability
  • you are a main carer for someone at high risk from coronavirus

Click on https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/coronavirus-vaccination/book-coronavirus-vaccination/

Help Bury get vaccinated! 

Bury needs volunteers to help them marshal the local vaccination centres as part of the NHS Covd-19 vaccination service. 

Sign-up here: https://bit.ly/3tV32ZJ

Bury Covid-19 Community Champions – volunteers needed

Bury Council has launched its Covid-19 Community Champions network, aiming to sign up hundreds of residents from across the borough. The Covid-19 Champions network will help residents to stay up-to-date with how to protect themselves and others against the virus.

To sign up to be a Covid Champion please visit: www.bury.gov.uk/communitychampions

Part two: Our support to you

Telephone helpline and online support 

We will be answering the Age UK Bury office telephone – 0161 763 9030 - from 10.00 am to 2.00 pm every weekday throughout the lock down. If we can not help, we are sure to find someone who can! If you get the answerphone, please leave a message and we will get back to you as soon as possible. 

We will update people with latest news on

During the Coronavirus pandemic, we are trying to keep essential support services open. These include: 

Tea and Chat with Sue on Zoom

Sue is running a Tuesday afternoon Tea and Chat session, giving people a chance to catch up with friends.  

Our free online chats will take place from 2.30 pm to 3.30 pm. To join us, send an email to Sue at taichi.college@yahoo.co.uk for an access code and link. Get your best china out!

This class is available on the Zoom platform. To download the free app, go to https://zoom.us/ 

Tai Chi with Sue

Sue also holds a Tai Chi class online on Fridays at 11.00 am. Send an email to taichi.college@yahoo.co.uk for an access code and link.

Sue has kindly set up a new group on Facebook for all who are interested in Tai Chi - click onto https://www.facebook.com/groups/144906774110472 or search for “Age UK Bury Tai Chi Group”. Thank you, Sue. 

Diana's classes

Diana will be live on our Facebook page on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

  • Monday: 11.00 to 11.45 am: Gentle Exercise
  • Monday: 11.50 to 12.35 Chair Based Exercise
  • Tuesday: 10.00 to 10.45: DanceFit 
  • Wednesday: 11.00 to 12.00 am: Pilates 

If you can’t make these times, Facebook will let you watch at a later time.

Join us at https://www.facebook.com/ageukbury/ Thank you Diana.

Date for your Diary

Diana is planning to restart the Nordic Walking sessions on Wednesdays from  2.00 pm till 3.00 pm from Wednesday 31st of March. More details soon.  

Part Three: And in other news

Donate an old laptop to a local school 

Ron Marrow of Infotech Bury has kindly been giving computing advice and help to our office and some of our readers during the current Pandemic. Due to the increase in online and home learning, he is asking if any readers might be willing to donate old laptops that can be repurposed and given to local schools for use in education.

Ron said, “Lots of people don't realize, but it is still possible to upgrade old Windows 7 and Windows 8 & 8.1 computers to Windows 10 for free if they have the original license”.

Once Ron has securely cleaned any donated laptops, they will be offered to local schools for distribution to young people who need them. Schools IT staff can check them out before re-use.

If you would like to donate old windows 7 and 8 laptops, please email admin@ageukbury.org.uk and our team will make arrangements.

Launch of the Friends of Clarence Park group 

Bury Council has committed a £350,000 investment for Clarence Park in its Budget for 2021/22, which includes £150,000 for a new skate park.

The new friends group will help to maintain the park, raise funds for future improvements and work with the council to deliver the masterplan for the park

Join the Launch of this group on zoom at 7pm on Tuesday 23rd March.   Register here: http://bit.ly/focplaunch

Don't forget to join Friends of Clarence Park on Facebook: http://bit.ly/clarencepark

Royal Mail Scams

Royal Mail warned people to watch out for a scams doing the rounds across the country.The scams are circulating by text and email and tells recipients to make payments so they ensure their packages can get delivered.

The scam texts and emails state: "Royal Mail: your package has a £2.99 shipping fee, to pay this now visit." It then includes a link to seemingly legitimate Royal Mail website. "Actions will be taken if you do not pay this fee," the message adds, just to scare you a little more.

Another scam claims you have an undelivered package, and it will be returned to the sender, if you do not give them all your personal details and credit card numbers.

Royal Mail has stated it will never send an email asking for credit card numbers or other personal or confidential information.

If you want to see examples of these scams, they are online at The Royal Mail website: https://personal.help.royalmail.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/6905/~/what-email-%2F-text-%2F-facebook-message-scams-should-i-be-aware-of%3F

Older EU citizens and settled status after Brexit

If you are living in the UK but you were originally from a country in the European Union (EU), European Economic Area (EEA) or Switzerland, you must apply to stay in the UK following Brexit by 30th June. If a person does not have “settled status”, then they will no longer be allowed to live in the UK or receive health and social care. 

The charity Settled has produced guidance for those supporting older EU citizens with dementia, a brain injury, or any forms of mental incapacity to make sure they are registered by the end of June. 

More details at this link:  https://settled.org.uk/en/help/settled-status-advice-for-the-elderly-severe-health-conditions-and-carers/#elderlyleaf#

The Big Active Conversation 

The Big Active Conversation is a series of events bringing GM together to widen access and participation in walking, cycling and active travel. Find out more and register to attend the first event on Monday 15th March 

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-big-active-conversation-tickets-141413109417

Voting safely in May’s elections

On Thursday 6 May 2021 residents in Bury will go to the polls to choose who represents them on Bury Council and to vote for a Greater Manchester Mayor.

There are a number of ways to have your say in May - you can vote in a polling station, or by post, or by appointing someone you trust to vote on your behalf, which is known as a proxy vote.

If you decide to vote at the polling station, you can expect many of the measures you’ve become used to in shops and banks over recent months, such as hand sanitiser, floor markings and face masks. 

But you also have the option to apply to vote by post or by proxy.

Anyone who wishes a postal vote, and is not already registered for one, also has until 20 April to apply. Email the elections office at electionservices@bury.gov.uk or call 0161 253 5252.For an application form to vote by post go to https://www.bury.gov.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=2878&p=0

If you want to appoint someone you trust to vote on your behalf, you need to fill in an application to do - the form is here : https://www.bury.gov.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=2879&p=0 

The Victoria Wood Archives 

Susan Lord, Curator at Bury Art Museum, takes us on a fascinating journey through Victoria Wood’s early life and career in 2 videos on YouTube. The videos explore Victoria Wood and her work through artefacts held in the collection that formed part of an exhibition celebrating her life and work at the Museum in 2019.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCpq9IqDPnc

The Quiz

Last week's quiz was a General Knowledge Quiz and the answers are in the link.

This week’s quiz is another General Knowledge Quiz of 50 questions.

The quiz is just for fun and to keep you out of mischief. The answers will be in the next newsletter.  

Keep warm and stay safe. We will be back next week - send us any news to share with others. 

Andy and all at Age UK Bury 

After we closed on 17th March 2020, Karen, Shirley, Angie and Mandy took to cleaning the cafe for our reopening. Little did we know!