Newsletter ¦ 16th July

I hope you and your loved ones are well.

I hope you are enjoying the sunshine this weekend. Sadly, England failed to win the football but it was a tremendous achievement for our lads to reach the final of an international championship tournament for the first time in fifty-five years. The team is a force to be reckoned with in next year's World Cup.

Next week sees a massive change with the lifting of all coronavirus restrictions in England. Some people will see this as a great day of freedom but others are viewing the day with dread, as the restrictions offered them some protection from the virus.

Removing all restrictions in one go is a massive public health gamble and the impact of this decision will become clear over the next few weeks. Here at Age UK Bury, we are taking a very cautious approach, and we outline our plans in the second part of this newsletter.

Part One: Coronavirus in Bury

In Bury, on Thursday 15th July, 414.2 people per 100,000 were tested positive for coronavirus – that is an increase of 4% from the previous week’s figure. There were 791 cases recorded in Bury, which is 28 more than the previous week. On the same day, the England average was 360.1 people testing positive per 100,000 – an increase of 30% from the previous week’s figure.

Vaccinations

As of 11th July 2021, a total of 127,657 first doses and 98,950 second doses of the vaccine have been delivered from Bury's community vaccination centres, hospital hubs and regional vaccination centres.

Vaccinations are now available to people aged 18 and over. The Bury Council website has an update of all the clinics offering the vaccination.at https://www.bury.gov.uk/coronavirus-vaccine

Alternatively, go to the Bury Covid 19 Vaccination booking service at https://covid.nhsbookings.com/gmpcn

For details on testing for Coronavirus, go to https://www.bury.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=15451

NEW: Government restrictions

The government’s rules are changing on Monday and can be summarised as

All limits on social contact will be removed.
All remaining business and large events, such as theatre performances, will be allowed to reopen.
There will be no restrictions on the number of people that can attend weddings and other ceremonial events.
You are still legally required to self-isolate if you are tested positive for Coronavirus.

Click on the Government website for the full details.

The guidance relating to protecting people who are clinically extremely vulnerable is on this Government website and it can be summarised as “just be careful”.

Sainsbury's, Tesco, Asda, Waitrose, Aldi and Lidl have announced they will continue to ask shoppers to wear masks even after the legal requirement to do so in England is dropped on Monday. Hopefully other shops will do the same.

Bury's Director of Public Health, Lesley Jones, said: "While it will no longer be a legal requirement to wear face masks or maintain social distancing, we are calling on Bury people to do the following: keep washing your hands regularly, take part in 'track and trace' and self-isolate if you test positive. Also, meet outdoors when you can, and continue to wear face coverings in high-risk settings such as public transport, shops and health centres."

Part Two: Our services

With the increasing number of Covid-19 infections in Bury, any of our services may have to close at a moment’s notice should one or more of our staff have to self-isolate. We will advertise any changes via Facebook and Twitter.

The Jubilee Centre Cafe

Our café is open next week from 10 to 2.30, Monday to Friday.

In our cafe, we ask that all customers respect social distancing rules and wear a facemask when moving around. Our staff and volunteers will be doing likewise.

Table service will continue until we feel it is safe to reintroduce counter service.

As a temporary measure, the cafe will extend into the main hall, allowing us to accommodate more people.

Jubilee Centre activities

We have taken the decision to delay restarting activities at the Jubilee due to the increasing rise of the Coronavirus infection rate in Bury. Our priority is the health and well-being of our members, volunteers, tutors and staff and so we will restart the activities carefully and cautiously.

Unless government rules change again, our plans are

In the week of 9th August, we will start to bring back activities that can allow for social distancing between members and tutors.
In the week of 23rd August, we will bring back the remaining activities where it is not possible to social distance.

We will review this decision on a regular basis, and you will be the first to know if there are changes.

We will not expect members to provide a Covid passport or proof of vaccination to participate in the activities or enter the café.

Real life activities!

Diana is leading a Nordic Walking class on Wednesday afternoons from 2.00 pm till 3.00 pm. The classes are £5, payable by cash or cheque, on the day. We will supply the poles and Diana will give full instructions. You can just turn up on the day.

Sue will be leading her Tai Chi class outside the Jubilee Centre on Thursday morning at 11.00. This class is £5 - pay Sue. If it rains and it gets cancelled, our cafe is open for a coffee.

Online activities

We are continuing with some online activities until we can reopen the centre properly.

For this week only, Diana will be on our Facebook page on Monday for gentle exercise and chair-based exercise. The following week will see the return of the Tuesday DanceFit. Go to https://www.facebook.com/ageukbury for details.

Sue will be leading her Tai Chi class on Friday morning. Send an email to taichi.college@yahoo.co.uk for an access code and link to the Zoom app.

Our Charity Shops

Our Ramsbottom charity shop is open from 10 am to 4 pm, Wednesday to Sunday.

Our Bury charity shop is now open on Tuesday to Saturday from 10 to 4.

We are unable to collect donations at the moment but we can accept over-the-counter donations if you are able to bring them to the shop.

We will be asking our shoppers to wear facemasks and keep their distance from others. We really need our staff and volunteers to stay healthy and our shops to stay open.

Our services

During the pandemic, we are keeping essential support services open. These include:

Staff news

This week, we were pleased to welcome Steph to our team. Steph’s new role will be to support us and our friends at Bury Blind Society with the development of the telephone befriending services. We also welcome Amanda as our new shop assistant, who will be joining Lynn at our shop in Bury Town Centre.

We would like to pay special thanks to Irene, Janet and Juanita who have been working on the Keeping in Touch telephone service since October. These lovely ladies normally work on our Friends Together team but as we had to close the service due to restrictions, they moved over to the telephone service. This allowed us to increase the number of people we could support and give more time to those we were calling. We are extremely grateful for all the cheerfulness and joy that they have given to our telephone members.

Part Three: And in other news

Support for people waiting for the memory assessment

Being referred for a memory assessment can be an uncertain time. With wait times being longer due to Covid-19, a new website has been set up to support people offering advice and guidance about what to expect, and where they can turn to for more help if needed.

For more information, click onto https://www.nextsteps.org.uk/

Scam life insurance calls

Local residents in Bury are receiving scam calls about Life Insurance. The caller pretends they are linked to the NHS and asks questions about coronavirus in your family.

The Who Called Me website has received many complaints about the 01905-745834 number from which some of these calls are being made. The callers have been quite aggressive and demanding in their calls so if you receive a call, it’s best to hang up.

A warning about marriage allowance claims companies

Marriage tax allowance is a perk that enables one partner to transfer some of their tax-free personal allowance to their spouse, providing their spouse earns less than the current personal allowance. This can reduce their tax bill by up to £250 a year.

You can make a claim for this allowance for free, using the HMRC website. https://www.gov.uk/apply-marriage-allowance

I learnt from a reader today that there are companies pressuring people into making a claim and then taking a cut of the money. Whilst legitimate, their practises are dodgy, and people can feel bullied into parting with personal information.

The Weekly Quiz

The answers to last week’s Quiz is in the link.

This week’s Quiz brings you another 30 questions to test your knowledge. This quiz is just for you and your friends to enjoy. The answers will be sent out with next week’s newsletter.

If you have any news to share, please send to news@ageukbury.org.uk

Keep safe and be careful!

Andy and all at Age UK Bury