Newsletter ¦ 17th September
Dear friends
I hope you and your loved ones are well. It has been great to see the Jubilee Centre come back to life as our activities restarted. Today's email includes feedback about last Saturday, an invitation to our next major event, and a plea for volunteers to help us with our new befriending services. Happy reading!
Thank You For Saturday!
Our first Let’s Celebrate with Age UK Bury event took place last Saturday and it was great to see hundreds of people turn up at The Jubilee Centre.
It is impossible to list all who made the day a great success, but I must thank the fundraisers, volunteers & staff at Age UK Bury and Bury Lions for planning and making it happen, our Café team who had their busiest day ever and Duncan, who succeeded with his personal challenge of playing drums to 100 songs in five hours.
This was a massive personal achievement for Duncan and we are all really proud of him. You never see an over-weight drummer as it is a very physical and demanding activity. To commit to playing for five hours at any age is ambitious but as Duncan’s T-shirt said “Never underestimate an old man with a drum kit.” It sums up what our Jubilee Centre is all about – age is but a number – it should never be a barrier to stopping you from achieving your potential. Duncan said “It was a lovely day and well attended. I can relax now and enjoy the rest of my retirement.” However, there are already calls to make it an annual event!
Duncan is selling his drum-kit so he can replace it with an electronic one, which will make his neighbours immensely happy. If you would like to make an offer (£250 or nearest offer) or make a donation for his achievement, please contact Age UK Bury on 0161 763 9030 or email admin@ageukbury.org.uk
The organisers are counting up the pennies and an announcement on the final figure will be made shortly. One bit of news I can give you is that our café took over £1,500 on the day, which beats the previous record by £600.
A Big Thank You to everyone who came and made it a great day. It was great to see friends and smiles. I have added a few pictures at the end of this newsletter and more will be featured in the next few newsletters.
Our Second “Let’s Celebrate” Event – 1st October 2021
Our next event is our Party Night on Friday 1st October. This is our second disco night, following the tremendous success of our first, two years ago. Paul, who played the music outside last Saturday, will be our DJ and he will be playing music from 60s to 90s (All the good stuff!). There will be a bar and a raffle.
Tickets are £10 per person and the price of the ticket includes a pie supper (with a vegetarian option). People aged 14-50 must be accompanied by a responsible parent or grand-parent!
There will be a full refund on all tickets if the event gets cancelled, due to covid restrictions or any other reason. Tickets purchased for the disco cancelled in April 2020 will be honoured for this event.
Dress is smart casual but if you would like to come in fancy dress, there will be a prize for the best one.
The doors open at 7.00 pm and the event ends at 11.00
Membership of the Jubilee Centre
Our membership scheme at the Jubilee Centre is on hold, until we know that we can stay open permanently.
We will not be holding any day trips this year, but hopefully we can start them again next year.
Volunteers Needed for Befriending
Our Keeping In Touch telephone service was set up to deal with isolation during the pandemic and we currently have 147 clients who we phone every week. We are now looking to move the service on by setting up a bank of volunteers to help with face-to-face meetings and mobile befrienders, as well as volunteers to help with the telephone befriending.
Every day, our volunteers know we make a difference to those we support. Here is some feedback we have received.
- “I regularly received calls, and it gave me assurance to know I was not alone and was supported through this difficult time.”
- “The telephone service has helped me very much and has lovely to get the telephone calls. I know someone cares enough to take the time and always look forward to the chat.”
- “Without the telephone service, I don’t know how I would have coped. You have certainly helped me keep my sanity.”
- “I really enjoyed the calls enormously, my friend moved further away last year and my sister died at Xmas. My clubs ceased and I felt alone. I loved these calls.”
- “It has kept me going, people get so lonely when they live on their own, it is nice to look forward to your phone call, at least we know someone cares for us”
If you would like to join a team that makes a difference to older people in Bury, come to our drop-in session on Monday 4th October in the café at 11.00. Over a slice of cake and a brew, you can find out more about befriending with Jane and Steph. Alternatively, call Jane on 0161 763 9030 or email jane@ageukbury.org.uk if you would like to join us sooner.
If you know of someone who needs a regular telephone call, please let Jane know.
Bury Walk of Hope
The Greater Manchester’s Month of Hope (10 Sep – 10 Oct) is about raising awareness of suicide and encouraging people to have open conversations about their mental health.
As part of the Month of Hope, Bury Walk of Hope is taking place on Sunday 3rd October 2021 at 1pm. Meet at Burrs Country Park. It is a 3-mile circular walk with wellbeing activities for approx. 2 hours.
For more information, go to https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/bury-walk-of-hope-tickets-169852111237
Coronavirus in Bury
As of Thursday 16th September, 284.7 people per 100,000 tested positive for coronavirus over the last 7 days – that is a decrease of 10% from the previous week. On the same day, the England average was 287.3 people testing positive per 100,000 over the last seven days– a decrease of 15% from the previous week’s figure.
The Public Health briefing for the borough of Bury, published 17th September 2021, is in this link.
We have not beaten the virus yet and it has the potential to return. In reopening our activities and services, we are keeping a close watch on local infection figures, recognising that we may have to close down, if infection levels rise rapidly.
Please help us to stay open by not coming to the Jubilee Centre or our shops if you are unwell. We are asking everyone to use the sanitiser provided and be considerate in giving each other space.
All young people in Bury aged 16 and over are now able to get a Covid jab and get protected against coronavirus. Please urge your young family members to get the jab. Information about vaccinations, getting a test for Covid-19 and links to government advice are now found on our Coronavirus page
Our services
Jubilee Centre Activities for 20th – 24th September are in this link
Information about our services is on our website: www.ageukbury.org.uk
Our Handyperson Service is closed this week and our staff return at the end of the month.
The Quiz
The answers to last week’s Quiz (dated 10th September) 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 right answers will be sent out with next week’s newsletter.
If you have any news to share, please send to news@ageukbury.org.uk
Have a great weekend!
Andy and all at Age UK Bury
