Newsletter ¦ 19th November
Greetings from the Jubilee Centre
I hope you and your loved ones are warm, safe and well. In this week’s newsletter, there is an offer for free home checks, a warning about a scam and our first plans for Christmas. Our next newsletter will be in two weeks’ time, unless we get swamped with more news to share with you.
Coronavirus in Bury
As of Wednesday 17th November, 348.2 people per 100,000 tested positive for coronavirus over the last 7 days – that is a decrease of 3% from the previous week. On the same day, the England average was 382.4 people testing positive per 100,000 over the last seven days– an increase of 10% from the previous week’s figure.
Concern of a fourth wave of coronavirus has increased, following a massive rise in cases in the Netherlands and Austria, where restrictions are being re-introduced. However, in other European countries like France, Spain and Portugal, the number of cases remain relatively low. It is impossible to predict how the infection rate will go in the UK and we are taking each day at a time.
Covid is still with us and if you are feeling unwell, please help us to stay open by not coming to the Jubilee Centre or our shops. We are asking everyone to use the sanitiser provided and be considerate in giving each other space.
While we’ve all been focused on Covid-19, other winter bugs have been arriving in increasing numbers. Health services in Bury are already seeing plenty of colds, respiratory illnesses and some early cases of flu.
Continued social distancing, wearing of masks, greater ventilation and hand-washing will go some way in limiting the spread of all sorts of nasties, along with our borough’s fantastic uptake of both Covid-19 and flu vaccinations. A global study has just been released with the finding that wearing a facemask cuts Covid incidence by 53% so it is worth the trouble.
It should be noted that cold weather can be just as bad as viral illnesses, especially for people aged 65 and older. As we age it takes longer to warm up, which raises the risk of increased blood pressure, heart attacks and strokes.Age UK and the UK Health Security Agency (formerly Public Health England) have teamed up to produce some really helpful hints and tips for staying warm and well, perfect for printing out to give to older friends and relatives. Find them here https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/keep-warm-keep-well-leaflet-gives-advice-on-staying-healthy-in-cold-weather
Vaccine Boosters – Change of eligibility
You can now book an appointment for a vaccine booster if you are:
- aged 50 and over or aged 16 and over with a health condition that puts you at high risk from COVID-19
- it's been 152 days (5 months) since your second dose.
You no longer need to wait to be contacted by the NHS, and you can now book an appointment using the Government’s online booking service at https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/coronavirus-vaccination/book-coronavirus-vaccination/book-or-manage-a-booster-dose-of-the-coronavirus-covid-19-vaccine/
From Monday, those aged 40-49 will be able to book using this website. Please tell your friends and family about the changes.
Free Home Energy Checks
We are offering FREE Home Energy checks to make homes more energy efficient and warmer in the winter. Our advisors will discuss energy saving equipment with you and if suitable, these will be installed by our handyperson free of charge. We are offering equipment up to the value of £30.
To benefit from this programme, contact Ruth on 07547 400142 or email ruth@ageukbury.org.uk
How a Home Energy Check helped Betty
Betty is in her eighties and lives alone. Although she has a positive attitude to life and works hard to keep herself fit and busy, Betty does suffer from arthritis and a disability resulting from an injury. However, she likes to be as independent as possible and wants to remain in her own home for as long as possible.
We made Betty aware of the equipment available for saving energy and reducing heating costs and she was able to choose the goods best suited to her needs. She chose night lights, low energy bulbs, radiator foils and draught excluders. Betty gave the following feedback on the items chosen. The plug-in night lights make her feel safer moving about during the night; the light given off by the LED lights is really bright and helps her to read better; she has found the letter box brush to be quite efficient in reducing draughts and keeping the heat in and the radiator panels/foils have made a noticeable difference in warmth of the rooms.
Betty said “This is a very good scheme as it makes fuel economical and saves money. I would never have known of these things being available without Age UK Bury making me aware of what was available”.
(Name has been changed)
Our services
Our latest Jubilee Centre timetable is in this link
Christmas at the Jubilee
It’s starting to look a bit like Christmas at the Jubilee as we blow the dust off the decorations and get them up. We have decided not to do Christmas Lunches this year, as bringing people so close together in the Conservatory café is not a good thing to do while the virus is still around. We are working on ideas to celebrate Christmas and the New Year and more details will follow in future emails.
Christmas Raffle
Our Café Christmas Raffle is back and we are accepting donations of drinks (alcoholic & non alcoholic), pre-packed cakes, biscuits, crackers, Xmas crackers, chocolates and sweets. Please give donations to Karen or Shirley at the Café.
Tickets are £1 per strip and the draw will take place on 17th December. There are already some tempting prizes.
We are grateful to The Hot Tub Hire Company who have donated a £50 voucher to our raffle. Find out more about their services at https://www.hottubhireco.com/ and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/TheHotTubHireCompany
A Christmas Concert By The Radcliffe Male Voice Choir
Our seasonal festivities will begin with the Christmas Concert led by the excellent Radcliffe Male Voice Choir. This year, the Choir is celebrating its centenary year, having formed in 1921, so it is going to be an extra-special concert.
It is taking place on Saturday 4th December at 2.00 pm (Doors Open at 1.30 pm) at the Jubilee Centre.
Tickets are on sale at £10.00 and the price includes refreshments at the interval. Tickets are available now from the Jubilee Centre reception.
We know that people are hesitant about buying tickets in advance in case they should not be able to come because of illness. So our offer is that full refunds will be given if the event is cancelled, or if you, or the person you care for, or the people you are coming with, fall ill. We will not need any evidence of sickness – we will take your word for it.
Please phone 0161 763 9030 for more details.
Scam alert: Vision Homes
We’ve been made aware of a recent phone scam attempt to a member of the public from a company pretending to work for our national partner, Age UK.
‘Vision Homes’, claims they are working with or for Age UK, offering loft insulation to older people. This is false.
Please encourage any victims to report this or any other scam to the Bury Trading Standards Service or local police.
- Trading Standards Service, 3 Knowsley Place, Duke Street, Bury, Lancashire, BL9 0EJ
- Citizens Advice consumer helpline on 0808 2231133
- email: tradingstandards@bury.gov.uk
Age UK has doorstep crime resources and phone scam resources available on their website.
Shop with Amazon and help raise funds for Age UK Bury
If you are shopping for Christmas on Amazon, you can raise funds for our charity at the same time, at no cost to yourself.
Simply shop at smile.amazon.co.uk/ch/1141901-0 or with AmazonSmile ON in the Amazon Shopping app, and AmazonSmile donates to Age UK Bury at no extra cost.
Amazon automatically donates 0.5% of the purchase price of eligible products to Age UK Bury. If 200 people spent £100 on Amazon Smile, we receive £100. Please tell your friends and if we can get 200 people persuading 10 friends to do the same, we receive £1,000. Every single penny does stay in Bury, supporting our charity’s work.
Thank you
A big thank you goes out to Sue Pinder and all the members of the Medium Walks group for their donations for our raffles at the Jubilee. We have used their donations at the Let’s Celebrate Day in September, at the Party night in October and the final items will be raffle prizes at the Christmas Concert on 4th December.
The Quiz
The answers to the last Quiz (dated 5th November) is in the link.
This week’s Quiz brings you another 30 questions to test your knowledge and the some of the questions are quite topical. This quiz is just for you and your friends to enjoy. The right answers will be sent out with the next newsletter.
Local drummer goes national
In this year’s Children in Need, Owain Wyn Evans, The BBC weather presenter, raised raised a record-breaking £3m for charity with a 24 hours drumathon. He was supported by 50 other drummers, including Duncan Lees, who did his own drumathon at the Jubilee Centre back in September.
At the young age of 83, Duncan was the eldest drummer to take part in the BBC’s most successful 24-hour challenge ever. Well Done to Duncan.
The morale of the story is “Ignore your age, live your dreams”.
Keep safe
Andy and all at Age UK Bury
