Newsletter ¦ 5th March

Greetings from the Jubilee Centre!

I hope you and your loved ones are well and coping with the third lockdown.

This week there are quite a few things to be cheerful about Coronavirus infection rates in Bury have fallen dramatically, more people have received their first dose and Dolly Parton went viral, singing about the joys of having a jab!

In part three of this newsletter, there is news about walking, free IT classes and invitations to join online discussions about the future of Bury and how research can improve everyone’s life. This week’s quiz includes 50 General Knowledge questions to keep those brain cells active!

Part One: Coronavirus in Bury

In Bury, on Thursday 4^th March, 135.1 people per 100,000 were tested positive for coronavirus – that is a fall of 41% from the previous week’s figure. On the same day, the England average was 81.3 people testing positive per 100,000 – a fall of 31% from the previous week’s figure. Bury has a bit of catching up to do with the rest of England, but the fall is very welcome news.

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 was outlined in my email on Tuesday 5^th January. A link to that email is here: https://www.ageuk.org.uk/bury/our-services/coronavirus/newsletter--5th-january/

From Monday 8th March, there are some small changes to lockdown rules.

Schools and childcare will reopen.
The rules on visiting care homes will change to allow regular indoor visits for a single named visitor - please consult the care home about their arrangements before you visit.
You will be allowed to spend time in outdoor public spaces with one other person, or with your household or support bubble for a drink or picnic. You must continue to maintain social distance from those outside your household. This is in addition to outdoor exercise, which is already permitted.

Vaccination Update

At the end of February, 65,203 people in Bury have now received their first vaccination - that’s about 36% of the eligible population (182,100). This is a tremendous achievement by our council, local health services, the army and local volunteers.

Book a vaccination online - New criteria

You can now book a vaccination online if you are aged 60 and over, or if you have previously received a letter saying you are at high risk from coronavirus (clinically extremely vulnerable), if you are a main carer for someone at high risk from coronavirus or if you are an eligible frontline health or social care worker.

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

Tell Healthwatch Bury about your vaccination experience

Healthwatch Bury wants to know:

What you think about the vaccine programme - good or bad
Whether you would be willing to have the vaccine if you have not already and if you have already had the vaccine,
What you think about information on the vaccination programme.

Your feedback is confidential but can help Bury services spot issues affecting care for you and your loved ones.

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/COVIDVaccinationsHWBury

More vaccination information

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

Dementia UK has produced guidance on how best to support people who experience dementia with the vaccination process. Click here: Giving the Covid-19 vaccine to someone living with dementia - Dementia UK

Our friends at Age UK have produced a webpage answering the main questions about the Covid-19 vaccine. Click onto https://www.ageuk.org.uk/information-advice/coronavirus/coronavirus-guidance/coronavirus-vaccine

Dolly Parton, aged 75 but does not look it, invested $1m into the Moderna vaccine and this week she received a dose of her own medicine. She went viral on the internet by adapting her song Jolene for the world. The video is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjbSWebA3Ko

Bury Covid-19 Community Champions – volunteers needed

Earlier this week Bury Council 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

our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/ageukbury/
on Twitter - https://twitter.com/AgeUKBury

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

It’s really the last chance to claim a free energy check and free equipment

Older people in the borough of Bury can receive a free home energy check and goods worth up to £30 through our new Handyperson service.

Andrew, our handyperson manager will assess the energy efficiency of a person’s home, give tips on how to save energy and, where appropriate and abiding by Government rules on social distancing, install simple and practical energy efficiency measures such as draught proofing, low energy light bulbs and radiator reflector panels to help reduce energy bills. These goods are free and worth up to the value of £30 per household.

Here are some comments from people who have received this offer:

“Great service, my home feels cosy now and draught free”
“Brilliant support and help with checking I’ve got a competitive energy tariff”
“Fantastic help and support changing my meter and bringing the cost of my electricity down”
“Really helpful with supplying energy saving bulbs and timers”

For more information, contact Louise on 07872 067662 or email louise@ageukbury.org.uk. Louise’s office hours are 08:30 am – 4:00 pm, Monday to Thursday. At other times, please leave a message on the answer machine.

We can only help four more households before this project comes to an end. First come, first served.

Part Three: And in other news

Free IT courses

The realities of lockdown and social distancing have shown how invaluable IT Digital Skills for shopping, work, education and connecting with family and friends.

Three five-week courses, teaching IT basics, will start next week. The details are

the Attic Project from Tuesday, 9th March, 9:30 AM to 12 noon
Prestwich Library from Wednesday 10th March, 9:30 AM to 12 noon
Bury Adult Learning Centre from Thursday 11th March, 1:00 PM to 3:30 PM

Phone 0161 253 5772 to book your place on the March courses.

The Daily Mile Toolkit

A new toolkit has been designed to help people get out on a short walk each day in their local community. The GM Daily Mile Toolkit is bursting with tips, tools and motivational ideas to help adults and families walk more, outside of school settings. It aims to support people to do a Daily Mile however and wherever suits them

Our Friends Together team are now doing three laps of the Lido, which is equivalent to one mile, before work and really enjoying it.

https://gmwalking.co.uk/our-resources/the-gm-daily-mile-toolkits/

Utility Care Scam

A member called to inform us that she received a call from Utility Care, offering her boiler maintenance at a low cost. The number they phoned from was 0333 200 7386. They were very persistent and persuasive, but she put the phone down and phoned us.

A quick google search revelled that this number had used to harass and bully other older people into giving their credit card details. The company and telephone number have now been reported to Action Fraud.

If you get a call like this, you can report it to Action Fraud by calling 0300 123 2040 Monday to Friday 8am - 8pm or via the website at https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/

You can check who called you on https://who-called.co.uk/

Can research make a difference for older people in Bury?

GM Older People's Network and Manchester University’s Healthy Ageing Research Group will hold an online workshop to discuss the potential, benefits, and necessity of involving older people as experts in the whole process of research.

The workshop will take place on Tuesday 9th March, from 10:15 to 12:30.

Bury Futures - Online discussion on 11 March at 7pm

Bury 2030 represents a completely new relationship between public services, communities and businesses which is based on co-design and accountability for shared decision making. It is about doing "with" not "to" by bringing a greater focus on wellbeing, prevention and early intervention.

In this conversation, Philip Collins (The Times, New Stateman) will be in discussion with Sajid Hashmi MBE, independent chair of the Bury Voluntary and Community Faith Alliance, and Vicky Maloney, the Chief Executive of Early Break, to consider the role of community leadership and working together to achieve shared outcomes for the borough.

For more details, click onto Bury Futures - Bury Council

Bury Town of Culture: Creative Commissions 2021

Bury Town of Culture is looking to find six local artists to create a series of creative micro-commissions for the borough.

Applications are now open for artists working in any medium including art, prose, design, film, poetry or performance.

Each successful commission will receive £500 worth of funding from Bury Town of Culture as well as “in kind” support from the town's cultural partners including The Met Theatre and Bury Art Museum.

For more details go to https://www.bury.gov.uk/culturecommissions

The Quiz

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

This week’s quiz is a 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