Newsletter ¦ 6th August

I hope you and your loved ones are well. I hope you are staying warm and dry from the extreme weather conditions we are experiencing.

Let’s Celebrate!

Before we start with the usual news items, I want to draw everyone’s attention to our first event to celebrate the end of lockdown and restrictions. It will be a community fun day on Saturday 11th September, from 11.00 to 4.00. We will have entertainment, stalls, music, food, a bar, activities, and fun for the whole family. Our funraising group are working on some brilliant ideas and our friends from the Bury Model Boat Club will be displaying their magnificent boats. .

We will be making more announcements in this newsletter when activities are confirmed. Expect to see plenty of smiles and balloons!

As part of the celebration, Bury Lions will be organising a special event. Duncan Lees, a drummer from the 1960's, is embarking on a five-hour Drum-A-Thon to raise funds to support older people’s services.

Duncan began drumming as a young soldier during his National Service, following which he formed a band called “The Talismen” in the early 1960’s and played the clubs and pubs in the North-East, appearing with a number of bands, including Clockwork Orange, until work took him to London and silenced his drums for the next 55 years.

At the young age of 83, Duncan returned to his love of drums at the start of the pandemic to keep himself fit. Despite being arthritic in every joint, diabetic and with a knee replacement, Duncan has been practicing daily, much to the delight of his neighbours!.

Duncan was inspired by Sir Tom’s “100 challenge” and with his Doctor’s permission, he is planning to drum his way through 100 tunes to raise awareness and funds for his favourite charities.

If you would like to sponsor Duncan online, please go to https://www.gofundme.com/f/sponsored-drumathon

Part One: Coronavirus in Bury

As of Thursday 5th July, 272.7 people per 100,000 tested positive for coronavirus over the last 7 days – that is a decrease of 26% from the previous week. On the same day, the England average was 281.7 people testing positive per 100,000 over the last seven days– a decrease of 20% from the previous week’s figure. It is a welcome sign that the number of cases is dropping but the figure is still high, so we are remaining cautious in opening up.

Information about vaccinations, getting a test for Covid-19 and links to government advice are now found on our Coronavirus page

Part Two: Our services

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.

Following the rain damage, we have moved the café into the hall, while we dry out the conservatory and repair the ceiling.

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 will restart activities in the hall from September.

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.

Diana will be on our Facebook page on Monday for gentle exercise and chair-based exercise and on Tuesday, we see the return of 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 and 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 are 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:

Part Three: And in other news

A love letter to Bury

As part of the Bury Town of Culture, Small Things Creative Projects is creating a love letter to Bury and needs your help.

An online form has been created asking for your thoughts about Bury. Questions include

What is your favourite place in Bury and why?
If you had to describe Bury in three words what would they be?
If you had to describe Bury as an emotion or feeling, what would it be?

Click on this link and be creative

Save free prescriptions for 60-65 year olds

At the moment, everyone in England over 60 gets free prescriptions.

The Government have launched a consultation on their plans to raise the age for free prescriptions in England from 60 to the State Pension age, which today is 66.

Whilst those receiving benefits will be exempt from this charge, it will affect millions in this age group, if their income is modest but takes them just above the benefit line. It also penalises those who need multiple medicines because they are managing several serious long term health conditions, like hypertension or heart disease.

It is a massive blow to English people. In Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, prescription charges are free to everyone, at any age. It is difficult to understand why people who belong to the same nation are being penalised for living in the wrong area.

There’s a strong public health case for free prescriptions. It's difficult to understand the logic of making people pay for their medicines when they’re of an age when it’s important they take them. If certain conditions are left untreated, they can lead to really serious medical problems, piling more pressure onto the NHS.

Our national partner, Age UK is campaigning to stop this and you can find out more at : https://www.ageuk.org.uk/our-impact/campaigning/save-free-prescriptions-for-60-65-year-olds/

Beware the Loan Sharks!

Manchester Credit Union are holding a FREE family fun day to raise awareness of safer alternatives to borrowing money instead of illegal lenders and loan sharks.

It's on Wednesday 11th August, from 10 am to 2 pm at Mill Gate in Bury Town Centre, BL9 0PN. The event will be lots of fun along with some great financial advice from Loan Shark News, Bury Council and Six Town Housing.

Rumour-Busting

Some regulars told me they had heard a rumour that our charity and the Jubilee Centre were closing down. All charities are facing enormous challenges because of the pandemic, however, I can assure all our readers that there is no threat of our charity closing down.

Our charity in Bury was created in the second world war and its going to take a lot more than a pesky virus to undermine us. We are here for the long-term!

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

Happy Birthday to Jane, our befriending co-ordinator, who is celebrating her 60^th birthday this week. We hope you are having a lovely holiday!

Keep safe and keep dry!

Andy and all at Age UK Bury