Hello everyone! I hope you had a pleasant Easter and you are all enjoying the warmer weather. The next meeting will be on Monday 28th April at 2.00 pm. As usual, sign the attendance book and if you visit The Seahorse Centre at other times sign in at Reception and wear a visitor badge. There is no smoking allowed inside or in the vicinity of the building.
Our address: The Seahorse Centre, Stephenson Road, Minehead, TA24 5EB
West Somerset Disability Association Trustees
Terry Venner (Chair); Martin Greenwood; Sue Horne; Peter and Heidi Morse; Tim Poat; Una Wright.
Transport
Dave Willett organises a taxi for partially-sighted people to come to the Monthly meetings. This must be booked with him. If you booked to come and you can’t make it, PLEASE RING HIM, to cancel it.
If you cannot access other transport you can register with Atwest community transport 01643 707090 and use the SLINKY bus to come to meetings. You must have a bus pass.
PLEASE HELP US TO HELP YOU!!! Transport queries about outings should be addressed to the Events Committee.
Useful Telephone Numbers
West Somerset Disability Association Committee Members
President: Jean Gilbert 01984 641197
Chairman: Gordon Wright 01643 703970
Vice Chairman: Mary Court 01643 702129
Secretary: Molly Newstead 01984 634739
Treasurer: David Kendall 01643 863505
Transport for the monthly WSDA meeting only:
David Willett 01643 708592
Members’ Representatives:
(Minutes) Marlene Saunders 01643 702972
(Welfare) Margaret Bruford 01984 656367
Events Committee:
Peter Kilner 01643 821464
Sylvia Griffiths 01643 704637
IT Tutor Chris Brinkman 01643 708025 Mobile 07971 285878
Seahorse Centre IT room 01643 702021 or 07971 285878
Messages (Reception) 01643 705000
E-mail: wsomersetdisability@tiscali.co.uk or wsomersetdisability@yahoo.co.uk
Web Site: www.westsomersetdisability.org.uk
Computers
The newsletter is also on our website with news of our activities and forthcoming events. Please tell us your e-mail if you have one, as an e-mailed newsletter is free but we must pay to post them. Help us to help you!
If you would like computer training, please us know or talk to Chris our IT instructor. You must be a member of our association (£10.00 per annum) before you can have lessons, which cost £2.00 per hour. If anyone has a problem with their computer at home and would like help from Chris, he will tell the committee of the problem and they will then decide what to do.
Disability Advocate
The service is provided by A4e (0800 288 8712). They are based at A4e, 2nd Floor, Victoria House, Victoria Street, Taunton, Somerset TA1 3JZ. The A4e website is www.a4e.gov.uk. The service will offer help if you need assistance with care arrangements, equipment, housing, blue badges, etc.
President’s Report
Hello everyone,
Just a short note this time.
There is a new phone number for you to note: Sky TV helpline for disabled people is 08442 410333.
Open DAWS have a change of number. Please contact Cathy McGill from now on at 01643 821112
The outing to Cricket St Thomas is on Thursday 15th May. The bus has been booked and anyone needing a buggy or scooter should phone 01460 67220 to book it.
I have been nominated by the Trustees for the Nationwide Community and Heritage Award. The regional stage will be in June and the National Finals in November. It I progress to either stage, there will be money in the pot for the group.
Bye from Jean
Vice-Chairman’s Report
I hope that you all had a very good Easter and did not indulge in too many Easter eggs.
Peter Kilner did a sponsored walk on Easter Saturday, 22nd March from The Foresters’ in Dunster to Butlins, the long way through the town and all along the sea front. When he said what he intended to do I promised that I would walk (or ride) with him to keep him company as I felt it would be more fun if he had someone to talk to and laugh with. It was an honour to have done this walk with you, Peter.
It turned out to be the coldest and windiest day of the year; I had only just come back from the Caribbean and boy, did I feel the cold! Half-way I had to swap vehicles as my scooter stopped and would not move. I had run out of power, someone had turned off the electricity in my shed and while I thought my scooter was charging, nothing was happening. So, as I said I swapped vehicles and continued in my electric wheelchair. The sea front was the worst part; the wind was so strong and the sand was blowing everywhere.
There were not very many people around but we pressed on, full of hope and we collected £110 on the day, not bad considering how horrible the weather was!
Peter has been collecting sponsorship money for some weeks, working tirelessly day in and day out and the total raised is somewhere around £700 which is fantastic! HE cannot be praised enough for his efforts. Thank you, Peter, you are a gem.
Mary Treasurer’s Report
At the meeting we raised £49.00 by the raffle and also about we heard that Peter raised a really big sum of money on his sponsored walk on Easter Saturday.
The time has come to renew your subscriptions to the Association. It now costs £10 for a year, which is still excellent value for money. Many of you have already renewed your subscriptions. If you have not yet done it yet can you send me a cheque payable to WSDA (or the West Somerset Disability Association) to my home address at 5 Harepark, Allerford, Minehead, TA24 8HL.
Thank you
David Kendall
Events’ Committee Report
Coffee morning
Saturday 12th April from 10.00 to 12.00 at the Carantoc Centre, Millett Close, Carhampton. Bring-and-buy sale. Come and support us.
On Thursday May 15th will be an outing to Cricket St Thomas wildlife park Chard, Somerset. A bus has been organised to take us there. If you need a scooter or buggy when you are there can you phone 01460 67220 to arrange it. Thank you
Trip to Weston-Super-Mare on Wednesday 18th June. Details to be announced by next month.
Announcements
Free Directory Enquiries
Phone 0800 100 100. There will be some adverts first which pay for the service and keep it free and then the operator will come on line to help you.
Articles, letters and e-mails
STROKE: Remember The 1st Three Letters…. S.T.R.
During a BBQ, a friend stumbled and took a little fall – she assured everyone that she was fine (they offered to call paramedics) …..she said she had just tripped over a brick because of her new shoes.
They got her cleaned up and got her a new plate of food. While she appeared a bit shaken up, Ingrid went about enjoying herself the rest of the evening.
Ingrid’s husband called later telling everyone that his wife had been taken to the hospital – (at 6:00 pm Ingrid passed away.) She had suffered a stroke at the BBQ. Had they known how to identify the signs of a stroke, perhaps In grid would be with us today. Some don’t die…. they end up in a helpless, hopeless condition instead.
A neurologist says that if he can get to a stroke victim within 3 hours he can totally reverse the effects of a stroke… totally. He said the trick was getting a stroke recognized, diagnosed, and then getting the patient medically cared for within 3 hours, which is tough.
RECOGNIZING A STROKE
Thank God for the sense to remember the ’3′ steps, STR . Read and Learn! Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify. Unfortunately, the lack of awareness spells disaster. The stroke victim may suffer severe brain damage when people nearby fail to recognize the symptoms of a stroke.
Now doctors say a bystander can recognize a stroke by asking three simple questions:
S * Ask the individual to SMILE.
T * Ask the person to TALK and SPEAK A SIMPLE SENTENCE (Coherently) (i.e. It is sunny out today)
R * Ask him or her to RAISE BOTH ARMS.
If he or she has trouble with ANY ONE of these tasks, call 999/911 immediately and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher.
New Sign of a Stroke ——– Stick out Your Tongue: Ask the person to ‘stick’ out his tongue.. If the tongue is ‘crooked’, if it goes to one side or the other, that is also an indication of a stroke.
A cardiologist says if everyone who gets this e-mail sends it to 10 people; you can bet that at least one life will be saved.
From: Linda Barriball lbarriball.freespace@virgin.net
Subject: MEMORABLE LETTER TO BANK
A 98 Year old woman wrote this to her Bank. The Bank thought it amusing enough to have it published in the New York Times.
Dear Sir,
I am writing this to thank you for bouncing my cheque with which I endeavoured to pay my plumber last month. By my calculations, three ‘nanoseconds’ must have elapsed between his presenting the cheque and the arrival in my account of the funds needed to honour it. I refer, of course, to the automatic deposit of my pension, an arrangement, which I admit has been in place for only eight years. You are to be commended for seizing that brief window of opportunity, and also for debiting my account £30 by way of penalty for the inconvenience caused to your bank. My thankfulness springs from the manner in which this incident has caused me to rethink my errant financial ways.
I notice that whereas I personally attend to your telephone calls and letters, when I tried to contact you, I am confronted by the impersonal, overcharging, pre-recorded, faceless entity, which your bank has become.
From now on, I, like you, choose only to deal with a flesh-and-blood person. My mortgage and loan payments will therefore and hereafter no longer be automatic, but will arrive at your bank by cheque, addressed personally and confidentially to an employee at your bank whom you must nominate.
Be aware that it is an offence under the Postal Act for any other person to open such an envelope. Please find attached an Application Contact Status, which I require your chosen employee to complete.
I am sorry it runs to eight pages, but in order that I know as much about him or her as your bank knows about me, there is no alternative.
Please note that all copies of his or her medical history must be countersigned by a Solicitor, and the mandatory details of his/her financial situation (income, debts, assets, and liabilities) must be accompanied by documented proof.
In due course, I will issue your employee with a Pin number, which he/she must quote in dealing with me.
I regret that I cannot be shorter than 28 digits but, again, I have modelled it on the number of button presses required of me to access my account balance on your phone bank service. As they say, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
Let me level the playing field even further. When you call me, press buttons as follows:
1. To make an appointment to see me.
2. To query a missing payment
3. To transfer the call to my living room in case I am there
4. To transfer the call to my bedroom in case I am sleeping.
5. To transfer the call to my toilet in case I am attending to nature.
6. To transfer the call to my mobile phone if I am not at home.
7. To leave a message on my computer (a password to access my computer is required. A password will be communicated to you at a later date to the authorised contact)
8. To return to the main menu and to listen to options 1 through 8
9. To make a general complaint or inquiry, the contact, uplifting music will play for the duration of the call.
Regrettably, but again following your example, I must also levy an establishment fee to cover the setting up of this new arrangement.
May I wish you a happy, if ever so slightly less prosperous, New Year?
Your Humble Client
(Remember : This was written by a 98 year woman; DOESN’T SHE MAKE YOU PROUD!
Contributed by Len Cross
Handy Numbers
Age Concern Information Line 0800 00 99 66 www.ageconcern.org.uk
Arthritis Care 0808 800 4050 www.arthritiscare.org.uk
A Taste of Exmoor: Home cooked food delivered to your door! 01643 709856 or 07919 816197
AT West Community Transport 01643 709701
Blue Badge (Disabled Parking Scheme) 0845 3459133 or 01823 335285
Breast Cancer Care 0808 800 6000 www.breastcancercare.org.uk
CVS (Council for Voluntary Service) Minehead 01643 707484
Cruse Bereavement Care 0870 167 1677 www.crusebereavementcare.org.uk
Depression Alliance 0845 123 2320 www.depressionalliance.org
Diabetes UK 0845 120 2960 www.diabetes.org.uk
Free Directory Enquiries (with adverts) 0800 100 100
Help the Aged 0808 800 6565 www.helptheaged.org.uk
Hospital Transport 01278 727444
NHS Direct 0845 46 47 www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk
Open DAWS (Cathy McGill) 01643 821112
PALS (Patient Advisory and Liaison Service) Ruby Haq 01278 437013 www.somerset.nhs.uk/pals
Piper Lifeline (Cynthia Lewis) 01643 709234
Prestige Mobility (Customer Focus Team) 0970 787 1975 www.prestigemobility.com
Samaritans 08457 09090 www.samaritans.org.uk
Sky Helpline for the Disabled 08442 410333
Somerset Association for the Blind 01823 333818 www.sab-fund.org.uk
Stroke Association 0845 303 3100 www.stroke.org.uk
Talking Newspapers 01984 640 471
Winter Warmth Helpline 0800 085 700 www.dh.gov.uk
Next Meeting
The next meeting will be on Monday 28th April at 2.00 pm at The Seahorse Centre. I hope to see you there.
