West Somerset
Disability Association

Hello everyone.  Here is the November newsletter.  The next newsletter will be published at the end of January 2006.  See you all at the next meeting at 1.50pm on Monday 30th January at the Seahorse Centre, Minehead.
At the meeting everybody must sign in, in the attendance book provided and if you come to the Seahorse Centre at other times sign in at Reception and remember to wear a visitor badge at all times.  There is no smoking allowed inside or at the front of the building.  You can go round to the back of the building for a quick smoke.
The address of the Seahorse Centre is: Stephenson Road, Minehead, TA24 5EB

Transport

If you booked to come by taxi to the monthly WSDA meeting and you can’t make it, can you PLEASE RING DAVE WILLETT, who organises this transport, to cancel it.  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:  Dorothy Lloyd  01984 639636
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:
   Rita Sandiford  01643 703469
   Marlene Saunders  01643 702972
Events Organisers: Margaret Bruford  01984 656367
   Jude O’Brien  01643 862185
   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
Web Site: www.westsomersetdisability.co.uk

Computers

If you have just joined our group or just gone onto the Internet can you please give us your e-mail address, as it costs us nothing to send you your newsletter by E-mail but we have to pay to post them?  Please help us to help you!
If you would like to do some computer training please let one of the committee members know or talk to Chris our IT instructor.  You must be a member of our association before you can have lessons, which will cost £2.00 per hour from the New Year.  If anyone has a problem with their computer at home and would like help from Chris he will then advise the committee as to the problem and the committee will then decide what to do.
Disability Advocate
The Disability Advocate for West Somerset will help if you need assistance with care arrangements, equipment, housing etc.  Specific help with accessing benefits is available through the Taunton office, Richard Pitman, 01823 327453. 

President’s Report

Hello everybody, here I am back from my holiday and yes I am brown!!  Bristol Airport is brilliant at helping the disabled and gives us all the help that is needed.
Not a lot to tell you this month.  We have a speaker in January his name is Simon Anderson and is going to talk on Dogs for Disabled People, he is a friend of Peter and Heidi Morse, two of our Trustees.  So please come and support him, and please remember to bring RAFFLE PRIZES.   Have been invited to about five lunches this month, so will not be going anywhere near the scales for ages!! 
Jenny Wood thanks for coming and leaving the leaflets, which I distributed to members.  Although very interesting.  I don’t think it would apply to our group.

Chairman’s Report

I feel like saying “I don’t believe it” as I realise that Christmas is nearly here, as it seems to me there has been hardly any time passed since we were saying the same thing last year. I am now realising that the tale we used to be told by our elders that as you get older time seems to pass more quickly, it is now a reality, which applies to most of our members.
The “Jolly” to Weston Super Mare was another success story for Shirley and Sandra who organised the event.
The last meeting for 2005 took place on Monday, which was well attended, but we are still missing some of our familiar faces, which is a shame. You miss out when getting to know what is going on in the group. Try and make it to the January meeting if you can, if you have any difficulties in doing so ring me or someone on the committee, a list is at the beginning of this newsletter.
We are looking forward to our Christmas Lunch on the 8th December, which is the final event of the year and is also the last event that has been organised by Shirley and Sandra as they retire from the events committee. No doubt they will make this a happy event as they always do, so party hats on and let’s make this a special day.
From January it has been suggested that each member should only purchase one raffle ticket so that everyone is guaranteed to go home with a prize, and as Jean asked at the meeting would you all try and bring a small donation for this as it helps with the funds to support all our activities. If there are any things left over at the end we can have a little auction.
In my last letter I wrote a paragraph, which has caused offence to certain people. I wrote that I was a founder member of the WSDA, which has been read by some that I was claiming to have been involved in the actual founding of the association. I want to make it quite clear this is not the case. Andy Machin and Reita Sillett founded the WSDA and they therefore take the credit for the birth of the WSDA. I was an early member and I considered that all of the members that were involved in the days when we were meeting in Williton were the foundation members of what the group is today. I have been an avid supporter and have been heavily involved in its growth and am very proud of our achievements. I am now beginning my 5th year as chairman and I thank you all for your support. I apologise to anyone whom I have offended and hope this will now close this subject. At the meeting on February 27th we are having Cathy McGill coming to speak to us. She is now the Chairman of SAIN.
Dorothy

Vice Chairman’s Report

Hello Mary Here
Yesterday Dorothy and I attended SAIN’s Annual general meeting. It was held at the Rugby club in Bridgwater.  There were lots of Disability organisations like Arthritis Care, Lupus, Open Daws and many more too numerous to mention.  They all had lots of information to give us.  It was a very interesting day and we had a lovely lunch and there was a very good selection of food.  Although the day was very nice I have to say it was very tiring and I found that half a day would be much better for me in future. I must be getting older. I would like to wish you all a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Best wishes to you all Mary.

Treasurer’s Report

We collected a lot of money for the raffle and the Almoner’s fund.  The exact figure cannot be confirmed as the Treasurer is away for the time being.  The figures were about £32 for the raffle and £26 for the Almoner’s fund.  Apologies if these figures are not quite accurate.

Events Committee Report

Thursday December 8th Christmas Lunch: Promenade Hotel, Minehead at 12 for 12- 30.  Taxis, which have been booked to take social services clients and partially sighted members home, will arrive at 3pm and other members please arrange your own transport.  Thank you.
Tuesday January 10th: Trago Mills starting at 9am at the Seahorse Centre and leaving Trago at 2pm to return.  Cost £10.
Saturday 11th February: Coffee morning and Bring and Buy at Friends Meeting House Bancks Street, Minehead, 10-30 until 12pm.  This is the first of many booked. 

Poets’ Corner

THE CHRISTMAS LIFE
“If you don’t have a real tree you don’t bring the Christmas life into the house.”  Josephine Mackinnon, aged 8

Bring in a tree, a young Norwegian spruce,
Bring hyacinths that rooted in the cold.
Bring winter jasmine as its buds unfold -
Bring the Christmas life into this house.

Bring red and green and gold, bring things that shine,
Bring candlesticks and music, food and wine.
Bring in your memories of Christmas past.
Bring in your tears for all that you have lost.

Bring in the shepherd boy, the ox and ass,
Bring in the stillness of an icy night,
Bring in the birth, of hope and love and light.
Bring the Christmas life into this house.

(C) Wendy Cope, 2001.  This poem appears with the kind permission of the  author.  It was contributed by Stephen Brinkman

Articles, letters and e-mails

From Steven Elliott
Hello,
Thanks for the Newsletter which I have now got.
I was very interested in Yvonne Moore’s account of a visit to York.
I grew up in York and lived there for 20 years.  At one time, a friend and I had a canoe on the river there and we kept it in the ferry man’s yard at Nether Poppleton!
The article brought many happy memories for me.
What was particularly surprising, before I read it, I was feeling a little low.  When I did read it, it lifted my spirits immediately!
It brought to mind something Alan Smith, an elderly Quaker once told me.  When he was a young lad, his father who worked in the Assay Office, took him into his laboratory and showed him a very sensitive chemical balance.  He then pulled a hair out of aaaaaaaaaaa
(sorry about that.  This was going to be an e mail, but the computer went funny.  I had done so much I decided to finish it this way [as a letter].
He took a hair out of Alan’s head and put it on the balance.  Of course it swung over.  His father said, “That shows that a very small item can sometimes have very large results.”
The item about York had that effect on me!
Steven
(Well done, Steven, for persevering and being flexible enough to change the format from an e mail to a letter!  Chris) 

Autumn Holiday

In the autumn, as I became less busy, I could consider the possibility of a holiday.  I had been invited to visit Gdansk, in Poland, by Marta and I decided to combine this with another visit to the Czech and Slovak republics.
In the event this was too much.  I flew to Gdansk and stayed there for three days, becoming acquainted with the three cities (Gdansk, Sopot and Gdynia) and with Marta’s family as well as meeting several former students.  Then I went by train to Prague and stayed with Henya and Milan.  While in Prague I was able to meet more old friends.  I also visited the medieval town of Kutna Hora which had a mint and a museum as well as a church where the bones of about 40,000 people were to be found in the crypt.  The bones were used to make sculptures of various things including a crown, a bell and a chandelier.  I also went to the chateau of Konopiste, the home of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sofia, who were assassinated at Sarajevo at the start of the First World War.
Then I made a quick visit to Brno to stay with other friends.  I visited Slavkov, the site of the battle of Austerlitz, where Napoleon beat the Emperors of Austria and Russia, and I went to a nearby chateau as well.  The next day we visited the caves at Moravsky Kras, which are a bit like Cheddar but more spectacular.  A river runs through the caves and you go on a boat trip underground.  I also saw the medieval castle of Pernstejn before returning to Prague to catch the plane home.
So, it was a great holiday.  Not long enough but great….
Chris Brinkman 

For Sale

Disability Scooter
Make: Leader, silver colour, road runner, four wheel, new batteries, recently serviced, £500.00 o.n.o.  Further details from Mary Court 01643 702129
We have another scooter for sale, four wheel, fully adjustable, road runner, please ring for details ring Glen 01643 702438.  The cost is £500. 

Next Meeting

Our next meeting will be in the New Year, on Monday January 30th at 2.00pm at the Seahorse Centre.  Happy Christmas and a Merry New Year in the meantime and see you there at the meeting.