Author: Mary

Hodnet & District Garden Club: May 2018

Hodnet & District Garden ClubThe next meeting of the Garden Club is on Tuesday 15th May at 7.30pm at the Lyon Hall, Hodnet.
The hall will be open from 7pm, and the speaker will be Sue Clarke, on the topic of Hardy Geraniums. She will bring some plants for sale, and offers an identification service if you bring a leaf and flower for her to see.
Visitors are most welcome to come along to our talks. Light refreshments are served at the end of the meeting. An annual subscription costs £10 for all meetings, with guest fee being £2 per visit.

CANCELLED Hodnet & District Garden Club April 2018

Hodnet & District Garden ClubCANCELLED
Due to unforeseen circumstances this meeting has had to be cancelled at short notice.
Sorry for any inconvenience.

The next Garden Club meeting will take place on Tuesday, 17th April at 7.30 pm at the Lyon Hall,  Hodnet. The hall will be open from 7.00 and the theme of the evening will be “Favourite Gardens Remembered”.

Various members will talk about gardens which have become a favourite for them. This will be an informal occasion with opportunity for everyone to join in, perhaps chatting about a garden that made a particular impression on you or just enjoying the memories of others.

Visitors are most welcome to come along to our talks and partake of refreshments at the end of the meeting. An annual subscription costs £10 for all meetings, with guest fee being £2 per visit.

"Police" Scam Warning, March 2018

West Mercia Police LogoIt’s always important to be on the alert for scams, and particularly vigilant where older people living alone are concerned.
Please be aware that some people in the Loggerheads area have recently received telephone calls from a caller claiming to be “the police”, saying that they are in the person’s area and offering to check out their house for security.
One person said that had she not been warned in advance, she might have followed up the offer as it sounded convincing.
After a similar incident in South Shrops not long ago, police are highlighting the work of Action Fraud, the national agency responsible for tackling fraud. This link will take you to their website for some useful advice.

"Wildlife and your Garden" – Tues 20th March

Hodnet & District Garden ClubThe next meeting of Hodnet & District Garden Club is on Tuesday 20th March, 7.30 p.m. at the Lyon Hall. Jackie and Clive Dyer from Shropshire Wildlife Trust will give an illustrated talk on how we can make our gardens wildlife friendly.
The hall will be open from 7.00. Members free (subscription £10 annually) and visitors very welcome at £2 a head. Refreshments served after the talk.

Co Co seeks more volunteers

Co-Co LogoYou’ll no doubt have seen publicity for Hodnet Compassionate Communities (Co Co) around the area or on this site.

After a steady start the project seems to be gathering speed and we have already received several enquiries since new year.

The majority of our existing volunteers are now deployed with a regular client to visit, so it seems an appropriate time to put the word around that we are seeking to recruit more helpers – particularly gentlemen!

Being a Co Co volunteer does not require complex skills or knowledge – an interest in people and a care for their wellbeing is the main requirement. Would you be able to allocate a couple of hours each week to befriend/connect with someone who’s struggling with social isolation? This may involve visiting them in their home or occasionally taking them out of their four walls to give them a change of scene.

If you’d like to find out more, please see our page on this website, ring us on 07849 835687 or email us. We look forward to hearing from you.

Hodnet & District Garden Club Feb 2018

Hodnet & District Garden ClubOur first meeting of the new year will take place on Tuesday 20th February at 7.30pm in the Lyon Hall, when Gordon Malt will give an illustrated talk on Structure in the Garden.
Gordon is a retired tree surgeon and he and his wife open their half-acre garden for charity. We look forward to an interesting evening and hope to take home useful ideas for our own gardening efforts.
As usual light refreshments will be served at the end of the meeting and guests are always welcome; one-off visitors pay £2, annual membership is £10.
The year’s programme will be available to view on the Garden Club website once all details are finalised, and we should be delighted to see new people coming along.
 

New Recycling Page

Have you ever wondered how to recycle those items which the Council don’t collect, and for which it is not easy to find places to take them?
We have tried to help by adding a new page to the website with a list of places in the area where you take a variety of items. You can find this in our Local Services directory – or click here.
If you have any items which you think may have some life in them but are no longer useful to you, please look at our Give/Receive/Sell/Buy page for ideas of how to pass them on.

New Funding for Heating & Insulation Improvements

Shropshire Council LogoKeep Shropshire Warm,  Shropshire Council’s energy advice scheme, have just announced here that new heating and insulation funding is available for householders and landlords across Shropshire, thanks to the latest round of government funding.
Householders who were previously ineligible such as those not receiving benefits, or park home residents may now be eligible after the eligibility criteria were widened.
Oliver Rothwell, Project Manager at Keep Shropshire Warm said:

“This new criteria offers a great opportunity for residents in Shropshire to access financial help with heating replacements and insulation upgrades. I would encourage any households who are struggling with old and inefficient heating systems to call Keep Shropshire Warm without delay, even if you have previously been turned down for support.”

Funding is available to households on a low income with household members who have a health condition, are over the age of 60 or have children under five living at the property. If you are on a low income and not in one of these categories, you may still qualify if you spend a lot of money on heating your home.
Residents can get more information and check their eligibility by contacting the Keep Shropshire Warm team on 0800 112 3743 or by emailing advice@mea.org.uk.
For those that are eligible, funding rates will be calculated on the energy savings that any improvement works brings, following an initial survey. The level of funding is likely to be between half and all of the cost of the measures installed.
Keep Shropshire Warm

Message in a Bottle

Message in a Bottle – when time is saved, lives are saved.

Do you know of the free Message in a Bottle scheme, promoted by the local Lions group?
The Lions Message in a Bottle is a simple idea that encourages people to keep their basic personal and medical details in a common place where they can easily be found in an emergency.
How does it work?
The information is kept in a small plastic bottle which is then stored in your fridge, where the emergency services would expect to find it in the event of being called to your home. They will know you have a bottle by two labels. One is fixed on the inside of the front door or the main entrance to your home, and the other to the door of your fridge.
To obtain a bottle, ask at Hodnet Medical Centre or phone Hodnet Compassionate Communities: 07849 835687
If there is more than one person in the household, a separate form should be used for each individual. Please ask for an additional form if you need one.
(Note: users of Medic Alert products should continue to wear these as normal. The Message in a Bottle is not intended to replace these items.)
 

Healthy Hodnet – a worthwhile event

On Tues 24th Oct Hodnet Medical Centre Patient Participation Group, in conjunction with Shropshire Council Community Enablement Officers, hosted a successful health & well-being drop-in event at the Lyon Hall in Hodnet. Billed as “an event to showcase what is available to help you keep healthy”, the organisers sought to provide a range of useful information and encourage people to continue living active and interesting lives, fully engaged with their own communities, even as they get older.

Visitors could look around the Help 2 Change bus which was parked outside and receive free health checks/advice. (H2C aims to motivate people everywhere to achieve the changes they want in order to live a healthier life.)

Refreshments were provided by Hodnet Women’s Institute. Sir Algernon and Lady Jane Heber-Percy of nearby Hodnet Hall were amongst the thirty or so people who visited the event. Both local and national organisations were represented.

Exhibitors included: Shropshire Choices, with their very useful directory of adult care and support services; Healthwatch Shropshire – “the patient voice for people of this area”. Call them on 01743 237884 – they really want to hear what you think about all health and social care services! People2People were represented too – they advise on community resources in the area of adult social care, and Age UK – the UK’s largest charity for older people, with their extensive range of useful booklets on so many topics.

It was fascinating to see some of the aids devised for individuals with disabilities by volunteers from Remap, a very inspiring charity producing customised equipment for disabled people. (They would love to hear from people with skills and time to contribute in designing/constructing ingenious solutions to everyday problems. Contact their local Chairman John Graham on 01743 341626.) Visitors could also view a wide range of health-related resources available through the local library, including 4 different collections of Books on Prescription, using self-help reading to help people better understand and manage their health & well-being issues.

Hodnet & District Garden Club’s lovely display carried a leaflet on the health benefits of gardening along with their programme for the coming year. Walking for Health were teamed up with the Hodnet Footpath Group, trying to gauge interest in establishing a local Walking for Health Group, the nearest ones at present being in Market Drayton, Whitchurch or Higher Heath. (These groups do not cover miles and miles, but provide a gentle introduction to more regular walking alongside the social benefits of meeting up with others. Anyone interested in knowing more, please contact the Footpath Group.)

Practical and emotional support plus a regular programme of events for those with caring responsibilities were highlighted on the Carers Trust 4 All stand – call 01743 341995 for more info. Trustees from Drayton Action for Health were there to raise awareness of assistance available to local residents re health care needs not available through the NHS, this through funds accumulated by Market Drayton Cottage Hospital League of Friends prior to its closure. The local Compassionate Communities scheme, running in conjunction with the Medical Centre, were there to spread the word about their volunteer befrienders who visit socially-isolated elderly people, helping them to keep in touch with their community.

The slideshow below includes photographs of all exhibitors present.

For comments or enquiries following the event, please see the PPG Facebook page or email them.

Feedback is always appreciated – it’s good to hear what local residents would like to see happening in future in regard to community health events.