NORTH NEIGHBOURHOOD & FARM WATCH ASSOCIATION

MINUTES of the Co-ordinators’ meeting held on Thursday 16th May 2019 at the Tern Hill Hall Hotel at 7.30 p.m.

PRESENT were:, Dave Roberts (Chairman); Pete Pring (Valley View, Mkt Drayton); Jean Pennie (Norton-in-Hales); Andrew & Jackie Carter, Graham Turnbull (Hollinwood0; Pat Hawker (Barkers Green, );Val Povall (Minute Taker).

APOLOGIES received from: Ted & Debbie Scales (Waterside Drive, , Rita Welch; Roger Ashton (Lee Brockhurst, Wem); Janet Nowill (Coton); Herbie Skitt (Towers Drive); Tony Savil, Russ Currie (Shawbury Member); Kelvin Pickering (Shawbury Member).

CHAIRMAN’S WELCOME: The Chairman, Dave Roberts welcomed those present.

MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS CO-ORDINATORS MEETING

The Minutes of the previous meeting were agreed as a true record and signed accordingly. Proposed by Graham Turnbull and seconded by Pete Pring..

MATTERS ARISING: Andrew Carter reported that he had ordered 100 RIFD Attenure Cards,

GUEST SPEAKER

The Chairman, Dave Roberts then introduced the Speaker, Tina Erskine from Age UK. She outlined the range of services they provide saying that they are an Independent Local Charity (Shropshire, and Wrekin) covering the whole of the County. She said that they have offices in , Telford and . She said that they operate on a small budget of £2,5M. She discussed life expectancy and said that there are 3.8M people living alone. She said that they had experienced substantial cuts and operated on a small budget. She said that a lot of people don’t know some of the benefits they are entitled to. She said that they have three Charity Shops which generate income and that they are looking to open another, possibly in market Drayton. She said that they have dementia Support Groups. She said that they have Befriending Services either by telephone or visiting those in need. She said that they are looking for volunteers to help with this. She said they run Living Well Classes, Ballet Classes, Ballet bar and seated exercise classes. She said they have 260 Befriending volunteers, but still need more. She says they help pensioners with advice on benefits and pensions and advocacy (explaining older people’s rights. She said they are currently putting in a bid for funding. She said in North Shropshire they are running an event April 18 on Help for Older people – working with older people. She told us about campaigning for warmer homes, help to access needs. She mentioned Senior Citizens Forums and asked if there was on locally. She discussed mixed aged couples and some of the difficulties this can cause. She showed us some knitted caps for Innocent Smoothies bottles. She quoted some of the activities they are involved with: Taking people on holiday, taking people shopping, arranging lunches. She said that they give advice on form filling and also visiting people in Hospital. She also spoke about Dementia Drop in. She asked people to let them know about people you might have concerns about.

The Chairman thanked her for coming along and apologised that the numbers were low.

Andrew Carter explained that he had obtained some security items which we would be offering for sale in particular the bells and Padlocks.

CO-ORDINATORS CORNER

Graham Turnbull said that the Co-ordinators Handbook is out of date; he is currently looking at it, but has not been able to move on with. He suggested putting it on line to see if Members want them. He asked for local Post Codes to see if they are on the National System.

AOB

No items under AOB.

DATE OF NEXT MEETING

Thursday 12th September 2019 at 7.30 Management Committee Meeting.

The meeting closed at 9.15 p.m.