The newspaper for retired BBC Pension Scheme members • October 2019 • Issue 5 PROSPERO TVC VS OUTSIDE PENSION BROADCASTING SCHEME PAGE 10 | BBC PENSIONS BBC VOLUNTEER VISITING SCHEME CELEBRATES ITS 25TH ANNIVERSARY The annual BBC Volunteer Visiting Scheme (VVS) Conference took place at the start of August, when 90 ‘visitors’ gathered in Cardiff. he visitors are retired BBC employees who much-feared impact. Cheryl explained: ‘Since the last If you’re thinking of drawing up a Lasting Power of provide friendship to BBC pensioners aged 70 conference, we’ve recruited 12 new visitors and sent Attorney to keep with your Will, he recommended you Tand above, those recently bereaved or anyone out around 200 letters to pensioners living in the complete the forms online and potentially save in poor health. areas covered by the new visitors. We’ve had a 10% yourself hundreds of pounds. ‘A solicitor might charge response rate, which is around the same level we up to £1,800 for a married couple, but if you do it The aim of the conference is to enhance the visitors’ enjoyed before GDPR.’ yourself it’s less than £100 per person.’ This website understanding of the issues that affect the BBC’s has lots of guidance on how to complete the forms: pensioners, so that they can provide a better ‘service’ The first speaker of Day 1 was a regular, Roger https://www.gov.uk/power-of-attorney to the people they meet. The conference also gives Hatherell, an independent financial adviser, who gave the visitors an opportunity to network with others and a very informative talk about financial planning in later Chair of the Trustees share tips and ideas. life, covering retirement planning, estate planning and The second speaker of the day was Catherine This year was a special one for the Scheme – being later life planning. Claydon, the new Chair of the BBC Pension Trust Ltd. This was the first time Catherine had spoken to 25 years since it was first set up. The VVS looks Roger stressed how important it is to have an up-to-date members of the Scheme since she took over the role forward to many more years of providing friendship Will and reminded the visitors that many legal firms from Bill Matthews in January 2019. and support to its pensioners. So far this year, almost participate in Free Wills Month campaign, a charity 1,000 visits have been carried out, and the Scheme fundraiser that takes place in March and September. Catherine explained how changes to the structure of covers 83% of the UK. This idea behind this event is that those taking up the Trustee Board have resulted in three independent Cheryl Miles, the Volunteer Visiting Scheme co-ordinator, the offer will leave a gift in their Wills to one of trustees being appointed to the Board. ‘It’s useful opened the conference and was pleased to report that the selected charities – although they are under to have trustees on a board who are genuinely the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), much no obligation to do so. Find out more at: independent with no association to the Scheme,’ discussed at last year’s conference, had not had the www.freewillsmonth.org.uk she said. Catherine’s first impressions of the Scheme were very favourable. ‘Usually when I join a scheme I look at how bad the complaints are, but the feedback I was shown was phenomenal.’ She also rated the executive team as ‘first rate’ and said that while the financial and operational aspects of the Scheme were excellent, it was important not to get complacent. She also commended the Scheme on its member communications, produced in-house by the BBC Pensions Team. Mystery Sudoku Complete the grid so that every row, column and 3x3 box contains the letters ABDIJLONR in some order. One row or column contains a five or more letter word, title or name with a BBC connection. Solve the Sudoku to discover what it is and send your answer to: The Editor, Prospero, BBC Pension and Benefits Centre, Broadcasting House, Cardiff Crospero devised and compiled by Jim Palm CF5 2YQ by Monday, 4 November 2019. The winner gets a £10 voucher. Many thanks to Complete the square by using the clues; these 1 2 Neil Somerville for providing this puzzle. apply only to words running across. Then take these words in numerical order and extract the 3 4 letters indicated by a dot. If your answers are 5 6 R ON correct, these letters will give you a song which was popular in the late 1940s. 7 8 9 D CLUES 10 11 ILOD 1. Divide (5); 2. Operational support equipment (3); 12 13 3. Not at home (4); 4. Wanders (6); 5. Town in LAOR France (5); 6. Day before (3); 7. Suitable (3); 14 15 8. Chicken (3); 9. Biblical character (3); 10. Sun B J 16 17 18 colouring (3); 11. Move faster (3); 12. Cruel marquis BJRA (4); 13. Preposition (4); 14. Canine friend (3); 19 20 15. Pipe cover (3); 16. Auction item (3); 17. Nervous 21 22 DBNL twitch (3); 18. Ruminant (3); 19. Moved fast (3); 20. Measurer (5); 21. On your way! (6); 22. Region (4); 23 24 D 23. South Eastern Railway (3); 24. Wise ones (5) RN A Please send your answers in an envelope marked ‘Crospero’ to The Editor, Prospero, BBC Pension and Benefits Centre, Broadcasting House, Cardiff CF5 2YQ, The Sudoku winner in August WIN by Monday, 4 November 2019. The winner will receive a £10 voucher. WIN was Ms Beryl Miller who correctly £10 £10 identified the BBC connection Mr Robert Cox was the winner from August and the answer was ‘Cruising down was ‘News Quiz’. the river’. 2 Independent living A life less lonely On Day Two, Neil Williams from Care & Repair Wales Dr Debra Morgan, from the Centre for Ageing and told the visitors about the charity’s role in helping Dementia Research, Swansea University, has been older people manage life’s transitions – ‘those little carrying out research into loneliness and how it changes that, if not addressed, could lead to longer- impacts mental and physical health. Her presentation PROSPERO term problems’. to the visitors aimed to ‘lift the lid’ on people’s pathways into loneliness and what can be learned He cited ‘the rug’ as a case in point: how many falls Prospero is provided free of charge to retired Scheme from them. are caused by a rug and lead to long-term hospital members, or to their spouses and dependants. admissions and eventually to people being unable to It’s a complex issue, and the paths that lead people to Prospero provides a source of news on former live independently at home. experience loneliness and social isolation can be very colleagues, developments at the BBC and pension Care & Repair provide a free front-end service, where different from one person to another. It could be the issues, plus classified adverts. It is available online they visit older people in their homes and point out result of a single event, such as a bereavement, while at bbc.co.uk/mypension where they could make improvements to help them for others it happens over a period of time. To advertise in Prospero, please see page 12. stay in their homes for longer. ‘You can be lonely even if you have a large network, because it’s not the quantity but the quality of Please send your editorial contributions, Care & Repair connections that is important,’ she said. or comments/feedback, to: There are equivalent services across England, Dementia Friends Scotland and Northern Ireland, although they Prospero, BBC Pension and Benefits Centre, The final session of the conference was a workshop run might work in slightly different ways. Broadcasting House, Cardiff CF5 2YQ by Dementia Friends. This is an Alzheimer’s Society Email: [email protected] Wales: 0300 111 3333 initiative, which aims to create dementia-friendly England: 0300 124 0315 communities where people are more aware of what Please make sure that any digital pictures you send life is like for someone with dementia. You can find are scanned at 300dpi. Please also note that the Scotland: 0141 221 9879 out more at: www.dementiafriends.org.uk maximum word count for obituaries is 350 words. Northern Ireland: 03448 920 900 The conference was closed by the BBC Pension Central Square Scheme Operations & Communications Manager Jeff Neil was followed by Alun Jones, BBC programme Webley, who gave a special word of thanks to Cheryl Contents director, who gave the visitors a virtual tour of Central Miles for organising this year’s conference as well as Square, the new Foster & Partners-designed all her hard work in her role as the Volunteer Visiting Scheme co-ordinator. headquarters for BBC Wales. VVS celebrates 25 years 2 The last time Alun stood in front of the audience was four years ago, when the building was only a blueprint, BBC Volunteer Visiting Scheme but now it’s almost ready to open, with cutting-edge The BBC Volunteer Visiting Scheme was set technology fit for a 21st-century broadcaster. up to provide companionship and friendship to BBC pensioners aged 70 and over, those Letters 4-5 One of the first teams to move in will be the BBC recently bereaved, and anyone in poor health. Pensions Team in October, followed by other The BBC currently has 12,843 pensioners who non-broadcast teams before Christmas and then qualify for a visit. You may prefer to meet up production staff after Christmas.