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HRH 70th Birthday Party

Volunteers Newsletter

We were delighted that Helen Jump, who has been volunteering for us for over a decade was chosen to attend HRH Prince Charles’ special tea party in celebration of Prince Charles' 70th birthday!

HRH Prince Charles and the Duchess of Corn-wall were joined by 70 volunteers who also turned 70 this year, and Helen kindly took Lynne Gundy our HR assistant along with her as her guest.

Both tell us that they had a brilliant day and were treated like royalty!

Winter 2018

AGE UK National TV Licence Campaign

Age UK National have launched an urgent campaign to save the free TV licence for over 75s. They are urgently looking for older people who are over 75 who might be willing to speak to the media about the issue. I wonder if you might be able help find people who might fit the

bill?

They’re looking for people who would be willing to explain what impact it would have on them if they suddenly had to find £155 for the licence.

I know you have a million other things on your to-do list at this time of year but if you know of anyone who would be affected by this it would be fantastic – please let me know if you do.

Thanks!

Rosalind.wyllie@ageukherts.org,uk or 01707 386067

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Message from our CEO Deborah Paniagua

Hello everyone,

I am very lucky to soon be heading off into the sunshine for Christmas, to visit my daughter, but I didn’t want to leave without jotting down a couple of lines to say an enormous

‘Thank You’

to you all, for all your hard work and commitment, supporting not only Age UK Hertfordshire as an organisation (as without you we would not be able to exist!), but for all the support given to our clients and their loved ones throughout the last year. I know that they are all as appreciative as I am of your support!

It is truly amazing to see the difference your contribution makes to the lives of older people in Hertfordshire, and as we approach the new year, it is a great time to reflect on this … in the year 2017-18, you provided over 100,000 hours of support!! So I really do mean it when I say that we could not do our work without you!!!

We are always striving to improve, and now we have our lovely Roz in post, she will keep checking in with you from time to time to see how we can help you more, and find out we can do to improve your volunteering experience, which ultimately can only result in a much better experience for our clients!!

I hope you all have a lovely Christmas, and that we see you in the New Year, revitalised and refreshed, ready to make 2019 our best year yet!!!

With warmest wishes

Deborah

Deborah Paniagua

Chief Executive

E-mail:ceo@ageukherts.org.uk

Message from the Trustees

As the year draws to a close, we wanted to take this opportunity to thank all our staff and volunteers for the valuable contribution they have made supporting our vital work with older peo-ple across Hertfordshire. With your support every week we help over 3000 older people, provid-

ing help when it is needed most.

There is still so much to do, but with your continued support we will maintain and develop our services.

We wish you a happy and peaceful Christmas and all good wishes for the New Year.

Penny, John, Vicky, Karen and Chris

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Staff Changes to Visiting Scheme As some of you may be aware we have had a few changes to our Visiting Scheme staff over

the last few months.

Maureen Leman left Age UK Hertfordshire after 23 years service and has asked us to

pass on this message:

I'd like to express my deepest thanks to staff and volunteers, both past and present for all the gifts, cards, flowers and best wishes.

Thank you to all those who were able to attend my leaving party. I tried to speak to everyone but if I missed anyone I hope that you will forgive me. There so many of you and only one of me and I hope you realise that I was completely overwhelmed. It was a very emotional day for me. I hope that we can keep in touch and I will take this opportunity to wish all of you a

very Merry Christmas and a New Year full of love, peace and happiness

I SHALL miss you all

Maureen Leman

Glenda Elder has also left Age UK Hertfordshire and has asked us to pass on this message:

Thank you all for your wonderful support and dedication to your clients. The Scheme has really developed and is now thriving with increasing numbers of referrals and the only reason this can happen is because of you. I wish you all the very best with future volunteering and my lovely colleagues at Age UK Herts whom I will miss.

We are delighted to welcome Jane Atkins (East Herts & Broxbourne) and Sam James (St Albans and Hertsmere) into their new roles as Visiting

Scheme Coordinators.

St Albans Unlocked! Imagine a day out in St Albans - experiencing our 21st century vibrant city steeped in history – the sights, the smells and the sounds. There are many people living with sight loss in St Albans, Hertfordshire and beyond, for whom taking a trip to shops or visiting a tourist attraction is stressful and has to be pre-planned activity. St Albans Unlocked aims to make this experience more one of independent discovery.

The project is supported by Guide Dogs and Microsoft who have developed a Soundscape app. Soundscape uses 3D audio to help map out landmarks and points of interest through audio cues.

We are currently curating Open Street Map data for St Albans and will be looking for visually impaired volunteers to user test in the new year. We hope to build on the St Albans’ experience to encourage replication in other Hertfordshire towns.

For more information contact:

Linda Chandler linda.chandler@hyperlocalcities.com

Amanda Derrick ajderrick@btconnect.com

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Upcoming First Aid Training—please contact us on 01707 386060 or

Volunteering@ageukherts.org.uk if you’d like to attend!

Christmas Opening Hours

Our head office will be closed over the Christmas period and some of our services will run a reduced schedule.

Hospital and Community Navigation Service will be closed on:

Tuesday 25th, Wednesday 26th December

& Tuesday 1st January.

Tel: 01438 285300

Clitheroe Health & Wellbeing Centre will be closed on

22nd/23rd/25th/26th/29th/30th/31st

The Age UK National Advice Line are open from 8am to 7pm : 08001692081

and

Age UK Call in Time are open from 8am to 7pm—0800 4346105

“Remember that the happiest people are not those getting more, but those giving

more.” ― H. Jackson Brown Jr.

Clitheroe Centre

Monday 28 January

Thurs 28 February

Silver Court Welwyn

Tuesday 5 February

Tuesday 26 February

Weds 20 March