Keeping you linked to our news Summer 2015

Welcome to our summer newsletter

We have had so much happening over the last few

months this is a bumper issue to celebrate all our news.

From garden and office makeovers; to awards being

won plus the marathon and special VE day celebrations

read all about it inside.

The photo above shows the Hollybush Garden after a

magnificent makeover by Pat, her husband and driver

Stuart. Day centre clients and next door residents

really appreciated the makeover.

James Farmer celebrates his first successful marathon

and shows off his medal with his daughters.

Keeping you linked to our news 2015

Donations

Every donation makes a big difference

to the services we can offer.

Waitrose Sevenoaks

Since its launch in 2008, the scheme has do-

nated £14 million to local charities chosen by

members of the public. At the end of your

shop in branch, you’ll receive a token to place

in a box of the good cause you’d most like to

support. The more tokens a cause gets, the

bigger the donation they receive. Each month

every Waitrose branch donates £1,000

between 3 local good causes that you choose.

During August we will have a box in the

Sevenoaks Store - please support us!

Thank you for all your contributions including donations from Mr Trimnell, Mrs Darroch and Mrs Algar plus: Sevenoaks Tangent Club £125.00 Sevenoaks Football League £225.00 Sevenoaks Reel Club £100.00 Mark Stubberfield from MacMillan Williams who raised £360 by writing peoples wills for free during our Wills Fortnight from 11th to 22nd May.

We attended Edenbridge Easistore networking

event on 8th July and took a Classic Mini for

businesses to sign and give a donation, this

raised £107.97.

On Sunday 26th April James Farmer, our

resident full-time Chef at the Hollybush

Day Centre, ran his first 26.2 mile London

Marathon and got to the end in an amaz-

ing time of 3hr 54 minutes and 2 seconds!

James actually ran 30.3 miles as he

darted around slower runners and in his

final 4.5 miles he passed 2346 runners

and no one passed him!!

James’ fundraising and great achievement

on the day raised £1399.10 for Age UK

Sevenoaks and Tonbridge. Thank you to

everyone for your generosity including

Sevenoaks Rotary who donated £260.

James the chef ran his first London Marathon

Clients at our Hollybush Day Centre donned

their own age related running numbers bibs in

support of James running the marathon.

Keeping you linked to our news 01732 454108

Community Club of

the Year Awards

The 'Making It Happen' awards were held on Thursday 11 June and saw winners from nine categories recognised for their hard work and contributions in helping people across the District.

The awards, which were held at The Stag Theatre in Sevenoaks High Street, saw more than 60 nominations flood in from across the District, making it a hard task to whittle down the entries. Presented by Simon Goldsmith, Managing Director of Community Futures the Sevenoaks Age UK Day proudly received the highly commended award with Edenbridge Community Litter Pickers taking the winners title.

The Sevenoaks Age UK Day Centre has a hardworking team of staff, including drivers, chefs and carers who provide food and activities for older people, some of whom may otherwise not see anyone else all day.

All change for our

Tonbridge Office

In January 2015 some alterations were made to Forsyth Hall including two new store cupboards were created and new doors to toilets made easier access. An existing store cupboard and old kitchen were removed to make a new office enabling more space to be able to offer further information, advice and insurance services, this in turn is allowing us to open for longer

hours from 1 September.

We are still hoping raise enough funds to decorate Forsyth Hall to create activities for the elderly, some of whom may otherwise not see anyone else all day. Keep a look out to see if we are successful in our bid to the Heart of the Community for these improvements. Should we be lucky then

voting will start from 24th Sept to 18 Oct.

From 1 September the Bradford Street office will be open from 10am till 4pm to help with all information and advice clients and hand out hearing aid batteries. Most of our volunteers have been happy to do extra days and we are recruiting new helpers.

We have been lucky to benefit from 2014 prices whilst the re-vamp has been carried out, but from 1 September Tonbridge prices are as follows:

Day Centre £10.50

Baths £5.00

Toenail cutting £6.00

Chiropody £19.00

Postural Stability £4.50

Lunch Club £4.00

Please call Jenny or Jo at the Tonbridge

Office for more information 01732 366100.

Keeping you linked to our news 2015

Leavers & Joiners

Please ‘like’ us on

Facebook https://

www.facebook.com/

AgeUKSeven-

oaksandTonbridge

and keep a look out

for all our news.

We welcome to the Board of Trustees:

Barry Vanns, Jim Latheron, David Townsend, David Leck and Jill Davidston

Staff leavers and joiners include:

Rowena Love, Tonbridge office manager, has retired and Jenny McDougall, moved into senior office administrator role at the Tonbridge office. Jo Harrington became the new office administrator for Tonbridge.

Brenda Haines, the Tonbridge cleaner left in June and our new cleaner for Bradford Street Offices and Forsyth Hall is Lynette Smith.

Christine Baker joins us to run the Edenbridge Day Centre Christine urgently needs staff and volunteers to

help at the Day Centre.

Sue Sydney is our new volunteer helping with Attendance Allowances in Tonbridge and Sevenoaks.

Nick Chamberlain returned after a few years away to become the Manager of Kent and Medway Trading Company.

Fundraiser Lee Pegrum leaves to take up full time events post.

Our new computer volunteer to help with computer lessons is Graham White. APRIL 2016

The Rod Stewart

Experience,

Stag Theatre,

Sevenoaks Friday

22nd April - Tickets

available in 2016

from 01732 454108

for this great night..

Rod Returns!

Website

makeover

Take a look at our re-vamped website that will now work a lot better with mobile phones and tablets.

Computer Lessons take place in our

Sevenoaks St Johns Road, Computer Room

Monday 9.45am to 12 noon, Tuesday 9.45am

to 3.30pm and Wednesday 1.15 to 3.30pm.

Wanted

We are always in

search of volunteers,

staff, entertainers and

guest speakers to help

with our services.

Keeping you linked to our news 01732 454108

What a difference we make

West Kent Support at Home

In the short time that the pilot scheme for

West Kent Support at Home was running it

proved it has really made a difference to

the lives of those they have helped.

The case study below demonstrates how

one ladies life was turned around in just a

few weeks.

Our client is 74 and lives with her husband. She suffers with a prescribed drug addiction and drinks too much. She had become unmotivated and depressed and developed a recent heart condition which is making her very breathless and is unable to walk too far. Her husband isolates himself in a room upstairs with his work and has very little contact with his wife at present.

Age UK arranged for her medication to be delivered by her chemist and put into a dossett box. Advice and Information to look at benefits and to access any further possible support. A support worker was placed to encourage and motivate her to do things for herself and she was referred for a befriender to continue to visit and motivate.

It took a while for her confidence to build but took the steps to go shopping with our Support Worker and take up an interest in the house / housework and her hobbies which are painting pictures, reading and country walks.

At the end of our six week input, she was able to do her own shopping; she was keeping her house clean and had started to cook meals again. Her benefits were maximised and she now has access to our Counsellor for further support. Her husband comes down for coffee and meals with her now, between his work, and they have planned a walking holiday together in Cornwall.

Tonbridge Townlock Day

Centre Top Activities

Wimbledon week – Our day centre clients enjoyed a watching the tennis together with a light salad lunch, followed by strawberries and cream. The matches were thrilling and the strawberries were delicious. Great to watch the tennis with friends!

The Friday day centre clients took pleasure in a wonderful day out to Teapot Island on 7th August. They enjoyed a delightful lunch beside the river before wandering round the Teapot museum viewing the collection of 6700 teapots. The weather was glorious and fun was had by all.

Throughout July and August all the day centre clients have enjoyed a day out on the River Medway taking in the glory that is Tonbridge! The Kingfisher Medway Trust have a purpose built boat (photo above courtesy of Don Davis) that provides river trips for disabled and disadvantaged people of all ages. The boat travels at a leisurely pace along the Medway river and stops at lunchtime to enjoy a picnic on the riverbank. Some clients took a turn at the wheel to steer the boat, under strict supervision of course!

We also had a lovely Coffee afternoon at

Penshurst Place in April.

Keeping you linked to our news 2015

Clients celebrated on Friday 8th May the

70th Anniversary of VE Day

On Friday afternoon entertainer Tom Carradine

officially opened the new furniture for Tonbridge Age

UK to start the VE day party. Cllr Richard Long was

instrumental in facilitating £5644 for the new furniture

with a KCC Members Grant, so thanks to him the

party started in comfort. Tom Carradine entertained

the clients and staff in a way he knew how with war

time singalong songs culminating in 'There will

always be an England' with flag waving and smiles.

After the singing, spam and bream sandwiches

brought back memories and cream scones supplied

by the RBL and a victory cake from Meg Mahoney

were washed down by a lovely cup of tea.

Pam Mills from Tonbridge Royal British Legion said

'This is a lovely way to spend VE Day afternoon. It is

great to support those who lived through the war and

our veterans.'

VE Day Celebrations and the Official Opening of

Townlock’s new furniture

Sandra Chapman, Manager of Age UK

Tonbridge Townlock said ‘It was excellent

to work with the RBL and to have a very

significant day to celebrate our new

furniture’

Those in the photo below cutting the ribbon

are: Tom Carradine, Pam Mills, Diane

Bennett, Sue Hawthorne, Sandra

Chapman Stan Sheppard, Pam Hickmott

Keeping you linked to our news 01732 454108

Events Diary

Come along and support our

up and coming events.

Grandparents Day – Sunday 13th September Age UK has a campaign ‘No one should have no one’, so lets make sure all our Grandparents and those we support celebrate this special day together.

Dementia talk – Friday 18th September 10:30-12 noon Dementia Friends meeting at Age UK, Forsyth Hall, 5 Bradford Street, Tonbridge, Kent TN9 1DU. Session to give people an understanding of dementia and the small things you can do that make a difference.

OCTOBER 2015

National Older Persons Day - Thursday 1st October (10am to 2pm) Tonbridge and Malling Seniors Forum will once again be holding an Information and Advice event to celebrate National Older Persons Day on 1st October (10am to 2pm) at the Medway Hall, Tonbridge. Bob Carpenter from Information and Advice will be there to represent us.

Sevenoaks Family 5k – Sunday 4th October Organised by Sevenoaks Primary in Knole Park. Runners can fundraise for their own charity.

NOVEMBER 2015 Quiz Night & Supper, Hollybush Day Centre, Sevenoaks Saturday 21st November Round up your brainiac friends to form a team of 8 for this event that includes a tasty supper.

AUGUST

Edenbridge Day Centre will be organising a boat

trip at Wateringbury on Tuesday 25th August.

Call Christine on 03000 422882 for more details.

SEPTEMBER

The Big Knit Smoothie Hat knitting is back and the Tonbridge Office are making use of Forsyth Hall and spare wool that they have. Knit and Natter sessions have been organised to encourage local people to get together and knit for charity. Non-knitters are welcome too as many of the hats need pompoms sewn on the top and we will need counters to keep tabs on how near our target we are! Target for Sevenoaks and Tonbridge is 2,500 hats. Dates for knitting together session are on Thursdays on 10 and 17 September; 8, 15 and 29 October; 12 and 19 November. Each hat will be sold with Innocent Smoothie drinks and this raises 25p each. Last year you raised £625 - Thank you! Edenbridge Day Centre clients have already started knitting and are getting very competitive!

Back to school dress up day - Friday 5th September An opportunity for anyone to dress in their old school outfit and raise money for us as the schools return on Wednesday 3rd September.

Queen Elizabeth II Day – Wednesday 9th September Queen Elizabeth II will become the longest reigning monarch - how will you celebrate? Why not raise money for Age UK?

Event volunteers needed URGENTLY!!

Keeping you linked to our news 2015

Many thanks to Pam Mills from Tonbridge Royal British Legion for recording these stories from our clients attending Tonbridge Townlock Day Centre. Ken Ince was born 1926 in Suffolk he delivered telegrams for the call up for war, then when he left school at 14 became a proper telegram boy. At 16 joined he joined the Royal Navy and served until 1946. He joined up at Romford recruiting station with service number P/JX578827. Upon join-ing he did an Intelligence test for the communication branch doing cypher. Ken became a Leading signalman and was based in a holding station in Malta teaching procedures to NZ service personnel. When the war ended on VE day he was on the ship and they came across a German U boat who surrendered and he took them back to Malta. The announcement came on the ship tannoy, there was relief and elation that it was over. He was based at Fort Southwark in Portsmouth on VJ Day. After the war he went back to being an apprentice engineer as his old employer was obliged to take him back. Ken was unsettled after being told what to do and took time to re-adjust. In 1948 he joined the Fire Service in Chelmsford and did 30 years’ service finishing in London retiring in 1978. Stan Shepard was born in 1924 and was an air raid warden at Redhill during the war. He had one or two bombs dropped nearby, but not a lot so he said they were lucky. A Land mine demolished a church there was a swishing noise and his job was to get people into the shelters but the area he patrolled everyone had shelters in there garden. On the radio there was announcement on May 8th, they all cheered had a street party it was a lovely atmosphere everyone was so pleased they all survived, Stan moved to Tonbridge 1951 and he worked for E J Bakers. Joan Ball lived with her granny in Paddock Wood from 1926 age 6 weeks old. Later Joan moved to work in Truscotts print works in Douglas road in 1939 and then moved to live with her parents in Church Road, Hildenborough. When air raids started she took John her brother to the air raid shelter on the green in Mount Pleasant Road, Hildenborough. Joan was an Inspector on the Sheridan a big machine that made gaskets for aircraft. Once a week a big lorry came to collect them from the Ministry. That's what she made at Truscotts press in the war. Joan can remember running for the air raid shelter when the bombs were dropping. Her step dad Harry Bennett was home guard for Hildenborough. A plane came down and a pilot was hanging in a tree a German near a pub by Underiver. By the time she had got there he had been moved. Joan had a Morrisons shelter in the front room and had to get her brother under it when the air raid siren went off, he was 10 years younger than her. There was a big party in the drill hall at the end of Church Road at the end of the war, on the radio it was announced that the war was over… “It was great” Joan said and “I must say I vividly remember the dornier bombers and when the doodle bugs came over and they cut out you ran for your life”.

VE Day Stories from the past