Dignity In Action - still things to look forward to2 February 2012
Shona Bradbury from Linwood care Home writes: "To celebrate Dignity in Action Day on 1st February we officially opened ‘The Hub’. In this space we have a computer from SimplyUnite. SimplyUnite build computers with older people in mind, enabling residents to e-mail family & friends and have a connection to the outside world.
Margaret Freeman, 88, used Skype to communicate with her son on the special day. Margaret said “I think using the e-mail is good. I love hearing from my son. I enjoyed listening to Vera Lynn, I used to sing her songs as lullabies.” Daphne Newton, 93, said “I am surprised how clear the e-mail is and love to hear from my daughter. Although I don’t see her much, it feels like she lives next door. ”Jessica Dixon, Activities Co-ordinator, said “With a connection to the outside world through the internet improves the residents’ quality of life.”
Opposite The Hub we have the ‘Bochikana’ kitchen where residents cook and bake their favourite recipes. For Dignity in Action the residents chose to bake a fruit cake and will be cooking a roast lamb dinner next week. The Bochikana was so named following a competition for the residents and means The Kitchen in Hindi. "
Beowulf raises £4,300 for local medical facilities26 January 2012
Supporters of the campaign to re-open NHS intermediate care beds in the George Tickler Wing in the Thames Ditton Hospital at Emberbrook and so restore to local people their community hospital raised £4.300 on 14th January at a fund raising dinner in the Vera Fletcher Hall.
The event was organised by the Friends of Thames Ditton Hospital and sponsored by Dairy Crest. 100 guests enjoyed a splendid venison meal and after-dinner pantomime “Beowulf” presented by Charles Court Opera.
Councillor Karen Randolph, Chairman of the Friends of Thames Ditton Hospital, thanked Councillor Ruth Lyon for organising the evening and guests and local businesses for their generosity in supporting the campaign to re-open NHS community hospital beds at Emberbrook. Following the success of previous years’ fund raising, the Friends this year are planning to raise money towards echo cardiogram equipment. This would complement the existing consultant cardiologist clinics held at Emberbrook and enable patients in the Esher/ Thames Ditton area to be diagnosed and treated more quickly and at a lower cost to the NHS than at present.
Four years ago the Friends of Thames Ditton Hospital gave over £60,000 for new equipment to enable the introduction of ultrasound, ENT services and electrocardiogram services, which enable patients to have their diagnosis and treatment within two weeks instead of waiting up to12 weeks for appointments at Kingston or St.George’s hospitals.
Councillor Randolph said that in the last year NHS Surrey’s financial problems have resulted in the loss of more than 30% of Surrey’s community hospital beds; close to home this has meant that Molesey Hospital now has only 12 beds (down from 18) in spite of an extensive waiting list of patients in Kingston and other hospitals for much of the year. GPs have also had significant problems in admitting patients directly into local community hospitals.
There is however some light on the horizon; in 2013, under the Government’s proposals for the Health Service, responsibility for commissioning services at community hospitals will be passed to consortia of local GPs who value the services that community hospitals provide.
Our Snow People26 January 2012
The highy selective PR material disseminated by Elmbridge conspicuously omitted mention of the Residents' Association in recent articles about the Snowman scheme that was put together and organised by the Association over the past two years. The Association has also provided the majority of the funding so far. Here is the full story:
The Snowman idea was first suggested by one of our residents, Richard Lanigan, at an RA Open Meeting a few winters back, after seeing the poor state of pavement clearance in our neighbourhood following snowfall. Richard had lived in Denmark for 12 years, seeing there how people, in contrast to the UK, cleared their local pavements of snow as a matter of course. He proposed that each road in Thames Ditton – Weston Green have a Snowman coordinator to ensure that residents have access to equipment to clear their pavements, and to organise clearance for any elderly or infirm neighbours. He set up the first Snowman group in his own street.
The Residents’ Association decided to develop Richard’s idea, but rather than just publicise and wait for volunteers, it was thought a more active programme was needed for greater uptake. Membership Secretary, Peter Haynes, contacted supporters to enlist Snowmen in the most well-trodden roads (ie. those used by commuters and shoppers) and this received a very positive response. The aim was to set up Snowman groups of 10-20 households so that at least one clear walkway could be maintained along the length of the roads selected. To encourage volunteers the Association purchased a trial set of 12 heavy-duty aluminium snow shovels, to be held by the Snowmen and placed at accessible locations for their group members to use after snowfall. In addition, leaflets were produced for the Snowmen to distribute to their neighbours explaining the programme, encouraging participation, and providing useful snow-clearing information.
This was all set in place by the time of the December 2010 snowfalls. The results immediately showed the success of the programme with a vast improvement in pavement snow clearance in the designated roads (up to almost 100% in some), allowing much safer passage for pedestrians. By the second snowfall, there was also a noticeable improvement in clearance in areas away from the Snowman groups. The programme’s success came despite the very limited gritting salt supplies made available by Surrey Council (2 bins for 4000 households), who moreover imposed an unacceptable charge of £2500 per bin to install and fill any more.
In January 2011 the Residents’ Association expanded the programme’s coverage with the purchase of 6 more snow shovels and a manual snow-plough. By this stage, residents were volunteering to become Snowmen for their own roads. However, there were still gaps in coverage for some of our busy roads; so in preparation for the coming winter, an application for funding was made through our Elmbridge Councillor’s Community Connect scheme. This grant has allowed the purchase of a further 12 snow shovels and the setting up of more Snowmen groups.
As a result of the Snowman programme, we now have a much greater willingness of residents to clear their patch of pavement, knowing there is organisational support and that many of their neighbours are doing likewise. So now a much safer pavement network can be maintained in our community through the winter.
Comment: After the initial contact by Richard Lanigan with Surrey County Council, that council began to publicise "their" initiative for getting residents to clear snow. Meanwhile, Surrey declined to supply extra grit bins unless we were prepared to pay for both bins and grit up front at over twice the cost of equivalent bins retail, which Richard described aptly at the time as highway robbery. It is small wonder that residents have come to mistrust the glossy PR output of local authorities.
Be on your guard16 December 2011
One of our alert advertisers in ‘Thames Ditton Today’ reports receiving a cold telephone call claiming that their advertisement had “been recommended by Thames Ditton Today” for inclusion in a publication by a company called “Community Safety Plus” sponsored by the police, "which should help to protect people from scams or rogue traders." The advertiser reports that the telesales caller claimed to be from Surrey Police. There was a follow-up call from "Community Safety Plus." The associated bill for a year's advertisement amounted to £300 including VAT.
An online magazine on this company's website does exist and may be viewed here. It is a rehash of advice from the Metropolitan Police and other sources. Advertisements or statements of sponsorship from any police force are notably absent.
The advertiser checked on the internet and with us. Thames Ditton Today has absolutely NO connection with this Merseyside
company, Community Safety Plus CIC. We made no such recommendation to local police or to "Community Safety Plus". We have made enquiries with the Elmbridge Community Safety Team who confirm that despite the “Community Safety” title it is nothing to do with them either. Surrey's Trading Standards team, Surrey Police and the Elmbridge Community Safety partnership have been informed.
We would be grateful if other advertisers in any local publications available online would report to the local authorities and to us if they have been approached by “Community Safety Plus” in a similar way.
You may care to search the internet for “Community Safety Plus” and among the hits you will find this forum. The poster in that forum says that Community Safety Plus will record your conversation as ‘proof’ that you committed to the transaction, and that you may be handed over to a debt collection agency if you don’t pay up. This is in line with the small print since received in the mail by our alert advertiser. See below.
The company is also mentioned in some other web sites illustrating concerns about this sort of telesales.
"Community Safety Plus" is registered as a Community Interest Company under recent legislation. This however is no cast-iron guarantee that it was "created for the use of people who want to conduct a business or other activity for community benefit, and not purely for private advantage" (as the office of the CIC regulator, which monitors these things, states). Many companies are springing up, and companies purporting to be for community benefit registered under that rubric should be examined with as much care as any other company.
Footnote::
According to the web resource levelbusiness.com, Community Safety Plus CIC is registered at Suite 508, Cotton Exchange, Old Hall Street, Liverpool L3 9LQ. Its directors are:
1. MR JAMES ARTHUR BROWN born 13 November 1961 of 9 Case Grove, Prescot, Merseyside L35 5HW and he had a former company ESM DESIGN LIMITED which was dissolved in March 2011 less than two years after it was incorporated.
2. MRS JILLIAN LOUISE BROWN born 04 May 1969 who is also a director of another company registered at the same address, COMMERCIAL CREDIT SOLUTIONS LTD.
From their website visited on 16 Dec 2011 they: "specialise in all debt recovery and related services
.....Our team of highly trained and motivated professionals, with a combined experience of over 50 years in debt recovery.....
We have specialised in telesales collection..."
The company accounts of 30 September 2010 for Commercial Credit Solutions Ltd. reveal net liabilities of £46,612 after taking into account debtors (£4780) and £205 cash at bank and in hand as assets.
The small print received from Community Safety Plus by our advertiser includes the following clauses:
"1. A contract shall exist between CSP and the client from the time that a member of staff of CSP telephones the client's order the details of which appear in the schedule (which telephone conversation will be recorded) and it is confirmed that these terms and conditions have been agreed as forming part of the contract between CSP and client".
"10. The contract between the parties hereto shall commence from the time CSP telephones the client to confirm the client's order (which the conversation is recorded)."
"12. The client shall not be entitled to withold payment or any part thereof because the advert when published did not yield the result the client hoped for provided that CSP carried out the publication thereof as here in before provided."
"13. Please note that the company does not consider the non-return of this section as cancellation of order and all cancellations must be received within 7 days in writing. Failure to do this will render you liable for full costs and charges."
We emphasise that while the matter of the approach to our advertiser is being referred to appropriate authorities for investigation, we make no allegation against Community Safety Plus CIC pending the outcome. Our concern is to prevent our other advertisers from being misled into thinking that similar approaches have any endorsement from Thames Ditton Today or from local authorities. Whether they wish to enter into a business arrangement with Community Safety Plus is entirely up to them.
Council massages Conservation Area Appraisal for East Molesey to suit controversial planning permission27 November 2011
Elmbridge's Conservation Area Appraisal for East Molesey (Kent Town) appears to have been shaped more in accordance with the controversial planning permission granted to developers of the Jolly Boatman site than with the existing realities of conservation and heritage, according to members of the Appraisal working group whose contributions were disregarded in the document. They urge the Council at its meeting tonight, 7 December, to defer adoption of the appraisal until fuller consultations have been properly made.
Concerning that part of the Conservation Area the working group members recognise that the document does now include the general statement that “This area is recognised as being of particular significance and sensitivity due to its location and surroundings,” but the measures recommended by working group members to actually protect the location and its surroundings have not been included. They emphasise that:
- The significance of the setting of the conservation area with regard to the riverside and Hampton Court Palace has been undervalued.
- Historic Royal Palaces should have been consulted as the largest landowner in the area and given the significance of Hampton Court Palace on the border of the Conservation Area. The Appraisal should have referred to the Landscape Conservation Management Plan for the Palace and its environs - some 700 acres, and also the Palace’s Views Management Plan which covers both views, to and from the conservation area.
- There is no evidence that English Heritage or Thames Landscape Strategy were consulted.
- The 2009 Planning permission should not be referenced in any adopted Appraisal.
- The most direct view of Hampton Court Palace and the River Thames seen by visitors as they walk past the Jolly Boatman site towards Hampton Court Bridge is not recognised in the document as an “Important View” even though it was recognised as such in the 1999 Development Brief. Council officers disputed that Hampton Court Palace could be seen from this location although a photograph demonstrates that this is incorrect.
A Winter's Tale27 November 2011
always in fashion...
salsa !
