Advocacy for Older People in Greenwich

Room 22, Mycenae House, 90 Mycenae Road, SE3 7SE
Phone/fax: 020 8269 0298 | Email: advocacy4olderpeople@tiscali.co.uk

Training

Find out about our new introductory training on March 17th 2010 - go to our training page.

Our AGM

• We held our thirteenth Annual General Meeting on 12th November 2009, at Mycenae House
• There were refreshments and a chance to meet and talk to members of the organisation
• Maggie Rastall, Project Lead for Transforming Social Care for Greenwich Borough Council, talked about changes to social care in Greenwich and the implications for older people in the borough. This was followed by questions and discussion.
• There was an address from the Chair and a short business meeting.

You can dowload a flier about our AGM (pdf, 38kb)

Help for the over 55's at our new drop in sessions

You can download a flier about our new drop in sessions for the over 55's (pdf, 478kb)

Sessions will be held at:

• The Glyndon Community Centre, Plumstead (Monday 10 -12)
• Trust Thamesmead, Thamesmead (Tuesday 10 -12)
• St Mary's Community Complex, Eltham (Friday 10 -12)

Phone us on 020 8269 0298 to find out more

A few words from Eleanor

Hi Everybody!

I can’t quite believe that we are nearly at the end of 2008 and I have now been at AfOP for over a year. It’s been a very busy and exciting year for all of us. We started with the move to new premises which has turned out very well. We certainly don’t have any nostalgia for the old office with its leaks and lack of heating! Mycenae House has a very good atmosphere and very helpful staff and there are plenty of rooms that we can use when we need them.

As recorded in the Annual Report, we have worked with a lot of partners this year. We are finding that we are being called upon to do more and more crisis work, especially around debt and often with those in their 60s. This doubtless follows the current economic trend as well as changes in demographics in the borough. We have also set up a project running advocacy and reminiscence groups in 2 care homes which we hope to continue next year if we can get the funding.

We are all looking forward to continuing our work in the coming year and to developing the work that we do to reach an ever wider number of older people in the borough.

££££££ Funding news ££££££

We are now coming to the end of a number of three year grants and so the last few months have been an anxious time for us all with a lot of my time and energy being focussed on writing applications. However, some recent news has meant that things are looking much rosier now and I will be making a very positive announcement about funding later on in December.

Annual General Meeting

By the time you get this, the AGM will have taken place. We decided this year to hold a brief business meeting just to re-elect the Committee and agree the annual accounts. We intend to hold a bigger event next year, in co-operation with the Pensioners Forum where we can highlight older people’s issues and raise our profile. We would like to include a number of organisations in this and hope to raise some additional funds to finance it.

• You can download a flier about the AGM (pdf, 23kb)
• Read our Trustees Annual Report and Accounts (pdf, 264kb)

Partners Christmas Lunch

Bert and Elaine Duffus are hosting this event for us again this year at the Charlton Park Rugby Football Club. It will take place on 18^th December at 1.00pm and I am sure a great time will be had by all. It was a great event last year with the rugby teams helping to serve the food and look after everyone. This year there will be a choir from a local school who will sing carols and bingo!

Volunteer News

Volunteer Christmas Party

I hope all the volunteers have now received their invitations. We are meeting in the same venue as last year – Pizza Express in Greenwich at 7.30 on Wednesday 17^th December. Please let us now as soon as possible if you want to attend and if you want to bring someone as we need to confirm numbers by 10th December. We are looking forward to seeing you all and having a chance to thank you for your excellent work.

New volunteers

We have run two basic training programmes this autumn and now have a number of new potential volunteers who we will be hopefully matching with partners in the New Year. Welcome to all of you and we look forward to working with you over the coming months.  We also have a new office volunteer, Florence, who is kindly giving us two days a week of her time and has been a great help so far.

Support sessions

I’m sorry that we have not been able to organise as many support sessions this year as we hoped though a number of volunteers have attended on external courses. In January, we will be sending out a programme of sessions for the year and are negotiating with other voluntary organisations in the borough to bring in external trainers on debt, welfare and housing issues.

In the new year, we will be contacting all volunteers who are currently without partners, to look to match you up with older people on our waiting list. Please let us know if you are still available for volunteering.

If you have any news or information that you would like us to include in the next newsletter, please contact Eleanor in the office. We are particularly interested in stories relating to your partners, any information that you feel would be helpful to other advocates or any events that are coming up.

Advocacy for Older People in Greenwich
Mycenae House, 90 Mycenae Road, London SE3 7SE
Tel/fax: 020 8269 0298
advocacy4olderpeople@tiscali.co.uk
www.afop.org.uk

Newsletter Issue 50 July 2008. This Issue Includes:

1. AfOP news update
2. The Care Home Project
3. Advocacy Research Project
4. Volunteer News
5. Training Opportunities
6. You can also download this newsletter as a PDF (pdf, 32kb)

AfOP news update

Our new premises

Many of you will have witnessed the huge changes taking place within the borough and especially in Woolwich over the last few years. Sadly the building we were in is scheduled for change too - it is going to be demolished and the site will be redeveloped, apparently as a hotel and shops.

As you know, we have now moved into an office - Room 22 - on the second floor of Mycenae House, a community centre in Mycenae Road between Charlton and Blackheath. It is smaller than our old office but in a great location and there are other community groups using the centre, including several clubs which attract older people. I trust you have all received our new contact details. You are very welcome to drop in and see us in our new setting.

Changes in staff

2008 has brought some interesting developments for us here. Bert Duffus finished as our Project Worker in January but has continued to work as a volunteer. We would like to thank him for the fantastic job he has done for his partners and to say that he is sorely missed in the office as well.

Some of you will now have met our new member of staff, Genya Robinson, who started in January. Genya has already carried out an extensive publicity campaign to ensure that people in the borough have up-to-date information on the service and has been going out to groups and lunch clubs giving presentations on our behalf. She is also working directly with clients in crisis and liaising with volunteers.

Strategy Review Day

As the first stage in an organisational review to map out the future direction of the organisation, the Management Committee and staff met at Mycenae House on Saturday 14th June. It was a very successful event and lots of creative ideas emerged. We will be sending out more detailed information later on and contacting all the volunteers to canvass their views and comments.

A revamped website

We are delighted to say that after a break of over six months, the web site is now up and running again, with the same web address www.afop.org.uk. We have been lucky enough to find a volunteer, Keith Aubrey, who has got done an excellent job. The next step is to redo the content and ensure that it is regularly up-dated with news and information. Do please have a look at it and let us know what you think and any suggestions you may have.

We are looking for interesting photos to put up on the site. If anyone has a photo of themselves or with their partner which they would be willing to include, we would love to put it on as long as everyone involved has given their consent.

The Care Home Project

This month we have an exciting new project starting. We have been successful in getting some funding from Help the Aged to run a six month pilot programme in two Greenwich care homes. We will be running group advocacy for the residents as well as setting up one to one partnerships where appropriate. We will also be doing reminiscence work and helping residents to put together Life History Books which will provide them with a visual record of their lives. Sam will be taking the lead on this project, working with Genya.

We hope to extend this project in the future and are looking for funding to set up similar groups in more residences and to carry on the work for the next three years.

We are looking for volunteers to be involved in this project so if you are interested, please do contact us.

We will provide any training which is necessary for volunteers. Age Exchange in Blackheath offers a very interesting session on Reminiscence work which Eleanor and Genya have attended. Anyone volunteering will be offered the same opportunity as well as training from Sam who has a lot of experience in this area.

Advocacy research project

AfOP has agreed to take part in research into advocacy being conducted by Edna Mathieson. Edna has been for many years on the Board of Trustees of Westminster Advocacy Service for Senior Residents and is doing this research as part of her PhD thesis. All of the staff and members of the Management Committee are being interviewed as part of this project.

We are looking for volunteers and partners who would be willing to participate in a telephone or face to face interview of about 30 minutes. If you are willing to do this, please contact Eleanor on 020 8269 0298. She will pass your contact details on to Edna who will call and arrange a time for the interview at your convenience.

We would be grateful if you could also ask your partners if they would be willing to be interviewed and let us know.

Volunteer news

New volunteers

Since last year, we have been lucky enough to get some volunteer help in the office. Aparajita Ray very generously gave her time two or three days a week from November to March and did an excellent job. We are pleased to say that she has left to go to a paid post and we wish her all the best for the future.

We now have two new volunteers, Idalyn Acolatse and Abiodun Oke. Idalyn is working one day a week on Wednesdays and giving us really useful admin support and Abi is working on advocacy issues and is based in the office.

Partner reviews

We have been so busy catching up after the move that we haven't been able to organise any partner reviews over the last few months. So we have set up a programme to catch up. Several members of the Management Committee have kindly volunteered to undertake the reviews. We will be enlisting your help in explaining this to your partners and will be in touch shortly with details.

All the reviewers will be given ID cards to help identify them to the partners.

Support sessions

We are organising a new series of training and support sessions for volunteers on different topics to start after the summer. We will be in touch with the programme once we have finalised the dates and the trainers. Thank you for the suggestions you have already made. We will ensure that these topics are covered.

Training Opportunities

So far this year….

We have run three successful training events so far this year. In February and June, Eleanor provided sessions for Greenwich Council's Staff Learning & Development programme entitled 'An Introduction to Advocacy for Older People'. These were intended to raise awareness of advocacy and its benefits for older people as well as to raise the profile of the organisation in the borough. 15 people attended each session, many of whom worked with older people's services in the borough or in residential care homes. It was great to meet them and see how many people are really concerned about older people and the way they are treated. Eleanor will be doing another similar session soon.

Find out more about our introductory training day in September on advocacy for older people

Sam ran a successful training course for volunteers in March with three participants. We are very happy to welcome Eleanor, Ndidi and Suleman as volunteers. One of them is already working with a partner and the others will be matched soon.

The next volunteer recruitment and training will take place after the summer.

External Training available for volunteers

Training or Event	Offered by	Venue	Date
Free Dementia Awareness Course	Greenwich Council	The Training Suite Bowater Road, SE18 5TF	22nd August and 10th December 2008
Free Managing Challenging Behaviour Course	Greenwich Council	The Training Suite Bowater Road, SE18 5TF	5th September and 26th February 2008
Introduction to Dementia	Fordementia	6 Camden High Street, London, NW1 0JH	July 9th 2008
Activity Groups for People with Dementia	Fordementia	6 Camden High Street, London, NW1 0JH	August 27th 2008
Counselling Skills for Dementia Careworkers	Fordementia	6 Camden High Street , London, NW1 0JH	September 16th 2008

New Training courses are being advertised around Assertiveness and Communication Skills. We will send flyers out to people when they are available.

We have attached a flier advertising a post at the Volunteer Centre. If anyone is interested, the contact details are included.

If you have any news or information that you would like us to include in the next newsletter, please contact Eleanor in the office. We are particularly interested in stories relating to your partners, any information that you feel would be helpful to other advocates or any events that are coming up.