Tag: elderly

Full house celebrates Rainbow’s special birthday!

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Drylaw’s Rainbow Club Day Centre celebrated their thirtieth anniversary with a Las Vegas-themed party last week – and you can bet everyone had a great time!

When it was first established in Drylaw Church in 1985 the Rainbow Club offered lunchtime sessions and companionship to older people. Since then, the organisation grown and developed – overcoming many challenges along the way – and remains an important part of community life in Drylaw and the wider North Edinburgh community.

Manager Jackie Brown has been at the helm throughout, and as ever Jackie, the staff and volunteers put on a great party for guests and members on 17 June.

As The King himself might have said: Viva, Las Rainbow!

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Pictures courtesy Jackie Brown at Drylaw Rainbow Club Day Centre

Queen’s Award for LifeCare

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Stockbridge-based LifeCare have had their work recognised by Her Majesty the Queen. LifeCare, which works with elderly people, has been honoured with the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service, the highest award a voluntary group can receive in the UK.

Across the city, Duddingston Kirk Lunch Club has also received the highest accolade.

Both charities were recommended for awards by Edinburgh’s Lord Provost and Lord Lieutenant, Donald Wilson, who also takes on the role of the city’s volunteering champion and both LifeCare and Duddingston Kirk Lunch Club will be invited to attend a garden party at Holyrood Palace with the Queen in late Spring.

LifeCare Edinburgh, based at Cheyne Street in Stockbridge, works across the city supporting the independence and wellbeing of the elderly, people with dementia and carers, helping them to remain at home, connect with others and participate more fully in their community. This is done through a rang of services which includes day units, a popular community café and volunteer projects.

Su Millar, Chief Executive of LifeCare Edinburgh, said: “We are absolutely thrilled with this news and proud to be one of two organisations to receive such a prestigious award. We are delighted that it is recognising the excellent work our volunteers do here at LifeCare Edinburgh.

“We are grateful to Sopra Steria, Edinburgh for nominating us. It demonstrates our commitment to our volunteers and we could not offer all that we do without them. The volunteers who work with us complement our staff teams whether it is assisting in the day units, helping in the café, supporting our events, or helping older people with their shopping.”

“They all bring their own enthusiasm and expertise so without them LifeCare Edinburgh would not be able to make such a difference in the lives of the people we care for. Our volunteers range from students doing their Duke of Edinburgh Award, people who have retired and have more time to spare, to those looking to gain experience in the workplace.”

Duddingston Kirk Lunch Club provides a vital lunch club service for elderly and frail people in east Edinburgh. The service is provided on an entirely voluntary basis by a dedicated group of volunteers, many of whom are themselves elderly.

The local groups are two of 187 charities, social enterprises and voluntary groups to receive the prestigious award this year. The number of awards handed out to groups have increased by over 60% from 2014, due to an increase in high quality applications, showing that the voluntary sector is thriving and full of innovative ideas to tackle community challenges.

Volunteers from LifeCare and the Duddingston Kirk Lunch Club will receive the award from Edinburgh’s Lord Provost later this summer.

The Lord Lieutenant Donald Wilson said: “The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service is the equivalent of an MBE for volunteer groups and recognises the outstanding work they provide within their local communities. I am delighted that not one but two of Edinburgh’s fantastic charities have been chosen by the Queen to receive this recognition.

“Both LifeCare and the Duddingston Kirk Lunch Club truly deserve the praise. It was an honour to recommend them personally for their voluntary service, and it will be my privilege to present them with their awards and certificates later this year.”

The Minister for Civil Society, Rob Wilson, added: “I would like to congratulate all groups who received this year’s Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service, in recognition of their fantastic achievements. The hard work and commitment that goes into the work of these organisations is surpassed only by the passion and motivation of the individuals who volunteer.

“I hope these groups continue to inspire others to get involved and make a positive impact so that we can continue to build a bigger, stronger society.”

 

Any group of two or more people that has participated in voluntary work for more than three years can be nominated for the award. Full details on how to nominate are available at http://qavs.direct.gov.uk/

Nominations for the 2016 awards close on 18 September 2015.

Budget: ‘government is leaving retirement to chance’

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‘Pensions ‘fiddle’ proves government is leaving retirement to chance‘

Britain’s biggest pensioners’ organisation The National Pensioners Convention (NPC) say pension changes in the recent Budget will simply store up bigger problems for later. The group adds that the private pensions industry might ‘make a killing’ but changes proposed by the Chancellor do not address the underlying problems of funding an adequate income in retirement.

The NPC’s main objective is to promote the welfare and interests of all pensioners, as a way of securing dignity, respect and financial security in retirement, and the organisation believes that the Chancellor’s real intention is to place further responsibility for retirement onto individuals and the market, rather than seeing it as a role for the government. The campaigning group adds that welfare caps, pensioner bonds and changes to pensions prove government ‘is leaving retirement to chance’.

Dot Gibson, NPC general secretary said: “Pensioners will be concerned that benefits such as the winter fuel allowance, cold weather payments and the Christmas Bonus have all been placed into the welfare cap, which could lead to cuts in the future, at a time when fuel bills in particular are continuing to rise. The announcements regarding a new Pensioner Bond and changes to ISAs were also rather rose-tinted. 55 per cent of all pensioners receive less than £10 from their savings and 29 per cent of older couples have less than £1500 put aside.

“The idea that older people therefore have huge amounts of money to invest is rather optimistic, but the most serious change was related to defined contribution pensions. These reveal that more has to be done to improve the prospects for future pensioners. The state pension is one of the worst in Europe and the high water mark of decent company pensions has long gone.”

She went on: “However, allowing people to take all their pension pot doesn’t make the pot any bigger and belies the fact that the average worker will have a pension pot of little more than £30,000 to cover all of their retirement. Enabling people to take their pensions from aged 55 also shows the chancellor has realised there is a huge problem coming down the line which has to be funded. His plans to raise the state pension age to 68 will create an army of older workers, who if lose their jobs in their late fifties will be unable to find work. The only way they will have to fund this period of limbo until they reach retirement age will be to use their pensions – which might solve the problem in the short-term but will store up bigger problems later on when their money starts to run out.

“Once again it’s a pensions’ fiddle and those left to carry the burden will be some of the lowest paid workers.

“The reality is money purchase defined contribution pension schemes are simply not the answer to funding a decent income in retirement. The private pensions industry might make a killing from the schemes but most workers end up with much less than they thought.”

For further information about the National Pensioners Convention visit www.npcuk.org or email npc.scotland@yahoo.co.uk

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