TAYSIDE FRIENDS OF ARMS LIMITED
TAYSIDE MS THERAPY CENTRE
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 2005
will take place at the Centre
Monday 25th April at 7pm ’til 8.30pm
ALL members are cordially invited to attend at any time during 7—8.30. As our membership has increased considerably over the last two years we now need 25 members attending before the meeting can take place. Tea/coffee available .
The present Chairman and Committee need your support.
USE IT OR LOSE IT - BASICALLY, NO A.G.M. - NO COMMITTEE - NO CENTRE ! !
BE HEARD AS WELL AS SEEN
Unfortunately a suggestion to display the Minutes of the monthly Committee Meetings in the Centre cannot be complied with. Tayside M S Therapy Centre is not only a totally autonomous, self-funding, local charity but also a Limited Company and as such does not distribute copies of the Minutes to the general public. However, if you wish to contribute towards the running of the Centre by voicing any suggestions and/or concerns you may have, please offer to become a Committee member; ask a Committee Member to take your point to the next Committee Meeting and/or attend the Annual General Meeting where all members are encouraged to be involved and where all opinions are given due consideration.
FIRE!!
In line with Health & Safety requirements, fire drills will now be routinely carried out and to avoid panic please make sure you are acquainted with procedures. For instance, if you are in the chamber when the alarm sounds, you should be aware that in the event of a fire – or fire drill -the Chamber is deemed a place of safety and will not be evacuated! Instead clean air will be substituted for oxygen and no further action taken until the Fire Brigade arrive to take control.
COULD YOU BENEFIT FROM THE M S RESEARCH AND RELIEF FUND?
This is a charity, which provides grants to help people with M S.
Examples of what they are able to provide are as follows:
Respite/Residential/Nursing Care Costs
The Charity will grant a maximum £250 per week up to a total maximum of £500.
Aids/Adaptations and Equipment
The Charity will generally award a grant of up to 50% of residual amount but will not exceed a total of £600.
Alterations to Current Accommodation
The Charity will generally award a grant of up to 50% of residual amount but will not exceed a total of £500. Any work carried out must be by an approved builder/contractor.
Miscellaneous Items
Funding miscellaneous items allows the Charity to support individual requests that fall outside the usual requests e.g. costs towards holidays, social outings, transport etc. The Charity will generally award a grant of up to 50% of residual amount but will not exceed a total of £500.
Grant applications will only be considered on receipt of a completed grant application form, which are held in the Tayside M S Therapy Centre Office.
YOGA
For various reasons the Yoga sessions, which are held in the Centre weekly on Monday afternoons and occasionally on Sunday afternoons (with plenty advance notice regarding dates), have experienced a fall in numbers. These sessions are very enjoyable and great fun with absolutely no pressure to go beyond your personal ability. Why not think about coming along and having a ‘sample’ with no obligation to return if you decide this is not for you. (Yoga mats are provided!)
SOUP’N’STOVIES
In November instead of holding the usual Coffee Morning, we held a lunch-time sale serving soup and stovies and this proved to be very popular, bringing in over £1000 on the day!
Many thanks to everyone who helped in making the day such a success. And indeed to everyone involved in the day to day running of the Centre and making it too such a success!
READ ALL ABOUT IT!
One of our members, Simon Martin, has kindly donated a copy of his book ‘The Other Titanic’ which relates the story of salvage work on the wreck of the fabulous ‘Oceanic’ on Foula. This book is available for anyone attending the Centre to borrow
AND RETURN!!
An American visiting Fort William asked a local resident, “Does the rain ever stop?”
“I don’t know,” replied the local “ I’m only twenty-three!”
ALTERNATIVELY!
Some of our members have tried out various alternative therapies in a quest to find help in managing MS and as part of a self-help group are keen to pass on information when the experience has proved positive. For example one of our members has noticed a significant improvement in his MS since attending a practitioner of traditional Chinese Herbal Remedies and Acupuncture. Another member is keen to share her positive ‘Shiatsu’ experience and a Red Cross Volunteer qualified to provide hand, neck and arms massage is offering his services either at the Centre or on a domiciliary basis. We are happy to accommodate such information by displaying details on the members notice board in the Centre, however, as a Charity, we cannot endorse any of these recommendations/therapies and advise that any information for dissemination in this way must first be discussed with our Nurse/Counsellor.
HELP……YOUR CENTRE NEEDS PEOPLE TO TRAIN TO OPERATE THE CHAMBER
We are sometimes struggling to run the Chamber sessions as we don’t have enough back-up operators. We are looking for people who are willing to undertake appropriate training, who are physically fit, friendly, caring and available for a couple of hours in the morning, afternoon or early evening to provide a back-up service to our HBO Chamber Operators. Simply by being present and capable of taking over this simple procedure should the main operator become unable to carry out his/her duties for any reason both meets safety requirements and helps provide a secure and relaxed atmosphere for members undergoing treatment. Involvement can be on a regular, relief, back-up or emergency basis. The more people trained to undertake this role the more flexible we can be. If you are a carer who waits in the centre while your partner, friend or relative is in the Chamber, you could be the back-up operator for that time. Please think about it. If you are a Social Volunteer who might like to add another feather to their arrow, then let us know. If you are acquainted with someone who might be interested and available, ask him/her to contact us. There are Back-up Operators out there and we need to find them!
A HOLIDAY TO REMEMBER
Freda Mulligan’s daughter booked a holiday in March for Freda to visit her in Australia in November. Freda then had eight months to worry about the journey, the heat and having had hyperbaric oxygen therapy for 22 years, the lack of this facility. Lo and behold, she had a brilliant holiday, was away for nine weeks and had no adverse affects from going without Hyperbaric treatment during that time. The message from Freda is, if you get the opportunity to go abroad, grab it!
M.S. STUDY
Dr Roger Melhuish, who conducted a study at the Centre last year and hoped to be in a position to share his findings by now, has been in touch to say that he collected so much data it is taking much longer than anticipated to work through all the information. He will contact the Centre again when he has concluded this study and has some results to circulate…..until then please be a patient patient!
DID YOU KNOW ……..
that the combination ‘’ough’’can be pronounced in nine different ways ?
The following sentence contains them all.
‘’A rough-coated, dough-faced, thoughtful plough man strode through the streets of Scarborough; after falling into a slough, he coughed and hiccoughed.’’
Information taken from ‘Words’ at www.angelfire.com where lots more word trivia can be found.
While you’re ‘logged on’
Check out www.astray.com for some wheat and dairy free recipes.
If you don’t have home access to the internet, see item following.
COMPUTER DATING!
To make it easier to book time on the Members’ Computer a diary has been started. Please pre-book your time or record your use to give more realistic statistics for computer, e.g name /initials followed by...Computing, Internet, Tuition. Although this computer is a wee bit on the slow side, members are very welcome to use it to produce letters, posters, cards etc – keeping any printing to a reasonable level – also to use the internet and e-mail facility. In accordance with the Data Protection Act and to preserve privacy, members are respectfully requested not to open, amend or delete any files, which have not been generated by themselves. The general maintenance of files on this computer is the sole responsibility of the Centre staff and appointed personnel.
Judy is available to help/instruct most Thursday afternoons and is wonderfully patient, so don’t be put off…give it a go!
We will shortly be on Broadband which means more flexibility for Internet use for both Staff and Members.
PENNIES FROM ….…HEAVEN??
We are extremely grateful for all the generous donations we receive, but, believe it or not, very often we cannot account for all the money received. Although this is indeed a nice problem to have, it makes balancing the books a bit difficult. Can we, therefore, request that all people making donations ensure that a receipt is issued. This also refers to donations for chamber sessions and payments for physiotherapy sessions. We don’t mind if these receipts are immediately filed in the bin, but as this is our only record of payments/donations it will help enormously if everyone conforms! Thank you!
BUTTONS !
No, you’re not being sworn at! Our Aromatherapist, Liz, is seeking your old buttons for the Dundee Association of Mental Health at Kandaha House. They are hoping to make a large collage but need lots and lots of buttons. Can you help please?
CHRISTMAS CARD COMPETITION
Yes your eyes do not deceive you – in early Spring we are holding a ‘Christmas Card’ competition! We intend to print our own cards for Christmas 2005 and are aware that we have many talented and creative members and to capitalise on such expertise we are asking you to make a sample card and send it in to the Centre along with a ‘guesstimation’ of the possible costs involved in producing this……..if you know, if not it doesn’t matter. It would make sense for the card to be a size that fits a standard size envelope! As this could turn out to be a huge project, we must put a closing date for entries as Wednesday 18th May 2005. Don’t be shy…drawings, paintings and photographs can be scanned into the computer……. so everyone can have a bash, not just the I.T. whiz kids amongst us! The winner(s)’ card(s) will be produced and sold at a profit!
ROOM FOR A WEE ONE!!
Our larger chamber is certainly proving popular. So popular in fact we have logistical difficulties in accommodating everyone at their chosen/preferred time. Although this chamber can and does accommodate two wheelchairs easily, to increase this capacity to three wheelchairs would mean the removal of another ordinary seat, which reduces the number of people per session. Despite our Nurse/Counsellor adding juggling to her list of attributes, the situation cannot always be resolved. Flexibility would appear to be the key to a successful outcome! The chamber is frequently packed to the gunnels on Tuesdays and Thursdays and occasionally EMPTY…yes EMPTY… on Wednesdays and late Friday afternoons, with no demand, therefore, no session at all at the moment on Thursday evening. If you are in a position to take up the ‘slack’ and relieve the congestion, our Nurse/Counsellor would be delighted to hear from you!
Lloyds TSB
We were 1 of 10 good causes to receive a donation of £250.
Money was raised by TSB staff undertaking a number of fundraising activities, including pub quizzes, tombolas, cake & candy stalls.
Mary Archibald accepted the cheque on our behalf.
Ha Ha Ha !!
A surprise announcement at the railway station – “The train arriving at platforms 1, 3 and 5, is coming in sideways!”
Why does a milking stool only have 3 legs.?
Because the cow has the udder (think about it you slow coaches)!
YOUNG AT HEART………..AND LUNGS AND LIMBS!
Hylda Merchant, a ninety-year old lady, who is one of our many unsung heroes, who regularly hand in their saved coppers, excelled herself this New Year. Not only did she walk over the Tay Road Bridge to Fife and back again, but, she organised and collected sponsorship money to the tune of £530. We understand she is planning to repeat this ‘no mean feat’ next New Year and wish her well!!
Hylda is pictured with friend Elaine Jeffrey who walked bridge with her.
Photo & article taken from EVENING TELEGRAPH
Gavin Innes, brother in law to one of our members recently celebrated his 40th birthday. He decided to forego gifts which (with the generosity of his friends and family) resulted in the wonderful sum of £420.40p being presented to us.
Thank you very much Gavin.