The Chairmans Blog

First coach trip of 2025

We have organised a coach trip for Wednesday the 21^st May which will be a journey up to Great Malvern for some wonderful sightseeing then on to Birdwood near Gloucester for lunch and a different route back to Purton. The cost of £30 per head will include the lunch which will be from a two-course menu. Ring Peter on 778119 to book. The pickup time will be 10am at all the usual places.

How can we help more?

We are always looking for ways to support the older residents in our village and sometimes it’s very difficult to ensure that we include everybody.

If you are part of a club or group in the village and have a project that specifically focuses on our older residents, but you could do with a little bit of help with the funding, send us a message including details all about your project to secretary@purtonageconcern.com and we’ll see if we can help.

Smoke and fire detectors

Did you know that there is a free check by the fire service for anyone over 65 to replace/install smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors? If you or any of your neighbours/family are interested the link is below. 

https://www.dwfire.org.uk/safe-and-well-visits/what-is-safe-and-well/

Tai Chi classes

The Tai-Chi classes continue to run weekly (term time only) at 1.30pm on Thursdays at the Millennium Hall.  Come along and enjoy the benefits of this gentle exercise.  Apparently one of the best exercises for Parkinsons Disease is said to be Tai Chi.  Anyone is welcome to join the group.  There is a FREE taster session for all first timers.  New members will have to fill in a health form at the first lesson.  Cost is £7.00 per session.  If you have any questions, please contact GRAHAM on 07950 510420.

Qualifying residents

Are you 65 or over and live in the Purton Area?  Do you know who your street warden is?  We try to maintain an up-to-date list of the ‘qualifying’ residents but it’s not always possible to keep up with all the changes.  If you answer ‘yes’ to the two questions but have never received any communication from Purton & District Age Concern please contact Georgina, our secretary, to find out what services we offer and who the street warden is for your patch. Email: secretary@purtonageconcern.com or call 07966 222967.

Minibus

If you need to use the Purton & District Age Concern transport for surgery appointments or to go on one of our shopping trips, and are over 60 years of age, then please contact Hazel on 01793 770862 as usual.

Useful contacts

If you have a problem or need to speak to anyone on any other topic, then your first port of call should be your street warden.  Failing that other contacts are Peter Berry from Purton & District Age Concern on 01793 778119 or Debbie Lawrence, Clerk of the Parish Council, on 01793 771066. Remember that Purton is a very special village and there is always somebody that can help and will help.

Wheelchairs etc

We have a couple of wheelchairs, walkers, crutches, and walking sticks, so if you think you might need to borrow any of these at any time then you can contact Peter on 01793 778119 or email secretary@purtonageconcern.com for details.

If you need it!

Bobby Van – If you need the Bobby Van for replacement batteries or if your smoke alarms are not working properly then call them on 01225 256867.

Pheonix – This is a free transport service on your bus pass. You need to ring 01249 890794 to book with them. Remember if we don’t use it, we lose it!

Keep in touch

Why not check out our social media to keep up to date with our events and fund-raising.

 

If you would like to be added to our events mailing list, please drop us a note email: secretary@purtonageconcern.com

 

Peter Berry

Chairman

Burns Night

This is our biggest event of the year, and it didn’t disappoint, in fact I think that this was probably our best one so far.  

We had a capacity attendance of people who had obviously come out to enjoy themselves. The evening started with the piper, Simon, welcoming guests with his music as they entered the hall and everyone taking their seats for the dinner.  The haggis was piped around the hall and then Laura, our Vice-Chairman, read the ode “To a Haggis” by Robbie Burns.  We then toast the haggis, everyone standing and drinking their dram of whiskey.

Convention finished, out came the three-course meal, beautifully prepared by the committee and helpers, which, from the feedback I had, was enjoyed immensely by everyone there.  Simon played music between courses, and everything was cleared away ready for the dancing.

Sarah and her band, Rock ‘n Reel, then started the ceilidh which is very much like country dancing, well that’s what we did anyway, and the enthusiastic ones joined in and bounced around the hall, not always in the right direction!

Halfway through the evening we enjoyed Heads and Tails, a knockout event governed by the toss of a coin which was hilarious and run by Alan and Richard who have done this many times before, followed by the raffle and then on to more dancing.  The evening goes so quickly, and the excitement is palpable. The day is a lot of hard work but so worthwhile. 

I am pleased to say that we raised approx. £1500 during the evening, which is a great start to our 2025 fundraising efforts.

This year’s events

We realise that our events are very popular, and we have planned a lot of events again this year, so you need to keep an eye on our website and check out this magazine for the dates and type of event. 

Please only contact us once we have announced the date and the point of contact for a particular event. 

All events must be first come – first serve for us to reach the widest group of attendees.  We are sorry if you have already missed out on 3B’s in March which has already sold out but keep an eye out for more as we start planning and announcing them.

Smoke and fire detectors

Did you know that there is a free check by the fire service for anyone over 65 to replace/install smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors? If you or any of your neighbours/family are interested the link is below. 

https://www.dwfire.org.uk/safe-and-well-visits/what-is-safe-and-well/

Tai Chi classes

The Tai-Chi classes continue to run weekly (term time only) at 1.30pm on Thursdays at the Millennium Hall.  Come along and enjoy the benefits of this gentle exercise.  Apparently one of the best exercises for Parkinsons Disease is said to be Tai Chi.  Anyone is welcome to join the group.  There is a FREE taster session for all first timers.  New members will have to fill in a health form at the first lesson.  Cost is £7.00 per session.  If you have any questions, please contact GRAHAM on 07950 510420.

Qualifying residents

Are you 65 or over and live in the Purton Area?  Do you know who your street warden is?  We try to maintain an up-to-date list of the ‘qualifying’ residents but it’s not always possible to keep up with all the changes.  If you answer ‘yes’ to the two questions but have never received any communication from Purton & District Age Concern please contact Georgina, our secretary, to find out what services we offer and who the street warden is for your patch. Email: secretary@purtonageconcern.com or call 07966 222967.

 Minibus

If you need to use the Purton & District Age Concern transport for surgery appointments or to go on one of our shopping trips, and are over 60 years of age, then please contact Hazel on 01793 770862 as usual.

Peter Berry
Chairman

So many people really suffered over the Christmas period last year! There were all sorts of flu, bad colds and chest infections that simply refused to go away, and we all suffered for several weeks. We hope that you all managed to fit in some sort of Christmas festivities. I know of a lot of people that were happy to write off Christmas this last year. Let’s hope that It will all be different in 2025 and a distant memory by this Christmas coming. We hope you all stay fit and healthy throughout the year.

We have a lot of functions for you to enjoy once again and look forward to catching up with everybody. We will update our website with all the information on our fund-raising events and dates for our coach trips so if you are able, then please look at the website or if not in the magazine for information if you aren’t online for when these events will take place.

We hope that all of you that qualified enjoyed the vouchers that were issued, we will work hard to make sure we can do the same this year.

Three B’s

This will be our second event of the year, after Burns night in January and will be on Friday 28^th March in the Village Hall. For those of you that haven’t been to one of these we have Bangers, Beans and Bingo hence the 3B’s with a raffle and money prizes on the bingo. This is always a popular event so please make sure you book early by ringing Andrew on 01793 956095 for tickets as it is ticket only on the night.

Wheelchair or electric bath riser seat

If anyone wants details of either of these, which incidentally are free to obtain, then ring Peter on 778119 for further information.

Smoke and fire detectors

Just to let you know that there is a free check by the fire service for anyone over 65 to replace/install smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors. If you or any of your neighbours/family are interested the link is below. 

https://www.dwfire.org.uk/safe-and-well-visits/what-is-safe-and-well/

Tai Chi classes

The Tai-Chi classes will be running weekly at 1.30pm on Thursdays at the Millennium Hall, so come along and enjoy the benefits of this gentle exercise. There was a talk recently at the Surgery about Parkinsons Disease and the best exercise was said to be Tai Chi, so if you know anyone with the problem then they are welcome to join our group. We will be offering a FREE taster session for beginners.  New members will have to fill in a health form at the first lesson.  Cost is £7.00 per session.  If you have any questions, please contact GRAHAM on 07950 510420.

If you would like to be added to our events mailing list, please drop us a note email: secretary@purtonageconcern.com

 

Peter Berry

Chairman