Just a few details about the lifting of our current lockdown situation. From the 6th July people will be able to travel again in Wales. Self contained accommodation providers can take bookings from the 13th July. Cafes are starting to provide safe outside seating areas and restrictions on using the Waste & Recycling sites are gradually being lifted. The libraries are launching a new Order & Collect service from the 2nd July, the bus services are increasing the frequency of their services and of course good luck to all children returning to school next week.
This week is Carers Week 2020 – lots of information and support for Carers has come out and we are passing on links below to an online course, a report about carers in the current Covid-19 crisis and a series of podcasts by individual carers talking about their own situations. Hope you find these useful.
Hafal Crossroads are commissioned by Hywel Dda University Health Board and Pembrokeshire County Council to deliver Pembrokeshire Carers Information and Support Service. This provides a range of services and support functions to unpaid carers in Pembrokeshire. These include Carers Information Packs, Carers Emergency Back-up Scheme, Carers Recognition Card, and a Carers Outreach Service. The service is available 9am-8pm Monday to Friday, 10am-1pm Saturday & Sunday during the current pandemic. A series of personal podcasts has been produced – click on the link below.
Carers Week 2020 – report on the rise in the number of unpaid carers during Covid-19 outbreak produced by the Welsh Government and can be accessed through the link below.
Our lovely Centre is still closed but hoping to re-open sometime soon. In the meantime if you have MS have a look at the pages below which you may find useful – these are pages extracted from the MS Society website which you will find here:
HOPE is still closed due to the Covid-19 situation and we are really sorry that we cannot continue with our treatments. In the meantime we hope you all stay well – if you are looking after someone and do need support there are posters below giving information.
We can’t wait to open our lovely Centre again and see everybody – hope it won’t be too long now.
Strange times indeed. We hope you are all staying safe and finding ways to cope with the current situation. We will be ringing round in the near future, a quick chat to see how you are and if you need any help. Until then here is some local information that might be useful and below a flyer from the Pembrokeshire Community Hub – a one stop shop for all your support needs during Covid-19. The phone number to ring is 01437 776301 and the email address is communitycovid19@pembrokeshire.gov.uk
The Cake Shop in Main St., Pembroke can deliver a variety of cakes, quiches and pasties. They are on Facebook as The Cake Shop, Pembroke. Deliveries cost £5 or are free for orders of £30+
Marks & Spencers now have a delivery service for a range of grocery boxes themed on fruit or vegetables and basics, amongst others.
Argyle Medical Group – the lines are open from 8am still for a same day appointment. If you have not called them recently, don’t be alarmed by the way the phone is now answered. First of all you receive some standard information about Covid 19 – then the line goes quiet for a few seconds (don’t hang up) and next you are told that you are being put through to an operator. You will then hear some Welsh and be given the option to press 2 for English. With luck you may then hear the dialling tone or, if it is busy, hear the usual music while you wait for the dialling tone. Once you get through you’ll be added to the day’s list with a health practitioner or doctor after a triage call to determine if the consultation can be by telephone. It’s a bit different but please do not hesitate to call them if you need advice.
Tenby Cottage Hospital, Minor injuries unit tel 01834 840044. This ‘walk in’ centre is open Monday to Friday between 10am and 5pm. It is situated at Gas Lane, Tenby SA70 8AG, next door to Tenby surgery and on the access road to the large car park behind Tenby’s North beach. There’s no x-ray facility but they can deal with minor injuries e.g. burns &cuts.
On a positive note the Centre has received a donation of £2000 from the CARTEN100 cycle ride. Obviously we have no income at the moment but such generous donations all help to make sure that we will be in a position to offer you our usual service and therapies when we are allowed to re-open.
Take care and hopefully we will be seeing you soon.
Attendees at the Blue Mountain Group Charity Dinner held on Friday 28th February enjoyed a fun filled evening of great food, entertainment and an amazing auction. All the proceeds from the evening were donated to our Centre and we expect to receive an amazing amount, around £11,000! Thank you Nigel and all your team.
Members of the Ebenezer Church in Haverfordwest visited the Centre on the 8th Feb. The Church raised £650 which was split between HOPE and the Pembs Parkinsons Group so we invited its members to visit HOPE to find out more about what we do.
It’s been a busy couple of months at the HOPE Centre. We now have two new Patrons, our annual Xmas Fun Day went very well and we have been privileged to receive some fantastic donations as well as fund raising actively ourselves. We would like to thank Martin Perkins who raised £806 from his birthday party; Maureen and John Parry for their donation of £275, the Ty Dewi Gallery for £68, the Mothers Union in Tenby for £50, the Co-op Community Fund for £1409 and the Freemasons for their wonderful donation of £3,500. HOPE has received ongoing support from West Wales Freemasons for several years and during their annual Xmas Fun day, James Ross, Head of West Wales Freemasons was delighted to be able to present the £3,500 to HOPE’s Chairman, Ken Brombley. This donation takes the total given by West Wales Freemasons since 2009 to an amazing £20,000. The total amount this year was made up of £3,000 from the West Wales Grand Charity and a £500 donation from Strumble Lodge of Freemasons.
Freemasons James Ross and Bryn Barton at the HOPE Xmas Fun Day
We also raised £443 from our Xmas Raffle and £262 from a fundraising day in Morrisons, Haverfordwest. Moving forward to next year we anticipate another successful year for the Centre where we will be upgrading and modernising one of our washrooms and looking into fitting electric entrance doors. Finally we would like to officially welcome Simon Wright who has joined our team of physical therapists delivering bespoke physio sessions.
Simon Wright – new Physical Therapist
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from all of us at the Hope Centre. The Centre is closed from the 20th December, re-opening on Monday 6th January, 2020. Ken Brombley and Maureen Parry will be participating in the Saundersfoot New Year Swim on the 1st January, 2020 – good luck to them both.
We are delighted to announce that Angela Burns AM is now our second Patron. Prior to entering politics Angela worked in business and became a company director before moving to Pembrokeshire with her husband and two daughters. She was first elected to the Welsh Assembly in 2007, was re-elected in 2011 and 2016 and has fulfilled various ministerial roles culminating in currently serving as Shadow Cabinet Minister for Health & Wellbeing. She has been a Director of HOPE for the past 18 months but with her busy life feels that as Patron she will be able to be more actively supportive of the Charity.
We are really pleased that Councillor Simon Hancock has agreed to become a Patron of HOPE. Councillor Hancock has a record of public service stretching over 32 years. He has been a Neyland town Councillor since 1987 and has been town mayor nine times. A founder member of Pembrokeshire County Council in 1996 he is currently chairman and has occupied many rules in the council and other public bodies like the Care Council for Wales, Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority and Hywel Dda University Health Board. Councillor Hancock is a Justice of the Peace and is a museum curator. He has been curator of the Haverfordwest Town Museum since 1998 and is a history graduate with a PhD from Cardiff University. He occupies many public roles including chairman of the Pembrokeshire Historical Society and Haverfordwest Civic Society and sits on a number of boards including the Torch Theatre and VC Gallery.
Councillor Hancock said ‘ I am honoured and delighted to have been asked to become a Patron of HOPE Therapy Centre. The charity does incredible work for service users and their families and is rightly held in the highest regard.’
