June Newsletter 2014 - The Semi Colon Group

www.semicoloniow.org
June 2014
What we do
The Semi Colon Group (SCG) supports patients and
families affected by bowel cancer at any time following
diagnosis. We offer a safe and friendly environment
for members to meet and talk with others who have
been through similar experiences. Our team of trained
volunteers offer support to patients and their families
and friends and can help to provide interim measures
while people develop their own coping strategies. We
also try to ensure that all available services are
accessible. If you feel in need of help or advice, please
call me for a chat.
Pat Cousins 853822
[email protected]
MEETING DATES
16th July 2014
15th October 2014
All meetings will be at Wessex Cancer Support Centre
Lugley Street Newport and start at 6pm
Meetings are open to all members of SCG
DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
No social events booked yet for SCG members. There
seems to be little interest from the majority of the
members
The Macmillan Big Coffee Morning date is
26th September 2014
SCG Coffee mornings at the Wessex Centre
3rd Wednesday every month
Seated Exercise Class
There will be a seated exercise class starting in
September at The Wessex Cancer Centre, Lugley St.
Newport. It will be taken by Paul Fifield who runs
other seated classes across the Island. To give some
idea of what its about have a look at his website
www.wightseatedexcersice.com
The classes will be free of charge for the first six
classes, and a small charge will be made for each class
after that, providing sufficient member attend to allow
the classes to continue.
Classes will generally be the first Friday each month
staring on Friday 5th September, and following on 3rd
Contact: Colin Tinson 01983 611673
Mob: 07730 459790
Email: [email protected]
October: 7th November: 5th December: no class
January: 6th February: 6th March:
All classes start at 10.30pm and last 45-60mins. and 8
maybe 9 people per class can attend.
Lesley 529697 or Doreen 293510 are the ones to talk
too for more information or to book a place.
NOTE FROM BEHIND THE CHAIR
In the relatively short time of my
position I have come to know some of
the members of the Semi Colon
Group, and would like to take this
opportunity
of
making
my
observations known.
I have felt
privileged to have met such
wonderfully dedicated people, who selflessly give of
their time and effort for this Group.
The amount of time given up, the effort and even
heartache that goes into making this Group function is
overwhelming at times, and I am pleased to have
become part of such worthwhile effort. My part, I
admit, has been very small – but I can appreciate even
more the goodwill that has been extended to me since
becoming involved.
A lot of time is spent by the committee in doing
background work, writing letters, telephoning,
organizing events and the volunteers to cover them.
Their work goes on unrelenting and mostly
unrewarded – they also take the brickbats of any
complaints. From the frontline meetings with people
in need to the dedication of keeping all the accounts
audited, from the meeting of the general public at
places where they shop or visit to their homes and
kitchens providing all the biscuits, cakes and other
food – all the people involved make this a pleasure to
be a small part of.
I have enjoyed the many various social gatherings,
where I have met some of you who do not attend the
four general meetings of the Group, and it is nice to see
familiar faces at these. However, I know the Group
numbers are over 100 – where are you all? Do come
along and be part of this wonderful group of people
that do such sterling work.
Pam Crowson
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The Semi Colon Group offer their condolences to Clare
Topley on the recent passing of her husband Keith.
Our thoughts are with you Clare.
EMH The Hospice at Home Scheme
Tony welcomed Lesley Evans and Jill George from EMH
to the AGM meeting. Jill explained about the Hospice
at Home pilot scheme
The Hospice at Home scheme was started
approximately seven years ago and they work closely
with the Macmillan Team. A grant was obtained for
the Innovation Centre with funding from Macmillan to
run the pilot at the old King Edward VII hospital in
Midhurst which has run since 2006.
The grant is for £250,000 over two years, which will
be spent on staff enabling them to go into people’s
homes, making them feel more comfortable, trying to
keep patients in their own homes as long as possible,
etc. This includes their own home, care homes and
nursing homes, which is where patients state they
want to be. They are currently interviewing for two
new community support workers and will be for
patients with all cancers. The Hospice at Home
consists of one nurse per shift who works closely with
the community nurses. There could be a cross-over
with the hospital to palliative care.
At Midhurst they have 70 volunteers who have stated
they prefer patient contact rather than just
volunteering in the shop. These volunteers are acting
as ‘friends’ they do not act in any other capacity and
the patient is asked first if they would like to have a
visit
There are several other areas in the pilot including,
Dudley, Hull and Barnet and if the pilot works well
then it will be taken to other areas.
Jill reiterated the volunteers befriend, they find out
what people want and link up with home care
agencies.
Accounts for year ending 28th February 2014
This is a brief breakdown of the accounts presented at
the AGM.
The income for the year was £1599, the bulk of this
being a £1000 Grant from the Daisie Rich Trust. The
rest made up of Donations £125, Social Events £418,
and Fund Raising £56. The Social Events £418 is
money in then money out (expenditure). See below.
Administration accounts for £578, with the main
payments being: Insurance £235, Website hosting and
maintenance: £133, and Office Equipment (filling
cabinet & Anti-virus for our laptop) £90. The rest is
Newsletter, Telephone, Photocopying, & Postage.
Cancer Awareness main expenditure was Polo Shirts
for volunteers manning the stands £155 and SCG car
stickers we purchased at £117. £61 was spent on
advertising in the ‘Beacon’ (this has not been renewed)
the rest includes, postage, leaflet printing, and coffee
morning expenses.
Client Costs for the year was £1013. This was spent on
people who need our support. We use 2 companies to
provide in house support and this totalled £550. We
bought 2 Valley Cushions at a cost of £310. The
remainder was used to help clients who perhaps need
a boost like a small cash injection, or flowers to give
them a lift.
Premises costs are for payments to Riverside Ventures
£75, and John Cheverton Centre EMH £684 for office
space and meetings. We do not use either of these on a
regular basis now.
Social events have a total expenditure of £683 shown
on the balance sheets made up as follows: Xmas
gathering £100: Coach trips £433: Jazz & Big Band
festival £150. But as I said above under Social Events
income the money in was £418 therefore actual
expenditure was £265. This is the amount SCG
subsidised the events.
Volunteer Costs is what it cost to run our support
service. The total for last year was £292 made up as
follows: Postage £7: Mobile phone contract: £145:
Training £28: Volunteers expenses £112
Members Costs
Costs & Gifts includes Gift voucher for
Auditor £30: Flowers for members £32
Bank Charges for the year£52
Donations totalled £305 for the year. Wessex Cancer
Trust does not charge us rent for using their facilities.
It was agreed therefore that we would make a monthly
donation of £50. Total to date is £300. The other £5
was a late payment to Macmillan from the coffee
morning
Our combined opening bank balance on 1st March
2013 was £12,252.58.
£12,252.58 The combined closing balance
on 28th February was £9,702.92.
£9,702.92
Our deficit for the year was £2549.66.
£2549.66
Ever stop to think, and forget to start again?
Expenditure the year was £4154.44. This is about
normal year on year.
Contact: Colin Tinson 01983 611673
Mob: 07730 459790
Email: [email protected]
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Brief report regarding Joint Macmillan and IOW Trust
Project Redesigning the FollowFollow-Up Services/Treatment
for Colorectal Cancer
the entertainment was grand so thanks to all that made
this happen, it’s just a shame that so few turned up.
There will be a new consultant joining Dr Nelson and
Dr Ellesmere.
June Ring then had us tucking into the Wessex Cancer
“All Groups” lunch at Medina Valley on 12th December.
Once again, a most enjoyable visit, especially to meet
up with our friends from other groups. It is a lovely
venue and we looking forward to another visit after
Easter 2014.
The Easter lunch did happen on 23rd April 2014. I do
not have a report for this but I believe it was well
attended. I would add it was arranged by June Ring of
Wessex Cancer Trust.
The appointment of a new Band 4 Care Co-ordinator
has been agreed to help Helen, which will be funded
by Macmillan for two years and will allow Helen to do
other follow-up work, as the hospital and
commissioners are looking at a much more varied
follow up which can be tailored to patients.
All targets for scanning / investigations are being met,
which is very good news, along with an enhanced
recovery programme, and the Bowel Cancer Screening
Programme is going well.
Christmas Tree Festival
Following on from the Autumn
Newsletter we start with the
Christmas Tree Festival at
Brighstone on 5th to 8th December
2013. We were very fortunate to
be sited in the pub in the centre of
the village. Our sincere thanks go
to Pat Cousins, June Gibbs and
Peter Carver AND their families
for devising the tree decorations.
They put a lot of man hours in the
preparation and we have a few
photographs of their efforts.
The Brighstone Christmas Tree
Festival Committee sent us a
cheque for £25 from the collection
made during the festival.
Close on the heels of this
event, on 10th December,
was the Christmas Party at
Northwood WI Hall. The
event was scheduled for
the mid morning to
encourage members to
make an effort to support
it.
Sadly, only 23 members
attended and we would make
special mention of Clare Topley
who attended just to present us
with her special chocolate
roulade (no party is a party
without this item!) so thank you
Clare. Also a thank you to
Martin Cooper who kept us
entertained on the piano. The
food was good and plenty of it,
Contact: Colin Tinson 01983 611673
Mob: 07730 459790
Email: [email protected]
With our stamina not quite
exhausted, we then joined
Brenda and the IOW Tours
Coach to visit the Salisbury
Christmas
Market
on
Wednesday 18th December. As
we approached Salisbury it started to drizzle with rain
and steadily got heavier throughout the day, but it didn’t
stop the ladies bargain hunting for their last bits of
Christmas shopping!
A personal note (from Graham) for all these events is
that to stage such events, WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT
and it is with that in mind that we have only staged the
regular Coffee Mornings at Wessex Cancer in Lugley
Street. That is the THIRD WEDNESDAY in every
month. Attendance has varied buy YOU will always be
made welcome.
p.s. I have just heard from Graham that no SCG
members turned up for the May coffee morning.
HELP!!
We, that is the few who are trying to keep things going
on the Semi Colon Group, desperately need your help.
Not everyone at once, but a few here and there for a
couple of hours at a time. It doesn’t need to be on a
regular basis, maybe once, twice or three times a year
would be great.
What we need mostly is help with Cancer Awareness
Days. This usually consists of a team of 3 or 4 at a
venue handing out leaflets. We do not give medical
advice, and there is no responsibility to help anyone
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with their problems; but we would strongly advise
anyone who has a problem to go to their GP, or if they
have already been diagnosed with a problem, we are
the support group who can point them in the right
direction.
New volunteers needn’t be afraid of being thrown in at
the deep end!
There is always someone with the
experience leading the group.
Now if anyone is interested in coming along to our
meetings, that would be very helpful – there are only 4
a year! We also need a Trustee to fill a vacancy in the
Group.
This doesn’t involve any work, unless you
would like to, of course.
If you are interested in any of the above, please contact
me by phone or email, and I will take it from there.
Colin Tinson Ed. & Tres. Contact details below.
Graham wrote to several suitable venues and arranged
visits to five locations with 2 days at some (8 visits in
all) these being,
Morrisons Stores, Lake. 1 visit
St Mary’s Hospital. 2 visits
B & Q Newport. 2 visits
Busy Bee Garden Centre, Ryde. 1 visit
Tesco Stores, Ryde. 2 visits arranged, but both
abandoned due to Tesco ‘overbooking’
On the whole feedback was good, and some excellent.
Thanks go to Graham Gibbons not only for attending
but also for arranging everything. Others to thank for
giving their time, Tony Crowson; Doreen Stevens;
Lesley Cooper; Carol Duffy; Pat Cousins; June Gibbs;
Peter Carver; & Jim Howkin. If I have missed someone,
my apologies, but thanks as well.
A few pictures of our Awareness Volunteers at ‘work’
follow.
I smile because I don't know what the hell is going on.
Whats on at Wessex Centre
Coffee mornings
1st Wednesday of the month 10.30am-12.00noon
Radiotherapy Group
1st Thursday of the month 10.30am-12.00noon
Upper G. I. Group
2nd Wednesday of the month 10.30am-12noon
Head & Neck Group
Also 1.30pm-3pm Lung Cancer Group
3rd Wednesday of the month 10.15am-12.00noon
Semi Colon Group
3rd Thursday of the month 10.30am-12.00noon
Skin Cancer Group
(check day with Wessex 824186)
Wessex Cancer Trust also offer, Befriending;
Counselling; Therapies; Information; Patient Grants;
Transport: To find out more ring the centre on 524186,
or email Lynda Blenkinsop the Centre Manager on
[email protected].
Opening times for the Centre are 10.00am – 4.00pm
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday.
Cancer Awareness
As you may have been aware April was Cancer
Awareness month. To this end Graham tried to blitz as
many venues with our stand, leaflets and our band of
loyal volunteers would allow.
Contact: Colin Tinson 01983 611673
Mob: 07730 459790
Email: [email protected]
That’s all for now folks. Not a great deal happened or is
happening at the moment. I will hopefully have more
information for the next issue. In the meantime have a
relaxing summer, and if you have an exciting holiday
why not tell us about it, with a few pics of course.
Colin Tinson Ed.
A hangover is the wrath of grapes.
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