Registered Scottish Charity SC NEWSLETTER. Issue 14 March 2015

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1 Registered Scottish Charity SC NEWSLETTER Issue 14 March 2015 We hope that our 6 monthly newsletters will keep everyone up-to-date with what s happening within Monifieth Befriending Scheme. We send it to our volunteers, clients and their families/referrers, organisations and other interested parties. Please let us know if you would like something included in the next or future newsletters. Our social events are an important part of our service and complement our one-to-one befriending service. The events allow our clients, volunteers and people on our waiting list to meet together regularly. RECENT SOCIAL EVENTS THEATRE TRIP More than 40 people enjoyed an evening at Monifieth Theatre to see The Steamie this month. Thank you to everyone at MAD (Monifieth Amateur Dramatics) for their kindness. The evening was funded by the family of our client the late Jean McNab. Grateful thanks to them for their generous donation. PANCAKE AFTERNOON We held a pancake afternoon in the Community Cabin in February. Over 50 people attended and enjoyed an afternoon of entertainment by The Tenement Two whilst enjoying homemade pancakes, cakes and tablet. We couldn t have done it without the willing help of our volunteers who donated tasty home baking and generally helped on the day, thank you. (Everyone went home with a doggie bag!).

2 CHRISTMAS MEAL Over 60 people enjoyed our Christmas meal on 4th December with plenty of chat and a special visit from Santa! Many thanks to Donna, Rae, and the staff of Monifieth Golf Club for the lovely meal and for making us feel so welcome. Thank you also to Jane at Finishing Touches for her help with the gifts. AFTERNOON TEA Over 50 people attended our afternoon tea in the Community Cabin in November, held as part of National Befriending Week which aims to raise awareness of the work of befriending services across the UK, Grateful thanks Miss Sturrock and the S4 pupils of Monifieth High School who helped lay the tables, welcomed guests, served their delicious home baking and provided wonderful entertainment. FORTHCOMING EVENTS Our forthcoming events are a fundraising evening by Finishing Touches in April, a bus trip to Brechin Castle Centre for afternoon tea in May and our summer meal in the Monifieth Golf Club in July. Invitations will be sent out nearer the time.

3 CLIENTS & VOLUNTEERS We currently have 27 older, 8 bereaved and 5 care home clients successfully matched with 35 volunteer befrienders. There are 4 clients on our waiting list and 2 unmatched, trained volunteers. Before making a match we always take into consideration our clients and volunteers needs/availability/preferences and more importantly, compatibility, therefore it is not always possible to match clients on our waiting list with available unmatched volunteers. In the last 6 months, 9 new volunteers have been trained and 9 new clients have been matched with volunteer befrienders. We have 2 supply volunteer befrienders who are unable to commit to weekly visits but will cover volunteer absence due to holiday/sickness etc. Please contact us if you are interested in becoming a volunteer befriender we are always looking for people to visit clients on a weekly basis for up to 2 hours. Care Home Befriending We have 4 enthusiastic 6th pupils from Monifieth High School specially trained and matched with clients in 3 care homes in Monifieth. We are extremely grateful for the support the school and care homes have given us with this project. Jack Scott A very Happy Birthday to our client Jack Scott who celebrated his 100 birthday on 25 th March. Many congratulations on reaching this wonderful age! Lindsey and Pauline visited Jack on his birthday and gave him a bottle of champagne in a balloon from Monifieth Befriending Scheme. Volunteer Meetings Our volunteers are invited to come along to meetings held on the first Friday of the month in The Portacabin. We have an informal chat over a cuppa, offer support and give updates of what s happening within the scheme and we regularly have talks on issues relevant to the befrienders role followed by lunch. Recently we have had talks on Our Big Box and Living well with Dementia. In May, Jane will deliver Bereavement Training. Our next volunteer meeting will be on 3 rd April. Seated Physical Activity (SPA) Pauline Cameron our Admin. Assistant, volunteer befriender and Revitalyz SPA Gold award trainer now holds a weekly SPA group in the Portacabin every Wednesday at 2pm. Our clients and volunteers are invited to come along and join in the fun. Please contact Pauline for more details. If the day or time doesn t suit you but would like to attend, please contact Pauline to discuss alternative times.

4 Management Committee Meeting Our next meeting will be held on 10 th April in The Portacabin. Please contact Lindsey, Jane or Pauline if you would like to attend. The minutes of our most recent Management Committee meeting are available on our website (paper copy available on request). Volunteer and Client Representative In November we were delighted to welcome Brenda Wilson onto our Management Committee as volunteer representative and equally delighted that Elizabeth Chalmers decided to stay on as a committee member after her year as volunteer representative ended. We would still like to hear from clients who would be interested in finding out more about being a client representative on our committee for one year. New Management Committee Members Would you be interested in becoming a member of our Management Committee? We meet monthly (except July and December) for approximately 2 hours. Our members come from a variety of backgrounds and all have the best interests of the scheme at heart. We would like more committee members and if you think you would enjoy being part of our team, we would love to hear from you! AGM/Public Meeting Our AGM/Public Meeting will be held on Tuesday 12 th May in Monifieth Parish Church, Panmure Building at 2pm. Invitations will be sent out nearer the time. Please see our website for our last Annual Report (paper copy available on request). DONATIONS We are very grateful for the monetary donations we receive and would particularly like to thank the clients and their families who have given so generously over the past year. Sincere thanks also the Rotary Club of Monifieth & District who once again donated 250 towards Christmas gifts for our clients and volunteers and to Lorna Rumford who did a dryathon in January and raised over 200.

5 SAM Songs And Memories Although this group is independent of Monifieth Befriending Scheme, it is run by Jane McArtney, Development Coordinator, and it may be of interest to our readers. It is a community singing group for anyone who would like to come along and who would enjoy singing some old favourites together. No special singing ability is required. Singing and music generally are proving to be particularly helpful to people with dementia and a special invitation is extended to anyone in the community who is experiencing the symptoms of dementia, and to their carers, but our group is not restricted in any way and is open to all. It is not a club - there is no membership or commitment required. It is just an open door for anyone at all who is interested. SAM meets every Wednesday from 2.00pm to 3.15pm in the Panmure hall of Monifieth Parish Church. For more information, contact Jane on or Valerie on Come and join us! A warm welcome awaits you! +As a way of saving paper and helping the environment we would like to send as many Newsletters as possible by . If you have an address and wouldn t mind receiving your Newsletter this way, please your address to us. Watch out for our next Newsletter September 2015! Project Co-ordinator: Lindsey le Grice - Development Co-ordinator: Jane McArtney Admin. Assistant Pauline Cameron The Portacabin 15a Panmure Street Monifieth DD5 4EA Tel: monifieth@befriending.fsnet.co.uk Website: Please have a look at our Facebook page and like us!