2008

Post date: Jan 20, 2012 10:55:40 AM

March 11th - Charity celebrations. Celebrations were held following the Forum receiving registered charity status.

March 19th - Members Meeting in the ballroom of the Council House starting at 1.0pm with a buffet. Speakers to be arranged. Members wishing to attend should register with the secretary by 12th March to ensure satisfactory catering arrangements.

March 22nd - Easter Bonnet Parade and dance. A wonderful afternoon was had by all the 70+ members with over 20 entrants with Easter Bonnets (including two men). See our Photo Gallery

April 3rd - Gem Awards. The awards celebration was held in the Council House to acknowledge members of the council who had "gone that extra mile" in their work place. The secretary was invited to help judge the Gem Awards by Trading Standards as the Forum is a partner of the Doorstep Crime committee.

April 23rd - St. Georges Day. A lovely celebration was held on the Market Square organised by the Elders' Forum who gave away 1,000 St George's flags and presented 1,000 elderly ladies of Nottingham with a beautiful red rose.

April 26th - St. Georges Day Parade. The Forum organised a fantastic day which was enjoyed by everyone. It started with a Grand Parade which a Grenadier Guard marshalled, followed by the Sheriff on horseback with knights escorting her. The music from a forty piece orchestra kept the lengthy parade in step. On the Square were clowns, a barrel organ, Punch and Judy, maypole, craft stalls, a hog roast, stocks, an Army climbing tower plus flight simulator to name just a few of the entertainments. Next year the Elders' Forum will be organising St Georges Day once again and would welcome any enquiries from organisations wishing to take part.

May 3rd - Spalding Tulip Festival. A fantastic day with about 200 beautiful floats many of which can be seen in the Photo Gallery.

May 16th - AGM in the ballroom of the Council House starting at 1.0pm with a buffet. Members wishing to attend should register with the secretary by 12th March to ensure satisfactory catering arrangements.

May 25th May - Green Festival. Unfortunately owing to unforeseen circumstances we were unable to man our stall this year.

June 3-5th. - Pensioners Parliament Blackpool.The annual Pensioners Parliament which we always attend, was held in the Winter Gardens. This is quite a good place to find useful information where ministers and MPs attend. We invite members to join us next year when we stay in a very reasonable hotel very close to the Winter Gardens with excellent food. Anyone interested please contact the secretary on 0115 9243009 (photo's in the gallery)

June 7th - Volunteering Event. The Forum joined other organisations with a stall in the Market Square who were also involved in volunteering.

June 8th - Thank you concert. A concert was arranged in the Play House with a buffet following to thank all the volunteers in Nottingham for their efforts. All those who helped the Elders' Forum on St Georges day were invited.

June 10th - Money Matters. This was an event held in, and organised by, the Central Library. This was mainly involving money matters for the elderly and that was why the Forum was invited to take part.

June 17th - Skegness. A great day trip was had by all in the old favourite resort of Skeggy. People who hadn't been for some while were amazed at the difference. It was a lovely clean resort with of course it's famous fish and chips!!

June 24th - National Falls Day. This event was held on the Market Square to make people aware how to prevent falls and what to do if you have one. The Elders' Forum always takes part on this important day.

June 25th - Well Dressing. A wonderful day was had by all with firstly a visit to Youlgrave where we saw six magnificent wells and then on to Bakewell for a spot of lunch. We then proceeded to the lovely little village of Litton where we saw a fantastic display of both maypole dancing and old English country dancing where each of the 41 pupils took part. The village hall was opened up for us to have tea, coffee and lovely home made cakes - made by the village ladies. The day was concluded by a visit to beautiful Tideswell with its wonderful old cottages and array of wells. (photo's in the gallery)

June 26th - Awards ceremony. The Elders' Forum, was one of the ten organisations chosen to receive an award for the best use of a small grant that makes the most difference to the life of people. This was through our weekly tea dances where people are encouraged to come and join in the fun whether they can dance or not, as isolation generally leads to depression or worse. There are even two regular wheelchair users who come to soak in the atmosphere now they are no longer able to dance themselves. Apart from the certificate presented by Jon Collins leader of the council, the Forum actually won the second prize (out of over one hundred groups ) of a webcam that was presented by Graham Allan MP. See photo's in the gallery

June 30th - Stratford on Avon. Once again an extremely enjoyable day in this beautiful part of the world, with the sun shining upon everyone to make it even more enjoyable.

July 5th - Iron Bridge visit. This was a very interesting day where we visited the Victorian village in the Ironbridge Museum. A fascinating glance into the lives of days gone by. This day couldn't pass without actually seeing the wonderful structure of the Iron Bridge itself.

July 8th - Black Country Museum. This was judged even better than the enjoyable Ironbridge visit with lots of little shops, furnaces etc. It had a school where visitors took the part of pupils and were well disciplined whether they liked it or not. There was also a coal mine for people to go down and a canal where boat rides were available. In fact it was so good, many said they'd like a return visit.

July 22nd - Temple visit. A short visit to the Sikh Temple on Nottingham Road where members were invited to a meal and a viewing of this lovely temple where it provides lunches for its elders and has a room where they may sit and chat and read.

July 23rd - Funding Day. We are attempting to gain funding not only for the continuation of the Forum but also for a new Drop-in Centre for the elderly where they may meet their friends or just have a coffee and biscuits whilst resting their weary bones. This would also be used to run various classes chosen by members as well as dedicated meetings.

July 25th - Llandudno. This lovely clean seaside town has lost none of its charms with open topped buses taking you to the beautiful adjoining town of Conway with its magnificent Castle.

July 29th - Leicester. The Nottingham Elders' Forum was invited by the Leicester City Council to a meeting of its elders. They had been impressed by the way we worked when we met at a Grantham meeting and needed pointers how to get off the ground in a similar way.

July 30th - PEG. Representatives of the Forum are involved in the Patients Engagement Group where patients are able to voice their opinions as to how local GP's and hospitals are run.

August 1st - Supporting People. This event held in the Council House was attended by two committee members in the hope of gaining information to assist the members.

August 1st - Muslim School. The open day of the school was attended by members who actually presented some of the prizes. The involvement with this school started when the headmistress approached a committee member about members teaching the pupils first hand what happened in the second world war. Several members kindly volunteered and indeed some are still assisting on a regular basis with helping the children read. See photos in the gallery.

August 12th - Woburn Abbey. An exciting and extremely wonderful trip, where after seeing all the wonders in the Abbey, we toured the grand Safari Park with its many and varied wild animals, Some of the animals were absolutely magnificent especially the cat family, whereas the monkeys had everyone howling with laughter at their antics and dexterity.

August 19th - Links. The Forum is involved in setting up a new Government strategy called the LINKs. Local Involvement Network. This was the first steering group meeting and our own chairman Dennis Andrews has taken on the role as temporary chairman of the group.

August 22nd - Older Peoples Strategic Partnership. This was a very important meeting appertaining to setting up a structure whereby older people will have a major say in all decisions appertaining to the elderly. After nine months of hard negotiations, the agreed strategy and structures accepted by all the partners involved in the steering committee were presented by the consultant. Unfortunately, this proposal was not presented as the agreed proposal and the Elders' Forum are engaged in a mammoth task trying to get the power restored to the older people.

August 28th - Law Society. The Forum is amongst a number of organisations that have a display at this annual event in the ballroom of the Council House. This is a very informative event with legal aspects explained in matters particularly important to the elderly.

September 1st - Members Meeting. This starts at 1.0pm with a buffet in the ballroom of the Council House. The theme of this meeting is "Money Matters" and on this occasion it is being sponsored by Help the Aged who are the first speakers. The second speaker is from the Department of Works and Pensions and the third from Fuel Poverty. These speakers will be intersperced with a little light entertainment about pensions and money.

September 8th - Whitby and Goatland. This trip is full with no available places left. After leaving Whitby, there will be a stop and tour of lovely Goatland where the series Heartbeat is filmed.

October 7th - Hull and The Deep. Still seats available for this exciting trip to the massive aquarium at Hull and the lovely new shopping centre.