Talking Heads

Age Concern Exeter is celebrating the talents of playwright, and national treasure, Alan Bennett in two nights of rehearsed readings of his much applauded Talking Heads series. The monologues will be performed by staff and supporters of Age Concern Exeter on Wednesday 3^rd and Friday 12^th November at The Globe Hotel in Topsham, starting at 7.30pm. The first show features ‘Her Big Chance’ and ‘A Cream Cracker Under The Settee’, performed by Beth Kennedy and Nichola Weate while the second showcases ‘A Chip In The Sugar’ and ‘Bed Among The Lentils’ with Tony Harvey and Corinne Bailey bringing Alan Bennett’s words to life.

Martyn Rogers, Age Concern Exeter’s director said “In these difficult times we are looking at a whole range of new fundraising events to support our services for older people in Exeter. I am really excited that through the keen acting talents of some of our staff and the help of Beth, a drama student at Exeter University, people can enjoy Alan Bennett’s brilliant monologues as theatre in the lovely atmosphere of the Globe Hotel. The shows will be both moving and funny and provide a great evening out. All the proceeds from the shows will go to help fund our service providing support and information to carers of people with dementia”.

Tickets are £8 each call 01392 202092  

Easy Fundraising - Easy Free Money!

A couple of months ago, I discovered a website called EasyFundraising which offers a cashback donation for shopping with over 2,000 well known online shops. It costs nothing, just a few seconds of time to login and then click on your favourite retailer.

I'm not a fan of going into the City Centre so online shopping really works for me. Here's some of the purchases that I made:

• I bought some clothes from Marks and Spencers and BHS.  M&S and BHS both offer 2.5% cashback and so £2.36 was raised from these purchases. 
• Grocery orders with Sainsbury's give a 50p contribution with every grocery order placed. 
• I bought my favourite band's new CD from Play.com who gave a 1% contribution. 
• Organising a courier delivery from Parcel2Go offered a £2 cashback to new customers
• Littlewoods catalogue company awarded £1.20 for spending £30 on clothes. 
• An assortment of nominal eBay purchases amounted to £1.50 - they offer a whopping 15% cashback!

In total, I've raised £8.30 for charity in two months by buying things that I'd have bought anyway. Although some purchases only awarded a few pence, it does all add up.  Now imagine all of our Facebook and website users using this website! EasyFundraising could potentially be an excellent source of income for us. Please spread the word.... every bit really does count.

Heather Pearson - Community Fundraising Administrator

Find out more on our website

We're going to jump out of a plane!

We're doing as much fundraising as we can at the moment; the next big thing we've got coming up on the Age Concern Exeter calendar is the skydive on the 21st of August - and we cannot WAIT! Come along and support us, it's going to be a great day out :-)

Nerves are edging towards us, as we edge closer towards the date of our jump...the last bits of fundraising are going on, as we try and ensure that we hit the £400 target that we each have. Some of our fantastic volunteers have raised far above that already - a MASSIVE well done to them!!

We want to raise money to make a difference to older, possibly vulnerable, people that need out support in anything from having someone to chat to over the phone for ten minutes, take them for their weekly shoppingm or talk them through their financial plans for the future. Age Concern Exeter offers a fantastic range of services but, without the funding that we so desperately need, we won't be able to keep helping our local community.

Any support you can give us is always much more than welcome. If you want to find out more about Age Concern Exeter, give us a ring on 01392 202092.

Margaret Branch, RIP

A Brownie Guide thinks of others before herself, and does a good turn every day. This certainly was how Margaret Branch continued to lead her life and make an impact and impression on those she met.

It was a sad day at Age Concern Exeter when we heard Margaret had passed away on Friday 30th July 2010. Throughout her 90 years she had been actively involved with the pioneering young women's movement the Girl Guides. Latterly though, we had also had the privilege of getting to know her as she had been involved with Senior Voice, Age Concern Exeter’s platform for allowing older people’s voices to be heard by those in power, for over 4 years. She was a member of the Senior Voice Panel for 3 years and always contributed much to the meetings; she had a great understanding of the needs of vulnerable older people and championed the cause on many occasions.

I was honoured to spend time with her last winter when she contacted me and suggested she really wanted to walk 100 miles to raise money for Age Concern Exeter. She explained the Guiding was celebrating its centenary year and people had been challenged to make a difference to their community but to use the number 100 if they could. Margaret challenged herself to a half a mile a day walk, perhaps not a hazardous expedition that Baden-Powell might have sent his young people on in the North West frontier in India 100 years ago but a challenge no less for a nonagenarian with a walking aid on the pavements of Exeter. But determined she was and up until very recently set out for her daily constitutional. She clocked up 63 miles and had raised over £500. We are indebted to Margaret for her thoughtfulness, her sense of humour and her generosity. We are determined to complete the 100 miles in her honour and will be taking up the mantel in September to complete her challenge.

Our thoughts go out to her family and friends, a truly remarkable lady who leaves behind some fond memories and a sense of awe at her achievements.

Corinne Bailey

Arctic Challenge - AGE Concern Exeter WLTM volunteers with GSOH, NTW please!

Last year, our very own Penny went to the Arctic with two student volunteers, and spent seven nights surviving in the wilderness, and, what's more, she's lived to tell the tale...

This year we're hoping to recreate this Swedish adventure, on a much larger scale! Age Concern Exeter is recruiting, yet again, for brave souls to venture into a place where you are tested to the limit, can experience somethinglike nothing else, and have a massive amount of fun. We're going in April 2011, and we cannot wait!!

The goal is to raise money for Age Concern Exeter; we want to get enough sponsorshi money to make a difference to those people that we're trying to help daily. This is a massive challenge for all of us who are going to do it. We're going to be getting down and dirty with everything from snowmobile safaris to Husky dog sledding, shelter building to ice fishing, and loads more greast stuff! It's a jam packed week, with a hot tub and sauna day to finish with! It looks to be a once in a lifetime thing, and definitely not something to miss.

You don't have to be super fit, you've just got to be prepared to give something new a go! It's all about having a great time and raising money at the same time. Give us as ring on 01392 202092 and ask to speak to Penny, Corinne or Jen if you want to find out more...

Jen goes skydiving :-D

Just over a month until jump day...6 weeks and two days until jump day...44 days until jump day...63,360 minutes until jump day...3,801,600 seconds until jump day...any way I look at it, it seems rather close! But, out of all of the above, time time in seconds is the most reassuring so far! I think I'm focussing far too much on how long there is before the actual jump; it's making me far more nervous than it should be!

Still going with the fundraising - am up to about £300 now, which is great! Have had a bit of a lull in getting sponsorship, need to do the final push to reach the minimum of £400! It's very much a case of grovelling for money from my friends...as a student myself, I know how hard-up we can think we are, which makes it much more difficult to get anything for sponsorship! If one particular friend reads this, thankyou for so kindly emptying out your purse into my sponsorship envelope; it is much appreciated!!

A weird mix of apprehension, dread and excitement has crept up on me - I still can't believe exactly what it is that I've signed up for! I'm sure all the others that we've got on the books for this are feeling the same way. It's going to be a fantastic day - I really hope the weather holds so that we can get a great view of the Devon countryside.

We're still recruiting people for the skydive - if you're interested, it's not too late! If you can't do the 21st of August, but still want to skydive for Age Concern Exeter, there is not another date - the 25th of September...any takers?! Let us know...01392 202092...I very much hope to jump out of a plane with you!

Cheese Tasting Evening

Last week, we held a Cheese Tasting Evening at the Bridge Inn in Topsham and what a lovely evening it was. 

It was a sellout event with 50 people eager to taste cheese from Topsham's own Country Cheeses.
The cheeses available were: Sheep's Tor; Sharpham Brie; Beenleigh Blue; Keen's cheddar; Rachel and Trelawny - all different and flavoursome in their own ways.

As well as the 6 tasters which came with crackers, there were scrumptious breadrolls to go with cheddar at the end of the evening if anyone was still peckish, and a blind taste competition where 3 other cheeses had to be identified.

Our good friend, Dave Pollard, produced a cheese related quiz and other puzzles to keep people pondering during the evening. He also did a rather splendid job of compering the evening.

Thank you to everyone who supported the event. We raised £304.15 and enjoyed an evening of lovely company in the process :-)