01235 832023
Wallingford Accessible Boat Club (WABC) helps disabled and less mobile people get out on the River Thames free of charge aboard our Wheelyboat, WOW-one. To raise the funds needed to keep this charity afloat, WABC will host Wheelyfest, a day of live music and fun, on Sunday September 24th at Wallingford Sports Park. Tickets are available via the WABC website but whether you can make it or not, we would love you to check out our online auction and make a bid. We need every penny we can raise!
Who is this event for?
The programme
In the webinar and the following week’s conversational group, they’ll help you to start making sense of your diagnosis. They will provide you with the information and signpost to further support and guidance that you may need. The MS Society hope that these sessions will empower you to live well with MS.
These sessions are for you if:
Date: Wednesday 6 September
Time: 6.30pm to 7.30pm
This session is organised by the national MS charity, the MS Society. You can find out more about them by visiting their website at www.mssociety.org.uk
Join these MS Society sessions where you’ll connect with other people across the UK with progressive forms of MS over three consecutive weeks. Each session is usually made up of a small group of people from across the UK living with MS. These are fairly informal and each week will have a different topic.
Session Overview:
In the first two sessions an MS nurse will answer questions and, in week three, you’ll cover different elements of self-care, including physical activity and mental health.
The course works best if you attend all three sessions. This’ll give you the opportunity to meet other people who may share similar experiences to you.
This session is organised by the national MS charity, the MS Society. You can find out more about them by visiting their website at www.mssociety.org.uk
Physio is next in on 8th September. Please ring the centre to book an appointment. Tricia only comes in once a month now so if appointments are not booked we risk loosing her altogether.
The UK Government has recently released details about the autumn Covid booster.
The following people are eligible for the booster:
This is because the risk of severe Covid continues to be strongly associated with increasing age and underlying health conditions. NHS England will confirm details on how and when eligible people can access the autumn booster vaccine soon. The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has advised the autumn programme should aim to complete vaccinations by early December 2023.
For further details, please visit the UK Government website.
National charity the MS Trust have produced an interesting article about stress and MS with useful tips on dealing with stress and links to other sources of information and help.
Stress is a common and sometimes unavoidable part of life. What someone finds stressful and how it affects them varies from person to person. It’s not possible to remove all sources of stress, but it may be possible to control stress. This might be by changing the situation to limit the source of stress or by learning to change how you react to stressful events.
Many people with MS find living with the uncertainty of the condition to be stressful. Learning how to manage stress effectively is an important skill for everyone. But it is particularly important for people with MS and for those who care for them.
These sessions feature a different sport or activity each month. Bringing you experts from the field who can explain how to get involved and how to overcome barriers to inclusion. They also hear from people living with MS who take part in the activity, who’ll share their experiences and what being involved means to them.
A representative from the Ramblers, Britains Walking Charity, will join the session and they will give insights into how you can find accessible routes, join their groups, and much more.
Date: Monday 4 September
Time: 6pm to 7pm
This session is organised by the national MS charity, the MS Society. You can find out more about them by visiting their website at www.mssociety.org.uk
The DWP have finally created a light touch review form for claimants who have reached pension age or who have an ongoing PIP (Personal Independence Payment) award.
The form known as the AR2 form is being issued from August 2023.
This form is a much shorter alternative to the AR1 PIP award review form, which most claimants who have an end date to their award receive.
The AR2 form is being issued to claimants who have:
PIP was first introduced in 2013. The new form is being brought out just as the earliest PIP claimants with ongoing (no end date) awards, have been claiming for 10 years and are therefore due to have their first review.
A vaccine to prevent shingles, a common, painful skin disease, is currently available on the NHS to people in their 70s. Unlike the flu vaccine, you’ll only need to have the vaccination once and you can have it at any time of the year. Most people will only need 1 dose, but some people who cannot have the routine vaccine for health reasons will need 2 doses.
From September 2023, this vaccine will also be available to people turning 65 after 1 September and to people over 50 with a severely weakened immune system.
Once you become eligible for shingles vaccination a GP or practice nurse will offer you the vaccine when you attend the surgery for general reasons. If you are worried that you may miss out on the shingles vaccination, contact your GP surgery to arrange an appointment to have the vaccine.
For more information visit the NHS website