JoyCareThis article is included by courtesy of the Pirton Magazine, where it was first published in November 2000 and the authoress Pam Waters |
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Pirton JoyCare was founded as a result of a £10,000 legacy bequeathed by the late Joy Franklin in 1997. Joy was born in Pirton and lived here for most of her life. She left the legacy to be used to benefit the older residents of the village.
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The late Joy Franklin, whose generosity and love of Pirton created JoyCare. |
A meeting was held in the village to identify those who would be interested in managing Pirton JoyCare. The management committee was formed in 1998 of people with a wide range of skills, experience and interest in the elderly in the village.
Then the fun started. We had to find out what the elderly of the village wanted! We had estimated that there were approximately 135 people over 65 living in the village at that time. Age Concern had already conducted some research, as the legacy was under their control at that time. The Committee did their own research and visited everyone within the 65 plus age group who were then later invited to a meeting in the village hall.
Approximately 50 people attended and were given more information on JoyCare and its aims. They were asked for ideas and to vote on some already identified priorities.
These were, in order of preference:
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Donation to the Village Hall Maintenance Fund |
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A Luncheon Club |
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Household and garden maintenance scheme |
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Shopping trips |
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Wheelchair loan |
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Afternoon teas |
With the exception of the afternoon teas, which only appealed to a couple of people, all these projects have been implemented. A donation of £3,000 was made to the Village Hall at their AGM in March. The Luncheon Club was started in October last year. Usually about 25 to 30 people attend each month and a jolly time is had by all. We have been disappointed that we are unable to continue to use a pub in the village for the lunches and are now having to go outside Pirton. However, we are hoping to discover more lovely old pubs serving good food and drink within Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire.
The household and garden maintenance scheme has proved successful, but we are still short of volunteers. If anyone is interested in giving a few hours of their time to help, they would be very welcome.
Shopping Trips, by mini bus take place on the fourth Friday of each month. We go to a different supermarket or town centre each time and hope to be a little more adventurous in the future.
We have been very fortunate to receive a donation of a wheelchair and this is available, on a short term basis, to anyone over 65 living in the village.
In October we were pleased to support an initiative from Michael Bertram Smith a local chiropodist who will be holding a foot clinic in the Village Hall every six weeks. JoyCare will be paying for the hire of the Hall and treatment will be available to all Pirton villagers over 65 at £12.00 per visit. Anyone wishing to take advantage of this scheme should phone 01462 672385 to make an appointment.
You will notice at the top of this article that we now have a JoyCare logo. We decided to involve the school to find a suitable logo. A competition was set up and we received approximately 25 entrants. The standard of these was excellent as the children had really taken on board what JoyCare is all about. After much difficulty we selected a winner. This was Emma Kozma. Second prize went to Naomi Deller Vaughan and third prize to Elizabeth Clark. Congratulations to these three and to all the other entrants.
One of the biggest problems we have encountered has been to identify who is over 65 and therefore eligible to benefit from JoyCare. So far we have relied on two village stalwarts, Betty Huckle and Christine Gammell to guess villagers' ages! We have often been wrong although only one person was thought to be 65 when in fact they were younger! Pirtonians obviously stay youthful longer. If you are 65 or over and not yet involved in JoyCare, we would love to hear from you.
The Committee is keen to continue with the existing projects and will always consider any ideas or suggestions that will enhance the lives of those over 65 living in Pirton. We would always be interested in hearing from anyone prepared to help. This could be one or more of the following. Becoming a committee member; helping with gardening or DIY; accompanying the mini bus trips; or offering occasional assistance with driving members to the Luncheon Club venues.
If anyone would like further information about JoyCare, shopping trips, lunches, etc. or would like to help, please phone Leila Lauder on 712240 or Pam Waters on 713277.