Newsletter No.
011
Rain,
rain wind and rain. We hope
you are all safe, well and
above water this month. I've
just finished a nice big
pancake for Shrove Tuesday,
(That crêped up on us didn't
it!) And now I'm finishing off
another Newsletter. Already
two months gone doesn't the
time fly. Now is the time to
save water, we can expect
standpipes at the end of the
street soon as the summer
heatwave hits. In the
meantime, settle down and have
a jolly good read.
We
hope you enjoy this and the
previous issues but if you
missed any and would like to
see them either in our ARCHIVE
or email Sylvia at [email protected] and
she will gladly send any you
have missed.
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Friday
Walks - Abington Park
Tuesday Walks - The
Racecourse
Just
to remind everyone that we walk
in Abington Park every Friday.
And now also on the Racecourse
every Tuesday. Both walks start
at 10:30 am. Meet near the
Tennis courts in Abington Park
and at the Pavilion car park at
the Racecourse
Everyone is welcome –if you
would like more info about
either of the walks you can
email Sylvia at [email protected]
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Northamptonshire
Younger Parkinson's Group are
going to The National Memorial
Arboretum on Thursday 23rd April
2020. It's in Alrewas,
Staffordshire. Their website is www.thenma.org.uk.
They are going by coach and there
will be pickups in Kettering,
Wellingborough, and Northampton.
NYPSG members go free. Non
members are invited to join us at
a cost of £15.00 per person.
Entry into the Arboretum grounds
is free but donations are
appreciated. There is a
restaurant/cafe on-site, or you
can take a picnic with you to
enjoy in the grounds of the
Arboretum.
A land train with audio tour,
guided walks and buggy tours are
available. A limited number of
motorised scooters can also be
booked in advanced costing £5 per
day. (book on their website www.thenma.org.uk)
If you are interested in joining
us on the day out, please can you
let Liz Birch know by email
([email protected]) or at
our next Support Group Meeting, on
Saturday 7th March. |
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Let's
get Quizzical
- Who
created and played the
character "Ali G"?
- Tevye
and his wife Golde, are the
main characters in which
musical?
- What
is the habit of ONYCHOPHAGY
better known as?
- Who
is the author of the "Just so
stories" and the "Jungle
Book"?
- EBORACUM
was the Roman name for which
english city?
- What
is the meaning of the word
CYNOSURE?
A) Centre of
attention B) Assassin
C) Sheepdog
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Sylvia's
Gardening Tips
Common
fig tree---Brown
Turkey.
I
love fresh figs so I
thought why not grow a
fig tree. The common
Brown Turkey fig tree
grows well in this
country. Especially so
if grown in a pot. It
will be more likely to
produce fruit when
planted in a pot as it
prefers to be pot
bound. They also love
coffee grounds believe
it or not!
The inside of a fig is
not actually a fruit,
it is a flower. Some
fig trees need to be
pollinated and this is
where the Blastophaga
wasp comes in. It
burrows itself through
a minute hole in the
pip, pollinates the
flower and then,
having done its job,
dies. Fortunately, the
brown turkey fig does
not need pollinating
which is just as well
as the wasp doesn't
live in the UK. (If
you have a Fig tree
that isn't
self-pollinating in
the UK the chances of
getting fruit is very
slim!)
More about this in
future editions.
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Remember
the bulb burgers from
last October. Well, they
are looking beautiful
with the dwarf daffodils
just appearing.
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Time
to think about planting
first early potatoes.
They will grow well in a
bag if your space is
limited. However, it is
best to ‘chit’ them
before planting. Stand
the potatoes with the
‘eye’ facing upwards in
an old egg box or
similar container for a
few weeks in a cool
place until the shoots
are about half-inch long
and looking healthy. The
picture shows mine which
have been ‘chitting’ for
two weeks. I will plant
them out at the end of
February.
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Also cut back to
ground level any buddleia shrubs
you have. The flowers are
produced on the current year’s
growth . Good hard cut back is
beneficial to both shrub and
flowers. This shrub is a must for
any garden as it attracts masses
of butterflies
And finally if you have any
deciduous ornamental grasses then
now is the time to chop them right
back before the new shoots appear.
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Giving
Parkinson’s a hard
time.
Another
footballing story -
Team Tactics
Simon Ingram
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Can
I begin this latest offering
with an apology? Most people
will very quickly pick-up on the
football theme running through
my work. I’m sorry but, anyone
who knows me will appreciate
that football is a way of life
for me, my club QPR long since
attacking my brain cells and
turning them into a sort of
footie soup!
The benefit of belonging to the
same club for 17 years [Team
Parkinson’s] is you get to
understand your weaknesses when
facing the opposition. In my
opinion, my team has many superb
factors including, a sound
defence, often tackling the
disease head-on. A combative
& creative midfield, more
than capable of creating
numerous opportunities for our
strikers. Unfortunately, the
attacking options are a ‘bought
in’ service. In my opinion, the
charity set up in our name isn’t
pulling its weight. There seems
to be an almost complete focus
on making the organisation look
good, sadly, without substance.
They appear to have forgotten
why they exist! If we wanted a
seemingly top-heavy management
structure where it’s possible to
dictate policy without getting
your hands dirty then BINGO!
Sadly, this is far from
beneficial for those of us at
the business end of the battle
with the disease. This isn’t a
whinge, it could indeed be a
misunderstanding. Perhaps the
organisation does ask questions
of the people affected by
Parkinson’s, they just haven’t
got to ‘I’ for Ingram yet? Where
I really score heavily is the
help and support of my family.
As families go, my bunch are
brilliant, all tried and tested
members of the ‘Give Parkinson’s
a Hard-time’ club.
The Ingram family see them all
on a regular basis, every time
we get together I instantly
relax in their company. I’m not
sure any of them truly
appreciate how much energy I get
from simply being around them.
However, I can’t claim the
family members are all tough and
easily brush-off the symptoms of
my neurological meltdown as I
can see the sadness in their
eyes. What I say with confidence
is they all listen, they all
offer help and they all do more
helping to fund causes who offer
assistance to people with
Parkinson’s…Now doesn’t that
sound helpful!
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A
Trio of Parkinson's Nurses
We recently got all three of our
Parkinson's Nurses together at a
FitnFab exercise class. Katie
Lee (left) is the newest member
of the team. She joins Mel Smith
and Debbie Smith.
Katie has been in Nursing for
eleven years and has worked in A
& E, Trauma and Orthopaedic
departments and more recently
worked in Cransley Hospice. She
is interested in long term
conditions and in particular
Parkinson's disease.
I'm sure you all have their
numbers but just in case
its 01604 678120 for South of
the county and 01933 235850 for
North of the county.
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I
Remember Part 11
Places:
Central Ordnance Depot,
RAOC, Bicester
221 BVD, RAOC, Johor
Bahru, Malasia
Time: 1967
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At
last, my wife and I after 5
years of married life, the birth
of 2 children ( Carolyn and
Robert), were to be living
together. In previous times we
had actually spent 6 to 8 months
of actually living as a family.
This separation had taken its
toll on our relationship; one
instance brought this matter
home when I was selected for a
trial for the Depot cricket
eleven, I joined without
consulting Tina, (my wife). This
resulted in a first-class row
but this resolved itself with
concessions on both parts. I
soon realised that this was to
be our way forward. Our married
quarters were at 25, West
Hawthorn Road, Ambrosden,
Oxfordshire - our first married
home.
My job at the depot was at the
Headquarters as part of the
emergency “Red Star” unit. This
was collating all requirement
information that had been
forwarded from the front line
units to the forward ordnance
units, then to the central
depot, whatever was required the
necessary paperwork was raised
and then passed to the depot
responsible. Compared to my
previous jobs this was very
quiet because a lot of the work
was sensitive to time, it meant
that a lot of it was done at
night. This entailed having to
work 2/3 nights a week,
obviously,
this didn’t go down well with
Tina. I had only been at the
unit for a couple of months when
we had our first major world
crisis; the “six-day war” which
started in June 1967. As we
still had some forces in the
area there was plenty of urgent
messages flying about, many
concerning stores requirements,
vehicles and ammunition
etc.
On a personal front, Tina and I
were getting on with our lives,
which she adapted to quite
readily. It was at the beginning
of September that we found that
Tina was once again with child,
our third. It would be due at
the beginning of March. I was
also doing quite well with the
depot cricket team and then at
the end of summer the football
team. This occasionally led to
words between us but as she
reminded her mother when she
sometimes tried to interfere “At
least I know where he is most of
the time.” So, all in all, a
reasonable posting, and we
settled down as a family, Tina’s
pregnancy was going along quite
well, and there was the supposed
advantage that both our families
were only an hour or so away
from Bicester in Northampton.
Our older 2 children were
getting used to living in a new
place, plus being quite near to
relatives had people visit for
birthdays and being included all
together for family “do’s “. So
Christmas ’68 arrived and then
the next event was the arrival
of son number 2 who we named
Michael. He checked in in March
1968.
But as you good folks will have
noticed that just as things were
going along nicely, something
always intervened to knock
everything of course. In this
instance, it was a notice of a
posting for me to Commonwealth
Brigade detachment, RAOC,
Malacca, Malaysia due to take
place in August. This meant that
if I accepted the posting as
offered with married quarters
and we travelled as a family,
then the baby would be only
around 12 weeks old. If I went
without the family, I had no
idea if or even when they would
join me. No one knew when
married quarters would become
available again, and we didn’t
have much time to make our minds
up; about a week. Tina came to
the decision that she wanted to
come with me this time as I
could be gone for 3 years or
longer.
It was a bit of a wrench for
Tina to give up the house, but
it had to be done and she had
made several friends who had
moved a few times and they
reassured her that where we were
going would be great. So, the
day came and we said goodbye to
the families (we had stopped for
a week at Tina’s parents) and
my father in law had borrowed a
minibus to take us to Brize
Norton.
The journey there was a
nightmare and the baby was ill
most of the time. We arrived in
Singapore (via RAF Gan. ) where
it was decided to put the baby
in the British Military
Hospital, Singapore. The
decision was made that I would
not be with Commonwealth brigade
and my posting would be with 221
Base Vehicle Depot, Johore
Bahru, Malaysia. We had our
quarters allocated which was
quite a palatial pad and was
only an hour from the BMH so
Tina could spend as much time as
she wanted to look after the
baby. Thankfully they found what
was wrong with the little one
which turned out to be a food
allergy; an intolerance to
lactose in his milk and later
also Gluten in bread. Although
it sounds a minor complaint now,
remember this was in 1968.
In the meantime, we had a
beautiful house, 4 bedrooms, 2
bath/shower rooms both tiled (1
green and 1 yellow) 2 reception
rooms, a large kitchen utility
room and servants quarters. The
servants were known as armah’s.
You had to find the servants
yourself, but they were paid for
by the army, so you had to work
on recommendation from others.
Our quarters were once the home
of a rubber estates manager. I,
with a great deal of help from
Tina, found a first-class armah
named Muna. Muna doted on our
children and was a great help to
Tina; she would insist that if
she thought Tina needed a rest
she would say “Missy you go
rest, I tell you when time to
collect little missy from
school”
This then was our life.
Doug, somewhere in Malaya.
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The
Keep Safe Scheme was initially
launched in 2011 for people with
learning disabilities. It proved
a popular way for cardholders
and their families to feel the
vulnerable person was safe when
they were out and about. Many
other organisations were keen to
be able to provide the card
to their service users and so,
with financial support
from Northamptonshire’s Police
and Crime Commissioner, the
scheme was relaunched in April
2018.
The expansion of the scheme has
enabled new member organisations
to sign up as key partners.
These organisations include
Northamptonshire Association for
the Blind, Age UK, Autism East
Midlands, Mind,
Northamptonshire Carers and
Northamptonshire Healthcare
Foundation Trust.
The project encourages people
with a disability, condition or
illness which may make them
vulnerable, to sign up as Keep
Safe Card holders. When a person
registers they are provided with
a Keep Safe Card, which holds
some basic details about the
person's needs as well as
contact details for people close
to them, such as family or
carers, who can be telephoned
in an emergency. The card also
gives an idea of how best to
help and support the cardholder.
The card can then be shown
whenever the holder feels
worried about their safety or in
need of assistance in any way
and helps people supporting them
to understand their needs if
they are in crisis. Help may be
found in shops, libraries,
leisure centres, GP surgeries
or anywhere a person feels they
can ask for support. Countywide
business and public-facing
organisations have received
information about the Keep Safe
Scheme so as many staff as
possible are aware of how to
help someone who may show them a
Keep Safe card.
The information about the
cardholder is also held on a
secure database, which the three
emergency services (police, fire
and ambulance) have access to,
to be able to support the person
in the best possible way. For
more information and to find out
how to register for a Keep Safe
card please visit www.keepsafenorthants.org
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We
aim to be...
an
inclusive group so if
you have an idea for
an article that you
think would be of
interest then get in
touch with us.
You don't have to be a
journalist, and if you
find trouble getting
your idea onto paper
or email we'll give
you a helping hand.
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Answers
to the Quiz
1) Sacha Baron Cohen
2) Fiddler on the roof
3) Nail-biting
4) Rudyard Kipling
5) York
6) A the centre of attention
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We have a community
facebook page, here is the link
please like and share: https://www.facebook.com/northantsparkinsonspeople/
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And
Finally...
It's
really rewarding to see a
newsletter going out. Alright,
it's hardly the Times or even
the Sun but it gives us (I'm
sure all the others feel the
same) a sense of achievement. My
job is to set the letter out and
fill in the blank bits. As I
don't have a set subject I wait
for inspiration to strike.
Sometimes I have to wait a long
time. I was sitting at home
with a coffee, Tv on and adverts
blabbing on, half listening and
then it struck me. We are being
force-fed a load of old drivel.
I got my pencil and pad and made
a few notes. In one day of Ad
scrutiny, I heard...
- 'We
tested this on real people' As
opposed to made-up ones!!
- 'made
with the essence of Horse
Chestnuts' what
a load of Conkers!!!
- 'I
didn't even know Oral B made
a toothpaste' What
did you think they made
then, Eyedrops?
- 'Only'
as in only
£899.98!
I
did find one advert gave me a
severe case of earworm
you know when a song sticks
inside your head and you cannot
get rid of it, I knew it from
somewhere but could not recall
it. Well, I found the solution
https://www.tvadmusic.co.uk/ just
type in the product and you can
get the Title and Artist of the
music.
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