LinkAbility Newsletter December 2008
Article List:-
Scroll down this page or click on the links below to view the articles in our latest newsletter
News and features
- ICOD and Shopmobility Festive Opening Hours
- Stay Safe Over the Festive Season - Useful tips and telephone numbers
- ICOD Launches Postcard Campaign
- Fondly Remembered - Jessie Duncan
- 21 Years Young - ICOD celebrates our 21st Birthday
- Climb Every Mountain - ICOD former employee Denise Gildea embarks on a Trek up Kilimanjaro in aid of our Shopmobility Services
- Up To Standard- ICOD continues to work well with our regulators
News and Features
ICOD and Shopmobility Festive Opening Hours
Our Shopmobility services and guiding service for people with visual impairments will be closed on the following dates:
Christmas Day, Thursday 25th December
Boxing Day, Friday 26th December
New Year’s Day, Thursday 1st January
Friday 2nd January
Our services will also close early at 1pm on both Christmas Eve, Wednesday 24th December, and New Year’s eve, Wednesday 31st December.
Apart from these dates, Shopmobility will be open as usual 10am-4pm Monday to Saturday, and our guiding service between 10am – 4pm Monday to Friday.
For further information please call us on 01475 732600
Stay Safe over the Festive Season
ICOD have compiled some useful tips and telephone numbers to help you stay safe over the festive season…
- Doctor’s surgeries and some chemists may be closed for a few days, make sure you have enough medication for the festive period.
- Make sure you keep warm!
- If going away for a few days, make sure your house is secure and keep some heating on to avoid frozen pipes.
- Guard your valuables and keep them out of sight when shopping.
- Don’t drink and drive, take a taxi if you are planning to drink.
- Make sure you ask all callers at your door for identification, don’t open the door unless you are satisfied they are genuine.
And here are some telephone numbers you may find useful…
Inverclyde Council Services
Council Emergencies - 01475 719999
Social Work - 0800 811505
Utility Providers
Gas Emergencies - 0800 111 999
Scottish Power Emergencies - 0845 2727 999
Scottish Water Emergencies - 0845 600 8855
Housing Providers
River Clyde Homes - 0800 0132 196
The following housing providers will have a recorded message with emergency numbers:
Oak Tree Housing - 01475 807000
Cloch Housing Association - 01475 783637
Larkfield Housing - 01475 630930
Others
Samaritans - 01475 721212
Women’s Aid - 0800 027 1234
Childline - 0800 11 11
Greenock Police Station - 01475 492500
ICOD Launches Postcard Campaign
At a time when Christmas cards are dropping through your letter boxes ICOD will be sending out its own cards for disabled people to use, aimed at helping both them and services providers, shops banks restaurants etc, identify issues of accessibility and take steps towards addressing them.
Launching the scheme on the International Day of Disabled People, Kathy McDade, (Chair of ICOD) said “some people may not wish to raise issues directly with service providers, the postcard gives them a chance to make their point in a non confrontational manner.
Part of the postcard is given to the service provider and the other part to ICOD, alerting it to the concerns raised. If no response is forthcoming ICOD can then take the issue forward using the postcard as evidence during future any discussions.
For example we were talking with a major supermarket over a number of disability issues and making good progress, but on the departure of the temporary manager we have found ourselves ignored once again. I am also sure the issue of lift access for disabled people in high flats, as highlighted by the Telegraph, will generate a sizeable number of postcard enquiries and responses.
Postcards will be available from the ICOD offices, please telephone 01475 732700, email enquiries@icod.org.uk or minicom 01475 732995 for copies or to raise any access issues. The more people become involved and highlight issues, the sooner we will see the changes happening in our community”.
Fondly Remembered - Jessie Duncan
Recently, Jessie Duncan, one of our founder members passed away after a long illness. Jessie was the inspiration behind ICOD and with little encouragement she soon established it as an organisation to voice the concerns of disabled people in Inverclyde. She was a tireless worker for her community serving on the Community Development Trust, Enterprise Childcare, Arthritis Care and ICOD to mention just a few.
Her work was formally recognised last year when she received a Provost’s Equality Award for her strong commitment in making many changes for the better in our community. Jessie always said there were not enough seats in the shopping centre, so it seems appropriate that, to mark her achievements, a commemorative bench is to be sited in the Oak Mall.
21 Years Young
This year saw ICOD come of age, and from our beginnings in Jessie Duncan’s living room, 21 years have seen us grow to providing a wide range of services at our town centre premises. Tribute must be paid to all volunteers, be they directors or otherwise, our staff and the wider community who have helped shape and build the organisation. Key achievements have included setting up our popular Shopmobility Service, which has attracted over 822 members in its 6-year existence, together with working with partners for the benefit of the community.
To celebrate its birthday ICOD held a dinner dance in the Town Hall, which was attended by friends old and new, and as part of the proceedings an auction and raffle was held, with proceeds donated to the Children’s Hospice Association of Scotland (CHAS). Janice Smith and Brenda Devlin, two Shopmo users who helped organise the event, were delighted with amount raised on the night, £1591. Brenda said:
“Our auctioneer, Mr Ian Fraser, squeezed lots of money out of the assembled company in typical Aberdonian fashion and the raffle helped us in our goal to help CHAS. It was hard work but worth it in the end and I would like to thank all those involved in helping. It was great that Debbie Traynor from CHAS was able to visit us and be presented with our cheque. We will be going to visit the local hospice at Loch Lomond in March next year to see the good work done there”.
Brian McIntyre, ICOD treasurer, was delighted on this occasion to be parting with money saying “we are only too pleased to have helped and I look forward to the next 21 years of providing services for the disabled people in our community”.
Climb Every Mountain
Denise Gildea, a former employee of ICOD and still a good friend to the organisation, will be embarking on an 8 day trek up Kilimanjaro early in the New Year. As part of her trek Denise is kindly raising money for ICOD and our Shopmobility services. Denise said “ICOD is an organisation close to my heart, I am so pleased to see it continuing to grow and am glad to be able to still help out in this way.”
At 19,340 ft, Kilimanjaro is the highest mountain in Africa and the highest ‘walkable’ mountain in the world. The top of Kilimanjaro is permenantly snow-capped, and the highest point is Uhuru Peak, on the volcano Kibo, with a crater 1.5 miles across.
If you would like to support Denise and ICOD you can donate online at her Just Giving web page: http://www.justgiving.com/dee-treks-kili . The Just Giving service also allows you to use Gift Aid for your donation, helping Denise to raise even more money for our services!
Everyone at ICOD would like to wish Denise all the best on her trek, and thank her for remembering ICOD and Shopmobility.
Up to Standard
ICOD has recently been visited by a number of organisations involved in the regulation and standards of our services. We are pleased to say that we have received a rating of ‘very good’ from the Care Commission. We have also been visited by Inverclyde Council Supporting People team who found us up to standard.
Our ABC project at the Central Library was also visited recently by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education and received good feedback on our activities.
