PIPPA Post Online
The PIPPA Post is our regular newsletter which comes out three times a year. Besides news and information relating to disability, it also contains puzzles, quizzes, gadgets, recipes, jokes, and other things we've enjoyed. If you'd like to receive it, please let us know your name and either home or e-mail address (e-mail is preferred, if possible). Scroll down for more news!
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Summer 2010 Issue of Pippa_Post out!
Download Summer Issue of PIPPA Post here
Older editions of Pippa_Post you can download:
(More to come . . .)
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If you would like to receive this newsletter, please e-mail us at pippapembs@btconnect.com and tell us your name and e-mail or address (e-mail is preferred) and we will add you to our list of recipients.
News
August 2010: Thank you Pembrokeshire Mobility Centre!
Pembrokeshire Care and Mobility has just become Pembrokeshire Care - the mobility people have had to close. On their last day, Friday 27th August, they invited us to come and see if we'd like to take any equipment they hadn't been able to sell.
Alice travelled up at 5pm, to give everything a chance to sell off, and Stephanie showed her what remained. It took two car journeys to get it all to the PIPPA office! We now have a new wheelchair, walking frame, bath lift, raised toilet seats, and other handy bits and bobs such as ferrules (the rubber "feet" for walking sticks) . . .
And now we have some new stock for our inventory, including:
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Perching chairs
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Transfer boards and banana boards (for sliding from one seat to another)
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Bath chairs
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Trolley walker with 2 trays
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Transfer turntables
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Wheelchair lap tray
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Crutch bags to put on scooters
A massive thank you to Stephanie and all the rest of the staff at Pembrokeshire Mobility for this wonderful generosity. We're bound to find lots of use for all of them!
August 2010: PIPPA office burgled
Recently the PIPPA office was burgled. We arrived one morning to find our front door kicked in. The office was OK and the computers hadn't been touched - but we lost our safe; our paying-in book; our donation boxes, hire fees and deposits; all our stamps; several of our scooter keys; and guess what - Valerie's biscuit tin!
Sadly, this means that if you handed us a cash deposit, we won't be able to give it straight back to you, but we will post you a cheque.
We've got a new, much tougher front door and our cupboard (which was broken so the safe could be removed) has been mended.
If our burglers are reading this, please know that you have not only stolen from a small local charity (a low act in itself), but that you have put back our plans to renew our wheelchairs for some considerable time.
If you have any information please contact the police by dialling 101.
August 2010 Pembrokeshire County Show
We set up our tent at the County Show between Entrances B and C, between the food court and the disabled entrance. Nikki, David, Margaret, Gareth, Paul and Alice all took turns manning our tent, and were very excited to set up our new banners:
Alice and Paul, with the new banners, leaflets and equipment on display
Alice and Gareth inside our tent. Sadly it got a bit too wet and windy for the banners . . .
But we had lots of information in the tent, too, for people to browse; and we also had some cards to sell, which our volunteer Paul has been making.
Tuesday and Thursday gave us the usual Pembrokeshire weather so we didn't get much custom. Wednesday, however, was beautiful and we hired out 8 wheelchairs and sold a walking frame. (There are more of those and other items for sale in the marketplace if you're interested!)
Lots of people wanted to hire a scooter, but sadly we can't bring these or electric wheelchairs to the County Show any more. The ground there is rough and often wet and muddy, which invariably results in the scooters actually needing our engineer to repair them rather than a simple cleaning job.
The Church of Wales, whose tent was next to ours, were as kind as ever in keeping us supplied with tea and coffee. This was especially appreciated on Thursday, when the rain was so torrential that when Nikki went off to get a pasty, she called over her shoulder, "If I'm not back in half an hour, send a rowing boat!!"
Donations
We would like to thank all those recipients of the latest edition of the P.I.P.P.A. Post for their kind donations, we appreciate your kind thoughts very much.
County Show News - Electric Scooter Hire
We are sorry to announce that we will not be hiring out electric scooters this year. The weather during the last 2 years of the County Show has been appalling and has resulted in a lot of damage to our scooter fleet. The costs of having a stand at the show and the repair bills have risen so much in the last few years that it cannot be sustained or justified. We have also had problems charging the batteries at the end of each day.
We will have manual and self propelled wheelchairs and wheeled walkers for hire at the Show ground for hire.
Blue Badge News
NB: Sorry, PIPPA can no longer supply you with blue badges - the Council will now do this. Please see here and scroll down to "Blue Badge Scheme" for more details.
Applicants for Blue Badges - the scheme which provides a range of parking concessions for people with severe mobility problems are to be asked for more details in a bid to combat fraud.
In line with other local authorities in Wales, Pembrokeshire County Council will require the extra information when a new application or a renewal application is made for a Blue Badge. In addition to individual details already requested, the following details will also be required from applicants
1. A National Insurance Number - this can be found on all Department of Work and Pensions correspondence. The Inland Revenue will also be able to provide this information. For those in employment, the employer will be able to supply the number.
2. A main vehicle registration number. Customers will be asked to provide the registration of the vehicle that is their main source of transport.
Explained Councilor Ken Rowlands, Cabinet Member for Environmental and Regulatory Services: "We have to ask these questions because the Wales Audit Office and The National Fraud Initiative have powers to demand information from public bodies - such as ourselves - to data match for the purpose of preventing and detecting fraud."
"We would also like to remind users that their Blue Badges are kept up to date with a recent photograph, are otherwise valid and for their sole use only."
"The Council has already started to apply more stringent checks on the use of Blue Badges across the County in order to prevent fraudulent use."
For more information on the National Fraud Initiative and the details the Auditor General requires, log on to the Wales Audit Office web site www.wao.gov.uk or contact Wales Audit Office on 029 2032 0616.
Volunteer News
We are delighted that Gareth Bevans has been awarded 2 Highly Commended places in the Pembrokeshire Volunteer of the Year Awards organised by PAVS and Wales Council for Voluntary Action (WCVA). Gareth was runner-up in the under 25 years category and a runner-up in the Mary Sigely award. We nominated Gareth for these awards as over the past year he has worked very hard and has progressed both professionally and personally. Well done Gareth, we are all very proud of you!
If you have any time to spare and would like to volunteer call us on 01437 760665. We can offer you a warm welcome, no pay!, but there is always plenty of tea, coffee, biscuits and fun on offer!
Beryl, Gareth, and Margaret - three of our volunteers