Issue 87 June 2012 - Printed by Christine Watkinson Paper kindly supplied by Knauf Drywall of Immingham

Awareness week Welcome to our Summer edition of the Hull Parkinson and I hope by the time you read this we will have

had some summer weather! At the time of writing (end of April) I have thick tights and a wool dress on

and I’m still cold. Just before Easter we had a taste of what we would call warm weather and on some

days it was quite hot. This only made it more difficult to accept the return of the freezing conditions.

We have just come to the end of Parkinson’s Awareness Week which proved to be a very worthwhile

event . We were able to give many people advice and information on the condition, the Society and

Branch and raised £321 in the process. A big thank you to everyone who helped man the stands

especially those who were at HRI. Although we were inside, the doors of the hospital were continually

opening and closing sending blasts of freezing cold across our stall making it impossible to keep the

display tidy. We endured 3 days of this making use of the hot drinks available just across the floor. We

moved to warmer climes on Friday setting up our stand on the shopping mall in St Stephens centre.

People here were very generous with their donations and although we didn't get many enquiries for

information we did spread the word around by giving passing children our balloons, some of which made

an escape via the glass roof. What happened to Thursday of that week you may ask, see page 2

More Parkinson’s awareness photos on page 8

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Information & support worker

I am sorry to report that Carolyn Foster-Richards has left the Society. I know that those of you who

have had dealings with Carolyn will be disappointed to hear this news as Carolyn was very helpful to

everyone . Unfortunately this means we will be without a local support worker for a time but the

process of employing someone else is in progress. In the mean time if you urgently require help the

number to ring is still the same

0844 225 3636

Stop press!

We have a new Information & support worker. He is called David Chapman and he

has previously worked for the Citizen’s advice bureau spending eleven years giving

advice and help with benefits etc. We hope David will be at our July meeting so that

he can meet many of the branch and get a feel for what we are about! Once his

training is complete he will be out and about giving help and advice to those who

request a visit.

Noodle’s visit

Thursday 19th April

For those of you who haven’t heard of him, Noodle is a

toy brain cell who first came to my notice in the

Parkinson’s Christmas catalogue. He came in 2 sizes and I

bought the smaller one and he sits in my lounge next to the

medical books. However his larger brother is no such

slouch and has spent all last week dashing around our area

visiting as many branches as he could. Noodle has been

lucky enough to have had lots of excitement on his travels

and everyone seems to have spoilt him. He began his epic

journey in Skipton and returned there after a full week of

adventures. We went to meet Noodle on Hessle Foreshore

after he had crossed the Humber Bridge in a Ferrari ! We

posed with him for photos and then he was off again, this

time in a Ford Mustang to Malton pausing for coffee in

Beverley.

The branch has 2 copies of a booklet relating

the adventures of Noodle with photos and

extracts from his journal. Look out for them at

Sunday meetings.

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Meetings

We meet from 2pm to 4pm on the 3rd Sunday of

the month unless this falls on a ‘special’ day, eg

Mother’s Day. Meetings are held at Trinity

Methodist Church Hall which is on the corner of

Cottingham Road and Newland Avenue.

There is a car park which is accessed

from Newland Avenue. Meetings usually

have some form of entertainment for part

of the afternoon and there will always be

time for a cup of tea and a chat.

Information about the condition is

available and various fundraising tables

give you an opportunity to bring & buy to boost

funds. All are welcome at our meetings, which

are free to everyone, members and non members

alike. Please note that if you decide to join the

Society you automatically become a member of

the Branch. There is no fee for Branch

membership. We look forward to meeting you

sometime in the future.

Meetings for 2012

24th June—Mercy ships - Dr C

Blackburn

15th July— Dr Kieran Breen, director of

Research at Parkinsons UK

19th August– Old wives tales - Ann

Massam

16th September—A tour through Beverley

- Paul Scholfield

21st October—Looking back over the

years at Hull Branch. A presentation from

your Chairman & Editor

18th November Time Traveller— Roger

Coates

Parkinson’s Nurse Specialists

01482 336464

Katie Harrison (at present Katie is on maternity leave),

Anne Marie Boswell

& Jane Merrills

PLEASE NOTE THE PARKINSON’S NURSES CAN ONLY VISIT

IF YOU ARE ON DR MING’S NHS LIST. THEY ARE EMPLOYED

BY THE NHS AND CANNOT VISIT PRIVATE PATIENTS.

NHS DIRECT

0845 4647 Have

the name and dose of

your medication at hand)

PARKINSON’S UK

freephone helpline

0808 800 303

Physiotherapy sessions

The physiotherapy sessions at the Ageuk Centre, Porter Street are becoming

very popular. The hour long group class starting at 1.30pm is held on the

2nd Monday of each month and is free to anyone with Parkinson’s and

their carer. Run by Jane & Julie , physiotherapists from HRI, these

sessions allow you to exercise at your own level and the girls are there to help and give advice. If you

would like to come just turn up, no need to book. Why not have lunch at the Centre beforehand? There is

usually a small group of our members there having a meal or snack every Monday not just on Physio day.

Please note

Don’t miss July’s meeting. We are very fortunate

to be visited by the Society’s director of research

Dr Kieran Breen. Kieran’s topic is the Brain

Bank but he will no doubt tell us how the

research programme in general is doing.

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Accessible Holiday

Information

Companies that can

arrange care in resort:

Wings on Wheels tel: 01945 871111, Jean Burdett,

www.wingsonwheels.co.uk This helpful lady has

background of 11 years as being a committee member of

PHAB, providing genuine tailor made and group

holidays. They will do all the researching on your behalf

to find the holiday to suit you including care support in

resort and they can recommend a specialist insurer.

Accessible Travel tel: 0844 8221743,

www.assessibletravel.co.uk

Helpful travel agent who can make all arrangements

including care in resort, they have a brochure.

Enable Holidays tel: 0871 222 4939,

www.enableholidays.com

Offer UK and abroad holidays offering limited care

support in resort, ie help with washing & dressing daily

etc but not 24hr support

Companies unable to arrange/offer care but offer

support with all travel arrangements, accessible

rooms and often equipment loans in resort:

Holidays For The Disabled, tel: 0800 622 6772

www.holidaysforthedisabled.com

Owner Paul Fogarty who is disabled himself travels

abroad regularly so you can talk to him about your

specific requirements and he will tailor the holiday to suit

you, no unnecessary costs and feels that he is very

competitive as other companies charge extra for disabled

holidays.

Can Be Done tel: 020 8907 2400 www.canbedone.co.uk

Disabled Holiday Directory tel: 0800 993 0796

www.disabledholidaydirectory.co.uk

Tourism For All tel: 08451 249973

www.tourismforall.org.uk

Vitalise tel: 0845 345 1970, www.vitalise.org.uk –

organise UK short breaks with care at accessible

centres – Southport, Southampton, Chigwell & London

borders with 24/7 on-call care & volunteers to assist, also

offer activity breaks at specialist centre in

Lanlivery,Cornwall. Offer a range of payment options to

make the break affordable.

Rather belated but

better late than

never, I would like

to introduce Anne

Marie Boswell, our

latest specialist

Parkinson’s nurse.

I’ve asked Anne

Marie to write a

few words about

herself.

My name is Anne-

Marie Boswell and I have now been a Parkinson’s

Disease Specialist Nurse since September 2010,

when Jane Merrills retired to 2 days a week. I’m

working my way around to meeting you all!

I’m based at Hull Royal Infirmary and at present I

work Mondays, Tuesday and Wednesdays. I do the

movement disorder clinic on a Tuesday afternoon

alongside Dr Ming and either Katie or Jane.

Previous to this job, (which might I add, I love) I

worked for 6 years on ward 12, the Neurology ward

at Hull royal. Where I gained lots of experience not

just in Parkinson’s disease but many other

Neurological conditions.

I’m kept very busy out of work as I have Finley,

who’s 4 and Felix who’s 2. So you could say I go to

work for a rest! I don’t get much time to do much

else out of work, however I do enjoy doing spinning

classes at the gym twice a week and of course I do

lots of reading around Parkinson’s .

As mentioned earlier I work 3 days a week, Jane

Merrills continues to work 2 days and I believe

Katie will be returning to work 3 days. Katie had a

baby girl (Lillia Grace) in November and both are

doing well.

As I’m sure you are all aware if you are to ring us,

at Hull Royal, it’s always an answer machine but

we do endeavour to get back to you within 3

working days. We are very busy at the moment with

Katie being off, so bear with us.

I look forward to meeting you all, and I hope to

make the Sunday meetings when I can. If I have not

met you face to face but only spoken to you on the

phone please introduce yourself to me, and I

apologise if I don’t remember all your names as we

do have lots of patients.

See you all soon.

Before Carolyn left, she sent this

article after several requests for

holiday information.

All items in this newsletter aim to provide as much information as possible but, since some information involves personal judgement,

their publication does not mean that the Hull Branch of Parkinson’s UK necessarily endorses them. While due care is taken to ensure that

the contents of this Newsletter are accurate, the publisher and printer cannot accept liability for errors or omissions.

5

Have we got your details

right?

Please contact our branch

secretary if the address on your

envelope is incorrect and he will

amend it. If you no longer wish to

receive the Newsletter please let

him know at the address below

David Perry

11 Middle Garth Drive

South Cave

Brough HU15 2AY

0130 421412

Downsizing your home

Hull City council have a Downsizing

Scheme for all Hull City tenants wanting

smaller Hull City properties – they are

allocated a housing officer who will visit

them at home, take details of all their requirements for a

new home and support them with the whole process,

they get access to properties before they are advertised

and help with moving costs as well as anything else

they may need i.e. new cooker etc. People can access

this by calling Hull City Council on 01482 300 300 and

ask to speak to someone in the Downsizing Scheme and

they bypass the whole housing application process.

SPRING

Spring has finished in more

ways than one. We should be

enjoying summer by now

knowing that spring will

return next year but the

SPRING I refer to now, the

special interest group seeking

to further medical research

into Parkinson’s disease,

won’t be back. The former

SPRING group is becoming

part of the RSN (Research

Support Network). The

trustees of the Parkinson’s

Disease Society have decided

to close SPRING on the grounds that its

objectives are now adequately accommodated

within the mainstream of the Society

particularly through the recently formed RSN.

The Branch has been a member of SPRING

for several years and members of our

committee have been to some of their

meetings and found them very enlightening.

We are confident that the decision to

amalgamate the two groups will lead to a

more efficient road to the as yet elusive cure

that we are all praying for.

Is this really me?!!

In the last edition I

mentioned that I had

been accused of

being drunk because

of my strange style of

walking. It was

interesting to hear

from others about

similar experiences.

In the same way I

don’t think we realise

how we look to others until we see a film of ourselves

moving. Even a still photograph shows tell-tale signs

of the dreaded parky pose.! Another jolt to my ego was

when I visited my dentist recently and in order to do the

job he had to get the dental nurse to hold my head in a

vice –like grip to ensure the procedure was ok

However we’re not alone in this problem. I recently met

an old colleague who I recognised immediately as

looking just as I remembered when I last saw him some

35 years ago. With just one difference, his hair was a

wonderful silvery white not the brown of the past. He

told me that every time he looks in the mirror he thinks

who is that old fellow, it can’t be me. We’ve just got to

accept the passage of time and the changes that happen

to our once youthful and fit body.

1. Working Smoke Detectors - You are 3 times more likely to die in a fire without them. House-

holders should ensure they have Smoke Alarms correctly installed. The Fire service can fit these

for people who are vulnerable or at higher risk from fire in the home.

2. Have a Fire Plan - Every household should have one and everyone should know what to do in

case of a fire emergency. Discuss this with the fire officer during the check.

3. Have A Night-time Routine - Make sure that appliances that can be, are turned off, doors are

closed; candles and cigarettes are put out.

4. Have A Clear Route Out - Keep all exits routes clear. Blocking these could hinder your escape.

5. Have Keys Available Near Exit Doors - Everyone in the household should know where they

are. Have spare sets discreetly placed near exit routes for such an emergency.

6. Overloaded Sockets Are A Problem - Check yours today, remember electric cable can wear if

placed under carpets.

7. Where Are Lighters And Matches? - Put these somewhere safe. Young children love to exper-

iment! Lighters and matches are not toys.

8. Chip Pan Safety - When cooking NEVER leave pan unattended, don’t overfill and NEVER try

to put out a chip pan fire with water.

9. Know How To Make An Emergency call - Everyone should know how to make that call. If

you need help, make that call. We are here for you.

10. Review Your Fire Safety Plan At Regular Intervals - Finally check your safety regularly.

Update everyone and look at the literature. If you need a further check or advice from us, please

call.

REMEMBER YOUR SAFETY IS OUR BUSINESS

10 tips for better fire protection

Did you know that the fire service will come to your home and help you equip

your house with all the latest aides to keep you safe from fire. Below are 10

safety points for you to follow.

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Christina Wilkinson

Sadly I have to report that Christina Wilkinson recently passed away. Chris has been a loyal

member of the branch for many years, most of those serving on the Committee, and at one point

she took over the role of Chairman. Many of you will remember Chris for her ‘double act’ with

her husband Terry (also sadly no longer with us) selling raffle tickets at our Sunday meetings.

Chris didn’t need a microphone to call out the numbers! Our sincere sympathy to her family, she

will be missed by us all

Collecting at Tesco

We have been given the opportunity

to have a collection stand at two of the

Tesco Stores in Hull.

The first is Saturday 21st July at the

Hall Road Tesco and the second is Saturday 18th

August at the St Stephens Super store.

Tesco only allow 2 people at any one time with

collecting tins so I need to draw up a rota of volunteers

who can give an hour (or more) of their time. If you are

willing to help out, I promise it won’t be as cold or

windy as HRI!, please let me know as soon as possible.

If you haven’t done anything like this before why not

give it a try? You can meet some interesting people and

it can be quite rewarding as well as fun! Depending on

how many volunteers we get, I hope to have a 10am—

4pm time for both venues.

Kilnwick Percy (Pocklington)

golf day

As you can see from the picture left, we have

had a group of people working very hard on

our behalf, John Harrison going all out to

raise as much money as he could for the

Branch. An amazing £3550 was donated

despite a terrible day weather-wise. John

came to our May meeting to present the

cheque, see photo above. He described the

conditions they played under, wind, rain and

hail, yet is already planning to do it all again

next year!

7

Christmas arrangements

Believe it or not we are almost half way

through the year so it must be time to

think about Christmas!

We thought our Christmas Service went

down well last year so we are doing

something similar for this Christmas. So

far we have just got the date and time

fixed, Sunday2nd December at 2 30pm in

Trinity Methodist Church so put that date

in your diary now. And while you have

your diary out put in the date of our

Christmas lunch. It’s at the Marina Hotel,

our usual Christmas venue on Sunday

16th December. More details of both

events including booking forms and menu

will be in the next edition of the

newsletter.

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More Parkinson’s awareness photos

Braving the cold wind at Hull Royal Infirmary

Noodle wears his tee shirt on a cold morning at the Humber Bridge

Pam at St

Stephens

Mike tries not to shake the bucket!

Cathryn sorts everyone out Balloons galore