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Start date 02/11/2008
Location The Rosebowl, Southampton
Recent Events
John Crawley Cricket Coaching Day
Chairmen and Support Officers Forum
Start date 21/06/2008
Following a welcome and introduction from our regional Chairman Jenny Gee the meeting divided into separate streams for branch chairmen and support officers respectively.The chairmen's group was pleased to welcome the Head of Operational Delivery from the National Centre, Stewart Long who presented an update on the new operational structure and how it relates to the society's strategic aims. One of the significant changes is that in order to simplify and streamline the work of our SDOs, MS Society regional boundaries will be aligned to NHS Strategic Health Authority boundaries. Many regions are not affected by this change but WH&I is in that our Wiltshire colleagues and branches will be transferring to the Wessex and West region. Responsibility for operational support will be provided by five area teams and the "Hants and Islands Region" will be located in the "South Area" managed by Catherine Kelley. None of the national programmes of work such as Independent Living, MS Nurses, Carers etc. are affected by the change. Further details of the changes may be found in Stewart Long Presentation (1196 kb)
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.Sixteen Support Officers and others involved with branch support enjoyed the splendid comforts of the new seminar room at Glenside Manor. The first speaker was Rita Holmes from Gravesend branch who gave a summary of her branch setting up a counselling service. Rita is a trained nurse who recognised that counselling in the Gravesend area was limited and little was done for those with long term conditions. Following positive feedback from a survey of members, local GPs and allied services, Rita was sponsored by her branch to train as a counsellor. This took her about 3 years to complete and once trained she needed to look for premises. With some difficulty she obtained rooms from the PCT which were linked to where the branch met and on two days a week, Rita is able to offer her skills to local members and others with MS.
She is eager to emphasise that any Support Officer with Listening Skills can provide a great deal of help to PwMS and their families but sometimes professional help is required. She is now a member of a profession that can share skills - she does not help with pyschosexual problems - and has been asked by her PCT to extend her services to others with Long Term Conditions. Costs are kept down by Rita offering her services for free but she and the branch have realised just how valuable her skills are. This has been recognised by the MS Society who gave Rita and the Gravesend branch a Partnership Award last year.
Caroline Birch then gave a short presentation about a research project on the Management of Fatigue in M.S. . This is being performed by Southampton University in conjunction with Bristol and Poole universities and partly funded by the MS Society. Last year's pilot was a great success and volunteers are being sought to help with the next three courses.
Wilts Hants & Islands Region Annual General Meeting
Start date 21/06/2008
Location Glenside Manor, South Newton Nr Salisbury
Punctuated by an excellent buffet lunch, the morning's Chairmen and Support Officers forums were followed by the region's AGM...to be precise, the region's last AGM. As many may know, the boundaries of the regions in the MSS are being aligned with NHS SHA boundaries (see report on Chairmen's Forum above) which means that the Wiltshire part of our region will migrate to Wessex and West region. A consequence of the change is that our regional Chairman, coming as she does from the Wiltshire side of the boundary has resigned.Location Glenside Manor, South Newton Nr Salisbury
Jenny Gee's boundless energy has been invaluable to the regional committee during three years of her chairmanship and her contribution has been fundamental to the success of the region's activities. In recognition of her outstanding work, everyone present was delighted to see Graham Hewitt present Jenny with a Shining Star Award.In the regular business of the AGM reports were presented by Dennis Morgan (SDO), Sue Hannaford (LSDO), Bernard Simmons (treasurer) and of course by Jenny as Chairman. These may be downloaded below.
The open forum heralded a lively debate about the motion proposed by members of the committee to be put to the National AGM concerning the collection of GP data to produce an up-to-date figure for the number of people with MS in the UK. Anyone wishing to know more about this subject should contact a committee member.
Thanks were expressed to all those who organised the excellent venue and refreshments and the meeting was closed.
- 2008 AGM Chairman's Report (34 kb)
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- 2008 AGM SDO's Report (54 kb)
- 2008 AGM Treasurer's Report (46 kb)
- 2008 AGM LSDO's report (6481 kb)
Summer Roll & Stroll
Start date 24/05/2008
Location Rheinfield Ornamental Drive, the New Forest
The recent Roll & Stroll at the Rheinfield Ornamental Drive was a great success. Lymington branch combined with Carers' Together for the day. Over 20 people arrived for the morning session with 7 dogs and enjoyed the two and a half mile walk led by Trevor Nunn. A larger group from Andover branch came for the afternoon following picnics and ice creams. The route was ideal for wheelchairs and buggies but the less mobile enjoyed a short walk to the Tall Trees. Unlike the rest of the Bank Holiday weekend, the weather was perfect. Grateful thanks to Trevor and Vicky from Carers Together for the organisation.Location Rheinfield Ornamental Drive, the New Forest
Spring Regional Quiz
Start date 09/05/2008
Location Colbury Memorial Hall, Main Road, Colbury, Hants SO40 7EL
It was appropriate that this event was held in the memorial hall as it was indeed memorable for several reasons. Firstly, it was to your reporter's knowledge the largest ever gathering for any WH&I regional event, social or otherwise with eight branches fielding 12 teams and, including helpers an attendance of over 100 people. The, as it transpired, controversial choice of a murder mystery theme for the evening rather than a normal quiz met a mixed reception with comments ranging from "the best MS organised evening I have had" to "if I had known it was going to be like this I wouldn't have come". However, despite these disparate views on the theme, everyone seemed to enjoy the copious supplies of wine and the excellent fish and chips. Thanks were expressed to the New Forest Players for their excellent performance and to the members of the Lymington branch for the very considerable effort they had put into organising the event. Gosport 1 was clearly the only team paying attention to the plot and hence were the winners of the quiz shield and have the honour of hosting the (conventional) Autumn quiz.Location Colbury Memorial Hall, Main Road, Colbury, Hants SO40 7EL
Primary Progressive MS
Start date 14/01/2008
Location Hampshire Centre Court Hotel
Despite the last minute change of venue, this first MS awareness talk of the year was well attended. Looking at primary progressive MS, the speaker was Dr Jackie Palace a consultant neurologist with an interest in MS and honorary senior lecturer at Oxford University. Brian Eyre who attended the event was kind enough to let us have a copy of the notes he took which can be downloaded below.Location Hampshire Centre Court Hotel
Notes (23 kb)
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