Email edition of the Guardian Gazette for September 09
Providing services, information and activities to residents of Merton
who have a visual impairment.
Contents;
Lunch Club – every Thursday from 12.30 p.m. onwards - £4 per head
MertonVision Advisory Community Group – Tuesday 6 October at 11 am
Macular Disease Support Group – third Monday of the month 10 a.m. –12 p.m.
New Term for Adult Education – from Monday 21 September 2009
MertonVision Annual General Meeting - Friday 13 November 7 pm
RNIB equipment drop in afternoon Thursday 26 November 1 pm – 3.30 pm
Race Night - Friday 27 November at 7.30 - £5 entrance fee
Carols at MertonVision – Thursday 3 December at 11 am
Christmas Lunch - Thursday 17 December at 12.30 - £8 per head
Christmas Cards and Calendars
100 Club Winners
Employment opportunities for individuals aged 18-24 and who have a visual
impairment
A Special Invitation from Merton Council
R.I.P.
Merton Talking Newspaper
Dates for your diary 2009/10
Lunch Club – every Thursday from 12.30 p.m. onwards - £4 per head
Come and join our popular Thursday lunch club. £4 will get you a main
course and pudding, fruit juice, tea/coffee. Menus so far have included
anything from roast beef to fish pie, and Marvlyn our cook produces
excellent puddings!
Limited transport is available for those who need it. Please phone by
Wednesday lunch time to book your place.
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MertonVision Advisory Community Group – Tuesday
6 October at 11 am
MertonVision Community Advisory Group is the place for you to air your
views! You are welcome to just turn up, or phone us for more details.
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Macular Disease Support Group – third Monday of the month 10 a.m.
–12 p.m.
If you have macular degeneration come and join the support group who
meet here at MertonVision on the third Monday of every month. We are
sure you will find it really worthwhile and enjoyable. The aim of the group
is for people who have macular degeneration and their families to get
together to support each other and in due course for you to run the group,
arrange speakers, outings and whatever the members want to do. We are
here to support you do this and will help out whenever necessary. We
look forward to welcoming you.
If you need any more information, please contact Samantha Jarvis at
MertonVision on 8540 5446.
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New Term for Adult Education – from Monday 21 September 2009
Adult Education classes resume in September as follows:I.T. classes on Mondays 10.30 -12.30, 1- 3, or 3 - 5
Art on a Wednesday morning 10.30 -12.30
Craft on a Wednesday afternoon 1.30 - 3.30
Tai Chi on Thursday afternoon – intermediate 1.15 – 2.15 and beginners
2.30 - 3.30
Call Theresa for more information and to book your place
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MertonVision Annual General Meeting - Friday 13 November 7 pm
The Annual General Meeting will be held on the above date here at the
Guardian Centre. This is the trustees report to the members and your
chance to ask any questions. If you are not a member and would like an
Annual Review, please let us know.
We are looking for new trustees. This is an unpaid but rewarding job, and
you have the opportunity to shape the future of MertonVision. Please
contact Fran (or one of the current trustees) 8540 5446 for more
information and to find out how you can be involved.
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RNIB equipment drop in afternoon Thursday 26 November 1 pm –
3.30 pm
Why not drop into MertonVision during the afternoon of 26 November
when the RNIB will be here with some of their newest equipment. These
will include an impressive new audio labeling device called the PENfriend
(as promoted on the BBC news website), a number of different easy-tosee mobile phones, new clocks and watches, as well as a new flashing
red cane tip for long cane users. If you particularly want to see an item
that you've heard about, contact us on 8540 5446 to see if we can arrange
for it to be brought along on the day for you to test for yourself.
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Race Night - Friday 27 November at 7.30 - £5 entrance fee
This sounds like a fun filled evening. We have hired a professional race
night organiser to guide us through the evening. As well as betting on the
races you can ‘own and name’ your own horse this will cost £2 and the
winning owner of each race will win a bottle of wine.
Each bet is a minimum of £1 per race (you obviously don’t have to bet on
every race if you don’t want to) and hopefully you will have a few wins
throughout the evening. There will be a supper of cheese or ham
ploughmans and the bar will be open to buy drinks.
As usual, if you would like to come just give us a call on 8540 5446 or
drop in to book your ticket.
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Carols at MertonVision – Thursday 3 December at 11 am
Some of the children from Singlegate School will be coming to sing carols
to us for half-an-hour or so. If you would like to come and listen, please
let us know. This is also a lunch club day, so if you would like to have
lunch as well, do let us know so that we get enough food in.
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Christmas Lunch - Thursday 17 December at 12.30 - £8 per head
We are already taking bookings for this, so if you would like to come
please let us know as soon as possible as we had to disappoint quite a
number of people last year. The menu will be a traditional Christmas one
and if you are a vegetarian, be sure to let us know that too.
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Christmas Cards and Calendars
We have a good selection of charity Christmas cards now available, so
please have a look at the catalogue enclosed and either phone or post
your order to us and we will get your order to you as soon as we can. You
can also purchase them by coming into the Centre where you will find
them on display. We also make our own calendar every year using
pictures produced by members of our art class who are visually impaired,
this costs £6.
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100 Club Winners
August
1st Prize No 2 Sean O’Brien
2nd Prize No 49 Anne Wicks
£27.50
£11.00
September
1st Prize No 18 Joan Steward
2nd Prize No 76 Vera Clement
£27.50
£11.00
The cost is £12 per year, there is a draw every month and the more
members we have the bigger the prizes (you will see that the prize money
has increased lately as we have more members) There is also a chance
of winning a bonus prize of £50 twice a year, and a Christmas bonus of
£100. If you would like to join just give us a ring on 8540 5446.
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Employment opportunities for individuals aged 18-24 and who have
a visual impairment
If you fall into the above category, Action For Blind People may be able to
assist you. They have set up a new employment scheme to assist young
people into paid employment. The initial period would be for 6 months
when, during that time, individuals would receive vital employment
experience and training. You would also be supported from the outset
and beyond the 6 month period. After that period individuals would be
supported into ongoing sustainable employment as quickly as possible.
If you fall within this category and would like further information, please
contact David Newbold on 020 7391 2299. or email him at
david.newbold@actionforblindpeople.org.uk.
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A Special Invitation from Merton Council
Christmas shopping for older people and people with disabilities at Centre
Court Shopping Centre on Sunday 29th November between 10:30 am and
1pm. There will be a number of untrained helpers available at centre Court
on the day to assist with shopping. Merton Council will be providing free
transport to and from this event. Please telephone Merton’s transport
section (by 16th November) on 020 8545 4782/4794 to book your place.
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R.I.P.
It is with regret that we announce the deaths of:Trudi Gardener, Alma Homewood, Pamela Polson and Tom Clark
to their family and friends we offer our sincere condolences and thanks for
your donations in lieu of funeral flowers.
In particular we would like to acknowledge the kindness of Tom Clark,
who was a volunteer driver for several years and whose subsequent large
donations enabled us to purchase two mini buses. He has also left us half
of his estate in his will.
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Merton Talking Newspaper
Did you know that you can receive news from the local Guardian and Post
newspapers on tape, free of charge!? Merton Talking Newspaper record a
tape every week with local news on one side and a magazine on the
other.
Merton Talking Newspaper is looking for volunteers to help produce the
magazine, please contact them directly.
If you would like further information or would like to order a weekly copy,
please contact Merton Talking Newspaper on 8544 0551.
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Dates for your diary 2009/10
Saturday 10 October
Monday 19 October
Eye-Can-Do-It – young peoples group
Macular Disease Group Meeting
Friday 13 November
Saturday 14 November
Monday 16 November
Friday 27 November
Saturday 28 November
MertonVision Annual General Meeting
Eye-Can-Do-It – young peoples group
Macular Disease Group Meeting
Race Night
Private hire
Thursday 3 December
Thursday 17 December
Monday 21 December
Thursday 24 December
Carols at MertonVision
Christmas lunch at MertonVision
Macular Disease Group Meeting
Centre closed half day
2010
Monday 4 January
Centre reopens after Christmas
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Low Vision Clinic is held on the first Tuesday of the month by appointment
only.
Citizens Advice Bureau is held every Wednesday fortnight by appointment
only.
The Gazette is produced in large print, braille, tape, e-mail and DAISY for
members, friends, supporters and volunteers of MertonVision. If you
require further information on any of the items in the newsletter, or if you
no longer wish to receive newsletters, please contact us here at:MertonVision, The Guardian Centre, 67 Clarendon Road, Colliers Wood,
London SW19 2DX Tel No 020 8540 5446 or visit our website
www.mertonvision.org.uk charity no. 10758661
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