minutes071127

RUGBY DISABILITY FORUM

Chair: David Foster – Tel: 01788 544991 Secretary: John Burrell – Tel 01788 533796

Minutes of Ordinary Meeting held at Hamilton House

on Tuesday 27th November 2007

1. Unfortunately Steve Paley could not attend due to ill health. Steve will be asked to give his presentation in the new year.

However Desiree Lambert agreed to give a short presentation on “Carers Support and Guide Posts”. This is an organisation run by North Warwickshire for the whole of Warwickshire and funded by WCC.

Unpaid carers are saving this Country over £87 billion pounds – recent legislation to give help and support to carers. Guide Post is a social care charity which gives support to carers – 24 hr help line, carers emergency card helpline, newsletter, fact sheets and web site giving advice to carers. Work closely with families – can get things done quicker with Guide Posts help.

In Rugby there is a small office in Lawford Road (near to Kwik Fit) however only one member of staff is there and it is not manned all day. There is Social networking at the Claremont Centre – free advice from a solicitor, benefit workers etc. at one stop shop.

Q - Elderly carers – affects pension if they get carers allowance.
A - Terrible situation – government has been lobbied to get this changed. Government are aware but to date reluctant to do anything.

Q - Rugby Mind have a magazine and would welcome an article on the issue.
A - Desiree agreed to do this and asked for regular copies of the magazine.

Q - Is there any information in different formats – braille?
A - Not at the moment however any help people can give to achieve this would be welcome. David advised that Paul Tolley at CVS can do this and Desiree was asked to send info. to Paul.

Q - Carers emergency card is useful for carrying in a purse or wallet.
A - Desiree agreed additional copies to be brought to the next meeting.

David thanked Desiree for standing in at the last minute and giving an interesting presentation.

2. David welcomed everyone and as we had some new people attending people introduced themselves.

Present

Lionel Broughton
J Burrell	Secretary RDF
D Foster	Chair RDF
John Hicks
Jill Atkinson	Warwickshire Police
Mala Solanki	RDF
Geoff Wilde	RDF
Marion Hersey	Rugby Resident
Martin Eversfield
Susanna Vandervelden	Rent Mobility
Chris McGaffney	Bloxham Centre
Dan Green	Warwickshire County Council
Margaret Martin	Rugby Borough Council
Brian Edwards	Rugby Resident
Gordon Boyle	Rugby MIND – 28 Cromwell Road
Sarah Gibbons	RBC
Viv Wilkins	RBC
Fiona Bennington	Rugby Resident
Sheena Corbett	Rugby Resident
Joyce Carter	Rugby Resident
Pat Clarke	Rugby Resident
Anne Clarke	Committee Member of the Disability Forum
Leslie Hopkins	Member of the Blind
Maria Drake	Member of the Blind
Sue Hillman	Committee RDF
Derek Hillman	Committee RDF
Cassim Virani	CORE
Andrew Cowan	Committee RDF
Desiree Lambert	Guideposts

3. Apologies – Clare Montague, Jack Lawton, Jean Box, Gloria Lawley-Ord, George Farthing, Daphne Johnson, Icilin Johnson, Clem, Pam Jones, Paul Cooper, Enid and Asseia Rafique.

4.         Action Points of Minutes – minutes agreed.

5.         Constitutional Change – The motion was agreed with only one abstention and none against

.6.         Reports

Warwickshire Compact – Sue attended an AGM meeting at Binley Woods. A presentation was given on environmental procurement, local involvement networks and Voluntary and Community Collaboration. There was no time for questions.

Rugby Compact – David gave feedback on interfaces between Rugby Borough Council and the Voluntary Sector – a good success.

Forum Dinner – Derek advised that 58 people attended with 4 people having to cancel at the last minute. Everyone agreed it was a great success with people staying and socialising after the meal. Although the turkey wasn’t very nice overall it was excellent value for money. Derek advised that due to accessibility and numbers it was difficult to find suitable venues. Derek is hoping to organise a summer barbeque next year.

Caldecott Park Restoration Scheme – Geoff had attended the last meeting and gave a progress report. JB to circulate newsletter with minutes. Contractor to start in April with completion in January 2009.

Parking in Rugby – David attended the RBC Cultural Committee to discuss number of disabled spaces in public car parks and has aked for 5% of car parking spaces to be for Disabled people.

Invitation from WCC Countryside Group – Organiser would like to interact with the Forum to discuss how disabled people can access the countryside. David, Derek and Sue are attending a meeting of the Group next week.

Office of Disability Issues Questionnaire – JB has received feedback on this and gave a summary of the response. JB has sent out copies to members on email, however as the information runs into over 30 pages he has printed off a hard copy and asked if anyone wanted to see it. Derek and Sue, Joyce Carter, Martin Eversfield and Geoff Wilde asked to see it. JB to give to Derek and then it will be passed to each person. Some members thought a meeting would be useful to discuss the response and it was agreed to wait until everyone interested in reading it had done so before deciding whether to arrange a meeting.

David advised that it was CVS AGM next week.

David has agreed with the Manager of the Clock Towers that we can have a (pitch) table in the Centre free of charge. IT was agreed that the 5th December between 11am and 2pm would be best, David to organise. Geoff, Fiona, Derek and Sue, Brian and Maria (possibly Andrew and Martin) would call at different times between 11am and 2pm to man the table. The purpose being to spread the word about what we do and what we are about.

7. Any Other Business

Derek advised that the recent meeting members had with the Highway Agency identifying problems seems to have worked as he has noticed things are starting to happen. Derek agreed to write to the H.A. for feedback.

Jill Atkinson (Police) offered her apologies for the next meeting. She will be attending the Home Office to discuss “True Visions” (hate crime initiative). The Home Office are thinking of giving this financial support and possibly providing a permanent post for someone to manage it. All forces are being recommended to sign up to the project.

Next Meeting 18th December – there will be a short talk on Equality and working with Local Communities by officers of RBC.

Please bring mince pies, sausage rolls etc. etc.

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