Penny

The Oswestry Equality Group is ending a busy year with a look at the current state of young people’s mental health. The talk is titled “Finding your way through children’s mental health” The mental health charity Young Minds has very recently published new figures showing the extent of usage of mental health services by young people. They reveal that 235,189 young people aged 0 to 18 in England get specialist care. Of these 11,849 are boys and girls aged 5 or under. Perhaps surprisingly, more boys (130,395) were included than girls (104,522). This is obviously a very important topic, with local young people possibly affected. This meeting will be at 7.30pm on November 17th in the Upper Room at Cabin Lane Church. The speakers will be Kay Brophy, who is a Psychologist, Family Practitioner and Author, and who set up Acorn Families five years ago. This provides counselling services to schools for children, young people and their families. She will talk about the mental health problems that school age people face. Accompanying her will be John Slowley, who will introduce a discussion of how early years affect mental wellbeing in later years, such as attachment and trauma issues. A minimum donation of £1 is requested to pay for the room hire. Coffee, tea and cake are included. For more details, please contact Penny Rice on 01691 680382, or e-mail oswestryequalitygroup@gmail.com OEG Childrens Mental Health Poster v0.1.pdf

And now we've discovered that the October talk about the Kenyan Schools Project has also been cancelled. We really aren't doing too well at the moment! A big one about mental health issues in young people is still due for November.

I'm afraid that, due to unforseen circumstances, we are going to have to postpone the September talk on youth homelessness. We hope to plan it for the spring. Rather than cobble something together at the last minute, we will instead have a 'House meeting' at 8 High Fawr Avenue, Oswestry, SY11 1TB. Perhaps we ought to discuss contingency plans!

Not when the decision has been made before the consultation!

Oswestry Equality Group’s successful summer The Equality Group has a new tag-line – Equal people, equal voice. With this in mind, we have been involved in a variety of projects this summer. These have included talks on the role of local press by Colin Channon, the new editor of the Tizer, the role of trade unions by a regional Unite co-ordinator and also the Special Olympics by Brian Johnson, Chair of Special Olympics North Shropshire. The group felt very strongly that those with learning disabilities involved with the Special Olympics are not treated in the same way as all of the Olympians who have been to Rio. They have also worked in conjunction with Oswestry Library to put on a very successful Celebrating Age Day. Next term’s programme is very much focused on youth. On September 22ndSarah Smith, who is a Senior Support Worker at New Century Court (NCC) in Oswestry will be speaking about homelessness among young people. Sarah is an experienced worker who has worked at NCC for 2 years, where they support young people (aged 16 – 25) who are homeless or at risk of becoming so, to develop their life skills so that they can go on and live independently. She will be talking about the impact of homelessness on a young person’s life and the kind of situation that these young people experience before they get to NCC. She will be accompanied by at least one of their customers who is happy to talk about their experiences. These young people have had a difficult time and we should give them every opportunity to tell us what they have experienced and how they feel about their situation and the support that they are receiving. On October 20th Bill and Lynn Morris from the Kenyan Schools Project will speak about young people in Kenya. It should be interesting to find out what similarities and differences there are between their young people and ours. This will all be followed by a discussion of young people’s mental health on November 17th Kay Brophy, who is a Counsellor and Psychologist, set up Acorn Families four years ago to provide counselling services to schools for children, young people and their families. She will talk about the mental health problems that school age people face. She will be accompanied by John Slowley who will talk about mental health issues in pre-school children. All of these meetings are held at 7.30pm in the Upper Room at Cabin Lane Church. A donation of £1 is requested to pay for the room hire. Light refreshments are included. Anybody who would like to find out more about these meetings or the group can contact Penny Rice on 01691 680382 or e-mail oswestryequalitygroup@gmail.com.

The Oswestry Equality Group is turning its attention to the Special Olympics Movement for their next meeting. This will be on July 14th, at 7.30pm in the Upper Room at Cabin Lane Church. Brian Johnson, Chair of Special Olympics North Shropshire will be speaking. He will be coming along, with some of his Special Olympians (and their medals), to talk about the history of the Special Olympics, what they are achieving now and what they hope for the future.. The Rio Olympics are upon us very soon, with days of what feels like blanket media coverage of ‘able bodied’ Olympians (the big names), and the paralympians who are getting an increasing amount of coverage. However, those with learning difficulties and disabilities are not included. They make up the Special Olympics movement. These people should be given the recognition and support that they deserve, and this talk will help to celebrate their achievements. A minimum of £1 donation at the door is requested to help pay for the hire of the hall. Refreshments are included in this cost. Please come along and support them. They also need more volunteers and participants.

Colin's talk was excellent. Our next one should be just as good. Next Thursday's Equality Group meeting is about the role of Trade Unions in today's world. Shaun Pender, Unite Community Regional Co-ordinator, West Midlands, is coming over to talk about whether we actually need trade unions any more. He will talk about their history, what is happening at the moment, and what their future might be. This meeting is on Thursday, June 16th at 7.30pm in the Upper Room at Cabin Lane Church. A minimum £1 donation is requested to cover hall hire please, though coffee/tea and (homemade) cake are all included. Absolutely everybody is welcome to come along. For more details, our e-mail address is oswestryequalitygroup@gmail.com EQUAL PEOPLE, EQUAL VOICE

Colin Channon, the recently appointed editor of the 'Tizer, is speaking about "The role of newspapers in today's society". This is on Thursday (May 19th) at 7.30pm in the Upper Room at Cabin Lane Church, Oswestry, SY11 2LQ .We ask for our normal £1 donation to cover hall hire. Coffee/ tea and homemade cake are included! Do you think that the 'Tizer is giving the right coverage of what is happening in the 3 Parishes? Come along and tell him what you think.

Thank you to everybody at St Martins this afternoon for making us so welcome. We hope to be able to work together much more in the future.

And on to our summer programme. Please remember that everybody is really welcome at any of our meetings. May 19th. "The role of newspapers in today's society" 7.30pm in the Upper Room at Cabin Lane Church. Colin Channon, the new editor of The Tizer, will talk about how important he feels the local press is, and the future of printed news. This is another chance for you to come and meet him and ask questions. It should be a really good evening. We were going to have a mental health workshop that day, but have had to postpone it. We are extremely lucky that Colin could step in at short notice. May 21st. Celebrating Age This event, which we are co-sponsoring withy Oswestry Library, will run from 10am – 1pm in Oswestry Library. At the last count 20 different organisations have agreed to attend. There will also be other activities. The idea is to showcase what is available for the over 50s. This will be similar to the Health Awareness Day held last Saturday. June 16th. "Is there a role for Trade Unions Today?" Again – 7.30pm in Cabin Lane Church. Shaun Pender, Unite Community Regional Co-ordinator, West Midlands, has kindly agreed to come over to talk. He knows a tremendous amount about trade unions, and this talk should be of interest to a lot of people. . We ask for a minimum donation of £1 at the door if we are at Cabin Lane, to cover hall hire. Coffee, tea and cake are included in this cost! If anybody would like to know more, please contact me at oswestryequalitygroup@gmail.com. Alternatively, we will be at The Big Celebration at St Martins on May 14th..

Our February meeting about Oswestry Town Council was very informative and extremely well received. We would now like to invite everybody to our March meeting. Sarah Laszlo, Learner Voice Programme Co-ordinator at Derwen College, will be describing how her learners are forging new links with the wider community. This includes the Orange Wallet scheme by which they can now travel safely by train. Their award winning film about this will be shown. Learner Robin will also talk about his role on the committee of the National Union of Students, and two of their Duke of Edinburgh Gold participants will outline what they have achieved. The meeting is next Thursday, March 10th at 7.30pm in Cabin Lane Church, Oswestry. A donation of £1 at the door will be appreciated.

We may be called the Oswestry Equality Group, but we try to tackle issues that affect us all in this area. Absolutely everybody is welcome to our meetings. You will even get tea / coffee and cake thrown in. This is our new programme. PROPOSED MEETINGS – SPRING - SUMMER 2016 February 18th 7.30pm in the Council Chamber in Guildhall Mr David Preston, Clerk to Oswestry Town Council, will speak about ‘Oswestry Town Council – present and future’. March 10th 7.30pm in Cabin Lane Church Living with disability. A presentation by learners from Derwen College, together with the showing of their award winning film about the Orange Wallet scheme,by which they can travel safely by train. May 19th 7.30pm in Cabin Lane Church Mental health provision in Shropshire. A round table discussion highlighting the positives and suggesting improvements to the current provision. June 16th 7.30pm in Cabin Lane Church Shaun Pender, Unite Community Regional Co-ordinator, West Midlands, will be talking about the role of trade unions in modern day Britain. £1 minimum donation for each meeting please.

In response to what I wrote above Over the coming months people in Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin and mid Wales will have an opportunity to have their say about the way healthcare is delivered for the next 20 years. We want local people to help shape the future of those services. You can share your views and tell us where you think healthcare services should be located by attending one of our pop up stands across the region. We will be coming to Oswestry on 1 March and will be at The Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital from 10am until 2pm. Then you can find us later at Memorial Hall in Oswestry from 4pm until 8pm. If you aren’t able to make it then you might be able to attend any of the other dates below or you can follow @NHSFutureFit on Twitter or visit our website www.nhsfuturefit.co.uk

I have been asked by the FutureFit team to post this. For far too long we have been left in the dark as to what is happening over here. Over the coming months people in Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin and mid Wales will have an opportunity to have their say about the way healthcare is delivered for the next 20 years. We want local people to help shape the future of those services. You can share your views and tell us where you think healthcare services should be located by attending one of our pop up stands across the region. We will be coming to Oswestry on 1 March and will be at The Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital from 10am until 2pm. Then you can find us later at Memorial Hall in Oswestry from 4pm until 8pm. If you aren’t able to make it then you might be able to attend any of the other dates below or you can follow @NHSFutureFit on Twitter or visit our website www.nhsfuturefit.co.uk

The Oswestry Equality Group is offering people in the Oswestry area another chance to ask questions about something that will affect us all - what is happening to hospital provision in this area. Although NHS Future Fit have delayed their decision about the future of Hospital and Urgent Care in Shropshire, they are still very keen to come and tell us what the current situation is. Two very senior representatives from the NHS Future Fit team will be coming over to answer questions and address our concerns. This meeting will be next Thursday, November 19th at 7.30pm at The Centre, Oak Street, Oswestry. Admission will be £1 on the door. The kind of questions that we need to ask are: Why wasn’t a decision about the future of our hospital provision made on October 1st as promised? How much is all this costing, especially now the Shropshire CCG is under special measures due to their overspend? What exactly is an Urgent Care Centre? And will we get one if we don’t have any beds in Oswestry?'

I have had the following letters printed in The Advertizer in recent weeks: 1. It is excellent to read that the new B & M store on Salop Road has created 80 'new' jobs. BUT: How many are full time? How many are part-time? How many jobs (full and part-time) were lost when Homebase closed? It is difficult to celebrate these 80 new jobs without knowing the full facts about the previous redundancies. Published 20 / 10 / 15 2. It is some time ago that you briefly reported that Cllr Keith Barrow, Leader of Shropshire Council, was 'under investigation'. Since then, we have been told nothing. This has resulted in wild accusations and many unsubstantiated rumours. Cllr Barrow has written in the Advertizer about 'openness and transparency'. Surely now is the time to put this into practice and for him to tell us all exactly what is going on. Remember that he is Oswestry South's Shropshire Councillor. Published 27 / 10 / 15 3. Oswestry Equality Group is a non party political group which believes that everybody has the right to free speech. The following is NOT a party political question. At our meeting reported in last week’s Advertizer, one question remained unanswered. Why don’t the politics of the majority of Oswestry Town Council and our local Shropshire Councillors reflect the economic situation of this area, where we have low incomes and relatively high unemployment? Published 03/11/15 These are not rhetorical questions, and I would really value some feedback. So- what do you think about them?

We are still here and are launching a new season of events. After a very successful table-top sale at the Oswestry Charity Market last Friday, you can next catch up with us at the Community Games on Sunday September 20th, where we will be supporting local disability charities and can also tell you more about the Equality Group. Our next big public meeting will be on Thursday October 15th, when Cllr Steve Charmley, Deputy Leader of Shropshire Council, will be speaking about Shropshire's efficiencies (cuts). This will be at 7.30 pm in Memorial Hall, Oswestry. £1 admission to cover expenses please. Everybody will be very welcome. This is your chance to come and ask questions and air your views. After that, on November 19th we will have a team from NHS Futurefit coming out to tell us about the future of hospital services in Shropshire. This follows the decision on October 1st as to where the Emergency Centre will be sited and whether we will have an Urgent Care Centre here in Oswestry. This will be at 7.30pm in The Centre on Oak Street. Again, £1 admission please. This is open to absolutely everybody .

The Equality Group invite you to a meeting to find out about Shropshire Disability Network . This will be on June 18th at 7.30pm at Eastern Oswestry Community Centre, Cabin Lane, Oswestry. SY11 2LQ. Ruby Hartshorn from Shropshire Disability Network has agreed to come over to speak about their work. There are some 28,000 people with disability and / or long term illness in Shropshire and Telford and Wrekin. Shropshire Disability Network exists to provide a voice for them and their families. They have also taken over the organisation of the Safe Places Scheme which was established here in Oswestry last summer. Ruby has also been asked if she could talk about how the £12 billion of welfare cuts threatened, might affect the disabled in this county. £1 entry to cover costs please. Refreshments included. If you would like to find out more about them, their web site is: http://shropshire-disability.net/ There are also always leaflets in the entrance to Oswestry Library.

The last item posted 16 days ago has been looked at by over 70 people. That's 70+ people who are interested enough to find out what we are doing. It would be great if some of them could make it to our meetings. We have expanded our remit to include the CO area, so I'm watching what's happening at Gobowen Library. We see ourselves as a Watchdog for the Oswestry area. Please let us know how we can help on: oswestryequalitygroup@gmail.com

March 19th saw the arrival of Paul Tulley, Chief Operating Officer, Shropshire Clinical Commissioning Group, plus Sian Sansum, Senior Communications and Engagement Manager, Midlands and Lancashire Commissioning Support Unit (i.e. ‘The A Team’) at our NHS Futurefit meeting. With the aid of a Power Point presentation, Paul gave a clear explanation, without too many long words and acronyms, of the NHS Futurefit’s current thinking about the future of health care in Shropshire. This was followed by a wide-ranging question time. However, the overall impression was that we are being treated in a very similar way to the rest of Shropshire. This is despite our proximity to Wales and the number of people coming over the border to receive treatment at our Minor Injuries Unit, let alone those attending Shrewsbury Hospital. A letter to The Advertizer (March 31st), said it all when it comes to the very poor attendance. An excerpt reads: “I was ashamed at the lack of numbers attending (considering the effect this reorganization is likely to have) ...…….. Why are the people of Oswestry so complacent about what is going to happen…?” It should be noted that I wrote to every hospital, surgery, pharmacy, school, local group within a 20 mile radius, on both sides of the border. And we got 46 people….Out of a total of more than 34,000 registered with doctors at our three surgeries. However, onwards and upwards. Our next meeting will be on May 21st. Pastor Derek Hughes from Hope Church has very kindly agreed to repeat the presentation on Income Inequality that he gave to Coffee Live back in January. This draws from the Spirit Level book by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett, which explains the social and health problems associated with a society as unequal as ours. The meeting will be held in the Upstairs Room at Hope Church. This is on Laburnum Drive, Oswestry, SY11 2QR . There is plenty of parking nearby and entrance is by the gate to the right of the church. We will be supplying coffee / tea and cake as usual, but there won’t be a raffle. Hope Church has been helping to build a shelter for children in Montenegro so that they may receive literacy classes. Derek, his family and a group of helpers have just returned from there and I have asked him to tell you a little about their work there. Instead of charging for hall hire, I would appreciate it if we could all make a generous donation to further the church’s work in Montenegro.

So - the BIG meeting this Thursday, March 19th NHS Futurefit presentation and Question Time. The Main Hall at The Marches School, Morda Road, Oswestry. SY11 2AY 7.30pm £1 admission to cover the hire of the hall. This is YOUR chance to ask YOUR questions and share YOUR concerns

To find out more about this: The Oswestry Equality Group would like to invite you to a presentation by the NHS Future Fit team, followed by the opportunity to ask them questions about the future of Health Care in this area. This will be at 7.30 pm on Thursday March 19th in the Main Hall at The Marches School, Morda Road, Oswestry, SY11 2AY £1 admission at the door to cover hall hire. This is YOUR chance to ask YOUR questions and tell them what YOU think.

Lots of planning later, we have come up with an interesting Spring Programme. March 5th – Fair Trade. How fair is it? A chance to find out more and ask questions. 7.30 pm in St Oswald’s Church Parish Rooms. £1 admission to cover hall hire. March 19th – Future Fit. What exactly is planned for the NHS in this area? A team from Future Fit will come and explain everything in an interactive session without too many long words. We can then give OUR views and ask OUR questions. 7.30 pm in The Main Hall at The Marches School. £1 admission to cover hall hire *April 28th – Pre-election hustings. In collaboration with Churches Together in Oswestry District, this is your chance to put questions to our Prospective Parliamentary Candidates *May 21st – Income Inequality. Led by Derek Hughes from Hope Church, this will explain how income inequality affects everybody’s lives *June 18th – Shropshire Disability Network. Ruby Hartshorn will come and speak about everything that this sign-posting group does all over Shropshire, including Safe Places here in Oswestry * Venues to be announced PLEASE TRY TO SUPPORT US. We may be called the 'Oswestry Equality Group', but we are here for everybody in the wider area.

We have been told today that Cllr Martin Bennett has resigned for personal reasons. However the means by which his replacements are to be elected, both for Shropshire Council and Oswestry Town Council, raise some questions. The notices of election for these posts were issued by the Returning Officer today,Thursday, January 8th, Nominations must be delivered to Shirehall by 4pm next Friday (January 16th). This is only nine days after the original notice. Surely one must ask how interested people might have a chance to stand for election. Anybody finding out about these vacancies are going to be very hard pressed to obtain nomination papers from Shirehall, get them completed and then returned in only a few days. This does not seem to give people living in Oswestry a fair and equal opportunity to represent their neighbourhood. Is such a short time frame the norm?

Day Care meeting on December 4th This must have been one of our best meetings. Not only did we have a record crowd of 30 (brilliant for Oswestry!), but a lot of people have been talking about it since. So what happened? Gavin Bayliss, Day Services Manager and Ruth Houghton, Head of Social Care, Efficiency and Improvements were joined by Frieda Parry who is Locality Organiser and responsible for Day Care in Oswestry and Ellesmere. We started the evening with an outline of the background, reminding the audience that at our very first meeting last September, Adrian Johnson had promised that the decision on the closure and relocation of the users from Lorne Street Day Centre and Avalon Day Centre would be publicised in October – 2013… That is why we had this meeting – so that what had happened could be published. This is that Lorne Street is no longer being used, Avalon has been re-furbished and the users assessed and those most eligible moved there. Ruth outlined the use of Personal Budgets and there was a consideration of the Tender Notice for Avalon and commissioning procedure. The closing date for this has now passed and tenders are being considered. The final decision will be based on the quality and price of the service offered according to a complex formula. However, two main areas of concern soon appeared. Firstly, the daily activities of the users at Avalon were questioned. While there are small groups who weekly go gardening or walking or use The Venue at Park Hall, a large percentage remain at Avalon all day. Frieda described these as being “quite happy to sit and chat”. For 8 hours a day?? Input from Derwen pointed out that this was insufficient and that these people need mental stimulation. Secondly, the initial consultation held last year was questioned by a number of the carers present. These people felt that they weren’t properly consulted and that asking the users themselves would not always result in objective replies. It also transpired that there are monthly meetings to discuss activities at Avalon. We had three Town Councillors and one County Councillor present, and none of them knew anything about these. Surely a lot more communication is needed.