By Harriet Steele, Community Fundraising Officer
Working on the Big Tea has made me think a lot more about the morning cuppa which I usually take for granted. How can some leaves in a bag fill me with such joy as I start the day?
As my interest in all things tea has grown, I took a friend along for her birthday to a recent tea-tasting workshop at Petersham Nurseries in Richmond.
Set in one of the many greenhouses, tables were laid out ready, with a tea bowl, tasting notes sheet and plates full of cake - which we resisted for as long as possible as it affects the tasting palate!
Jennifer Wood of the award winning Canton Tea Company (www.cantonteaco.com) introduced all the teas we tasted varying from the subtle flavours of the white teas to the more robust flavours of the Oolong teas. She divulged the truths and myths of tea and explained the tea production methods as well as to how to brew the perfect cup! Tea drinking will definitely never be the same again!
Jennifer has very kindly offered to support Independent Age and the Big Tea by running a tea-tasting workshop. If you like tea and would like to know more about this English tradition come along and sample a range of quality teas and learn about the production methods involved.
Date: 8 October 2011
Time:11am
Location: Petersham Nurseries, Church Lane, Off Petersham Road, Richmond, Surrey,TW10 7AG
Tickets: £10 for the talk and tea tasting or £25 to include a light lunch after the workshop
To book please contact Orla at Petersham Nurseries on 020 8605 3627 or email. info@petershamnurseries.com
For more information about Independent Age contact Harriet at or call 020 7605 4288.
Monday, 12 September 2011
Friday, 9 September 2011
Good week/bad week
By Rebecca Law, Media and PR officer
This was a bad week for Wilf Cooper of Lockleaze in Bristol after his wife finally got wind of his double life. Contrary to what you may be thinking, this 90-year-old was not guilty of indulging in illicit trysts, gambling or drinking but of sneaking out and secretly running half marathons.
Wilf had already successfully completed six events behind his wife’s back – who believed Wilf to be watching the races from the sidelines - before being caught out by a neighbour who spotted him on TV. “He was in the doghouse that day,” says Mrs Cooper in an interview in the Daily Mail.
Despite his wife’s concern, the 90-year-old, who suffered a heart attack 20 years ago, is planning a swan song: he’ll be running one last time to raise money for St Peter’s Hospice.
As well as keeping himself super fit, Wilf clearly enjoys flexing his social media muscles too. He has his own JustGiving page here. If you’d like to see the full story, read it here.
This was a good week for Britons with a mortgage as record low interest rates mean that mortgage borrowers have shaved £51 billion off their payments since the bank rate hit 0.5% two and a half years ago. That is, of course, really positive news for many, since we’re all feeling the strain in the current economic climate, but it is, sadly, the silver lining of a rather grey cloud.
Those same low interest rates mean that savers – who outweigh the number of borrowers - are estimated to have lost out on £43billion in interest earnings in the same period. Pensioners, in particular, many of whom have paid off their mortgages – so don’t see the benefits that borrowers do - are reliant on the interest from their savings to live.
While borrowers celebrate their gain, pensioners are seeing their spending power slashed, especially when combined with high inflation rates (CPI rose to 4.4% in July). It’s a double whammy for pensioners who get the rawest deal with price rises since they typically spend more on things like electricity and fuel, which have seen eye-watering price hikes this year. You can read more about this here.
This was a bad week for Wilf Cooper of Lockleaze in Bristol after his wife finally got wind of his double life. Contrary to what you may be thinking, this 90-year-old was not guilty of indulging in illicit trysts, gambling or drinking but of sneaking out and secretly running half marathons.
Wilf had already successfully completed six events behind his wife’s back – who believed Wilf to be watching the races from the sidelines - before being caught out by a neighbour who spotted him on TV. “He was in the doghouse that day,” says Mrs Cooper in an interview in the Daily Mail.
Despite his wife’s concern, the 90-year-old, who suffered a heart attack 20 years ago, is planning a swan song: he’ll be running one last time to raise money for St Peter’s Hospice.
As well as keeping himself super fit, Wilf clearly enjoys flexing his social media muscles too. He has his own JustGiving page here. If you’d like to see the full story, read it here.
This was a good week for Britons with a mortgage as record low interest rates mean that mortgage borrowers have shaved £51 billion off their payments since the bank rate hit 0.5% two and a half years ago. That is, of course, really positive news for many, since we’re all feeling the strain in the current economic climate, but it is, sadly, the silver lining of a rather grey cloud.
Those same low interest rates mean that savers – who outweigh the number of borrowers - are estimated to have lost out on £43billion in interest earnings in the same period. Pensioners, in particular, many of whom have paid off their mortgages – so don’t see the benefits that borrowers do - are reliant on the interest from their savings to live.
While borrowers celebrate their gain, pensioners are seeing their spending power slashed, especially when combined with high inflation rates (CPI rose to 4.4% in July). It’s a double whammy for pensioners who get the rawest deal with price rises since they typically spend more on things like electricity and fuel, which have seen eye-watering price hikes this year. You can read more about this here.
Friday, 2 September 2011
Good week/bad week
Have this week’s events brought good news or bad for older people?
By Rebecca Law, Media and PR officer
This was a bad week for pensioners living on a fixed income as figures published by Prudential revealed that inflation cuts the real value of their funds by 60%. We have commented before on how pensioners are hit hardest by inflation, which is higher for food and fuel.
Older people need to keep their room temperatures higher than younger people to stay healthy and are also, perhaps because of problems with mobility, likely to spend a lot more time indoors, pushing the proportion of their income they spend on these up even further. In effect, this means, according to research by Age UK, that while average annual inflation recorded by the Retail Prices Index has been 3.1% a year since January 2008, pensioners have suffered annual inflation of 4.6%.
The figures lay bare the potential crisis we have on our hands since someone retiring this year on an annual income of £16,600, would find the same figure to be worth only £6,700 in 20 years time. You can read more about this in this Daily Express piece.
Still, this was at least a good week for James Bond, Jay Kay, Paris Hilton and anyone else with a soft spot for a stylish motor. Now, as you get older, you’ll no longer have to worry about trading style for practicality as 38-year-old engineer, Andrew Wylie, has created a range of mobility scooters modelled on some of our most iconic vehicles. Scooters which look like a Jeep and a classic Land Rover are apparently already on sale and “The Harley Davidson, particularly, is causing quite a stir”. At 8mph, the scooters, obviously, don’t have the speed of their full-size counterparts but does mean they’re ideal, as Wylie claims, “if you’re looking for a disability vehicle ...[that you] don’t need a licence to ride”. Check out this article in the Daily Mail to take a look.
By Rebecca Law, Media and PR officer
This was a bad week for pensioners living on a fixed income as figures published by Prudential revealed that inflation cuts the real value of their funds by 60%. We have commented before on how pensioners are hit hardest by inflation, which is higher for food and fuel.
Older people need to keep their room temperatures higher than younger people to stay healthy and are also, perhaps because of problems with mobility, likely to spend a lot more time indoors, pushing the proportion of their income they spend on these up even further. In effect, this means, according to research by Age UK, that while average annual inflation recorded by the Retail Prices Index has been 3.1% a year since January 2008, pensioners have suffered annual inflation of 4.6%.
The figures lay bare the potential crisis we have on our hands since someone retiring this year on an annual income of £16,600, would find the same figure to be worth only £6,700 in 20 years time. You can read more about this in this Daily Express piece.
Still, this was at least a good week for James Bond, Jay Kay, Paris Hilton and anyone else with a soft spot for a stylish motor. Now, as you get older, you’ll no longer have to worry about trading style for practicality as 38-year-old engineer, Andrew Wylie, has created a range of mobility scooters modelled on some of our most iconic vehicles. Scooters which look like a Jeep and a classic Land Rover are apparently already on sale and “The Harley Davidson, particularly, is causing quite a stir”. At 8mph, the scooters, obviously, don’t have the speed of their full-size counterparts but does mean they’re ideal, as Wylie claims, “if you’re looking for a disability vehicle ...[that you] don’t need a licence to ride”. Check out this article in the Daily Mail to take a look.
Friday, 26 August 2011
Good week/bad week
Have this week’s events brought good news or bad for older people?
By Rebecca Law, Media and PR officer
It was a bad week for hospitals as the Patients Association revealed that two out of three patients are not being checked for signs of malnutrition. We were really disappointed at the news, which comes just months after the CQC had found evidence of neglect amongst older hospital patients, with them being overlooked, left thirsty and not given the assistance they need to eat.
We all know that food and water are the basics of care and are vital to rest and recuperation, yet somehow they are still going amiss in our NHS. Staff need to engage properly with their patients to ensure they are being properly looked after – individuals have individual problems and conditions like arthritis or problems with sight can make things like eating and pouring a drink much more difficult for some older people. If staff don’t pay enough attention to the needs of their patients, these things can fall under the radar, leaving older people – and others –entering a downward spiral towards malnutrition and further ill health.
According to Age UK, malnourished patients stay an average of 5-10 days longer in hospital, so overlooking these basic checks is not just damaging to the patients, it does us all a disservice - it’ll be the collective whole who finds ourselves footing the bill further down the line.
This is a good week for over sixties with a problem weighing on their mind. New research from the University of Texas has shown that 'wisdom really does come with age'. According to an article which ran in the Daily Telegraph this week, previous studies, which suggest decision-making ability declines with age, were 'biased against older brains'. The new findings show that younger people veer towards making choices that lead to immediate rewards, while older people tend to take a more measured, strategic approach to decision-making which takes the longer-term into account.
By Rebecca Law, Media and PR officer
It was a bad week for hospitals as the Patients Association revealed that two out of three patients are not being checked for signs of malnutrition. We were really disappointed at the news, which comes just months after the CQC had found evidence of neglect amongst older hospital patients, with them being overlooked, left thirsty and not given the assistance they need to eat.
We all know that food and water are the basics of care and are vital to rest and recuperation, yet somehow they are still going amiss in our NHS. Staff need to engage properly with their patients to ensure they are being properly looked after – individuals have individual problems and conditions like arthritis or problems with sight can make things like eating and pouring a drink much more difficult for some older people. If staff don’t pay enough attention to the needs of their patients, these things can fall under the radar, leaving older people – and others –entering a downward spiral towards malnutrition and further ill health.
According to Age UK, malnourished patients stay an average of 5-10 days longer in hospital, so overlooking these basic checks is not just damaging to the patients, it does us all a disservice - it’ll be the collective whole who finds ourselves footing the bill further down the line.
This is a good week for over sixties with a problem weighing on their mind. New research from the University of Texas has shown that 'wisdom really does come with age'. According to an article which ran in the Daily Telegraph this week, previous studies, which suggest decision-making ability declines with age, were 'biased against older brains'. The new findings show that younger people veer towards making choices that lead to immediate rewards, while older people tend to take a more measured, strategic approach to decision-making which takes the longer-term into account.
Friday, 19 August 2011
Good week/bad week
Have this week’s events brought good news or bad for older people?
By Rebecca Law, Media and PR officer
Bad week: It looks like it’s a case of hard cheese for those looking forward to a bacon sandwich at the weekend. The cost of living in Britain was laid bare this week with the consumer price index showing staggering price increases compared with this time last year. With the price of flour up 40%, butter up 12.9% and back bacon up 9.2%, it looks like our porcine weekend treat might just be enough to break the piggy bank.
The sharp increases in not just food, but clothes, transport and energy bills caused the CPI to increase to 4.4% this July. We’ll all feel the effects of these price rises, but it’s older people, who typically find themselves living on either fixed or declining incomes, who will be hardest hit.
According to an article in The Telegraph this week, those aged between 65 and 74 are most exposed to petrol, electricity and food price rises, while those of 75 and over will suffer most once the new double-digit energy price hikes come into effect later this month.
This was however a good week for Scotland’s oldest woman, Janet Roberts, who marked her 110th birthday. Janet is the granddaughter of William Grant, the creator of Glenfiddich, making her the matriarch of the Scottish whisky industry, and meaning that she quite literally has whisky in the blood.
Could Janet be living proof that a little tipple does us no harm? Perhaps, but Janet, who, determined to prove herself in a typically male-dominated society by studying at two universities and persuing a legal career, attributes her longevity to “hard work and moderation” - perhaps not quite the response that some might have been hoping for. If you would like to learn more about Janet’s history, here’s the full article .
By Rebecca Law, Media and PR officer
Bad week: It looks like it’s a case of hard cheese for those looking forward to a bacon sandwich at the weekend. The cost of living in Britain was laid bare this week with the consumer price index showing staggering price increases compared with this time last year. With the price of flour up 40%, butter up 12.9% and back bacon up 9.2%, it looks like our porcine weekend treat might just be enough to break the piggy bank.
The sharp increases in not just food, but clothes, transport and energy bills caused the CPI to increase to 4.4% this July. We’ll all feel the effects of these price rises, but it’s older people, who typically find themselves living on either fixed or declining incomes, who will be hardest hit.
According to an article in The Telegraph this week, those aged between 65 and 74 are most exposed to petrol, electricity and food price rises, while those of 75 and over will suffer most once the new double-digit energy price hikes come into effect later this month.
This was however a good week for Scotland’s oldest woman, Janet Roberts, who marked her 110th birthday. Janet is the granddaughter of William Grant, the creator of Glenfiddich, making her the matriarch of the Scottish whisky industry, and meaning that she quite literally has whisky in the blood.
Could Janet be living proof that a little tipple does us no harm? Perhaps, but Janet, who, determined to prove herself in a typically male-dominated society by studying at two universities and persuing a legal career, attributes her longevity to “hard work and moderation” - perhaps not quite the response that some might have been hoping for. If you would like to learn more about Janet’s history, here’s the full article .
Friday, 12 August 2011
Good week/bad week
Have this week’s events brought good news or bad for older people?
Director of Policy, Simon Bottery, is dismayed by the riots that swept the country this week; Media and PR officer, Rebecca Law, counts just how many happy returns we may be in store for.
This was a bad week for, well, just about anyone who lives in one of our major cities. The rioting and looting seen in London, Manchester and elsewhere caused despair to those directly and indirectly affected. In Tottenham 89-year-old Aaron Biber saw the barbershop that he'd run for 41 years totally destroyed. Well wishers have since raised £5000 to help him back into business.
As the week progressed it turned into a bad week for some of the rioters too. Swift arrests and sentences saw many, including care workers and teaching assistants, facing the consequences of their actions. In Manchester, 30-year-old Daniel Bell pleaded guilty to stealing a Macmillan Cancer Relief collecting tin from a looted branch of Maplin, an act the judge described as 'the most despicable and contemptible I have had to deal with all day'.
Despite the gloom, anger and fear, there was some good news to be found: this was a good week for youngsters who have a penchant for birthday parties as the Department for Work and Pensions released figures highlighting that one in three girls and one in four boys born today will live to 100.
Still, the good news does bring with it more than just the issue of how to fit 100 candles on the birthday cake: Gordon Burns would have a field day with that little Krypton Factor challenge (a joke there, for those of us who are a slightly further along on our journey to 100).
I don’t mean to rain on the parade but there are some out there who have gone so far as to describe the news as a “time bomb”. It does of course bring with it issues about how we are going to support an ageing population given the current budget deficit and an already pending pensions crisis. Certainly, Andrew Dilnot’s suggestions in his report of 4 July this year already go some way in offering sensible solutions to the future funding of long-term care; so long as the Coalition is prepared to take heed – and action.
Just for a moment though, can’t we do away with the pessimism and just embrace the fact that those born today are over 40 times more likely to turn 100 than those born a century ago? Yes, we’ll need to look at how to ensure that people are not just reaching old age, but a good old age. But just think of the difference the news would have made to those only three generations before us, who counted themselves lucky to reach their fiftieth.
Director of Policy, Simon Bottery, is dismayed by the riots that swept the country this week; Media and PR officer, Rebecca Law, counts just how many happy returns we may be in store for.
This was a bad week for, well, just about anyone who lives in one of our major cities. The rioting and looting seen in London, Manchester and elsewhere caused despair to those directly and indirectly affected. In Tottenham 89-year-old Aaron Biber saw the barbershop that he'd run for 41 years totally destroyed. Well wishers have since raised £5000 to help him back into business.
As the week progressed it turned into a bad week for some of the rioters too. Swift arrests and sentences saw many, including care workers and teaching assistants, facing the consequences of their actions. In Manchester, 30-year-old Daniel Bell pleaded guilty to stealing a Macmillan Cancer Relief collecting tin from a looted branch of Maplin, an act the judge described as 'the most despicable and contemptible I have had to deal with all day'.
Despite the gloom, anger and fear, there was some good news to be found: this was a good week for youngsters who have a penchant for birthday parties as the Department for Work and Pensions released figures highlighting that one in three girls and one in four boys born today will live to 100.
Still, the good news does bring with it more than just the issue of how to fit 100 candles on the birthday cake: Gordon Burns would have a field day with that little Krypton Factor challenge (a joke there, for those of us who are a slightly further along on our journey to 100).
I don’t mean to rain on the parade but there are some out there who have gone so far as to describe the news as a “time bomb”. It does of course bring with it issues about how we are going to support an ageing population given the current budget deficit and an already pending pensions crisis. Certainly, Andrew Dilnot’s suggestions in his report of 4 July this year already go some way in offering sensible solutions to the future funding of long-term care; so long as the Coalition is prepared to take heed – and action.
Just for a moment though, can’t we do away with the pessimism and just embrace the fact that those born today are over 40 times more likely to turn 100 than those born a century ago? Yes, we’ll need to look at how to ensure that people are not just reaching old age, but a good old age. But just think of the difference the news would have made to those only three generations before us, who counted themselves lucky to reach their fiftieth.
Friday, 5 August 2011
Good week/bad week
Have this week’s events brought good news or bad for older people?
By Rebecca Law, Media and PR Officer
This was a bad week in the bus world according to an update from the Campaign for Better Transport. Tens of thousands of pensioners could be left without transport as 72% of local authorities target buses as a means of making savings. The cuts mean that hundreds of routes are being axed and the number of services slashed.
The news will be a real blow for thousands of older people, who, without their own transport are reliant on the bus network. It’s particularly bad news for those in rural areas where links are already poor. Access to public transport allows older people to continue leading active lives and to stay linked with their local community, when they might otherwise struggle to get out and about. While we accept that councils have to save money, we believe, with moves like this, they are targeting the wrong things. Cutting bus routes would have the worst impact on those who need them most and will simply leave a greater number of older people cut off.
National and local government needs to be much more joined up. It makes no sense for central government to require councils to give all pensioners a free bus pass, while at the same time allowing them to withdraw subsidies from the very routes that the most isolated older people will be using.
It’s a good week for all the 90-year olds out there who happen to have adopted a Stone Age diet since their thirties. According to Michael Rose, a professor of evolutionary biology, you can halt the ageing process for the next few years and enter a stage of “coasting” where the body won’t face any new problems beyond those already present. Sounds good – if a little like a Gulliver’s Travels narrative plot. But other experts remain sceptical claiming that “Professor Rose [has] dismissed solid evidence into the causes of ageing...it is misleading to hold out the hope that something remarkable happens to arrest ageing very late in life...” So, perhaps for now, the jury’s out, but, as they say, the proof is in the pudding, so for those who would like to give it a go for themselves, the full article is here: http://t.co/xposrzW
By Rebecca Law, Media and PR Officer
This was a bad week in the bus world according to an update from the Campaign for Better Transport. Tens of thousands of pensioners could be left without transport as 72% of local authorities target buses as a means of making savings. The cuts mean that hundreds of routes are being axed and the number of services slashed.
The news will be a real blow for thousands of older people, who, without their own transport are reliant on the bus network. It’s particularly bad news for those in rural areas where links are already poor. Access to public transport allows older people to continue leading active lives and to stay linked with their local community, when they might otherwise struggle to get out and about. While we accept that councils have to save money, we believe, with moves like this, they are targeting the wrong things. Cutting bus routes would have the worst impact on those who need them most and will simply leave a greater number of older people cut off.
National and local government needs to be much more joined up. It makes no sense for central government to require councils to give all pensioners a free bus pass, while at the same time allowing them to withdraw subsidies from the very routes that the most isolated older people will be using.
It’s a good week for all the 90-year olds out there who happen to have adopted a Stone Age diet since their thirties. According to Michael Rose, a professor of evolutionary biology, you can halt the ageing process for the next few years and enter a stage of “coasting” where the body won’t face any new problems beyond those already present. Sounds good – if a little like a Gulliver’s Travels narrative plot. But other experts remain sceptical claiming that “Professor Rose [has] dismissed solid evidence into the causes of ageing...it is misleading to hold out the hope that something remarkable happens to arrest ageing very late in life...” So, perhaps for now, the jury’s out, but, as they say, the proof is in the pudding, so for those who would like to give it a go for themselves, the full article is here: http://t.co/xposrzW
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
