ByEditor
December Group Meetings
Balham Day Group Meeting
Tuesday 6th Dec 2017, 10-11:30am, followed by a drop-in service until 1pm
Balham Library, 16 Ramsden Road, London SW12 8QY
Our December Balham meeting will be Christmas tea party and chatting – hope to see you there!
Reminder: there will be NO Balham meeting in January
Wimbledon Group Meeting
Tuesday 6th Dec 2017, 7:30-9pm
Drake House, St Georges Road, Wimbledon, SW19 4ED
Our next meeting in Wimbledon will be on 6 Dec and will be slightly shorter than usual, finishing at 8.30pm. It will be a Christmas themed meeting and an opportunity to make some Christmas cards whilst listening to festive music and enjoying mince pies. Hope to see many of you there!
Croydon Group Meeting
There will be no Croydon meeting in December – see you in January!
Richmond Group Meeting
There will be no Richmond meeting in December – see you in January!
ByEditor
November Group Meetings
Balham Day Group Meeting
Tuesday 1st Nov, 10-11:30am, followed by a drop-in service until 1pm
Balham Library, 16 Ramsden Road, London SW12 8QY
November’s day group meeting will be all about emotional changes after a brain injury. Please come along and share your thoughts and experiences.
Wimbledon Group Meeting
Tuesday 8th Nov, 7:30-9pm
Drake House, St Georges Road, Wimbledon, SW19 4ED
At November’s Wimbledon meeting we will be having a social games evening so if you have a favourite board game please bring it all along. Hope to see many of you there!
Croydon Group Meeting
Wednesday 16th Nov, 7:30-9pm
Harris Academy Purley, Kendra Hall Road, South Croydon CR2 6DT
At the Croydon group in November, we will be holding a quiz night with prizes. Come along and show off your general knowledge and learn some new facts!
Richmond Group Meeting
Thursday 24th Nov, 7:30-9pm
Moore Blatch Solicitors, 2 The Green, Richmond, London TW9 1PL
Bring a Christmas foodie treat and celebrate with our Richmond group members. There will be no Richmond group in December so let’s start the Christmas celebrations early!
ByEditor
October Group Meetings
Balham Day Group Meeting
Tuesday 4th October, 10-11:30am, followed by a drop-in service until 1pm
Balham Library, 16 Ramsden Road, London SW12 8QY
As not many people could make the July meeting, we will be rolling this topic over. Next week will be all about understanding stress, so we will be talking about the signs, symptoms and causes of stress, as well as ways of coping. Hope to see you there!
Wimbledon Group Meeting
Tuesday 11th October, 7:30-9pm
Drake House, St Georges Road, Wimbledon, SW19 4ED
In October’s Wimbledon meeting we will talk about memory and the strategies that can be used both at home and at work. We hope to see many of you there!
Croydon Group Meeting
Wednesday 19th October, 7:30-9pm
Harris Academy Purley, Kendra Hall Road, South Croydon CR2 6DT
In our October group we will explore the effect of common behaviours and how they can impact on relationships with friends, family and partners.
Richmond Group Meeting
Thursday 27th October, 7:30-9pm
Moore Blatch Solicitors, 2 The Green, Richmond, London TW9 1PL
What is rehabilitation? Who are the professionals? What are the local services and what are the member’s experiences of these? How do we decide our rehabilitation goals – who do we trust? How long do we rehabilitate for? ……….
Come along and bring your thoughts and experiences of rehabilitation you received following your brain injury.
ByEditor
Follow-up from September Richmond Meeting
Our Speaker, Jo Anderson, has sent the following useful information following questions that came up at the September Richmond meeting:
1. Freedom Pass
The definition of “disability” under the Transport Act 2000 are listed below. You will note that the last category relates to those who are unable to drive due to a disability. However, the previous category also relates to cognitive impairment. I would think that many of your members would be able to argue for one or both of these categories, and therefore that being able to drive should not necessarily mean that you would lose you Freedom Pass.
- People who are blind or partially sighted
- People who are profoundly or severely deaf
- People without speech
- People who have a disability, or have suffered an injury, which has left them with a substantial and long-term adverse effect on their ability to walk
- People who do not have arms or have a long-term loss of the use of both arms
- People who have a learning disability that is defined as ‘a state of arrested or incomplete development of mind which includes significant impairment of intelligence and social functioning’
- People who, if they applied for the grant of a licence to drive a motor vehicle under Part III of the Road Traffic Act 1988, would have their application refused pursuant to section 92 of the Act (physical fitness) otherwise than on the ground of persistent misuse of drugs or alcohol.
2. Claiming PIP
Set out below is the link to the Citizen’s Advice Service website and the page relating to claiming PIP. This gives the telephone number to call to start your claim and a list of the information that you need to have with you before you make the phone call. If you have a root around this part of the website you will find lots of other helpful info regarding PIP.
3. Working Tax Credits
I meant to let everyone know at the end of the session what the income limits were for Working Tax Credits. You can earn up to £13,000 as a single person and £18,000 as a couple and claim Working Tax Credits.
4. Turn2Us
I don’t know if anyone took any of the leaflets that I left yesterday. You will remember that I mentioned that the charity Turn2Us have a great website with a “benefits calculator” tool. I have attached the link below. I recommend entering your details in to this. It is very easy to use and the results may be surprising. If you are entitled to benefits, you really should be claiming them!