Category Archives: Carers

Sir Michael Parkinson: the shock of cancer is worse for the other person

March 16, 2014   Cancer, Carers, health

Sir Michael Parkinson tells Mark Nicholas how his battle has strengthened his marriage and family

Michael Parkinson and his wife Mary

Constant companion: Sir Michael Parkinson and Lady Mary, his wife of 54 years. Her devotion after his diagnosis shows ‘what a marriage or partnership is all about’  Photo: REX FEATURES

By Mark Nicholas

6:32PM GMT 15 Mar 2014

May 27 2009, Rome. It is a hot day and thousands of tourists flow in and out of the Colosseum. Many are dressed in red shirts, the colours of Manchester United. Others are in scarlet-and-blue stripes, the colours of FC Barcelona. Today, Rome hosts the final of the Champions League, Europe’s greatest sporting prize.

From the west side of the Colosseum, taking the short walk towards the Forum entrance are two familiar figures from the golden age of television, Sir David Frost and Sir Michael Parkinson. At first, the vast tribes are a concern to men past their 70th birthday, until those in the red shirts – hundreds, maybe thousands of them – stop, stare and begin to part as if Moses had demanded it.

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Preparing for life after the Independent Living Fund

March 14, 2014   Carers, Social care, ukcuts

The Independent Living Fund is for the chop but what will its demise mean for the disabled people who relied on its help?

By on March 14, 2014

The battle to save the Independent Living Fund is over.

A few months ago it looked as if there was a chance for a last-minute reprieve for the ILF, which helps severely disabled people live independently by providing cash to top-up their social care support.

In November, the Court of Appeal torpedoed the government’s original plan to shut the fund when it ruled the Department for Work and Pensions had failed to fulfil its duty to promote equality when making the decision.

But last week disability minister Mike Penning announced that, following a new equality impact assessment of the plan, the government is going to press ahead with closing the fund.

The only concession was that the fund will now shut in June, rather than March, 2015. After that the responsibility for supporting ILF users will fall to English local authorities and the devolved administrations of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The decision was a blow for campaigners and one that many recipients of the fund fear.

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Delight for campaigners after former Norwich day centre saved for community

March 14, 2014   Carers, Older care, ukcuts

Campaigners celebrate winning their campaign to turn the Silver Rooms into a community centre.

Picture: Denise Bradley

Friday, March 14, 2014
6:53 AM

Campaigners celebrate winning their campaign to turn the Silver Rooms into a community centre. Picture: Denise Bradley Campaigners have won their fight to turn a former Norwich day centre into a community centre, after a long-running battle stretching back for years.

And they have a simple message for the community – now the Silver Rooms have been saved, it is up to the community to make a success of it.

The building, off Silver Road in the north of the city, has been empty since Norfolk County Council decided to stop providing day services for elderly people there as part of a shake-up in social care.

A group of older people used to meet in the centre and an initial fight, backed by a Norwich Evening News campaign, focused on saving it for that purpose.

When it became clear the older people would be moved to other venues in the city, in March 2011, the campaigners switched to trying to safeguard the building for use by the local community.

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