Tag Archives: carersweek

Almost half of carers made ill by money worries

Almost half of people who look after sick or disabled loved ones have themselves fallen ill because of money worries, a survey shows.

By , Social Affairs Editor

7:00AM GMT 02 Dec 2011

Carers said they had lost earnings because of their responsibilities but at the same time 45 per cent said they had run out of money because of extra costs for medicines, transport and specialist equipment.

Many carers said they had cut back on essentials such as food and heating just to make ends meet while almost a third were living on their bank overdrafts.

Touchingly they became carers for one another

They were Shropshire childhood sweethearts

Tuesday 19th July 2011, 10:05AM BST.

For more than 70 years, childhood sweethearts Allen Clifford and his wife Rita were inseparable. Not even Allen being captured as a prisoner of war could keep them apart.

“Rita and I met as 16-year-olds at a church youth club before World War Two,” says Allen, now aged 88, from Telford.

“I was shot down over Germany and interned as a PoW. I subsequently escaped and Rita and I got engaged in 1945 and married in 1946.”

The couple raised a son and lived and worked all over England; Rita as a civil servant and primary teacher, Allen as a lecturer and later an education inspector.

Carers Week round-up

Carers Week round-up

How social media is connecting carers


“Sandwich” carers John and Jean Pearson talk about their responsibilities

An estimated 6m people in the UK are carers – giving their own time to help support a friend or relative with a disability, illness or condition.