Richard Morrison and John Reid attended the afternoon meeting, Please click here for the full report.

After reading the report if you have any question or you would like to give us your views please email enquiries@limbless-association.org or call us on 0800 644 0185 and ask for Richard.

If you are a recent amputee (resulting from diabetes), would you be willing to be interviewed for a piece on the 6 o’clock or 10 o’clock national news about your experiences of amputation?  To reflect the regional variation noted above, the BBC is specifically looking for people in the Portsmouth, Hull or Darlington areas.

If you feel that you would be willing to be interviewed for a news item to be aired later this week, please contact the office on 01245 216670 or contact Dave at dave@limbess-association.org and we will put you in touch with the BBC.

This meeting provides the opportunity for amputees (serving, veterans and non-military alike), their families or carers, plus all other stakeholders with an interest in this field, to express their views on what any new service for England should look like. Moving forward, any new model arising from the recommendations of the report must help to improve services for the wider NHS.  As a result, this meeting provides a great chance to influence that thinking.

The Department of Health will conduct the meeting in an open atmosphere with a desire to hear all points of view. With this in mind, you are encouraged to attend this meeting.

There will be 2 parts to the event.  Firstly; an Amputee & Families Focus Group, and secondly; a meeting of the External Reference Group (ERG), chaired by the General Secretary of BLESMA which consists of other stakeholders – e.g. NHS professionals, relevant service and civilian charities, welfare organisations and provider representatives.

Details

The meeting takes place on Monday 20 February 2012 at:

Venue:

Union Jack Club (next to Waterloo Railway Station),

Address:

Sandell Street

London

SE1 8UJ

020 7902 6000

Agenda

1000-1200 Amputee Focus Group

1300-1600 External Reference Group

A light buffet lunch will be available from 1200 until 1300.

Parking

Parking can be found either at the Club (limited bays, pre-booking required) or there is an APCOA car park with disabled bays around the corner, in Cornwall Street.

http://www.ujclub.co.uk/

http://www.apcoa.co.uk/carparks/cornwall-road

For further details and to attend, please contact the Project Manager on 01249 468228 or email him at richard.seymour@awp.nhs.uk.

If you cannot attend, please ask for a feedback sheet as your views are important.

With our interactive website, we are able to offer a wide variety of services from, tournaments, independent golfing breaks, handicapping, the ordering of any specialist equipment, special discounts, greater inclusiveness and less frustration when booking tee times.

The Disabled Golf Society will organise and play tournaments throughout the year in England, on courses that have been pre-vetted and can accommodate the special needs of our members. In addition to 9 and 18 hole tournaments, we will also organise Par 3, Pitch and Putt and 3 club competitions. All competitions will be uploaded to the website and will provide information about the tournament, the course and costs. There will be high tech augmentations for some disabilities and with a common sense approach most players will be able to offer there own “home built” aids. We want to offer for all of our competitions the “golf buddy” service.

The Disabled Golf Society is here to help with the promotion of disabled golf throughout England and to provide a more enjoyable experience.

Information

For news on events taking part in your area and for more information, please go to www.disabledgolfsociety.com or call Graeme Robertson on 07932 061680 or email:robertson1963@hotmail.co.uk

Emma Burstall writes: I’m writing a piece for Candis – the monthly women’s glossy magazine – about women’s body image, and wondered if you could help?

Candis is a monthly national magazine with a circulation just under 240,000, making it the seventh most popular women’s magazine in the UK. However, unlike other magazines we donate a percentage of our subscription revenue to The Charities Aid Foundation via Gift Aid. Since launching in 1962, we have donated over £54 million to various charities like Children’s Hospices UK, Marie Curie Cancer Care, The Eve Appeal and Mind as well as numerous local community projects.

The piece will feature three women who don’t fit in with society’s idea of conventional beauty but who, nevertheless are happy in their own skin.

I am looking for a woman aged 35 to 55 who has lost a limb and would be willing to talk about what type of relationship she has with her body, how she’s arrived at this level of confidence, was she born with confidence or has she had to work at it? Has she faced any prejudice and how has she overcome it, who or what has helped her along the way? Perhaps she’s had great role models or supporters. It’s a positive, sensitive piece and I will be interviewing two others as well along the same lines.

The woman must be ideally in a relationship with children, to fit in with our magazine’s profile. She will also need to be willing and able to come to London on 21^st March for a photo shoot (lunch and expenses provided).

You can contact me on 07939 207993 or email me at emmaburstall@blueyonder.co.uk

Thanks very much and I look forward to hearing from you.

All very best,

Emma Burstall.

The following is based on the fundraising article published by the Meningitis Trust on its website.

Toddle Waddle is organised by the Meningitis Trust as a fun way for the under 5s to do their bit to promote awareness of meningitis by undertaking their very own sponsored walk, or waddle. Thousands of children take part in Toddle Waddles every year and have great fun.

This event is usually the biggest fundraising event for the Meningitis Trust and as such, it is essential for the Trust to be able to continue to provide much-needed practical and emotional support to thousands of families affected by meningitis.

If you would like to support the Meningitis Trust, you can can organise your own event at any time of the year, or join one of the organised or public Toddle Waddles.  For more details, please click here.

While thousands are affected by meningitis each year, the Trust has featured the story of Alissa as a focus for this years Toddle Waddle.

Alissa’s story

Alissa fell ill on her first birthday from what her parents initially thought was chickenpox. On the following morning, they noticed that Alissa had a purple spot that did not fade when they placed a glass over it.  She was rushed to hospital where tests revealed that she had the most serious form of meningitis: meningococcal meningitis with septicaemia. Alissa pulled through after a couple of days in a coma but doctors had to amputate both her legs and most of her right hand.

Her father said “It was a shock but we were just so grateful that Alissa was alive.” He went on “She  has recently been given the all clear from brain damage and has just started taking her first steps on her prosthetic legs. She is being so brave about it.”

The request comes from Moira West, who is an artist working predominantly in fibres who lives in Lincolnshire. Her father lost a leg in an accident when he was six years of age and as a consequence she has some knowledge of what life may be like for a limbless person. With 40 years of trials and tribulations as her father tested each new limb with many unforeseen and (occasionally) hilarious results, she hopes to reflect this experience in a new body of work.  (The featured artwork on this page is Implosion)

Exhibition

The intention is to show this new work in an exhibition that will highlight the strength behind what appears to be human frailty. Each piece will have integrated within the fibres a stump sock which will dictate the shape, condition and size of the resulting textural form.

By including second-hand stump socks to produce vessels and 3D sculptural forms, Moira hopes to personalise the artworks. She would welcome any further information, such as the first name or nickname of the donor, although this is not essential.

Work will be offered for sale and the sales proceeds (excluding gallery charges) will benefit the Limbless Association.

About Moira West

Much of her work is site specific. Working methods include hand-made felting processes incorporating traditional and contemporary techniques. Wool fibres predominate, integrated with plant and cellulose fibres, to create unusual shapes and textures. Her work invites interaction and personal confrontation with life and its unexpected pathways.

She has a reputation for creating striking, fascinating and unusual fibre art, many examples of which are in private collections. Combining textile technique with a diverse range of challenging materials, her work is inspired by the Lincolnshire landscape and a desire to push boundaries whilst creating an impact to promote greater understanding of human frailty.

Recent exhibitions either as a solo artist or with fellow artists have included the Carre Gallery, Sleaford, the Sam Scorer Gallery, Lincoln, Gallery at St.Martin’s, Lincoln, The Collection, Lincoln, Grantham Museum, and Stamford Arts Centre.

How to donate

If you would like to donate old stump socks to help Moira with her new work, please contact the office : 0800 644 0185 or email richard@limbless-association.org and we will put you in touch with Moira.

In setting out this consultation exercise, the DWP has noted that it does not envisage making significant changes to the broad principles or scope of the assessment and consequently is not seeking views on these areas.  However, notwithstanding this, you may wish to reiterate your earlier views in the light of the recent review of the consultation exercise (click here to read more).

How to respond to this consultation

The consultation period began on 16 January and concludes on 30 April 2012. As before, you can reply directly to the DWP by email to:

pip.assessment@dwp.gsi.gov.uk

or by post to:

PIP Assessment Development Team

Department for Work and Pensions

2nd Floor, area B

Caxton House

Tothill Street

London

SW1H 9NA

Alternatively, you can pass you views to us to help us compile a response from the Limbless Association.  You can email us at: consultations@limbless-association.org or by post to our main address.

The purpose of the meeting is to put across the comments received by the charity on the changes to the Motability scheme to date.

Your views

If you have any concerns you would like Motability to adrress in relation to its recent policy changes, please email them to info@disabledmotoring.org or call the Disabled Motoring UK office on 01508 489449.  Please ensure that your comments/queries are received by 5.00 PM on Wednesday 18 January.

The quiz comprised 20 questions and unfortunately, we did not receive an entry that correctly answered all 20 questions so the prize of £100 of M&S vouchers was not won.

The correct answers were:

1) The Trafalgar Square Christmas tree is a gift from which Country? Answer…Norway

2) What meat is traditionally roasted in the UK for the Christmas Day meal? Answer…Turkey

3) What kind of food is the traditional German ‘Stollen’? Answer………Cake

4) How many doors are there on a traditional Advent Calendar?  Answer……24

5) What does the word ‘YULE’ mean?  Answer…Winter Festival

6) In what year was the Queen’s Speech first televised?  Answer…1957

7) Name Peter Rabbit’s three sisters?  Answer…Flopsy, Mopsy & Cottontail

8 What does the acronym ‘AKA’ stand for?  Answer…Also Known As

9) In the Bond film ‘Goldfinger’, what was the name of Goldfinger’s bodyguard?   Answer…Oddjob

10) In a game of draughts, how many men does a player start with?   Answer…12

11) What is the world’s most popular non alcoholic drink?  Answer…Coffee (NB.water is a multi use liquid not a prepared drink)

12) From which country does the drink Stella Artois originate?   Answer…Belgium

13) The Olympics of which year featured in the film ‘Chariots of Fire’?   Answer…1924

14) Who sailed to the land where the bong tree grows? Answer…The Owl & the Pussycat

15) Which N African seaport’s name is Spanish for white house?   Answer…Casablanca

16) In which city is the headquarters of the International Monetary Fund situated?   Answer…Washington, USA

17) How many stars are on the European Union flag? Answer…12

18) In slang, how much money is a monkey? Answer…£500

19) Which army is headed by General John Gowans? Answer…The Salvation Army

20) How many gifts in total are given in the song, the Twelve Days of Christmas? Answer…364 (1, 2+1, 3+2+1…etc)

Thank you to all those who entered and thereby supported the Limbless Association and here’s to better luck next time!