What area do you think the LA should provide more information about?
21 February 2010
As the website has been down for several weeks, I realise most of you must have been wondering what on earth has been happening. It's been a very difficult time for all of us and progress has been much slower than expected. However we are beginning to find our way round, and hopefully the next 3 months will be much more positive and less disruptive for the membership.
Office
Sadly, after 25 years Limbless Association Office will be moving from Queen Mary's Hospital (QMH), Roehampton to Jubilee House, 3, The Drive, Great Warley, Brentwood, Essex, CM13 3FR.
The telephone number will be on the website as soon as we have it.
This decision wasn't taken lightly, but was forced on us as the rent was due to increase at the end of March from around £19 000 to £47 000.
The LA has been housed at the QMH since its inception and initially our accommodation was provided free of charge, but over the last 4 years has increased from £9 000 to the latest proposed rent of £47 000. Coupled with this, when the new Board, took over, we found a financial year end loss for 2009 of £75 000. As a charity, clearly we could not sustain the increased office costs,
The new office is about 35 miles from the old one, which in London is not a great distance for commuters, so we hope the staff will be willing to move with the jobs.
Website, Step Forward and Information Bureau
You will have noticed our website was offline for a while. I would like to assure everyone that the LA has not "gone to the wall" nor is there any question of this. The problems were caused purely by insurance issues. The insurance company expressed concern over some of the content. In particular where some web pages gave medical treatment advice and they were concerned that the Help Bureau (now renamed the Information Bureau) could inadvertently give medical advice.
As a result of this everything had to be changed or adapted by the Board, and I would like to express my personal thanks to directors Sue Boothroyd, lead in the media committee, and Sue Moody, Secretary to the Board, for their help and dedication in this horrendous and time consuming task.
Membership
We have introduced a one year free membership for new members. In order to give the best possible service to members we need to increase numbers. The more members we have, the louder our voice.
Our online membership will now remain free. New members, taking out free membership, will receive one hard copy of "Step Forward", but if they would like it for the rest of the year, they will need to pay the normal fee of £17 (£15 if they subscribe online).
I apologise to everyone who paid the £5 fee to access the member's pages of the website at the end of last year. This was nothing to do with the new Board. If you paid the £5 fee, and would like it refunded, please let the office know.
The way forward
I would like to thank all the members for their messages of support over the last 3 months. It has been a very difficult time for the new Board, as we encountered technical issues in just about every task we tried to tackle. We are beginning to see our way, and hope that by the summer we will be able to report back to you in a very positive way.
In the meantime, if there are any changes you would like to see to the website or in the magazine (Step Forward) please let us know.
Can I again thank you for your patience in giving the new Board time to find their way around.
Best wishes
John Reid