NEWS - FiSH Neighbourhood Care

Barclays staff walking from Billingsgate to Barnes to fundraise for FISH
The Manufacturing, Transport and Logistics Team at Barclays Corporate Banking in Canary Wharf are doing a half marathon fundraising walk for FiSH on Monday 29th October. Some 20 individuals will be leaving East London at 08:00 and when they reach Barnes they’ll be dropping into the Retro Café at St Michael and All Angels to help volunteers. Led by Nikki Barrington, our ace fundraiser and marathon runner, the team have challenged themselves to raise £2,000. Please sponsor them now at their Virgin Money Giving page.

Queen's Award for Voluntary Service
The FiSH team made up of Micky Forster, Liz Wall, Sally Godstone, Shena Macdonald, Deidre Munro and Steve Chapman were delighted to represent the charity at a special presentation event for QAVS Winners from Greater London, kindly hosted by RBS (Royal Bank of Scotland) at their London office in Bishopsgate on Tuesday 11th September 2018.

Micky collected the award from Her Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant of Greater London, Sir Kenneth Olisa OBE, The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service is the highest award given to local volunteer groups across the UK and recognises the importance of our work with older people in Barnes, Mortlake and East Sheen to combat loneliness and social isolation. FiSH were among twenty winners of the Award in Greater London this year.

FiSH Neighbourhood Care was delighted to receive a £250 charitable donation from Sceon + Berne, the East Sheen estate agent, following a recent property sale. This property company operates a community scheme to help local good causes whereby on each and every sale they donate £250 to the local charity of the vendor’s choice.

Sceon + Berne’s wonderful way of ‘giving back’, costs the person selling nothing and benefits local charities. Win-win all around. We are extremely grateful to the vendor for thinking of FiSH and would like to take this opportunity to wish them all the very best in their new home.

Big thanks to Sceon + Berne for this very kind donation which will help us combat loneliness and social isolation in older and vulnerable people living in Barnes, Mortlake and East Sheen. We will use this gift to train volunteers to befriend people in their homes, offering support and friendship.

David McKenna, director Sceon + Berne presenting a cheque for £250 to Micky Forster, Director FiSH Neighbourhood Care

Dame Mary Peters
On Tuesday July 3rd Dame Mary Peters, Olympian and first lady of British athletics, spoke at our Tuesday Talk and was then interviewed in the evening by sports journalist Vassos Alexander at the OSO. At this fundraising event for FiSH, the audience enthusiastically relived her gold medal winning triumph at the Munich Olympics in 1972. We are extremely grateful to Mary for entertaining and inspiring us as well as raising over £1400 for FISH. Huge thanks also to everyone who supported the event and to the OSO for hosting it.
As well as her amazing sports career as an athlete, team manager and ambassador, Mary has her own charitable trust - the Mary Peters' Trust which helps young sports people in Northern Ireland achieve their potential. You can find out more about this at: http://marypeterstrust.org/

Royal Wedding Tea Party
Here at FiSH we do like a good tea party! Bone china, sandwiches and cakes, scones with jam and cream... and what better excuse could there be than celebrating the marriage of Prince Harry! On Friday May 18th, the day before the wedding of Harry and Meghan, almost 100 guests came to Barnes Green for a party arranged jointly by FiSH and Age UK Richmond. Afternoon tea was served and the guests entertained by a Skiffle band!

New Director

Micky Forster, a long-term Barnes resident and trustee of Barnes Community Association, will be joining FiSH Neighbourhood Care as Executive Director in February 2018.

Micky says ‘’I am delighted to be joining FiSH, a charity that delivers a much needed and unique blend of practical help and emotional support to older and vulnerable people in Barnes, Mortlake and East Sheen through its amazing staff and volunteers.

Having parents in their 90s still living at home in the area, I believe passionately in helping people to maintain their independence so they can do as much as they can for as long as they can.

I hope my experience from 10 years in the charity sector, knowledge of the area, local contacts and community organisations will enable me to effectively champion this trusted organisation. I feel very proud to be joining FiSH at this exciting time to help this wonderful charity meet the growing needs in our local community.’’

Micky started her career in sales and marketing in the airline and travel industry and has spent the last 10 years working as a fundraiser at Turn2us, Bowel & Cancer Research and Breakthrough Breast Cancer. She has also been a Samaritan’s listening volunteer for nearly 25 years.

Crispin O’Brien, chair of FiSH, commented, “It will be hard to follow Jenny Hughes who has done a great job for over 17 years but we are really lucky to have found someone so committed to our cause, so well connected in SW13 and SW14 and already involved with our community. Micky will provide leadership and help us put our strategy into effect in the challenging years ahead.”

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FiSH Helpline
Our Helpline is open Monday to Friday from 09:00-12:00. Please do make use of this by calling 020 8876 3414 if you need help with transport for medical or social appointments or if you need some shopping done. Although we cannot help with personal care, we can help with simple things around the home like replacing light bulbs, occasional gardening tasks or at other times when you just need a useful helping hand. Please call as early as possible in the day and, for medical appointments, please try and give us at least two days’ notice.

Rambert Dance
Last year, FiSH ran a pilot series of dance classes led Rambert Ballet which proved to be extremely popular. Dance is known to have positive effects on those with Parkinsons and dementia but is also an excellent form of exercise for older people. We are delighted that the Richmond Parish Lands charity have funded a series of three terms throughout 2017. The sessions now take place every Friday morning at Barnes Green Centre. Please call Linda on 020 8876 3336 for further details or to book. Cost per session, £5.

Popular art therapy programme to continue
FiSH Neighbourhood Care is stepping in with funding to enable the popular art workshops delivered by Picassos in the Park to carry on in Barnes. The workshops, which are open to people living with early stage dementia and their carers, will now continue this summer and offer participants a chance to be creative together. Classes will run on Tuesdays from 1:30pm to 3:30pm from 5th June to 17th July at the OSO Arts Centre. To find out more or book a place, please contact Liz on 020 8878 8100 or by email.