Telephone: 07977831792 E-mail:

Facebook: Search “Medway Fibromyalgia Support Group”

Website:

[insert date]ISSUE 74[insertissue no.]

Next Meeting: Thursday 24thSeptember 2015 at St Stephen’s Church Hall,

Maidstone Road, Chatham, ME4 6JE - 1.00pm to 3.00pm

September meeting – Donna Francis from Centre for Independent Living (CiLK) - information around independent living to disabled people,their friends, family and professionalsincluding how to get a wheelchair, basic information on benefits, aids and equipment, accessible transport and holidays, support at home using Direct Payments/Personal Budgets and much more.

November meeting – Heidi Butcher from HealthWatch Medway – their aim is to give citizens and communities a stronger voice to influence and challenge how health & social care services are provided within their locality.

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MEETING DATES FOR 2015

September 24th, November 26th

COMMITTEE MEMBERS

  • Group Co-ordinator – Margaret Randerson
  • New Members Co-ordinator – Pat Wickham
  • Treasurer – Sarah West
  • Website and Newsletter Co-ordinator – Susan Springate

SPEAKERS FOR 2016

If anyone has any suggestions for speakers for 2016 that they have come across of please let us know and we will try and contact them and see if they would be willing to do a talk at one of the meetings

OVEN CLEANER

I know a few of the group struggle with cleaning the ovens and one member has suggested Lady bug oven cleaners. They can be contacted on 01622 741359, 07879 815236,

MEETING UPDATES

Sorry for the short newsletter in April and the non existent newsletter in June but it has been a very emotional and draining time since my fathers passed away but hopefully I can resume normal service with the newsletter now.

May Meeting – at the May meeting Mary from Mary Angels Holistic Therapies was the speaker and discussed with us all the benefits of the alternative therapies such as reflexology, Indian head massage, reiki and hot stone massage to name a few. I know all of the members that were able to attend found this informative and Mary has offered to do a taster session day for £5 each for a maximum of 6 people where we could get to try the different therapies and see which one suits us best before booking a full therapy. If anyone wants to arrange this please message the group email or on facebook and we can try and arrange something.

July meeting – the committee decided that due to the school holidays we would not have a speaker at this meeting but would instead chat between ourselves sharing things that had benefited us. We had a few new members and it was very useful to hear things they had found helpful which I know some of the members at the meetings have now used.

Hope you can make it to the September meeting where the lady from Centre for Independent Living will be attending to discuss what is available to help us live as independently as possible.

FACEBOOK PAGE

The Facebook page is still growing and we currently have 60 members. If you haven’t joined yet, please have a look by searching for “Medway Fibromyalgia Support Group” on Facebook. We do recognise that some members do not use Facebook but this is a way we can keep in contact between the meetings. If anyone wants to help arrange any catch ups, please contact the group email or post on the Facebook page.

LIBRARY BOOKS & DVDs

Please ensure that you return all Library items at the next meeting after they have been borrowed as others may be waiting for them. If you are unable to do this please contact the Librarian.

RAFFLE PRIZES

Thank you to everyone who brought some prizes for the raffle in July. If anyone has got any unwanted gifts they are able to donate they would be most appreciated.

USEFUL CONTACTS

NORTH KENT GROUP MAIDSTONE GROUP

Phone: Philomena (Phyl) - 0844 887 2348 Phone: Julie Amos – 0844 887 2442

Email:

SITTINGBOURNE & SHEPPEY GROUP

Phone: Jean Spain – 01795 471324 Email: