Fundraising Bike Ride To Raise Awareness About The Cuts

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May 052011
 

With Thanks to Mark Chapman.

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An 840 mile solo bike ride to raise awareness of the forthcoming public services cuts starts on 6 May 2011.  The route will be from Peterhead to Brighton (8 days of cycling with 1 rest day), going via various public service departments. Mark Chapman, Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) Aberdeen and Inverness Revenue and Customs Branch President, will be undertaking this challenging solo bike ride to raise funds for three causes as well as to highlight the unnecessary cuts that are being made across the UK.

Mark will start his ride from outside of the now closed Peterhead tax office (which once employed over 20 local people) on Seagate at 8am on Friday 6 May.  On day one Chapman will call at the new Peterhead HMRC location (which now employs just one person), the Aberdeen HMRC office at around 11am, and will finish this first day in Stonehaven.

The rest of his ride itinerary is set out as follows –

Day 2 – Stonehaven to Perth (calling at Dundee tax office and call centre, and Perth tax office).

Day 3 – Perth to Hawick (calling at Cowdenbeath DWP, Galashiels and Hawick tax offices).

Day 4 – Hawick to Darlington (calling at Hexham, Bishop Auckland and Darlington tax offices).

Day 5 – Darlington to Chesterfield (calling at Catterick MOD, Skipton, Halifax and Chesterfield tax offices).

Day 6 – Rest day in Chesterfield (Mark will be meeting with the local Crown Prosecution Service PCS branch members to address a members meeting).

Day 7 – Chesterfield to Shipston on Stour (calling at Alfreton DWP and tax office and East Midlands Airport to meet PCS members working for the UK Borders Agency).

Day 8 – Shipston on Stour to Salisbury (calling at Newbury tax office, Andover tax office where Mark will be met by the local trades union council, M S Society reps and PCS members, and Salisbury tax office).

Day 9 – Salisbury to Brighton (Mark will be welcomed into Brighton at the pier at the end of his ride by PCS members and senior PCS officials).

The three causes that Mark is fundraising for and the reasons he chose these causes is set out below –

  1. The M S Society – Mark’s mum has been a sufferer for over 20 years and he has grown up seeing just how important it is for the person who has Multiple Sclerosis to have a solid and reliable support network in place.  The M S Society provides that support both for the sufferer and their carers.
  2. Val Irvine Foundation – Mark wants to help raise the much-needed funds required to allow this new foundation to realise Val Irvine’s dying wish, which was that the studio that she helped build would be used as a holistic therapy and art centre for the people of the Banff and Buchan area who are diagnosed as having cancer – as she herself was only a couple of years ago.  Friday 6 May 2011 would have been Val’s 45th birthday, making the start day of Mark’s ride all the more poignant.
  3. PCS hardship fund – this trade union is not politically affiliated in any way and they represent members who provide our much-needed public services.  They are fighting to stop the cuts in public spending in areas such as teaching, health care, taxation & benefits, and the voluntary sector, as well as protecting jobs in all other public sector departments.

Mark Chapman said:

“This ride started out as a pipedream really.  I’ve always wanted to challenge myself physically and mentally, but I’ve never had the drive to do it just for myself.  I started to get really frustrated about the way that the cuts are being portrayed to the general public ,and the fact that they were not being given the full facts to consider.

“PCS has published a booklet about the alternative to the cuts, and ideally I felt that this should have landed on everybody’s doorstep across the whole of the UK, but financially that was an impossible task.  I decided that maybe I could do something about this by getting the message across in a different way.

“PCS conference takes place in Brighton in May this year and I decided that if I could travel to conference in a less than conventional way from the north east of Scotland this year, then maybe I could raise the profile of what the cuts really do mean to everyone in the UK.

“I then saw the opportunity to also raise funds for 3 causes that are very close to my heart.  So now I am doing what I always wanted to do.  I am challenging my body and mind, but I also have an incentive as I am doing this for so many other people.”

To sponsor Mark or to find out more about his challenge please visit https://sites.google.com/site/thelongroadtobrighton/ or just type ‘Long Road to Brighton’ into any search engine.

To date Mark has received pledges totalling approximately £5,000.  Please do all that you can to help him reach his target of raising in excess of £10,000.

Mark would be happy to meet people along his route, full details of which will be available on his website.

Footnote – PCS, the Public and Commercial Services Union is the union representing civil and public servants in central government. It has more than 315,000 members in over 200 departments and agencies. It also represents workers in parts of government transferred to the private sector. PCS is the UK’s sixth largest union and is affiliated to the TUC. The general secretary is Mark Serwotka and the president Janice Godrich.

 

BT KGB – Internet Secrets Unrevealed

 Articles, Creative Writing, Opinion, Satire and Humour  No Responses »
Nov 192010
 

By George Anderson.

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I just wanted my service provider to restore my broadband and telephone — after all that’s what I was paying for.

During the Cold War, the KGB was known for telling those they abducted not to worry, that everything would turn out fine. Over the last five weeks I have discovered that good old British Telecom has adopted this technique for its victims/customers too.

During this time I have been repeatedly told by BT and their agents across the planet that all would be well. On one rare occasion when inter-human contact actually took place, I was told by the service agent that whatever I did, worrying would be superfluous, because he would single-handedly take total responsibility for fixing the problem and would rather sell his children to the gypsies than fail in his mission.  I hope he got a good price.

To date, lines have been tested and re-tested. A new hub was sent. It still doesn’t work. I have reset the device so many times I have calluses on my thumb. I have seen promises made. I have seen promises broken. The one thing I haven’t seen is a telecoms engineer. I am beginning to doubt their existence.

But, as a glass-half-full sort of fellow, I need to view these problems positively. The flashing error lights on the broadband hub will make an interesting festive decoration at Christmas.  And I have taken to leaving a couple of Jaffa Cake shavings and a thimble of rose water on the patio of an evening, in the hope that the broadband fairy will drop by with her magic spanner and fix the problem once and for all.

The Forty Poun’ Froonyal

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Nov 122010
 

By George Anderson.

In these post credit crunch-times, with predicted belt-tightening likely to bring tears to a glass eye, I wonder whether there might be resurgence of the cheap funerals (known in the patois of the north-east of Scotland as ‘froonyals’) of my youth.  A good illustration would be the froonyal of my uncle Chunty in 1968:

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Chunty’s family huddle together in the front pew. This is due more to a failure of the chapel radiators than anything related to a group hug. The pews behind the immediate family creak under the combined weight of people to whom Chunty is related through drink. The organist battles his way through a double time version of ‘Abide With Me’.

This has been written specially for low cost funerals by the Reverend Melrose Nochty himself.

Melrose strides in to the chapel and ascends to the pulpit two steps at a time. At the summit, he signals the organist, Mr Leiper, to pack it in—sharpish like, by throwing a hymn book at his head. Melrose starts talking before the final strangled blasts of air struggle out of the organ pipes.

‘Up ye get,’ he says, and lifts his palms toward the rafters. The congregation scramble to their feet.  ‘Dearly beloved, et cetera, et cetera, and et cetera … Matthew, Mark, Luke and John … pearls before swine … Sit doon.’

He fishes an alarm clock out of the dark recesses of his ministerial garments, winds it up, and slams it down on the edge of the pulpit. The congregation sit down.

Melrose is talking faster than an auctioneer at a cattle station in Woolawonga. “Stand up! The Lord may well be my Shepherd, but let’s face it”, he waves a hand toward a plywood casket , “judging by Chunty’s pitiful record of church attendance, it’ll be easier for the Turra Coo to pass through the centre o’ a doughring than for Chunty tae enter the Kindom o’ Heaven.

A thundercloud of Old Testament wrath passes across the Reverend Nochty’s scowling face

Now, sit doon, sit doon for God’s sake. I haven’t got all day.”

From his lofty perch Melrose looks down at the organist’s toupee.

‘Mr Leiper will now play an ex-tremely short extract from the twenty-third Psalm.’ Mr Leiper’s fingers scurry over the keys like mice fleeing a burning barn. Eight bars in, Melrose again signals Mr Leiper to cease and desist, this time by repeatedly banging a hymn book on the edge of the pulpit and shouting ‘All right, that’ll do, this isn’t an organ recital, Mr Leiper.’

Melrose clasps his hands before him and closes his eyes. “Jonah in the belly of the whale…Sermon on the mount… Feeding o the twa thoosan”—’ a voice from the back of the chapel, interrupts.

“Is it nae five thoosan’, minister? The feedin o the five thoosan’?”

A thundercloud of Old Testament wrath passes across the Reverend Nochty’s scowling face. He speaks. “Listen pal, you shouldnae’ even be here. Now sit doon.”

“I am sittin doon!”’

“Well, stand up and then sit doon.”

He pauses, grips the edges of the lectern and looks at the congregation with a measure of contempt normally reserved for the criminally insane. His voice drops an octave. “There’ll be weepin”,’ he says “and there’ll be a fair skelp o wailin’ intae the bargain.” He stabs a finger in the vague direction of the front pews. “An’ by Christ, teeth’ll be gnashed ‘n’ aa! Stand up, sit doon, and pey attention”.

Now it is the widow’s turn to interrupt.  “Will ye be much langer?’ she asks. ‘Only, there’s a steen’ cold cert rinnin’ in the three thirty at Perth and the nearest bookie’s fower miles awa.”

Melrose gives her the vees and gathers from the alarm clock that it is time to wind up the service. “Get up and start prayin, real fast”, he says. He lowers his head fast enough to get whiplash. “Oh Lord, please tak’ Chunty tae yer bosom. In yer own hivvenly time, of course, but seener rather than later, if ye dinna mind. I’ve anither three o these to get through afore lowsin’ time.”

He raises his arms and clears his throat. “Ashes tae ashes, stew tae stew, Chunty’s awa, and so are you”, Melrose’s alarm clock goes off, forcing him to raise his voice. ‘Sit doon, stand up, and shove right off.” The congregation do not have to be told twice; there is a stampede through the chapel doors reminiscent of the opening thirty seconds of a Next sale.

Create Aberdeen – Bridging The Services Gap

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Oct 292010
 

With thanks to Alex Constantinides.

A new charity set up to provide activities for adults with learning disabilities aims to put the emphasis on creativity, healthy living and fun!

Create Aberdeen – a new

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initiative – was formed in March of last year as a response to Council cutbacks to Day Centres. However, the organisation is  not trying to replicate day services, but  aims to provide community-based activities which encompass the individual’s choices and needs, and also promotes integration and participation within people’s local communities.

Create members realised that people with learning disabilities had long been disadvantaged, discriminated against and segregated, and that Aberdeen services were going to fall far behind the good practices shown elsewhere.  For those losing a day centre place, a life of boredom, isolation and the knock on effects of that (ill health, depression, challenging behaviour) can follow.

Create is made up of staff, management and volunteers who got together to discuss what could be done to ensure people with learning disabilities had the opportunity to participate in meaningful activities that were suitable for their abilities, that enabled development, that were safe and supported, and also promoted the principles of Ordinary Living, and the rights of all to participate within their local communities.

Alex Constantinides of Create Aberdeen described how the group has evolved;

“With the support and encouragement of service users, carers, ACVO and other professionals, Create began the lengthy process of setting up as a constituted organisation, and lately a Company Limited by Guarantee with charitable status.

Run by skilled and experienced staff, with input from volunteers, the activities are tailored to meet the needs of the individuals attending the groups

“This has been a learning experience for all of us involved, and has meant some completely new skills have had to be learned pretty quickly – Previous social care jobs have not given us a grounding in fundraising, accounting or cashflow projections – but we have learned and are continuing towards our goals.

“Initially Create started with the intention of working in partnership with Aberdeen City Council, and other voluntary sector providers, however this has proved to be a difficult task, and the process of providing a co-ordinated cluster of alternative services for people with learning disabilities has not run smoothly, but not for the lack of will.

“Create started by providing monthly social nights and fundraisers, and running taster days to let people know what we were about and what activities we could offer. Currently we are running regular sessions within community centres – Sports and team games, drama, arts and crafts, gentle exercise, music and dance. Run by skilled and experienced staff, with input from volunteers, the activities are tailored to meet the needs of the individuals attending the groups, and the choices they make.  Community Centre managers and Sheddocksley Baptist Church have been more than welcoming to our groups and have given us a great deal of support.’

[ See the website www.createaberdeen.org for updated sessions and social nights.]

“Create are also constantly looking at ways of fundraising and have a firewalk planned for Halloween this year, in the hope of raising over £1,000. Volunteers have been helping in our fundraising, and every donation has been helpful. We were successful in a bid to the Big Lottery – Investing in Ideas, and are currently using that funding to commission a feasibility study. Our evening drama group – Va Va Voom received funding from The Scottish Community Foundation – Make a Splash to enable us to pay for production costs for the performances in 2011.”

Create would be extremely happy to receive support from local businesses and individuals, either with donations, or voluntary work.

Contact alex@createaberdeen.org if you can help.

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