|
President’s Report at 8th Annual General Meeting of the Gibraltar Senior Citizens Association held on 19th March, 2008.
Ladies and gentlemen, good morning and thank you for attending this year’s AGM.
I shall start my report in the same manner that I have done for the past few years and that is by thanking the members of this committee for the commitment they have shown and for the giving up so much of their free time to attend meetings and so on.
As in previous years, throughout 2007 we have also had our fair share of illnesses both personal and of our immediate families yet notwithstanding, we have never had to cancel a scheduled meeting due to non attendance.
In presenting this report, I should say at the outset that I shall be commenting very briefly on each issue, but would be delighted to explain any item in more detail should you so wish when we come to questions and answers.
Throughout 2007/2008 we have not only continued but indeed strengthened our relationship with Citizens Advice Bureau and have participated in all “Hands on Computers Fun Days” held at Bleak House. We are pleased to say that today as a result, a considerable number of senior citizens have taken up IT as a hobby. We are also indebted to the Department of Education for providing courses specially for seniors and all the more so, as these are provided free of charge.
More recently, after meetings and exchange of correspondence with Minister Jaime Netto for setting up a helpline for the elderly, CAB have taken this on board and they will man this helpline throughout working hours Mondays to Fridays. We shall monitor the initiative with the possibility of continuing this service until later in the evenings by volunteers.
For some time, we have had the need to make the association’s constitution more reader friendly and we are indebted to Mr. Danny Barton for having prepared the first draft for us.
We have placed copies of the constitution for your perusal and we trust that when we come to this item in the agenda, you will approve this one to replace the 2000 document.
Our relationship with the Royal Gibraltar Police continues on a firm and friendly footing and we were delighted when asked to address recruits a few days prior to their passing out parade. We did so in 2007 and again only last month.
As the result of an exercise where we advised elderly persons not to open doors to strangers and so on, the RGP immediately took this issue on board and among other activities, organised a public relations exercise on this theme.
The RGP, the City Fire Brigade and the Ambulance Service provide an excellent service within our Panic Button Programme and we cannot thank them enough for their professionalism and for the personal kindness they treat patients when out on a call.
Recently we cooperated with the Lions Club of Gibraltar in their programme to collect used, unwanted glasses. We now look forward to work together in other projects as indeed we are always ready to assist any other organization is whichever project.
We are also most grateful to the Technical Services Department for the handrails which have been erected all over Gibraltar, some at our request and others very importantly, on their own initiative.
However, handrails are urgently needed at American War Memorial and though a request for these was made in our original submission, these are not yet in place. We shall remind the Department at the first opportunity.
In May last year we organised an excursion to the Shrine to Our Lady of Europe followed by lunch at the Top of the Rock Restaurant. We were honoured and pleasantly surprised when His Lordship Bishop Caruana welcomed us at the Shrine and explained in great detail the Shrine’s history. We more recently organised a mini tour of the City Walls ending with lunch at Pizzaghetti Restaurant at Irish Town and we are similarly pleased to report that this was well attended and most enjoyable.
We were very pleased to liaise with a couple of travel agencies by including in our newsletters special tours and holidays put together with senior citizens in mind. We are always ready and willing to cooperate with travel agents or whoever provides special events for the elderly and to advertise these in our newsletters.
We also received an invitation from a Spanish Cultural Organisation to visit Madrid gratis and we accordingly published this in our newsletters. However, this offer was not taken up by any committee member or any of the three gentlemen who made inquiries and asked for details.
The Panic Button issue had been a continuous headache and one for which there seemed to be no solution. After extensive tests by Gibtelecom and continued correspondence, e mails and telephone calls by the association to manufacturers and importing samples of different types of equipment, we have agreed on the technology to adopt and an order for 130 units should arrive shortly. Funds for this programme have not been in the best of health for some time and despite our persistent invitations for sons and daughters of those connected to contribute, we have not been successful. We have however been fortunate and most grateful to the Red Cross Gibraltar for their very generous cheque for £2000 which was presented to us by Lady Fulton only last week.
We have also written to the Minister for Housing with regard to the alert facilities at Albert Risso House and our request that elderly persons residing in the upper town be re-housed in the lower area when the opportunities arise. Further to this we have also written to him on the necessity to bring elderly who so wish down from the upper area and re-house them in the lower town. This is an issue we have pursuing for years and unfortunately we have not been able to make any progress.
Our initiative to obtain special prices for senior citizens is ongoing and we are now pleased to say that approximately 90 such establishments are now listed. Again we are indebted to the Citizens Advise Bureau and to the Office of the Ombudsman for distributing these lists. We strongly urge seniors to obtain a copies of these lists and to patronize the businesses listed, not only to show our appreciation for these concessions, but also to encourage others to seek to be included. We have also recently informed our members of a new firm which offers mobility facilities including maintenance and special discounts.
The list of people who provide facilities for us and to whom we are indebted, grows practically daily and as we have said in the past, we dare not even try as it would be unforgivable to unintentionally omit one or more. However having said this, we must make an exception and cannot but thank Mr. Jim Watt for providing a website for us at no cost to the association.
The number of seniors who now own computers and surf the net grows at a very fast pace and we would encourage these ladies and gentlemen to download the activities and events of the association from our website www.seniorcitizen.ngo.gi
From a relative who resides in the UK, we were able to obtain details and prices from a firm specialising in a home delivery frozen foods service on a commercial basis. Brochures, prices and details have been passed on to government for their consideration. At this stage we wish to establish that no member of the committee or the person who sent us the particulars has any commercial interest in this venture. None of us who so far has anything to do with this idea has any intention of receiving a commission or similar.
We have just completed the initial introduction of the ICE programme in Gibraltar. All the emergency services including St. John Ambulance have supported this idea and we shall be publishing reminders from time to time in the hope that all mobile phone users participate in this scheme. Entering ICE and your particulars on your mobile might save your life!
We are cooperating with WE CARE and have published details in our newsletter to this effect.
Now sooner was the Leisure Centre than we spoke to the Chief Minister and to senior members of staff at the Centre with regard to special conditions for senior citizens. We have pointed both orally and in writing the need for wheelchair access. We all coincided and agreed that it was early days yet, but we are all looking forward to meet and discuss special concessions in the near future.
We are sure that what interest members most are what talks if any are in progress for the purpose and leading to the enhancement of quality of life of the elderly in our society:
We are at some stage or other of erecting handrails where needed, clear and unobstructed entry and exit of blocks of flats, ramps for the disabled, ramp at St. Bernard’s Hospital so that patients can be wheeled down to the garden; that age 60 should be accepted by the Bus Company both for men and women, to continue to increase our special prices and discounts list, meals on wheels; naturally also continuing with our Panic Button Programme, a dental service not limited to extractions only, and finally we have been inquiring as to any possible benefits to be derived from United Europe and also the possibility of enrolling in U3A, University for third Age.
I have tried to be as brief as possible, I have cut corners wherever possible yet I may have demanded too much of your time, if so, please accept my apologies and thank you for listening.
|