Wellbeing

Alresford Surgery News

Flu & Covid Boosters Autumn/ Winter 2022

As previously mentioned, we will be co-administering Flu & Covid boosters this Autumn. Patients will be prioritised by vulnerability. Invitations will be going out to eligible patients via SMS text message with a simple online booking option and/or an invitation letter in early September. In order to avoid clogging our phone lines please wait for us to contact you.

We will be offering appointments from late September onwards & these will be pre-bookable appointments & we will have availability throughout the week & some Saturdays. Vaccination clinics will be held here at Alresford Surgery. Both flu and covid vaccinations will be given at the same time and the appointment will be for both vaccines. Please feel free to share this information. Thank you, once again, for your support with this vaccination programme.

Child Flu Clinics

We will also be contacting parents whose children are aged 2-3 or aged 4-17 and have a condition which puts them at greater risk if they get flu. Children in years R-7 will be vaccinated in school by Schools Health. Please wait until you get an invitation letter before contacting the surgery.

Abusing our staff

I am sad to say our reception team have been experiencing some levels of abuse recently. This is not acceptable and will not be tolerated. All NHS staff should be able to come to work without fear of violence, abuse or harassment from other staff or the general public.

Community Information Volunteers

Age Concern Hampshire’s Community Information Volunteers (previously known as Village Agents), help people – and their family, friends and carers – find the information and support they need to stay living safely and independently.

• Find – Provide information on a range of topics, such as finding help to manage around the home, social activities locally or what government help someone may be eligible for. • Help – Get to know the local charities and support groups working

Alresford Neighbourhood Watch

When people think about Neighbourhood Watch they tend to focus on the reduction of opportunities for crime and the reporting of suspicious incidents. However, the objectives are much wider than that and also include building up community spirit so neighbours can work together for everyone’s benefit. So not only should we be looking to help our older residents when they need it, but also look out for the children growing up in our community. With that in mind, we like to draw your attention to the notice published in the last few weeks by Hampshire Police. Hampshire Constabulary’s Child Abuse Investigations Team want to give you a brief insight into child-centred policing and how together we can help keep children safe.

It is our commitment to provide children and young people with a firstclass policing response that is child-centred and part of an integrated and effective partnership approach. The key to this approach is putting the voices and needs of children and young people at the heart of the services we deliver.

To give you more of an insight, Hampshire’s Child Centred Policing Strategy (https://www.safe4me.co.uk/child-centred-policing/) sets out our commitment to improving the quality of policing for children and young people in order to make them SAFER.

So how can you help make children safer? Our Safe4me website (https://www.safe4me.co.uk) contains a whole host of information and guidance for parents, carers and professionals on a range of topics to help you support, educate and guide children on various issues they may face, to help them stay safe. It also gives details about the various charities and organisations you can contact should you need any help or advice about a child you may be concerned about; whether that be concerns they may be a victim of crime or being exploited and becoming involved in crime themselves. We really would encourage anyone who has or works with children to take a look at this resource. Together we can all help keep them safe.

To report any concerns to the police, you can call on 101 or report online at https://www.hampshire.police.uk/

In an emergency or if a crime is in progress, always dial 999. To contact the ADNWA, email us at contact.adnwa@gmail.com

in the area and can help put people in touch with the right help at the right time. • Connect – Provide a bit of tailored support to help a person to get connected to the service they need. This may be making a phone call, filling in a form on their behalf of making first introductions to a group.

Examples include: reviewing benefit eligibility; completing forms, such as Attendance Allowance and Blue Badge; locating tradespeople for your home and garden; finding transport; signposting to home services, such as cleaners and meal delivery, and much more.

You can contact Denise, Alresford’s Community Information Volunteer, on 07969 376023 or enquiries@ ageconcernhampshire.org.uk

Alresford Rugby Football Club News

As many people in local clubs, societies and voluntary organisations will recognise, we live in challenging times and must redouble our efforts to attract recruits and retain existing members. This is certainly true of grassroots rugby, where last season we celebrated ‘rugby’s return’ post-pandemic and in recognition of ARFC’s 30-year anniversary we held a lunch with honorary guests that included our first ever coach, Mike Gander and some of the retired players he had coached. As the adage has it “Pride comes before a fall”, but let’s hope it’s more of a stumble with player and committee churn at ARFC. Nevertheless, “cometh the hour, cometh the man” and woman I might add! Both players and non-players have stepped-up and taken responsibility for which they have our sincere thanks. We’re also immensely grateful to the committee members that stayed in post, to our loyal sponsors and to all our supporters on the touchline.

Off the pitch, we’ve faced pitch access intimidation from the New Alresford Town Trust (NATT); however, having taken legal advice we are dismissing these threats and await a resolution between NATT and our landlords, New Alresford Town Council (NATC). The Alresford Show resumed in September after a three-year absence and ARFC was delighted to assist the Alresford Pigs in car parking as well as having a stand and bouncy castle, largely manned by parents of our ever-growing band of mini rugby players. The stand attracted interest from new minis, senior players and potential coaches, so a great success! Regarding minis, two of ARFC’s former minis are now in the Player Academy system at London Irish, namely Archie Cleeve and Joe Witchard who both deserve huge congratulations on their rugby achievements thus far, no doubt with more to come!

Fixtures in October are as follows: • 1st First XV v Tottonians (home);

Vagrants v Andover III (away) • 8th First XV v Ellingham & Ringwood (away) – rescheduled from 3rd September);

Vagrants no fixture • 15th First XV v Sandown & Shanklin (away); Vagrants v Basingstoke II (away) • 22nd First XV v Fawley (home); Vagrants v Farnborough (away) • 29th First XV v New Milton (away);

Vagrants no fixture

Also worth mentioning is a Tweed Walk scheduled for Sunday 30th October and a double-header (two home fixtures) v Millbrook and Farnham IV, respectively on 5th November when a club lunch is planned.

John Weston Chairman ARFC

Protecting and Enhancing the Biodiversity of St. John’s Churchyard

Churchyards can offer a valuable open space in which to nurture the environment and provide areas of natural habitat for wildlife. St John’s already has a designated wild area and there are other areas that can contribute. You may have seen the orchids earlier in the summer near the war memorial. Jon Cranfield, who lives locally and works with the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Amphibian & Reptile Group (HIWARG), was responsible for highlighting them. He is advising the Church’s Creation Care Team and the Churchyard Manager Mick on nurturing the biodiversity of the Churchyard. He hopes to gradually increase the orchids to over 100 spikes for everyone to enjoy. Caring for this area involves hand pulling the longer grass to mimic grazing animals and cutting the grassland in the late summer once the orchids have set their spores. Orchids have also emerged towards the railway and there are other plant species coming through. This is very exciting and we are very grateful to Jon for his help and advice. However, this still has to be managed alongside keeping other areas neat and tidy, especially around graves and memorial stones. We don’t want to allow the whole Churchyard to go wild and this is where the Church really needs the help of other local residents.

Future Care of the Churchyard

Up until this year, the Church has received a grant from the local council, which has allowed us to employ contractors to assist with the care of the Churchyard alongside the invaluable help of volunteers. This grant has now been stopped and the Church does not have the money or the people to maintain the upkeep.

The work of volunteers is further hindered by the number of items which have been placed on some graves and memorial stones. There should only be one container on each site so, if you have more than this on your loved one’s memorial, please help us by removing the additional items. The Alresford Churchyard and Burial Site offer a quiet haven and pleasant space to walk through or to sit a while, but without more volunteer help from the community, it will sadly become more overgrown and unkempt. Many hands make light work, so the more people who offer to help, the less onerous the task becomes and with enough people to form small working parties it could also be a lot of fun. If you would like to know more about getting involved, please email Mick at: alresfordchurchyard@gmail.com