A POEM AT CHRISTMAS

OUR RESIDENT POET LAUREATE GORDON W. MILWARD JUST SENT ME THIS I THOUGHT YOU MIGHT ENJOY

Remembering Christmas Past
Where have all the old Christmases gone?
A Christmas day and a birth rolled into one
When did we last roast chestnuts on an open fire?
Can you remember the last time you heard a Christmas choir?
Church bells would ring at this happy time
People would wish you the best and life would be fine
Wake up in the morning before the sun
Christmas day would be a bundle of fun
You would feel about for the presents Santa had left
He had put them beside you on the bed where you slept
Times would be hard then but happy we would be
Sitting around a real Christmas tree
The decorations you made hang low from the ceiling
You would be happy with life what a wonderful feeling
Open your presents –football boots and a ball
An apple, an orange, some pennies would fall
Turkeys in the oven a smell to behold
I wish it could stay and never grew old

Oh theses happy times we shared with Mum and Dad
Things can’t stay forever and that makes us sad
Traditions have gone it’s a time of worry
People rushing round, can’t speak in a hurry
Children wanting the biggest and best
Parents are tired they just look for a rest
Central heating is on, no coal for the fire
There’s no ‘Knocker up’ or even a ‘Town Crier’.
G.W.Milward
Dec 2007

CHRISTMAS

OVER THE LAST WEEK SALLY AND ME WENT TO VISIT COLOGNE AND YES CHISTMAS MARKETS AND WHAT A GREAT TIME WE HAD, HOWEVER SALLY HAS RETURNED WITH WHAT IS A VERY BAD COUGH AND HAS STAYED IN BED SINCE WE ARRIVEED HOME ON THURSDAY ONLY TO EMERGE ON SATURDAY BUT ALTHOUGH UP SHE IS DEFINETLY NOT ABOUT AND CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS TO PUT UP BUT I AM SURE THEY WILL BE UP SOON.
I WAS GOOD TO SEE NEUROSUPPORT LOOK SO WELL THE OTHER WEEK WHEN WE HAD OUR CHRISTMAS DINNER THANKS TO CHRIS, CAROLYN AND THE REST OF THE STAFF WITH LUCK I WILL BE ABLE TO PUT SOME PICTURES UP SOON OF THE DAY
ENJOY THE QUIET FOR NOW AS NEXT WEEK WILL BE HECTIC

PICTURES AND THINGS

AS WITH ALL OF THE POSTS YOU HAVE TO WORK OUT WHERE THEY ALL BELONG
HOPE TO SEE EVERYONE LATER TODAY

NEURO NEWSLETTER NOV/DEC 2010

COULD THIS BE THE GHOST OF CHRISTMAS STILL TO COME THE ONE ON THE RIGHT IS THE REAL SCROOGE

MY OLD SCHOOL GRANTON ROAD

THE OLD LIBRARY WHERE I FIRST STARTED MY ROAD TO READING AND STILL WEARING SHORTS EVEN IN THE WINTER

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2010 ISSUE 18

A CHRISTMAS TALE IN OCTOBER/NOVEMBER

My one constant in life, apart from family, is reading books, ok! maybe some other things as well, the cinema, music, going out & actually listening to people who can sing, concerts and for my birthday treat, (you remember you all signed a birthday card not so long ago) I went to the Royal Court with Sally to see ‘Lennon’, a birth to death musical memory, with Andrew Schofield playing Lennon in his later years, appearing in a white suit with long hair. The music of my youth, what a great show it turned out to be. If Lennon had lived he would have been 70 years old on 9th October. One of my favourite Lennon songs contains these lines :

‘All these places have their memories

Of lovers and friends that went before

Some are dead and some are living

In my life I've loved them all’

But back to reading. Reading books is one of those things you either love or hate, a bit like Lennon, (who for me was always different). I remember the first adult book I read and no! it was not what you think, it was book that I had taken out of the adult section of the library when I was in junior school, and yes I can remember that far back, just. It was a time when to join the library you paid a small fee, even a 10 year old child. The library in question was a very ornate building in St. Domingo Road called Everton Library, which as far as I knew was still going strong, or had become a community centre, but when checking this on the magic of “th’internet”, I found that unfortunately, it had not become a community centre. It was now a neglected and unloved building, as the picture I found shows, which is rather sad as it started me on my road to reading. Will this be an insight into the future, a tale of neglect, the reason for my ramblings will become clear as you turn the page.

My early years were spent in what was officially called Breckfield School, built in 1880, but was known locally as Granton Road School, as it was in Granton Road, Anfield, and it is no longer standing, as I found out when I went on a nostalgia trip, with my great-nephew who had started school and was feeling, as do others who enter that alien world of school, a bit scared. So I thought a little trip to my old school would help, it being of another age and although, as I recall very dark and foreboding, I had enjoyed my early school years there. When we arrived, there it was or in this case wasn’t. It celebrated its 100 years in 1980, but I don’t know when it was knocked down. As you can see I can get easily distracted, so back to my first adult book ‘The Great Escape’ by Paul Brickhill and yes it was the book of that film, so imagine what it must have been like for a 10 year old, with the war years still fresh in most memories, this tale of escape and adventure. I went on to read ‘The Wooden Horse’ by Eric Williams, another tale of escape, but that is the world of books for me, a chance to see into other people’s lives, to see how they live, that moment when you cannot wait to turn the page and find out what happens next or to finally learn “who dun it”. Those early years of reading were the start of a friendship with books that will be with me forever. Mrs Cameron, our headmaster’s secretary (who I would like to thank, albeit a bit late), was the first rung onto the ladder of reading, all those years ago. She had paid my fee to join the library as I did not have any money, and is indirectly responsible for this story of the adult section, where somehow I had wandered into looking for my first book. However on my next visit when I presented the next ‘adult’ book, I was told that I was not allowed to take books from this section until I was older, my words of protest went unnoticed, as I was only 10. So back to the junior section I was sent.
You can just make out the inscription erected 1896, not long after my school was built, but as you can see it’s still standing, waiting for some developer to come along and turn it into “Apartments” maybe.
Later on as I got older my tastes changed from science fiction to crime to adventure and back again, I rarely read what you might call non-fiction, although I have now and then ventured into auto-biographies, but I want to be led on an adventure, to escape to the worlds the author creates, to get to know their characters with the rich tapestry of life that they create. One author whose words always makes me enjoy the English language is Charles Dickens. As that time of the year is near at hand “A Christmas Carol” the tale of Ebenezer Scrooge and how the ghosts came to visit him as he lay sleeping and the view of his world through the eyes of Jacob Marley, his old partner. As I write this we seem to have had another Ebenezer Scrooge appear, on the 20th October to be precise. We don’t have to wait to see if Scrooge is coming this Christmas, I am afraid he is already here, as the old joke goes Christmas has been cancelled! The name of the ghost of Christmas to come is George Osborne and David Cameron, sorry that’s 2 ghosts, as they look at incapacity benefit, DLA and all the other things that help make our lives easier.



The benefit system is in for a big shake up the likes of which hasn’t been seen since the days of Charles Dickens, when they didn’t even have access to benefits. There will be lots of other cuts announced, so by the time you read this we will all know that Christmas has definitely been cancelled. Will I still have my bus pass, will we have enough money for the central heating if the winter fuel payment stops? There will be lots of questions over the coming months, so make sure you have the right advice about your benefits and use the service that we offer at Neurosupport to find out the answers to your questions, don’t be afraid to ask. As I listened to the news last night the talk was of defence cuts and aircraft carriers without planes? Surely I misheard or maybe not.

Can you spot the real Scrooge? I know it’s the one on the right but after “the budget” I am not so sure.



So where will all this lead to? as figures come out concerning job loses, services about to be changed or lost, maybe keeping the same service but make savings elsewhere, I am not sure I understand it all or where it will end. I do know that although I think Christmas has been cancelled I don’t think anyone seems to have noticed. In the shop I was in today, only 2 days since the announcements, people seemed to be in a spend, spend mood and there appeared to be no shortage of money, or are they all using the ‘magic’ credit card and will worry about paying next year. So back to my world of books I will go. You may have seen the advert of a new detective series Thorne starring David Morrissey, based on books by Mark Billingham, I am half way through his latest “From the Dead”, it’s better than worrying about the new “Scrooge” we have in our midst.
Since first writing this item and passing it to my little helper for proof reading. I have finished that book. So if you enjoy a good book on crime or enjoy reading fiction, (as the facts I read today in the paper were very depressing) go to your local library, It costs nothing to join now, check out a book and if they haven’t got it in stock they will order it (for a small fee of course), but with my now limited budget it is a better alternative than Waterstone’s or the like, even when it’s on “offer”. Keep away from the facts and stay with fiction it’s a much better world!

Alan Clark

VOLUNTEER UPDATES AND ‘DON’T FORGET’

Wendy Mitchell is making a slow recovery after her op. You will be able to give her your good wishes at the volunteer’s Christmas party, as she hopes to be there . So don’t forget come along and join us on Thursday, 2nd December around 1.00pm, to enjoy turkey, tinsel and meet the new volunteers. Final details will be given at ou volunteer’s meeting on Tuesday, 23rd November or check the board in reception. To those who may be unable to make our ‘‘Do’, we wish you all a very merry Christmas and a great 2011. Alan Clark

THE ANNUAL REVIEW - 2010 NEUROSUPPORT

It has been several years since I have attended an Annual review and to be honest I have always found them rather long and laborious. So I was pleasantly surprised to find myself enjoying this years. It may have been the knowledge that a buffet was waiting for us or the anticipation of seeing if one of the raffle tickets I had sold would win the much coveted ipad. Whatever it was, I found the afternoon went along at a pace, all of the speakers were easy to listen to and the content of their talks informative.
The interval music was provided by Erica Van Drunen, who attends LIPA. She gave a brief personal history and played 3 enjoyable pieces, which she had composed herself.



It was very encouraging to hear about the new group for young people, run by young people. They told us how they had met and got to know each other. The adventures they had during the Summer, what they hoped to achieve for each other and with the group in the future. It had all began when Jake Brown was asked to organise a young persons group. So assisted by support worker Molly Gardner, with funding from Roald Dahl’s Children's Charity and help from Neurosupport based Working Life Service, Jake got to work organising. The group, for the moment called ‘Young Persons Group’, was launched earlier this year on 29th April, at an open day held in Neurosupport. They began with 2, which became 4 and has gone from strength to strength. I was very impressed with the confidence and enthusiasm they displayed when giving their talk. Perhaps Annual reviews are not so boring after all. S. Brooks-MacDonald

If you know of a young person with a neurological condition, aged 16-24 years old, who would interested in joining the group contact Jake or Molly for further information at ypg@neurosupport.org.uk

A SHORT TALE OF MOTORING WELL MAYBE A LONG ONE

WHEN SOMETHING WENT BANG, HISS!!!!

As they say a funny thing happened to me and Sally on the way home from a short trip around Leeds, Skipton, Harrogate, York and the Lakes. As you maybe aware from my other ramblings (articles) that I like to be prepared for you hope most things and at my tender years, messing about with cars I leave to the “professionals” and I have breakdown cover that will repair the car at the roadside as well as get the car and all the passengers home when we need it, well that weekend we nearly did, well part of it.
On the last day Sunday I drove from Scotch Corner at the top of the A1 to cut across to the Lakes on the A66 and then on then on to Kendal the destination of choice. So on this bright sunny day, why is it always bright and sunny on the last day when the others days had been indifferent, rain, wind and sun to name but a few, so off we set to Catterick before we got to Scotch Corner, a place where my dad did his basic training before his 6 years holiday abroad to such far flung places as El Alamein, Monte Casino and Rome to name but a few but I digress, well maybe not as I am writing this today we are celebrating 70 years of Winston Churchill’s speech “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few” when the Battle of Britain was raging over our skies.
Back to the plot; Sally and me had stopped off at Catterick at a Sunday( yes you’ve guessed) market at the race course a pleasant stop before going on to Kendal a drive of around 60 miles.
As we turned off the A66 to a more sedate road to Kendal, passing through different places around 25 miles from Kendal a fact that was told to me by Mr Little he will appear soon in the story I heard bang hiss. I looked around for a lorry and the air brakes going off but none in sight so yes you’ve guessed a puncture which became very apparent as I drove 10 yards on when the steering went funny the front wheel dropped and I heard that sound that all motorists around the world dread the sound of a wheel on the road without the help of a fully inflated tyre, lots of flat spent rubber flapping on the road, the place was Kirkby Stephen on the A685 ( a fact I didn’t find out till later), a place that lot’s motor bikers use as the roads wind a lot. I call it a 1 road town, everything is on 1 road, pub, post office, shops, tourist information and a church, although this one had been turned into an antique centre but was closed on Sunday like a lot of places, a fact that was mentioned a lot by Mr Little. Their was a good thing though in all of this I was travelling a lot slower down to 30mph and slower again as I was approaching traffic lights, 10 minutes earlier I was travelling at the speed limit 70mph. After coming to a stop and managing to pull over the road to park at the back of some parked cars in a lay bye, if they wanted to move difficult but I would be on my way soon once I changed that tyre with the freshly pumped up spare tyre that I had checked a week before we set off, it was a little flat when I checked but with more air it seemed ok, how wrong can you be After emptying the boot of “stuff”, how much do you need for a 3 night break, well with a car the “just in case” goes to whole new level. I think I need to adopt the Ryanair and Easyjet policies in future. So with what seemed all our worldly possessions on the street I eventually got to that spare tyre beneath the boot and although it looked ok if you had wanted to blow a balloon up with the air in it you would be very lucky. That was plan A and as they say I quickly moved on to plan B, a breakdown company, a tow truck and a Mr Little. It was nearly midday when I phoned my breakdown service not that nice man who use to salute you a more watered down version cheaper and explained where I was, a fact that I found out from a nice lady who sold hot Panini’s, freshly made balms and tea with a drop of sympathy, but that came later. A text arrived and told me a Mr little breakdown was on his way and would arrive in about 45 minutes, so we sat in the car and waited for him to arrive, however 5 minutes later a phone call from the man himself I am minutes away, things were looking up. Mr Little arrived a local man from the sign on his truck, he was to say the least helpful in a Will Hay sort of way if anyone is old enough to remember a sketch when he was in charge of a fire station when someone rung to report a fire and the conversation went something like this “Is it a big fire as we have just started our tea break, could you keep it going till we get there and we will be along shortly, we have the pools coupon to fill out as well”
“You’re in a bit of a mess” said Mr Little and thought that a compressor to blow up the spare was the answer and so did I, how wrong could we both be, as soon as the connection to the valve was released all the air came out a faulty valve, perished rubber as I found out later. Is their no Kwik-Fit around I asked as I am out my comfort zone and you are in yours. Well it’s Sunday and the nearest one is in Kendal it will be shut and its 25 miles away as though it was on another planet. Visions of an extra night stay were looming into my brain. If we take the valve out of the tyre on the car and replace the one on the spare that should solve it, however I need to go back to the garage and try and find a tool that will do the trick, I wont be long said Will Hay, sorry Mr Little and off he went. Living as we do in Aigburth Kwik-Fit is 4 streets away and always open on a Sunday, so can things be so different we are only 100 miles away from home and yet we some how seemed a million miles maybe because I have lived all my life in Liverpool a big city who knows, so on this very bright Sunday now afternoon their was only one way to find out ring them and find out. Not ringing Directory Enquiries that often I resorted to the 118 advert, which probably cost me as much as the new tyre, but I am going to far ahead after getting the number and the nice lady asking me did she want her to put you through and ring the number an offer I declined, I contacted Kwik-Fit, Kendal and behold a shining light they were open said Mr Kwik as long as you can get here by 2.00pm but we are open till 4.00pm, light was starting to appear at last.
Mr Little came back after my phone call to the breakdown company who in turn told him that someone was open on a Sunday a miracle. When Mr Little returned in his truck he said “I had been busy, how did you find out “the phone was nearly my reply but as I would soon need this man’s help to get to Kendal I refrained and with much stopping of traffic and loading the car and all our worldly possessions which we had loaded as soon as I found out Kwik-Fit was open of we set for a very picturesque drive to Kendal crossing the M6 motorway. We arrived at Kwik-Fit with time to spare around 1.45pm and Kwik and Fit got on with the job in hand replacing the faulty valve and the very flat tyre with a new one and of course £40 lighter in the wallet and we back driving into Kendal at 2.15pm.
So what has all this to do with volunteers apart from I hope an amusing story about me the volunteer, part of it I think is the kindness of strangers, the lady with the kiosk who gave us a cup of tea and reminded me that we were lucky we were going slow, Mr Little who must have been 70+ he did help and as we found out on our journey with him he had travelled the day before up to the Highlands of Scotland and back again, no wonder he seemed in a daze and in his words “He was Knackered” and to the last two in this Mr Kwik and Mr Fit who just got on with the job in hand and showed their help and courtesy to us both, even though it was Sunday.

So back to me while I was volunteering at the Walton Centre information desk the other day a man came looking for a garage, his car wouldn’t start and he had come from Cheshire. After some discussion with Reception a garage was not far who maybe could help but remembering people who had helped me I offered and took him to the garage and explained his problem give me 10 minutes was the answer. As I chatted to him he had got lost and he also needs to come back next week for a scan, his wife was having trouble he explained in more detail the trouble, for him and his wife it could be the start of a long journey with a different type of breakdown man needed, I do hope not. His car had gone when I looked later and I did see him again the next week, his wife had come for the scan and he had remembered the kindness of strangers and brought me some eggs and tomatoes for my troubles. Some people do care and go that extra mile to help strangers in trouble.

WHAT A DAY

World stroke day on Friday29th October turned into a very big thing much bigger thing than we all thought
When I was talking to Mike Morris a Cheshire governor, what seems so long ago about holding some event in Neurosupport when we had the meet the Walton centre governors back in June we spoke at length about what we could do aand after a few weeks iI haad thought that we comr do something about memory and movement but when I saw that it was world stroke day on 29th October it made me think that the event could be stroke and with the help of Maureen Kelly cheif exec of Neurosupport and Margaret Matthews along with Jeanette Lunt of the Stroke Association the day seemed poossible.
After talking to Deborah Morris of the Royal Liverpool hospital we all joined forces to promote and plan the day and the 1 in 6 was born
On the day we had the event opened byMaureen Walsh from radio Merseyside who gave us an insight to something that happened to her which was a small stroke but slightly more complex even the BBC turned up after filming a young couple were the husband had had a stroke while working away and was now recovered but wants to promote the condition so the BBC followed them fom home to Neurosupport filming parts of the day and also talking to the doctor who spoke about the effects of stroke the film was later shown that night .

Just a big thank you to everyone who turned up on the day and made ita big success

Alan Clark

time goes so quickly

In the last edition of Neuro News when i gave a shorten version of what happened to myself when in early 96 our life changed i had published some of the story of how i ended my working life? as a volunteer so here is the full article at last



THE STORY OF A CARER, ALLEGEDLY AND WHY DAFFODILS MEAN SO MUCH

The story started in early 1996 when I found my wife struggling on the bathroom floor after being sick from a violent headache, but I think I need to rewind the story a bit to earlier in that day when our life changed forever, when we left the old one behind and found a new one.

We had been to Mold early that morning to visit an antique fair and we had bought a figurine of a boy and girl, a hobby that we both enjoy and still do but without the money to buy too many these days although we still find it if something takes our eye that is not too expensive. We had the use of a relatives car and they were due back from holiday so this was the last weekend and we were going to make the most of it, hence the visit to Mold and we were going to stay out but my wife said she felt unwell, sick. When we arrived home our next door neighbour was having car problems and could I help him bleed his brakes, so my wife went in and I helped with the car, but when I went in a bit later I found my wife lying on the bathroom floor and complaining of a violent headache and being sick and with my help she went to bed and the headache came and went over the next couple of days so I called our own GP who gave her some tablets and said to contact him if it got no better. By the end of the week no better was what it was so we called him again on the Friday and he called an ambulance as we headed for our local hospital.
A funny aside to that day was that the figurine was on display, unwrapped and in pride of place in the hall where it still sits to this day all of course before the bathroom incident.

As you can imagine a bad headache does not have the same priority as other patients so we waited what seemed and was hours with just seeing a nurse who took the history. Eventually we saw a doctor and he found a bed and a lumbar puncture was done as one of the tests and of course they found blood and a transfer to the old Walton Hospital was needed I found this out when I phoned the next morning as I had been sent home around 9.00pm. As it was the weekend the scanner was not staffed, I think, so the scan was done on Monday and the doctor wanted to see me that night when I came to visit. He explained that a bleed in the brain had been the cause and drew a picture of what had happened, a bit like a blackberry bursting and we need to put a clip on the neck. The conversation after we shave the head and fold back the skin all went in a blur as we need to do this tomorrow or it will happen again and she could die.
The next day Tuesday came and my next door neighbour gave me a lift so I could see my wife before the operation. When I saw her waiting in the bed we talked about her own mother, who at the same age 49 had died of a brain haemorrhage so you can imagine how she felt as she says the man in the green wellies came for her.






So what do you do when you have to wait 3-4 hours while the operation that will save your wife’s life is going on? For me the answer was simple you feed the ducks. As we had both worked together and led a very hectic working life in Liverpool’s city centre we now lived by Sefton Park, which is at the bottom of our road, it had become a haven for us and the simple pleasure of walking around the park and feeding the ducks had became a routine to us so I feed the ducks, sat, waited and wondered of how things would turn out. This was the time of PMP pre mobile phones unless you remember the house brick that was a phone. So I went home and phoned the hospital all had gone well and the doctor will see you later to explain. Seeing my wife in a hospital intensive care bed with lots of tubes was for me a scary thing when hospital was a very alien place, we had both led reasonable healthy lives and only visited when someone else was there not your own wife. A couple of weeks was the verdict, words were a bit muddled and phoning her sisters turned into a comedy sketch but that was solved by a piece of paper with all the numbers on her memory was not the same it will get better was an answer but short term memory may be not. However going into the third week and all was not going as well as they thought, she had no appetite and was losing weight a good thing she said so another scan revealed their was some swelling in the brain and a course of steroids was the answer.

By week 4 my own body was going into shutdown, all the not eating right and drinking had caught up with me and I was in bed for around the time that my wife improved . A friend of mine said she got better because I stopped going to see her he thought the coincidence was too much. Anyway I recovered just in time to see my wife recover fully and she was coming home.

The weeks that followed seemed strange to everyone, family and friends helped a lot in the early stages but apart from the shaved it seemed ok. Ok is a word we still use when people ask how my wife is, it is easier than to say depressed, fatigue, lost for words, the constant checking, afraid to leave the house without me and just not right. Things that we have learned to live with over the years and the family see the looking well (Make-up) walking and talking and think that everything is ok and if I am honest I suppose it is we have found a very different rhythm of life that the one we had before. After 12 months she was discharged but remained unable to work ever again.








So why do daffodils mean so much. After 5 weeks of not leaving the house, the shaved head down one side is not the best look on a woman but with gentle coaxing we had a walk down to Sefton Park and sat on a bench surrounded by daffodils in full bloom for what seemed a life time, we both knew that we had been lucky and life as we knew it had changed forever, we had been given that second chance. Why allegedly a carer, I am not sure who looks after who, I myself have some health problems and as we both grow older we have slipped into a rhythm of life that suits us both.

As I write this in spring of 2010, 14 years later when the daffodils are still in bloom but some are fading and dying I remember that time on the park bench, we both do that wonderful day we sat surrounded by daffodils. Life has been different for us both, work was not possible but volunteering for me was. We had gone to a meeting about brain haemorrhage and a possible support group that was held in the Glaxo Centre, known now by the name Neurosupport in Liverpool city centre. Over the coming months we went to meetings at this centre and by now 2 years had passed and when I heard they were looking for volunteers to help staff the patient information desk at the new Walton Centre I signed up “To give something back” a phrase you hear a lot in volunteering and so in September 1998 I went on an induction course and have been there ever since. My role has changed over the years, although I still volunteer, I now represent volunteers at staff meetings, write a newsletter, and write on our own blog and with my long association with The Walton Centre I have also become a hospital governor when it became a Foundation Trust in 2009. One of my other volunteering roles is that am a committee member for The Brain Haemorrhage Support Group a cause very close to my heart. To give my time and to help others in a similar situation, this has given me the greatest reward of all. So when our life changed in 1996 maybe things do happen for a reason who knows. What I do know is that every year we always enjoy the daffodils and remember.