People are always asking us!
Dear Positive Ageing Council member,
I hope you are well and enjoying the first signs of Spring (even though it’s raining today!). I am writing to let you know about our next meeting and other news.
Date of next Public meeting
We are sorry that, due to the Lewisham and London Mayoral elections, we are not able to run the public meeting, which had been announced as 14th March. The next POSAC public meeting will be on July 4th, 11.00 am – 1.00 pm at the Civic Suite, Catford. We will email you nearer the time with a reminder. We are also planning a Summer newsletter, which we aim to circulate in June.
Buses, trains and Dial-a-Ride
The Positive Ageing team continue to push for improvements to public transport, especially buses as we know many of you mainly use these. Following our meeting last summer when we had Josh Freestone along from Transport for London to listen to your issues, we pressed TfL for a response. We received a detailed email from Erin Klein answering various questions, in particular regarding the start time for Freedom pass and over 60’s Oyster cards. See below:
Response from Transport for London:
In response to your query on 60+ Oysters and Freedom Passes for hospital appointments before 9am, we removed this concession to Londoners - which is not available in the rest of the UK - as part of our efforts to meet the conditions for financial sustainability set by Government during and following the Covid-19 pandemic.
While we recognise that it may not be possible for Londoners to rearrange early medical appointments, there are NHS schemes in place to help patients with costs such as the Healthcare Travel Costs Scheme and the NHS Low Income Scheme.
Erin also responded in detail to a specific query about travel from the Brockley area to Lewisham hospital - please email me at laura.luckhurst@lewisham.gov.uk if you would like a copy as it is too long to include here.
Please note though, that you are entitled to use the Freedom pass/60+ Oyster from 9.00 am (not 9.30 am as is sometimes said).
Our friends in AgeUK Lewisham and Southwark, and other Lewisham community groups also continue to work hard together to sort out the recent problems with Dial-a-Ride bookings. TfL have acknowledged that there have been problems, and say they are working to resolve these. A meeting is expected to take place between TfL and AgeUK London shortly, and we await the outcomes of this.
Lewisham Warm Welcomes – still open till 31 March!
To support individuals affected by increased living costs in Winter, community centres, libraries, faith groups and more, offer drop-in spaces free of charge where they provide hot drinks, some hot food, social activities and additional support. You can see a full list of the warm welcomes here:
https://www.lewishamlocal.com/lewisham-warm-welcomes/ (scroll down to the bottom of the page for the full list).
Community Connections
Community Connections is there to help people find and access the services, support, activities and groups in their local community, which can help improve their health, wellbeing and happiness. If you are looking for a service, support, activity or group to join, you can call them on:
0330 058 3464
Or you can email: communityconnections@ageuklands.org.uk
Are you a professional or group leader working with older people?
Community Connections has created a Directory of 1,000 activities and groups in Lewisham. To gain access to this and learn to use it, please get in touch.
Thank you for reading. I hope you have found this email interesting. If you no longer wish to receive these emails, please reply with the words “REMOVE POSAC” in the subject line.
Kind regards,
Laura
Laura LuckhurstCommunity Development Officer
Cultural and Community Development ServiceLondon Borough of Lewisham
020 8314 3830
Mob: 07392 860155Email laura.luckhurst@lewisham.gov.uk