Survey of Good Neighbours' Exercise Classes

Good Neighbours gets funding for its weekly exercise sessions with the Getting Active Through Exercise (GATE) Project. These sessions take place on Mondays (1.30 pm),  Wednesdays (1.30pm) and Fridays at 10.00am.

In order to evaluate how useful these sessions are to participants Good Neighbours and GATE cooperated in carrying out a survey of those who attend these classes. A full report of this survey and those carried out at GATE funded exercise classes elsewhere in Manchester will be published late, but the initial findings from the CGN survey are now available

Nearly all the  replies gathered through the survey exercise were extremely positive, and has shown that the GATE project classes are a well received, popular service of benefit to the attendees of the classes taking place at Chorlton Good Neighbours. 54 filled in questionnaires out of a possible 65, which is a high response rate (84%)

Attendees ages ranged from 65 to 96, with the average age being 79 which shows you are never too old to exercise

One if four got to the sessions by transport provided by CGN, without which they would have been unable to attend. Many thanks to the volunteer drivers who make this possible

The respondents reported that as a result of attending the classes they had

• confidence in preparing or cooking a light meal (54%)
• increased confidence in walking round the house (53%)
• Confidence doing light housework (48%)
• Confidence going out to do light shopping (41%)

In order of importance they rated the following benefits of coming to the classes:

• greater flexibility (28%)
• spending time with others (17%)
• decreased joint pain (12%)
• greater confidence (11%)
• decreased muscle pain (8%)
• improved strength (7%)
• better sleep (6%)
• increased motivations and more energy (5%)

A large number of respondents have reported increased levels of activity, increased and prolonged mobility and increased confidence in their mobility levels, directly as a result of attending and participating in the GATE project exercise classes.

Also, a large number of respondents have reported that attending the classes has improved their sense of wellbeing, improved their social lives and helped combat feelings of isolation and loneliness. This anecdotal reporting of improved wellbeing and by default, improved mental health, cannot be underestimated and is extremely valuable information for both service providers and commissioners.

Video of WW2 Event at Chorlton Good Neighbours

Video of WW2 Event at Chorlton Good Neighbours, Feb 7th 2013

A video of the World War 2 Event at Chorlton Good Neighbours, celebrating 4 local WW2 veterans. The video show the build up to the event and the presentations to the two arctic convoy veterans, Bob Cowan & John Mackay, In addition,  Mickie Mitchell the petrol lorry driver and Alan Wood the fighter pilot, were also honoured at this event

Full versions of the videos shown at the event can be viewed online at:

Alan Wood: Fighter Pilot with coastal command, Banff Strike wing

Mickie Mitchell: She served in the army and then the Fire Service in Manchester during the blitz

John Mackay is another Arctic Convoy veteran who lives in Chorlton. Here is a video where he talks about his experiences on HMS Keppel in the Arctic Convoys

Bob Cowan: the World War Two Arctic Convoys and the Chorlton Good Neighbours campaign to get the British Government to allow veterans like Bob to received the medal of Ushakov from the Russian Government

Chorlton's Arctic Convoy veterans on Granada TV

Granada TV Tribute to Chorlton Good Neighbour's  World War 2 veterans

Local TV broadcast a short video of the event held on Feb7th at the Good Neighbours History Group meeting . Paul Crone of Granada TV interviewed the two Arctic Convoy veterans present - Chorlton Good Neighbours regular, Bob Cowan and John Mackay who we recently found out lived just down the road from Bob, but the two had never previously met

Report by Paul Crone

John Mackay and Bob Cowan talking to each other at the event

Some of the audience at the meeting

Bob Cowan & WW2 Arctic Convoys

Bob Cowan and the World War Two Arctic Convoys

Bob Cowan, 93, and his wife Joyce are regulars at Chorlton Good Neighbours coffee mornings. One day last year he came in with a letter from the Russian Embassy in London, telling him they wanted to award him and other veterans the medal of Ushakov in recognition of their role in supporting Russian through their participation in the WW2 Arctic Convoys.

I followed this up and eventually found out from the Russian embassy that they were being prevented from giving the medal by the UK government because it was against the rules. We then mounted a campaign to get the government to change its mind and allow the awarding of the medal. This resulted in a front page article in the Manchester Evening News, articles in the Daily Mail and an interview on Granada Reports



The wider campaign to have an Arctic Convoy medal issued by the UK government gathered momentum because of this story and eventually the Prime Minister, David Cameron, announced in PM Questions just before Christmas 2012, that such a medal would be awarded. However, the medal of Ushakov can still not be awarded and the fight to allow the Russian Government to award this still goes on

[youtube=http://youtu.be/23s0BywHGzg]

The  video above includes descriptions by Bob of what it was like to be in the Arctic Convoys and to have been rescued from the water after being on a ship (HMS Mashona) that was sunk. He also describes his experiences on the Malta convoys. Bob went on to serve in the Pacific campaign, to have been present at the surrender of Japan and to have walked through Hiroshima shortly after the Atomic Bomb.

The campaign to have the Arctic Convoy veterans contribution to the defence of this country in WWs is described in a clip from his interview with Granada TV in October 2013. This campaign which was supported and promoted by Bob's friends at Chorlton Good Neighbours, was successful when the Prime Minister in PM Questions Time in December 2013, announced the awarding of an Arctic Convoy medal for the remaining veterans

Bob Cowan, 4^th from right, with shipmates onboard the HMS Ashanti off Iceland, 1942

Alan Wood - WW2 Fighter pilot

Alan Wood: World War Two Fighter Pilot

Alan Wood, 90, is a regular at Chorlton Good Neighbours but not many are aware of what a remarkable WW2 record that Alan has. Alan was at Manchester University in 1939 and whilst there joined the University Air Squadron. He was called up in July 1942 and went into training for the RAF. During this period he flew Mosquitos and Spitfires but when he was assigned to the Coastal command  Banff Strike wing in Scotland he flew beaufighters and mosquitos



It was during this time that he was shot down in the North Sea and spent four days adrift in a one-man dinghy until being spotted quite by chance by and Air Sea rescue member whilst they were out looking for someone else

                 

Alan Wood - WW2 Fighter pilotBanff strike wing main role was to attack German shipping off Norway and in the Fjords. Alan didn't talk at all about his war experiences to his wife Joan until 50 years later and with great sadness of the many young airmen who died. In one raid 23 planes went out and only 3 returned

This video starts with Joan Wood talking about her husband Alan and his experiences in WW2 when he was a young fighter pilot. There is then an excerpt from an RAF film about Banff Strike Wing where Alan was based

Mosquito aircraft in at low level attacking two  armed merchantmen In Norwegian Fjord with cannon and rocket fire, 4th April 1945

Mickie Mitchell in WW2

Mickie Mitchell in WW2

Mickie Mitchell from Chorlton , now aged 95, and a regular at Chorlton Good Neighbours served in the army and then the Fire Service in Manchester during the second world war. Here she talks about her growing up in Manchester and the Moravian settlement in Fulneck, Leeds (where a fellow pupil was Leonard Hutton, the cricketer).

She then goes on to recount her time in the fire service in Manchester during the air raids over the city and at Salford docks

Mickie driving a lorry during the war

Mickie in uniform at sea

New Year's Lunch

Les Jones singing at the New Year's Party held on Tues Jan 8th 2013. Les stepped into the breach when the entertainers who had been booked, called off at the last minute as one of their number was taken to hospital.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to all our supporters. We are having a New Year's lunch on Tuesday 8th January, midday for some of our older members who have spent the majority of Christmas on their own.

A couple of requests to help us out:

1. Has anybody got any Christmas crackers (unused!) that they can spare for the lunch
   


2. If you have any unwanted Christmas presents and wish to recycle them please could you bring them into the office and if they are chocolates, the office staff will enjoy them very much! But seriously, any unused gifts will be used as raffle prizes at the New Year's lunch

With best wishes to you all,

Helen

Denise's Leaving Party in 1988

Clips from a video made by Ian Hobbs in 1988 of Denise Jones's Leaving Party. Denise was leaving Chorlton Good Neighbours to go and live in South Wales. Included in these clips are Helen, Enid and Arthur who are all still active in Chorlton Good Neighbours but unsurprisingly look a little bit younger in this video!

Arthur, wheelchair support worker

Arthur Brandreth has been the wheelchair support worker at Chorlton Good Neighbours

 for more than 10 years, come rain or shine. He retires this week (01-04-2011). 

This video shows him, and Amanda who is taking over his role, taking Eileen out to the shops. This is Eileen's first time out and about for 2 months since coming out of hospital.