Written by Chard Carers Support Group

ON APRIL 8 the Chard Carers’ Support Group regular get-together had our usual exchange of views over tea and biscuits, sharing some of the ups and downs of our lives and looking at local news.

We then spent some time talking about a slight alteration to the activities of the Village Agents; we will soon have an agent dedicated to the unpaid carers so will be able to get more help from that quarter - however, for the moment, the invaluable work of our local agent will continue as usual.

We welcomed Cath Holloway, the Carers Support Development Worker from Community Council for Somerset (CCS) who dropped in for tea.

Cath’s visit was very timely as the Commitment to Carers 2024 has just been released and Cath and Kate, a group member who has been at a number of the meetings involved in the preparation of this latest report, took the group through a brief summary as it applies to our local groups.

The full report is not a quick read but the main focus is of course to prioritise support for unpaid carers.

A couple of local items of immediate note are there will be a reintroduction of Carers Champions at Ariel Healthcare and the establishment of a ‘carer aware’ culture in the town – similar to the dementia aware scheme.

One of the most important ideals in the report was, of course, to listen to and make use of local knowledge, ensuring that the invaluable know-how of residents is acted upon.

Anyone wishing to get hold of a copy of the report can email: commissioningteammailbox@somerset.gov.uk or, if you prefer, telephone 0300 123 2224.

Pat, Kate, Vivien, and Bryan took part in the St George’s Day Dragon Parade on behalf of the group on April 21.

One of our members dressed as a dragon and had a worrying moment avoiding the young man dressed as St George but fortunately no injuries were sustained by either party.

The next meeting will be on Monday, May 13 when Trina from the Alzheimer’s Society will be visiting to update us on activities and also to address concerns of members who are caring for those with any sort of dementia.

As ever our main aim is support to carers of people with diverse physical and mental health problems and we can offer emotional and practical support – if we don’t know the answer, we know people who do – to local unpaid carers as well as providing a welcoming space to meet friends and socialise.

We are a friendly and welcoming group offering friendship to all unpaid carers for some good conversation and respite for a couple of hours each month.

If you would like more information about the group, please ring Pat on 01460 220026 or Kate on 10460 394331 for a chat, email us at chardcarers@aol.com or have a look at our Facebook page for updates on activities.

Meetings are on the second Monday of every month (except in June this year) at the hall behind the English Martyrs Church at the traffic lights in Chard.