Alz Soc in Private Eye
- Thread starter hongkongsandy
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Hi Geraldine and a warm welcome to Talking Point.
You obviously have a lot of offer the forum so I hope that now you have found us, you will become a regular contributor.
Obviously, your first post was less than complimentary about the Society as you now find it, but that is OK as well. I did just want to mention, though, because it may not be apparent to a new user that the forum while hosted by the society is not an effective way to communicate with the society as the Introduction to our rules makes clear
I imagine you have the Society's contact details but here they are for anyone else:
http://www.alzheimers.org.uk/site/scripts/contact.php
You obviously have a lot of offer the forum so I hope that now you have found us, you will become a regular contributor.
Obviously, your first post was less than complimentary about the Society as you now find it, but that is OK as well. I did just want to mention, though, because it may not be apparent to a new user that the forum while hosted by the society is not an effective way to communicate with the society as the Introduction to our rules makes clear
I imagine you have the Society's contact details but here they are for anyone else:
http://www.alzheimers.org.uk/site/scripts/contact.php
Thanks
Hi Amy and Jennifer many thanks for your warm welcome.
Hope I can make some positive contributions to your forum discussions
Geraldine
Hi Amy and Jennifer many thanks for your warm welcome.
Hope I can make some positive contributions to your forum discussions
Geraldine
I have only just read this thread today as I see it was hibernating for a while and has only just resurfaced. I feel very sad that the AS has come to this. When my mother started acting on a peculiar fashion, imagining things etc. etc - you all know the signs - I don't need to go into details - we were told that she had Alzheimer's Disease. We had never heard of it - it was 1979.
We had no-one to turn to and I remember being absolutely distraught on many occasions. I had no idea why my mother, an intelligant, beautiful and loving person, was behaving as she was.
What I would have given for the opportunity to contact someone - anyone- who could help me. Some years later I saw a stand at a fete for the AS and I spoke to the person there and said how much I would have appreciated such an organization at that time.
Now that I am going through a similar time with my husband, I am so grateful that it does exist. It may not be perfect and I realise that much of the criticism may be warranted, but, for all that, we are extremely fortunate to have it.
Hi Geraldine – and welcome. It is good to have someone here who knows first hand of the ‘allegations’ raised in national publications. I may seem to criticise and challenge. It is not an end in itself. I am passionate about dementia care and for some years now always seen AS as the front runner in providing that in the UK – (although my mother gained no direct support as there was no local AS branch near us to begin with!) but when my loyalty is ’hanging by a thread’ – I do like to have answers. And I do like them to be public.
I, too, have questioned the fund-raising from the Tesco initiatives ... I am still waiting to be enlightened on how so much money is to be spent on Roadshows promoting services when so many services have been cut? Like, why not use the money instead to directly provide the services – plug the gaps that are being opened up - news of which would get round ‘like wildfire’ locally from SS/other charities/word of mouth without ‘investing’ hard earned cash and donations in launching such events to promote what isn’t there? (Or only now there at cost for those who can afford it?)
If only one good thing has come out of this, is that people, like myself, know if we wish to donate primarily to research we know which organisation to choose. I would also like to see – if TP and online support is clearly the ‘flagship’ it seems for AS – that isolated carers (and sufferers of course who might still be able to access the www) are enabled to access it. (Recycling laptops etc as other charities do, one example).
Constructive criticism, one hopes, leads to creative thinking? Especially in these days of ‘austerity measures’ when every hard-earned penny has to count? It is increasingly important, IMHO, that if they wish to secure on-going support, ALL charities are transparent about their spend, let alone that they conduct themselves and treat their volunteers with the grace and respect they deserve?
Refraining from responding in a positive fashion to allegations or negative publicity is NOT helping the cause and only triggers more scepticism and concerns which will inevitably drive more supporters away?
Regards, (a concerned) Karen, x
I, too, have questioned the fund-raising from the Tesco initiatives ... I am still waiting to be enlightened on how so much money is to be spent on Roadshows promoting services when so many services have been cut?
Like, why not use the money instead to directly provide the services – plug the gaps that are being opened up - news of which would get round ‘like wildfire’ locally from SS/other charities/word of mouth without ‘investing’ hard earned cash and donations in launching such events to promote what isn’t there? (Or only now there at cost for those who can afford it?)If only one good thing has come out of this, is that people, like myself, know if we wish to donate primarily to research we know which organisation to choose. I would also like to see – if TP and online support is clearly the ‘flagship’ it seems for AS – that isolated carers (and sufferers of course who might still be able to access the www) are enabled to access it. (Recycling laptops etc as other charities do, one example).
Constructive criticism, one hopes, leads to creative thinking?
Especially in these days of ‘austerity measures’ when every hard-earned penny has to count? It is increasingly important, IMHO, that if they wish to secure on-going support, ALL charities are transparent about their spend, let alone that they conduct themselves and treat their volunteers with the grace and respect they deserve?Refraining from responding in a positive fashion to allegations or negative publicity is NOT helping the cause and only triggers more scepticism and concerns which will inevitably drive more supporters away?
Regards, (a concerned) Karen, x
Thanks for the welcome Karen. I agree entirely with all your comments. The volunteers, most of whom are carers and ex carers, are the backbone for dementia support across the country. I never ceased to be awed by the many hours they dedicate to helping others to find their way through the nightmare of dementia.
I just came across this thread today - I usually only look at the main carers support board, but browsed around a bit in the new layout - and haven't had the stamina to read the whole thing. Just in case people are still wanting to see the accounts etc, they are all at the Charity Commission website, follow this link to go direct to AS: http://www.charity-commission.gov.u...steredCharityNumber=296645&SubsidiaryNumber=0 . Look at the left of the page to "view accounts".
Did anyone find a link to a copy of the actual Eye article? I don't see Private Eye and don't know how far I'd have to go to find a public library with a back set of it. Just wondered whether anyone with a helpfully cavalier approach to copyright law had scanned it in anywhere or transcribed it! Pam
Did anyone find a link to a copy of the actual Eye article? I don't see Private Eye and don't know how far I'd have to go to find a public library with a back set of it. Just wondered whether anyone with a helpfully cavalier approach to copyright law had scanned it in anywhere or transcribed it! Pam
There are some extracts from the Eye article at http://careintheuk.wordpress.com/2011/03/18/alzheimers-society-a-peculiar-kind-of-charity/, which also comments on the abolition of branches: interesting to see that the definition of the AS's activities on the Charity Commission site says " THE SOCIETY PROVIDES DAY CARE, HOME CARE, DEMENTIA AND CARER SUPPORT, BEFRIENDING AND ADVOCACY SERVICES THROUGH A NETWORK OF 260 BRANCHES. ". Maybe someone in HQ should update the Commission.
AS local staff I was talking to while rattling my collecting bucket on Friday for the BIG collection told me that they'd been ordered not to try to do any recruiting locally (eg contacting people who go to the carers group) as it was all being done nationally. One local Tesco's had no collection on the Saturday through lack of volunteers, another had problems with people not turning up on Fri, possibly through centralised communication breakdowns. Sad.
Pam
AS local staff I was talking to while rattling my collecting bucket on Friday for the BIG collection told me that they'd been ordered not to try to do any recruiting locally (eg contacting people who go to the carers group) as it was all being done nationally. One local Tesco's had no collection on the Saturday through lack of volunteers, another had problems with people not turning up on Fri, possibly through centralised communication breakdowns. Sad.
Pam
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