Our services are provided for all older people in Bromyard and District. 

Find out more about our Organisation; discover what Services we offer; make a Donation; see what Volunteering Opportunities we offer.

A New Site for Spring

We moved on 1st April 2010 to:

1 Rowberry Street, Bromyard, Herefordshire HR7 4DU

T 01885 483483

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Disability Access for Visitors

Our new premises at the Council offices in Bromyard are fully accessible via the Community Transport entrance. 

Home visits can be offered for adults with additional needs or without transport. These appointments need to be  pre-booked.  Please note: benefits home visits with our specialist Information Officer are offered only on Wednesdays. Volunteers delivering benefits home visits will arrange a mutually convenient time.

News!

Energize

We are delighted to have launched our new T'ai Chi classes for adults who have had a fall or are afraid of falling in the house or outside.  The Programme is funded by Awards for All, the Big Lottery Fund. The classes began on 17th November at the New Public Hall, Bromyard and will be followed in January by classes at Bishops Frome.  We need lots more willing adults to join. Energize will also offer energy and benefits information and advice for older adults across the District. For more information contact us on 01885 483483.

JR Computer Clinics

We are delighted to be sponsored by JR Computer Clinics. This local specialist firm will be based once monthly on site to give clients free technical advice on a range of IT problems, and to offer booked, charged appointments for longer enquiries and home visits.  Supplies can also be ordered.

JR Computer Clinic has supplied IT equipment to Age Concern Bromyard & District since 2006 and provides our technical support.

Why not come along?

Call 01885 483483 for details.

Graduate Advantage: New Faces at ACBD

We are delighted to host new graduates under the Graduate Advantage Scheme each year, and to offer opportunities for other undergraduates looking for work experience in the Voluntary Sector. Most of our placements work as Information Officers and Project Researchers. This year we have been joined by Ginny Howells (University of Oxford), Victoria Jenner (Manchester Metropolitan University) and Daniel Savagar (University of Aberystwyth).  Thank you to all our student placements for excellent work this year and 'good luck'!

Herefordshire Gateway          

Are you using the Herefordshire Gateway to find local services or refer to local services? Whether you are a service user or one of our local service providers, why not join us at www.herefordshiregateway.org or call our freephone number on 0800 195 4550.

The Herefordshire Gateway is a joint Age Concerns Herefordshire initiative and is supported by generous funding from the Lloyds TSB Foundation for England & Wales.

Reviewing a Year of Community Fundraising 

Pencombe and Little Cowarne WI Fundraising

Thank you to the ladies of Pencombe and Little Cowarne WI for a wonderful donation of £500 for our Information & Advice services. This was a tremendous effort and many congratulations to all those involved in achieving such an astonishing amount.

St Andrews, Bredenbury

Well done to all at St Andrews Church, Bredenbury who raised a splendid £289.60 in their 'Cheese and Wine' evening. The money was used to support our Footcare Programme. 

Mile of Pennies - 6th June

Sponsored Walk - 15th May 

Summer seems a long time ago now but Age Concerns' sponsored walkers from the two counties managed the length of the Malvern Hills.  Our team raised £230 to support our central drop-in centre.    

Projects for 2010

Moneywise Drop-in Finance Clinic

We offer regular drop-in finance clinics at our offices in Broad Street under funding from the Nationwide Foundation.  Appointments should be pre-booked.

What difference could it make?

During 2008 and 2009 our staff managed to secure over £240,000 in unclaimed benefits and taxation work on behalf of clients in the District.  Without advice, many older adults are not receiving their entitlement.

Do you or a family member need help this year with:

• Personal taxation including tax returns

•  Pensions and pensions credit

•  Housing and council tax benefit

•  Unemployment benefits:  Employment Support Allowance, Job Seeker's Allowance, Income Support & Incapacity Benefit

• Disability benefits: Attendance Allowance, Disability living allowance, Carer's allowance

• Specialist benefits: War Widow's or War Widower's Pension, War Disablement Pension, War Pensions Constant Attendance Allowance

For more information please contact us on

01885 483 483 or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Rural Care Rural Choice

This exciting programme is funded by Age Concern England. It brings together the work of Age Concerns Bromyard, Leominster & District and Services for Independent Living.

The Programme offers advice and support for older adults eligible for individual budgets and direct payments.

Self-directed support can be a challenge, particularly for older adults. Whilst adults want to be able to choose who provides their support, when and how, becoming an employer rather than using an agency can seem formidable. We aim to make the choices easier.

If you have had a social care assessment and been offered self-directed support, why not consider taking control and opting for an individual budget?

For further information please contact Jo Wells on 01885 483483 or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Housebound: but can you help?

Welcome to Karen Bunce our new Project Officer who joins us in January 2010 to spearhead our vital House Bound programme.

Karen urgently needs your help to support our increasing number of older adults living alone and needing company for an hour once weekly/fortnightly. 

Our House Bound Scheme is funded generously for five years by the Big Lottery Fund and is receiving a high number of referrals. We need more willing volunteers to help us meet demand. Whether you would like to volunteer because you are training in a related area, want to use volunteering whilst looking for work or have an hour weekly you could spare, we would love to hear from you.  You could be living near someone you are unaware is isolated, whether in the outlying villages or the market town.

The only skill you really need is an ability to listen.  We will train you to offer the right level of support, and we can offer specialist training too, from dementia awareness to working towards befriending accreditation.

Why not make 2010 the Year of Befriending? 

Call Karen Bunce on 01885 483483   

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Footcare Scheme  

We run a nail-cutting service for older, frail adults unable to independent nail cut. This service is delivered on site by a trained volunteer.  Our programme is funded by support from the Stella Symons Charitable Trust and the Longueville Trust.

If you would like to discuss joining, or volunteering, on our Footcare Scheme please contact 01885 483483

Pictures to Share

We are delighted to have been awarded a grant from the Paycare Charity to allow us to buy stocks of Pictures to Share. These wonderful books are for use in our House Bound programme where volunteers may be working with adults with dementia and age-related memory or other communication loss.

Pictures to Share Community Interest Company is a small social enterprise publishing innovative and high quality illustrated books for people with dementia. These books encourage high quality communication and provide an easy and enjoyable activity for people with dementia and their carers or relatives to share.

The company was founded by Helen Bate, whose own mother had dementia. Since 2004 funding has been received from a number of organizations and Pictures to Share is currently sponsored by the Andrews Charitable Trust.

The books in the Pictures to share range are compiled after extensive research by another social enterprise called ‘Innovations in Dementia’, who carry out trials to ensure the right images are selected.  The research is undertaken with people in care homes and day centres and has allowed Pictures to share to build up significant expertise in understanding what type of images positively engage those with dementia.

The books are now used in hundreds of care homes, libraries and other organizations across the UK and they are now also being sold in the USA and Australia.

Funders

Age Concern Bromyard & District is supported by generous funding from the following organisations:

•  Age Concern England - Help the Aged

• Bromyard Bowmen Charity

• Bromyard Thursday Market Refreshments (WI)

• EON Energy Right

• Eveson Trust

• Google

• St Andrews Church, Bredenbury

• The Albert Hunt Trust

• The Clive Richards Charity

• The Drapers' Company

• The Eveson Trust

• The Lloyds TSB Foundation for England & Wales

• The Longueville Trust 

• The Paycare Charity 

• The Sir Jules Thorn Charitable Trust

• The Stella Symons Charitable Trust

• The Truemark Trust

Quality Assurance

We hold Age Concern the federation's Quality Counts .

Recruitment of Volunteers and Trustees

Volunteers are vital to our work. Without their help we would not be able to deliver services to so many older adults living in a rural community.  We are currently recruiting both new Volunteers and new Trustees.  Volunteers are particularly needed to help deliver Information & Advice work, as befrienders for our House Bound visiting service, for our Footcare Scheme and to help us with benefits applications during home visits. Please see our Volunteering pages for further details.

We are also recruiting new expertise to our Executive Committee. If you are able to commit six evenings a year to become a Trustee, your help and specialist knowledge would be most welcome. We would be delighted to hear from adults of any age who are sympathetic to the needs of older adults. We particularly welcome potential trustees from currently under-represented groups, and prospective trustees with experience working in the public sector. 

If you feel you would like to contribute your time and talents to our Charity, please contact Lynne Wilkins, Chair, Age Concern Bromyard & District, 5 Broad Street, Bromyard HR7 4BS