(Valley Plus)
Marlow BottomA lively and enthusiastic gathered at the Methodist Chapel, 148 Marlow Bottom (Map) on the 7th of February. This was the first meeting of the Marlow Bottom OPAG and 30 residents attended. Those present were very taken with the concept of OPAGs and had plenty of ideas of their own on how such an organisation might be useful. Many felt that one of its greatest benefits would be as a means of networking; passing onto each other information likely to be of use. First meeting held in January 2005.
Three people were present have already taken up to projects put forward by Sheila Davies, Health Promotion Coordinator for Wycombe District Council. One was the pilot Wycombe Community Link Course, where volunteers were trained to help members of the community access services from Health, Social Care and the District Council. The second project was training to provide interviewing skills for volunteers to participate in Discovery Interviews with older people to find out about their experience of recently being discharged from hospital to improve services. This was such an encouraging start that it seems certain that MBOPAG will flourish. Now called Valley Plus the group has a committee and plenty of support in the area.
What's going on at the Valley Plus, the OPAG for Marlow Bottom?
We are now well into our second year and have a paid up membership of 82. Monthly meetings have covered retirement planning, air ambulance, community policing, parish and district councils and stroke prevention.
Our Activities Fair in May (2008) was supported by 30 local organisations and attended by 200 or more people. As an action group we have taken up local concerns about road flooding with the county council, the management of local woods with the Woodland Trust and the reorganising of the hospital services. In this latter manner we have joined with Marlow OPAG officers in two public meetings and a private meeting with our MP and the Shadow Health Minister at Westminster. To follow up on this we have organised a Health Forum in October. The Primary Care Trust and Hospital Trust will participate along with local pharmacist, dentist (La Perla Clinic) and Nexus who run leisure centres. Paul Goodman MP will chair the meeting
Meetings 2010: (all meetings begin at 2.00pm and are held at the Methodist Chapel in Marlow Bottom, SL7 3PP Venue Map.The first 30 minutes are for general business,followed by a speaker and then refreshments) |
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 20 January 2010 )
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