A New Role for the Telephone Box on The Street

It’s been repaired and repainted, but looks rather forlorn having lost its purpose in life.   Some communities have turned their phone boxes into mini-information centres, as shown in the photos.  Why not get creative while you’re stuck at home and sketch out some ideas for doing something similar with ours?  To get you started, they might include:

·         a map of the parish

·         Stinchcombe’s history

·         walks and cycle rides (QR codes to get full details?)

·         advertisements for Stinchcombe businesses, groups or events

·         a showcase for local artists, craftspeople and even poets

Don’t restrict yourself though – anything that celebrates Stinchcombe and is useful and/or interesting to locals and visitors could be considered. 

The Cotswold AONB Sustainable Development Fund is a possible source of funding. Suggestions for other sources would be welcome.  

Please send your outline designs/funding ideas to enews for publication late May.

Gloucestershire’s community help hub gains over 2,000 volunteers in the first week

The hub is supported by Gloucestershire County Council who gather requests for support, review the data and pass it to the relevant district, borough or city council. They will then match the volunteers with requests for support to ensure people get what they need as quickly as possible.

Cllr Mark Hawthorne, leader of Gloucestershire County Council, said, “We are delighted by the generosity and willingness of our communities. Volunteers are coming forward in great numbers to offer support. Please continue to get involved if you can and together we will beat this.”

The majority of requests are for help with errands for those that cannot physically leave the house and are mainly for shopping deliveries.

To access the hub go to www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/helphub

Those unable to access a web form can contact the service by telephone 01452 583519. The lines are open Monday to Friday 8am – 8pm and Saturday to Sunday 9am-4pm. This is a priority telephone line for people who need help or are volunteering, please do not use it for reporting other issues. There is no need to register in advance. 

Those who have already volunteered should be aware that it may take a few days for your local council to get in touch due to the amazing response so far.

Get coronavirus support as a clinically extremely vulnerable person

If you have a medical condition which makes you extremely vulnerable to coronavirus (COVID-19), register and tell us whether or not you need support.

You may have received a letter from the NHS telling you that you’re clinically extremely vulnerable, or been contacted by your GP or hospital clinician. If this has not happened by Monday 30 March, contact your GP or clinician after you register with this service.

It may take time for any support offered through this service to arrive. Wherever possible you should continue to rely on friends, family and wider support to help you meet your needs.

You can register yourself, or on behalf of someone else.

What do we mean by extremely vulnerable?

People falling into this extremely vulnerable group include:

1. Solid organ transplant recipients.
2. People with specific cancers:
   • people with cancer who are undergoing active chemotherapy or radical radiotherapy for lung cancer
   • people with cancers of the blood or bone marrow such as leukaemia, lymphoma or myeloma who are at any stage of treatment
   • people having immunotherapy or other continuing antibody treatments for cancer
   • people having other targeted cancer treatments which can affect the immune system, such as protein kinase inhibitors or PARP inhibitors
   • people who have had bone marrow or stem cell transplants in the last 6 months, or who are still taking immunosuppression drugs
3. People with severe respiratory conditions including all cystic fibrosis, severe asthma and severe COPD.
4. People with rare diseases and inborn errors of metabolism that significantly increase the risk of infections (such as SCID, homozygous sickle cell).
5. People on immunosuppression therapies sufficient to significantly increase risk of infection.
6. Women who are pregnant with significant heart disease, congenital or acquired.

https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/covid-confirmed-cases-since-100th-case?country=GBR

Which Countries are “Flattening the Curve”?

So, everyone talks about “Flattening the Curve” where the number of new cases slow down over time, but which are and which are not! Today’s link takes you to a chart which is kept up to date showing exactly that. The most successful being Japan, South Korea and China.

It also shows where the United States is still completely out of control with cases doubling every 2.5 days. Already they have had more cases than China and Germany combined.

I just LOVE this, and I want to hear everyone singing it!

Smiling Is Infectious
Author Unknown

Smiling is infectious,
you catch it like the flu,
When someone smiled at me today,
I started smiling too.

I passed around the corner
and someone saw my grin.
When he smiled I realized
I’d passed it on to him.

I thought about that smile,
then I realized its worth.
A single smile, just like mine
could travel round the earth.

So, if you feel a smile begin,
don’t leave it undetected.
Let’s start an epidemic quick,
and get the world infected!

Our
worship video is now up on Facebook and YouTube (slight delay on YouTube!)

Links here:
https://youtu.be/wSpbWEg9Ecg
https://www.facebook.com/StGeorgeCam/videos/1396000567252437/

There will be coffee after church at 10.30am here: https://zoom.us/j/849505957 until about
11.15 am. 

God bless you all