News and Events 2023

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December:

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20th

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Hello all H&H Members 

The Christmas Group Meeting on 13th December was well attended.  Huge thanks to Stuart Vick and Dennis Crowe for leading the carols.  Sadly Brian Henderson was unable to accompany them on the keyboard but they were able to keep us all in tune.  We wish Brian a speedy recovery.  After hearty singing we tucked into Sherry with mince pies or Christmas cake  Congratulations to our raffle winners with the first prize of a £50 voucher, 2nd prize was a hamper of goodies and the 3rd prize was a bottle of whisky.  The other 17+ prizes were made up of either a bottle of spirits or bags containing a bottle of wine with either chocolates, biscuits or sweets (or some bags with all 3!).

 

Bromsgrove and Oakenshaw held their last classes on Friday 15th December. 

 

The last class of 2023 is tonight (Wednesday 20th) at St John the Evangelist Church Hall, Greenlands Avenue, Redditch B98 7PZ from 7pm to 8pm.  If any of the Bromsgrove and Oakenshaw Members would like to attend, Vicci will be more than happy to put you through your paces.  Don't forget your Christmas jumpers/hats etc.

 

We resume classes:

Greenlands - Wednesday 3rd January 7pm

Bromsgrove - Friday 5th January, 9.30am

Oakenshaw - Friday 5th January 1.30pm

 

On behalf of the H&H Committee we would like to sincerely like you all for supporting H&H during, what turned out to be, an unsettling year.  We are delighted that classes are back to normal with our fabulous Instructors, and look forward to seeing you in January to work off the extra turkey and mince pies. 

 

We hope that 2024 is a better year to our Members who have not had the best health this year.

 

Warmest wishes of good health to you all

H&H Committee

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13th - Christmas meeting - will be held at Easemore Road. 19:30

 

November: 

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Synopsis of latest newsletter: November 2023

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David Volrath is the new chairman of the club.

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Group Meetings for 2024 are as follows:

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​Wednesday 10th April 2024

Wednesday 26th June 2024

Wednesday 9th October 2024 (AGM)

Wednesday 11th December 2024 (Christmas)

Details of guest speakers will be announced nearer the dates.

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Dates for the last exercise classes before Christmas 2023.

 

Greenlands/St John’s - Wednesday 20th December

Bromsgrove - Friday 15th December

Oakenshaw - Friday 15th December

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Dates for the first exercise classes in 2024.

 

Greenlands/St Johns - Wednesday 3rd January 2024

Bromsgrove - Friday 5th January 2024

Oakenshaw - Friday 5th January 2024

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October:

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AGM Synopsis:

Club members attended the AGM.  The chairman read out a the minutes from the previous AGM in 2022, which were accepted as a true record.

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The chairman then gave a report on the years events .

 

The treasurer gave the annual financial report which showed funds recovering after the losses of previous years.

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The secretary then talked about the numbers attending each class, providing charts to show the attendance at each of the classes over the last year. 

 

Nigel Blake our chairman for the past year stepped down from the committee. All members wish to thank Nigel for his time, effort, shear doggedness in finding solutions to the myriad of issues thrown at him over the year. Some of the issues seemed insurmountable  at the time but Nigel and the committees hard work provided solutions to all of them. Thank You Nigel.

 

The rest of the committee agreed to stand for another year and were duly elected.

 

Tea, coffee and cakes provided an excellent end to the evening. 

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The AGM (11th October) and Christmas meeting (13th December) will be held at Easemore Road.

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4th - Free Heart Disease Education Evening: At Worcester Cricket Club,

WR2 4QQ, on the 4th October 2023 from 18:30 to 21:30

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- Heart disease development and risk factors

- Minimising the risk of heart disease

- Treatments of heart disease

- Living a healthy and active life after a cardiac event

- CPR and BHF fundraising in Worcs

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To book a place please contact -  jennydavisfitness@gmail.com

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11th AGM - Held at Easemore Road.

 

September:

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Due to Easemore road hall closing.

Starting from the 27th of September 2023 the Wednesday evening training class will move to St John the Evangelist Church Hall, Greenlands Ave, Greenlands, Redditch B98 7PZ. 

The class will be held at the same time, 19:00.

The hall has its own car park.

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August:

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John Mee's Funeral will take place at 11am on Monday the 7th of August at Redditch Crematorium.

 

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July:

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John Mee, a friend and colleague and long-time member of the Hale and Hearties,  passed away suddenly on Wednesday, 12 July. He had not been able to come to the classes for some time. 

When John attended the class he never stopped being a naughty boy. We cannot forget his constant stream of good-natured japes and jokes, always with his mischievous smile.  "It wasn't me," he would say. "It was him", whilst pointing his finger at a near-by innocent.

 

Jane often awarded a green sweater to a lucky individual, for a "notable performance." Came the day when John, inevitably, was handed the sweater. The next week a new lucky winner was unable to put it on, because the neck hole had been sewn up. I wonder who did that. 

 

John will be remembered for his zest for life and his natural friendliness.  And for always being a naughty boy. RIP

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Our bi-monthly meeting on the 12th July was a great success.  A good turnout with 42 people attending.  It was especially pleasing to welcome new members to their first Group Meeting.

 

We were engrossed by Dr Robin Taylor, Consultant Cardiologist at Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust.  In fact, some of us have been treated by him in the past, and indeed he seemed to remember us as well. He started by giving us an outline of his career from university to his current role as Consultant Cardiologist and how he, and a team of 15, work within the Trust.  As well as his role within the Trust he spoke about other cardiology areas he has a passion for and how they are building their in-house capacity.

 

Dr Taylor then outlined the progress of Cardiology over recent years and the new drugs and therapies which have been introduced recently. His depth of knowledge on this subject was astounding.  He also talked about the NHS, it's current issues and why there is reason for optimism going forward.

 

​We then had a questions and answer session which again showed his depth of knowledge on the subject. 

 

On behalf of everyone at Redditch Hale & Hearties, Nigel presented Dr Taylor with a small gift to thank him for his time.  We are delighted that he has volunteered to come back in the future to update the Group on new developments

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​Wednesday 12th 

 

It will soon be the Hale & Hearties Group Meeting - Wednesday 12th July.  Unfortunately Dr Routledge has had to postpone her talk to us but we are absolutely thrilled and delighted that Dr Robin Taylor, Cardiologist at the Alexandra Hospital is coming to speak to us.  I'm sure that some of us will know Dr Taylor in a personal capacity.  Dr Routledge has promised to come to another of our Group Meetings. 

 

 

May:

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17th: All classes have now resumed

 

 

13th: A big thank you to everyone attending yesterdays Extraordinary General Meeting held at Oakenshaw Community Centre.  Minutes of the meeting will be available soon.

 

We wanted to let you know, that we are absolutely delighted that classes will be resuming on Wednesday 17th May at Easemore Road and on Friday 19th May at Bromsgrove (9.30am) and Oakenshaw (1.30pm).  

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12th : we will be holding an Extraordinary General Meeting to which all Members are invited on Friday 12th May 2023 at Oakenshaw Community Centre, Castleditch Lane, Redditch B98 7YB at 1.00pm.

 

To help us with logistics, please confirm if you plan to attend.  Should you not be able to attend, full minutes of the EGM will be available shortly afterwards.

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April:

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Please note, until further notice ALL exercise classes are cancelled, this includes Fridays classes on the 14th April. An email from the committee will be sent out in the next few days to explain the situation.

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12th - An excellent meeting with 33 people attending inc. 30 exercise class members

The presentation explained what the company does and how to get involved with clinical trails should you wish to. More information is available from committee members. The existing trial is for people with high cholesterol, new drugs and combination drugs are being accessed in the trial.

 

Tam, a doctor with a cardiology background, explained where cholesterol comes from and the steps you can take to reduce it. Cholesterol is required in the body, it's excessive cholesterol which causes issues within the arteries of the heart.

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Tam also talked about the importance of controlling Diabetes. Diabetes has a detrimental effect on many organs in the body including the heart.

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Tam then answered questions, after which a queue formed to have a chat with her about personal circumstances.

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Our speaker for the bi-monthly meeting on the 12th is Future Meds, they will be talking about Cholesterol control medications. Future Meds is a clinical research and trials company.  

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March:

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Please see 'Save a Life' on the links page to take a 15 min CPR/Defib course on BHF website.

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January :

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The class at Oakenshaw on Friday 3rd February has been cancelled. 

New heating boilers are being installed.

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A Happy New year to all our members and their families.

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Just a reminder about possible symptoms of a transient ischaemic attack (TIA) - Mini Stroke. These equally apply to a full Stroke.

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 From NHS site:

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The main symptoms of a TIA/Stroke can be remembered with the word  'FAST':

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•  Face – the face may have dropped on 1 side, the person may not be   able to smile, or their mouth or eye may have dropped.

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• Arms – the person may not be able to lift both arms and keep them raised because of weakness or numbness in 1 arm.

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• Speech – their speech may be slurred or garbled, or the person may not be able to talk at all, despite appearing to be awake; they may also have problems understanding what you're saying to them.

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• Time – it's time to call 999 immediately if you see any of these signs or symptoms.

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2023 Restart dates

• Easemore Road – Wed. 4th January 2023

• Bromsgrove – Friday 6th January 2023

• Oakenshaw –  Friday 6th January 2023

 

Please note:

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Due to the declining exercise class numbers. From January 2023 there will be only one exercise class on Friday mornings (Bromsgrove)  at the scout hut. We have to do this for the club to remain financially viable going forward.

Should numbers pick up we will review this change at a later date.

 

The class will start at 09:30. 

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Bi-monthly meeting dates for 2023

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Wednesday 12th April 

Wednesday 12th July

Wednesday 11th October (AGM)

Wednesday 13th December

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