Phone a friend with OAP forum (From Basingstoke Gazette)
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Phone a friend with OAP forum
9:00am Wednesday 20th March 2013 in Andover
AN ANDOVER organisation will launch a scheme to help older people find services in their villages.
The Andover and District Older People’s Forum is behind three Phone a Friend Village Information Directories, which will go live at its AGM on 25 April.
The initiative followed the forum’s Question Time event last May when older people expressed concerns about rural transport and isolation plus a lack of information for those without computers about help available to keep them living independently in their own home.
Extended The village areas chosen for the pilot study for directories are Vernham Dean, Faccombe, Linkenholt and Upton, Tangley, Hatherden and Wildher and Hurstbourne Tarrant, Ibthorpe and Upton.
The voluntary initiative is supported by parish councils, who will ensure that all residents receive a copy, while printing costs have been sponsored by small matched grants from Hampshire County councillors Pam Mutton and David Drew, along with Test Valley Borough councillor Peter Giddings and a contribution from the Older People’s Forum itself.
The pilot initiative can also be extended to other villages of northern Test Valley if parish councils express their interest.
For more information, email Mollie Antrobus at mantrobus@btinternet.com.
