Pugwash

If you leave employment voluntarilly, you can be refused JSA. My husband was retired on ill health grounds at age of 58, he applied for Employment Support Allowance as he has a recognised long standing mental health issues and had been off sick in past 3 years for 18 months. He was refused ESA and has to sign on fortnightly, but is not eligible to receive any benefits as he has a small occupational pension. The Job Centre, knowing his disability, and have had sight of his medical papers from Maudsley/SLAM/Occupational health, still insist that he looks for full time work even though medical opinion is that any work he might get should be part time. He has been trying for over a year to get a part time job. You do not give your age but would retraining be an option?. I retrained at the age of 40 and got a professional qualification which has led me into fantastic jobs ( experience wise) I have now been in my present job 16 years and each day is different. An employer has a responsibility for their employees health and if your work is causing you extreme stress, you need to see if you can change it for another position within the same company in the first instance. Do you belong to a union beacause if the job is that bad, you may need to seek expert opinion. Try looking at Adult Education - (easier said than done) to see if you can increase your skill base by attending evening classes etc.

I did most of my learning to drive in the Beckenham area as wide roads and quiet. I too have been taken to a supermarket car park to learn to park in restricted place. Was during the evening and we only spent about 10/15 mins there at any one time.

Every local social service dept has a budget for it's residents and it is inevitable that with decreased funding from the government,local authority's have to have ceilings on care home fees. One local authority, with a low elderly population may say they are only willing to fund ( with the client contribution) a nursing home whose fee level is no more than ?650 pw. Another authority which has a vast elderly population may say ?576 pw. If the care home costs more than the LA is willing to pay for a Third Party Top Up is required from friends/relatives/charity. There are London Boroughs who are 'wealthy' in the sense that most of their residents are home owners, and if they are not living with spouses/anotherclose relative over age of 65, can rent out or sell their property to meet fees. There is a Deferred Payment Scheme where a property does not have to be sold immediently someone goes into a home, the LA can put a Legal Charge on the property and on the death of the owner, or if sold, will recoup the care home fees.

Are the PHAB clubs still around ( Physically Disabled and Able Bodied)? I agree with others who have posted, most schools are integrated now with children of various levels of disability being catered for in the main stream. Sedgehill School Catford used to have a hearing Impaired Unit. Is Brent Knoll School in Forest Hill/Sydenham still around? If you are interested in secondary age pupils - I suggest you talk to the Special Needs Coordinators at loal secondary schools i. e Charter, Kingsdale, Harris boys and girls, even JAGS, ALLeyns and Dulwich College. In Wimbledon on the Southfields side, there is Linden Lodge school for visual impairment

Since I was a fat, unfit 60+ year old I surprised myself, police were surprised that I punched him and asked why as he could have retaliated. I just said that I was not going to let the b d think I was an easy prey,

Sorry to hear about this - I hope you reported to Police. Unfortunately the CCTV could not pick out the car reg or man so no further action. Eventually got the insurance money for costs of purchasing new stuff. I now wear my handbag across my body even when in the car and make sure that i lock the car doors.

My 13 year old grand daughter did Kumon Maths for about 18 months when about 8/9. Became top of her year in primary school. Now in her 2nd year at secondary - she and a few classmates progressed so rapidly in Maths that she is now doing GCSE Maths work. It boosted her confidence levels and had a knock on effect on all her other subjects. She sat the entrance exam for a well known grant aided school in Bromley, 1000 kids took part, they took the first 100 who had exam scores in the mid 90% ranges. She did not get in, but came 135 - miles ahead of some of her school friends who had been privately tutored for 2/3 years. My 8 year old grandson is not interested in Maths ( unlike his sister) so he does not go to Kumon classes.

Hubby for his 60th Birthday wanted to see War Horse along with 11 other family members - kids and I started looking at internet prices. There was a deal if you went by rail, you could get 2 seats for price of one.Plenty of the internet sites (The Telegraph etc) have good deals. Husband decided against 12 of us going to War Horse and managed to get a deal to see Blood Brothers at ?24 per ticket as it was classed as a group booking. It is our Pearl Anniversary this year - I hate Pearls and have asked for no presents. Hubby thinks I am unromantic and wants me to have something. I have not the faintest idea what to get him When we had our silver anniversary - we threw a party cost us around ?900 for 40 guests, a live band and catering.

Dulwich Hospital when fully operational covered an area of south Southwark and Lambeth (Brixton down to Herne Hill, Tulse Hill and Norwood) Was or rather is still owned by Southwark PCT so not clear if views only from Southwark. At present,the Betty Alexander Suite - the Older Person's Out Patient Unit - cover lambeth and Southwark. I vote for Retirement Housing - a mixture of private developers and Housing Association. With at least a Sheltered Housing Unit included which has it's community rooms open to local resident's 55 plus.

previously a shop on corner of Landcroft and Thompsons Road (?) Lettuce B Avenue - yes it was a greengrocers.

It is essential to keep your own identity - doing things you enjoy on own or with friends,likewise let him do same. Equally important to do things together. Kids can drive you apart - check out if you have the same child rearing values, important for kids to have consistant parents, Do not be too dependent on each other - if something happens to one of you, the other still has to survive. Equal sharing of tasks - my hubby enjoys ironing, I hate it, he makes a better shepherds pie than me, I cook a better soup, Both of us dislike spending money unncessarily - we judge and weigh up what we really need. Try not to live off credit. Must have and retain a sense of humour - it's got us through almost 30 years. No matter how much I may dislike him at times, I could not imagine spending my life with someone else. Easy to love someone but harder still to keep that love constant - accept at times you both may have made a mistake in marrying each other, but generally you end up thinking, do I really want someone else! Think of divorce as the last resort when things get tough, not the first thought, better to work it through.

if you are hiring a venue in which to have the birthday party in - you will need to check whether the venue allows bouncy castles. Some venues have low ceilings which are not suitable for indoor castles. Bigger castles may need to have permission from local council.

I am afraid that many resident associations are run by people who have very narrow views and a dismissive of others.Some of these RA have tyrants as chairpersons and others are intimidated by them. By the sound of this particuliar group - they are 'bully boys'. It would be interesting if they get any funding from lewisham council to run activities i.e. 5th Nov fireworks. I certainly feel that Piplings or better still a Pipling parent should be contacting the media as well as the councillor or MP covering that part of Forest Hill

What I meant was that people who are not 'local' to their place of wordship, rarely see the inconvenience of their parking on residents. I have a small drive and have been blocked in by visitors who visit the church opposite, when I have requested that they move, they complain that there is no where to park and how did I expect them to travel to church. On one occassion some years a go, a woman sat in the driving seat of her car ignoring the fact that I was trying to get out of the drive to pick up my disabled mother. I asked if she could move either forward or reverse to enable me to drive out. She refused as was waiting for someone to come out of the church, after 15 mins, she was asked again and still refused - hubby asked her - refusual, in the end I got angry and stated that I would call the police. Rang the police, who were very helpful and had an officer in the area, who came up to speak with her. She wound up her window fast and sped off alone. This was obviously an isolated incident but I have heard that some residents have almost come to blows with some congregations. Etherow Street residents frequently complained that their road was used by people attending Christ Church and St. Thomas More.

I have been to Starbucks twice since it opened in Sainsburys and have never been to Nero. There are too many other places that are cheaper and more comfortable to have a drink in in ED.

Many of the congregation of local churches, are in fact not local but come several miles. A member of a church in ED comes from Catford each Sunday.

Many thanks for all of your ideas - however as I was writing this request, our colleague had the baby a month early and with a 2 hour labour. She had a routine ante natal in the afternoon, went to bed as usual, woke up 2 hours later as waters broke, went to hospital - 2 hours later a 5lb boy, went home had a shower and phoned a work colleage at 6.30 am to casually announce the birth. Some of the suggestions will be followed. Thanks again

A work colleague is leaving in a couple of weeks to have her first child in February, We want to make up a 'New Mum (or parent) Box to give her on her last day. She has most baby stuff given to her by family including clothes so we thought that our box will have 'silly' and essential items. She travels by train so everything will need to be small and light. So far ideas have been nipple cream, breast pads for leaky boobs,cooling eye mask. Ideas please - what got you new mums through the first few weeks? what made you laugh, what turned out to be the most useful thing to have? She lives quite away from the rest of the team so we cannot offer babysitting/making meals etc.

The Bread of Life Cafe is situated in Christ Church at the Lordship Lane end of Barry Road open Monday - Fridays. Christ Church also has the Fair Trade Centre open 10 - 4 daily, and 10 - 1 on Sats. Home cooked food, junior and small appetite menus, high chairs. Breakfasts, lunches and snacks

A work colleague a couple of years ago had to raise ?1000 to walk up Mount Atlas for a hospice. She had 3 events in her house - a Morrocan Evening- we all paid ?20 and she provided food. A B B Q and bar where we paid for individual food and drinks (she got a drinks licence) and a cheese and wine evening. Since over 100 people were invited to the Morrocan evening and only about 70 turned up between 4 and midnight, there was a lot of food left over. The next day she went all around her neighbours and invited them to a Sunday lunch for a ?5 to get rid of the food and raise extra money. I think she was about ?150 short of her target, so she and hubby but this in themselves. I think we also had a cake sale at work.

Both of our electric clocks were flashing away this morning and took ages to reset. Barry Road area. central Heating timer clock OK

As Monica well knows there is already a East Dulwich Community Centre which is 'home' to around 800 - 1000 people each week who use it on a 7 day a week basis from 9 am - 10 pm .This also has workshops, a senior citizens group for 4 hours on a wednesday plus various classes for adults and children. There is also the Albrighton Centre which also has a number of community based activities. These 2 centres are more than just halls for hire.Fred Francis Day Centre in Lordship Lane is one of 2 centres funded entirely by Southwark for elderly and disabled people. All other day centres and drop ins in Southwark are run by voluntary organisations. It has become the trend that if Retirement Housing is built, there is usually a communal room/centre which is opened to local elderly population during day time hours.

The Jenner Clinic is in Stanstead Road Forest Hill - most people going there live on the lewisham borders with southwark.

My godson now has 2 daughters - Isabel and Amelia. In our family we have Victoria, Kathryn, Morgan, Felicity and Tia

There is a shortage of retirement housing in Dulwich, you have Lew Evans SHU (LBSouthwark) and Dulwich Mead (Half Moon Lane) which is owner occupier SHU. What is needed is a mixture of Housing Association/Private Rented/Owner Occupied type older person housing. The HA which operate in ED are for couples and families and not sepcificaly for the over 55's. I would opt for a small retirement village - this will keep the 'grey pound' in the area as many retired people are moving out of ED to outer London Boroughs and beyond due to lack of appropriate housing