Chairman’s Report for AGM February 2025

Following our AGM last year, my guide dog Jagger was put to sleep suddenly the following day, which has restricted my independence and mobility for the year. I am very grateful to Jean and Bob, Janice and Pauline for giving me lifts to our meetings.

With my husband Alvin’s Alzheimer’s getting worse each day, I have been very grateful to have our pensioners work to keep me busy, and campaigns to work on for our Southend Pensioners Campaign Group.

Our committee has met on the first Wednesday of each month, and I appreciate the work they have all done. Sue Stacey took over as Minutes Secretary from Jean, and Izzy Isaacs supported me as Vice-Chairman. Alan Grubb did a fantastic job persuading local shops to display our posters that Jean had produced, which helped with the recruitment of our new members.

Thanks to Bob Howes, our Treasurer, for producing our monthly Digest magazine. Jean has continued as our very busy Secretary, arranging speakers for our monthly meetings, which have been very varied, ensuring that our meeting rooms are booked, and we appreciate the help given to us by the Balmoral Centre staff.

Also serving on our committee has been Jim Folwell, helping out in many ways, and last but not least, Margaret Hayden, for running our lottery for members, which has been very successful this year.

During the year, our President, David Norman, has been suffering from ill health and unfortunately, had to resign. We wish him and his family well. We are actively looking to find a suitable replacement.

I have regularly written letters to the Evening Echo on behalf of our group, which has led to some visitors to our monthly meetings and some who have joined.

Our two Members of Parliament who cover our group both lost their seats at the general election in July, and were replaced by two members of the Labour Party. I have written regularly to my MP, who is David Burton-Sampson, and I had a forty-minute telephone conversation with him in October. Our main concern this year has been the cut to the Winter Fuel Allowance, which has affected thousands of pensioners.

Other issues that I have written about have been the lack of care provision and the proposed cuts to the dementia service run by the Council. Initially, they were going to close this unit, but after a vigorous campaign, two members of the staff of eighteen were kept on.

Communication between ourselves and the Council has been appalling. Emails and phone calls are not even responded to, let alone any action being taken. This has resulted in our Treasurer, Bob Howes, putting a question to the full Council, which we hope to have a response to very shortly.

Over the year we have raised many issues concerning transport, including taxis, buses and trains. We will be monitoring the large amount of money given to the Council for our bus services, and hope they will become more reliable and frequent. Our train service on the C2C line will be the main topic for our meeting in January, where members, as usual, will be able to raise their own concerns.

With Jean Howes standing down as Secretary at our AGM, I would like to thank her for all her hard work, and look forward to continuing to work with her on our committee. As we approach our fortieth anniversary, I have already made arrangements with our Mayor to attend our celebrations on Wednesday, October 15th. I hope by that time we will have many new members and a new Secretary who can take over from Jean.

I look forward to carrying on as your Chairman for a second year.