The annual general meeting of the Holsworthy branch of the Devon Senior Council was held in the Manor Suite on Tuesday, July 28.

Margaret Coles, the acting chairman, presented her report on the 18 months since the branch came into existence. There had been eight meetings and they had had stalls at the Holsworthy Show, two local fun days and an arthritis care day as well as holding a successful poetry competition for Bradworthy Primary School children.

They had tried to address local issues and made their feelings known about post office closures and the loss of telephone boxes. Along with this they introduced the Warm Front spokesman to the area and supported a member in his bid for a more realistic system of measuring cold weather payments.

In addition, they tried to raise awareness of transport issues and attended a meeting with Geoffrey Cox MP and the shadow minister for transport. Local cluster manager, Nikki Kennedy had attended their 'Ageing Well' forum where she had explained the future development of health and social care in the area.

She had represented the branch at important county meetings, helping to assess the needs of the elderly. These included: 'the NHS in North Devon', 'the way ahead', and 'age of opportunity' conferences on the future of Health and Social Care in Devon.

She had been involved in making recommendations on dementia which were passed on to the government and had joined the Torridge Older Persons Strategy Group which was examining ways of supporting people, in particular in sheltered housing.

They had represented the views of older people with officers from the whole of Northern Devon in connection with the future Core Planning Strategy for Torridge and North Devon until 2026.

The next meeting will be in the Manor Suite on Tuesday October 6 at 6.30 for 7pm.

⦁ Read the full report of the meeting in this week's 'Post.'