Quote:
Originally Posted by The Picketts
Hello Cat - glad you found the link helpful. I live in the Rockingham area of WA and because a bunch of us had individually contacted one of the existing Red Hat groups which was full the Queen Mother of that Chapter brought us all together and explained how the society works and we set up a new Chapter, we are calling ourselves the Raspberry Ripples! Anyway, we have just had our inaugural meeting to finalise the name and will be meeting again to go up to Perth in a couple of weeks to the Red Hat Shop - in the meantime we are all scouring the local Op Shops for Purple clothing and Red Hats!!! All great fun - will be arranging outings, meetings etc as we want - great way to make new friends. All the best to you in the Sunshine Coast. I love it there but the drier climate here in WA suited my OH's asthma better. Hopefully be visiting Noosa again one day soon.
Regards, Cheryl
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Hi Cheryl
I hope Damian won't mind me butting into his thread, but I have just read your new post with interest.
My Mum is 87 and a group like the Red Hat Society would be brilliant for her, I believe. However, Mum is disabled after breaking her back some years ago. She can hobble a few yards on a level furface (eg indoors at home) on a Zimmer frame, but beyond that if she wants to go out and about she needs her wheelchairand a kind person to push it for her.
Mum lives in Jandakot, SOR in Perth. I'm not sure if that is anywhere near Rockingham? Jandakot is where the old Perth airport is, now used by the RFDS, the water-bombers and similar, I believe.
Mum can't drive, and for her to go out with anyone other than my sister's family (with whom Mum lives) we would need to be able to arrange for a kind lady (to collect Mum and drop her off, plus we would need to be able to give the said kind lady a key for the house so that she could let herself in in order to collect Mum for outings etc. During term-time, Mum spends all day at home on her own during the week because my sister & bro in law are out at work and their children are at school.
If Rockingham is too far from Jandakot, I am wondering whether you could provide me with some information about who to contact to find out whether Red Hat has a Chapter closer to Jandakot and if so, whether I could arrange something for Mum via them? Since I am in the UK, not kowing the geography of WA well doesn't help. A map doesn't tell you anything about likely traffic conditions etc.
Mentally, Mum is ALL there! Her disability is only because she broke her back. She has to be pushed a bit to get her to go out other than with family because firstly she feels conspicuous and secondly she hates to feel that she is burdening people, slowing down whatever they want to do etc. (Try as we might to tell her that decent folks do not consider it a burden to help a disabled old lady!) She would insist on paying for any petrol involved and she would also insist on buying lunch etc for her helper whilst out. The best thing would be to let her pay, so that she doesn't feel she is not giving something back.
Mum LOVES Op Shops! There are 3 in the villege where I live in the UK and it is hard to keep Mum out of them when she is here with me! She loves car boot sales as well (Swap Meets, I gather?) though if they are anything like the ones in the UK, it is not a ladies' game with the wheelchair. If the ground is rough one needs a man with the brute strength to get the wheelchair over stones etc.
Also, whenever Mum is in the car with me on our own, I keep a sharp eye out for passing men! If there are any around, I get them to lift Mum's (folding) wheechair into and out of the car for me. It is not heavy but it is an awkward cuss to handle at times!
Mum can use trains or buses as long as they are adapted for wheelchairs. Where they are, the people in charge always know how to secure the wheelchair so that it can't possibly move and so forth. One can more or less leave them in charge of this bit.
Many thanks for any suggestions that you might be able to offer. I would be very grateful indeed.
Cheers
Gill
