Learning Grants of up to £200 for Norfolk Carers aged 18 and over!

If you are a Carer living in Norfolk, aged over 18 and have been providing unpaid help and support for a year or more, to a relative, friend, partner or child who cannot manage because of disability, illness or frailty you may be able to obtain a grant of up to £200 in one year, to fund or part-fund Learning Course Fees.

Courses can be: distance learning, provided at a local college, adult education centre or other centre. They can be for just a half-day or day, several sessions, a term or year.

Learning Course fees could include:

Leisure courses / Sports & fitness / Complementary therapies / Academic courses /Employment-related courses / Training to help you continue in your caring role Condition specific training / Adult Education Courses

For more information, or if you would like to apply for a Carers Learning Grant, please contact: Jasmine Toombs, Carers Learning Grant Co-ordinator, Age Concern Norfolk, 300 St Faiths Road, Old Catton, Norwich, NR6 7BJ, Tel: 01603 787111 or Email: acn@acnorfolk.org.uk for an application form.

The Fire Service are able to offer free of charge free fitting of smoke alarms to households that don’t have any, or those that are old / not working properly etc.

They are also are able to fit for free special smoke alarms for the deaf which incorporate a flashing light and a vibrating pad which fits under the pillow whilst asleep.

Along with this service they will carry out a free home fire safety check of the house and pass on any relevant fire safety advice to the occupier.

To book an appointment for a free home fire risk check / smoke alarm fitting please call

Hayley Greener

Norfolk fire and rescue service

0800 91 78 137

Our wheelchair fleet will be offered for sale in the coming weeks- please contact the office or shop for further details.

Due to the continued increase in clients needing assistance with benefit claim forms we urgently need to recruit additional volunteers to cope with the demand.

Do you have experience or knowledge of disability benefits, either personally or professionally, or are you willing to learn?

Are you able to spare a minimum of 6 hours per week to assist disabled people and carers to complete benefit application forms such as Disability Living Allowance, Attendance Allowance and Carers Allowance?

For this volunteer role, you need to be a real “people person” and an active listener with good literacy skills. Full and comprehensive training is provided, and you would shadow an experienced advisor until confident and comfortable going solo. We also offer enhanced benefit training covering other benefits such as pension credit, income support, employment and support allowance etc..

You would initially be based at our office in George Street, and depending on demand maybe required to work from  one of our outreach clinics currently held at the Norfolk Coastal Centre or at the MESH office at Shrublands, both fully accessible centres.

This volunteer role is unpaid however DIAL can pay expenses for any out of pocket travel costs.

DIAL has a small and welcoming team of staff and volunteers, and we endeavour to meet the individual needs of our volunteers.

For more information please contact Jo Howes, Project Manager by telephoning 01493 856900 or email info@dial-greatyarmouth.org.uk. Alternatively, application forms can be downloaded from the volunteer page on our website.

More than 20% of the population of the Borough of Great Yarmouth have a long term illness, health problem or disability which limits daily activities or work. DIAL are aware that this proportion of the community face inequality, disadvantage and discrimination. Many are economically inactive and are on low, fixed incomes and most have additional costs directly related to their disability. These extra costs can lead to debt, which can have a significant affect on lives; the emotional and financial pressure of coping with debt has a deteriorating effect on the mental and physical health of many disabled people often leading to depression and anxiety. For many disabled people facing debt, there is a real need to have to reduce spending related to basic needs, such as food and heating and to cut back on items impacting on their quality of life, such as accessible transport and respite care. DIAL has responded to the growing number of local people facing this situation by employing a part time money and debt caseworker.

Stephen Bower, Money & Debt Caseworker, can provide a comprehensive money advice service, including assistance to clarify essential/non essential purchases and budgeting; information on methods of reducing monthly outgoings, to enable people to budget with fixed incomes; assistance with preparation of household budgets and formulation of a debt management plan if applicable; assistance to clients in dealing with banks and other institutions to manage and/or reduce financial liabilities.

For more information please telephone 01493 856900, to speak to Stephen directly or to book an appointment.

If you use eBay to sell your unwanted items, you can now choose to donate a percentage (10-100%) of the final selling value direct to DIAL Great Yarmouth.

To find out more visit our fundraising page now.

12a George Street

Great Yarmouth

Norfolk

NR30 1HR

Telephone 01493 856900

Our opening hours, web and email address will remain the same.

We hope that by bringing the office into the town, DIAL will be more accessible to the local community.

Details of our grand opening will be posted soon.

We are currently constructing additional pages.  Our aim is to build a valuable information resource for our disabled and carers community, with details of support groups, meetings and events.

Our thanks go to Tom, our volunteer IT support and webmaster for his help in constructing this site, we could not have done it without you.

As mentioned, we are still building and adding to the site, and we would welcome any comments or suggestions as to it’s layout and content.

Bookmark our site, visit us regularly to check on new content.