Flooding in the Whitstable area

Mr. Ted Edwards an Engineering Manager from Canterbury City Council reminisced with us about the floods of 2000, which were the worst for 200 years. With photographs of the worst affected areas he illustrated how badly hit our area had been and explained many of the reasons that had contributed to the situation. He told us what has been done since then to improve our flood defences including new regulations for new house builds in our area. We were all left hoping we see nothing like it again.

Christmas Lunch 2008

Once again a good time was had by all..

Christmas photos

Quiz Night Nov 29th 2008

For the second time this year our Quizmaster Tony Newington agreed to donate his time to help us raise some money. Due to the time of year we had a lower attendance but those that went had a really good time as usual and we raised just over £200 to be split between our group and the British Lung Foundation.

November 12th 2008

Dr. Simon Dunn a GP from Herne Bay with a special interest in respiratory disease talked to us about coping with difficult weather conditions and to tell us about an 'early warning' service available from the Met Office and a pilot programme in the area where COPD patients were notified about expected cold spells and reminded to stock up on their inhalers. There was a fair bit of interest in this and it turned out that a couple of our members were involved in the pilot, so Dr. Dunn was keen to receive feedback from them.

Also at the meeting I made a presentation to Mollie of two portable Nebulisers purchased with a donation received in memory of Mr. Cyril Flavell. These portable nebulisers will be available to the Whitstable & Tankerton Respiratory team patients for loan for holidays and days out etc..

AGM

At the AGM on October 8th 2008, the Breathe Easy Canterbury and District group said a sad farewell to Mollie Jackson who is standing down as Chair, having held the position since the group began in 2003. Mollie has been responsible for starting and building up the group since its launch and has been a constant inspiration and charismatic presence. She is leaving the Specialist Respiratory Team based at the Whitstable and Tankerton Hospital, to take up an important post at the British Lung Foundation as Nurse Programme Manager.

Although we are very proud of her, we will miss Mollie enormously but we are very pleased to welcome Karen Cotter as our new Chair. Karen works as secretary to the Specialist Respiratory Team and has also been associated with the Breathe Easy group since its inception so she is a very fitting replacement for Mollie.

Following Secretary Rosemary Barden and Treasurer Carol Hakimian’s annual reports, and election of officers, the group relaxed with a bingo session.

September 2008

September’s meeting continued the theme of managing breathlessness with Dr. Sharief from the International Art of Living Foundation telling us about the course the Foundation runs about breath and breathing. Dr. Sharief described how emotions are closely linked to breathing and how breathing changes, for instance, if we are angry. She believes that we can breathe out the toxins that cause disease and showed us one of the exercises included in this course, the ‘bellows breath’ which we all tried to much laughter.

The foundation’s courses use breathing techniques to help deal with negative emotions such as stress and anger, and to create energy so often lacking in people with COPD. Another important aspect of these breathing techniques, says Dr. Sharief, is their ability to treat depression, which many COPD patients suffer from. Dr. Sharief is hoping to run a course in Whitstable in the near future.