Successful Open Day at Guild for Carers Rights Day

Posted on 5th Jan

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The Guild held its first Open Day in December for Carers Rights Day. The Guild services were joined by Plymouth CAB, John Grooms Livability, the Pension Service, Plymouth City Council Carers Team, A4E and Babcock to advise carers about income and pensions – the theme for this year. Advice and information was available about the range of services provided by the Guild and its partners to support carers and disabled people. In many cases carers were able to get answers to questions about their finances and other matters sorted on the day.

The event was well attended with almost 100 carers and professionals dropping in throughout the day. It was ‘Open House’ at the Guild - staff and volunteers were available from every Guild service and visitors were encouraged to explore the building and find out for themselves how each service might support them in their role as carers. The Disability Information & Advice Centre (DIAC) advised 24 carers on the day. Partners were based in the Guilds meeting and training rooms and were able to tell carers about how they could also provide them with support.

Mandy Harvey, Assistant Manager, DIAC, organised the event and said “The event was a success and carers made a lot of useful contacts on the day. We were delighted to meet carers who were not aware of the Guild and other services providers who attended the Open Day. This was a very positive outcome for everyone.”

Carers comments included:

• Very informative morning, with extremely pleasant people.
• After 24 years of looking after my husband, I now have people to help me.
• A very informative and good open day, well worth coming to.
• Well laid out, easy to talk to people.
• Thanks really informative, warm, friendly and helpful.

The event was funded by a grant from Plymouth City Council, Adult Social Care.