We hope that you are enjoying your Winter issue of The Pensioner magazine!
The cover picture is less cheery than last year’s December magazine, but we thought it captured the sense of outrage expressed during the Autumn protests, against the removal of Winter Fuel Payments from over 10 million pensioners, very well.
Many of us find the darker, colder days at this time of year a challenge, whether or not we find ourselves in the awful predicament of having to choose between heating and eating. If the Winter weather is getting you down, and you would be interested in some practical and helpful advice about how to stay warm and well through the colder months, you might want to download or order a copy of Independent Age’s recent “Winterwise” guide here
If you, like some of our friendly team here at CSPA HQ, enjoy donning bright Christmas jumpers to banish the Winter blues and get into the festive spirit now and then, you may wish to join us in supporting our partners at the Charity for Civil Servants’ “Festive Jumper Day” annual fundraiser. You can find out more about this here.
If you are tired of being stereo-typed because you’re a bit older, how about making a New Year’s resolution to challenge ageism in all its forms? You can read about ways in which our colleagues at the Centre for Ageing Better are campaigning around this here.
We had another great Later Life Ambitions’ parliamentary event in the House of Commons on the 17th December, this time to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the LLA and look back on our work with the NFOP and NARPO, campaigning on behalf of pensioners. The evening was hosted by Lord Davies of Brixton, and supported by many of our friends and supporters from across the political spectrum, including Clive Betts MP (Labour, Sheffield South East), Sir Stephen Timms MP (Labour, East Ham), Baroness Altman (Life Peer, non-affiliated), Wendy Chamberlain MP (Lib Dem, North East Fife), and many others.
We wish you all a happy time in the coming weeks, however you may choose to celebrate during the Festive Season, and we look forward to the coming New Year with many an aspiration for CSPA, and most importantly for CSPA members, their families and others.
Sally Tsoukaris
CSPA General Secretary
