carers week

Rory  has teamed up with TV presenter Angela Rippon to support this year’s Carers Week (13-19 June) and recognise the contribution made by those people in Penrith and the Border and throughout the UK who provide unpaid care for those who are ill, frail or disabled. The theme for Carers Week 2011 is ‘The True Face of Carers’. It calls for greater recognition of the diverse range of people who have caring responsibilities. The work they carry out is vital for their families and friends, and for their communities.

Rory and Angela have joined together to pay tribute to carers, and to urge that they receive more support in their caring roles. Rory said: “Caring is something which is vital to Penrith and the Border, and we
are immensely proud of our rich history of volunteering, and caring for those in our communities. We are lucky to be home to some excellent local charities who do such an amazing job of supporting those in need, and I would like to pay tribute to them: Cilla Clarke and Julie Gaulton of Eden Carers, Julie Allen and the team at Hospice at Home, and Carole Ferguson and her volunteers at Eden Valley Hospice. These are just some of the charities that make up a strong patchwork of local groups who all have at their heart the needs of others. I am actively working with our caring charities here in the constituency to make sure that we are able to use advances in tele-medicine and tele-care to benefit our rural communities, and together we will continue to combat the problems of rural isolation and poverty.”

Angela Rippon has personal experience of being a carer. She says: “For a number of years now I’ve become aware of the extraordinary job that carers do throughout this country. I feel that it’s important that anybody who has any knowledge at all stands up and be counted for them and make the job that they do public, because they should not be invisible, they should be out there and being seen as the heroes and heroines that they are. It’s a strain that people accept willingly and lovingly, and if they’re prepared to do that, I think that as a civilised nation we should be prepared to do something in return.”

Other celebrities supporting this campaign include Dame Judi Dench, Sir David Jason OBE, Jack Charlton OBE and Martin Lewis.

Carers Week is organised by a partnership of 9 national charities: Age UK, Carers UK, Counsel & Care, Crossroads Care, Dementia UK, Macmillan Cancer Support, MS Society, Parkinson’s UK, and The Princess Royal Trust for Carers. For more information about local events and activities taking place as part of Carers Week, visit www.carersweek.org.