Latest Activities & Events

Lowestoft Hand in Hand Club is a social group for people with dual sensory loss – sight and hearing.  We enjoy many different activities whilst following the group’s interests.  These include music, talks, outings,  a Christmas lunch in the Victoria Hotel and much more.  Volunteers are on hand or, if you prefer, your carer can also attend.

The group meets on the first Monday of the month in the Deaf Centre,  50-52 Blackheath Road, Lowestoft and transport can be organised for those who need it..    Call Christine on 01502 717697 for more information or if you wish join in the fun.

We held our AGM2023 on Saturday 10th June at Bungay Community Centre. During the meeting, Tony Rainbird was proposed and seconded as Chairman.  However, the roles of Secretary and Treasurer remain vacant so, if you know of anyone who may be interested in taking on one of these roles,  please ask them to contact us on 0778 999 4906.  They don’t need to be a volunteer with us but would need to be co-opted on to the committee and attend four Committee meetings a year.

Once again, the AGM was followed by an afternoon tea, attended by nearly 50 people, which included listeners, present and past volunteers for Three Rivers, Peter Aldous MP, members of Suffolk Sight, and a representative of the Hand in Hand Club (which supports people with dual sensory loss)

This is the third time we have followed up the AGM with an afternoon tea. It seems to be a winning formula, with the attendees enjoying sandwiches and cakes made by the 3RTN committee members. Our thanks go to Maisebrooke Farm and the Co-Op Community Fund who, along with some of the attendees, provided very generous raffle prizes, which helped to raise around £115 for Three Rivers.

Thanks to Jill for sharing some snaps.

Outgoing Chair, Emma with new Chair, Tony

Volunteer Mike (R) presents prize to listener, David (L)

Raffle Prizes

 

We wish to express our sincere thanks to Britannia Lodge RAOB for their most generous donation of £300.  Particular thanks go to Brother Cooper for nominating our charity and to his wonderful mother (a listener of ours) who contributed £50 towards the donation.

Having attended their meeting recently, we felt quite overwhelmed by the amazing work that RAOB (or Royal  Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes) does in the local community.  We also feel humbled to have been included with such worthy causes, all of them carrying out incredibly important projects in our local area.

Although this donation came as a complete surprise to us, it couldn’t have been more timely as we were planning to purchase a second-hand laptop. This will act as a back-up to our main computer (now quite old), which is used for recording, editing and duplicating our audio files.

Many thanks again for the kind donation, Buffaloes, and many thanks for all the wonderful work you do in our community.

Welcome to our new Red Team where you’ll find some new voices along with more familiar ones.

Those of you who’ve been listening to Three Rivers for some years will know that we used to operate a five weekly rota but that all changed during Lockdown.  Well, the good news is that we’re back to running five teams, thanks to a recent influx of new volunteers.  The new Red Team comprises Sally (Team Leader and Recordist), Debbie (Admin) along with Ben, John, Sandra and Sari (Readers) and their first recording will be on March 17th.

This year, we held our AGM2022 on Saturday 11^th June at Bungay Community Centre. The AGM was followed immediately by an afternoon tea, attended by nearly 50 people, which included listeners, present and past volunteers for Three Rivers, members of Suffolk Sight and Peter Aldous MP.

Chairman Emma Welton said, “it was a lovely afternoon. Our AGM was really positive. My wonderful committee are so proactive, and they are completely behind my drive to open up our service of a talking newspaper to people who are not registered visually impaired, but who cannot, due to a variety of health issues, access printed material. My stumbling block is ensuring that the postal system for these potential listeners is identical to our current system, the Royal Mail Articles for the Blind. I am pleased to say that our local MP, Peter Aldous, together with East Suffolk Council, are in the process of investigating this issue with Royal Mail.

Our afternoon tea was an absolute delight. We had a number of listeners come along to chat with volunteers and other listeners, whilst drinking tea and eating delicious cakes. In fact, one listener has been with Three Rivers almost from its inception 30 years ago, which was wonderful to hear. I would like to thank Maisebrook Farm and the Co-Op Community Fund who provided very generous raffle prizes, which helped to raise nearly £150”.

 

On Saturday May 21st 2022, Chairperson Emma Welton and two other Three Rivers volunteers, Jill and Alan, attended a showcase event at Bungay Community Centre, to promote a range of community support available in the Bungay and wider area.

The Three Rivers stall attracted the attention of local MP Peter Aldous who spent some time chatting to Emma about our service for the blind and visually impaired.

It was interesting to meet some of the district council members and to obtain information about potential funding for future Three Rivers projects.

A music workshop at the end of the session got everyone singing!

A Memorial Service was held for our much loved volunteer, Jim Lumsden RIP, at St Luke’s Church, Rigbourne Hill, Beccles on Friday, April 29th at 11am.

Despite Jim’s strict orders for “NO FUSS”,  the service was attended by a large crowd and several tributes were paid to this popular Beccles stalwart.

Former Chairman, Vaughan Shea, led the tribute on behalf of Three Rivers Talking Newspaper, a copy of which can be read below:

A Tribute on behalf of Three Rivers TN by Vaughan Shea

Good morning. For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Vaughan Shea and I was, for over 10 years, the chairman of the 3 Rivers Talking Newspaper for the Blind.  And it is in connection with Jim as a volunteer for the Talking Newspaper that I want to talk about today.

Jim was a long standing volunteer for the T.N and was a regular, very reliable and well liked reader on the C team.  I first met Jim in the early 1990’s  and was immediately struck by his presence in the room.  If Jim was there, you certainly knew it – Jim’s response on meeting never changed from the first time to the last. “How are you Jim?” I would enquire, and the response would always be “OLDER… and DAFTER”.

Jim would often have a musical score with him on a recording night and in between his readings he would be silently mouthing the words. There was always plenty of banter around the table with his fellow readers, with Mary Weavers in particular, being near neighbours and fellow golfers as well as their interest in the talking newspaper. Jim’s hand-over to his fellow reader Pat was usually “And now over to PATRICIA”.

Jim was an amazing ambassador for the talking newspaper, helping organise and participating in a number of concerts over the years with the Friends in Harmony choir, the  proceeds from which would benefit 3 Rivers. He was also very persuasive in getting others to join the 3 Rivers team. Indeed, our current Chair Emma was cajoled into joining the talking newspaper by Jim.

I also fondly remember the annual cake stall held in the precinct in Beccles, to raise funds for the talking newspaper. Jim’s arrival at the stall was usually a fairly noisy affair as of course he knew so many people.  And then, the greetings and pleasantries over with, his choice of cake?  Of course it had to be a DUNDEE cake!

I know that Jim has been quoted as saying how lucky he was to live in Beccles, but I can’t help thinking that in fact we were very lucky to have Jim in our midst.  Many people’s lives were made all the richer and organisations like 3 Rivers Talking Newspaper and others benefitted greatly because of Jim Lumsden, and I am proud to have known him.

 

 

Please come along and say hello to Emma and Jill at a Community Partnership event to be held in Bungay Community Centre on Saturday, 21st May from 11am to 1pm.

Community partnerships are a great way for the council, partners and communities to work together and Three Rivers Talking Newspaper is delighted to be involved along with lots of other local community groups.

The address is Old Grammar Lane, Bungay NR35 1PU. There is plenty of parking and disabled access throughout the building.

Do come along and let your voice be heard!

 

We’re so sad to share news of the recent death of a long standing and much loved volunteer at Three Rivers, Jim Lumsden.    Many listeners will remember our larger-than-life Scot, Jim, as Reader on the former C team.  But Jim’s involvement was not limited to reading – he was also involved in Committee meetings and in organising fundraising concerts and other events on behalf of Three Rivers.

Some of you might also have known Jim from his days as a dentist in Beccles, as warden in St Michael’s Church, Beccles, or from elsewhere.  Let’s put it this way…if you ever came across Jim, you will not have forgotten him!

He will be sorely missed.

Our sincere condolences go to Jim’s family and his many friends.
May he rest in peace.

PS:  A Memorial Service is being held for Jim at St Luke’s Church, Rigbourne Hill, Beccles on Friday, April 29th at 11am.

A lovely tribute to Jim was included in a recent edition of the Beccles & Bungay Journal.   You can access the Obituary here.