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Members Page
Here we give stories, views and opinions from our many members of RISE Putney and RISE Roehampton.
The members and staff of Regenerate-RISE have raised £10,000 and have renovated one of their empty rooms into a hairdressing salon.
This is called "Dolly's Salon" in memory of Dorothy Summersby and will open for clients on Wednesday, 29 April 2009
An official opening of Dolly's Salon and a thanksgiving service for her life will be held on Monday, 1 June 2009 at 1.30 pm
The following is written in memory of Dorothy Summersby, member Trustee who died on 18 November 2008
I first met Dolly in 1998 whn I was appointed Manager of the Robert Joy Day Centre, alhough she had been attending for several years before then. I have a video with dolly and Harry dancing together at the Robert Joy's Christmas Party at the Putney Leisure Centre in 1994, so some of our current members have known Dolly for many years. In 1998 we developed the Day Centre's Members Committee, which Bill Gittings chaired and Dolly became the Vice-Chair. We began to ensure that the Day Centre was, what we call "user-led" and Dolly was very involved in that process. Andy Smith and myself started REGENERATE.com in January 2000 and when in 2005 the Shaftesbury Society (now Livability) withdrew from working with older people, and Wandsworth Council decided to close it down - Regenerate-RISE put together a proposal to take it over. Dolly was very involved in that process and following a successful bid, we moved to the Platt Christian Centre and are very gad that many of our members continued to come, despite the difficult change. Even though it was really hard leaving the Robert Joy bulding behind, Dolly was very happy at the Platt and encouraged us all from the start. We asked Dolly to become a Trustee and although she had never done anything like this before, at the age of 80 she agreed and took her responsibility seriously, reading through all the information that I gave her, attending inductions, asking questions, participating in Trustee meetings and gave regularly torwards our work. She was also a member of the RISE Advisory Committee and again played an active role in shaping RISE as we know it now.
Dolly herself used to say to me that she used to be shy and reserved, but during the last few years she did a tremendous job within Regenerate-RISE. She loved and enjoyed coming to the Platt and being involved at the Trustee level. She went on all the outings both during the day, evenings or weekends and didn't like being left behind! She attended our Alpha courses and over the last year attended Praise@Platt, our monthly Sunday Church meetings, which helped strengthen her faith in God.
She was an ambassador for us. Every time we had visitors from the Council or other organisations, we would sit them with Dolly because she was able to express very clearly how much the Centre meant to her and the members. I was proud to introduce her as a member Trustee and had total confidence in her ability to communicate well.
She was an advocate between the members and the Trustees. The members would talk to Dolly with any of their concerns and they all knew and loved her. Every idea or thought of change, I would discuss with Dolly for her opinion, wisdom and advice - I would spend hours on the telephone with her as we talked about the best way forward for our members - particularly in the crisis or financial difficulties and I shall miss our long talks on the telephone - although neither Harry, her husband or I will miss the higher bills! Her friendship and input into the Board of Trustees was valued very much indeed.
She was an encourager to us all. The members could share their problems and difficulties and she often had wise suggestions to help them through. They would ring her if, for any reason they weren't coming in on the Wandsworth bus and knew that she would let George, the driver know. She encouraged our visitors, because they saw - through Dolly - how important RISE was to our members. She regularly encouraged our members by listening to them and being their friend. She encouraged our Trustees, always willing to learn and participate in Trustee meetings - and I cannot express how much she encouraged me.
Dolly loved her family and always spoke very highly and fondly of each one of them. She loved her art with Debbie and Roland and her art improved so much over the last year. All of us from RISE, the Robert Joy and her friends have our own very special memories - too many to mention now - but we will be holding a Thanksgiving Service for her life, at the Platt in March 2009 to remember what a great Ambassador, Advocate and Encourager she was. She was a close friend, she enriched our lives and there will always be a gap in our lives - but I know that, because of the influence that Dolly has been to all of us, our lives have been enriched. She has made a tremendous difference, not just to us but also to the many lives of isolated older people across - not just Putney and Roehampton, but across this nation. Her influence helped shape our national RISE projects and we will remember her daily as we are naming our new Hairdressing Room after her - we will never forget her. We loved her, appreciated her and are going to miss her terribly - but we will always remember the impact that her personality and character had on our lives and we are very grateful to God to have had the privilege of knowing her.
