A FERMANAGH pensioner who has lost their Winter Fuel Payment fears she may have to “go cap in hand to a charity” and ask for help after she’s only able to heat two rooms in her home. An estimated 249,000 pensioners in the North, who are not in receipt of pension credit or other means-tested benefits, […]
Thousands in Fermanagh fail to claim full benefits
FERMANAGH pensioners are being urged to make sure they are getting all they are entitled to, with thousands in the county currently under-claiming their benefits. Earlier this year there was outrage both locally and across the UK after the new Labour government announced it was cutting the annual Winter Fuel Payment. Those in receipt of […]
Pop-up Ulster Bank hours will see pensioners suffer
ULSTER Bank’s mobile pop-up branch in Lisnaskea is only scheduled to be in the Fermanagh town for less than an hour each month. The move is sure to affect residents, particularly the elderly who do not use internet banking for their personal banking and finances. Lisnaskea residents were left outraged earlier this year when Ulster Bank, the last […]
Demand will be ‘exceptional’ at foodbanks this winter
THE manager of a Fermanagh foodbank is anticipating “an unreal strain on capacity” as pensioners and elderly residents in the county prepare for yet another unprecedented winter. Over recent years, between the Covid pandemic and the cost of living crisis that followed, local households have been facing even more financial burdens over the cold winter months. While […]
Plans in place to support elderly Fermanagh residents
ELDERLY Fermanagh residents are going to be given the opportunity to “socialise and create connections” next month as part of a community-wide programme. The National Institutes of Health recently revealed that the Covid-19 pandemic caused an increase in loneliness among elderly residents, with a direct correlation to cognitive decline in older adults. Fermanagh and Omagh […]
Fermanagh pensioners ‘struggling to cope’
LOCAL pensioners are being urged to apply for “one of the most underclaimed benefits” by this Monday, to help cope with the loss of winter fuel payment. The manager at Community Advice Fermanagh has said changes to the Winter Fuel Payment is “another blow” to local elderly residents who have been left devastated by the […]
Erne u3a celebrating its 20th anniversary
AFTER over two decades of existence, the Erne u3a group is committed to helping recently retired people ‘beat isolation’ by finding new pastimes and making new friends. Set up by Professor Pierre Vellas in France in 1973, the non-profit organisation, u3a, has became an international movement with branches dotted in many countries across Europe. The local […]
Pensioner hits out at appointment system
A FERMANAGH pensioner has hit out at the almost-impossible challenges being placed on local patients when it comes to attending much-needed and long-awaited appointments outside of the county. As has been well documented by the Herald and others in recent months, an increasing number of outpatients and consultant appointments, many of which had previously been […]
Use it or lose it! Appeal to protect rural post offices
One Fermanagh pensioner has urged everyone to “pay every possible bill through the post office” in order to protect the service.
