Category Archives: News

OPAL Christmas Lottery

Have you heard about our OPAL Lottery?

Feeling lucky?!

Do you have tickets? Join today for your chance to win! 

Every week one of our players wins a cash prize of around £12 plus the chance of winning up to £25,000

Since July 2021, our supporters have raised £2010 for OPAL.

50% of all tickets sold will be used to raise vital funds to support services to older people in rural west Cheshire, keeping them in touch with their local communities.

For more information or to take part go to https://www.onelottery.co.uk/support/opal-services

or contact OPAL on 01865678679

Tickets only cost £1 per week, 50% of all tickets sold comes directly to OPAL to support our older people and carers. 

Please support us and share the news with your friends, family and colleagues.

Annual General Meeting 2022

The next OPAL Annual General Meeting will take place on Wednesday 9th November 2022

at Cheshire View, Plough Lane, Christleton, Chester, CH3 7PT (01244 332 442)

Tea and coffee served from 5pm for a 5.30pm start.

Click here to register

Vacancy – Communications Officer – (post now closed)

OPAL Services is looking for a Communications Officer for 5 hours a week, to be responsible for the production and maintenance of newsletters, the website and other OPAL communications. Working mainly from home, you will be working alongside staff and trustees in a small rural charity that delivers services for older people in rural west Cheshire to help prevent social isolation. OPAL is a volunteer-led charity whose volunteers have been awarded a Queen’s Award for volunteering.

The successful candidate will have excellent communications skills plus experience of writing for publication, publication design and layout, photography, media editing, web editing and social media. They will be flexible, self-motivated and have access to transport.

• 5 hours a week, hours distributed through the week according to need. 
• £11.90 per hour.

Apply us application form For further informationcontact  morag.hutson@opalservices.org.uk

Closing date for applications:  Friday 29^th July

OPAL Launches a newsletter for Carers

In July OPAL launched a new monthly newsletter for carers called Breaktime. Check it out!

OPAL Breaktime Newsletter January 2023

OPAL Breaktime Newsletter October 2022

OPAL Breaktime Newsletter September 2022

OPAL Breaktime Newsletter August 2022

OPAL Breaktime Newsletter July 2022

OPAL Matters June 2022 – Volunteers’ edition

Our June edition of OPAL Matters celebrates Volunteers’ Week 2022 and applauds the work of the amazing volunteers who underpin the work of OPAL Services. OPAL would like to thank each and every one of them for being such an important part of our Charity. This issue also reports on the visit to Buckingham Palace of two volunteers, Mary Thompson and Lesley Duggan, who represented OPAL at a recent Royal Garden Party in recognition of OPAL’s Queen’s Award for Volunteering.

Mary and Lesley write: “What a magical day this was and we feel so privileged and honoured to have been able to represent OPAL in this way.  We had such a memorable experience, which we will treasure forever. A big thank you to OPAL for allowing us to represent you at this special event.”

Read OPAL Matters 15 here

‘Making caring visible, valued and supported’

Afternoon Tea for Carers – Wednesday 8th June, 2-4pm

To celebrate Carers Week, Opal is hosting an afternoon tea with music at the Deeside Ramblers Hockey Club near Tarporley on Wednesday 8^th June between 2pm and 4pm. 

If you are an unpaid carer aged 60 + or caring for someone over 60+ in west Cheshire, we would be very pleased if you would join us.

The theme of this year’s campaign is ‘Making caring visible, valued and supported’

To book onto this Carer event, or for more information about OPAL Carer Services, call

Maria Hudson on 07547 508324 email Maria.hudson@opalservices.org.uk or

Joy Walker on 07547 508280 email Joy.walker@opalservices.org.uk

National Garden Scheme event, Manley Knoll, 22nd May

On Sunday 22^nd May, OPAL provided the refreshments at the National Garden Scheme event at Manley Knoll.

Manley Knoll opens its gardens as part of the scheme every year.  It is an Arts & Crafts garden created in the early 1900s. At this time of year, there is stunning colour provided by rhododendron and azaleas.

An impressive array of cakes and traybakes were provided by our amazing OPAL volunteers and the money made on the refreshments sales benefitted OPAL.

OPAL Volunteers go to Buckingham Palace

Wednesday 18th May was a wonderful day for Mary Thompson and Lesley Duggan, two OPAL Volunteers who were chosen to represent OPAL at the Royal Garden Party at Buckingham Palace to mark the fact that OPAL Volunteers have attained the prestigeous Queen’s Award for Volunteering.  The weather was perfect – blue sky and sunshine, but not too hot. The Palace and grounds looked stunning with the guests beautifully attired, the bands playing and the guards in their uniforms.

OPAL Matters 14 April 2022

Our April 2022 issue of OPAL Matters has been distributed with recent exciting news of services reopening. In what has been a busy period for OPAL we also welcome 2 new trustees and 2 new members of staff to the OPAL Team.

Catch up with OPAL News here.

Soup Lunch Fundraiser – Frodsham 18th March 2022

Join us at the Soup Lunch Fundraising Event on 18th March, 12.30 to 14.30 at Frodsham Community Centre.

Come along and enjoy a light lunch of soup followed by cake and a hot drink while at the same time supporting OPAL

£5 per person + Raffle

For tickets contact Jo on 01928 787899