• Arlene Phillips: Strictly is only a small part of my life of dance
• Money Special: Working on after retirement age
• Relationships: Research your family tree
• Money: 16 pages of advice
• Health: New laser heart treatment
• Discover: Scarborough, Langley  Castle and the Irish Republic by coach
• Property: The downsides of downsizing
• Time off: Books – The Olympic Spirit; DVDs – Sherlock;
  Music – Big Country’s 30th anniversary tour

Choice this month is 132 colourful, glossy pages that will help you look after your assets, health and relationships and inspire you to enjoy life as well as whisk you around some of the best travel spots at home and overseas. Don’t miss any of these articles that will inform, entertain and inspire. Subscribe now.

February Contents

Money and Your Rights: Can you beat inflation?; Wisebuyer: Is wedding insurance worth it?; Protecting against insurance fraud; The downsides of downsizing; Mutual organisations are back in fashion; Your questions answered by our experts; Best rates – Savers selection.

Money  Special: Working on after retirement age. Practical considerations and stories of some who have tried it.

Health and Relationships: Skin and the menopause; New Techniques in Medicine – Laser balloon for heart surgery; Nutrition – The benefits of eating certain foods together; Relationships: Researching your family tree; Giving up smoking; Aphasia – losing the power to communicate; Yoga; Health News.

Features: Life Story: Arlene Phillips – I can slob out with the best of them; Remembering: 1942 and Britain is on the brink of catastrophe; Remember the early days of animation;  New Directions – Lawyer turned footwear entrepreneur. Celebrating the University of the Third Age; Iconic motors on show in Chelsea.

Travel: Enjoy Britain -Scarborough a resort with a divided identity; Days out in the UK;  Treasures of Britain: Langley Castle in Border Country; Discover: The Irish Republic by coach; Travel news.

Home and Garden: Food and drink: Who stole our Cheddar?, Cava will sparkle up your celebration; Birds in your garden; Keeping small pets – Puppy Love, how to pick a new furry friend; Flower arranging: designs for Valentines Day; Food News; Recipes: Indian dishes with six ingredients or less.

Entertainment: Time Off – Elementary my dear Sherlock; Music – Big Country 30th anniversary tour; DVD – Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy; Books: The Olympic spirit.

Plus: Puzzles; Reader’s poems; news round-up; Smile with Neil Patrick’s brilliant column.

Win: A poppy top and skirt outfit.

Save: Breaks in the Cotswolds and Dartmoor.

How do you convert your lifetime savings into an income when you retire? Teri Harman looks at how to use your assets

IF YOU’RE getting close to retirement, you’ve hope- fully accumulated some savings along the way. More than half of us expect to rely on our savings to supplement our State pensions, according to recent research by SHIP (Safe Home Income Plans), but many people have no concept of the best way to do this.

“People have no idea how to use their assets to execute their retirement plan,” says Rachel Vahey, head of pensions development at Aegon. “They know how to accumulate savings, but not how to ‘decumulate’. Moreover, even though people save with the express intention of using that money for their retirement, our recent research found when the time comes, there is a real reluctance to break into it.”

Retirement planning increasingly requires a long- term view. If you are retiring at 65, men can expect, on average, to live for another 17.5 years and women another 20.17, but there is a good chance you will live much longer. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) predicts that by 2033 the number of people in the UK over 90 will have trebled, the number over 95 quadrupled and there will be 80,000 centenarians, compared with 11,000 in 2008.

Changing needs

Received wisdom is that you are likely to need a higher income in the early years of retirement when you are most fit and active, perhaps with ambitions to travel abroad, hobbies to pursue, a family-sized home and one, or even two, cars to run. In later years you may be less able or inclined to travel, have downsized to a smaller more suitable property and given up your car.

However, over time, inflation is likely to rear its ugly head and you may find you incur large expenses if in later years you require long-term care or help to enable you to stay in your own home and you do not qualify for State funding.

Andrew Tully, senior pensions policy manager at Standard Life, says: “We talk about the ‘retirement smile’ meaning in the early years of retirement you need a higher income, that then tails off in your seventies, but increases again later, so much so we estimate that, should you live that long, 92 is the most expensive year of retirement.

Rachel Vahey adds: “You have to be brave enough in retirement planning to face up to the two major risks, inflation and longevity. That means looking at investments and annuities that will keep pace with price rises and accepting that, like an increasing number of elderly people, you may eventually need long-term care.”

It is important, therefore, to build some flexibility into your financial planning at retirement, so that you can access money when you need it.

Annuities

If you have saved in a money purchase (defined contribution) company pension, or have any kind of personal pension, you will have to buy an annuity with the money. Annuity rates have been falling in the wake of improved mortality and lower investment returns, making it even more important to use the ‘open market option’ to shop around for the best rate.

An estimated 90 per cent of annuitants opt for a level annuity – one that provides a fixed rather than an escalating income. Billy Burrows of annuity specialist Burrows & Cummins says: “At retirement, most people are attracted to a level annuity rather than one linked to the Retail Prices Index (RPI) because the starting income is some 40 per cent higher and it would take more than 17 years for the RPI annuity to reach the level annuity”.

This may be sensible if you have other pensions or investments that do promise to keep pace with inflation, but Mr Burrows says: “Just because RPI annuities are very expensive, it does not follow that investors should shun them or avoid protecting their pension income from the effects of inflation, especially when the spending power of a level annuity is halved in just over 20 years if inflation averages 3.5 per cent.”

Also, don’t assume all annuities are the same; the difference between the best and worst providers is as much as 34 per cent. The difference between a standard and an ‘enhanced’ annuity, for which those with health problems and/or who smoke qualify, is around 22 per cent. Consulting an independent financial adviser, such as Annuity Direct or Hargreaves Lansdown, should ensure you get the best possible deal.

Specialist IFAs will also be able to advise you whether some of the more sophisticated options, such as income drawdown (where you defer your annuity purchase and take an income from your pension fund instead) or phased retirement (where you buy a series of smaller annuities), are suitable for your circumstances.

Other savings

At any age it’s a good idea to have cash in an easily accessible ‘emergency fund’ but it is especially important when you are no longer earning. There are no hard and fast rules about how much you should keep in it, and it is unlikely to earn much interest at present, but for working people experts recommend between three and six months’ earnings.

You may also want to keep some of your capital in a higher-interest savings account, perhaps if you are planning on spending it on holidays or consumer goods. It’s not easy to find an account that pays decent interest these days, but if you are prepared to accept a notice of 120 days, Secure Trust Bank is paying 3.25 per cent on balances over £1000 and Turkish Bank (UK) 3 per cent with a 60-day notice period.

Cash Isas (Individual Savings Accounts) pay interest free of tax and you can invest up to £5100 each year, but beware that if you put in the maximum, although you can withdraw your money, you cannot reinvest it in the same tax year.

If you want to use your savings to produce income, there are a number of options, depending on your attitude to risk. If you want to ensure your capital is safe, and you can get your money out without penalty at any time, National Savings & Investments (NS&I) offers income bonds, but the interest rate is just 1.7 per cent gross on investments up to £25,000 and 2 per cent above that, meaning an investment of £20,000 would give you a paltry £28.33 a month before tax, which barely covers the cost of a daily newspaper. This underlines just how detrimental low interest rates are for savers.

A guaranteed income bond from an insurance company will also give you full capital protection, but you do need to tie your money up for a set term, usually between one and ten years. The amount of income you will receive does not alter during the ‘life’ of the bond.

If you are prepared to take a risk with your capital, distribution or high income bonds might be worth considering. Equity income funds that invest in shares of large companies with good track records for dividends, or bond funds that invest in gilts and corporate bonds, are also an option.

Professional advice

Rachel Vahey says: “People need to build a lifelong financial capability to enable

them to make hard decisions on retirement.” She suggests more could be done to develop online research tools. However, few people have the confidence to act, and this often leads to paralysis.

The logical answer is to seek professional help, but there seems to be a general mistrust of financial advisers. Finding an experienced, empathetic IFA is vital.

Age-old question “which came first, the chicken or the egg?” rings clarion bells for other food groups, too. For centuries, a debate has raged over whether noodles or pasta were first on the scene, with neither seemingly able to disprove the other’s claim to the crown.

Many sources proclaim that noodles have been a staple food in many parts of the world for at least 2000 years, and in 2005 the oldest noodles ever found were discovered inside an overturned sealed bowl buried under three metres of alluvial sediment at Qinghai in north-west China. Scientists carefully excavating the find determined that the 4000-year-old, long, thin yellowish noodles they found had been made from broomcorn millet and foxtail millet – evidence to suggest a high level of food processing and culinary sophistication had been involved in their manufacture.

Unlike our own westernised, secular relationship with food, mainly regarded as mere fuel, in the Orient cuisine it takes on an almost religious connotation; noodles are closely aligned to longevity and the expectation of a long and successful life. Indeed, noodles feature prominently in religious observances, birthdays and particularly New Year celebrations in preference to cakes or other sweetmeats.

The earliest noodles were invariably made from ground millet seeds, becoming the preferred accompaniment when added to crude meat broths for added sustenance. Although wheat had been introduced to China in the early years of the first millennium, it wasn’t until the third century AD that ground wheat flour overtook steamed millet as the first choice for noodle production. Today 40 per cent of all the wheat flour in Asia is made into noodles of some description.

From the 12th century, there are written accounts of exploration and trade, by Marco Polo et al, that suggest both the Italians and the Chinese had similar products made from processed flour. It can be no surprise, therefore, to consider the string-like similarities between Italian spaghetti and Chinese noodles together with filled parcel-like features of Chinese dim sum and Italian ravioli.

For sheer versatility, however, noodles do appear to have the edge as they can be made from a number of sources; wheat – in a variety of types – rice, potato starch, mung beans and even acorn flour. The most commonly eaten noodles are the flat or ribbon-style rice noodles, sometimes made in extra-thin shape and known as vermicelli or angel hair. Mung bean or ‘glass’ noodles, made with bean and potato starch, have become very popular in Chinese, Japanese and Thai cuisine.

Buckwheat noodles are similarly popular in Korea and Japan, where the brown variety is known as Soba. Potato starch noodles, sometimes called ‘cellophane’, can also be made into dumplings, such as Italian gnocchi or the Slovakian halusky.

How to enjoy them

The best way to serve noodles is to boil them before adding them into a thick meaty casserole-style broth or in curry mixtures. In addition, fried noodles form an integral part of many of the Asiatic stir-fry recipes. Although something of an acquired taste, noodles may be served cold on a salad of seafood and vegetables, and who hasn’t heard of good old chicken noodle soup?

Away from the traditionally-made fresh noodles favoured throughout Asia, their promotion into the mainstream of western cuisine has occurred via the ‘convenience’ food market and sales have increased by four per cent globally. As a healthy option, noodles also fit the bill well, containing a mere 1.5g of fat per 40g serving and virtually sugar-free, a definite positive compared with other fast foods.

In grocery market terminology, the pasta, rice and noodle sector has grown impressively in the last three years by 23 per cent to a respectable £1.4bn and, although not shown separately, figures for noodle sales are generally accepted to have been the main reason for such an emphatic increase.

While sales are growing throughout all the main demographic groups here in the UK, it is the lucrative student-led 18 to 25-year-olds market where much of the promotional activity has been directed.

The two main well-known brands, Batchelors Super Noodles and Golden Wonder Pot Noodles, have spearheaded this drive with (some would say) a series of innovative but provocatively ‘laddish’ advertisements.

Pot Noodle, launched believe it or not in 1977, despite earning the dubious accolade via one industry poll of being ‘the UK’s most hated brand’, manages to sell a staggering 155 million pots a year.Serious foodies will say that these convenience pots represent a far cry from the quality of ‘real’ noodles, even though most of these are sold dried, in easy-to-prepare packs themselves. Egg noodles are one of the most popular forms of ready-to-eat noodles, their extra rich colour, more definite flavour and texture finding particular favour
with our westernised palates.

Perhaps the best way to sample traditional noodles in the UK is to visit a traditional Thai, Chinese or Japanese restaurant. One company, enigmatically named Wagamama, is leading the way to noodle domination of our high streets with an impressive 65 Noodle Bar restaurants across the country. Shifting 12 tons of noodles in varying formats weekly, Wagamama has been quick to capture a niche market for what is essentially a very healthy food group when compared with other national restaurant and fast food chains.

As a reasonably fit, late-fifty-something, noodles have started to appear in my weekly supermarket basket with a surprising regularity. And although to my mind, my wife’s new favourite, Thai chicken curry with noodles, may not replace my personal first choice ready-meal, fish and chips, we certainly eat noodles more often.

If you think that electric toothbrushes are simply a way of taking the effort out of brushing your teeth, think again. Today’s electric toothbrushes offer a wide range of features and functions and come with a dazzling array of technology. They also vary enormously in price, from around £4 to a couple of hundred pounds.

In addition to cleaning your teeth, electric toothbrushes can remove plaque, massage gums, clean tongue and cheeks, whiten teeth and even help remove debris from the gaps between the teeth.

They also have brush heads that can rotate, vibrate, oscillate and pulsate, and at least one electric toothbrush even uses wireless technology. Surveys suggest electric toothbrushes are more effective than the manual version when it comes to cleaning teeth, and they can be a boon for people who suffer from arthritis and other conditions that make it difficult to move the hand or wrist.

What’s on the market

Aquafresh Interdental Action Buzz £4.39
This toothbrush has thin filaments between bristles which are claimed to penetrate up to 50 per cent deeper between teeth compared with an ordinary toothbrush. Its vibration action is designed to support the usual brushing motion, for a more thorough clean. (www.aquafreshproducts.co.uk)

Aquafresh 3-way Buzz £4.39
A vibrating toothbrush with three independently flexing parts, which are designed to adapt to the contours of your teeth and gum line, to sweep away plaque. It also has a flexible neck, which bends to absorb excess pressure from brushing. www.aquafreshproducts.co.uk

Colgate 360° MicroSonic £5.99
This model combines high-speed sonic vibrations with the 360º head that includes a cheek and tongue cleaner. Sonic vibrations in combination with tightly packed, multi-height bristles break up and dislodge plaque. Works both interdentally, as well as on tooth surfaces. Comes with a replaceable AAA battery. Tel: 00800 32132132
www.colgate.co.uk

IBP B091 £29.99
An ultrasonic toothbrush that operates at 30,000 strokes per minute. Its rechargeable  battery can operate for up to five days on a full charge. It comes with two spare heads. Tel: 01942 819695 www.ibphealthcare.com

Oral-B Vitality Dual Clean £30
A rechargeable toothbrush with two moving brush heads, which are claimed to remove more plaque than a regular manual brush.  Includes a timer to help users brush for two minutes. Tel: 0800 783 7010 www.oralb.com/en-uk

IBP B-291 £49.99
This offers similar features to the B091, but also includes two speeds and a two-minute timer, plus flosser and scraper.
Tel: 01942 819695 www.ibphealthcare.com

Oral-B Professional Care 3000 £100
A 3D cleaning system uses a head that pulsates, rotates and oscillates to remove plaque and debris. There are three cleaning modes: daily clean, sensitive and polishing. Other features include two interchangeable heads, a timer and a pressure sensor. Tel: 0800 783 7010 www.oralb.com/en-uk

Oral-B Professional Care 1000 £60
You get two brush heads, a rechargeable battery and several other useful features that include a pressure sensor to help protect teeth against harsh handling, plus a timer to ensure your teeth are cleaned for a sufficient length of time.
Tel: 0800 783 7010 www.oralb.com/en-uk

Oral-B Triumph 5000 £160
A top-of-the-range rechargeable toothbrush that has microchips embedded in the brush head and handle to monitor brushing activity. It analyses your brushing action and sends the data via Bluetooth technology to a digital display. The display guides you through your brushing technique, for example, informing you when are brushing too hard or not brushing for long enough. There are also four customised brushing modes, including massage and polish. Tel: 0800 783 7010 www.oralb.com/en-uk

Philips Sonicare Hydroclean £50
As the name suggests, this toothbrush uses sonic technology to remove plaque, both on and between teeth. It has a timer and is supplied with two replaceable AA batteries. Tel: 0800 331 6015 www.philips.co.uk

Philips Sonicare Healthy White £100
Designed to remove tea, coffee, tobacco and red wine stains, and also reduce gum disease, it has three operating modes: clean, sensitive, and clean and white. You also get a timer, travel charger and travel case. A version costing £20 less omits the sensitive mode and travel case. Tel: 0800 331 6015 www.philips.co.uk

Philips Sonicare Flexcare £179.99
In addition to offering three operating modes (clean, sensitive and massage), this high-end electric brush includes two cleaning routines. Max Care offers a full cleaning regime, while Go Care is for cleaning between regular brushes, such as after lunch. You get a choice of two heads, standard for everyday cleaning and mini for more precise cleaning. There’s also a built-in ultraviolet sanitiser which reduces the amount of germs that can linger on the toothbrush head. Tel: 0800 331 6015 www.philips.co.uk

Looking down across the rocky peaks and cliffs to the lush valley floor thousands of feet below was breathtaking enough. Then the mountain peace was broken by the clang of the observation platform’s gate as several hard-hatted men with ropes coiled around their chests and ice axes dangling from their belts piled over from the edge of the abyss.

They only needed frost in their beards to complete the macho effect they created by coming up the hard way.
We, I hardly need to say, came up to the easy way to the top of Lomnicky Stit in the High Tatras mountains of Slovakia – that is, by dizzying cable car.

The view, of course, is the same however you get there – and what a view. In June there was plenty of green, tingeing the grey rock, all set off by pockets of snow clinging on in shaded gullies.

As cable car trips go, this must be up there with the most spectacular anywhere. The first leg is on a continuous cable system used mainly for skiers in winter and for walkers, mountain bikers and trolley tobogganers in the summer. The yellow cars soar over the ski slopes and the twisting concrete summer toboggan run, up to a café and restaurant and the Skalnaté pleso base station where the cable car also leaves up to the summit. At this point you have already climbed some 2000ft.

There’s a small lake and a further chair lift to the top of the black ski run that looked to me more like a sheer cliff. But the main excitement comes from the thick cables that curve out from this foothold on the mountain across rock-strewn valley slopes and up to the 8642ft peak.

The red cars are packed tight, a bit like the London underground at rush hour, but the steady trip along the suspended cable is smooth; then, as it nears the immense rock face, progress is almost vertical until the car swings into the station.

You will have climbed another 3000ft.

Visitors to the top, unless they have booked dinner and an all night stay, have 50 minutes on the summit.

At the top of the mountain, known locally for many years as Dedo (Grandpa), is a café, astronomical and weather observatory, and a TV transmitter. The metal observation platform gives you views in all directions, including some wings that hold you above drops of thousands of feet.

When you look inwards from the observation deck and see the cable car station with the café and observatories perched on top, it looks impossible. To get that first foothold for the cable, the original construction workers in the Thirties got there the hard way and carried up all their materials – an amazing achievement. The cable car opened in 1940.

This is the second highest point in the compact alpine High Tatras that sits astride the Slovakian/Polish border, so you are looking down on everything around you, across peaks and valleys to the wide plain and, 20 miles or so to the south, the Low Tatras – also part of the Carpathian Range that sweeps across 1000 miles of Eastern Europe.

The High Tatras are the highest and the only alpine group of that whole range.

In an area less than 30 miles long and ten miles deep, there are 11 peaks above 8200ft.

On the Slovakian side of the border the area is the country’s first national park, designated in 1948, and the Polish High

Tetras is also a national park.

Almost two-thirds of the national park is covered by forests, predominantly spruce and fir with a significant proportion of Scots pine, Swiss pine, larch and Swiss mountain pine. Deciduous forests – beech and maple growths – occur less frequently.

The walk from the station car park at Popradske Pleso is full of mountain views like this

The High Tatras are mostly granite. There are 110 lakes, or mountain tarns, in the park, which have been formed in glacial kettles. Among the park’s many waterfalls, the biggest is the KmeÈov, 262ft high.

Lomnicky Stit was first climbed in the late 1700s and the first tourist climb was in 1793 by English traveller Robert Townson. It was another 100 years before anyone conquered the peak during the winter.

The cable car from Tatranská Lomnica at the base of the High Tatras costs £30 to the very top and back. Of course, it is a high mountain and can be in cloud, but on a clear day this is one trip you should make; you’ll be talking about it for years. You need to book the leg up to the summit, which you can do at the base station in Tatranská Lomnica.

For those who love the mountains in summer, Slovakia is a lesser-known alternative to the alpine areas of Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Italy and France. It is on a smaller scale but the cost of enjoying the High Tatras is a lot less than the Tyrol and it offers its own unique experiences, including that view and the cable car adventure.

Tour operator Mountain Paradises offers a range of summer adventures as well as a winter programme.

Mancunian Matt Jeavons and partner Terezka Rothová met when she was working in Manchester. They formed Mountain Paradise and now live in her native Poprad at the foot of the High Tatras and run a very varied tour programme.

Their summer programmes include mountain walking and hiking, with easy routes and several grades of difficulty.

They also organise golf trips and photography holidays, with the superb scenery and wildlife the target for the amateur lenses.

Mountain Paradise also organises wildlife-watching hikes, with parties staying overnight in mountain
cottages. Chamois and marmots are often seen, with wild boar, brown bears, wolves and lynx inhabiting the national park. In the air you will see golden eagles, buzzards and peregrine falcons in the beautiful forested mountain settings.

If you want something a little less strenuous, you can take the option of day trips – the cable car to the mountaintop is one.

During the morning before the cable car trip, we drove up the winding mountain roads to one of the most popular spots with locals – the Popradske Pleso. From the car park near the mountain railway station there is a one-hour hike up to a lake. It’s a winding climb on a metalled road past tumbling streams and amid glorious mountain peaks and forested slopes.

The Old Town in Poprad

On the way you can take a small diversion to visit the symbolic cemetery where colourful memorials to those who have died on the mountains are displayed near a little chapel.

On that Sunday morning it was the opening ceremony of the summer hiking routes that run higher up the surrounding mountains from the lake and the hotel on its shores. There was a band, traditional dancing and food, as well as lots of local family groups who had made the climb.

Eagles soared over the ridges, the air was pure and clear giving a perfect view of the scenery. It’s hard to think of a nicer place to walk even if you just amble half-way and sit on a log by the cascading water, as I did while photographer Clive Nicholls and our guide carried on to get the pictures.

Not far from Lomnicky Stit is the only accessible show cave in the High Tatras, Belianska Cave on the northern slope of the Kobylí Mountain.

The cave entrance and opening caves were known by gold prospectors as early as the first half of the 18th century; evidence is provided by the inscriptions of their names on the rocky walls. The visitor can admire flowstone waterfalls, the pagoda stalagmite, pools and many other forms of cave decoration. One of the stops is in the Musical Hall, named after the sound of dripping waters on the pool surface.  The entrance is just under a mile from the village of Tatranská Kotlina with its excellent inns and restaurants and souvenir market. It’s a 30-minute ascent, gaining about 400ft along a hairpin roadway.

When you get to the top, the guided tour is another mile of climbing – there are 860 stairs on the path but, as our guide pointed out, only 430 are up!  The tour lasts about 70 minutes and the reward for all that climbing is the sight of caves that are magnificently presented and lit. The temperature ranges between 5°C and 6.3°C so you do need a fleece or jacket, even though it may be warm outside.

On the other side of the High Tatras is the River Dunajec that forms part of the border between Slovakia and Poland. The river cuts through a spectacular gorge, and during the summer it is used for traditional tourist raft trips. White water rafting this is not, but just a gentle float for a couple of hours through stunning scenery. Raftsmen dressed in traditional goral costumes talk during a raft ride about local history, and rare fauna and flora, as well as legends and tales connected with surrounding rocks.

The rafts themselves are made from five wooden sections tied together. At the end of the 12-mile journey they are dismantled to be transported by lorry back to the starting point.

Rafting starts at the quay below the village of Majere. Slovak rafts, steered by two experienced raftsmen, finish their ride at the Slovak-Polish state border in the village of Lesnica.

Rafting is equally popular in Poland and lots of tourists come from the nearby city of Kracow for a trip. There is a great bar and restaurant at Lesnica and you can walk back along the river’s marked tourist path, or take a bus, taxi or a mountain bike to get back to your starting point.

We also crossed over into Poland to take a look at the castle in Niedzica. Overlooking Czorsztyn reservoir, built in the 14th century on the ‘Gothic Route’, it was reconstructed as a Renaissance borderland defensive fortress. The Upper Castle commands a marvellous panorama of the Pieniny Mountains through which the river gorge twists.

The trip from Poprad to the River Dunajec was through the rolling foothills of the mountains, a lovely counterpoint to the high peaks. The route was dotted with towns and villages and many of the houses had poles of 20ft or 30ft standing in the front garden, which on closer inspection proved to be young fir trees with all the lower branches trimmed off, leaving just the top like an elevated Christmas tree. These, we found out, were Slovakian Maypoles put up in the gardens by young men keen on the daughter of the house. It isn’t quite a proposal of marriage but it’s a clear statement of interest.

The poles are put up during the night so that when the girl looks out of the window on a May morning, she is alerted to her paramour’s romantic intent. The taller the pole, the greater the passion.

Above Top: The wonderful cave comainmplex at Belianska Cave. Above:Floating gently down the stream on the traditional raft ride on the River Dunajec

The roofs and chimneys of buildings and churches were also often decorated by the crazy platform of sticks that forms the nest of the stork. The storks fly north each spring to breed all over mainland Europe.

The city of Poprad is built on the plain that separates the  High and Low Tatras. The old town is the place to stay, with a cluster of small pension hotels and restaurants.

The city centre has a bustling shopping area, restaurants and bars as well as AquaCity, where a pool and water park meets a health spa.

Another excellent day trip from Poprad is across towards the Low Tatras and to the foothills and wide, sweeping valleys guarded by Spis Castle that dominates this region. Built in the 12th century on the site of a hill fort that had stood guard for centuries, it is the second largest castle in Central Europe and one of the biggest anywhere in Europe. It was a seat of the most important feudal lords of the Spis region and inhabited till the end of the 17th century.

Across the valley from the castle is a small village, Spisská Kapitula, but this has a cathedral and two Roman towers. Since 1776 it has been a seat of the Spis bishop.  The castle is a little climb up from the car park. It has a museum and you can progress to the top of the tower for an unrivalled view across this beautiful countryside.

Slovakia was formed in 1993 when it split from the former Czechoslovakia leaving a separate Czech Republic.  Its capital is Bratislava. The fledgling independent countries joined both the EU and NATO in 2004.

Despite the fall in value of the pound against the euro, Slovakia is still great value, and the food is excellent. The goulash meat soup and the wild mushrooms were fantastic. Pork is also a favourite meat.

If you like the Alps, you’ll love this part of Slovakia.

Paying bills, buying clothes, making gifts, writing cheques, and signing forms are all things we take for granted.

It’s not just a question of how our financial affairs would be managed if we could no longer perform these simple tasks, but how we would be like to be cared for physically that we need to consider.

Anyone, at any age, can become physically or mentally incapacitated through illness or accident and, if plans are not in place beforehand, family and friends will not be able to pick up the mantle and make decisions for us.

In the absence of legal documents, signed when we were of sound mind, medical teams will decide what’s in our best interests physically and the family has no alternative but to apply to the courts, who will appoint someone to run our financial affairs.

This option is expensive and time-consuming and can be hugely distressing; therefore it is important to give serious consideration to granting a power of attorney which will survive beyond the time when we are capable of making our own decisions.

England and Wales

The Mental Capacity Act 2005, which came into force on October 1, 2007, replaced the Enduring Power of Attorney (EPA) with the Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) in England and Wales.

This document comes in two quite separate parts – the Property and Affairs section and the Personal Welfare section.

The old EPA could be used immediately and did not need to be registered unless and until the donor lost capacity. It was for property and affairs only and did not allow a Personal Welfare power to be created.

It’s important to remember that any EPA signed before October 1, 2007 remains valid. An existing EPA can be used, unregistered, while you still have mental capacity provided you consent to its use.
If you start to lose mental capacity to manage your finances, then your attorneys are under a duty to register your EPA with the Public Guardianship Office.

In contrast, the Property and Affairs or Personal Welfare LPAs must be registered before they can be used.

Scotland

The Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000, which came into force on April 2, 2001, created the Continuing Power of Attorney (CPA) and the Welfare Power of Attorney (WPA) – similar to the LPA in England and Wales. Before then, it was only possible to create the CPA and, if this was signed before April 2, 2001, it does not need to be registered straight away.

As the name suggests, it continues to be valid if and when the donor loses capacity, at which time it must be registered.

CPAs and WPAs signed after April 2, 2001 must be registered with the Office of the Public Guardian before they can be used.

In addition, a WPA that was signed after October 5, 2007 intended to be used only after the donor becomes incapable must contain a statement that they have considered what criteria they wish to be used in determining their capacity.

Northern Ireland

The Enduring Powers of Attorney (Northern Ireland) Order 1987 created the EPA and, to date, this has been retained in Northern Ireland. The EPA can be used immediately it is signed by the donor and, provided that is the intention, will remain valid if the donor loses capacity. At that point, it must be registered with the Office of Care and Protection.

If you wish to allow someone to continue acting for you after you become incapable of managing your own affairs, you will need to create an EPA.

This gives someone else (the attorney) the legal right to manage your financial and property affairs only. This single power is in two parts: the first gives an ordinary power of attorney, as narrow or wide as you wish, and the second states that when you no longer have mental capacity to deal with your affairs, the attorney will continue to act for you.

It does not apply to any matters associated with your welfare. You can, if you wish, state that you will continue to manage things yourself until you no longer have the mental capacity to do so, which means your attorney will take over only if and when you lack the capacity to make decisions for yourself. At that point, the power must be registered at the Office of Care and Protection.

Property and Affairs LPA (England and Wales)
Continuing Power of Attorney (Scotland)

You can make a Property and Affairs LPA or a CPA to enable someone you trust (the attorney) to take decisions on your behalf about your property and affairs, either now or at a time when you are no longer able or lack the mental capacity to take those decisions yourself.

This can include paying your bills, collecting your income and benefits or selling your house, subject to any restrictions or conditions you might include. It can only be used once it has been registered at the Public Guardianship Office (PGO) or the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG).

Personal Welfare LPA
(England and Wales) Welfare Power of Attorney (Scotland)

A personal welfare LPA and a WPA will allow whomever you have chosen as your attorney to make decisions on your behalf about your personal welfare – for example, where you live and who will take care of you.

It can include allowing the attorney to give or refuse consent to medical treatment. You have to fill in the form appropriately if this is the option you require.

If you state you do not want a specified life-sustaining treatment to be given at a future time, the LPA or WPA giving the attorney the decision-making power will invalidate any previous Advance Decision or Living Will refusing treatment.

An Advance Decision made after the Personal Welfare LPA or WPA would supersede these documents and be binding on your attorney. A Personal Welfare LPA or WPA can only be used once the form is registered and you have become mentally incapable of making decisions about your own welfare.

Certificates must be provided for LPA, CPA and WPA to show the donor fully understands exactly the consequences of signing the document, and that no fraud or undue pressure has been used. Doctors and lawyers are entitled to charge a fee for providing the certificate.

In England and Wales, the LPA must have a Certificate Provider’s Statement.  This has to be given by someone who has known the donor for at least two years or is a person specified in a long list including police officers, librarians and MPs.

Only one certificate is required if someone is named in the LPA as the person to be notified when the application to register it is made. If no person is to be notified, two people must provide a certificate.

In Scotland, the CPA and WPA must include a statutory certificate, in the prescribed form, signed by a Scottish solicitor, a practising member of the Scottish faculty of Advocates or a doctor.

Do you need a solicitor?

Some people are more comfortable having legal documents prepared by a professional lawyer. That said, the forms for these Powers of Attorney spell out exactly what is required to create valid, legal documents and so it is possible to fill them in without the help of a solicitor.

Forms for all types are available from the relevant website except for the Northern Irish EPA. These are not readily available other than from a commercial website which will charge around £40 for completion online. Solicitors in Northern Ireland will not charge much more for preparing this very simple form.

You will need time to read the forms through, perhaps several times, think about what your wishes are, ask a trusted friend or family member if they are willing to act as your attorney (more than one?) and you will need to decide who will provide the certificate(s).

You would have to do all of this anyway in preparation for a visit to a solicitor.

If you don’t feel able to complete them alone then ask a friend to help.  If you make a mistake, the office responsible for registering them will reject the forms and you will have to pay an additional fee to submit them again.

A local charity may be able to help you and the larger charities have straightforward information available on their websites to assist with filling in the forms.

What’s the charge if a solicitor prepares it?

Costs vary widely if you take on a solicitor to prepare the document.

The Northern Irish EPA is straightforward and a solicitor will charge a modest £50 to £70. The LPAs, CPA and WPA are much more complex and time-consuming to prepare, and a solicitor will charge between £300 and £500 for each of the two powers, usually offering a reduced fee of £500  to £800 for both prepared at the same time. It is important to ‘shop around’ as some smaller law firms may be prepared to reduce their charges for clients on a limited income.

Advance Decision (Living Will)

Before the introduction of Personal Welfare LPA and WPAs, making an advance decision was the only way to make your wishes known about your medical care if you could no longer participate in the decision-making process.

Although you could say what you would like to be done – for example, “I wish to be given all possible treatment to keep me alive” – only refusal of treatment is legally binding on medical staff.

Making an advance decision is still an option but since the Mental Capacity Act came into force, valid advance decisions have been formalised. Age Concern’s website has very useful sample advance decisions and helpful information: (www.ageconcern.org.uk).

It describes the requirements for a valid advance decision, which include specifying the treatment to be refused and the circumstances in which it would apply.

Advance decisions refusing life-sustaining treatment must be in writing – although it can be written by a family member, recorded in medical notes by a doctor or on an electronic record; they must be signed and witnessed and include an express statement that the decision stands “even if life is at risk”. Even then, an advance decision might not be followed by a doctor where there is evidence that the person may not feel the same way about the earlier decision or they have been treated under the Mental Health Act.

The dilemma

People make advance decisions to refuse medical treatment in the hope that if they do not have the capacity to take that decision when the time comes, their wishes will be followed.

For those who retain capacity, the issues are different and many of us hope that if life becomes intolerable we will be able to end it in a dignified way.

Choosing to end one’s own life when illness or infirmity makes carrying on too big a burden is considered by many to be a personal decision and not the business of doctors, lawyers or the state.

Although this view is rejected by many faith groups and disability campaigners, wider society seems to accept it is the right of the individual, faced with what they believe will be an intolerable death, to die at the time of their own choosing.

However, this option is risky for those so incapacitated that they need help to end their lives. Debbie Purdy, who has a progressive form of multiple sclerosis and wants to know if her husband will or will not be prosecuted if he helps her to end her life, is one of those keen to see the law on assisted suicide clarified.

On the face of it, the law is quite clear. Section 2(1) Suicide Act 1961 (applies in England, Wales and Northern Ireland) provides:
A person who aids, abets, counsels or procures the suicide of another, or an attempt by another to commit suicide, shall be liable on conviction or indictment to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 14 years.

This applies even if the suicide occurs outside the UK. (Suicide itself was decriminalised in 1961.)

Dignitas

More than 100 people have gone to Dignitas in Switzerland, where assisted suicide is legal, and in almost all cases have been assisted by friends or relatives.

To date, however, although several people have been arrested and questioned on their return, not one prosecution has been brought.

The parents of rugby player Daniel James, paralysed in a training accident, who reluctantly accompanied him to Switzerland to end his life, were arrested and questioned by the police but not charged. The Crown Prosecution Service said there was enough evidence to prosecute but, on balance, it would not have been in the public interest.

The Director of Public Prosecution’s spokesman says: “There must be enough evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction. If the case does not pass that evidential stage, it must not go ahead no matter how important or serious it may be. If the case does pass the evidential stage, consideration must be given to whether a prosecution is needed in the public interest”.

Taking the law into their own hands

Kay Gilderdale recently helped her daughter, who was suffering from an extreme form of ME, to end her life. The young woman had repeatedly said that she no longer wished to live but was too incapacitated to commit suicide unaided. Kay was charged under the Suicide Act and pleaded guilty to assisting her daughter to die. The court delivered a suspended sentence and she walked free.

In contrast, Frances Inglis was charged with murder and given a life sentence (to serve nine years) for the murder of her adult son who had been severely brain-damaged in a road accident.

No one was in any doubt that Mrs Inglis was a distraught mother who, with compassion for the plight of her son and “with love in her heart”, had acted in what she thought was his best interests.

The difference between these two cases seems to lie in the fact that Tom Inglis was not in a position to make his wishes known. His injuries were so severe that communication was virtually non-existent.

Clarification of the law

Last summer, in the Debbie Purdy case, the House of Lords ordered the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to clarify the situation in which someone would or would not be prosecuted for helping another person to end their life.

In September 2009, the DPP Keir Starmer QC announced an interim policy and a three-month consultation period, following which the guidelines would be further amended.

When the consultation period ended in December, 4500 responses to the interim policy had been received.

In September the DPP said: “I am clarifying those factors of public interest which I believe weigh for or against prosecuting someone for assisting another to take their own life.

“Assisting suicide has been a criminal offence for nearly 50 years and my interim policy does nothing to change that.

“There are also no guarantees against prosecution and it is my job to ensure that the most vulnerable people are protected while at the same time giving enough information to those people, like Ms Purdy, who want to be able to make informed decisions about what actions they may choose to take.”

The DPP’s Assisted Suicide Policy was published on 25 February.  Keir Starmer said: “The policy is now more focused on the motivation of the suspect rather than the characteristics of the victim. The policy does not change the law on assisted suicide. It does not open the door for euthanasia. It does not override the will of Parliament. What it does is provide a clear framework for prosecutors to decide which cases should proceed to court and which should not.”

The Policy for Prosecutors makes it clear that the critical element is the motive behind the suspects’ act.  “If it is shown that compassion was the only driving force behind his or her actions, the fact that the suspect may have gained some benefit (e.g. an inheritance) will not usually be treated as a factor tending in favour of prosecution.  However, each case must be considered on it’s own merits and its own facts”.

Mrs Purdy is delighted.

The debate

Matthew Parris, journalist, broadcaster and former Conservative MP, is passionately against what he calls “an assisted suicide Act”, seeing it as having the potential to lead to state regulation of death.

Writing in The Times, however, he made it clear that in some circumstances he is prepared to take his own life, stating

“if nature does not do the job in a timely manner, I shall consider it a duty to take matters into my own hands”.

He is drawing attention to the difference between personal choice and state control through guidelines, policy and legislation which, he believes, taken to its logical conclusion, could lead to state certification for the right to die.

Sir Terry Prachett, who delivered the Richard Dimbleby lecture in February, disagrees. Diagnosed some time ago with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease, Sir Terry suggested a tribunal could hear the case for people who want to end their lives, weigh up the facts and decide whether or not to issue a licence which would protect anyone assisting in that death.

Baroness Findlay dissents from this view, arguing that even with a tribunal system there would be potential for coercion by those who might benefit financially from the death and that feelings on the matter of ending one’s own life fluctuate.

Opinion polls conducted for BBC TV’s Panorama indicated 73 per cent believed family members should be able to help someone who is terminally ill to die. However, when asked their opinion on a case of pain and suffering but no terminal illness, that figure dropped to 48 percent. In such cases 49 per cent would like to see a prosecution.

Most people want to stay in their own homes and be as independent as possible. Each month we discuss ideas and aids that can help make everyday activities such as personal care, household tasks and leisure activities easier and safer to perform.

Frail elderly people, and those with memory difficulties, physical disabilities, long-term conditions or recovering from a period of illness, can be more vulnerable and at risk of falls and injury. Certain activities, certain areas of the house or time of day can pose more of a risk – for example, cooking, using the bathroom, enjoying the garden and at night.

Adapting the home may reduce the risks and give people confidence and a sense of security they can get help when they need it. It can also give reassurance to carers, family and friends to support the person to remain in their own home.

There are some sophisticated aids available to support independence and safety at home. Some are battery-operated, some require a power supply and others use the telephone network.

Some systems monitor and/or control the home environment, such as Telecare or Smart Homes. The advantage of these is that, while people still have the option to actively call for help or reassurance should they need it, their environment and activity within the home can be monitored sensitively.

A system is made up of sensors and/or prompts to remind the user to do an essential task, and they can be tailored to individual need. A signal is sent via the telephone network to a call centre that will respond in an appropriate way when they receive an alert. This could be by phoning the person or sounding an alarm to warn them of a problem, alerting emergency services or sending someone to the home.

An intercom alarm (baby alarm) enables a person to communicate his or her needs to a carer in another room. Some systems have two-way communication, allowing for room-to room conversation, or a portable receiver can give a carer more freedom to move around the home and garden. Intercoms can be used to monitor someone’s activity, but should not be used in situations where they invade his or her privacy.

Personal alarms are used to call for help and are particularly useful for people who live alone, where both partners are frail, or for people who are on their own for substantial periods of time during the day or night. Community alarms use the telephone network. They comprise a  trigger, usually worn around the wrist or as a neck pendant. Pushing the button on the trigger sends an emergency signal to a unit integral to, or attached to, the telephone. Some systems phone relatives or neighbours, who are key-holders, to provide assistance. Other systems dial through to a call centre that holds details of the caller, and the call centre staff can then respond in an appropriate way.

A fall at any age is likely to leave you shaken; the experience can be both traumatic and serious. Falls can the main reason why older or disabled people have to give up the independence of living in their own homes and move into sheltered accommodation.

Pressure mats, which have an audible alarm, positioned beside a bed or chair or at a doorway, can help prevent falls.

They alert carers when someone leaves a bed or chair. This can give the person and the carer more freedom, alerting the latter only when necessary, and are often particularly helpful during the night.

Pressure mats and wander alarms can be useful to alert the carer should the person wander outside the ‘safe’ area of the house into an area where there is a higher level of risk – for example, out of the bedroom on to the landing where there is a risk of falling down the stairs, or going outside the house into the garden and beyond. These devices are often easy to move between different locations.

Some wander alarms, also often referred to as activity sensors, have body-worn triggers that set off an alert when the person passes by sensors. As well as alerting carers or monitoring if someone leaves a safe area of the house, these can be used to trigger lighting to enable the person to move around more safely at night. They can be used to steer them away from hazards such as the stairs and to see where they want to go – for instance, from the bedroom to the bathroom.

A fall detector, worn on a cord around the neck or around the wrist, can sense a serious fall and raise an alarm at a monitoring centre. Activity sensors can be monitored, and if there is little movement of the person around the home, a call or a personal visit can be made to check that everything is all right.