A chance to help police
catch the drink drivers
by David Skentelbery
FOR the first time ever, Warrington residents are being given the chance to decide where police should target their resources to catch drink drivers.
As part of this year’s annual Christmas drink drive campaign, Cheshire Police has decided to go interactive and is inviting people to get involved by voting online for one of three roads they want officers to concentrate on in their local area.
Warrington-Worldwide readers can vote on the poll in our popular Readers Forum.
It is necessary to register as a member of the Forum, but you can keep your details confidential.
The road to receive the most number of votes in each local authority area will then be the location for a series of high profile stop-checks. Collision statistics and officers’ knowledge of hotspot areas has been used to select the roads.
Residents in Warrington can choose one of the following three roads:
Bridgefoot
A50 Kingsway South
A49 Winwick Road
Voting closes on at 9am Wednesday December 7 and the results will be announced later by the police.
The message behind the campaign is simple – if you drink and drive you will be caught, if you drink to excess and drive the morning after you will be caught and brought to justice.
Cheshire’s Chief Constable, Peter Fahy, is leading the Crack Down on drink drivers.
He said: “Drink driving is a problem all the year round, but clearly at Christmas people tend to go out more, tend to be going to parties, there are lots more promotions on alcohol and people are drinking at home as well. So there’s a particular risk at this time of year.
“Don’t drink and drive, you have a very high risk of being caught, but really the most serious risk you run is the risk of being involved in an accident. Even a small amount of alcohol will effect your concentration, your reaction times, and your vision.”
An average of 3,000 people are killed or seriously injured each year in drink drive collisions. One in six of all deaths on the road involve drivers who are over the legal alcohol limit. In Cheshire, 5,700 breathalyser tests were carried out during last year’s drink drive campaign.
A total of 570 people failed the test and were prosecuted. In the past six months, 136 people also failed the breath test on Cheshire roads.
Rugby ladies provide
ideal stocking filler!
by Gary Skentelbery
WARRINGTON Wolves Ladies Rugby League team are hoping a fund-raising calendar will provide an ideal stocking filler for Christmas.
The team are producing an action packed calendar which they hope will also raise funds for Cancer Research as well as club funds. Club secretary Katherine Organ, 24, says the club is also looking to recruit new members with the hope of starting a second team next season.
“We lost a lot of our key players before the start of the current season because they were based in Rochdale,” said Katherine. “But we now have 25 signed up on our books but could do with some new recruits to help start a second team. The club was formed by Great Britain international Jane Banks, who is currently in semi-retirement following the birth of her baby daughter Olivia in the summer.
The club will be selling the calendar at various outlets in the town and more information is available at the website www.warringtonladies.co.uk Anyone interested in obtaining calendars or finding out more about playing for the club contact Katharine on 07811 681923.
The Wolves began in the lower divisions in 2003 and won the title in their first season, by scoring in the last minutes of their final game of the campaign. Their success continued by completing their share of victories in the upper division last year. The team are a credit to their male Superleague counterparts and are proud of the association with the Warrington Wolves.
The club trains and plays their games at Victoria Park at 7-30pm on Thursdays. Training is safe, enjoyable and run by professionally trained BARLA coaches.
They currently have an open age section and an U 14’s team and are looking to start an Under 16’s section. The team is supported by Warrington Wolves and Chicago Rock Cafe.
Charity launches appeal
to help earthquake victims
by Gary Skentelbery
A CHARITY has launched an appeal to send mobility equipment to the Pakinstan earthquake appeal.
Working in partnership with local community groups Warrington Disability Partnership are on the look out for equipment including walking frames, wheelchairs, wheeled walkers, crutches and walking sticks – which are privately owned! WDP Chairman Dave Thompson said: “We are looking for people who can donate spare equipment so we can arrange for it to be sent to Pakinstan for victims of the eartthquake. Obviously the equipment needs to belong to them and not the NHS, or local authority!”
The charity is working alongside Warrington resident Tara Shikh from the Survivors Support Group (SSG), set up in the aftermath of the recent earthquake in Pakistan.
Tara?s sister Natasha lives in Lahore, North Pakistan, and as a founding member of SSG she has direct contact with the devastated areas and the thousand?s of survivors who are now living with disabilities as a result of the earthquake.
Amputations, broken limbs, spinal cord and head injuries are just a few of the numerous injuries that survivors has sustained and mobility equipment is in desperately short supply. Doctor?s in Pakistan have appealed for wheelchairs, zimmer frames, crutches and walking aids. Children?s equipment has been identified as the most urgent.
Dave added: “?Equipment that somebody might feel is out-dated will probably be of great use to those in Pakistan during this desperate situation.?
Items can be delivered to WDP’s HQ at the Independent Living Centre based in Beaufort Street, Warrington.
Collections can also be arranged by calling co-ordinator Tom Hammond on 01925 240064.
Woman, 82, robbed
in the street
by David Skentelbery
AN 82-year-old Warrington woman was robbed in the street just minutes after collecting her pension and winter weather payments.
She was knocked to the ground and her attacker used scissors to cut the strap of her bag before running off.
The attack took place at around 1.30pm in Knutsford Road, Latchford, Warrington shortly after she had left Latchford Post Office.
Police said the woman was carrying a considerable amount of money having just collected her pension, winter weather payment and council tax payment.
Her attacker struck near the junction of Knutsford Road and Powell Street and ran off along Powell Street leaving her helpless on the ground. She was badly shocked and suffered swelling and soreness to her knee.
DC Ian Murray said: ?This was a particularly callous offence against a vulnerable woman who had just collected her pension.?
The attacker was about 5ft 8 inches tall with brown hair, short at the back. The woman?s bag was grey and contained a small black purse containing some cash and a gold four-leafed clover on a gold chain.
Anyone who witnessed the attack, has any information about the offender or who should find the stolen back is asked to call DC Murray or DC Jackie Daniels on 01244 613845.
Pupils rally to help
Operation Christmas Gift
PUPILS at Broomfields Primary School, Appleton, helped provide some Christmas cheer for youngsters in Mozambique, Africa.
More than 120 boxes of “gifts” including toiletries and toys donated by pupils at the school, were handed over to “Operation Christmas Children,” organised by the charity Samaritan’s Purse.
Ian Taylor, area co-ordinator for the charity, is pictured receiving gifts from pupils to help youngsters in the country which is suffering terrible poverty following years of civil war.
Youngsters at the school also experienced some hardship for themselves when they took part in a Victorian Day event.
Stolen car crashes
into rugby stadium
by staff reporter
A STOLEN car was set alight in the early hours of today – after careering off the road and colliding with a wall at Warrington Wolves’ Halliwell Jones Stadium.
A drainpipe on the stadium was damaged but fire crews were on the scene quickly and the fire caused no damage to the building. The interior of the car was burned out however.
The crash occurred at about 4am and the car struck a bollard before ending up against the stadium wall.
Police were on the scene quickly but the occupants had fled.
Later, fire crews from Birchwood went to a multiple accident on the M6 near Junction 21a. Two heavy lorries and three cars were involved. But there are no reports of anyone being seriously injured.
Firefighters helped clear wreckage and make vehicles safe.
Santa walks
on water!
by Gary Skentelbery
Youngsters have a chance of meeting Father Christmas on a barge thanks to Warrington Rotary Club.
Santa and his helpers will be on two barges based at Thorn Marine on London Bridge, Stockton Heath on December 17/18 helping raise funds for the Canal Boat project and Rotary’s Life Education Project.
Santa will be on the canal from 10am-4.30pm and mince pies and mulled win will be available.
180 offenders
arrested in a week
by staff reporter
POLICE arrested 180 offenders in Warrington last week ? bringing the total for the first three weeks of their ?Crackdown on Crime? to 550.
Officers arrested people for a variety of offences including burglary, possession of an offensive weapon, drink driving, robbery, assault and criminal damage.
?Crackdown on Crime? is Cheshire Police’s autumn and winter initiative aimed at putting more criminals behind bars.
A number of proactive operations are taking place to target offenders throughout the force area, including in Warrington.
Visit the Cheshire Police website at www.cheshire.police.uk and click on Crack Down for the latest news and information about the campaign.
Topical talks from
top media gurus
by John Hendon
TWO of the North West entertainment industry?s leading lights will give topical talks to media undergraduates at the Warrington campus of the University of Chester on the crucial role which ethics play in influencing their work.
Dave Wibberley has worked with some of the UK’s top popular musicians and is now a link between the academic, arts and commercial worlds. Eamonn O’Neal taught at chart-topping St Winifred’s School in the 1970s, since which he has been a radio journalist, familiar face on screen and senior media executive.
This term’s guest lectures started this week when the Lance Dobson Theatre played host to Dave. As head of Artists and Repertoire (A&R) for Jive Records, he was responsible for signing bands such as the Stereophonics, Lightning Seeds, Skunk Anansie and The Stone Roses.
He has been a member of BBC Radio 1’s Sound City Festival Management Board, advised the Music Publishers’ Association and the Performing Rights Society and acted as Programming Consultant to the Music Choice Europe radio station.
Now Business Manager for the University of Liverpool’s Arts, Culture and Creative Industries, Dave is one of the driving forces behind the City of Culture activities in Liverpool.
Eamonn has seen both sides of television – from presenting ITV’s The Motor Show to being the executive producer of flagship daytime TV show This Morning. Most recently, as head of regional programmes, he has supervised all Granada’s news, sport, current affairs and features output.
His early media career was mainly as a journalist with GMR, but his first taste of life in the spotlight came when he was deputy head teacher at the Stockport primary school whose choir sang Matchstalk Men and Matchstalk Cats and Dogs and There’s No-One Quite Like Grandma.
Phil Potter, the university’s deputy head of media, explained: “Guests lectures are important because they add depth to the courses we deliver and provide some case histories which bring the theory vividly to life.
“Our contemporary production studies module aims to provide a more philosophical, critical edge to the ‘hands-on’ production work that students undertake, to help them appreciate how music, radio and television fit into today’s society.?
Picture shows Dave Wibberley with Phil Potter
