Holly’s plea for
organ donors
by John Hendon
A 19-year-old Warrington girl who spends three days a week in hospital because of kidney failure is helping to promote National Transplant Week which begins today (Saturday).
Holly Shaw, a student at the Padgate campus of Chester University, has been on the kidney transplant waiting list for 16 months so her plea for people to join the organ donor register is a truly heartfelt one.
She is desperate to be free from the constant demands her illness places on her, including the three days a week in hospital attached to a dialysis machine, extreme fluid restrictions and constant tiredness and nausea.
Holly was taken ill suddenly two years ago and rushed into hospital. There she was diagnosed as having End Stage Renal Failure (ESRF) and needed to go on dialysis immediately. She was placed on the transplant waiting list a few months later.
Having had a normal healthy childhood, Holly’s diagnosis came as a terrible surprise to her and her family.
She said: “It was a big shock when I was told I had kidney failure – it hadn’t even crossed my mind. I’d been fine and then suddenly started being sick and couldn’t keep anything down. I just thought it was a virus.”
Despite three days a week on dialysis she is only allowed to drink 500ml of fluid per day.
But she is fighting to get help not just for herself but also for the thousands of others with similar conditions.
She recently featured in a video released by the Live Life Then Give Life Campaign to raise awareness of the shortage of registered organ donors in the UK.
“Dialysis is a life saver but also a life sentence. A transplant would give me back my life. I wouldn’t have to do the treatment but most of all I would just feel normal and well again.”
National Transplant Week is organised by the charity Transplants in Mind.
More than 8,000 people in the UK need an organ transplant to save or radically improve their lives. However due to the chronic shortage of donors, 450 people die each year waiting. The ever growing demand for transplants means that waiting lists are rising each year.
People can sign the NHS Organ Donor Register online by visiting www.uktransplant.org.uk or by phoning the Organ Donor Line on 0845 60 60 400. For more information on the Live Life Then Give Life Campaign visit www.livelifethengivelife.co.uk
Garden centre celebrates
bygone times in style
by Gary Skentelbery and James Balme
A WARRINGTON based garden centre celebrated its 70th Anniversary with a magical Summer Garden Party in aid of charity.
A charity balloon launch took place in the new Open Skies Glass House at Bents Graden Centre in Glazebury where three year old Mia Loudon, the face of Bents? Charity of the Year, helped release hundreds of balloons through the retractable roof.
Matthew Bent, Managing Director at Bents Garden Centre said: ?In a time when large corporate organisations seem to wield so much power, we are proud that Bents is still a family owned and run business, now in its third generation. We are one of the largest and longest established garden centre?s in the UK and we thought it was important to mark our 70th anniversary with a special celebratory party.
?We have a fantastic team of colleagues, all of whom are responsible for making Bents the success it is today, the party is not only a celebration for our customers, but also a big thank you to members of our team.?
The afternoon celebrated bygone times with the sounds of the 1930s, in recognition of the year 1937 when Alfred and Margaret Bent established Bents Garden Centre by selling roses from their front garden just 100 metres away from the centre?s current location.
To see a video news report of the event click on the TV screen above.
“Worthies” to have a
bus named after them
by David Skentelbery
SPECIAL guests at the official opening of Warrington?s ?8 million state-of-the-art new bus interchange are to have buses named after them as the first phase of a project to honour those who make a positive contribution to the borough?s transport network.
They will be crowned ?Warrington Worthies? and then see their names given to buses.
The first ?Worthies? will include Chloe Kendrick, granddaughter of Warrington?s longest serving bus driver and Penketh High School pupil James Houghton, who along with fellow pupils, helped create a mural at the interchange and is the son of a bus inspector.
David and Anne Forrest, founder members of the Warrington Borough Transport customer panel, will join representatives of other community groups from across the borough by having buses named after them and unveiling a commemorative plaque.
A gala event will be held to celebrate the official opening of the interchange which has actually been fully operational since last August.
Council officials, Mayor Coun Celia Jordan and chief executive Diana Terris will be on hand to mark the official opening.
A swing band from Birchwood High School will entertain visitors, who can also enjoy a range of free drinks and canap?s.
Visitors may be lucky enough to get free travel vouchers and also tour vintage buses mapping the evolution of bus travel through the ages to today?s modern vehicles.
The bus interchange was build as ajoint project between Warrington Borough Council, North West Development Agency, Lend Lease and Warrington Borough Transport as part of the ongoing improvement of the public transport infrastructure.
It was recently awarded a ?Tourism For All? award from the Chester and Cheshire Tourist Board.
It is situated only yards from Warrington Central railway station, offering a fully integrated transport service, and features 19 bus platforms, a new travel centre and real time passenger information boards.
Town charity wins
prestigious award
by staff reporter
WARRINGTON-based charity The Relationships Centre, has been presented with a prestigious ?Safer and Stronger Neighbourhood? award in recognition of its pioneering Talk… Don’t Walk scheme.
The scheme encourages young people to talk through problems, rather than running away from them and offers confidential, unbiased advice, through face-to-face counselling as well as via the telephone, text, web chat and email.
Since Talk… Don’t Walk was established the number of young runaways in the Warrington area alone has been reduced by 76 per cent from 1,235 in 2003 to 297 in last year – demonstrating a cost saving of ?3.1 million for local authorities.
Introduced earlier in this year, the Safer and Stronger Neighbourhood award is designed to recognise and reward organisations committed to using problem-oriented partnership principles to solve community-based problems.
The scheme beat off stiff competition from a number of entries, covering a variety of diverse areas, all with community issues as the focus.
Alison McCausland, project leader of Talk… Don’t Walk, said: “We are delighted that Talk… Don’t Walk has been recognised in this way – it truly is a impressive achievement and we are all exceptionally proud.”
The scheme is now automatically entered into the highly acclaimed, National Tilley Awards which recognise the work undertaken by practitioners who take time to understand a specific problem and then develop a tailored response designed to combat the issue.
The Relationships Centre also received a ?1,000 prize, which will be re-invested in the Talk… Don’t Walk initiative.
The National Tilley Awards winner will be announced in September.
Anger over silence on
mental health issue
by staff reporter
A MEMBER of the public is seeking to ask a series of questions about mental health services for children and adolescents at the next meeting of W
arrington Borough Council.
An angry John Mulhall ? who has stood as an independent candidate in a number of council elections in recent years ? says he has been forced to raise the questions at a meeting of the full council because he was not allowed to ask them at a meeting of the Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee earlier this month.
He said: ?I would have preferred to ask them at the committee, but the chairman, Coun Wendy Johnson, would not allow me to do so.
?I believe this to be contrary to the constitution of the council.?
Mr Mulhall said there was considerable confusion among the public about Childrens and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS).
He said: ?I have been told that the chairman of the Health Overview Committee would not allow me to ask my question because the meeting was going to plan the year?s work programme and was not dealing with any other agenda items.
?But there was nothing on the agenda to indicate this was the case and, in any event, my question would have taken only a few minutes to deal with.
?I have been promised a written response but I am not happy with that because written responses from officers are seldom satisfactory.
?I believe this to be contrary to the constitution of the council, although I am aware the constitution itself is currently under review. I am trying to find out if the review will be subject to public consultation.
?I had hoped that with the recent change in control of the council we would get more openness and transparency, but this no seem to be the case.?
Pavement cafe plan
given the green light
by David Skentelbery
RESIDENTS have lost a battle to block plans for a pavement caf? outside a baker?s shop at Warrington.
Borough council development control committee members have approved the scheme outside the Waterfields? shop at the corner of King Edward Street and Connaught Street.
Nearby residents feared parking problems. They claimed there was a lack of formal parking facilities in the area and that access to nearby homes was already regularly blocked by motorists visiting the shops and nearby pub.
A move to grant consent for the caf? for a trial period of 12 months was defeated and the committee voted to grant permanent permission.
Chairman Coun Les Hoyle said members decided the proposal was only on a small scale and would be unlikely to cause serious problems.
