2,780 young people
protected from mumps
by David Skentelbery
A MASSIVE two-month vaccination programme at Warrington has given 2,780 young people in the town’s high schools and colleges protection against mumps.
The pupils were offered MMR jabs to protect them against mumps following a 10 fold rise of the illness in the town’s 16 to 25-year-olds.
Warrington Primary Care Trust (PCT), supported by the Health Protection Agency North West, advised local residents in this age group who had not been vaccinated as children and who have not had mumps in the past, to visit their general practitioners for vaccination. The open access vaccination sessions were set up due to the small numbers of people protected.
Warrington PCT’s school health advisers put their normal work on hold in order to complete the programme. They were supported by health visitors, public health staff and administration staff.
School health adviser team leader Sue Cowlishaw said: “The schools and colleges were extremely co-operative as this campaign hit a very busy time in their schedule with impending public exams.
“The team of school health advisers, with their considerable expertise in organising large immunisation sessions and their unique relationship with their education colleagues, were invaluable in ensuring the success of the campaign.” The venture was underpinned by the staff at North Cheshire Hospital’s pharmacy department and their medical delivery service, which ensured that the vaccine was delivered promptly, reliably, and safely at each venue In the first three months of this year, 320 young people in Warrington contracted mumps, compared to 62 in the whole of 2004.
Mumps is associated with swelling of the tissues around the lower jaw, due to swelling of the salivary glands. In a few cases, it may also cause swelling of the ovaries or testicles, or of the linings around the brain and spinal cord.
The PCT’s deputy director of public health Dr Marioth Manch? said: “Mumps is spreading amongst teenagers because they have not been exposed to the disease as children, and have not been vaccinated with the MMR vaccine. I would urge anyone in their teens or early twenties who has not previously had two doses of the MMR vaccine to ensure that they are protected. MMR vaccine is safe and scientifically proven to be effective. Mumps can be serious, causing inflammation of the ovaries in women and testicles in men, and may also cause a form of viral meningitis (swelling of the linings around the brain and spinal cord).”
New Community Support
Officer starts duties
by John Hendon
WARRINGTON’S latest police Community Support Officer has taken to the streets – to help reassure local residents and make them feel safer.
Bree Lanyon, aged 26, is a former legal advisor for a Warrington based firm of solicitors, decided to make the swap from a 9-5 office job to the “challenging and rewarding” role of a Community Support Officer, patrolling the Appleton and Stockton Heath areas.
She said: “I wanted to do a job that would involve meeting people, something that was rewarding, challenging and worthwhile where I could see that my contribution was having a positive effect in the community.
“I went to school in the area where I will now be patrolling so I already have a good knowledge of the beat area and an understanding of the issues affecting local people.”
Following a four week intensive training course, Bree is currently shadowing CSO Paul Birch. He became a Community Support Officer last October, having spent the previous two years as a detention officer responsible for detainees in the cells at Warrington Police Station.
Paul, 26 who also lives in Warrington, said: “The best thing about being a CSO is being known in the local community. People talk to you and so many residents know me on a first name basis because I’m out and about on patrol up to six or seven hours a day.”
Even though Bree is new to the role she is already making herself known to local people, carrying out high visibility foot patrols. Part of her work over the last couple of weeks has involved identifying ‘hot spot’ areas for youth disorder.
And one of her first tasks on her very first day was to return a truant teenager back to school. Bree and Paul also teamed up as part of an initiative to reduce vehicle crime in car parks in the South Warrington area by handing out crime reduction literature, reminding motorists to remove valuables from their vehicles before leaving them unattended.
Warning over fake
leather furniture
by staff reporter
HOUSEHOLDERS are being warned to watch out for dodgy dealers selling fake leather suites by Warrington Trading Standards.
In a joint operation, Trading Standards and Warrington Police stopped a van in the Poplars area of Orford, containing two fake three-piece leather suites, following a complaint from Warrington resident about a man approaching members of the public offering to sell them fake leather suites.
Trading Standards officers have seized the suites and are warning consumers to be extra vigilant.
Coun Pat Wright, the council’s executive member for Community Services, said: “We would advise residents who are approached by anybody selling suites in this manner to give them a wide berth. The suites are not leather, are poorly made and there is no way in which their safety can be guaranteed.
“If anybody has been approached by an individual trying to sell suites in this way, they are advised to contact Trading Standards on 01925 442678.”
Battle of the bands”
winners aim for US
by Lesley Wilkinson
WINNERS of a “Battle of the Bands Competition” at Warrington, a group called Timeless, hope to play one of the major American music festivals in the future.
The four 13-year-old band members, Hayley McCarthy, Chris Fox, Sarah Fox and Mia Edwardson, beat off stiff competition in the annual contest at Gulliver’s theme park in a contest judged by a finalist from television’s X Factor.
The band, from Sir Thomas Boteler CE High School, performed two of their own songs to clinch victory and will put the ?200 prize money towards a new amplifier and microphones.
Chris said: “We write our own songs and our style is Indie-Rock. Our dream would be to play the Download Festival in America one day.”
One of the bands they beat was Warrington-based rock band Freekshow, comprising Sam Barnett, Brad Clayton and Jonny Abbott. They perform Green Day and Blink 182 covers, and one-day hope to play at Glastonbury. X Factor finalist Megan Ramsay, who was in the top five of the under 25s categrory, spent time at Sharon Osborne’s Buckinghamshire mansion during selection.
Megan performed a medley of three songs to the delighted crowd at Gullivers.
It was the second year the contest has been held at Gulliver’s and it is gaining popularity as a showcase for the under 16s.
Park manager Ian Gardner, said: “We enjoy giving the bands a chance to perform on a stage and with an audience. The competition has grown in size already and we hope next years’ event will be even bigger with more talent heading though the gates. Who knows it could be Gulliver’s one day and Glastonbury the next.”
Residents’ leader wants
stand against developers
by Lesley Wilkinson
A DESPERATE call for an end to development in the Fairfield and Howley area of Warrington has come from former borough council leader Mike Hughes.
He wants residents to make a stand against any further development.
Now chairman of Fairfield and Howley Ward Forum, which represents local residents associations, Mr Hughes said: “Enough is enough.
“Residents living in the Fairfield and Howley ward are saying no to further unbridled development in their community. A planning application for a medical waste incineration plant along Winwick Road has come back to haunt local people, with fears of atmospheric
pollution and ever more increasing HGV traffic along the A49.”
He said this followed outline planning approval for a “multi-storey residential tower block” along the banks of the Mersey in south Howley which has raised concerns about increased traffic congestion and the integrity of the local flood plain.
Mr Hughes is urging residents in Orford, Bewsey, Dallam and Howley, to write to Warrington Borough Council’s planning department objecting to individual planning applications.
“Warrington has been a hot-spot for development over recent years, but we’ve reached a point where we seriously have to consider the cost of unbridled development in terms of the undoubted traffic congestion they are feeding.
“It’s time for community action on these issues to force the planners to listen to the people of the town.”
Anger over plan for
mobile phone mast
by staff reporter
ANGRY neighbours are strongly opposing plans for a mobile phone mast near their homes as they claim it would cause a health risk and be detrimental to their environment.
Yet despite 72 letters from residents and objections from Poulton with Fearnhead Parish Council, Warrington’s Development Control Committee is being recommended to approve plans, when it meets tomorrow (Wednesday).
The application by Vodafone is for a 12 metre high telecommunications column, with antenna and ground level equipment housing, is for land on the east side of Blackbrook Avenue, Cinnamon Brow, Warrington.
Ward councillors also oppose the scheme. Objectors are concerned that development would have an impact on property values, attract anti-social behaviour and was too near to houses. They said there is no evidence that an increased network was needed in the local area and that a similar application had previously been refused.
But planning officers say the mast would be similar height to nearby streetlights and would be screened, that the site was suitable and that the mast would comply with Government safety guidelines. They said there was no evidence that it would attract anti-social behaviour and that any impact on property values was not a planning issue.
Bedroom fire fills
house with smoke
by staff reporter
FIRE fighters wearing breathing apparatus tackled a bedroom fire at a detached house in Lawson Close, Woolston, Warrington.
The blaze, involving a bed and bedding, filled the upper floor of the unoccupied house with dense black smoke.
It was discovered by a schoolboy member of the family who arrived home at lunchtime.
A spokesman for Birchwood Fire Station said the cause of the fire was still being investigated. But it appeared to have been a relatively minor fire which caused a lot of smoke because it involved foam pillows.
