Bus dispute looming?
MANAGEMENT and trade union representatives at Warrington Borough Transport are due to meet for talks involving ACAS tomorrow (Thursday) iin an attempt to avoid an overtime ban starting on Friday over a pay dispute.
Cash-strapped police
pay for their success
by David Skentelbery
POLICE in Warrington are solving more crimes and arresting more criminals ? but their success is leading to a financial crisis.
The cash-strapped Cheshire force is struggling to cope with the increased pressure on its budget.
In September, 1,000 more offences were detected than in the same month last year.
During June ? the latest month for which figures are available ? more than 1,800 offences resulted in conviction, fixed penalty notice or caution, compared to 1,200 three years ago.
The financial consequences are causing problems, however.
Chief Constable Peter Fahy said: “The more criminals we arrest, the more evidence we need to collect and process, the more fingerprint and DNA samples are taken and the more prosecution files we need to prepare. The more arrests we make, the more additional costs we incur and the greater the financial pressure on the budget.”
The success of the drive against crime is being attributed to the 18 new Neighbourhood Policing Teams in Warrington, Halton and Cheshire as a whole.
The introduction of dedicated investigators into those units and much closer working with courts and Crown Prosecution Service have enabled police to investigate more crime and bring more offenders before the courts.
Considerable pressure has been put on cell space in the county but with three new custody centres at Runcorn, Blacon and Middlewich due to replace existing facilities over the next couple of months the situation should ease.
Increased police activity has led to a rise in recorded crime. But there has been a real increase in violence within relationships and more incidents in schools and other institutions.
Mr Fahy added: “We are starting to see the benefits of the major changes we have made to the way we deliver policing services and those people who are committing or are victims of violent crime are feeling the effects. More offenders are being brought to justice and many more victims are seeing their crimes detected.?
Bishop’s surprise
visit to hospital
by staff reporter
PATIENTS and staff at Warrington Hospital received a surprise visit from the Bishop of Liverpool, the Right Reverend James Jones.
The Bishop enjoyed a tour of the hospital’s ?6m Accident and Emergency Department, before visiting the High Dependency Unit and Ward B17.
After a brief interview with the hospital radio station, Radio General, he joined the Trust Board and members of the Medical Senate for lunch.
The Bishop then rounded off his visit by dropping in to the hospital chapel where he met more staff and volunteers, including new chaplain, Mary Jones.
Hospital chaplain John Duffield said: “It was a good day and the Bishop appreciated his visit. He covered a lot of ground and was very interested in what was going on.
“One of his many roles as Bishop is to get out and talk to people, and he chatted with plenty of staff and patients as he went around. He said he loves to meet people and that enthusiasm shone through.
“He also commented that there was a great sense of peace and caring around the hospital, which is a tribute to the dedication of everyone who works here.”
Robot expert visits town
ROBOT expert Noel Sharkey, a judge on the hit BBC2 show Robot Wars, met students and school children from across the North West during a visit to the Warrington area.
The 56 year old professor of Computer Science at Sheffield University was invited by Daresbury Laboratory to speak as part of their public science lecture programme.
A party of students from Warrington?s Priestley College physics and computing departments were in the audience.
Prof Sharkey covered topics such as the history of robotics and how they should be controlled, current research as well as the role for robots in both today’s society and in the future.
The Priestley students found the lecture extremely interesting and will be able to make good use of the information they gained for future projects.
Priestley is keen to support aspiring students with an interest in robotics and in recent times the results have spoken for themselves when Robert Tracey and Peter Sadler teamed up to land the engineering prize at the Micromouse event hosted at Manchester University in July.
Deb Pressage, head of physics at Priestley commented: “The lecture went down well – Prof Sharkey proved to be a fine speaker and passed on some very interesting pieces of information.”
Pete Butterfield, from the college’s ICT department added: “Overall it was exciting – especially for my children who were happy to learn that their dad had met ?that man off the telly.?”
Warning over
storage heaters
by staff reporter
FIRE chiefs at Warrington today issued a warning about the dangers of leaving objects on top of electric storage heaters. In the early hours of this morning, firefighters were called to a first floor flat in Boydell Avenue, Latchford, Warrington.
They found the flat full of smoke and fumes with a smoke alarm sounding – but the sole occupant, a woman, asleep in bed.
The woman was eventually awoken and let fire crews in and the source of the smoke was found to be a number of plastic objects left on top of a storage heater.
“Some had melted so much we could not even tell what they originally were,” a fire service spokesman said.
A ventilation unit was used to clear smoke from the property.
The spokesman added: “It is extremely dangerous to put anything on top of a storage heater. In this case the occupant was lucky – it could have been a much more serious incident.”
Living with diabetes –
a chance to learn more
by John Hendon
PEOPLE with diabetes are being given an opportunity to learn more about living with the condition at a free eight week course in Warrington.
The “Get Active with Diabetes” programme, which begins on November 1, will enable people to talk to a range of health professionals, including a specialist nurse, GP, dietician, podiatrist and pharmacist. A patient with diabetes will also be available to answer questions.
The importance of exercise will also be promoted and attendees will be supported to work towards their own goals.
Sharon Fisher, a community diabetes specialist nurse with Warrington Primary Care Trust, said: “Our aim is to introduce people with diabetes to physical activity, provide knowledge and teach skills to promote motivation for them to assess their own health.
?Through the programme we hope people will gain an understanding of the benefits of changing their behaviour or lifestyle. We have learnt from experience that the best way to learn as adults is to get practical, ?try it and see? and have fun along the way – even learning from each other’s mistakes.”
Diabetes patient Sandra Kirkham, 47, of Lymm, attended a similar programme last year. She said: “It was really helpful to understand more about when I should be eating and how to keep my blood sugar levels stable. It also gave me useful advice about how to keep well in general and how to better manage my condition.”
In Warrington, there are nearly 7,000 people with diabetes – a rise of one per cent compared to the year before. The World Health Organisation says the number of lives claimed by diabetes each year is set to increase by 25 per cent over the next decade.
The new course is not a drop-in session – attendees must register first by calling 01925 251417. Those who are unable to attend the November course can express an interest in a different one. But they are for anyone with diabetes, regardless of the length of time they
have lived with the condition.
“Secret garden” opens
to public again
by David Skentelbery
WARRINGTON?S ?secret garden? ? the unique Grappenhall Heys Walled Garden ? is to be open to the public every week.
This follows the success of a series of open days at the beautifully restored Victorian garden during the summer.
Originally, the last open day was to have been early in September.
But now Grappenhall and Thelwall Parish Council, which owns the four-acre garden, has decided to open it every week, on Fridays and Sundays between 1pm and 4pm, starting this Sunday (October 16).
Retired farmer Bill Leah, from Walton, has been appointed visitor steward and he has been busy getting acquainted with the garden and its history over the last few weeks.
Parish clerk Damian Boddy said: ?We will have the garden open just in time for the best of the Autumn colour.?
The walled garden is all that remains of Grappenhall Heys, a large country house built by banker Thomas Parr in 1830. The house was demolished in 1975 and the walled garden lay largely neglected until 1995 when restoration work was started by English Partnerships.
In April the garden was taken over by Grappenhall and Thelwall Parish Council, along with a ?dowry? from English Partnerships, to pay for maintenance.
Behind the wall, the garden consists of a working kitchen garden, use by Warrington Organic and Wildlife Gardening Society, and an ornamental pleasure garden with three ponds with interesting stone structures and aquatic plants.
Out-of-hours health
service wins approval
by staff reporter
PEOPLE using the out-of-hours healthcare service in Warrington are pleased with the care they receive, according to a survey.
Warrington Primary Care Trust report that in the first survey of patients using the service more than 80 per cent praised the professionalism of the doctors and nurses, and more than 70 per cent were “very satisfied” with their treatment.
Service manager Chris Webb said: “It’s really important that people know where to go if they need advice or treatment during the evening, at night or on Bank Holidays. It’s also really important that people have confidence in the service.
“This is why we are so pleased that the patient survey is so positive. We’ll now be looking to make improvements to areas where people have been less than fully satisfied,” added Chris.
Since its launch in April 2004 the service, has had more than 57,000 contacts with more 22,000 people seen.
Patients initially speak to an experienced nurse, who assesses whether they need to be seen by a doctor, other health care professional or need self care advice.
It means patients are often seen quicker than if they had gone to the hospital’s Accident and Emergency Department. It has a late nigh pharmacy for prescriptions dispensed there and provides access to over-the-counter medicines.
Scrap cars go up
in arson attack
by staff reporter
POLICE are investigating after arsonists started a fire at Wade’s scrapyard at Winwick, near Warrington.
More than 70 scrap cars were involved in the blaze, which took firefighters three hours to extinguish.
A Fire Service spokesman said: “This was pretty obviously a fire that was deliberately started and it occupied four fire engines for up to three hours.
“If another fire had broken out during that time, it could have resulted in delays in us reaching the scene.”
[ 13.10.2005, 09:02: Message edited by: DS ]
