Having a bawl at
football festival
by Gary Skentelbery
YOUNG Owen was having a bawl when he turned out for an England team photo call.
Just the sight of Rooney’s England shirt appeared enough to bring him to tears.
But it was all smiles later as Owen teamed up with his mum and dad to launch a special festival of football at Warrington – and there wasn’t a broken metatarsal in sight!
Rooney and Owen lined up with other England footballing namesakes to help kick off the special World Cup campaign.
Following a search for local residents sharing the same surnames as our footballing heroes, the Warrington Town Centre Partnership unveiled Warrington?s elite team, in plenty of time for the start of the World Cup.
The selected squad, made up of men, women and children of all shapes, sizes and ages, from toddlers to grandparents, are set to appear as the faces of the town?s new campaign: ?Our Warrington, Our World Cup? and will adorn posters and billboards around the town centre, as well as adverts in the local press.
Those selected include Keith Rooney, a supply teacher who has taught in many schools in the Warrington area, such as Cardinal Newman and Bridgewater High.
He lined up alongside David, Jo and William Owen – David is an IBM product specialist for DDR computers in Manchester while 14 month-old William, who had a real bawl at Rooney, attends tiny tots!
Also in the team was goalkeeper Kyle Robinson, an Administrations Assistant at Chiltern Debt Management in Altrincham.
They were joined by son and mum team David and Susan Gerrard ? David attends Great Sankey High School and his favourite footballer is Steven Gerrard while Susan works for United Utilities in Customer Services and is quite keen on David Beckham.
As part of the forthcoming Warrington Festival of Football, the ?Our Warrington, Our World Cup? campaign has been designed to bring the whole town together to celebrate this year?s World Cup.
The selected squad will not only lead the town in supporting England in Germany but they also experienced the footballer?s lifestyle for a day, starting with a chauffer driven limo collecting them from home and whisking them off to experience life in front of the lens. To add glitz and glamour, the squad was pampered and preened by a team of stylists before striking a pose in a high-profile photo-shoot.
The Festival of Football will be launched on Saturday May 27 and football fever will sweep across Warrington?s town centre every Saturday there after for five weeks.
Michael Hancock, Chairman of Town Centre Partnership Warrington, said: ?The ?Our Warrington, Our World Cup? campaign has been designed to bring together the whole of Warrington to celebrate this year?s World Cup. Our selected squad are locals and will be the stars of this campaign.
“Football is something that unites people and we see the Festival of Football, along with the ?Our Warrington, Our World Cup? campaign as a great opportunity for the community to come together and support our boys out in Germany.?
Once the event kicks off there will be a great chance to win some great prizes and to see details of all the events by logging on to warrington-worldwide.com
Teenage rapist faces
indeterminate sentence
by court reporter
A WARRINGTON teenager who raped three girls ? once while on bail – was given an indeterminate sentence at the town?s Crown Court ? a sentence reserved only for the most dangerous of offenders.
Daniel Charnock, 19, of Grasmere Avenue, Orford, will have to serve a minimum of seven years in custody before the parole board will consider his position.
He was found guilty of three offences of rape after a trial last month and reappeared at the court for sentence.
The court was told that two of the offences were committed on the evening of May 20, 2005. The victims were 16-year-old girls celebrating after their last day at school.
They were befriended during the evening by Charnock ? then aged 18 ? and later raped.
The third rape occurred on October 24 the same year after Charnock (pictured) befriended an 18 year old woman and then raped her. He was on bail in connection with the earlier offences at the time.
After the sentencing, Det Chief Insp Judi Heaton said: ?The crime of rape is treated very seriously by the courts and attracts severe sentences such as in this case. It sends a clear message to all young men, that it is not acceptable to befriend young women with the intention of making sexual advances and assaults.
?The victims who have come forward have been very brave in seeing this through. They have been supported throughout by detectives in the case and police family liason officers.
?This was a difficult and complex case and the detectives involved carried out an extremely professional investigation.?
Students to study
modern-day slavery
by John Hendon
MORE than 100 students from Warrington secondary schools are to take part in a day of presentations and interactive workshops to mark the 200th anniversary of the abolition of slavery.
All students involved will take part in a drama performance during the day ? Monday, May 22, at the Tim Parry Johnathan Ball Young People?s Peace Centre at Great Sankey.
The students will examine issues related to slavery in 1806, such as the nature of and justifications for the trans-Atlantic slave trade.
They will be asked to confront Warrington’s links to the slave Trade and then challenged to comprehend the continuing and larger existence of slavery in 2006.
More people are slaves now than in the past ? and the average cost of a slave in the American south in the 19th century was ?28,000 while today the average cost is only ?60, it is claimed.
Students will examine how their lives and communities might have links to modern slavery and the day will culminate with presentations to a panel of key figures from the local community, suggesting what they think the people and institutions of Warrington can do to make a difference.
MP’s warning on
coin-operated sunbeds
by Terry Johnson
TEENS obsessed with a tan culture are risking their health in coin-operated tanning salons, a Warrington MP has warned.
Children are in danger of over-exposure to UV-rays in unsupervised salons where they can get a 25p-a-minute tan.
Warrington North MP, Helen Jones, is calling on the government to restrict the use of coin-operated tanning equipment and prosecute those businesses that exploit children.
Said Ms Jones: “Youngsters under 16 have easy access to coin-operated tanning salons. In many cases they do not have trained staff to advise and assist – often these salons are unstaffed.
“This means they can be used by young people who do not realise the dangers of over-exposure to UV-rays and also by those with health problems who should not use sunbeds.
“Posters warning of the dangers of exposure to UV-rays with certain skin types were ‘simply not good enough’.
“They are often ignored, unread or even torn down. Operators need to be made more responsible. They must ensure that coin-operated tanning machines are restricted to adults.
“Operators of unstaffed salons should be prosecuted if they allow children to use tanning equipment.”
Internet pioneers
launch new venture
by Terry Johnson
THREE pioneers of the UK Internet industry have launched a new venture out of Warrington aimed at capturing a lucrative slice of the market in specialist e-mail services.
Colin Smith, Bill Unsworth and Keith Pritchard were the brains behind one of the first UK Internet service providers – U-NET Limited – which started up in 1994.
Their latest venture, Simply Mail Solutions(SMS) targets the e-mail services market for business and professional users with SME’s.
Said Bill, company chairman: “We aim to provide a business standard of service for companies and profes
sional users where it is simply not feasible for them to set up their own mailservers”.
Added Colin, managing director: “Businesses rely so much on e-mail. They want to access it anytime – whether in office, on the move or even on holiday. Most companies cannot make the commitment to putting their mailservers into the high quality robust environments they need – never mind keeping the servers going”.
Keith, who is technical director, said: “Users want e-mail access from portable devices and out-of-office generally. But also with the ability to access all their mailboxes and any attachments.
“Shared resources such as calendars and contacts lists greatly aid users’ productivity”.
The new Warrington-based company is aiming for both UK and international clients.
Christian Aid will
be rattling the tin
by John Hendon
CHRISTIAN Aid volunteers will be rattling their collection tins in Warrington next week as the UK’s biggest house-to-house appeal gets into gear.
Christian Aid Week(May 14-20) underpins the charity’s efforts to combat poverty in 50 countries.
Said a Warrington spokeswoman: “Lives are being transformed by peoples’ giving. Christian Aid invests in things that multiply and provide benefits for years – just ?10 can pay the monthly salary of a teacher in Bangladesh”.
Special measures are being taken to combat doorstep tricksters.
The charity says that donations should only be made to official collectors, who will be over-16, wearing badge ID and carrying a certificate of authority.
Eight jailed for
drugs conspiracy
by court reporter
EIGHT people were jailed at Warrington Crown Court after pleading guilty to conspiracy to supply a Class A drug, – cocaine.
All were from the Warrington or Widnes areas.
Sean Bourdet, 50 and Jordan Bourdet, 24 were jailed for five years.
Terry Litz, 50, Richard Grey, 39, Steven Rogers, 45 and Keith Cosgrove, 24, were all jailed for three years.
Craig Booth, 53 and Joseph Leather, 26 were jailed for 18 months.
Police concern
over missing man
by staff reporter
POLICE at Warrington are becoming increasingly concerned about a man who has been missing from home since the early hours of Tuesday morning, May 9.
David Atherton, of St Katherine’s Way, Warrington, has not been seen since shortly after midnight.
Police are concerned because of his health and mental condition.
A police spokeswoman said Mr Atherton normally frequented Warrington town centre but also visited Wigan and St Helens.
He is 40, but looks older and is 5ft 7 inches tall, stocky and with light brown hair flaked with grey and thinning on top. He is often of untidy appearance.
Anyone with information about him is asked to call Warrington police on 0845 4580000.
News in brief
Hospital lottery
WINNING numbers in the weekly lottery run by the League of Friends of Warrington Hospital were 4, 7, 11 and 12. One winner picked up the ?100 jackpot prize and the the ?25 consolation prize went to G Higham.
Walking Days
THE annual walking day procession takes place at Croft, Warrington tomorrow (Sunday) and Newchurch Walking Day at Culcheth takes place on Sunday, May 21.
Road closure
WARRINGTON Borough Council is to make an order to introduce a temporary road closure on Green Lane, Padgate, from its junction with Blackbrook Avenue to its junction with Lambs Lane from Saturday, May 27. This is to allow electrical cable laying work and the closure is expected to last about nine days. Alternative routes will be signposted.
Nursery refused
PLANS to change the use of a house in Winwick Road, Warrington into a children’s day care nursery have been thrown out by borough planning chiefs.
