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Sefton care home puts spotlight on making memories

19 July 2018
Ollie Cowan
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Categories: Essential Sefton, Front Page, Latest News, Regeneration, Sefton Stories, Your Sefton

A Netherton care home has been chosen as the Sefton representative in a Merseyside-wide summer initiative to highlight the importance of memories and reminiscence among older people living with dementia.

James Dixon Court on Harrops Croft has been selected as the borough’s recipient of a Sense of Summer memory basket, produced by the multi-award-winning House of Memories dementia awareness programme, created by National Museums Liverpool.

Sefton Council Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care, Cllr Paul Cummins, put forward James Dixon Court which is operated by the borough’s leading adult social care provider, New Directions.

House of Memories is a museum-led dementia awareness programme which offers training, resources and activities to enable carers to support people living with the condition.

The new Sense of Summer memory baskets are designed to stimulate discussion about the past, and the contents are inspired by the great outdoors, bringing together items related to gardening, home-grown produce and summer picnics.

The basket includes objects that can form topics for reminiscence, and suggestions for outdoor and garden-themed activities that can help to improve the health and wellbeing of older people living with dementia.

The basket also contains multi-sensory objects that will work well for people with different levels of sensory communication, including items that stimulate smell, hearing, touch and sight.

Commenting on the Sense of Summer initiative, New Directions Head of Operations Paul Bamber said: “We are delighted and grateful to have been chosen as the Sefton recipient of this very valuable new resource, and would like to thank both House of Memories for their support and Cllr Cummins for putting us forward.”

James Dixon Court Service Manager, Martina Barr, added: “There’s nothing our residents like more than to get together and chat about the past, so this memory basket is very much appreciated and will certainly get a lot of use.”

Just one care home in Sefton, Wirral, Knowsley, Halton and St Helens has received a summer memory basket, a development inspired by Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram’s pledge earlier this year to build a dementia-friendly Liverpool City Region.

The baskets are sponsored by Financial Planning Corporation (FPC), based in Ainsdale, who has supported a number of other House of Memories projects..

FPC Partner Moira O’Shaughnessy commented: “We are delighted to have been able to contribute to the Sense of Summer memory baskets. Attending the presentation at James Dixon Court provided us with a unique opportunity to see the benefits that the residents experience from them in action.”

New houses go electric

18 July 2018
Ollie Cowan
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Categories: Front Page, Health, Latest News

Sefton Council has approved a requirement for new houses in the borough to have electric vehicle charging points as standard.

 The requirement, contained in the New Housing Supplementary Planning Document will mean that all new housing developments with dedicated parking will have to provide at least one electric vehicle charging point. For housing with communal parking, at least 1 in 10 parking spaces must provide an electric vehicle charging point.

 The Sustainable Travel and Development Supplementary Planning Document also contains a requirement for commercial developments to provide charging points.

 This comes as part of the Council’s action plan to reduce air pollution across the borough by providing better infrastructure for electric vehicles to support the transition away from polluting diesel and petrol cars.

 It is hoped that the new approach will encourage the use of electric vehicles and in turn reduce the air pollution caused by diesel and petrol car emissions as well as helping to reduce carbon emissions. 

 Cllr Daren Veidman, Cabinet Member Planning and Building Control, said: “This very welcome initiative shows Sefton Council’s commitment to creating an environment that is ready for the future by providing infrastructure that supports electric vehicles.

 â€śIt will help to encourage the use of electric vehicles and reduce the harmful pollution emitted from petrol and diesel cars.”

 Cllr Paulette Lappin, Cabinet Member for Regulatory, Compliance and Corporate Services, added: “I am delighted we are requiring new development to provide electric vehicle charging points, it will have a positive impact on the health of Sefton residents and will contribute to the fight against air pollution.”

Do you know your rubbish responsibilities?

17 July 2018
Ollie Cowan
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Categories: Essential Sefton, Front Page, Health, Latest News

Sefton Council is reminding residents across the borough of their duty of care when using doorstep salespeople to get rid of household waste.

The plea follows an incident whereby three sofas and a bed were dumped outside South Sefton Recycling Centre on July 16.

Environmental Officers are now investigating and are confident that they will find those responsible.

Many residents hire third parties to take away household waste and large bulky items from their properties – but most do not know the rules and regulations that cover these types of waste disposal.

By law, individuals are required to make sure the individuals or firm removing their waste is authorised to do so and is registered with the Environment Agency as an official waste carrier, and uses an approved trade waste site.

It is also vital to retain the name and address of the person or firm disposing of your waste.

If flytipped waste is traced back to a particular property, the householder could be fined if they cannot properly identify who they used to get rid of their waste.

Similarly, residents should also be cautious of any door-to-door salespeople offering their services for work to be done on or around a property.

Cllr Paulette Lappin, Sefton Council’s Cabinet Member for Regulation and Compliance, said: “Recently we have experienced issues with members of the public not complying with their legal responsibilities to ensure any waste they produce is removed by a registered carrier.

“This can be from a doorstep call, social media or shop noticeboard but the responsibility is with the household to check they are legitimate first before they employ them.

“Too many residents are employing people to take waste away which is then being flytipped in the borough.

“Householders are required to make a simply check with the Environment Agency in order to ascertain if the person that they are passing their waste to is a registered waste carrier.

“Ask to see their waste carrier license issued by the Environment Agency or contact the Environment Agency directly on 08708 506 506 and ask for a free instant Waste Carrier Validation Check. Alternatively you can check online on the Environment Agency website.

“Even after you’ve checked, keep their details so that if flytipping does occur, you can show that you acted responsibly.

“You can do this is many ways, such as asking for an official invoice or a form with all of their details on.

“If they are not prepared to give you their details, don’t employ them. Always consider getting a number of quotes for any pieces of work or ask friends and family for recommendations.”

For more information about waste disposal visit www.sefton.gov.uk/bins-recycling

Mayors Musings

16 July 2018
Ollie Cowan
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Categories: Front Page, Latest News

Welcome to the latest Mayor’s Musings! I had another busy week as I attended 9 engagements which varied from the spectacular Rowan Park School Musical to the Southport Charity Committee Coffee Morning. It was an honour to be invited to all engagements which I again want to take the opportunity thank for the invitations and hospitality.

Monday, July 2: Rowan Park School Musical  

Myself and the Mayoress were both looking forward to another delightful School Musical at Rowan Park School having attended last year’s wonderful show.  We were met with great pleasure by Cathy Harley who then introduced us to where we would be situated for when the show begun. Once the show had finished, we were given the opportunity to congratulate and applaud the students as well as the staff for making the night such a huge success and also congratulate them for their hard work and commitment.  Myself and the Mayoress were also given the opportunity to have some refreshments after the show before we left. Both of us would like to take this opportunity to thank the whole of the Rowan Park School for inviting us, in fact we enjoyed ourselves that much, I have been invited to their leavers Assembly on July 17!

 Tuesday, July 3: Dementia Friends Training Session

The Dementia Friends Training Session was an engagement which myself and the Mayoral officer took pride in being a part of due to Dementia being such a huge part of the community.  The event was organised by Athena Healthcare and it really was an interesting course that taught me a great deal about how people with this condition see things.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tuesday, July 3: Citizenship Ceremony

It is always a pleasure to welcome new people into the UK citizenship – in particular to our wonderful borough. The latest Citizenship Ceremony welcomed 8 new people into Sefton.

 

 

 

 

Wednesday, July 4: Southport Charity Committee Morning

It was a delight to be at such an event which thrives on hard work and dedication from the people of the community. The Charity Committee Coffee Mornings are always a fantastic opportunity to get to know the community more and find out a little bit more of an insight of which charities are most community driven as well as finding out why and how specific charities started.

Wednesday, July 4: Licensing Ceremony of Rev David Andrew Stott

It was with great pleasure and honour to be invited to welcome a new Reverend to the community in Reverend David Andrew Stott. I believe that he will take great pride in his job and complete his job with great pleasure.

Saturday, July 7: Grange Primary 50th Anniversary Party

Grange Primary School has been a huge part of its community for the best of 50 years this year and I and the Mayoress were delighted to be invited to the celebration of the 50th anniversary of this great communal building. Grange Primary school isn’t just a place where children go to school and people go to work, it’s also a place in which the community comes together to help of families and charities in need by holding coffee mornings as well as many more charitable events.

Saturday, July 7: St Joseph’s Hospice Garden Party

The Mayoress and I took great pride in accepting our invitation to join St Joseph’s Garden party as well as even being judges for their special event of the teddy bears parade! This event is another fantastic example of the community pulling together in order to help out others.

Sunday, July 8: Crosby Lions Carnival

The Crosby Lions Carnival provides an opportunity for the community to gather together to raise much needed funds as well as providing a great day out for the Crosby families. Crosby and District Lions Club is a member of Lions Clubs International which is the largest service organisation in the world with nearly 1.5 million members ano over 200 hundred countries including China.

People living with cancer invited to chat about their health and wellbeing

16 July 2018
Ollie Cowan
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Categories: Front Page, Health, Latest News

People across Southport and Formby who are affected by cancer are invited to find out more about the range of health and wellbeing support available to them on Thursday 19 July.

The Southport Macmillan Cancer Information and Support Centre, a joint partnership set up by Macmillan and NHS Southport and Formby Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), is holding a Health and Wellbeing event in partnership with Southport & Ormskirk Hospital NHS Trust, at the Royal Clifton Hotel in Southport from 2pm – 4.30pm.

The aim of the afternoon is to support people in adjusting to life with and beyond cancer by providing information on the wide range of services which are available locally as well as healthy living activities.

There will be a number of information stalls for people to visit and access support from cancer nurse specialists, support groups and other key organisations.   The main talk will be around community support led by Hannah Bland (Community Connector for Southport) from Sefton CVS. 

People will be able to take part in two breakout sessions, “Fear of recurrence” by Alexandra Waddington, Assistant Psychologist for Clinical Health Psychology and Community Pain Service, Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust and “The Importance of Self-Management” by Cass Garner, Colorectal Support Worker for Southport and Ormskirk NHS Hospital Trust.

There will also be a healthy eating demonstration on the day, a pilates taster session, Boots mini pamper sessions and hand massages by Sefton OPERA throughout the afternoon.

Dr Graeme Allan, Macmillan GP and NHS Southport and Formby CCG cancer clinical lead, said:

“These events are ideal for people to come along and meet others who have had a similar experience. It is always useful to share and the hope is that there may be an activity or group out there that suits an individual’s needs, so you might go away with an idea of what we can help you with. It’s a friendly and informative event and everyone is very welcome.”

 

Sonia Holdsworth, Macmillan Partnership Quality Lead for Cheshire and Merseyside, said:

“We saw over 150 people at the last event and we hope to see even more this time, they are always a great success and the more people we can support the better.

“The feedback we get is that people enjoy meeting others they can chat to, whether that be other patients, clinical nurse specialists or someone from a support group. Many people who come to the centre or one of our events have joined one of the support groups such as the walking, cycling or craft group, which they feel is another good way to meet others and get out and about during or after treatment.” 

 

Elaine Deeming, Southport and Ormskirk Hospital NHS Trust’s lead cancer nurse, said:

“We’re delighted to continue to build on the success of previous health and well-being clinics. The events provide access to the wide range of services available locally in one venue, making it easier for our attendees.”

 

Anyone affected by cancer, either recently or in the past, as well as family and friends supporting others are welcome to book onto this free event.

The events are friendly and educational with the opportunity for visitors to chat to cancer nurse specialists, key organisations and support groups. The Macmillan Singing Group will also be performing on arrival, to welcome people to the event.

The Health and Wellbeing events are free of charge and refreshments are provided, but booking is essential. To book onto the next event please call 01704 533024 or email: sfccg.macmillancic@nhs.net.

For more information about the work of the Macmillan Information and Support Centre on Stanley Street in Southport, please see the website: www.southportmacmillancentre.org.uk

You can watch a video here about the regular events in Southport: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GL4Fakg6dYU

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