News reports located on this page = 2.

Borough of Culture brings Red Rum back to Southport

PAUL Curtis is an independent Liverpool artist, who is probably best known for his:- "For All Liverpool's Liver Birds" street art. At the start of 2020, he was pained a especially the bespoke Red Rum street art piece, located on the side of the Bold Hotel, on Lord Street, Southport. But now he is back in the Town, but as he says:- "Safe from the Coronavirus, isolated 15 metres up in my basket, painting a massive mural," on a wall of a property, located on Scarisbrick Avenue, facing towards the Promenade and the beach. The mural is again of Red Rum was owned by Southport car dealer, Ginger McCain. If you do not know, Red Rum amazingly won the 1973, as well as the 1974 and 1977, Grand Nationals, along with the Scottish National, in 1974. The painting was aimed to be completed for the 2020 Grand National, that was due to be held at Aintree Racecourse, but due to the Coronavirus the race was cancelled. But Paul is still carrying on with the project, that is part of Sefton's year as The Borough of Culture (BoC). which will depict the world famous champion thoroughbred steeplechaser training on the 'Golden Sands' of Southport Beach. For more information about Paul Curtis, please visit his website and also please do follow him on Twitter.

Did you know that Red Rum died aged 30, on 18 October 1995? On the death of horse, it became the lead items in television news bulletins world wide and also made the front pages of most of the national newspapers and abroad, the following day. You can still visit his final resting place, located at the winning post of the Aintree Racecourse.

Dogs Trust Merseyside releases Coronavirus response plans

THE Dogs Truston Merseyside has announced temporary changes to its activities following Government advice to limit non-essential contact. The Trust will move to appointment only system, since 5pm, on Friday, 20 March 2020. They are also Charity is no longer taking charity shop goods, at re-homing centres or shops, to limit unnecessary contact and will advise when receiving new stock again.

The charity will also run appointments for people who wish to give up their dog for any reason. People who have a current reservation or are due to collect their new family member will not be affected and can contact their local centre, by phone of they have any questions.

The Trust is the UK's largest dog welfare charity, which has 20 re-homing centres across the UK, has outlined plans to protect the health and wellbeing of its staff and visitors, whilst continuing to carry out the essential work of caring for and re-homing dogs.

The charity is also postponing all non-essential community events and has suspended Dog School training classes, including those based at the re-homing centre, for the time being. Those wishing to donate any pre-loved items to the charity are asked not to bring donations to the Huyton based centre or nearest charity shop, in Shrewsbury, in person, until further notice.

The charity's staff will be limiting all unnecessary social interaction, practising frequent hand washing with soap and sanitizer, and visitors will be asked to wash their hands or use hand sanitiser before and during their visit.

Jack Johnson, Regional Manager at Dogs Trust, said:- "The health and wellbeing of our staff and our local communities is of paramount importance to us. We will continue to monitor and follow advice from the Government and are doing what we can to limit non-essential travel and contact. We need to continue our essential work of caring for and re-homing as many dogs as we can in a way that aims to protect everyone involved in the process. That's why we will be closing our centres to walk in members of the public from Saturday but continuing to offer people opportunities to adopt a dog by appointment only. If you feel unwell or are experiencing any symptoms, or if you or a family member are self isolating, we ask that you please don't attend your appointment but call us so we can work out the next steps for you. Everyone can keep up to date with all of our latest news via our website and social media platforms which we will keep updated regularly."

Members of the public wishing to book an appointment can call the contact centre on:- 0207 837 0006, until further notice.