- Mayor meets Miss England contestants
- Photographs
by Patrick Trollope
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THE Liverpool Lord Mayor, Councilor Ron Gould, is to meet two beauties competing for the title of Miss England and the chance to represent England in China for the Miss World 2003 title in December.
After being named winner and runner up at the Miss Liverpool competition in July, Joanne Ballard, representing Merseyside, and Vicky McInerney, representing Liverpool, met the Lord Mayor of Liverpool on October 7. Just before they traveled to London for the big competition, they visited Liverpool China Town with the Mayor for a quick photo call.
Sponsored by Radio City, Victoria also known as Vicky
(above) describes he self as a 19, 6' high, dark brown hair and blue eyes. She told the voters that she was a model and hoped that she could
"pursue my singing and modeling career and to succeed in both."
Vicky was very nerves when we met her, and she said "I have never dreamt of entering a contest like this before and I was very pleased and suppressed to get this far so quickly. It was my agent who suggested it to me. I have never met the Mayor before, and I am really nerves about it and this last competition has meant I have this chance to meet him. I am also nerves about the competition and I will enjoy the experience no matter what happens. I am really looking forward to meeting the Mayor and also to the competition." Interestingly she started singing at the age of ten and said "My modeling is just another form of performance to me. I have always enjoyed performing on stage, and I was never pushed in to modeling. I do it as I enjoy it. I also sing in a pop group and I have won many Latin dancing awards." So watch this space…. or should we say the charts as this girl will go far.
Sponsored by Pangaea Sport Promotions Ltd.
Joanne (above), 18, who describes her self as 5' 8" high blonde with blue eyes. Her occupation was model / promoter. She told us that
"I have a Grade A, Modelling Diploma and in 2002 I completed the 5K Liverpool Corporate Cup Run for charity. I have made various TV appearances, a favourite being when I was a 'Soccerette' on Soccer AM."
She also has a musical side just like Vicky, we found out. She was the winner of the Brass Category in Knowsley's Young Musician of The Year competition in 1995. Her competition statement to her votes when asked what her ambitions were was "I would love to be a successful model for a top fashion house and travel the world. I would also be interested in a career in television, but my main priority in life is to be happy and successful in everything I do."
The Miss England event took place on October 9 at the Po Na Na nightclub in London. Unfortunately nether got through and the overall winner of the competition was Jackie Turner aged 25 from Dorset. But both of the young ladies we met were fantastic and a credit to Merseyside. We hope they do well as they deserve it. To see all this year's local beauties visit
www.missengland.info
Letters to
editor:- Decorative Lights on Lord Street and surrounds.
DEAR
Southport Reporter, as time progresses and the darker nights draw in, thoughts are raised about the decorative lights on Lord Street and surrounds.
Since the installation of the first lights, I have been critical of the expense and lack of quality in the systems used.
Numerous questions I have raised with the Council and the lighting group that have never been satisfactorily answered, or avoided altogether.
I am still waiting for the accounts for 2000/01 and 2001/02, but at last I have received a statement of accounts for the year 2002/03, unfortunately it raises more questions than answers.
For instance £60,702.79 was raised for the project in 2002/03, of which £9800 was used to replace faulty and failed lamps - a sixth of the total, Station upgrade £4207, but no specification of what was upgraded.
Statements like those raise questions about the authenticity of the use of public money that has been donated in good faith by the people of Southport specifically for decorative lights, and surely undermines the public's faith in OUR COUNCIL Officers.
John.
(Full name and address supplied)
Editors note to letter.... John, we are looking in to the accounts and trying to get a copy to help answer your questions. We will keep you posted on the results of our inquiry.
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- The Tonight with Trevor McDonald programme.
- Childhood Obesity.
RECENT FIGURES have revealed that more than one in five of Britain's under fours are overweight, and one in ten is classed as clinically obese. Our nation's children are now fatter than ever before.
Granada Television is looking into this extremely worrying trend and the future health repercussions that it presents. It will be looking for parents who are concerned about their pre-schoolers weight to take part in the programme. They went on to tell us that Health experts and dieticians blame the increase on high calorie snacks and the growing number of children living the couch potato lifestyle. There are calls for parents to increase exercise levels of toddlers and to encourage them to spend less time watching television.
Catherine Morgan, from Granada told us that a research team led by Dr Peter Bundred, a reader of primary care at Liverpool University, looked at more than 50,000 babies and children under the age of four in the Wirral Health Authority. The team found that 23.6% of children under four were overweight, compared with 14.7% 10 years earlier. They also discovered that 9.2% of the children were classed as obese - compared with 5.4% the previous decade. They then went on to find that the heights of the children were being studied. Dr Bundred warned that the trend could have long term health repercussions for our nation saying:-
"We know that teenagers have become fatter, but for the first time we are seeing rapid increases in weight throughout the childhood years.
That is worrying, as obesity is linked to problems such as heart disease and premature death. Of course, not all overweight children will be overweight teenagers and adults, but a significant proportion of them may have ongoing weight problems in later life,
The problem with toddlers is that we now have a situation where many mothers work, come home and need to do the housework, so they sit their children in front of the television or video. This has increased in recent years and it has been blamed on inactivity and over consumption of sugary, fatty foods. Put simply, children are eating more calories than they need because they eat the wrong foods and do not do enough exercise.
People are also eating a lot more ready meals which have a higher fat content. We need to encourage mothers to look carefully at the fat content of the food they are giving their children, and toddlers need to be up and about playing and running around to ensure they get enough exercise," he said.
His views were echoed by Professor Stephen Bloom, and expert in child nutrition from Hammersmith Hospital, London. "Lots of studies show that if you are fat when you are young, you are fat when you are old. We are growing a population of obese adults."
Catherine Morgan also said that St.George's Hospital's London Chief Dietician and a spokeswoman for the British Dietetic Association Catherine Collins, told them that although the figures in the study were bleak that they still meant most children were not over weight. She said parents must look carefully at the fast food their children eat and try and boost their exercise
levels. "Bear in mind that the majority of the children within this survey are still not overweight, so the majority of carers must be getting it
right.
Overweight children are more likely than their leaner peers to grow into obese adults, and excess weight is a major risk factor for heart disease, type 2 diabetes and death.
Our concerns are therefore that we will see significant increases in the numbers of these cases in the future if our children continue to gain weight at this alarming rate." Dr Bundred warned adding that
"The researchers compared the heights and weights of more than 35,500 infants aged 1 to 3 months and nearly 29,000 toddlers from just under 3 years old to 4 years old living in England. During the study period, the rate of obesity among all children rose to 9% from 5% and the rate of overweight rose to 24% from 15%.
The majority of families (in the UK) have both parents working and it is easier to entertain the toddler with a sweet drink in front of the TV than to play with them in the evening. In fact, children are losing the skills to play,''
he said.
Interventions that encourage physical activity and weight loss should be targeted to children younger than 4 years, the authors suggest. The study findings could be used to develop national programs to prevent and treat obesity in children, the report indicates. It's not just the body that suffers with obesity. Children and teenagers are particularly susceptible to emotional problems related to obesity. Children are often teased at school, and face name-calling and exclusion by their peer groups. Overweight and obese children and teenagers suffer negative assumptions about their character as well as their appearance. There's a tendency for people to assume that overweight people are lazy, unclean and have no feelings.
Prof David Hall, a former president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and child health and a respected figure in the field of obesity said:-
"it is not that easy to control eating habits. Temptations is very compelling and in children you need a high degree of co-operation.
Parents worry about getting food into children rather than worrying what that food
is".
Others argue that huge amounts of public money have been wasted treating the results of obesity rather than tackling the causes and focusing the young. Britain spends around £195 million treating obesity-related diseases, according to Mark Greener, a former pharmacologist. Only 15% of this goes on tackling obesity.
Prof Hall, who now works for the University of the NHS, said he believed the food industry must accept its share of the blame, a point emphasised by Charlie Powell, of the food campaign group Sustain, who said 95% of advertising during children's television programming was for fatty, salty or sugary foods.
If you want practical advice and help in tackling this issue through a team of experts, then please note that Granada has help on offer for anyone who enquires.
Should you be interested in taking part in this ITV1 programme, please contact Catherine Morgan on telephone:- 0161 827 2117 or e-mail
Catherine.morgan@granadamedia.com
EMAIL
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