- Child-focused community funding up for grabs
THE UK’s newest community foundation has
extended a special invitation to community groups operating in areas of Netherton, Orrell and Bootle to apply
for cash grants of up to £750 to support their work with families and young
children.
Community groups in the Netherton Park and Park Lane areas of Netherton,
Certain parts of Orrell, and the Bedford Road/Queens Road area of Bootle,
are working with children under the age of four years and their families, are being urged by the Community
Foundation for Merseyside to contact them for details of the grant opportunities.
Community Foundation Grants Officer Joan Ford said:- “We’re offering grants of up to £750 to support initiatives designed to improve or maintain education
and play provision in these areas. Further grants of £500 are available for projects that enable families to take part in community activities.”
Orrell Community Initiatives is the latest group to benefit from these opportunities, attracting grants
totaling more than £950.
The money is being used to buy toys, books and puzzles for the playgroup, organise a coach trip for the children to an urban farm, and a visit to the
playgroup by entertainers 'Musical Minis' to encourage the children¹s interest in music and
movement.
The grants are awarded by the Community Foundation for Merseyside on behalf
of Sefton Smart Stars Fund, a project managed by Sefton Council for Voluntary Service.
Powergen to help Liverpool residents save £1.1m on electricity bills.
Liverpool residents are on course to save £1.1 million on their electricity bills as part of Powergen's Energy Efficiency Commitment scheme.
The company has handed out a total of 15,000 low energy light bulbs to local agencies in the city since April 2002.
Powergen has distributed 615,000 free low energy light bulbs across the UK since the EEC scheme started, resulting in a nationwide electricity saving so far of an estimated £44 million. EMAIL
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New Guide Boosts Patient Power
AFTER lengthy government talks and media hype surrounding NHS patient choice, a new landmark reform is set to reduce hospital waiting times by giving patients the power to choose where they receive treatment.
By September 2004, the Department of Health's plan will mean all patients waiting over six months for elective surgery can be offered a choice of moving to another hospital or provider. And, by December 2005, all patients who may require elective surgery can be offered a choice of four or five hospitals or providers on referral by a GP.
But while this ruling appears to provide the answer to enabling patient choice, the fact remains that most people don't have access to enough NHS information to allow them to make an informed choice.
Launched in July, NHS Family Choice will provide patients with all the information they need to make the crucial choice of where to receive their treatment.
Olivia Gordon, editor of nhs Family Choice, explains:- "The government's plans include the introduction of 'patient care advisors' who will give patients information about their alternative choices for treatment, while GPs will be able to provide some advice on different hospitals. However, patients also need an independent and unbiased source of information, which is where nhs Family Choice comes in."
- LETTERS TO THE EDITOR:- Astonishment
"I read with astonishment this week that, in the lead-up to the European Elections, The Green Party has declared itself
"opposed to angling as a bloodsport" and in favour of promoting "the voluntary cessation of angling through public
education".
The Green Party wants to ban angling. Without anglers and angling our waterways would be in a dire state, fish stocks and biodiversity would be pathetic, tourism would suffer and you can guarantee that public investment would not match the economic benefits the sport brings.
A sum of £15million is generated annually by rod licences alone is directly invested by the Environment Agency in cleaning, restocking and preserving our waterways,
not just for anglers, but for everyone.
Britain's 3.5 million anglers, and 25 million more across Europe, have done far more for rivers and still water habitats than the Green Party ever has. Rather than turn its back on angling the Party should be actively embracing it."
Charles Jardine
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