LIVERPOOL CHILDREN WRITE ABOUT POVERTY

LIVERPOOL schoolchildren are taking part in a nationwide project run by Shelter and End Child Poverty, to write poetry about poverty, homelessness and bad housing in Britain.  Many of these poems will be published in an anthology in the New Year, which will raise awareness of how these issues affect children.

On November 9, Stockton Wood Junior School will hold a poetry writing session with local poet, storyteller and stand-up comedian John Hughes.

On November 15, more than 30 children from Alsop High School, will attend two poetry writing sessions with local poet Curtis Wall at the Campion City Learning Centre.

The Liverpool project is being run with support from the Windows Project - an award-winning independent educational charity which ran some 2,000 sessions involving over 50 writers and artists last year.

Jonathan Stearn, Director of End Child Poverty, said:- "We want children's voices to be heard, and people to understand that poverty and bad housing is affecting the lives of millions of children".

Adam Sampson, Director of Shelter, said:- “This is a great opportunity for children to write about their experience or thoughts on poverty and bad housing while learning about these issues in a creative and fun way.”

Poet Laureate, Andrew Motion, who is supporting the Children Write scheme, said:- “This is a wonderful scheme – imaginative and useful at the same time. It deserves to be widely and warmly supported.”

In the UK over 3.5 million children are living in poverty and over 1 million children in Britain live in bad housing. The UK has one of the worst rates of child poverty in the industrialised world and housing inequalities are at their worst since the Victorian era.

TAKING STEPS TO SAVE BABIES' LIVES

TOMMY'S, the baby charity supporter Derek Brown will be walking 18 miles from Southport to Liverpool on Monday 7 August as part of his 600 mile challenge to get round England by foot. His aim is to raise funds for the charity, which researches into the causes and prevention of premature birth, miscarriage and stillbirth.

Derek, aged 39 from Leeds, will be walking from Blackpool to Leeds, via Bristol and London over 27 days in August 2006.  "My wife, Angie, and I have lost two babies so we believe very strongly in the work that Tommy's does. I've been fundraising for Tommy's for over six years now and wanted to do something special in 2006. I think this walk will be the challenge of a lifetime and I really hope to raise thousands of pounds for Tommy's doctors and scientists to continue their life saving research." said Derek

Diana Stenning, Community Fundraising Manager for Tommy's said:- "Derek is undertaking an enormous feat to raise funds for Tommy's for which we are extremely grateful. It's only thanks to people like Derek that we can help realise our aim of ending the heartache which so many parents suffer when their precious baby dies, or is born too soon. We hope as many people as possible will support Derek along the way".

If you would like to join Derek as he walks from Southport to Liverpool, or can offer him refreshments along the way, or would like to sponsor him please contact Diana Stenning on 020 7398 3431 or email dstenning@tommys.org.

Tommy's relies almost entirely on voluntary support and receives no government funding so every penny Derek raises will make a real difference to our ground breaking research into miscarriage, stillbirth and premature birth - which takes place at our centres in London and Manchester and by our scientists and doctors based in Nottingham, Oxford and Cambridge.