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Local community transforms Orrell Park Station
A TEAM of
green-fingered volunteers have been busy transforming the face of
Orrell Park Station, turning it into a haven for wildlife. The
volunteers spent hours boosting the appearance of the station, on
the Northern Line, painting, cleaning, weeding and planting hundreds
of new flowers, shrubs and climbers.
They are all members of Orrell Park Regeneration Group, Chaired by
Margaret Rothwell, and were supported by Merseytravel, Network Rail,
Merseyrail and Liverpool Charity and Voluntary Services (LCVS).
Margaret said:- “We want people to see Orrell Park station and
know that it’s a nice place to live. We take pride in our community.
It’s taken a lot of hard work by a lot of dedicated people and we
are delighted with how it now looks. A lot of the planting will
really begin to come into its own during the summer.”
Councillor Mark Dowd, Chair of Merseytravel, said:- “It’s been
a fantastic community effort and the results are superb. Railway
stations are often the first thing people see when they visit a
community and can leave a lasting impression. The volunteers have
all made a real difference.“
Local councillor Ann O’Byrne was on hand to support the volunteers
and give praise for their efforts. Ann said:- “The volunteers
have carried out this work in their own time and they are a
brilliant example of how a community can rally round and improve
their area.”
The volunteers have also just been short listed in Network Rail’s
Environment Awards 2007 – for Community Partnership of the Year.
The announcement of winners will be made during the glitzy London
ceremony on 21 June 2007.
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New
report reveals families living in severe poverty live on average of
£7000 a year
A NEW report
reveals the shocking fact that 1 in 10 children in the North West
are living in severe poverty. Furthermore, there are nearly 1.5
million children living in severe poverty in the UK, the 4th richest
country in the world. For a couple with a child that means living on
average of £7000 a year, or less than £134 a week. This is well
below the national average income of £19,000 a year. An income
of £7000 means that the family has only £19 per day to cover
electricity and gas, phones, other bills, food, clothes, washing,
transport, health needs as well as activities for children and all
other essential items. Save the Children believes it is an outrage
that in such a wealthy country, parents are struggling to get by on
such low incomes and children are missing out on basic things like
living in a warm house, having a proper diet or going on a school
trip.
The report is published a week before Gordon Brown becomes Prime
Minister. Child poverty has been one of Gordon Brown's flagship
issues and he has repeatedly said that children will be at the heart
of his Government's policy. However, current predictions show that
the Government are way off track on meeting their targets of halving
child poverty by 2010. Radical action by the new Prime Minister is
needed to tackle severe child poverty if they want to achieve this
seminal target and give children in the UK the best possible start
in life.
The report - Severe poverty in the UK - also reveals that:-
- 84% of families in severe poverty cannot make regular savings of
£10 or more per month.
- 74% cannot replace
any worn out furniture.
Using a new measure that combines household incomes with adult and
child deprivation, the report calculates that 10.5% of children or
1.4 million live in severe poverty.
Kate Bratt Farrar, spokesperson for Save the Children, said:-
"We can't let these children slip below the radar. They're the
children who are hardest to reach, need the most help and the
greatest investment to lift them out of poverty. As part of the
campaign to End Child Poverty, Save the Children urges the
Government to tackle severe poverty now if it wants to stand a
chance of meeting its target of halving child poverty by 2010."
Save the Children is calling on the Government to:-
- Invest a further £4 billion to ensure that their target of halving
child poverty by 2010 is met.
- Help those on low incomes cover expensive times of year with the
introduction of seasonal grants.
- Implement an action plan on severe child poverty.
They must:-
- Introduce a measure of severe child poverty and ensure policies
are targeted at those in severe poverty.
- Invest significant resources to promote take up and knowledge of
benefit and tax credit entitlements.
- Reform the social fund to ensure it is an effective anti-poverty
tool.
Save the Children is also calling on the public to support its
campaign to End Child Poverty go to
www.savethechildren.org.uk/endchildpoverty.
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