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CORRIE DEATH HIGHLIGHTS NEED TO PLAN FUNERALS
OLDER people
in Wirral are being urged to plan ahead as the unexpected death of
the popular Coronation Street soap character, Vera Duckworth
(Elizabeth Dawn), left her family and friends in disarray about her
last wishes. Millions tuned in to the ITV soap this week as
Vera left behind her screen husband, Jack (William Tarmey). As well
as having to deal with the terrible grief of losing his beloved
wife, he also had to begin making all of the arrangements for her
funeral without any indication of her wishes.
Although this is a
soap opera, it does highlight the issue of not making any prior
arrangements for when the time comes. In fact, less than 2% of
people pre-plan their funeral. Coping with the stress of
losing loved ones can be very difficult as well being a huge
financial responsibility. Age Concern Funeral Plans appreciates
that, while pre-planning your funeral may not be something people
think about every day, it does make good financial sense. With the
latest figures showing the average cremation funeral costing £2,217
with this figure predicted to rise to £3,350 by 2012, it is
important to plan ahead.
Mark Cheeseman at Age Concern Age Concern Wirral said:-
“Planning in advance does make good sense in terms of helping to
relieve the organisational burdens and stresses from family and
loved ones when the time comes. Unfortunately Vera Duckworth died
very unexpectedly and didn’t plan ahead, but if people do take care
of plans beforehand, it enables them to know their arrangements are
settled so they can get on with enjoying life. If you plan
ahead you can ensure your wishes are understood, from the service
you would like, to the readings and hymns.”
The Age Concern Funeral Plan is designed to appeal to all with no
age restrictions, no medicals required and guaranteed acceptance.
There are three Funeral Plan packages available offering a choice of
arrangements and individual requests. Even personal choices such as
selecting hymns for the service, preferred flowers, and the route
for the cortege can be arranged. The Age Concern Funeral Plan
service ensures that personal requests and customer records remain
confidential, safe and secure until required.
Age Concern’s Funeral Plan provides flexible plans and payment
methods to suit different requirements and is provided in
collaboration with Dignity Caring Funeral Services. Since Age
Concern launched Funeral Plans a decade ago, it has sold over
130,000 plans. To find out more about Age Concern Funeral Plans,
call 0800 731 0651, visit your local Age Concern, or go
online.
Photos to the editor:- "Look A Like."
ONE of our
Polish readers, Isabella, has asked if her friend looks like Ian
Wright from the Travel Channel. This is not what we are normally
thinking about when we ask readers to send us photos, but it did
make us look twice.
 "I
am not a fan of him, but I think my friend looks like him. I am
learning English and when I spotted Ian on the TV show, I had to
look twice. I would like to know if any of our readers could tell
Ian, that my friend looks like him?" says Isabella.
Do our other readers
think. Do you agree? Take a look at Ian's profile by
clicking
here and let us know if you
think he looks like him. Email is at:-
news24@southportreporter.com. |
King Kenny salutes disabled footballers
A group of
disabled footballers have been honoured by Liverpool Football Club
legend Kenny Dalglish.
The former Reds and Scotland star handed out awards to the Liverpool
Adult Disability Football Group at Walton Sports Centre on Tuesday
29 January 2008.
The group, which included wheelchair users, people with visual
impairments and several members with learning disabilities, have
taken part in a 10 week coaching and training scheme run by the city
council’s football development team in conjunction with Liverpool
County FA and Merseyside Sports Partnership.
The hugely successful project, which has been running for over 10
years, has produced more than 20 players who have gone on to
represent their country in disabled football.
Many have also studied for FA badges which enable them to referee
matches, while three have gone on to be employed by the city council
as disabled football coaches.
Councillor Colin Eldridge, executive member for leisure before the
event said:- “This is a ground breaking scheme which has made
a huge difference to the lives of thousands of disabled people.
It is hugely important we make sure that sport is something which is
able to be enjoyed by people of all abilities, and this project has
given new opportunities and confidence to many.
I am delighted that Anfield legend Kenny has agreed to come along
and present the players with awards.”
CULTURE CHIEF IN CULTURE CAPITAL
THE new
Culture Secretary, Andy Burnham MP visited the site of the new
Museum of Liverpool to announce funding of a further £500,000
towards the project from the Department for Culture, Media and
Sport.
The Culture Secretary, who has returned to the city of his birth, on
Saturday 26 January 2008, meet up with the National Museums
Liverpool Director David Fleming who give him a tour of the project.
The project is a major physical legacy for Liverpool’s European
Capital of Culture year and will be the world’s first national
museum devoted to the history of a single city, reflecting
Liverpool’s global significance through its unique geography,
history and culture.
Building on the success of the Museum of Liverpool Life, the new
museum, it is hoped, will draw on National Museums Liverpool’s vast
wealth of collections, many of which have never been on public
display.
The new national museum will be an exceptional learning and
community resource as well as a high quality contemporary public
building giving unprecedented access to over 10,000 objects from
National Museums Liverpool’s collections. The family visitor
attraction will provide 8,000 square metres of public space and is
expected to attract 750,000 visits a year.
Five facts:-
§ The Government has
also committed £1.4m revenue funding from 2010-2011 to support the
new museum.
§ In April 2006 the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA)
announced a grant of £32.7million to support the development of the
project.
§ In July 2006 Museum of Liverpool was awarded a £5 million European
grant from the Merseyside Objective One programme.
§ The Heritage Lottery Fund awarded a £11.4m earmarked grant for the
fit out of the building in January 2007.
§ In November 2006 the Garfield Weston Foundation pledged £1 million
towards the project.
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