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The
King of grass roots football!!!!!!
IT’S official
– a Liverpool groundsman is the King of grassroots football!
Peter Conroy, who works for the city council’s ground maintenance
contractor Glendale at Walton Soccer Centre, has been named National
Groundsman of the Year by the FA.
ON Friday, 12 September 2008, he was joined by council
leader Warren Bradley, his colleagues and young footballers from Alsop School to celebrate his achievement.
Peter has been tending the city’s soccer pitches and parks for a
quarter of a century and has been at Walton Lifestyles Sports and
Soccer Centre since it opened in 1999.
Peter before the event said:- “I absolutely love the job
because being outdoors is great, whatever the weather.
This
achievement is not just down to me, but is a reflection of the hard
work of the whole team.
We all get a real sense of satisfaction seeing youngsters playing on
the fields that we look after.”
It is not the 1st time he has scooped a top prize. Earlier this
year, the 46 year old was named the North West and West Midlands Groundsman of the Year, for the 3rd time!
Councillor Bradley said:- "The quality of the football pitches
is a great credit to Peter and his team, and this recognition from
the FA is well deserved.
Providing the best facilities
possible and creating a friendly environment where youngsters can
train professionally, is hugely important for the city council.”
Tony Naylor, Facility Manager said:- “There can be little
doubt that through hard work and the support of the team, Peter has
now reached a pinnacle in his career.”
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WATER
WATER EVERYWHERE, BUT NOT A DROP TO DRINK!
IT
may not seem likely when the rain falls, but there are fears that
water shortages in the North West could be just around the corner
unless urgent action is taken to stop the squandering of this
precious resource.
According to campaign group Waterwise the UK already has less water
available per person than almost any other EU country, and we are
sucking more water from the ground, lakes, rivers and reservoirs
than ever before. Water usage has been increasing on average
by about 1% each year since the 1930s. There are more people, and
many more smaller households, using power showers and taking more
baths than ever before.
United Utilities supplies the North West’s 6.8 million residents
with 2,000 million litres of water each day. The population is set
to rise to 7.3 million by 2035 with an extra 640,000 extra
households, an increase of almost a quarter. In Britain an
average of 150 litres of water per day is used per person, compared
to 130 litres in Germany and 107 litres in Belgium.
The European Parliament has been looking at the issue and claims
that 40% of the water used in the EU could be saved and called for
concrete measures and financial incentives to promote a more
efficient and sustainable use of water.
Liberal Democrat Euro-MP Chris Davies sits on the environment
committee in the European Parliament and says that 40% of the water
we use could be saved by use of simple measures. He said:-
“Compared to London and the South East we are well off for water
in the North West and should not experience the very severe problems
expected there in years to come. But water tables are
plummeting across the world as a result of increased consumption. Barcelona and Cyprus are now having to bring water in by ship to
keep the taps flowing. The use of water meters can reduce
water use by 10% and more. Washing machines need to be made even
more efficient, and perhaps it will become necessary to fit spring
taps around the house so we are all less tempted to leave water
running to waste. A year or so of heavy rain has made us
complacent, but we shouldn’t have to wait for a drought to promote
some sensible forward thinking.”
Increased consumption is not simply the product of water use in
homes. Waterwise points out that vast amounts of water are
required to produce articles we take for granted. |
