NEXT OF KIN - JOHN MCLEOD

WHISTON Hospital Coroners Officers are appealing for the next of kin of a man who died on Wednesday, 30 December, 2009, in Halewood. John McLeod, 76 years, died at his home address on Markfield Crescent. There are no suspicious circumstances surrounding his death. The Coroner's Office has been unable to trace John McLeod's next of kin and is appealing for any relatives to come forward. It is understood that Mr McLeod may have relatives Ireland but no other details are known. Any next of kin, or anyone who has information about Mr McLeod's next of kin, is asked to contact the Coroners office on:- 0151 430 1238.

STAG PARTIES

BRITISH men are ditching the booze on stag parties, according to a new survey.  More than half of those polled claim they would rather do a stag weekend packed with activities than go for a drunken night out.  And 44% of blokes would be disappointed if they were invited on a stag do which didn’t involve day time activities.

In fact, men would rather go paint balling, fishing, karting or quad biking than sit in the local pub downing pints with the lads.  8 out of 10 men believe that getting involved in events such as clay pigeon shooting or football creates a good camaraderie between everyone, particularly if everyone doesn’t know each other.  And more than 2/3rds say including activities on a stag do make it seem more special than the usual Saturday night out.

Martin Moll, spokesman for Honda All Terrain Visitors, which conducted the poll of 3,000 men said:- “The fact of the matter is that British blokes love nothing more than doing something action packed and competitive.  Whether it’s racing across mud tracks on quad bikes, catching the biggest fish or taking out opponents when paint balling, men love to be the best.

And so it’s not hard to see why, when a bunch of lads get the excuse to spend a weekend in each others company, they are choosing to embark on adrenaline fuelled sports rather than seeing who can drink the most.”

These days, the average stag do is UK based, lasts for a minimum of 1 day and 1 night and sets participants back a whopping £255.20. 

7 in 10 blokes try to get a good balance between activities and clubbing, although 58% say stag do’s are becoming less about the drinking and more about the number of activities they can pack into 1 weekend.  Even more unusual activities such as tank driving, hovercraft racing and white water rafting are becoming more popular. 

Interestingly though, lap-dancing clubs and strippers no longer hold as much appeal for blokes as they used to.  Just over half of those polled say they have consciously moved away from stereotypical stag do activities such as strippers, in a bid to be a bit more cultured.  And 58% believe going to lap-dancing clubs is a bit ‘dated’, and no longer holds as much mystery as it used to.

Martin Moll continues:- “On a day to day basis, men can go to the pub pretty much whenever they want, either at lunchtime, after work or out with their partner.  But they rarely get the opportunity to see all of their mates at once, or spend their expendable cash on having fun.

Stag dos allow blokes to go a bit wild, and whilst they clearly still do drink on these events, experiencing new sports takes precedence.”

YOU DANCE, YOU TUBE, YOU PERFORM!

BE part of the LEAP 2010 Year of Dance with a ‘You Tube’ competition to perform a dance piece in front of a sell-out theatre audience.

Merseyside Dance Initiative and the Merseyside Dance Promoters Network have announced an exciting public dance competition for LEAP 2010 using the year’s theme of ‘Dance and Technology’. Local dance enthusiasts, on any level, can participate in this year’s festival by recording themselves dancing to a piece of music and loading it onto the world’s most popular online video community ‘You Tube’. The most exciting and innovative dance entry in each category will perform their dance piece in front of a sell-out audience at the Community Showcase at the Liverpool Playhouse on Saturday, 6 March 2010.

Popular TV programmes such as ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ and ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ with winning dance acts George Sampson and Diversity, have catapulted dance in the spotlight of all over the UK. Along with LEAP’s Year-long Programme Dance’ celebrating the dance festival’s 18th Birthday, dance in the region has hit an all-time peak.

The competition dance categories are 14 to 24 years and Over 25’s, the dance piece can include between 1 to 3 people. The dance should be accompanied by music and can be any preferred dance style to a maximum of 3 minutes long.

The dance piece can be recorded using a mobile phone, iphone or cam recorder and loaded on to a personal ‘You Tube’ account (www.youtube.com).  A link of the dance piece should then be emailed to info@mdi.org.uk with ‘You Tube Competition’ in the subject line.

The following information should also be included in the email:-

Name
Contact telephone number
Age (Parental consent if under 16)
Title of dance piece
Title of music
Length of piece
Description of piece in no more than 50 words

The closing date for entries is Monday, 8 February 2010. The recordings will be judged and entrants will be notified by Friday, 27 February 2010. The shortlisted entries will be added to MDI’s ‘You Tube’ account, social network sites and the LEAP2010 and MDI websites.

Winners must be available to rehearse and perform their dance on Saturday:- 6 March 2010, they will also win 4 tickets for their family and friends to watch them perform.

For further competition information visit:- mdi.org.uk or call:- 0151 708 8810.