Man who dedicated his life to working with vulnerable children plans to set up apprenticeships for young people in his retirement

A man from Bickerstaffe who has dedicated the last 42 years of his life to working with vulnerable children, has retired. Paul Wilcox, aged 60, has retired from Barnardo's after spending 26 years with the children's charity. Paul, who lives in Bickerstaffe with his wife Arlene, hopes to continue providing opportunities for young people in the area by developing a cycle charity scheme that will offer apprenticeships by recycling bikes and giving them to people in Africa. Paul started his career as a residential social worker in Preston at the age of 18, before moving to Leeds where he went on to work with vulnerable families. He then managed a Youth Justice Team in London for several years, before seeing an advert for Barnardo's to work with vulnerable children in Liverpool.

After making the move back up north to work with Barnardo's, Paul has never looked back and moved up through the charity to become a Children's Services Manager, working in various services to support children from offending behaviour and working with family support.

Paul spent the last 16 years of his career at Barnardo's as an Assistant Director, responsible for managing the charity's children's services in Lancashire, which include several supported accommodation projects for young people at risk of homelessness in Preston and Morecambe, support services for young carers, providing short breaks for children with additional needs/disabilities and participation work to give a voice to young people with disabilities and those who are in care.

During his time at Barnardo's, in addition to managing services supporting children and families, Paul has been involved with numerous high profile fundraising initiatives. As a keen cyclist, Paul took part in a 362mile sponsored bike ride from Anglesey to London over five days in 2016 and has previously cycled from Lands End to John O'Groats. To celebrate the charity's 150th Anniversary, Paul set up an initiative alongside Cotton Court business centre in Preston, in which more than 350 pledges were made by local businesses, offering their time, skills or providing opportunities within their work for young people supported by Barnardo's across Lancashire.

Most recently, Paul was involved in a joint initiative this summer with Barnardo's retail stores which saw more than ₤57,000 fundraised by the charity's stores in only four weeks, all of which will go directly to supporting Barnardo's children's services in Lancashire and surrounding Regions.

Paul Wilcox said:- "I came into the profession to try to make a difference in children's lives, and seeing young people realise their dreams, have a brighter future and succeed in some way has given me such a huge sense of doing something positive.  I will truly miss working at Barnardo's as there are some great people doing great work behind the scenes to help children. I have also had the privilege of working with lots of amazing organisations over the years, including UCLAN and Cotton Court, who are big supporters of Barnardo's and willing to go to great lengths to aid the charity in its work.  However, I am also looking forward to being able to travel and see more of the world with my wonderful wife, Arlene, and to my new project developing a charity scheme to provide apprenticeships for young people in partnership with the Velo Café in Croston."

In his retirement, Paul also plans to carry on working as a director for Bickerstaffe Lodge (a not for profit nursery), get out riding more with his local cycle club, Middleton Cycle Club, and most importantly wants to spend more time with his wife and their daughter, Abigail.

Paul also plans to commit to doing three things a week to focus on his health and wellbeing, family and friends, and self improvement, including trying things he has never done before, such as learning to bake, ballroom dancing and learning to play table tennis.

Paul will be greatly missed by all staff and young people that have worked with him at Barnardo's and he is wished every happiness in his retirement.

Edge Hill University has UK's best student accommodation

STUDENT accommodation at Edge Hill University has been crowned the Best in the UK and Ireland. And for the second consecutive year the University has also been named Best Value for Money in the National Student Housing Awards.

Voted for by over 30,000 students in higher education, this is the 3rd year in a row that Edge Hill has been a finalist or winner of the Best University Halls and Best Value for Money categories.

The University was also declared top 3 for Best Moving In Experience. All awards were decided by the overall satisfaction and ratings based on feedback from students in the National Student Housing Survey.

Kate McAdam, Head of Accommodation Services at Edge Hill, said: "It's fantastic that we've been named as having the best University accommodation in the UK and Ireland.  We're always striving to provide the best accommodation in terms of design and facilities for the best price possible. To win this award for the second time means we're achieving that goal. We know how daunting it is for many new students to be living away from home for the 1st time so the staff and students at the University go out of their way to make their moving in experience stress free and fun. The fact these awards are voted for by students with no nominations or judges makes them all the more special and recognises the hard work we put into our accommodation."

Find out more about the accommodation available at Edge Hill University online now.

Recognising the value of older generations this Silver Sunday

THIS month we are celebrating Silver Sunday, an annual occasion that recognises and celebrates the contribution of older generations in making a difference to their local communities.

Many of us will work for most of our lives and will be able to appreciate the importance of having a routine and feeling valued for the contributions that we make to our society. It is understandable then that as people enter retirement, they can become increasingly cut off from society and feel that they are no longer playing an active part in their communities.

With more than a third of people over 75 admitting that they feel lonely, I'd like to tell your readers how volunteering can be a great way to combat isolation while making a huge difference to worthy causes, just like our own, all across the UK.

I work for Revitalise; an amazing charity that provides respite holidays for disabled people and carers at Sandpipers, our Respite Holiday Centre in Southport. We are proud to run the largest residential volunteering programme of any UK charity, welcoming thousands of volunteers of all ages to spend time with our charity each year.

Our volunteers are our magic ingredient; helping to create the lively and welcoming atmosphere that so many of our guests have come to know and love all year round. And, no matter what their motivation for spending time with us, there is always the opportunity to meet new people, make new friends and make a difference to the lives of the disabled people and carers that we support.

If you would like to find out more about Revitalise or if you're interested in becoming a volunteer please visit:- Revitalise.Org.UK or call our volunteer team on:- 0303 303 0163.