Teacher's pet inspires class to raise money for Romanian shelter dogs

STUDENTS at a Merseyside Primary School have raised nearly £500 for a dog rescue charity after 1 of their teacher's pets inspired a class project. Year 4 at The District CE Primary School drew Romania in their Eurovision sweepstakes earlier this year and decided to draw a connection with teacher Rachel Pearson's Romanian rescue dog, Flik, for their social studies project.

The project finished with a sponsored 1-mile run around the school playing field, which raised £445 for Pawprints to Freedom dog rescue; enough to sponsor the transport of 2 more Romanian dogs to much happier new lives in the U.K.

Rachel adopted Flik as a puppy in 2020 after the charity saved her from a public shelter in Romania. Her journey inspired pupils to research animal cruelty issues as part of the #iwill project; a youth-led initiative started by Liverpool Football Club in 2019 to empower young people to identify, prioritise, and tackle issues they feel strongly about.

"We are so proud of the children and their efforts with this. They've loved learning about the work that Pawprints to Freedom does and we hope that the money raised manages to help many more wonderful dogs." said Year 4 teacher, Gemma Davies.

In addition to sponsoring 2 Romanian puppies, Year 4 were also asked to name an elderly dog that has been offered a new home after spending seven years in a Romanian public shelter. They have chosen to call her Skye and will be following the progress of all 3 dogs as they board the Happy Bus; Pawprints to Freedom's overground transport system - on route to new lives in the UK.

Pawprints to Freedom is currently raising money to purchase its own land and kennels in Romania to help more dogs like Flik and Skye. To help the charity with its mission, visit:- PawPrints2Freedom.Co.UK.

A workforce in sustained crisis

CARE England, the largest and most diverse representative body for independent providers of adult social care in England, has expressed concern at the findings of Skills for Care's latest workforce report and called on Government to invest the necessary resources to bring adult social care's sustained workforce crisis to an end.

Professor Martin Green OBE, Chief Executive of Care England, says:- "Skills for Care's latest figures illustrate that the adult social care workforce is in sustained crisis, characterised by high vacancies, high levels of staff attrition and very little sign of letting up. While the slight drop in vacancies to 152,000 from 164,000 the previous year is a small step in the right direction, it is by no means a cause for celebration for a sector that remains in a critical state. The drop in vacancies was driven, in large part, by a substantial increase in international recruits, underscoring the vital contribution that overseas staff make to our sector. This does not, however, represent a sustainable long-term solution to the staffing crisis facing adult social care, nor does it address the key issue facing providers when recruiting and retaining domestic staff; low pay. Chronic underfunding by central Government has resulted in nine out of the ten largest supermarkets in the UK paying wages higher than the average for a social care worker, according to the King's fund. This must be addressed as a matter of priority through a fully-funded, long-term adult social care workforce strategy that sets out sustainable recruitment and retention pathways for both domestic and international recruits."

Skills for Care's annual report entitled:- 'The size and structure of the adult social care sector and workforce in England' is an overview of the status of the adult social care workforce.

The 2022/23 figures, published on 12 July 2023, show a decrease in the vacancy rate to 9.9% (152,000 vacant posts) from 10.6% (164,000 vacant posts) last year. This was driven largely by international recruitment, with around 70,000 staff recruited from abroad into direct care-providing roles after adult social care was added to the Shortage Occupation List in February 2022.

The total number of filled posts in adult social care in 2022/23 was estimated at 1.635 million, up 20,000 from 1.615 million last year. These posts were filled by 1.52 million people, representing 5.2% of the total workforce in England and more than the 1.3 million employed by the NHS.

Martin Green continues:- "Despite the Minister for Social Care's enthusiasm about these new figures, the headline reduction in overall vacancies masks a habitual failure by Government to take meaningful action to address the challenges faced by the adult social care workforce. The sector's vacancy rate of 9.9% remains higher than that in the NHS (8%) and nearly 3 times greater than the average for other sectors combined (3.4%). The recent publication of the NHS Long-Term Workforce Plan illustrates that long-term workforce planning is possible and adult social care is crying out for an equivalent to help ease staffing pressures. Complacency on the part of Government in light of Skills for Care's newest figures would drive an already underfunded and undervalued sector further into the ground. Instead, they must take concerted action to deliver a long term workforce strategy that finally sees care workers paid fairly at a level commensurate for the work they do and on par with colleagues in the NHS."
 

Wareing Brothers open new healthy eating cafe in Southport

THE Wareing brothers have teamed up to offer delicious, healthy food to people at a new gym in Southport. Tom and George Wareing have opened the Wareing Brothers cafe inside the new Coastline CrossFit gym, which opened at Ocean Plaza Leisure earlier this month. Gym goers will be able to enjoy nutritious, balanced food to either eat in or take away as part of a healthy lifestyle regime in conjunction with their training.

People not going to the gym will also be able to call in for something tasty to enjoy or a cup of coffee courtesy of 2 of the most acclaimed chefs in the Region.  Tom, 40, and George, 31, have an impressive pedigree in the culinary world, having worked at venues including Cloisters restaurant and most recently the Dolce Vita restaurant in Ainsdale.

Their Dad, Brian Wareing, is well known as a Chef and former Chef Lecturer within the Town, and owner of the Eating Inn business.  Their uncle is Masterchef judge and multi Michelin starred chef Marcus Wareing.

George is also working as a trainer at Coastline CrossFit. He said:- "We are delighted to have opened a healthy eating cafe which will be open throughout the day during the week, offering specially prepared breakfasts, lunches or dinners that people can either eat in or take away. We are open from 7.15am each day during the week until about 8pm each night. During weekends, we will be open from 8am until 2pm. People can call in and enjoy a meal or collect dishes to take away while they're visiting Ocean Plaza Leisure. All of the meals that we prepare are calorie counted for people to enjoy as part of a healthy lifestyle. We will be serving coffee, and we are also affiliated with Foodspring to offer products such as protein bars, protein shakes and more."

Tom Wareing said:- "Wareing Brothers isn't just for gym members, it's for anyone to come and visit. There is nothing else like this in Southport, we think it is going to be really popular. This whole place, including the gym and our cafe, are working together to create a lifestyle choice and a community for people. There is a gym, our healthy cafe, sports massage from A Quiet Little Place and an osteopath, and more all under one roof. We have all got the same vision for how we want to support people who come in."

Coastline CrossFit, situated between Vue Cinema and Nando's, is providing something new and very different for the Town. Coastline CrossFit is a new local, independent business owned by Southport residents Tim Brown, 38 and Josh Womersley, 32. Tim Brown said:- "This is something very new for this area. A tailor built facility designed specifically and exclusively for CrossFit and its unique and exciting training methods and modalities. We are going to be open seven days a week with hours that are very accessible for people. During the week, morning classes will run from 6.15am until 10.15am and then again from 5.15pm to 8.15pm. During weekends, we will be open until lunchtime. We're already enjoying lots of interest. Based in a prominent and accessible location, offering free parking and amazing amenities at hand. We really do have a premier set-up here. We have excellent CrossFit facilities, a superb cafe, a massage room, showers and changing rooms, and an osteopath. It is all about creating a CrossFit community."

Coastline CrossFit will provide a welcoming, supportive environment allowing people to build their fitness, with support from experienced and dedicated coaches. It offers community-driven fitness within a supportive and welcoming environment for all ages and abilities. Through constantly varied, functional movement performed at a relatively high intensity, Coastline CrossFit aims to help you reach levels of fitness you didn't think possible. Head Coach Josh Womersley is supported by fellow coaches George Wareing and Monty McPhee. CrossFit was founded in 2001 and can be used to accomplish any goal, from improved health to better performance. Coastline CrossFit is at:- Ocean Plaza Leisure, Marine Drive, Southport, PR8 1SQ. For more details about Coastline CrossFit p online or email:- Info@Coastline-CrossFit.Com.