Prescot Celebrates Successful 'Hybrid' Arts Festival

THE Prescot Festival went ahead with a hybrid of online and in person arts and music this year and an 18th festival is already in the works for 2022. Despite the Pandemic, organisers were able to programme 10 days of events and activities, ranging from choral services at the Town's 17th Century Parish Church to a heritage trail that saw keen walkers uncovering fascinating facts about the historic Town.

In an exclusive video talk, Laura Collier and Ian Tabbron of the Shakespeare North Playhouse provided a teasing glimpse of what to expect in spring next year, when the eagerly anticipated period theatre opens its doors to the public.

On the final weekend, Dave Loftus, was revealed as the winner of the 2021 Prescot Festival Short Story Competition. The panel judged his entry, Give, a witty, entertaining and thought provoking story, and anyone can now read it online at:- PrescotFestival.Co.UK or in the August issue of Prescot Parish Magazine.

"We're immensely grateful to the volunteers, artists and members of the community who came together to help us deliver a full programme of arts and music for the people of Prescot and beyond this year. We await the return of bigger concerts and events with both excitement and patience as we emerge from the Pandemic. We're already busy preparing for 2022, a huge year for Prescot, with the new playhouse opening in the heart of our beautiful Town, and the 18th Annual Festival is set to take place between 17 June and 26 June 2022." said Artistic Director, Dr Robert Howard.

Did you miss this year's Prescot Festival? You can catch up with all events and activities free at:- PrescotFestival.Co.UK.

Life Rooms wins national NHS Parliamentary Award

LIFE Rooms have beaten opposition from across the country to win the prestigious NHS Parliamentary Award for Excellence in Mental Health Care for their work in supporting people's mental and physical health during the Pandemic. The 5 Life Rooms wellbeing centres, run by Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust, received the award during a ceremony at the Department of Health in London, opened by the Prime Minister, for their innovative response to their buildings being closed following the Covid19 lockdown. Within 2 weeks of the lockdown being introduced, Life Rooms transferred their health and wellbeing programmes online and supported patients and the local community via telephone or guided them to clinical support when necessary.

"We're absolutely delighted to accept this award and are thrilled at the recognition given to everyone at the Life Rooms who worked so hard to support our service users and our local communities during the Pandemic. Once everything went into the 1st lockdown last year, we were concerned how that would impact people's physical and mental wellbeing. I was incredibly proud of our response because within 2 weeks of closing our buildings our teams launched. The Life Rooms Online, transferring our health and wellbeing courses onto video, while our pathway advisors and support workers proactively outreached to the most vulnerable people in our society to provide both practical and emotional support." said Michael Crilly, Mersey Care's Director of Social Inclusion and Participation, at the Life Rooms.

The initiatives launched by The Life Rooms to help service users and their local communities during the Pandemic, between April 2020 and March 2021, included:-

► 461 Zoom learning sessions helping people with their health and wellbeing, which generated over 20,000 views.

► 6,574 telephone contacts took place with The Life Rooms' Pathways Advisors offering social prescribing support and linking them to community help or guiding them to clinical support routes.

► 1,907 proactive contacts were made by The Life Rooms support workers to identify needs within local communities.

► 1,579 Community Mental Health Team service users with Mersey Care were proactively supported by the Life Rooms Support Team.

► 3,362 Primary Care patients were contacted with 563 signed up to Life Rooms support.

This is the 1st national NHS Parliamentary Award won by 1 of Mersey Care's services and is 1 of 3 NHS initiatives from the North West honoured in the awards alongside the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust's Black Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) Network (Wellbeing at Work category) while Dr Rajiv Sethi won the NHS Rising Star.

Dan Carden, the MP for Liverpool Walton, who nominated the Life Rooms, said:- "The Life Rooms provides a safe and welcoming space for my constituents to access resources, learn new skills, build a sense of community and cultivate positive mental health and wellbeing."

Fiona Cannon, the Group Sustainable Business Director at Lloyds Banking Group, who sponsored the Excellence in Mental Health Care Award, added:- "Huge congratulations to all of those involved in the Life Rooms. The services they provide are crucial to the mental health and well being of the people in their community, especially during these difficult times."