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Dental charity sinks teeth into Lib Dems over children sweet bribe
THE UK's leading oral health
charity this week slammed 'grossly irresponsible'
Liberal Democrat officials for plans to bribe children into handing
out election leaflets with free sweets. The British Dental
Health Foundation accused the party of a complete a lack of
understanding of the importance of children's diet, saying
'these guidelines completely undermine the progress that has
been made in children's diet over the last year'.
The 'Guide To Fighting and Winning Local Elections' talks
about handing out toffees to children in council estates in return
for handing out leaflets.
Dr Nigel Carter, chief executive of the British Dental Health
Foundation, commented:- "At a time when people are finally
waking up to the importance of providing children with a healthy
balanced diet, I am amazed that an established political party
should deem it acceptable to bribe children with unhealthy sugary
sweets. Recent successes such as the establishment of the
School Food Trust and the proposed removal of unhealthy vending
machines from schools have shown real progress from the government.
Yet, at the same time, one of their main rivals is promoting sweets
as something for children to aspire to, by offering them as a
reward. This is completely unacceptable and should result in a
major own goal as parents vote against the party in the local
elections."
The Foundation's comments, which follow criticism by safety
campaigners, come in the run-up to National Smile Month (14 May to
13 June) a campaign which this year focuses on the importance of
healthy eating.
Dr Carter continued:- "Too frequent consumption of sweets is a
major cause of tooth decay, which currently affects around half of
children in the UK and can be a very traumatic and painful
experience for both child and parent. Offering children sweets
to eat as they work means that the sugar will be in contact with the
teeth for long periods resulting in near constant acid attacks and
increasing the risk of dental decay. When the guide refers to
children in council estates it forgets that it is often these same
children that need to be educated on the importance of a good oral
health routine and healthy diet more than anyone else, and certainly
not encouraged to eat sweets.
This charity is dedicated to improving oral health in the UK and we
spend a great deal of time and resources on promoting healthy eating
for children - both to the children themselves and to their parents.
It is a difficult enough task without having politicians going out
onto the streets and undermining it by promoting sweets as a reward
for children. If they really want to help, I suggest they
speak to their constituents about how they can encourage their
children to eat more healthily."
Scouts Launch Fire
Safety Badge in Liverpool
ON Thursday 13 April a party of
30 Scouts, visited the Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service’s Training
and Development Academy to complete their Chubb Fire Safety Badge
with a live fire demonstration.
The Badge requires the Scouts to understand what causes a fire, how
to call the Fire Brigade, how to use fire blankets and extinguishers
(and which extinguisher to use for different fire types) as well as
fire safety for the home. Steve Gill, Chubb Fire's Training Officer,
was on hand to give a live fire demonstration to explain the
different types of extinguishers enabling the Scouts from the 5th
and 7th Fairfield, 5th, 8th and 9th Formby, and the 26th Pickton
Groups to complete their Badge qualification.
Chubb Fire's three year sponsorship deal with The Scout Association
includes the provision of new educational literature and posters, to
more than 7,200 local Scout Troops across the UK, as well as
practical help from the company's nationwide network of offices and
engineers. Suzanne Donovan Chubb Fire’s Communications and Marketing
Director explains:- “Our expertise in the field of fire safety
means that we can really offer the Scouts some practical assistance
in running the Badge. Each year our engineers service over four
million extinguishers in the UK and we are keen to get involved in
working with the Scouts and the community on a local level. The
importance of fire safety can not be underestimated with over 14,000
people killed or injured in domestic fires each year.
The Fire Safety Badge offers the
Scouts some important practical advice on fire prevention, detection
and escape routes should a fire break out, all of which could
potentially save their lives, or the lives of others.
To date, over 34,000 Scouts have
achieved their Chubb Fire Safety Badge, which means more than 34,000
young boys and girls now have a home escape plan.”
SOUTHPORT WEEKENDER 38
MAY 5/6/7 2006
PONTINS HOLIDAY CENTRE :: SOUTHPORT
IT'S OFFICIALLY A
SELL OUT AGAIN!
NOW on its 38th event, Southport
Weekender is one of Europe’s best loved indoor music festivals and
is classed as one of the most importent soul music events in the
Music calendar in the World! It is held twice yearly, and
attracts a 5000 happy party folk to the indoor Pontins holiday
complex in Southport. Having evolved from it’s beginnings as a
soul music weekender founded by hedonist, Alex Lowes, the 18 year
old event now stands as the most musically diverse music weekender
in the UK party calendar. An intimate friendly crowd of dedicated
dancers and discerning music lovers will be your companions at the
event, which features four purpose built arenas featuring state of
the art production and sound, each covering all genres of the most
exciting soulful music around. If you did not get a
ticket do not panic... as normal we will be bringing you all the
news from the event also do not miss the November Weekender this
year as it will be MASSIVE! So get ready to book your place.
Keep your eyes glued to:-
southportweekender.co.uk
for more information as it happens and on Southport & Mersey
Reporter!
 |
Letter to the editor:- "Warrington film festival"
"I am writing with concern to the
way I as a filmmaker and visitor to The Warrington film festival was
treated
and since I have made my views public more and more people are
coming forward to share their disgust and embarrassment at the way
we have been treated and also how they themselves have been treated,
more and more filmmakers are uniting together to try and put a stop
to this sort of behaviour after all its the Filmmakers that make a
film festival, I have had numerous emails from people who have been
embarrassed by the way The Warrington Film Festival has treat
them... and also one of their partners is disgraced to have been
treated so embarrassingly themselves we were excited about the fact
of being accepted for THE WARRINGTON FILM FESTIVAL..... well
DISASTER strikes yet again and idiots make the whole weekend a waste
of time and a very expensive trip to Warrington.....!
We travelled down to Warrington on the Friday and luckily found a
Travelodge with rooms to stay in because most places were fully
booked due to the GRAND NATIONAL, so we got 2 rooms at 50 quid a
night... we expected to stay for 2 nights...
because the festival was a 2 day & night event,
we also had friends with us to show support....
When we got to the event we picked up our tickets which cost £48.00
for 4 people for the whole event...
and like I say we had friends who had also made the journey down
with us and also paid for a hotel and tickets for the event...
We took our seats in the hall and the EVENT DIRECTOR appeared and
welcomed everybody in the hall to The Festival... and he carried on
with lets get the show on the road and chirps in "OH , BY THE
WAY, LAMENT WILL NOT BE SHOWN! " the lights quickly dimmed
and the first segment of the festival started, I was dumbstruck... I
walked out half way through because I could not sit and enjoy all
the other films being shown.. when the first segment of the night
finished we approached PAUL WILSHAW the so called FESTIVAL DIRECTOR
and asked him why our first film was not to be shown... he feebly
answered due to technical difficulties the film could not be
played.. I asked what sort of technical difficulties... he said the
DVD would not play!....and he had to buy a new DVD player which he
handed over prior to his greeting to the audience... I asked if he
had the film with him, to see the disc to see if it was damaged and
he stuttered and stumbled and fluffed and asked us to wait outside
while he got it from the projection area, we waited and waited
Then 30 to 40 mins later
he appeared and said the disc is locked in a room that they don't
have the key for...
I replied so you don't have the disc? he replied it is locked
in a room .... I replied so how do you know the disc did not
work if it is locked in a room? he replied they tried it in the
morning and it would not play... I replied if you tried the film in
the morning why go out and by a new DVD player, a budget unreliable
one at that and not try the disc in the new DVD player.. why leave
it locked in a room... he could not answer this and said it is
not his fault ...someone else was at fault... I replied don't
pass the buck, the simple fact of the matter is that you do not have
the DVD with you, YES or NO, he replied with stutters and fluffed
excuses...
I looked through the
programme prior to all this happening and noticed that NONE of our
films were listed in the programme, so I changed my tact and queried
this... he replied he did not know why and someone else was at
fault..... I then asked so none of our films are going to be played,
he replied yes hopefully if we can get the discs to work... I
replied but you don't have the discs with you so how do you know if
they will work?...surely if you are a FILM FESTIVAL you would try
every film scheduled to make sure no glitches happen and it all runs
smoothly... he stuttered and was a nervous wreck to which he
blamed someone for sending emails out etc and tried to just blame
everyone else for MAJOR flaws in the event...
I said I am not happy, I paid for the 2 days and the whole event
has been spoilt by the fact that you do not have the decency to
approach us and apologise proper and also to tell the truth to as
why these cock-ups have happened, he replied what can I do to make
everything okay with you... I replied give us a full refund
for our tickets for the Festival and I will put it down to a bad
experience and say no more then leave... he replied if you
want a full refund I will give you a full refund.....those were his
exact words...
and GUESS WHAT? The pyramid staff were then brought into all
this and they replied saying it is the council policy not to give
refunds for any tickets sold....
so this escalated to another dispute with us...
I SIMPLY asked to have
the contact telephone number of someone who is in charge to see
about receiving our refund... we were passed the buck
again....
ALL IN ALL IT WAS A VERY BAD EXPERIENCE AND A VERY EXPENSIVE ONE....
no films played, no refunds, no apology,
no nothing!" Craig Brown.
Editors note:- "We
have to we
have contacted both the Festival and the Pyramid & Parr Hall and
the Paul Wilshaw, the Festival Director has replied with the
following statment."
"Thanks for making me aware of
this issue.
Warrington Film Festival was held
on 7 April and 8 of April 2006. It was very successful and I have
had a lot of positive feedback about the selection of films and the
event as a whole. We had a number of international entries and we
screened this year Oscar winning short “Six Shooter,” which is a
great achievement. This is only the second Warrington Film Festival
and still in its infancy. The festival provides an outlet for film
makers to show their films and it also allows an audience to view
interesting and experimental films that they could not normally see.
The festival relies solely upon volunteers and work-in-kind from
local organisations. It does not have vast resources.
I was first made aware of Mr Brown's disappointment at the festival
when he approached me at the interval on the first night. He had
travelled from Cumbria to see his film Lament. Unfortunately there
was a technical problem during a test screening so we could not play
it during the evening. I announced this at the beginning of the
screening and expressed my apologies.
I spoke to Mr Brown and his colleague Shaun Hayton during the
interval and tried to arrange a refund and an alternative screening
providing we could get the film to play. The venue that hosts the
festival, Pyramid Warrington, has a no refund policy. Therefore I
could not get a refund for their tickets on the night. Mr Hayton was
getting very aggressive towards me and as a result the box office
staff called over the event manager from Parr Hall, the adjacent
venue, to defuse the situation. Mr Brown and Mr Hayton then left
Pyramid agreeing to an alternative screening.
Since the 7 April Mr Brown has contacted all of the film makers
involved in the festival telling them of his disappointment. I
responded to Mr Brown’s email and apologised again. I also included
information about the rules and regulations of submitting films,
information about Pyramid refund policy and the offer of an
alternative screening. This email was sent out to all film makers
involved and offered them a chance to ask me any questions about the
points Mr Brown had raised. In this email I also told the film
makers that they would have the opportunity to have their film
screened during a season of “film nights” at Pyramid Warrington.
Several film makers replied to this email with positive messages
about how the festival was managed and they gave their support. I
received two negative emails from film makers with regards to their
films not being selected. I responded directly to them, informing
them about the selection process and the people involved.
Due to Mr Brown’s disappointment that his film was not screened, the
Pyramid staff have given Mr Brown a full refund for his tickets,
against company policy. As I have mentioned before I have apologised
to Mr Brown in person, in a direct email and in several public
emails.
I have attached the correspondence that I have sent out in a direct
email to Mr Brown and the film makers as this may explain the
situation further.
I hope this sheds more light on the situation.
Best regards, Paul Wilshaw", Festival Director |
