Buckets of Fun this Half Term at Liverpool Cathedral

FROM Monday, 30 May to Friday, June 2011, families can help themselves to free interactive prayer activities which will be located in colourful buckets around the Cathedral. The activities are designed to help families explore exciting new ways to pray together - some creative, some active, others thoughtful.  The buckets will be located in the Derby Transept in the main Cathedral and will be available from 11am to 3pm each day (except Monday, 30 May 2011, when they will be available between 12.30pm to 3pm only). It is entirely free to take part and there is no pre-booking required. Simply turn up, whether as a large group or a family during the times offered and find the buckets.   Sue Mitchell, Children and Families Missioner at the Cathedral said:- “These activities are a great way for families to come along and just take time out together during the half term break, and there is something for all ages. School holidays can often be hectic, but we hope that the activities on offer will give families time to just be together in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere.”

Whilst at the Cathedral, visitors are also invited to:-

► View the South Liverpool Photography Group exhibition from 30 May to 12 June 2011.

► Take a trip to the top of the Cathedral tower or take the Great Space Tour to learn about the history of the building (charges apply for both).

► Take a trip up the tower on Thursday evenings, where visitors can experience stunning sunset views of the city and beyond (charges apply)

► Take pictures of their most ‘inspiring places’ in Liverpool to enter into the Cathedral’s 2011 Inspiring Places photography competition.

All aboard for HMS Pinafore on the Mersey Ferry

ON Sunday, 29 May 2011, Mersey Ferries will be playing host to members of Crosby Gilbert & Sullivan Society as they perform excerpts from two of the most popular operas by Gilbert & Sullivan, Pirates of Penzance and HMS Pinafore, to raise money and awareness for ‘Clatterbridge your cancer centre’.  The performers will entertain passengers on two River Explorer cruises departing Liverpool at 1pm and 2pm. They will play such favourites as:-

“I am the very model of a modern major general”
“A policeman’s lot is not a happy one”
“I’m called little Buttercup”

So why not come along and enjoy a musical afternoon on the ferry?  Merseytravel’s corporate charity for 2011. ‘Clatterbridge your cancer centre’ is the only charity that raises funds to directly benefit the patients of Clatterbridge Centre for Oncology. The light operatic cruises will be departing from Liverpool Cruise Liner Terminal with no additional charges, although normal River Explorer prices apply.

All students should be taught how to save a life

48% of kids in the North West are powerless to help someone who has collapsed in the street despite 75% wanting to be able to help, new survey results from the British Heart Foundation (BHF) revealed.  Working with Resuscitation Council UK (RCUK), the BHF is calling on the Government to change the National Curriculum in England to ensure all students are taught Emergency Life Support (ELS) skills which would help save a life.  The survey also revealed overwhelming support from parents. 73% in the North West believe ELS should be taught at school.

Maura Gillespie, Head of Policy and Public Affairs at the BHF, said:- “Teaching young people how to save a life is as important as learning to read and write. They are skills which equip them for real situations they might face in their lives. This Government wants the Big Society to empower people to take action in their communities and help others. Making these skills part of the National Curriculum in England would be a simple way of turning that vision into a reality.”

The BHF is calling on the Government to include ELS in England’s new National Curriculum. It can be taught within a range of lessons including Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education (PSHE) lessons along with Physical Education, Citizenship and Science.

ELS skills include cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), which can help someone who’s had a cardiac arrest, and how to deal with an unconscious person, serious bleeding, choking and heart attacks. Latest figures show that in 2007 around 100,000 people had a heart attack in England.

Maura adds:- “This is about giving students the skills that make a difference in an emergency. ELS skills take just two hours to learn. Two hours, repeated each year until they leave school, to equip every young person with the gift of knowing how to save a life.”

30000 people each year in the UK have a cardiac arrest outside of hospital and nearly half of these are witnessed by members of the public. Less than one in ten victims survive to be discharged from hospital. With each minute that passes before defibrillation, the chances of survival are reduced by about 10%.

Dr. Andrew Lockey from RCUK said:- “More than 600,000 children are set to leave secondary school this summer, that’s over half a million pairs of hands to help save someone’s life. Feeling helpless when a person goes into cardiac arrest is an agonising situation. A 10 minute delay between suffering a cardiac arrest and using a defibrillator could be the difference between life and death. Performing CPR offers a lifeline when every second counts.”

The BHF’s Heartstart scheme has already trained 2.6 million people across the UK in ELS skills.

It’s asking parents, teachers and kids to sign a petition to make ELS a compulsory part of the National Curriculum in England. Find out more at:- bhf.org.uk/els.