Children's charities should be honoured by the City of Liverpool

THE FORMER youngest politician in the UK, Jake Morrison, now 23, is calling for children's charities in Liverpool to be given the highest honour that can be bestowed by the Council, the Freedom of the City of Liverpool.

Jake, who finished his term 4 year term of office as a City Councillor for Wavertree in May 2015 has returned to Liverpool following 8 months in Cambridge working for a mental health charity, to take up the position as Charity Manager of The Oliver King Foundation.

Wednesday, 2 March 2016, will see the 5th Anniversary of the tragic death of 12 year old Oliver King, who would now be 17 years old. He died after suffering a sudden cardiac arrest known as Sudden Arrhythmic Death Syndrome which kills 12 young people in the UK every single week.

Jake Morrison said:- "After returning to Liverpool following 8 months working in Cambridgeshire for a mental health charity, I know and value the true meaning of what a charity works for and aims to achieve.  In Liverpool we have a number of very dedicated and important charities setup in memory; and as a legacy; for a number of young people. Ranging from campaigning to prevent death after suffering a cardiac arrest by putting defibrillators in all Merseyside schools, to tackling racism and homophobia and offering respite for families with children who have suffered bereavement; all this work adds massively to the City of Liverpool.  I am today calling on the Mayor of Liverpool Joe Anderson to recognise these charities, the inspirational families, friends and supporters who work tirelessly to make a difference and have a real positive impact on our City.  Whilst The Oliver King Foundation, and Mark King specifically, have been recognised by the Liverpool Echo and even the Prime Minister, Liverpool is a very special City to us all, and this honour would mean a lot. While the legacy of these inspirational young people continues to grow and grow, making a difference to communities and people across Merseyside, we owe them a great debt of gratitude. By bestowing upon them, the greatest honour the City can give, we will go a small way to showing our deep appreciation for all their work."

Southport's Salvation Army and Co-Op "brewing-up" to beat social isolation

A bid to beat social isolation by The Salvation Army in Southport and The Co-Op has become a regular fixture in the calendar after "brewing-up" interest among members of the community.

Hosted at The Salvation Army's Shakespeare Street centre and run in partnership with the Southport Co-operative Local Forum and the Co-Op food store in St James Place, "Afternoon Tea" has conversation and companionship on the menu for members of the community who experience loneliness or social isolation.

With more than 40 people attending the inaugural event, Afternoon Tea will now take place monthly with the next meeting to be held from 1:30pm to 2:30pm, on Thursday, 10 March 2016. Refreshments are provided by The Co-operative Food.

Sally McCann, Community Pioneer at The Co-Op's St James Place store; who created the initiative, said:- "Loneliness affects people all around us, people of all ages and backgrounds and in all types of communities. In fact, a cheery chat in the local Co-op can be the only conversation that some people in our community have all day, and so we were keen to explore ways in which we could help to address this."

Major Chris Davidson, leader of The Salvation Army in Southport said:- "We are delighted with the level of interest in this initiative; The Salvation Army offers events, services and support to meet the needs of the community and we are pleased to have teamed up with The Co-Op. The Co-Op is a community retailer and a co-operative and, by working together, we can make a difference and help to address this issue in order to benefit the lives and well being of people living locally."

Members of the community wanting to contribute suggestions for ways in which the Southport Co-operative Local Forum can help in the local community can contact Co-Op Member Pioneer Frank Hanley by emailing:- frank.hanley65@gmail.com.