The annual “Willow Ball” is taking place on Saturday 26^th November 2011 in the truly magnificent surroundings of the Midland Hotel, Manchester and final arrangements are well in hand to make this another evening to remember.

John Fellowes, Head of Fundraising for the Ashton based Willow Wood Hospice said “Whether you are looking for a special evening for two, a group of relatives and friends out for the evening then  you can rely on the Willow Ball being the just the event for you”.

If you are looking for a really good evening, great entertainment and an opportunity to savour the finest hotel in Manchester then there is still time to reserve your place at the Willow Ball.

The evening includes a champagne reception, a delicious four course dinner, live and spectacular entertainment, a fun casino and dancing to the disco until the wee small hours.

John continued by saying “it’s been a difficult year for everyone but this could be that one chance this year to really let your hair down and enjoy yourselves. We don’t really promote the evening with a Christmas theme but many who have joined us in the past have used the Willow Ball as a spring board to Christmas.”

People wanting more information are asked to contact the Hospice Appeals office on 0161 330 7788 or by email at appeals@willowwood.info

Harehills Park play area, in Glossop, has been given a new lease of life by the introduction of challenging play equipment that complements the site’s woodland and sloping banks.

The site, in Philip Howard Road, was reopened on Monday, October 3 following a £29,400 makeover carried out by site owner High Peak Borough Council and paid for by Derbyshire County Council from the Government’s Playbuilder fund.

And on Saturday, county councillor Jean Wharmby, who represents Glossop South, joined forces with Anthony McKeown, the borough’s executive councillor for community services, to cut a ribbon and officially reopen the play area.

The new equipment, installed over a three-week period, was chosen by the borough council in line with public consultation undertaken in May in the park and town centre.

Said Cllr McKeown: “The equipment was especially chosen to make the site more attractive to youngsters without spoiling its natural appearance”.

Cllr Wharmby added: “This is the latest in a series of play area makeovers carried out by the two councils, underlining our shared commitment to promoting healthy lifestyles among young people”.

With Bonfire night just around the corner, local vet practice Victoria Vets is asking owners to remember their pets on the 5^th of November. Head Nurse Jane Hammersley is offering a few tips on ways to help your furry friends to stay calm during the firework season including the latest innovation in anxiety therapy.

The team at Victoria Vets are strong advocators of natural remedies to help your animals. Jane comments: “Many animals get very alarmed by the sound of fireworks due to their sensitive hearing and the confusion of where the noises are coming from. However there are a few simple things owners can do to help put their pets at ease during firework night.”

1. Create a den in a warm, dark and quiet place complete with a few treats and soft and comfortable surroundings. Many animals feel the need to bolt when scared; this will give them somewhere safe and secure to flee to.

2. Make sure your pets have lots of exercise in the day as this means they are more likely to sleep through the evening.

3. Turn up the TV or Radio so they have a familiar noise to drown out the fireworks

4. Don’t fuss over your pets if they are nervous

5. Ensure your pets are easily identifiable with a collar or micro-chip, in case they do try to run away.

Finally, if your dog becomes distressed on firework night, Victoria Vets is advising owners to consider the latest innovation in anxiety therapy. Jane comments: “The Thunder Jacket is a new creation that applies gentle, constant pressure on the dog’s torso and this has an amazingly calming effect. Pressure has been used to successfully reduce anxiety for many years for both animals and humans and it is great to find a natural product that works so well for your pet. We have witnessed a great result using the jacket on dogs that are anxious about visiting our surgery and we recommend that owners seriously consider this is a way of relieving their pet’s anxiety on firework night!”

Victoria Vets is also offering free nurse clinics right through the firework season and beyond to help advise owners on the best ways to care for their dogs.

For more help or information, contact Victoria Vets in Glossop (01457 852367) or Chapel-en-le Frith (01298 812066). Thundershirt’s are available from Victoria Vets for £34.99.

Photo caption: Victoria Vet’s Jane Hammersley helps Red Dog to stay calm at the vets with a thunder shirt

Residents can see how Derbyshire Constabulary polices the streets during Halloween as the force uses the internet to tweet on the beat. 

For the first time, details of Halloween patrols and incidents officers are being dispatched to will be put on the force Twitter feed throughout the evening of Monday, October 31.

 Details of calls coming into the force control room from across the county will also be tweeted.

Derbyshire Constabulary’s web manager, Ben Sherwin, said: “Twitter is a great way of telling the public what we are doing in real time.

“We plan to tweet details of incidents such as anti-social behaviour or criminal damage and anything experienced by Derby officers on patrol.”

Derbyshire Constabulary now has almost 8,000 followers on Twitter. This increased during the period of disorder seen across the country in August, as the force used social network sites to keep residents up-to-date with the latest news.

 You can follow Derbyshire police on Twitter via /DerbysPolice. Tweet on the Beat will start at 5pm on Monday, October 31.

HIGH Peak fitness fans have been offered a string of fun-packed opportunities to set their pulses racing while raising money for BBC Children in Need.

The Borough Council and DC Leisure have pulled out all the stops to line up a series of special events in Buxton, Glossop and New Mills next month (November).

The high jinx begins at Glossop Leisure Centre on Tuesday, November 15 with a Zumbathon running from 6.45pm to 8.15pm. All Zumba fans will get a T-shirt in return for their £5 entry fee – and there will a free wine tasting session at the end of the workout.

The fun continues at the venue the following Friday (November 18) with a “Back to the 80s” studio cycling session for which fancy dress is a must. The pedal-pushing antics take place from 9.30am to 10.15am and from 5.30pm to 6.15pm at a cost of £5 per class.

For more information on the Glossop events, call (01457) 842272 or e-mail enquiries@glossopleisurecentre.co.uk.

Glossop and Edale Mountain Rescue teams were called out on Wednesday night (12 Oct) to search for a missing 65 year old female. The lady had become separated from her daughter whist walking in the Bleaklow area.

The call came through at 9.45pm after the daughter had raised the alarm at a nearby farmhouse. Glossop and Edale team members were tasked to search the Alport valley. The lady was found by an Edale team dog handler approximately 1.5 km from the farm.

She was suffering from the first signs of hypothermia and was evacuated to the farmhouse.

22 Glossop team members took part in the rescue which finished at 03.30am on Thursday morning.

Picture credit

Interesting article in the advertiser  which reports High Peak borough council’s accounts contained so many errors that they could not be audited, the public finance watchdog says.

An interim report by the Audit Commission said the council’s accounts for 2010/11 contained a ‘significant number of internal consistency errors’.

The faults meant that the year’s accounts could not be audited by the end of September, as planned.

Taxpayers will now face paying an extra fee for the work of the commission to scrutinise local finances – something all councils must do each year.

The council said the problems are now being sorted and that they were ‘entirely a presentational issue’.

It said the problem was with the way information was presented to the commission.

It added that frontline services would not be affected and that the increase in fee to the Audit Commission would be ‘small’.

The interim report, which was included in the agenda for the audit and regulatory committee’s most recent meeting, states that some of the problems arise from a new national reporting system – the International Financial Reporting Standards – being used for the first time.

Other challenges included a change of IT system in the council’s finance department and the late notification of the financial settlement which impacted on this year’s budget. As a result, officers had asked the Audit Commission to start the audit three weeks later than planned, but the reports presented to the watchdog still contained ‘fundamental errors’.

Tim Norton, cabinet member for corporate services said: “The accounting implications for High Peak borough council were more pronounced than those for many other district councils due to the retention of the authority’s housing stock.

“This led to a short delay in the start of the audit, and some temporary disruption.

“However, all outstanding matters are now on course to be resolved within the next three weeks, and it is entirely a presentational issue with no implications for frontline services.

“While there is likely to be a small increase in the audit fee, we are very confident that, by managing the process in house, the council has avoided the considerable implementation costs incurred by comparable councils.”

The interim report did conclude, however, that the council had proper arrangements to secure economy, efficiency and effectiveness in its use of resources and represented value for money.

Paul Quinn and Debra Wilson, from Glossop are amongst the lottery syndicate that scooped nearly £7 million on Saturdays rollover jackpot.

16 Supermarket workers from Asda in Hyde are celebrating winning the National Lottery, each receiving just over £400,000.

The 16 winners include checkout coordinator; checkout assistants Sue Markham, 60, from Mottram, Amanda Turner, 40,  and Lynne Farrell, 46, both from Hyde; service section leaders Claire Petch, 26, from Romiley and Katie Coulthard, 30, from Hyde; Marina Leigh, 28, and Vanessa Gibson, 38, both  from Hyde, and,  who all work in customer services; service manager Angela Truter, 52, from Ashton, dispensary assistant Janet Casey, 54, from Hyde, and Emma Allen, 32, from Ashton,  who  works in  Asda  Extra.

The draw was on Saturday and the numbers were 4, 15, 17, 26, 37 and 41.

A pub landlord  from Gamesley has been jailed two years and three months for supplying a sawn-off shotgun and stun guns to an undercover police.

David Oliver,60, was the landlord of the Cricketers pub in Walmersley Road, Bury, has been jailed for

Bolton Crown Court heard that an undercover officer befriended Oliver while he was involved in a drugs operation. Oliver was not a target of the operation, but he told the officer he could get hold of weapons.

He sourced stun guns from friend Stanley Denton, who used to supply cigarettes to pubs.  The court heard the stun guns were powerful enough to kill a dog.

Oliver later sourced a shotgun, which had been stolen, and told the officer it had been wiped clean of fingerprints.

Judge Steven Everett said the message must be sent out that people who sell guns will get a prison sentence.

The incidents took place between February 2009 and December 2009.

Oliver, pleaded guilty to selling prohibited weapons in relation to the stun guns, and possessing a sawn off shotgun without a certificate.

Judge Everett said: “The problem with the sawn-off shotgun, albeit it was given to an undercover police officer, was you did not know that.

“You got the gun from somewhere, it could not have been a legal source, and it was shortened. You had no intention of using it yourself but you had no idea what it would be used for.

“It takes no imagination to realise someone would only want that gun for serious criminal purposes.

“I must send out the message to you and others who like you. If those who pass on these guns did not get an immediate prison sentence the court would not be doing its job.”

Denton, aged 62, from Rotherham, pleaded guilty to selling prohibited weapons in relation to the stun guns. He was given a six-month prison sentence suspended for 12 months. He was also given six months supervision and must go on a victim awareness course.

Photo credit – http://www.flickr.com/photos/amanderson/3292309299/sizes/m/in/photostream/

Andrew Bingham, MP for High Peak, visited Hadfield manufacturing facility, Pressure Tech, to see how the company can help improve the reputation of the UK’s manufacturing sector and also how it’s defying all odds in today’s economic climate.

Despite stiff manufacturing competition from abroad and operating in a sector with slowed growth, innovative manufacturing business, Pressure Tech, which supplies high-pressure regulators to the oil and gas industry, has seen a 70% increase in turnover in the last 12 months and as a result has rapidly expanded its facilities and workforce.

The company is using Andrew’s visit to demonstrate why it should be used as a case study for the Made By Britain initiative, a project of the Associate Parliamentary Manufacturing Group. Secretary of State for Business, Vince Cable MP, launched Made By Britain in July to improve the reputation of the UK manufacturing industry, by showcasing the country’s most exemplary businesses in the sector.

A chance find of photographs in the offices of a busy shopping centre has sparked a search for a long lost beauty queen from Glossop.

The black and white pictures of June Pickering, who was crowned Miss Stretford in 1973, were found hidden at the back of a drawer at Stretford Mall, in Chester Road, close to the centre of Manchester.

Operations Manager Mike Russell was searching through some old files when he came across the fascinating set of old photos.

They featured the glamorous entrants in the final of Miss Stretford 1973 which was held at the shopping centre.

June Pickering, who came from Glossop, is pictured being presented with her winning sash by a lady thought to be the then Mayoress of Stretford.

Mike, who has worked at Stretford Mall for eight years, said: “We were having a bit of a tidy up and we came across a whole load of old photographs including these rather striking images of the beauty contest held here in 1973.

“We couldn’t help but wonder where Miss Pickering is now and what she has been doing since she was crowned Miss Stretford all those years ago here at the mall.

“It would be great to find her and perhaps bring her back to the scene of her glamorous victory almost 40 years ago.”

Also featured in some of the pictures is popular radio DJ, Dave Eager, a well known face in the 1970s music scene who hosted Radio One programmes, such as The Breakfast Show and Speakeasy, and was assistant to Sir Jimmy Saville for many years.

He was also a regular DJ at Manchester’s New Century Hall and Belle Vue Top Ten Club, which was demolished along with the rest of the Belle Vue amusement park in the early 1980s.

The Stretford Mall has been at the heart of the surrounding community since it opened its doors in 1969.

Mike said: “We have a long history of interesting events at the Stretford Mall and I suppose this is no different. While beauty contests may have fallen out of favour in more recent times, it does represent how central the mall is to the community and it continues to be a focal point for people.

“I am sure there must be someone out there who knows where June is and we would love to hear from them or indeed her.”

Can you help with the search for June Pickering, winner of Miss Stretford in 1973? Do you recognise anyone in the pictures? Call 01244 680385 or email claire@ceidiog.com if you have any information.

Willow Wood is the local hospice for Glossop and they have more than one reason they want you to help. In fact there are six thousand reasons why they need your help.

By voting for Willow Wood in the 2011 NatWest Community Force programme the Hospice stands the chance of scooping the top award of £6,000

John Fellowes, Head of Fundraising, said “I’m sure that many will remember that last year we entered the NatWest Community Fund programme and thanks to everyone’s  support we received £3,000. We have entered again this year but we want to go that bit further but we can’t do it without the support of one and all. So apart from urging everyone to vote for us, I’m also asking if they would spread the word to their family, friends, neighbours, work colleagues, their facebook contacts, in fact I’m asking if they would ask everyone they know to vote for Willow Wood.

John continued “it’s easy to vote and all is explained at http://communityforce.natwest.co./project/1402 but please remember to register before you vote. Can I encourage everyone to log on and vote for Willow Wood now.  I appreciate that there are a lot of demands on people but by helping us with this project does not actually cost anything and the Hospice could benefit significantly.

Karen Houlston, Executive Manager of the Ashton under Lyne based Hospice said “NatWest made a commitment to help the communities in which we live and work. and the result was Community Force programme. This is a wonderful scheme that helps local charities raise awareness of their work and to make their plans reality with the support of NatWest and the local community.

John added “if we are successful then money raised will go towards our transport appeal which is raising funds to buy a new minibus which will enable the Hospice transport patients to and from the Hospice.

 To vote for Willow Wood Hospice please visit http://communityforce.natwest.com/project/1402

Anyone wanting details on the Hospices Minibus bus appeal and how they could get involved is asked to contact John at the Hospice on 0161 330 7788

Have you got what it takes to be a lifesaver? That’s what NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) is asking in the search for new platelet donors.

Volunteer donors are needed every day to provide vital blood and platelet donations for patients in hospital. Demand for platelets has risen over the last few years and crucial supplies only have a 5 day shelf-life.

Platelets are tiny cells in the blood which help to stem blood loss by enabling clotting. Platelet transfusions are often given to the sickest of patients whose bone marrow is not working properly, including cancer or leukaemia sufferers undergoing chemotherapy.

Lynne Moulder, Lead Donor Relations Manager for NHSBT said: “Commitment, time and a high average platelet count are the qualities needed to become a platelet donor. Donating platelets takes longer than whole blood donation and can be done more frequently because few red cells are taken, so iron levels are less affected. If you think you’ve got what it takes to become a platelet donor, we’ll carry out a simple blood test which will tell if you can donate.”

Not everyone who donates blood is able to donate platelets though. Platelet donation is a specialised process and can only be done at a handful of centres across the country and the nearest centres to Manchester are at Plymouth Grove opposite the MRI and Norfolk House on Brown Street in the City Centre. Blood group A negative donors are particularly needed as their donations can also be given to patients with other blood groups. If you would like to be a platelet donor we would love to hear from you.

Carole Hynes, Donor Carer Superviser has worked at the Plymouth Grove Centre for 25 years said  “It never ceases to amaze me how dedicated and comitted our Platelet Donors are – we are one big happy family”

Men are most likely to be suitable platelet donors because they usually have a higher blood volume than women. Female donors are also welcome, but they need to have a second blood test to screen for white cell antibodies which can develop following a pregnancy and may cause a reaction in some patients.

Platelet donors are encouraged to donate regularly, at least once a month and more if possible. You could become a platelet donor if you are between 17 and 65 even if you have never donated blood. If you are 66 – 70 you need to have given blood before, and if you are over 70 then you need to have given a full blood donation in the last 2 years..

Lynne Moulder concluded; “One donation of platelets can provide two or three adult doses and up to 12 for children. So I’d like to thank all our platelet donors for their commitment to making regular, lifesaving donations. With the help of more donors, we’ll be able to ensure a safe and sufficient supply of platelets for all those patients who need them.”

Can we count on you? For more information on becoming a platelet donor please call the National Donor Helpline on 0300 123 23 23 or visit www.blood.co.uk/platelets/

For additional information please contact NHSBT press office on 0117 969 2444. For out of hours enquiries please call: 07659 133583.

Photo credit – http://bit.ly/oQzkaW