My visit to Safe Regeneration at St Mary's Hub Bootle

I'm not sure what the collective noun for a group of Community Interest Companies (CIC) is; an enterprise? an innovation? maybe they should call it a hope of CICs. My visit to Safe Regeneration at the site of the former St Mary's School in Bootle definitely filled me with optimism. CICs are social enterprises that want to use their profits and assets for the public good.

I met so many different projects housed in and around the canal side site.  I was shown around by Jane Johnson their development manager and Su Grainger from the Community Choir 'Sing your Socks Off' . I met artists, dancers, mosaic makers, joiners, gardeners, bee keepers and people who described themselves as technology nerds.

I was very impressed with the group set up for people experiencing early onset dementia. I don't think I have ever encountered anything as positive or as successful in this area of work. I spoke with family members and those with the condition and they were full of praise for the group called Natural Steps, and the two women who set it up and run it.

There was also a cluster of technology based CICs including The Nerdy Gift Company who had lots of innovative ideas and Little Sandbox who run a technology club for youngsters. They had a 3D printer and in preparation for Halloween they had produce a pumpkin! Personally I prefer the ones you can eat. You could really feel the energy and imagination that drives these companies forward

 Another of the  technology CICs was Periscope Productions who are film/video makers. They had taken on a trainee, a young man who supported Tranmere Rovers-one of the few teams Southport FC have taken a point off this season . They were turning out  high quality films and were successful getting work from a wide variety of organisations from the public and private sectors.

The Periscope film Makers

One of the other focuses for their work is around environmental issues. Their poly tunnel and raised bed were clearly very productive but I was taken by the honey making operation and was delighted when they gave me a jar made by Boss Bootle Bees .

Safe Green Dream and the Boss Bootle Bees

There is land attached to the St. Mary's hub that opens on to the Leeds Liverpool Canal and, not surprisingly, there are ambitious plans to develop it. I was particularly pleased to hear about their ideas for housing including self build and shared equity. As a nation we have failed to develop options that allow people without capital to get on the housing ladder and to own their own home.

The parcel of land also includes a former pub and they have plans to open it up again and to develop a new enterprises including hotel accommodation. I would not be at all surprised if in a few years the Carolina Basin had become the preferred stopping off point for canal users making their way through to the Albert Dock.

As I hope you can tell I was thoroughly impressed by my visit to the St Mary's hub.

My column in this weeks Visiter

Friday night was awards night at the Gild Hall in Formby. This is a new and most inspired initiative from Formby Parish Council and got off to a brilliant start. There were twelve awards including Good Neighbour, Carer, Fundraisers, for Courage, Teacher, Young Person, Community Hero and Lifetime Achievement. The businesses of Formby had rallied around to sponsor the awards and local residents John Parrot, David Fairclough, and Elite Super Heavyweight Champion Alex Dickenson joined me in handing out the awards. The evening was expertly compered by Sandgrounder Radio's Neil Newton. A special mention must go to mother and daughter Maria Bennett and Dawn Brodie who led the team that made this event possible.

It is, of course, invidious to pick out any single award winner, all were worthy winners but I will risk criticism by focusing on the two young people who won awards; Hannah Ashby and Daniel Hunter. Both in their separate ways were inspirational.

Hannah was on holiday on a Greek Island with her family this summer when she witnessed at first hand the plight of refugees as they arrived. She was moved to do something practical about the situation and when she returned to Formby she set about fundraising for Unicef’s ‘Stand up for Syria’ project. In addition to other activities Hannah organised a sponsored mile walk across the fields to mimic the excruciatingly long and painful walk from Syria to Bodrum that so many Syrian children have endured in order to save their lives. She is to be wholeheartedly congratulated.

The other young person to win an award was Daniel Hunter who received a standing ovation in the Gild Hall when his story was told. Daniel’s Mum had been diagnosed with cancer and she nominated him because of all the support he had given her. The list of household chores he had willingly carried out was truly impressive.

I saw more young people rewarded for their achievements when I went to Deyes High School Awards Evening. We so often hear negative news about young people so it was a delight to see so many students whose endeavours deserve praise.

I attended many other events this week including the welcoming of Rev Amanda Burns to Great Crosby, the Judges service at the Cathedral and tonight I am off to the Pride of Maghull Awards. It has been a positive and encouraging and there is a lot more information and photographs on http://themayoralblog.blogspot.co.uk/

A great night at Pride of Formby Awards

Friday night was awards night at the Gild Hall in Formby. This is a new and most important initiative from Formby Parish Council and got off to a brilliant start. There were twelve awards including Good Neighbour, Carer, Fundraisers, for Courage, Teacher, Young Person, Community Hero and Lifetime Achievement. The businesses of Formby had rallied around to sponsor the awards and local residents John Parrot, David Fairclough, and Elite Super Heavyweight Champion Alex Dickenson joined me in handing out the awards. The evening was expertly compered  by Sandgrounder Radio's Neil Newton.

A full report can be found on the Formby Bubble website who helped sponsor the event and I shall not try to compete with their coverage here but rather record my impressions of the evening.

The first thing to say that these were genuine awards, the folk nominated fully deserved to be recognised by their community and Formby Parish Council are to be congratulated for setting up the event. A special mention must go to mother and daughter Maria Bennett and Dawn Brodie who led the team that made this event possible.

It is, of course, invidious to pick out any single award winner all were worthy winners but I will risk criticism by focusing on the two young people who won awards Hannah Ashby and Daniel Hunter. Both in their separate ways were inspirational.

Hannah was on holiday on a Greek Island with her family this summer when she witnessed at first hand the plight of refugees as they arrived. She was moved to do something practical about the situation and when she returned to Formby she set about fundraising for Unicef’s ‘Stand up for Syria’ project. In addition to other activities Hannah organised a sponsored mile walk across the fields to mimic the excruciatingly long and painful walk from Syria to Bodrum that so many Syrian children have endured in order to save their lives. She is to be wholeheartedly congratulated.

The other young person to win an award was Daniel Hunter who received a standing ovation in the Gild Hall when his story was told. Daniel’s Mum had been diagnosed with cancer and she nominated him because of all the support he had given her. The list of household chores he had willingly carried out was truly impressive.

I

My Mayoral Blog in this weeks Visiter

World Mental Health day fell on the 10^th October and it has dominated my activities this week. For the first time ever there was a Mayoral reception in Southport Town Hall to mark the event. Mental Health remains an underfunded and neglected area of care. We have seen destressing cases, for example, when a young women was held in a police cell because there was no appropriate hospital bed available. I know of cases where the only available hospital bed for someone in crisis was hundreds of miles away. The situation is particularly acute in services for adolescents.

There is a desperate need to discuss mental ill health so as to challenge the stigma that still surrounds this topic. I have spent over thirty years working for a mental health charity. Speaking with some of the people who use our services it is clear that public attitudes towards those with mental health issues still need to be challenged.

In the Town Hall this week we focussed on one particular topic that is of great importance to people recovering from mental ill health- namely getting and keeping a job. It was good to hear the stories of those people who had been successfully in achieving that goal. It was great to hear from employers and here I must give a special mention to Morrisons and their representative Anna Ingrams.

If mental health is to be treated in exactly the same way as physical health, every employer should have trained Mental Health First Aiders just like they have physical first aiders.

I began the week by opening an Art Exhibition of work submitted by people using mental health services. They had all attended a workshop called ‘Art for the Terrified’ and produced some really amazing pictures.

Finally on the mental health theme I was greatly encouraged when I attended Merseyside Scouts Annual meeting. One of the presentations came from the 4^th Crosby Scouts who told us about two of their projects-one connected to the canal and one on mental health. The young people in the troop had chosen the topics themselves and they spoke movingly of what they had learnt about mental health issues and their resolve to do their bit to alter public attitudes.

Deyes High Awards evening

David Stewart and I after the presentations

I was pleased to be invited to attend the Awards Evening at Deyes High School in Maghull. It is always uplifting to hear the stories of young people and their successes. At Deyes I heard not only about their academic and sporting prowess but also their service to the wider community. When there is far too much negativity about young people it is important that these stories are heard.

The guest speaker, former Deyes student, David Stewart spoke about his journey from Deyes High to a top job at QPR. He was a football obsessed teenager whose parents guided him to maintain his academic studies. At University he recognised he wasn't going to be a top professional and saw an opening in performance analysis. After an unpaid internship he got a permanent job and subsequent promotion. His talk was well received by the school.

Without doubt to two best delivered presentations of the night came from Head Boy, James Thompson, and Head Girl, Amy Louise Baker. It was very impressive that two young people spoke so compellingly,-theirs was not a flat monotonal offering but something where both the content and the way it was delivered commanded attention even at the end of the evening.

When I got home I checked out the school website and found that they had taken up World Mental Health Day and this piece appeared in the school newsletter:


World Mental Health Day took place on Monday 10th October 2016. This week during form time, Year 12 students have been discussing different mental health problems, to raise awareness of this important issue. Some of the conditions students have been discussing include stress, anxiety, depression and post traumatic stress disorder. They have been discussing how to recognise the signs of mental health problems, coping strategies and sources of help.

As regular readers will know I have done my best to raise mental health issues during my Mayoral year and a few days earlier had hosted the first ever Mayoral reception to mark the day. Well done Deyes High.

World Mental Health Day sees first Mayoral reception

Anna Ingram (from Morrisons) and I

World Mental Health Day 2016 saw the first Mayoral Reception in Southport Town Hall to mark that occaision . For me the day had begun as Neil Newton's guest on Sandgrounder Radio broadcasting from their new studios in Houghton Street. I was delighted Neil had me on to talk about mental health and he proved to be an informed and sympathetic interviewer. Their is still much work to do in combatting stigma concerning mental ill health and securing the appropriate resources to ensure that the necessary services are available.
My second port of call was to host a reception at the Town Hall. The focus of that gathering was employment and it was good that people seeking work , services providers and employers turned up. It was especially pleasing that Anna from Morrisons was their  sharing some important and relevant insights.

Neil and I at Sandgrounder radio

Imagine Independence run an employment service in Sefton which has attracted national acclaim. The staff team are led by Olga Snell who along with her team shared their experiences. It was clear that work needs to be done to with bodies representing occupational health specialists. There were reports of some very good people working in that area alongside some rather disturbing examples of failure to understand the type of reasonable adjustments and support people recovering from mental ill health might require. A second area of concern was the failure to provide support to small businesses. Across the region small businesses are important employers and many of them would welcome more information and support. A recent survey revealed that many employers would like to know more about successfully employing people recovering from mental ill health. about  Everyone attending I spoke to felt the event was worthwhile.

My thanks to the Town Hall staff for their support.

my article in the Visiter for this week

In my mind I tend to divide my duties as Mayor into two broad categories; the formal ‘state occasions’ and the community events. This week I undertook two state occasions and a host of community events.

In April 1989 ninety six people went to a football match and did not return. Last week the Freedom of the City of Liverpool was awarded to the 96 alongside Marina and Kenny Dalglish, Professor Phil Scraton and Bishop James Jones. More residents of our borough died at Hilsborough than from any other part of Merseyside. It was appropriate that I should represent Sefton at St George’s Hall for this important ceremony. The emotional climax of the night was the singing of I’ll never walk alone by Waterloo based mezzo soprano Danielle Louise Thomas. I had the opportunity of speaking with some of the local families. It was a difficult occasion for many of those in the Hall but everyone felt that it was proper and fitting that the highest honour that the city can bestow should have been awarded to the 96.

Waterloo and Crosby in Bloom Awards took place on Wednesday. It was really encouraging to see so many people participating.  There were certificates and Trophies in a range of categories including schools, front gardens, window boxes, containers, commercial premises, pubs, open spaces etc.

Crosby U3A (University of the third Age) visited me in Bootle Town Hall. These tours are very interesting especially when you have a well-informed group like U3A. There is a lot to see especially relating to Bootle’s role in the Battle of the Atlantic and Captain Johnny Walker.

Merseyside Business Awards took place on Thursday evening and I will write more about that next week along with other events including a MacMillan Coffee Morning and a trip to the Opera. Information and lots more photographs can be found on the Mayoral http://themayoralblog.blogspot.co.uk

There was a full congregation for my Civic Service which was held at Holy Trinity Southport. The church certainly has a 'wow' factor especially when, as on Sunday, the impressive architecture is combined with excellent music, a well ordered service and a thought provoking sermon. The Vicar, Rod Garner, is writing about his sermon elsewhere in the Visiter. The service has been described to me as 'beautiful, uplifting and inspiring'. My sincere thanks to everyone at Trinity It was a memorable occasion.

Crosby U3A visit Bootle Town Hall

Crosby U3A visit to Bootle Town Hall

 Crosby U3A (University of the third age) visited Bootle Town Hall recently. These tours of the Mayoral corridor and the Council Chamber are very popular with local history groups. Bootle Town Hall has a lot history recorded in the gifts that the Council has received over the years. My experience is that  the U3A bring a extra local knowledge with them that adds to our understanding of history of the building and the borough. This visit was no exception as among those attending was the redoubtable Brenda Murray whose long life has been spent studying the history our area.

I met Brenda again later in the week when we both attended A Night at the Opera hosted by Sacred Heart Catholic College and performed by Una Voce. Brenda proudly told me she was the college's oldest old girl having left in 1942.

Starting the 10k run at Aintree in brilliant sunshine

A record number of runners almost 1300 turned out for the Matalan Merseyside 10k on Sunday morning. My job was to sound the hooter to start the race and to hand out the cups and cheques to the various winners.

It was good to meet so many local runners including this gentleman who was from Litherland who attended Litherland High School

Dejene Gezimu from Liverpool Harriers in an impressive time of 31 minutes and 26 seconds and first home in the women's race was Catherine Howard of Knowsley Harriers who crossed the finish line in 36 minutes and 36 seconds, followed by Kirsty Longley of Liverpool Pembroke and Sefton Harriers who finished in 37 minutes'

Kirsty  had to get off early to take her young daughter to a birthday party so I gave her her prize before the official presentations. There were lost of different categories including different veterans categories up to 70+ as well as team prizes.

Liz Short's 100 birthday party

It was great to be invited to Liz Short's 100 birthday party held at Bootle Cricket Club. Liz had five generations of her family present. My job was to present her with the telegram from the Queen and to join in the singing of Happy Birthday

Paul Newbery presented Liz with a bottle of Champagne on behalf of the Firwood  Bootle Cricket Club who hosted the event. Everyone I spoke to was very impressed with the club and the care it had taken over this event

Liz lives at the Willow Gardens, St Edmonds Rd, Bootle and other residents and staff had joined her family in celebrating her birthday.

Una Voce Concert in Sacred Heart Crosby

 Una Voce Opera Company was founded by the McAulay Family and Friends on 26th September 1996 with the mission of: Bringing Opera to all and all to Opera at affordable prices and in accessible venues whilst educating and entertaining the public and giving singers a platform to express their art and demonstrate their voices.

Civic Guests with Una McAulay founder of Una Voce

The organisation marvellously achieved their objective on Saturday evening when the brought together a group of soloists to perform at the Sacred Heart School in Crosby. Their music ranged from opera through to songs from the shows. The appreciative audience was seemed to love every moment. My job was to draw the raffle and handout thank you gifts to the performers.

the performers 

The venue was the Sacred Heart School in Crosby being hospitality and facilities matched the quality of the performers. We had our interval refreshments (provided by Gillions of Crosby) in the new VIth  Form Centre.

The Head Girl and Head Boy at the Heart of Crosby

At the entrance to the new centre there is an artwork-the Heart of Crosby which the school commissioned. They have inventively shared it with the feeder school and local churches.

i had the pleasure of sitting next to the redoubtable Brenda Murray who is a bit of a Crosby legend and is the oldest old girl of Sacred Heart. I also learned that another former pupil is Danielle Thomas of whom the Head Teacher spoke very highly especially in regard to her generosity in spending time at the school. 

MacMillan Coffee Morning at Marshside

I was very pleased to accept an invitation from Cllr Pat Keith to attend the MacMillan Coffee morning at St Patrick's in Marshside, and not just because I knew if  Pat was involved the cakes would be excellent-and they were.

We all know what an excellent MacMillan cancer care does in our communities and it  was good to see so many folk turn up to support Pat, Sue and their friends who put on the event.

This morning Pat posted an update:

A message from Pat Keith...

Well done everyone for making our Macmillan Coffee Morning such a great success. Thanks to your generosity we raised more than £250 for this great charity.

A huge thanks to those who baked such magnificent cakes and donated raffle prizes. Also thanks to our Mayor, Iain Brodie Browne, for coming along and making the occasion special and for eating so much cake. But who could resist? The cakes were mouth-watering and not a soggy bottom in sight... looks out Mary Berry!

As the Macmillan logo states cake tastes better when people are together and, as well as being a fundraiser for a great cause, our coffee morning turned into a lovely social occasion.

Opening the conference of the League of Catholic Women in Southport

First thing Saturday morning I was at the Southport Convention Centre to open the Catholic Women's League Conference.
Southport is clearly a favoured venue for faith groups to hold their conferences. I have already opened a gathering of the Salvation Army and the General Assembly of the United Reform Church

I learned all about the Leagues activities including the Presidents project to support Women's refuges and fund-raising for Water Aid

Merseyside Independent Business Awards

Thursday saw me at the Merseyside Independent Business Awards at the Titanic Hotel in Liverpool.

Award ceremonies can be a tad self congratulatory but I thought this event served a very important purpose and was well done. The event was hosted by the Philips Family (Father and daughter) and the entertainment came from Danielle Louise Thomas -whose former school I visited on Saturday where they were singing her praises, but more of that later.....

Independent businesses employ a very large proportion of the workforce. The days are long gone when large corporate employers dominate. For our economy to thrive we need successful independent employers with an entrepreneurial outlook. Showcasing these enterprises is important. I venture to suggest that what we also need some of for them to develop into medium and large enterprises. We do lack that sector of the economy which is so successful our European partners especially Germany where it  what is known as the “Mittelstand”.

You can read of full list of the winners on the Moorcroft Solicitors website who sponsored the evening. Carole Brennan, a partner from their Crosby Office, was an extremely attentive host and it was a pleasure to meet so many of the nominated companies.