Holocaust Memorial Day

Holocaust Memorial Day is the international day of remembrance for the victims of the Holocaust and of other genocides. The theme of this year’s HMD is “Legacy of hope”.

The day is marked on 27 January each year (the same date the Auschwitz concentration camp was liberated in 1944). It aims to make sure that the crimes committed during the Holocaust and in more recent genocides, are not forgotten or repeated.

Salford City Council is involved in marking this day with an event the following night to help future generations learn the lessons of the Holocaust:

The Legacy of Hope event:

Thursday 28 January 2010
7.30pm- 8.45pm

Buile Hill Banqueting Suite
Buile Hill Park
Eccles Old Road
Salford M6 8GL

All Salford residents are invited to attend the event which will feature speeches from the daughter of a Holocaust survivor, a Czech Roma woman and a refugee from the Embrace Project, performances by Salford schoolchildren and an act of commemoration to remember those lost. The event is open to everyone and free parking is available.

Find out more about the Holocaust and other genocides from the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust. You can also light the HMD virtual candle and become part of the Legacy of Hope.

Volunteer mentors required

The Salford Foundation Changing Direction Mentoring Project is looking for volunteer mentors to assist Salford individuals who have offended or are at risk of doing so.

What is mentoring?

Mentoring is a one to one relationship that supports and encourages another person to make positive progress and changes to their lives, by assisting with one or more of the following issues: substance misuse, family/relationship, debt, housing, confidence building and motivation, employment, training or education.

Could you be a volunteer mentor?

Mentors must be non-judgemental, understanding, discreet, mature, self motivated and have excellent listening skills.

You should be able to give at least one hour per fortnight of your time.

In return we offer accredited training, expenses, ongoing supervision and the opportunity to do something really worthwhile.

For further details or an application pack, please contact:

• Kat Armstrong on 787 8686 or 07957 259766
• or email kat.armstrong@salfordfoundation.org.uk

Residents are being warned about a council tax scam that is targeting people in Salford.

The city council is urging residents not to give their personal details or bank details over the phone after reports of hoax phone calls.

Fraudsters posing as officers from the government or the city council’s tax department are contacting residents to tell them their council tax band has changed.

The caller is then asking for bank account details to process the refund.

Similar scams are understood to have been operating across the region and other parts of the country.

Councillor Bill Hinds, Salford City Council’s lead member for customer and support services said: “This is a scam and we’re asking residents to be on their guard.

“The calls are not being made by our council tax team and I’d like to remind residents not to give their personal information or bank details to anyone over the phone unless they are certain who the caller is.

“We will be asking for support from the police to look into the matter and anyone who thinks they may have had a hoax call, or who would like to talk to someone for more information, should call us on 0161 909 6502.”

Residents who think they may have given their bank account details to a hoax caller should contact their bank for advice.

Pendleton Roundabout Subway Improvements
As part of 2009/2010 Block 3
Transport Capital Programme
we where asked to undertake a
scheme to improve the quality of the
subways at Pendleton, this would be
part of an ongoing programme to
improve all the subways in the City.

It was hoped that we could
refurbish the subways to a standard
that would make the experience
of using the subways relaxed and
enjoyable rather than daunting as
they can sometimes be.

Unfortunately we have the
constraints of working within the
boundaries of the existing 1970’s

designed concrete box

structure and that all products to
be used need to hard wearing and
durable to vandals.

Our proposals to improve the
subways are as follows :

•
Replace all the existing lighting to
make the subways very bright

•
Use coloured LCD lights within
the subways to throw a wash of
light down the walls or ceiling.

•
On the retaining walls between
the subways and down the
approach ramps are also going
to have a coloured LCD lighting
washing light over them to soften
the concrete.

•
Remove the existing, very dated,
tiles and replace with new tiles in
vibrant, contemporary colours

•
Improve the drainage system to
remove the risk of flooding (This
has been an ongoing problem).
This work has already been
implemented.

•
Replace all the paved surfacing
with a colour bitmac.

•
Carry out landscaping works on
the approaches.

•
The steps are to have new
nosings and handrail.

•
The concrete retaining walls
between the subways and on the

ramps are to be power washed

to remove all the dirt, grime and

graffiti.

•
Step up the sweeping and graffiti
removal from the subways

The first phase of the programme
will see the three subways at
Pendleton Roundabout refurbished.
It is estimated the cost of this work

would be between £175k and £200k
including all fees.

It is hoped that the scheme be on
site before April 2010 and that it
would be closely followed by phase
2 of the programme.

It is hoped that the improvements to
the subways would greatly benefit
the users making the experience
much more pleasant and safer.

For more information contact Ross
Spanner, Neighbourhood Manager
on 0161 603 4090.

Local P A C T Meeting

What is PACT …….. Partners and    

           Communities Together

 LARKHILL Primary School. Liverpool Street    6pm – 7pm

4^TH Thursday in every month

28th January  2010

25th February 2010

25th March 2010

22nd April 2010

27th May 2010

24th June 2010

Your chance to say what happens on your street and in your neighbourhood. You the local

 Community set the priorities for the pact team. Voice your concerns. Seek help and advice. Together we can all make a difference.

All residents are welcome.  Please come along to meet your

 P A C T    Team

Councillor John Warmisham

Councillor Gena Loveday

Neighbourhood Policing team

PC Matt Galbraith and PCSO Janet Newman

Salix Homes Housing Officer Paul Wilson

Salix Homes Cleaner / Greener officer Nigel Rayner

Lark Hill School Head Teacher Liam Fry

Your PACT team can link in with all services on your behalf – Highways, Environmental services. Children’s services, youth services. Etc.

Every resident who attends the PACT meeting will have the option to be kept up to date with the progress of issues raised and be included in the distribution list of the meetings minuets.

We need foster carers for different types of fostering to look after children of all ages. We especially need carers who can look after more than one child to keep siblings together.

You’ll need to be mature, energetic and have a sense of fun. Most of all, you’ll need to be committed to providing care and support to children within a loving family home.

We’ll provide you with all the training and support you need, as well as allowances of £166 – £614 per child, per week.

For further information, contact the family placement team on 0161 799 1268 or visit our fostering pages on the website.

Premiership football star and BBC sports personality for 2009, Ryan Giggs, has been honoured with the freedom of his adopted home city of Salford.

The Wales international and Manchester United winger, from Worsley, joins Nelson Mandela, LS Lowry and David Lloyd George as a previous recipient of the city’s highest honour.

The award was presented to Ryan by the Mayor of Salford, Cllr Roger Lightup, at a civic ceremony at The Lowry, Salford Quays.

Ryan said: “To be given the freedom of Salford, my adopted city, has to rank amongst the greatest honours I have ever received.

“I feel hugely proud and privileged to be recognised in this way and would like to place on record my gratitude to the city fathers for bestowing on me this wonderful tribute.

“I am a proud Welshman and native of Cardiff, but I have for many years looked on Salford as home and to be given this honour means the world to me.

“I’m not sure what the benefits a freeman of the city are, but I do know that it is an accolade I shall always cherish!”

Nominating him, Salford City Council’s lead member of children’s services, Cllr John Warmisham, said: “It’s with great pleasure that I move Ryan Giggs to be awarded the honour of the freedom of the city of Salford.

“Many people only know Ryan Giggs the footballer, but there is so much more to the man than that.

“Ryan adopted Salford as his home city and has become a great ambassador for the city. He also goes quietly about doing charitable work in the city with youth clubs and hospitals and in 2006 he became a UK ambassador for UNICEF.

“He is an ideal role model for young people, a unique sportsman and someone with an awareness of his own good fortune and a desire to use it to help others.”

The nomination was seconded by Cllr Derek Antrobus.

He said: “Ryan was brought up in Salford and he has been part of the local community in Swinton all of his life.

“He attended local schools and played for the local youth team, Deans FC and captained Salford Schoolboys.

“It is the contribution to the local community that makes Ryan Giggs a suitable candidate for the honour of freedom of the city.

“He is an inspiration to local people and his national and international achievements have lifted the aspirations of young people in Salford. He is a role model not simply in terms of being a high achiever but also in behaviour.”

Mayor of Salford Cllr Roger Lightup added: “Ryan is not only a world class footballer but a Salford resident and I’m delighted we’re able to honour someone of his stature who is proud of their home town.

“Freedom of the city recognises people who have made an exceptional contribution to our community and Ryan has devoted a tremendous amount of his time to work with charities and children over a number of years.”

Today’s freemen gain no real privileges but they do receive a scroll to mark their status and the pride the city has in them.

The medieval term ‘freeman’ meant someone who was not the property of a feudal lord, but enjoyed privileges such as the right to earn money and own land.

Town dwellers who were protected by the charter of their town or city were often free – hence the term ‘freedom of the city’.

A number of ancient privileges are usually associated with the Freedom – although they are more a product of collective memory than of documented evidence.

For example, freemen of the city of London have a right to herd sheep over London Bridge, to go about the city with a drawn sword, and if convicted of a capital offence, to be hung with a silken rope.

Other advantages are said to have included the right to avoid being press-ganged, to be married in St Paul’s Cathedral, buried in the city or to be drunk and disorderly without fear of arrest.

Thanks to the Salford Advertiser.

CHILDREN in Salford are being made to brush their teeth at school in a bid to tackle high levels of tooth decay.

Health bosses will spend 8,000 this financial year supplying toothpaste and brushes to children aged four in reception classes throughout the city.

In 2010/11, another £15,000 is earmarked for an awareness campaign. Each child is given a brush and they clean their teeth after lunch every day, supervised by teachers.

The scheme is being run in 52 reception classes and nurseries and is the only one of its kind in Greater Manchester.

There are striking differences in the state of children’s teeth in different parts of the city. More than half of all children in Salford have had decay by the age of five.

The measure used is the number of decayed, missing or filled teeth (dmtf). The average for the city is 2.5 dmtf, but it is as high as four in Little Hulton. Yet in Worsley and Boothstown it ranges from nothing to 1.5. The figures are from 2005/06, the most up to date available. Dr Brian Hope, medical director for NHS Salford, said: “This investment represents the latest move by NHS Salford to try to improve oral health. Earlier this year we announced 6,000 extra NHS dental spaces in response to people’s concerns and we hope parents will take this opportunity to further encourage their young children to regularly brush their teeth.

“Salford has poor levels of oral health across all age ranges. The main cause is excessive consumption of sugar in food and drink.”

Coun John Warmis-ham said: “It is the responsibility of parents to make sure children brush their teeth, but we believe getting children to do it at school will instill the habit and lead to better oral health.

“The idea, like the five a day drive with fruit and vegetables, is to catch them young.”

Professor Damien Walmsley, from the British Dental Association, said: “There has been a significant improvement in the nation’s overall health over the last 30 years, but we will still see a huge disparity related to social deprivation. It is unacceptable in 2009, such a wide gap should exist.”

Salford NHS and the council have set a target to reduce the prevalence of tooth decay in children under five from 53 per cent in 2005/06 to 47pc in 2010/11.

Other schemes being introduce are the supply of fluoridated milk to children and oral health teaching resource boxes for nurseries.

Drop-in sessions are also being staged at playgroups and baby clinics.