Knowsley Online

Balloons to fill the sky on Rainey Day

Families across Knowsley are being invited to attend the third annual Rainey Day event at King George V Sport Complex in Huyton, on Sunday 28th June 2009.

Rainey Day is a family fun day, organised in memory of John Rainey – a Knowsley Council employee and a champion of the rights of disabled people.

The event is free to attend, and will run from 11am through to 4pm.

The activities will include music, dancing, the NorthernSign Choir, football coaching, wheelchair basketball and boccia – a fast paced wheelchair sport.

There will also be stalls representing local agencies to promote their services, especially those for disabled people.

These will include a Good Neighbours in Knowsley stall, where residents will be able to get free cups, tea-bags, and tea-towels, to encourage them to spend more time with their neighbours.

British Sign Language interpreters will be available on the day.

Leader of Knowsley Council, Cllr Ron Round, said: “It is right and fitting that the event carries the name of John Rainey. The contribution that John made to the rights and opportunities of disabled people in Knowsley was enormous.

“There will be something for all the family to enjoy, and I hope that as many people as possible will be able to attend the event.”

One of the highlights of the day will be the release of three hundred balloons, as part of a competition to see which one can travel the furthest. Last year’s balloon release was won by Paul Walsh from Roby, whose balloon travelled over 269 miles before it landed in West Bexington, Dorset.

A Knowsley primary school has scooped first place in a ‘speech choir’ competition

St Margaret Mary’s Catholic Junior School, Huyton, was also awarded a ‘gold’ award, when its speech choir took part in the Liverpool Performing Arts Festival at St George’s Hall.

The speech choir, in which the children recite literature and poetry, delivered an outstanding performance of ‘The Pied Piper of Hamelin’ by Robert Browning, during the annual festival which invites performers from all over the North West to display their talents in speech, music, drama and dance.

The award is just the latest in a series of achievements for the school’s speech choir, which is now in its thirteenth year. The choir has been awarded first place on several occasions at the Liverpool Performing Arts Festival, and regularly performs during the school’s Art Night and at Speech Choir Festivals organised by Liverpool and district catholic schools.

Kevin Mahoney, Head teacher at St Margaret Mary’s Catholic Junior School, said: “We are delighted to have been awarded first place once again and for the hard work and talent of our pupils to be recognised”.

“The school’s speech choir is a huge success and this year we have 29 pupils involved. The children demonstrate huge dedication and commitment to the choir; willingly giving up their free time to rehearse during lunchtime and they really deserve this acknowledgement of their efforts.”

Cllr Graham Wright, Cabinet Member for Children and Family Services said: “This is a remarkable achievement for the choir and it is pleasing to see the school encouraging children to get involved. The speech choir is a great way of introducing pupils to the exciting world of poetry, and it’s wonderful that their hard work has been rewarded.”

Crackdown on underage drinking in Knowsely

Knowsley Council’s Trading Standards Officers, working with Merseyside Police, are continuing the crackdown on underage drinking as part of its borough-wide ‘Get Real’ campaign.

A joint test purchasing initiative took place on Wednesday, 16 April in off licensed premises in Huyton and Prescot.

A 15 year old volunteer attempted to buy alcohol in five off-licences. In three premises, the sale of alcohol was refused.

Two sales took place and both sellers have been issued with £80 Fixed Penalty Notices for selling alcohol to a person under the age of 18 years. Both premises will be subject to a licence review and further legal action is being considered.

Trading Standards and Police in Knowsley regularly conduct alcohol test purchase exercises with the assistance of volunteer youngsters acting as the purchaser. Staff that sell to underage people are liable to an £80 on-the-spot fine. Licensees face prosecution and premises can have their licence to sell alcohol revoked.

Cllr Ken Keith, Knowsley’s Cabinet Member for Corporate & Customer Services commented “As part of our Get Real Campaign, Officers from our Environmental Health and Consumer Protection Team will continue to carry out test purchases across the borough throughout the coming months. We are very pleased that the majority of premises refused to sell alcohol to our under age volunteer, which demonstrates retailers understand the law and their responsibilities. Retailers are thanked for this and we will continue to work with our partners and retailers to ensure the sale of alcohol to under 18s is prevented.”

Licensing Sergeant, John Atkinson, added “We will continue to work in partnership with Trading Standards Officers to carry out joint underage test purchasing initiatives across the borough and take robust action against licensees who sell alcohol to under age persons. Breaches could ultimately lead to licensees losing their licence. Our message to licensees is simple – if in doubt, ask for proof of age

Knowsley benefits cheat given suspended jail term

A Knowsley woman who fraudulently claimed £33,509 in benefits has been given an eight months prison sentence and ordered to do 150 hours of unpaid community work.

Liverpool Crown Court heard that the sentence against June Byrne will be suspended for two years, during which time she must not re-offend or she will be taken back into custody.

Ms Byrne claimed Housing and Council Tax benefit and Income Support as a single person living at 10A Tiverton Close in Huyton.

But efforts by Knowsley’s Council Tax department to trace her ex partner revealed she was also the owner of a house at 22 Radway Road, Huyton.

Fifty six year old Ms Byrne had never declared this property to Knowsley Council and officers launched a joint investigation with the Department of Work and Pensions.

She was interviewed under caution on July 3, 2007 and admitted to failing to declare that she owned the house.

As the property was worth more than £16,000 she was not entitled to any of the benefits she had been claiming.

Cllr Norman Keats, Knowsley’s Cabinet Member for Finance & IT, said: “The result of this prosecution should send out a clear message that we in Knowsley will not put up with cheats.

“Every pound that is paid to a fraudster is a pound lost to the community for services that we can all benefit from.

“It is also important to remember that genuine claimants must always let us know if their circumstances change or they too could find themselves in court.”

Anyone with information about benefit fraud in Knowsley can call the Council’s Fraud Hotline on 0800 073 0532. If you need to inform Knowsley Council about a change of circumstances, please call 0151 443 4042 or call into your nearest One Stop Shop.

Family Fun Day in Huyton

Knowsley Council’s Aiming High for disabled children team has arranged a Family Fun Day on Saturday, 25 April 2009. The fun starts at 11.00 am until 2.00 pm at Christ the King Centre for Learning, Stockbridge Lane, in Huyton.

Free activities for all the family to enjoy will be available, including mask making, raiki, judo and lots more.

You can find out more about the work of the Aiming High team, including opportunities available for disabled children and young people and their families to enjoy short breaks, ranging from activities to overnight stays.

Come along for a day of fun and tell us what activities you would like to see for disabled children

Back To Netball

CALLING all Netball fans...

‘Back To’ Netball is a project that runs across the North West with twenty sessions running across the region and more than 700 women taking part.

Even if you have never played before or haven't played since you have left school then this is the ideal way to join in. Come along alone or even better bring a friend.

Knowsley Council Sports Development Team is hoping to establish a ‘Back To’ Netball session at Huyton Leisure Centre and ask that you register your interest with Paul Dillon Smith.

You don't need to wear anything special - just some trainers and jogging bottoms or shorts and a T shirt, whatever you are comfortable in.

If you would like to register or need any more information you can call organiser Paul, Dillon Smith on 0781 0054 112 or email him at paul.dillon-smith@knowsley.gov.uk

Cyber Coach inspires children to get fit and active

A Knowsley primary school has introduced the latest technology into their PE lessons, after securing lottery bid funding.

St Columba’s Catholic Primary School in Huyton is the first in the borough to pioneer their own Cyber Coach system, in which pupils are taught various dance and fitness routines via a large screen projection.

Professional coaches are pre-recorded whilst demonstrating their routine, which can then be projected onto a large screen for pupils to follow step-by-step.

The system, which was originally designed for use in leisure centres, offers a whole host of fitness sessions, including cheerleading, bollywood dancing and step-aerobics. The manufacturers of Cyber Coach are hoping to develop the system to offer curriculum lessons to schools.

Rónán Dunne, Headteacher at the school said “We are delighted to have been given the opportunity to launch this exciting new scheme. Both staff and pupils really enjoy using Cyber Coach which is also a great way of encouraging the children to get more active.

We would like to thank the lottery for supporting us with our bid and making this possible.”

Mr Dunne is also hoping to start a parent and child after-school club which will give parents the opportunity to join in Cyber Coach with their children.

Councillor Graham Wright, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services commented “The system is a fantastic use of the latest technology and is a great way of bringing fun and something different into the school’s curriculum. It is great to see one of our schools investing in this unique system and I am sure other schools will be inspired and also follow suit.”

Photo: Children in St Columba’s Catholic Primary School get fit and active using Cyber Coach

Launch of Bowring Junior Golf Academy at Bowring Park Golf Course- Roby Road Huyton Knowsley Sat 4th April 2009

Saturday 4th April at 12noon sees the launch of the Bowring Golf Club Junior Academy (Passport to Golf) which is open to any keen golfers aged 8-16years to come along and join with Danny Jones a PGA Golfer on hand to offer advice and support from 12noon to 2pm.

Bowring have created a Junior Club House, with work underway to create a nine hole putting area to fine tune your skills, and tee times specifically for Juniors will be arranged in the near future.

Our junior academy is supported by the Golf Foundation, and if you require any further details contact Jim or Robbie on 0151 443 3074 or E-mail jim.griffiths@knowsley.gov.uk

Malvern Primary School go 'Whoope' for Comic Relief

The children at Malvern Primary school, Willoughby Road, Huyton, L14 6XA have raised over £2500 in the last week for good causes!.

They raised £1982.23 for Barnardo’s by being sponsored to look after their own egg. Barnardos were delighted as this was a lot more than the average that is usually collected.

They also raised £503.77 for Comic Relief, and were asked by the BBC to go to the “Big Screen” in Clayton Square Liverpool, where they were filmed taking part in the Philharmonic Whoopee cushion orchestra.

They also played games on the big screen. This was broadcast on North West tonight and also on Comic Relief on Friday Night.

Celebrating world book day in Knowsley

Book lovers of all ages came together to mark World Book day in Knowsley.

The day was also a chance to look back on 12 months of exciting projects which took place across schools, libraries, community centres and workplaces during the National Year of Reading 2008.

Huyton Gallery hosted a celebration event for Knowsley Library Service’s Creative Writing competition, which was open to budding authors of all ages.

Entrants were faced with the tough challenge of putting together a short story exactly 50 words in length, which had to have a beginning, a middle and an end. This year’s judge was Sarah Maclennan, Creative Writing lecturer at Liverpool John Moores University, and Co-ordinator of the Dead Good Poets Society - an arts organisation that promotes live literature events in Merseyside.

Sarah said “It was an honour to be invited to judge this year’s Creative Writing competition. The high standard of work made it difficult to pick the overall winners. It’s great to see people from the community becoming involved and trying their hand at creative writing.”

St Columba’s Catholic Primary School on Hillside Road, Huyton, rolled out the red carpet for Chief Fire Officer Tony McGuirk and Chief Constable Bernard Hogan-Howe who came into school to read to the children.

Tony, McGuirk, Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service Chief Fire Officer, said:
“I’m delighted to have been invited into the school to meet the children and provide a reading. The Service has strong links in local communities and our firefighters work regularly in schools promoting fire safety and good behaviour.”

Chief Constable Bernard Hogan-Howe said: "It's a great opportunity for me to come here today and read to the children. The ability to read is a key to living a successful life. Without the ability to read, so much knowledge is unavailable. I hope anyone of any age who cannot read finds this day motivates them to start that journey of learning to read and enjoying books."

Meanwhile, a celebration event took place at Huyton Library, looking back over the events which took place during 2008, the National Year of Reading. Many of these were so successful that they will be continued into 2009 as part of the council’s Reading for Life commitment.

During 2008, the projects included:

• Mini libraries set up in all Children’s Centres, full of colourful, fun books that young children love to read. The libraries also stock books for parents, making it easier than ever for mums, dads and children to enjoy reading together.
• The Six Book Challenge – Inspiring new readers to read more books by committing to read six in a set timescale. This was such a success it will be running again this year, as will the Summer Reading Challenge which encouraged people to read books on holiday. 
• Around Knowsley in 80 Reads – Six poets visited 80 venues across the borough in one day, taking poetry recital to whoever they found in places as unusual and varied as Knowsley Safari Park, supermarkets, Jaguar car plant, dentists and bakeries! 
• Magical Tales – Knowsley Arts and Museum Service worked with 13 primary schools across the borough to look at the artwork that brings children’s books to life – and gave children the chance to try illustrating their favourite reads for themselves. 
• Bedtimes stories – Schools including St Columba’s held pyjama parties so children could share their favourite bedtime tales. 
• Books for health – A partnership between libraries and local health professionals to supply books on mental health issues for users of health centres and residential homes to borrow to help them better manage their health conditions.

Cllr Graham Wright, Cabinet Member for children and Family Services at Knowsley Council, said: “Reading is an essential skill for life, but it is also something that people of all ages can get so much enjoyment from.

“Our events as part of the National Year of Reading helped encourage people to read more and to improve their reading skills. It showed people that creative writing and poetry can be really enjoyable, and be inspired by even the most unusual of subjects.

“As a council we are committed to giving people more opportunities to reap the benefits of reading. We recently opened a new library in Halewood, and we have received funding for a Family Reading Matters co-ordinator, who will help many more families discover the joy of reading together.”

Tony, McGuirk, Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service Chief Fire Officerwith children from St Columba’s Primary School, Huyton