First family hub for Leicestershire opens

LEICESTERSHIRE’S first ever ‘Family Hub’ has officially opened.

The new ‘one-stop-shop’ where parents and carers can access support and advice is now up and running in Coalville.

It’s the first in a raft of family hubs for the county where families with children between 0 -19 (or 25 for young people with special educational needs or disabilities) can receive information on a range of issues.

Staff can give support and advice on a variety of topics including health, relationships, education, employment, finance and housing, as well as signposting to help from other local agencies and organisations.

Admission: £4 • Pre-booking is essential. Contact Mr Liddle on 0116 221 4508 or email peter.liddle51@gmail.com

Within the grounds is:

• the Motte of the former Groby Castle

• the shield of a De Quincy / Ferrers coat-of-arms in the brickwork of the Tower

• a surviving wall of part of the former grand medieval manorial complex

• a surviving wall presumed to have been a wall of the preReformation Chapel

• remains of a “ha-ha”

This site was the home of Sir John Grey of Groby, who died at the Second Battle of St Albans on 17 February 1461, and the property remained in the hands of the Grey family through to the time of Sir John’s great-great granddaughter

QUEEN JANE (LADY JANE GREY) (1537 - 1554) and beyond.

Sir John’s widow ELIZABETH

WOODVILLE (c. 1437 - 1492) became QUEEN CONSORT to Edward IV (brother of Richard III). Through this second marriage, Elizabeth Woodville was the mother of the ill-fated “Princes in the Tower”.

She was also the mother of Elizabeth of York who became QUEEN CONSORT to Henry VII (Henry Tudor), and therefore she was maternal grandmother to Elizabeth and Henry’s son Henry VIII.

Further, she is an ancestor of both Queen Jane (Lady Jane Grey) and Jane’s rival Queen Mary.

(By her first marriage Elizabeth Woodville was a great-great grandmother to Jane, and by her second marriage, she was a great grandmother to Mary).

The Coalville centre is one of more than 20 family hub locations that have been confirmed so far by Leicestershire County Council, with more areas being considered.

Loughborough’s Family Hub is set to open on June 1, followed by Melton and Hinckley later in the month and Market Harborough and Wigston Magna in August.

Leicestershire is one of 12 local authorities to secure a slice of a £12m pot of grant funding to transform the way services are delivered for families. As well as creating the physical hubs, there are plans in the county to carry out outreach work and create a new website containing helpful family information and advice.

This will mean that the hubs, whether in a building or accessed digitally, will be where information, advice and support will be found easily in one place.

The idea is that parents and carers can easily receive support right from conception, helping them to navigate parenting through the early years, right into adulthood.

The full network of physical hubs, which will make use of existing spaces such as Children and Family Wellbeing Centres and libraries, is expected to be fully open by spring 2024.

For more information on Family Hubs in Leicestershire, email familyhubs@leics.gov.uk

The Coalville hub is based in the North West Leicestershire Children and Family Wellbeing Centre in High Street.

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Jane Harwood-Scott DipFHP, MCFHP, MAFHP For

The number of working days lost to sickness skyrockets

DID YOU take time off work last year? Many of us did. In fact, according to recently released official figures, a record 185.6 million working days were lost, due to sickness or injury. That is even more than during the first year of lockdown. In fact, 2022 was the worst year for sick days since 1995, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). 138.2 million days were lost in 2019. The most common reasons we gave were minor illnesses, including coughs, colds, flu or tummy upsets. Respiratory conditions also overtook mental health as the fourth most common reason for absence in 2022.

Body Part Phrases Quiz

FROM the ten definitions below, can you come up with commonly used phrases that each feature one or more parts of the body?

1. Pretend not to notice (4, 1, 5, 3)

2. Achieve victory very easily (3, 5, 4)

3. A weakness in spite of overall strength (8, 4)

4. Behave as people in authority expect you to (3, 3, 4)

5. Old (4, 2, 3, 5)

6. Remain resolute in the face of adversity (4, 1, 5, 5, 3)

7. Not intended seriously (6, 2, 5)

8. Decide how to deal with a situation as it develops (4, 2, 2, 3)

9. An immediate and unthinking emotional response (4-4, 8)

10.Make your feelings apparent (4, 4, 5, 2, 4, 6)

ANSWERS ON PAGE 18

125 Years

• The world’s first advertisement for a motor car appeared in newspapers in the USA. The ad for the Winton Motor Carriage Company in Cleveland, Ohio invited readers to ‘Dispense with a horse’.

• Caleb Bradham’s carbonated soft drink ‘Brad’s Drink’ was renamed ‘Pepsi-Cola’. (The name was shortened to ‘Pepsi’ in 1961.)

100 Years

• The Hollywood Sign was officially dedicated in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. It was originally erected as a temporary advertisement for a housing development and read ‘Hollywoodland’.

• The Matrimonial Causes Act 1923 came into effect in the UK. For the first time, both men and women had the equal right to petition a court for divorce on the basis of their spouse’s adultery.

• The fi rst issue of the BBC’s radio and television listings magazine, Radio Times, was published.

60 Years

• The Great Train Robbery, Ledburn, Buckinghamshire. £2.6 million was stolen in one of the UK’s most infamous robberies. The bulk of the money was never recovered.

40 Years

• Soviet military officer Stanislav Petrov averted a full-scale nuclear war when he identified a computerised missile attack warning as a false alarm and chose to disregard it.

30 YEARS AGO (1993)

• In 1993 the UK saw one of its biggest recessions since World War II. In 1990 the average house price had reached £57,683. By 1993 it was averaging at £51,210 (c. £133,500 at today’s prices).

charts

• Chart-toppers in the music singles charts included ‘Pray’ by Take That and ‘Creep’ by Radiohead.

• Sir John Major was Prime Minister (Conservatives), staying in office until 1997.

25 Years

• The Apple iMac (G3) was released. It was noted for its distinctive egg-shaped, coloured, translucent plastic shell. It helped revitalise the company, which had been facing financial ruin.

• Google, the internet search company, was founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, both students at Stanford University, California, USA. The company was initially based in a friend’s garage in Menlo Park.

20 Years

A team from the BBC reported that the Loch Ness monster did not exist. They had combed every inch of the loch using 600 sonar beams guided by satellite navigation and found nothing. The search operation was covered in the documentary Searching For The Loch Ness Monster.

Glenfield Library Opening Hours

All The Answers

Crossword

Across: 1 Sciatica, 5 Mess, 9 Plaza, 10 Indie, 12 Theme, 13 Agra, 15 Feline, 18 Diadem, 20 Barb, 23 Spawn, 24 Rodeo, 27 Tiara, 28 Serf, 29 Cassette.

Down: 1 Sari, 2 Iced, 3 Taper, 4 Change, 6 Et cetera, 7 Shield, 8 Catkin, 11 Nag, 14 Radiator, 16 Haunts, 17 Discus, 19 Errata, 21 Rye, 22 Brass, 25 Duct, 26 Oboe.

Body Parts Quiz

1. Turn a blind EYE, 2. Win HANDS down, 3. Achilles’ HEEL, 4. TOE the line, 5. Long in the TOOTH, 6. Keep a stiff UPPER LIP, 7. TONGUE in CHEEK, 8. Play it by EAR, 9. KNEEjerk reaction, 10. Wear your HEART on your sleeve.

Spot The Difference

1. Bed wheel missing

2. Nurse hair different colour

3. Section of blanket different colour

4. Girl pigtail missing

5. Man pyjamas different colour

6. Edge of pillow missing

7. Thermometer missing

8. Weight on leg lift missing

9. Girl eyes looking at bag of sweets

10. Paperwork at foot of bed missing