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5 Fundraising event after the loss of
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LL LIFE Son remembers his mother with moving tribute to help others
BEN ROBERTS HASLAM talks to Andrew Dulgarn about how he is honouring his mother by raising money for disadvantaged women
Women in Liverpool are set to have more educational opportunities available to them following a fundraising campaign in memory of an inspirational teacher who lost her life to Covid-19.
The campaign was started after devoted teacher and volunteer, Gill Dulgarn, 55, from Prescot, died last month. Her son, Andrew Hare, wanted to continue her legacy and raise money for Blackburne House in Liverpool where she was a team leader.
Gill’s death was very sudden and she had been “laughing and joking” with nursing staff the night before.
Andrew said: “They had given her an oxygen monitor at home, she’d been monitoring her oxygen levels and that was the tip that forced her into hospital because her oxygen levels weren’t getting any better.
“All the nurses couldn’t believe it. They’d said she was chatting away with them, maybe 11pm the night before, and then passed away at 1pm the following afternoon.”
While at Blackburne House, working to educate and empower women who have come from difficult backgrounds, Gill changed people’s lives and enabled them to go into the world with the skills they needed.
Andrew, now a teacher himself, said: “We have had a number of messages, from people who I’ve never heard of, saying how much of a difference my mum had to their lives and the impact the courses she designed and put on really helped them.
“People who had nothing, no work, things like that, who gained the skills, and not just the skills, but the confidence and the belief to go out there and make something of themselves.”
Andrew is now raising money in his mum’s name on gofundme. com. He is looking to support Blackburne House to create a lasting legacy of Gill with an award in her name. Aclassroom will be named after her and a picture of the former teacher will be put up in the building.
Andrew, who has also lost two grandparents to Covid-19,By said: “Lots of what she did was about empowerment and self-belief and about making something of yourself. That’s why we’re doing this fundraising in her memory to kind of help her live on through what she did. Hopefully with this money we can make a difference to quite a few women’s lives in Liverpool.”
The money raised will go towards helping disadvantaged women from Liverpool go on courses and have an education they would have otherwise missed out on.
The heartfelt tributes to Gill on the fundraising page show the dedication she gave to her job and how much she was appreciated.
A former colleague said: “Such a sad loss of life for someone I had the pleasure of working with and remember fondly. Gill was so loyal and giving to the pupils and families in Knowsley Hey School and obviously went on to share her talents and love with many others during her short life. May she rest in peace.”
Another wrote: “You were my friend, colleague and the Oracle of Blackburne House. What you didn’t know wasn’t worth knowing. I will miss your smiling face every day.
Gill spent a lot of her time attending and volunteering for Trinity Church in Page Moss.
Andrew said: “She worked as a church warden and volunteered at children’s summer camps, leading and organising them, taking children from less privileged backgrounds away for a week to give them new experiences and see new things.
“That was something that she was really passionate about, the youth work side of things, trying to empower people and change their lives for the better.”
’5
Call for more affordable homes to tackle crisis
By KIERAN CARSON
Wirral Council’s housing committee has approved the purchasing of six new council homes in the Rock Ferry area. While this may seem like good news, when hearing that the Wirral housing list contains over 11,000 people, this barely seems like news at all.
The idea of providing new council housing is something that is supported across all parties on the Wirral. So what are the obstacles in the way of fixing this issue?
A Wirral councillor has expressed his frustration at the lack of council homes in the borough.
“The fundamental difficulty the council has is the Right to Buy legislation.” said Allan Brame, a Liberal Democrat Councillor for the Oxton Ward
The Right to Buy scheme is a UK policy introduced in 1980 which gives secure tenants of councils and some housing associations the legal right to buy, at a large discount, the council house they are living in. This saw the number of council homes in the UK fall from 6.5 million in 1979 to roughly 2 million in 2017.
“If a council owns more than 199 council houses it has to open a housing revenue account. The problem is if it builds new homes, then tenants will have the right to purchase those homes in due course. So the anxiety for councils is that we invest in new homes for social housing and they’re lost to tenants purchasing.”
Finance is another issue which concerns Councillor Brame.
“We need to have access to a considerable amount of funding if we’re going to build on a wider scale, that would be available immediately,” he explained. “We certainly have some funds already available, because when we give planning permission to developers, they have an obligation to provide an element of affordable housing or pay Section 106 money, which helped us purchase these six houses.”
There have been 687 “affordable” homes delivered in the last five years, a number he understands is far from the amount needed.
“There’s huge demand for housing which we simply cannot meet, it’s one of the fundamental social problems on the Wirral and nationwide.”
He added: “I’m not sure what the way forward is really and I do think we need some modification to the legislation so when tenants move into properties are unable to purchase them for a period so they would remain in the social market for an initial period and so they could be passed on to further tenants.”
There are 4955 vacant homes on the Wirral, ranking it in the top ten for length of time that vacant dwellings remain empty on a national level.
“There’s a lot of work going on with vacant properties now to try and get them back in to public use,” said Wirral Councillor Julie McManus “It could be that landlords need help retro-fitting them. We all want more sustainable homes, warm homes, I live in a nice warm home most of the time so why shouldn’t everybody else?”
Councillor McManus represents the Bidston and St James Ward, the 8th most deprived in the country.
“Every day I will get people coming in to see me, asking for help for a move or a managed move. The government need to do something about the Right to Buy.”
The 60-year-old echoes the sentiment of her Councillor Brame in regard to the Right to Buy legislation.
“I’m not saying they should stop the right to buy but they should be working with councils to help the council carry on building but not have that risk that leaves them in debt.”
Councillor McManus emphasised the strain this can have on council finances, with the Right to Buy legislation allowing tenants to purchase the homes for significantly cheaper than the council originally paid for them.
“If you look at a lot of the larger housing estates, people have bought their properties at largely reduced values and a lot of people have bought them and then move on and become landlords. A lot of these homes are bought and then rented out privately and this reduces the housing stock.”
LIFE Shining a light on the unsung heroes leading black businesses
BETH GAVAGHAN on a new campaign to help businesses and why change is needed now
Black business owners are calling for change and the creation of more opportunities for people from minority ethnic groups.
Since the world started standing up to racism in the summer of 2020, following the death of George Floyd and the rise of the Black Lives Matter campaign, there has been a push to shout even louder when it comes to promoting the successes of BAME individuals in the professional world.
Conversations are now taking place with regards to how the media represent individuals from different backgrounds and a new media campaign is also aiming to make a difference.
Reach PLC, the largest UK news publisher and publisher of the Liverpool Echo, has launched an initiative to reflect and promote the work black business owners do around the country across their networks using the hashtag #IAMBOB to celebrate black-owned businesses.
Business owners were encouraged to share their stories and businesses on twitter, where Reach Plc then promoted their work by sharing them across social media.
Lynda Moyo, Head of ‘What’s On’ and ‘Emerging Content’ at Reach helped set up the campaign and is proud of the outcome so far.
She said: “There’s a lot of work the media needs to do in terms of the representation of ethnic minorities, and we’re a massive part of that.
“Specifically with black communities I felt that we needed to do something that was tangible… so I had this idea of looking at black-owned businesses because the two things kind of tied together - the effects of the pandemic on businesses and then Black Lives Matter.”
She added: “The nicest thing about it was that it shone a light on unsung heroes or really inspirational talent that you might never have come across.”
Ms Moyo also discussed the impact which the media have, and said they have a long way to go in terms of reaching a point of equality.
“Unfortunately in society, a mirror reflection of yourself is what you’re drawn to. So I don’t think it’s like journalists are specifically going to certain minorities to do stories. I think it’s just that they’ve always done what they’re used to. And we can be better, we need to be better at that. And so this is a large part.”
Lynda Moyo, Head of Whats On at Reach PLC
The founder of Liverpool-based Ametrine Enterprise Solutions IreneAfful works to promote inclusion and diversity within organisations after being the first black, female inspector at Merseyside Police, and said Reach’s initiative was an effective stepping-stone to promote equality.
She said: “I think it really is a great start to be pushing these businesses out there far and wide.”
She also noted the importance of inspiring young black people to enter business as a career, and that there needs to be more representation of success stories on a large scale.
She said: “We know how powerful role-models can be, and seeing someone that looks like you being successful in business or running a successful business gives you that belief that you can actually do it as well… so it’s really important to have that model showcased and link the role-models and businesses to the younger generation.”
MsAfful also described the current state of the black economy in Liverpool as being “woeful”, with opportunities for black people being scarce.
She said: “I go to these business networks with senior leaders from all organisations across the city and, invariably, I’m either the only black
woman in the room or there’s a handful. “The climate hasn’t changed really, the makeup hasn’t changed. So for me there needs to be a massive drive to try and change this.” Vanessa Boatengukoro, the General Secretary and Trustee of the Liverpool Commonwealth launched a skincare range which was involved in the #IAMBOB campaign last November. She said that the Reach campaign was ‘eye-opening’ for people, and also said it helped to showcase blackowned businesses in different parts of the UK. She said: “It’s shining a light on an area which has been ignored for a very long time and with the events from the Black Lives Matter (campaign), it’s highlighting the fact that we see black people in various professions like the NHS and teaching but you also have black people who are running their own businesses.” ‘We needed to do something that was tangible‘
Cranes will help city prosper
Liverpool Opinion
By ALEX TAYLOR
New ship to shore cranes have now been delivered and installed as part of the Peel Ports £400m investment into Liverpool’s, brand new, Liverpool2 Deepwater port.
The cranes have made their long journey across the sea from Shanghai and have travelled a massive 11,000 miles, to be installed in Liverpool.
This is part of Peer Ports’ third phase of development, involving the installation of three more ship to shore cranes and 10 cantilever rail mounted gantry cranes (CRMG) from Chinese manufacturer Zhenhua Heavy Industries Co.
Over the past three years the Peel Ports group has been constructing an expansion to the UK’s largest transatlantic port which will see it become one of the most advanced ports in Europe.
This a major step for Liverpool economically. The new free trade zone port announced by the government in the Budget earlier this month will mean that the port in the Liverpool City region will contribute £850m GVA - a measure of the increase in the value of the economy - and could create around 14,000 jobs.
It will also lead solutions to meet the local Net Zero Carbon emissions by 2040.
David Huck, Managing Director of Peel Ports, has said: “While we are only one of the partners in this public and private sector joint initiative, the Port of Liverpool is clearly the largest global gateway to the new regional freeport.
“How we see our role is helping with wider city region to achieve the greatest possible benefit from its freeport status.”
International trade will now be drawn to Liverpool as it slowly becomes one of the main hubs for trade in the UK. Its position in the Atlantic means it will become one of the main stopping points for trade with the Americas.
Exports to the US were measured to be worth £99.5bn, with the US being the largest importer of UK goods. With the new advanced ports, Liverpool may be able to deal with a lot more of the goods sent to America and more businesses may be drawn to Liverpool for its easy access to the trade routes.
The UK imports its second highest amount of goods from America too, worth around £66bn per year.
The new port will now be able to accommodate the largest shipping vessels in the world offering global shippers a new ‘ship-to-door’ access to major import centres at the heart of the UK.
In addition, Liverpool2 will offer exporters in the north a more competitive route to international markets.
Peel Ports’ initiative, Cargo200, is allowing companies to cut road and rail miles from freight logistics leading to reduced carbon emissions, congestions and costs in their supply chains, which should increase profits of these businesses.
Liverpool” plans to lure business from the South to the North, by providing them with easily accessible trade routes on their doorstep. By having this port on their doorstep, it becomes easier to trade with other countries around the world.
This includes a huge range of trades from mechanics and engineers to operational technicians. The increase in jobs will create more wealth in the region for people who live in Liverpool.
The predicted influx of businesses will also create more jobs in the future for Liverpool, making it an asset to the growth of the region.
Is the trial of a psychedelic drug to treat depression a groundbreaking therapy or a bad trip? Report by ALEX USHER
Alocal documentary maker, who has made films about drug culture and recently had one of his projects commissioned by Channel 4, has welcomed the announcement of trials into a drug that could change how the UK treats depression.
Eddie Sarsfield’s latest documentary ‘After Shooters’ focuses on the cast of the 2001 Liverpool cult documentary film ‘Shooters’, which has a heavy focus on drug use, murder, suicide and mental health issues. The film is currently in production and is due to be broadcast on Channel 4.
He is also working independently on a documentary exploring the underworld around DMT, a drug which is now being trialled for use in treating major depressive disorder.
The trails are being run by the UK-based pharmaceutical company Small Pharma, who have been given the green light to run the world’s first patient clinical trial using the psychoactive drug N,N-Dimethyltryptamine (DMT).
Many claim that DMT has helped them completely change their mindset and turned their life around completely, including Eddie Sarsfield.
He told Liverpool Life: “I was kind of tricked into it by a guy who was a regular user of it. He could see I was struggling from some emotional problems, if you like. I was having a bad time in my life.
“I’m not a regular taker, I have a fear of taking it again because it was such a revelation. It makes you take it quite seriously.
“In the long term (it is) a complete game changer and something I am constantly reflecting on, and if I’m totally honest I think the effects of it are still working now. It’s like getting your brain and wringing it out like a dirty dish cloth, getting all the s**t out of your brain and when you have that moment of clarity it’s like being born again.”
As with other drugs, there is an underworld surrounding DMT but the market differs from that of other drugs.
Eddie said: “It’s an underground thing, it’s super class A. You can get more time for it than you can for cocaine. These people don’t care, they’re not really doing it to make Documentary maker, Eddie Sarsfield
Molecular structure of N,N-Dimethyltryptamine (DMT)
money like most drug dealers do. It’s a very spiritual kind of drug. I’ve yet to see a bad guy mess around with it. It just doesn’t attract the negativity that other drugs do.”
While some people find the drug enlightening, others can find the sheer strength of the experience frightening and often overwhelming.
The drug can be very unpredictable and can be dangerous to those with a pre-disposition to mental illness, as it can potentially trigger an underlying issue the user did not know they had.
Scientists at Small Pharma are hoping to harness the effects of DMT to help those who face distressing emotions, while ultimately changing how mental health is treated within the UK.
Caroline Wray, Co-Founder & Managing Director at Small Pharma, said: “If this treatment is effective it will provide patients with an additional treatment choice, it may also profoundly change how patients are treated in that this type of approach should get to, and treat, the root cause of depression.
“Subjects do not tend to have any ‘bad reactions’ to DMT, and a challenging experience or bad trip, should not affect the therapeutic effect of the treatment.”
The drug will be used alongside sessions of talking therapy to help those who suffer from the mental illness to overcome their experiences.
Unlike other psychedelics, the user does not develop tolerance to the psychological effects of DMT, which is why it is being used instead of other psychedelic drugs such as LSD or psilocybin.
Eddie Sarsfield continued: “It seems the brain gets sicker than any other part of the body nowadays. This has shown me the baggage some people are carrying in life and how we see things as grey and dull. Every second thought is a negative one.
“Depression blocks all of the
What is DMT?
The naturally-produced Class A drug is used by many indigenous people in South America, primarily through a drink called ayahuasca, which leads many to believe the drug has spiritual values.
Some experts claim that DMT is produced by the pineal gland in the brain when we dream, while other experts claim it is released during birth and during death.
The psychedelic drug is often described as the ‘spirit molecule’ because of the intense hallucinations it gives the users.
A ‘trip’ is often described as an out-of-body experience with lots of bright colours and shapes.
avenues in your brain. It’s like you’re walled in; you cannot see any other option, you cannot see any of the doors, any way out. This will open all the doors for you. It gives you options in life; it helps your brain to think again and think actively and go towards being happy and just appreciate the smallest things.
“These trials (are) just going to bring it to the forefront, and I’m telling you now, it’s an absolute life changer for the world.”
