Help the Hospice

from Local Life - Wigan - April 2021

Here’s 5 ways you can raise money for Wigan and Leigh Hospice this year.

Come dine with me competition

Everyone has seen the TV programme, so why not invite a group of friends to set themselves against each other. Get 4 groups of 4 to compete, with everyone putting in £25. The winner from each group of 4 then plays in a final, the winner receives a cash prize, and the rest goes to the hospice. Set up now for a date later in the year to comply with COVID safe regulations.

Car Boot Sale

If you can gather enough sellable items from your loft or the children’s rooms, you can raise a decent amount by taking it to the local car boot. Instant cash for the hospice and you get to de-clutter.

Promise Auction

Ask friends, family and your local community to write down a promise of what they could do for someone else, from a years’ worth of garden maintenance and car valeting to walking your dog and the promise of time in a holiday home. Auction off the promises to the highest bidder and donate the money to the hospice.

Foreign Coin Exchange

With foreign holidays off the agenda for the time being, seize the moment and let all your friends and family know that you will be collecting foreign coins to give the money to charity. Foreign currency can be exchanged back into pounds to add to your fundraising and the feeling of helping the hospice will be better than any exchange rate available.

Hold a Scavenger Hunt

This one is great at Easter or Christmas time and to get the kids and their school involved. Charge for entry and hide some themed, edible treats and give each team some clues to try and find them. The fastest team to gather the most items wins and gets to eat what they have found.

And for those who want to help but don’t want the faff of organising events – here are 3 suggestions on how you can help the hospice.

Play the lottery

Sign up via the hospice website www.wlh.org.uk for just £4.34 per month. There are 30 prizes to be won every week including a top prize of £1,000

Donate

Commit to making a regular donation by joining the ‘Daisy Chain’. Sign up at www.wlh.org.uk

Small Change

Every little helps and all adds up. Get a copper box for your loose change and send it back once it is full!

Wigan and Leigh Hospice, Kildare Street, Hindley, WN2 3HZ 01942 525566

Book to Dip Into

Sometimes we just can’t face a whole novel or autobiography. With these books, you can dip in and out whenever you have a spare five minutes.

Dear NHS: 100 Stories to Say Thank You

Adam Kay Adam Kay brings us a series of essays and musings from a range of household names, from Malala Yousafzai to Dame Julie Walters and Johnny Vegas. Each tale is about how the NHS has stepped in to help the writer. There’s a story of a suspected heart attack that turned out to be trapped wind, several about household accidents (often involving kitchen knives) and plenty of sentimental stories to boot. Plus, all profits go to charity.

Encounters: A Photographic Journey

Levison Wood Award-winning reportage photographer Levison Wood has travelled to more than 100 countries. Encounters brings together 140 of his images, along with text about each one. You’ll meet a young shepherd girl in Ethiopia, resourceful teenagers in the Congo, stranded nomads, fishermen in Yemen and families in war-torn regions.

Sapiens: A Graphic Novel

Yuval Noah Harari et al. The original Sapiens is fascinating, but there’s an awful lot of information to take in. If you’re interested in the origin of humans, but want something a little easier to digest, try this instead. It’s the first volume in a graphicnovel adaptation of the global bestseller. Full-colour illustrations and straightforward text take the reader on a journey from the very birth of humankind. It’s absorbing, suitable for older children as well as adults and has a good spattering of humour throughout.

Toksvig’s Almanac 2021

Sandi Toksvig Fancy ‘An Eclectic Meander Through the Historical Year’? The main focus is on women that have been all but forgotten. There’s Begum Samru – an Indian dancer who led an army of mercenaries, Ida B. Wells – an activist and suffragist who co-founded the largest civil rights organisation in the United States, and Annette Kellerman, whose stunts including diving from 60 feet into a pool of crocodiles. There are also poems, trivia and other fascinating snippets.

Back to Nature: How to Love Life and Save It

Chris Packham and Megan McCubbin Whether you’re an avid nature lover and wondering how to stop the catastrophic decline in biodiversity, or you’re feeling disconnected from the wild and want to reap the benefits of it once again, this is a great book to help you. There are lots of interesting titbits to digest over a coffee (ever wondered how trees communicate?) and plenty of ideas for how to take action.

The Repair Shop: Tales from the Workshop of Dreams

If you love the TV series about expert craftspeople restoring much loved family heirlooms, you won’t want to miss the accompanying book. It goes into more detail about some of the most interesting items shown in the series, from a rusty miner’s helmet to a circus performer’s dress. It’s the book version of a mug of tea and hot buttered crumpet.

Zero Waste Shop Opens

Shops that minimise the environmental impact of our consumer habits are springing up across the UK, and the latest one has opened in Parbold. The idea behind zero waste shops is that shoppers buy just what you need, making it easy for you to stock and re-stock your everyday household items without wasteful packaging. A Greener Weigh is now open and is using a multi-purpose space within The Wayfarer. The family who owns the restaurant, which is based on Alder Lane in the village, hopes that the new refill shop will inspire and enable the local community to be more sustainable. Rachel Birkett from the Wayfarer said “We want to make it easy for customers to stock and re-stock everyday household items without wasteful packaging. Making small changes to our shopping habits can make a big difference.“ Rachel’s sister Katie Street added, “A couple of years ago we had the idea to open a zero-waste shop but the timing didn’t feel right, but lockdown has given us the opportunity to do it and the feedback we’ve had is incredible. A Greener Weigh is the shop our community has been waiting for”. Those Wayfarer customers eager to sample the food and drink again need not worry. The new shop is not replacing the restaurant but will be located in the conservatory, and this space will switch between shop and restaurant seamlessly. The opening times are Wednesday – Saturday from 10am until 4pm.For more details please visit the shop’s website www.agreenerweigh.co.uk.

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Members Appeal

A popular community group is looking for members to join them. The Upholland & District u3a enters its 16th year in 2021 and now has an impressive 770 members. When the pandemic hit in early 2020, the group had over 50 different interest groups meeting on a regular basis. Groups facilitated the learning of skills and knowledge in addition to taking every opportunity to socialise with other members.

The organisation went from being a busy, enthusiastic, and active group of people, to all having to stay at home and embrace technology to stay in touch with other members. Now the restrictions are easing, the group is preparing for the time when members can meet up and continue to enjoy all the usual activities. If you are no longer in full time employment and want more information about joining the Upholland u3a or the activities they offer, then please contact Barb Beesley on 01744 603304 or email bbeesleyu3a@gmail.com. You can contact other local u3a groups here; Wigan (01942 324430), Parbold & Newburgh (01772 300407) and Ashton-in-Makerfield (ashtoninmakerfieldu3a@ outlook.com).

Beautifully furnished Stone Cottage

Holiday Let

– sleeps up to 4 Situated near Sedbergh, in the Yorkshire Dales, and also within easy reach of the Lake District Children & pets welcome

Call 01942 216 058 Houses Plan

Plans have been submitted to Wigan Council to transform the former site of Abraham Guest High School on Orrell Road into a housing development consisting of 61 homes. The proposed Morris Homes development consists of 27 four bedroomed houses, 19 three bedroomed houses and 15 two bedroomed houses, along with 163 parking spaces. Proposed road access to the development would be via Orrell Road, and there would also be pedestrian/ cycle access via Redwood Park/Bankes Avenue. The school was relocated to Greenhey in 2010 and the site has remained derelict since then. Back in 2015, planning permission was granted to develop the site into an elderly care facility consisting of 101 apartments and 30 bungalows, but this scheme fell through. Further details can be found on www.wigan.gov.uk, using the planning application reference A/20/90543/ MAJOR. The final date for neighbourhood consultations is 20/3/21.

Earn extracash!

Local Life require distributors for the following areas; Newburgh

Ash Brow, Course Lane, Sandy Lane & Cobbs Brow Lane areas 369 copies £26.76 + leaflet pay

Ashton-in-Makerfield

Alexandra Rd & Edward Drive areas 335 copies £24.29 + leaflet pay

Interested?

Please email your name, address, contact number and date of birth to sallyb@locallife247.co.uk

Chiming In!

By Nicola Gray

The distinctive sound of church bells ringing is deeply rooted in our culture, the peal of a church bell is the soundtrack to many of our lasting memories; they add joy to our celebrations and empathise with our grief. The melodies we hear from bells today is called ‘change ringing’. During the sixteenth century church bells began to be hung with a full wheel, enabling the bell to swing in a full circle and back again. This gave ringers much more control of their bell, which allowed sets of bells to be rung in a continuously changing pattern. The music is created by moving bells up and down the ringing order in a sequence known as a method. There are believed to be around 40,000 bellringers in the UK, and Wigan has several dedicated groups across the borough. They fall under the Wigan branch of the Lancashire Association of Change Ringers and they are always on the lookout for new members. Chris Barr, the assistant Ringing Master for the Wigan

Peal Band - Parbold branch told Local Life, “Ringing is great fun and really is an activity that anybody of any age can start to learn. I got into ringing because it was something that my Mum started up when we moved to Standish in 1994. I started learning Sophie Barr - Learner - 8 Years Old towards the end of primary school and I’ve been involved in one way or another ever since.” Chris currently holds the post of Ringing Master for two towers in the branch; Standish, St Wilfrid’s & Coppull, St Johns, as well as being the Assistant Ringing Master for the whole branch which takes in towers including Hindley and Newton-le-Willows all the way to Rainford and Southport. Chris added, “At the moment we aren’t meeting to ring, but once COVID restrictions are lifted we’d love to hear from new ringers. So, if anyone wants to have a go at ringing, or would even just like to have a look at what’s going on, then they’re welcome to contact me. We have a number of people across the area who have been on training courses and would love to teach people how to ring.”