Source West Lancs District Council 17/12/04:

It is with great regret and sadness that we have to announce the sudden death of one of the North West's longest serving elected members, Cllr Robert Hodge.

Robert gave a lifetime of dedicated public service, serving on West Lancashire District Council, Lancashire County Council and also as a long-serving member of Tarleton Parish Council.

Robert was first elected to the District Council in 1973. He quickly rose through the ranks becoming leader of the Conservative Group and District Council, with a similar distinction as leader of the Conservative Group on Lancashire County Council.

Politically, Robert had many interests but his greatest passion was housing. One of his greatest achievements was the unparalleled range of sheltered housing accommodation provided for the elderly in West Lancashire, which was directly as a result of Robert's leadership. Robert's interest in this field was also inspired by his time spent in steering Skelmersdale through its early years when he was a senior member of the Skelmersdale Development Corporation Board.

Robert's record of public service also saw him serve many years as a Magistrate and as Chairman of the Chorley Bench. He was also a member of the old Health Authority.

His long service was recognised when he was elected Chairman of the Council. He was indeed "the father of the Council" and was often fondly thought of as "Mr West Lancashire".

While Robert's community achievements were many, he will be best remembered for his sheer humanity and friendship he displayed towards people. He was also a very committed Christian and he was a well-known preacher on the Methodist circuits.

Our thoughts are with his family and loved ones at this very sad time.

Cllr Geoff M. Roberts, Leader of the Council, said: "Robert's passing away is an immense loss to the District Council. He was a guiding light for so many years. One of his unique gifts was not only to know what was the right thing to do but to do it in the right way. "

"He leaves a gap which will never be fully filled."

The controversial annual school "league" tables for England have been published, showing how well pupils did in their national curriculum tests.

The first table below shows how our local secondary schools compared to all the 93 schools that fall within the Lancashire Education Authority area.

Our second table shows the points attained by our local primary schools. Primary schools are ranked on their "aggregate" scores - the total out of 300 across all three test subjects. The average score for Lancashire was 243 with the national average being 237.

Click on the School name to go to a comprehensive breakdown of the results provided by the BBC.

Local Secondary Schools Complete list LEA Secondary Schools	Lancashire GCSE/GNVQ Rating (Out of 93)
Hutton Church of England Grammar School	9th
All Hallows Catholic High School	11th
Bishop Rawstorne Church of England Language College	16th
Penwortham Girls' High School	21st
Tarleton High School	22nd
Balshaw's Church of England High School	27th
Priory Technology College, Penwortham	26th
Burscough Priory High School	33rd
Glenburn High School	70th
Worden High School	83rd

Local Primary Schools Complete list of LEA Primary Schools	Combined Score (LEA Av 243)
Little Hoole Primary School	296
Tarleton Holy Trinity CofE Primary School	281
Banks St Stephens' CofE School	267
Tarleton Community Primary School	264
Hesketh-with-Becconsall All Saints CofE School	250
Bretherton CofE Primary School	243
Hoole St Michael CofE Primary School	240
Mere Brow Church of England Primary School	236
Rufford CofE School	230

Are you aged between 12 and 18, live in the Parish of North Meols or in the Meols area of Southport and attend Tarleton High School?

Do you fancy going on an adventure holiday with 40 other young people?

Banks Piv Posse is a newly formed group who have obtained funding from Awards for All Northwest to go on an adventure holiday.

The group holiday to Normandy will take place 29th July to 5th August 2005 and there are only a few places left, so act quickly if you are interested.

The holiday is organised through a company, Acorn Adventure, who are experienced in running programmes for schools and youth groups. The company offer a range of activities, which are aimed at developing the personal skills of young people, which they have been operating since 1982.

All volunteers going on the holiday will be CRB checked and Acorn staff are recruited in the UK and are also CRB checked.

The total cost of the adventure holiday is £320. The cost to young people will be £120 this will include travel by coach to Portsmouth for a channel crossing to Cherbourg and onward travel to the Acorn Village at Hauteville Sur Mer. The accommodation is in a tented village, the tents have beds and wooden floors, with a central marquee for meals and the appropriate shower/toilet facilities.

If you would like any further details please email email BPP or ring Nadine Ashcroft on 01772 811552.

Lancashire Constabulary’s Southern and Central Divisions have joined forces to open Lancashire’s second Public Protection Unit (PPU) as part of the Constabulary’s drive to protect people from dangerous offenders.

The Public Protection Unit will open on Monday 22 November and will operate initially from two sites one in Ormskirk serving the people of South Ribble, Chorley and West Lancs (Southern Division) and the second site from HQ serving the people of Preston (Central Division).

Following on from recommendations in the Victoria Climbie Inquiry Report and after a successful pilot in Accrington, the Constabulary, after an in depth evaluation is in the process of establishing a number of Public Protection Units. These units will bring together various disciplines including family protection, domestic violence and dangerous offender teams.

Approximately 26 officers from Southern, Central and Force Headquarters will work from the re-furbished accommodation at Ormskirk and HQ. The main aim of the unit is to protect the most vulnerable members of the community and to reduce the risk of abuse by those who present a significant threat.

For Detective Chief Inspector Graham Gardner and Detective Inspector Graham Herrmann the opening of the unit will play a crucial role in improving the exchange of information between officers working with vulnerable children and adults, victims of Domestic Violence and Dangerous Offenders. The new unit will also provide other agencies with a ‘one-stop’ point of contact in all three areas, which will aim to break down communication barriers and enhance information sharing.

DCI Gardner commented: “People who suffer these types of awful crimes are often the most vulnerable in our communities. Anything we can do to improve our service to them should be seized upon. The creation of a Public Protection Unit is the start point to closer working with other agencies and voluntary groups. We will continue to improve our efforts to arrest and imprison criminals intent on attacking those least able to defend themselves”

Detective Inspector Graham Herrmann said; “ The PPU will allow the Constabulary to have a better platform for implementing the recently introduced Crime and Victims Bill. The units over-arching principle will be to protect the most vulnerable members of the communities of the Southern and Central divisional areas and to prevent their abuse by those who present a significant risk or threat.”

Members of the public are advised that with effect from Monday 22 November they will be able to contact officers from the Domestic Violence Team, Dangerous Offenders Team and Family Protection Unit on the following telephone numbers:-

Southern Division (Covering South Ribble, Chorley and West Lancashire) 01695 566321

Central Division (Covering Preston) 01772 416232

Do You Fancy Helping in Your Community?

A youth group has been set up in Banks to help the young people have a place to go and to socialise in a safe environment.

Volunteers are needed to help open a facility at least once a week and to help with trips and activities.

This is a rewarding opportunity to work with young people and help provide them with the means to move forward successfully in as their lives develop.

Without help from volunteers Youth Groups like Banks Piv Posse cannot survive. Ideally we would ask no more than 2 hours per month from volunteers, training and support will be given.

If you require more information please contact Rod Sears, Clerk to North Meols Parish Council, on 01704 533281 or Nadine Ashcroft, Youth Liaison North Meols Parish Council, on 01772 811552.

Police in West Lancashire will be launching Operation Cascade this week to target and reduce juvenile nuisance and anti-social behaviour throughout the Halloween and Bonfire season.

Using new legislation that came into effect last week, the police are warning that the misuse of fireworks can not only be damaging to your health but to your pockets too, since officers can now fine youngsters under the Fixed Penalty Notices for Disorder (PND’s) scheme.

The scheme introduced in April 2004, takes account of the new firework legislation and means that £80 fines could be issued to anyone committing the following offences:-

• Throwing Fireworks
• Breaching a fireworks curfew
• Being in possession of a category 4 firework (a display type firework) either in a public place or not
• Being under 18 and in possession of an adult firework in a public place

Inspector for Skelmersdale, James Lee commented,” Police will be using this new legislation and those people found to be committing these offences can expect to receive a fine for £80. We want people to be able to enjoy Bonfire Night in safety and this is why any anti-social behaviour and juvenile nuisance will be dealt with appropriately.”

As well as enforcing this new legislation, Police will be working in partnership with local Fire Chiefs, Local Authorities and Trading Standards Officers to reduce the nuisance caused by fireworks and the number of offences committed. This will involve all retail shops licensed to sell fireworks in the West Lancs area being jointly visited by police and Trading Standards. Details of the initiative will be provided along with the enforcement of the legislation in relation to the storage and sale of fireworks. Any shops found to be selling fireworks to persons under the age of 18 will be referred to Trading Standards for investigation and possible prosecution.

Information regarding unauthorised “bonfire sites” will be forwarded to the relevant agencies who will attend and assess the bonfire.

Letters will be sent to schools informing them of Operation Cascade as well as advising on firework law and safety. The Emergency Services Community Support Officer will also visit some primary schools to talk to the children about Firework safety.

The police will also be using their Ringmaster messaging system to send messages to Neighbourhood Watch Co-ordinators giving details of the initiative and requesting the assistance of neighbours in the identification of apparent breaches of firework legislation and bonfire sites.

Inspector Phil Melling, Geographic Inspector for Ormskirk and Burscough commented, “Police officers, Special Constables, CBM’s and PCSO’s will be working together and conducting extra high visibility patrols of areas that have been indentified as “hotspots” in relation to incidents of nuisance and disorder. Fireworks will be seized from those people under the age of 18 who are in possession of a firework in a public place. Relevant details will be obtained for the juvenile referral scheme and where appropriate fixed penalty notices will be issued.”

Mere Brow Local History Society’s team of volunteers recently completed over 2 years of intensive work transcribing each of the 310 “Rector’s Weekly” World War II newsletters in order to make them accessible to everybody over the internet.

The much acclaimed newsletters were originally sent by the Rector of Tarleton, Reverend L.N. Forse, to all the local men and women serving with the forces during World War II. The newsletter provided regular updates of events “back home” in the villages of Tarleton, Hesketh Bank, Mere Brow, Sollom, Rufford, Bretherton, Hoole and Banks and also provided a conduit by which contact with family and friends also serving their country could be maintained.

Recognition of the work of the Rector and the significance of the newsletter to its recipients was widespread and similar initiatives were later introduced in many more villages across England. Over 78,000 copies of the Tarleton Rector’s weekly newsletters were posted out between 1940 and 1946. These important historical documents which captured the events, thoughts and emotions of a rural Lancashire village as the war unfolded are now available for all to read at http://www.tarletonvillage.com/history/rectorsweekly

A handful of the newsletters remain elusive and the History Society is hoping that the raised awareness of the project may well flush out the few missing issues and, probably for the first time ever, allow a complete set of the Newsletters to be available for reading.

The All England Shield - Open to Anyone
The Mere Brow & District Shield - 10 mile radius of Mere Brow
Junior Shield Open to under 14s

Are things alright as they are or is it time for a change? Would joining Sefton really be the end of the world or would South Ribble be the best? Will any of it make a difference or will Banks be ignored by whoever is in charge?

Judgement Day nears for West Lancs District Council with only two weeks remaining in which you can submit YOUR views and feedback to the Boundary Committee on their much publicised proposed changes. Enter your feedback here.

Application No.: 8/2004/0079
Location: 17,Guinea Hall Mews, Banks
Proposal: Conservatory at rear
Applicant: Mr & Mrs Wilson
17 Guinea Hall Mews, Banks
Date Valid: 22/01/2004

Application No.:8/2004/0001
Location: Land adjacent, 5 Gravel Lane,Banks
Proposal: Extensions and change of use of matrons lodge to dwelling.
Applicant: Mr T Blaine,
5 Gravel Lane, Banks.
Date Valid: 02/01/2004