Jottings

4th September 2009

"It's a girl". Chloe Thompson was born the day after I wrote my last blog. If you remember my daughter in law Caroline and son Gavin dropped by on their way to the maternity unit. I'm pleased to report that both mum and daughter are doing fine.

I'm sure that the whole universe knows by now that Warrington Wolves won the Challenge Cup at Wembley last Saturday. I promised to share with you my thoughts about the facilities for disabled spectators, and I have to say that from what I saw overall they were fantastic.

The Blue Badge car parking area was well signed posted and stewarded, access up to the 2nd floor was via a lift, and this would be my only criticism. With only one lift adjacent to the disabled parking area this resulted in a very long wait, but once up there everything else was perfect. Easy access into the stadium, plenty of accessible toilets, low level counter areas at the catering and souvenir outlets, low level ramp up to our viewing and seating area which provided an excellent view of the pitch. Unfortunately the experience was somewhat tainted by the booking system used by the Rugby Football League which means disabled spectators cannot purchase tickets from their home club like everyone else, we are required to contact the RFL "Monday to Friday" and pay an extra booking fee in the process. I don't know about you but I wasn't required to contact a separate booking service when I booked a table at a local restaurant or when I visited the cinema! But never the less this didn't stop us witnessing Wolves captain Adrian Morley lifting the cup aloft on that very memorable moment that will take its place in Warrington's rugby league history.

Earlier this week I dropped in at the Centre for Independent Living in Beaufort Street to see how the extensive refurbishment programme is doing. For those of you who don't know, we secured over £923,000 from the Community Assets Fund to completely transform our headquarters into a building that will be fit for purpose for decades to come. I have to say that a quick tour of the inside soon made me realise how badly it needed the work. The new roof and windows are nearly completed, the extension to the caretakers' house is nearly up to roof level and most of the inner areas are identifiable. I know that our trustees, staff, volunteers and clients regularly drive past to keep up to date with progress; well I'm sure that April will be upon us quicker than we think.

Unfortunately one person who won't be joining us at the opening of the refurbished Centre is Annette Clemo, a long serving volunteer and past trustee and employee of ours who was buried yesterday. Annette played a vital role in setting the foundations of the organisation we have today and worked tirelessly for several other organisations including the Salvation Army. I was honoured when Annette's husband Sean asked me to say a few words in tribute to her life. I will never forget the hours we spent together, especially in the mid 1990's planning the future, we shared a vision of a future that resembles much of what we have achieved today.

Thanks again for your interest.