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MIDLANDS VOICE
Rival beauty pageant organisations bestow same title on two women A beauty queen rivalry has led to confusions between two contestants, after two different organisations bestowed the coveted title of ‘Miss Birmingham’ on two separate city stunners. In one corner there’s Kris’ina Jagpal, last week crowned Miss Birmingham by organisers of the Miss Great Britain pageant. In the other corner is construction worker Katie Stamps. She took the coveted title three months ago in a contest run by rival body Miss England. Miss England bigwigs insisted there is only one official Miss Birmingham – Katie, aged 21, from Kidderminster. Rachael Barker, Miss England regional director for the West Midlands, reportedly said: “I am livid. We could not afford the £25,000 to challenge this through the courts. They have no right to use the term, but unless we take them through the High Court in a costly battle we can’t do anything.” Rachael says the royal rumpus has resulted in
Kris’ina Jagpal and Katie Stamps
widespread confusion among would-be entrants. “I also had Katie on the phone utterly confused, asking if she’s still Miss Birmingham,” she added. Kris’ina, from Edgbaston, won her Miss Birmingham crown in Leicester last Thursday. The 26-year-old pointed out there were two holders last year - and no problems. According to a report in Birmingham Mail, Kris’ina added: “When you win a pageant the last thing you want is all this. I was shocked to be honest. I’m a nice person, I get along with everybody. I’m
happy to work with another Miss Birmingham.” Katie said: “Since winning the Miss Birmingham title I have put my all into representing the city and to change perceptions of what a beauty pageant means. With charitable and intelligent girls such as the Miss England finalists I met, I cannot believe something like this would come to jeopardise all the hard work.” Kate Solomons, the national director for Miss Great Britain, reportedly said that she did not need a licence to hold a Miss Birmingham contest and has every right to run her own competition.
Husband slashes his pregnant wife A husband has allegedly slashed his pregnant wife with a Stanley knife and sprayed aftershave in her face because she hid his cannabis stash. Jurors heard Haroon Ashraf slashed at the mum, who was nine weeks pregnant, while their one-year-old son was just a few feet away. She was left with a deep wound to her arm which she’d raised to protect her face. At Birmingham Crown Court, Ashraf, 24, now of Gilberthorpe Street, Rotherham, had denied charges of wounding with intent and assault by beating. But a jury of four women and eight men took just one hour and 13 minutes to find the former factory worker guilty following a three-day trial.
They had heard Neelam had hidden the bags of cannabis she found on February 8 because she objected to her husband smoking the drug. Two days later Ashraf, pictured, subjected her to a three hour attack in which he pulled her hair, slapped her, sprayed aftershave in her face and throttled her. Then, on the morning of February 15, following a night of drinking, he used the knife on his wife of three years after she still
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refused to hand back the drugs. Closing the case for the prosecution, Paul Whitfield told the jury: “The consequences could have been permanently disfiguring. He approached her and slashed at her. If she had not put her arm up she would have looked very different today.” Neelam told the court after the knife attack she knew she had to contact police. Ashram has denied the charges, saying Neelam attacked him with a knife and stabbed herself in the arm. He also denied the assault on February 10. Ashram was released on bail until September 19 when he was warned by His Honour Judge Murray Creed a custodial sentence was almost inevitable.
www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 16th August 2014
Yorkshire mums’ mission to give voice to families with rare conditions Two mums who tell how they experienced ‘immense isolation’ after their young sons were diagnosed with a devastating muscle-wasting condition are launching a support network in the hope of preventing other parents from facing the same plight. Nazma Chowdhury from Bradford and Anisa Kothia from Dewsbury, who both have children affected by Duchenne muscular dystrophy, have joined forces with the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign and Leeds General Infirmary to bring together families across Yorkshire living with muscular dystrophy and other musclewasting conditions. Both Nazma and Anisa tell how they struggled to cope after their sons were diagnosed with the lifelimiting condition, needing emotional and practical support and wanting to make contact with other families in a similar situation. The pair also stressed how language and cultural barriers posed an additional obstacle to many parents finding the help that they need. Adopting the name ‘Awaaz’ for the new group, a Hindi and Urdu word for ‘voice’, Nazma and Anisa hope it will become a supportive community for families and a means of sharing advice on anything from finding accessible accommodation to accessing local expert care and health services. Awaaz gathered for the first time on Sunday (10 August) at the Bradford Mayfield Centre, where families had the chance to meet an expert neuromuscular support worker and enjoy an afternoon of henna painting, face painting and powerchair football demonstrations. Muscle-wasting conditions cause muscles to weaken and waste over
time, causing increasingly severe disability. Just 70,000 people in the UK – 6,000 of them in Yorkshire and Humberside – are affected. Owing to their rarity, few GPs, hospital staff and general health professionals are able to offer accurate advice on prognosis or treatment.
extremely daunting. We hope this new forum will be the missing link for many families in the area. This group, as well as being a community for families, will help to breakdown the barrier of language and culture that may prevent some people getting the best support available.”
Anisa Kothia from Dewsbury, whose six-yearold son has Duchenne muscular dystrophy, said: “Being able to speak to other parents, who can relate to you and understand exactly what you are going through, can be a huge source of support and comfort. We have been working hard to identify ways to help South Asian adults and children affected by neuromuscular conditions in particular, to work for a better future together. This seemed like the perfect way to bring families together. We want to build a strong community where we can all support and reach out to each other.” Nazma Chowdhury from Bradford, whose eleven-year-old son also has Duchenne muscular dystrophy, said: “I cannot tell you enough how much this forum will mean to people. It can be incredibly isolating having a child who has a condition that people know little about. Navigating the health system and negotiating all the NHS services can be
Specialist Neuro-muscular Care Advisor, Leeds General Infirmary, said: “This project promises to be a huge success. By working sideby-side with Nazma and Anisa we hope this forum provides a much needed conduit for families to connect and support one another.” Bobby Ancil, Neuromuscular Outreach Manager at the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign, said: “The Muscular Dystrophy Campaign is really excited to be involved in this fantastic project, which aims to bring together South Asian families across West Yorkshire affected by muscular dystrophy and related neuromuscular conditions. We know that peer-to-peer support can be invaluable, especially for newly diagnosed families who feel that they have nowhere to turn and are forced to cope alone with the bombshell of diagnosis. This group will help people realise that they are not alone.” Photo coutesy: Roger Moody/ Muscular Dystrophy Campaign
Members of mosque donate food to families
Young members of Masjid Al Husayn in Leicester organised a Ramadan food drive to support more than 700 Leicestershire families. Every year the Behlool Society, made up of young people has a collection during the holy month of Ramadan to donate to the British Red Cross headquarters in Oadby. The society collected dozens of shopping bags of food and provisions, as well as nearly £500 cash. Kumail Jaffar, a member of the Behlool Society, told a local newspaper: “We run the food drive for the homeless and destitute in Leicestershire and we ask people to bring in all sorts of non-perishable things, from toothpaste to their favourite chocolate, and it went really well this year.
Gemma Lakin and Kumail Jaffar with helpers
“We do it in the name of Imam Ali, the successor to the Prophet
Mohammed, who was himself a very generous and giving man.”