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SOUTHPORT SOUTHPORT & FORMBY

July 2020 2020 8 July

Congratulations to our Driver of the Month

Cheers! Borough toasts easing of lockdown measures

INSIDE THIS WEEK:

Pleasureland is all set to ride again!

Gold Award Winning Clinic

www.champnews.com www.champnews.com

Vol 27 l Issue 28

PLEASURELAND is set to reopen this Saturday (July 11). The park, which hasn’t traded since it finished the 2019 season in October, has spent weeks identifying best practice, training and implementing new and stringent hygiene measures to ensure the safety of its customers and staff. Pleasureland’s owner Norman Wallis says that while the government’s health experts are advising that a drop to one metre between people of different households is too early, the park will follow the science rather than Boris Johnson’s new guidelines. Mr Wallis said: “While I fully appreciate the Government’s keenness to help economic recovery – and my business hasn’t traded for more than seven months now – I believe that families are going to want to enjoy a day out without worry. So that’s what we’re offering. We will reopen from July 11 and we will cap numbers to maintain two metre distances. We’re going cashless too for extra safety so now customers will have to book online in advance for the day.

ALL WHITE TAXIS

Norman Wallis

“Rides will be sanitised after each run and spacing managed with the inclusion of empty seats between individual groups and the next customers. Pre-booking allows us to control numbers, which in turn ensures easier social distancing. “The changes have required huge investment at a time when the business has been unable to trade and parks like Southport’s don’t qualify for most of the Government’s help packages. We want to continue to provide a quality day out and we are dedicated to ensuring people stay safe while they enjoy it.” Meanwhile, as Pleasureland prepares to open, pubs, bars, restaurants... and, yes, hairdressers! were among the latest businesses to welcome back customers. More on page 5

ANDY (#313) Eden keeps dancing for Alder Hey

CALLS MADE TO REOPEN CANCER HUB AT HOSPITAL Report by Danielle Thompson

CANCER patients in Sefton and West Lancashire are calling for a treatment hub at Southport Hospital to be reopened. The closure of the unit during the coronavirus outbreak means patients have to endure two-hour round trips for daily chemotherapy treatment at Aintree Hospital. One patient told Southport MP Damien Moore: “It is scandalous that Southport residents are being forced to travel to Aintree Hospital, my sister included, to

It’s more important than a pub reopening, say concerned patients

receive chemotherapy. In traffic, this is a good two-hour journey, when I could take her in five minutes, by car, to the Southport hub. “Getting this hub reopened is far more important than a pub or shop reopening.” Mr Moore has now written to the chief executive at Southport Hospital who has apologised for the distress caused to cancer patients in Southport and outlined why the changes were made - pledging to

return services when it is safe to do so. The Southport MP told the Champion: “I would like to thank all of the patients in Southport who have contacted me to tell me of their upset at seeing this vital service temporarily withdrawn from Southport, and of the very apparent distress this has caused them. “We need to see the cancer hub return to Southport Hospital as a matter of utmost urgency. Continued on page 5

Thank you to our amazing team who have worked through lockdown

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