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26 June 2019
Vol 26 l Issue 26
www.champnews.com
Email: admin@jj-careservices.co.uk Office 3 Shakespeare House, 37-39 Shakespeare Street, Southport PR8 5AB
Top garden designer drops in on Heather
Heather Sidebotham, who is displaying her garden at 4 Brocklebank Road, with landscaper Matthew Wilson
A SOUTHPORT woman’s ‘pride and joy’ garden received a special visit recently from a leading greenfingered expert. Heather Sidebotham has been displaying her Brocklebank Road garden for the past 10 years through the National Garden Scheme and a visit from top landscape gardener Matthew Wilson, was the icing on the cake for all her efforts. Matthew’s visit was a timely one as Heather is once again displaying her garden this Sunday (June 30). Mr Wilson is something of a gardening guru - he’s a garden designer, writer of the gardening column for the Financial Times, a panellist on Radio 4s Gardeners Question Time and a patron of the Southport Flower Show. Heather said: “I have just been awarded a specially engraved
trowel to mark a decade of opening my garden for the National Garden Scheme. “Matthew Wilson recently visited my garden and said it was ‘lovely, with beautiful vistas at every turn’. “My husband died recently from a brain tumour and with the help of Queenscourt Hospice and the community nurses I was able to care for him at home, where he died very peacefully with his family around him. “This help was invaluable to me and I am raising funds for Queenscourt as a way of saying thank you and to show my appreciation for all they did for the family and I. All of the proceeds from the NGS day will go to Queenscourt Hospice. Admission is £4, children free, and tea, coffee and homemade cakes are available.”
HOSPITAL BOSS IN SHOCK EXIT Trust’s chief executive, Silas Nicholls, ‘sad to be leaving’ after just 18 months in charge
Silas Nicholls
JUST 18 months after taking up his role as chief executive of Southport and Ormskirk Hospital NHS Trust, Silas Nicholls has shocked health staff by revealing he has quit the post. Mr Nicholls arrived at the trust with bold predictions of how he wanted to make our two hospitals ‘places to be
Report by Danielle Thompson proud of’. On his arrival in Southport, he exclaimed: “I have a huge ambition for hospital services in Southport, Formby and West Lancashire. I want to see patient care transformed, making it fit
not just for the foreseeable future but for decades ahead.” But it will be a future without Mr Nicolls at the helm following his shock decision to quit and move to a new post as chief executive at Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Foundation Trust. Continued inside
Tributes paid to Champion photographer Martyn Snape THE Champion is sad to report the death of well known photographer, Martyn Snape, who passed away peacefully on Monday in Queenscourt Hospice following a short illness, aged 65. Martyn was a stalwart of the Champion for more than 20 years and in that time became a hugely popular and familiar figure covering our picture desk for Sefton and West Lancs. He was as popular within the Champion as he was out in the community he served with such dedication and distinction. His talents behind the camera ensured countless readers were able to share their stories in our titles. He became pals with the great and good of both boroughs, striking up real friendships with people as he went about his duties professionally and with a keen eye for a great picture. Martyn didn’t do ‘snaps’ - he hated that term and would rebuke anybody who dared to call his work ‘that word’. He was a newspaper lensman down to the core and was greatly respected for the manner in which he went about his duties. Continued on Page 3
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