BirdBox award is ‘excellent news’ and well deserved

IT WAS excellent news to read in last week’s Standard the BirdBox had won ‘Regeneration Project of the Year Award’ at the 2021 Insider West Midlands Property Awards and the council and the NWEDR should be congratulated on setting up the venue.

The pandemic has meant, since its opening in August 2020, it has not had the opportunity to realise its full potential, but life is returning gradually to some form of normality and thus, if it is properly and widely marketed, in the future it could bring many new visitors to the town centre – particularly in conjunction with market days on Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays.

Wearing my BARRUP (Bromsgrove and Redditch Rail User Partnership) hat, there are more than 30 destinations along the West Midland Railways Cross City and New Street / Hereford Services which connect directly with Bromsgrove Station, so the opportunity is there to draw new ‘day tourists’ to the BirdBox, the markets, Sanders Park, St John’s Church et al.

Nick Taylor

Bromsgrove

‘Better things for council to be spending money on than Bromsgrove BirdBox’

THE BIRDBOX is a complete waste of money.

It is a haven for youngsters to throw away litter and takeaway cartons etc.

There is no constructive benefit to Bromsgrove.

Better use of the money would be to clean up and landscape the Spadesbourne Brook through Bromsgrove as they have done in Droitwich.

Barbara Hill

Via email

‘There needs to be more people like John from Rubery’s MICA Hardware’

I WOULD like to highlight John Harwood from MICA Kennedy’s store in New Road, Rubery.

A friend of mine Hazel Cook who is in her 90s and lives alone had problems with her fluorescent kitchen light after the tube had come to the end of its life.

John went to her house to pick up the tube, took it back, returned with a new one and a step ladder so he could fit it for her and only charged her for the fluorescent tube he replaced.

These days, it is hard for these small independent shops to make a living – particularly after the last 18 months.

I wish there were more people and supportive local businesses in the world like John and MICA Kennedy’s hardware.

Francis Hartland

Disappointed hairdresser did not disclose Covid vaccine status

I AM writing this letter in a state of anger and disappointment.

I am a local care worker who recently went to a local hairdressers – an excellent hairdressers highly recommendable until this week.

I have recently discovered the owner refuses to have the Covid vaccinations.

This was never told to me or other clients to give us the choice of whether we wanted to enter or not. She is now suffering with Covid and who knows how many clients this has been passed on to?

My anger is firstly due to the recent compulsory vaccinations of care home staff, with any unvaccinated staff having to leave their employment.

I am not anti-vaccine but I was given the opportunity to have it or not, I did because firstly I wanted it and secondly I need my job.

Therefore my complaint is that the owner had an obligation to her clients to give them the choice of booking, knowing she was not vaccinated. This is a service as are we care workers who work closely with their clients..

I believe ALL people who work in the public sector have their rights as do we all. but they should let their clients make their choices – informing them if they are NOT vaccinated.

I know today she is very poorly with Covid and wish her well and a quick and safe recovery, hopefully all her clients have been informed.

Thank you for taking time to read my letter.

Name and address supplied.

Switch your salt to lower risk of a stroke

IN WORCESTERSHIRE more than 131,000 adults have been diagnosed with high blood pressure.

For every ten people diagnosed, seven remain undiagnosed and untreated.

That’s extremely worrying to our charity as high blood pressure is one of the leading causes of stroke.

One way to reduce blood pressure is to reduce sodium intake.

Most of this sodium is in the salt we eat and that’s why we’re proud to support Season with Sense, a public health campaign aiming to drive down consumer sodium intake.

The good news is by making small changes to our diet – such as cutting the amount or type of salt – we can greatly reduce our risk of serious health issues.

If you find it hard to cut out salt completely, there are alternatives to regular table, sea and rock salts such as LoSalt which has two thirds less sodium without any taste compromise. Visit www.seasonwithsense.com for more.

When shopping, watch out for the special LoSalt tubs on sale in supermarkets. For every tub sold a 20p donation will be made to help fund the vital work we do to support stroke survivors and carers.

The tubs also have information attached to help shoppers understand the FAST test. Face, Arms, Speech, are the most common signs that someone is having a stroke. Time tells you Stroke is a medical emergency and you must phone 999 straight away. We are thrilled this vital information will get into the hands of 150,000 people.

Please note if you take some types of medication affecting potassium levels, LoSalt and other reduced sodium salt alternatives may not be suitable for you.

This includes people receiving medication for diabetes, heart or kidney disorders.

Check with your GP for advice.

Juliet Bouverie OBE

Chief Executive

The Stroke Association

EDITOR’S COMMENT

THE proposed social care changes do not ‘fix the system’ but leave people on lower incomes and with less assets much worse off, even with help available.

A blanket £86k cap (previously mooted at £36k) would see people with homes of around £100k spend almost all they own on their care.

A percentage option (say 33 per cent) of assets and a higher cap of £100k would be better – those who could afford it would pay more and the poorer keep more of what they have worked for.

We welcome your letters…..

What pressing issues do you feel need addressing in Bromsgrove, Rubery, Droitwich and South Birmingham? Send us your views to [email protected]