Hello all,

I'd like to bring to your attention the charity I have started in my daughters memory.

She sadly passed away in November.
She was born 11 weeks early and spent most of her life in hospital, however did come home as a healthy, albeit tiny little girl.

When she passed away, it caused untold devastation, but I couldn't let her death be for 'nothing'. Something positive had to come from our heartache, and as such Indie's Gift was created.
 

The 17th October 2013, was the happiest day of our lives, Indie was able to come home. Weighing in at a tiny 4lbs, but perfect in every way.

Coming home was incredibly special, not only because we had a healthy, beautiful daughter but we have 2 other children, whose life had also been turned upside down by Indie's sudden arrival. It meant our life could resume some normality; I would be able to spend time with all my children, rather than split between SCBU and home.

The following weeks were full of doctor’s appointments, hospital visits, health visitor appointments etc, but everything went well. Indie was gaining weight, albeit slowly, she was getting there.

On the 22nd November 2013, our lives were to change forever.

Our perfect little girl passed away at 3:50am.

As a mum, this makes me feel cheated.
Cheated because we did all the 'hard work'. The minutes, hours, days, weeks sat by the incubator praying she would make it through, Indie proving what stern stuff she was made of by making the 'perfect' recovery, for her to stolen away from us when she was just settling into our family.

Personally, I've had every range of emotion for a human to possibly feel.
Anger, desperation, sadness, helplessness, sorrow, devastation to name but a few, but as the days turned into weeks since Indie passed, the overwhelming feeling I had was one of gratitude. Grateful that I got those precious 11 weeks with my daughter.
 

Without the support of doctors and nurses at all 3 hospitals that we resided in, we would not have had those 11 weeks and I felt compelled to do something, anything to be able to pay back what they gave us. Nothing will ever be enough for these unsung saints in the hospital SCBU/NICU departments, but if we could just do something to help. After a few days of thinking, Indie's Gift was born.

Our aim is to provide ClothPacks and NeoPacks to the SCBU/NICU in order to help ease a tiny portion of the stress facing parents of children who start life in SCBU.

Our ClothPacks will contain:
1 Vest

1 Sleepsuit/Babygro
1 Hat

1 Set of Mittens
& 1 Blanket

These items are NOT provided for babies on the NHS. These items are sometimes available in SCBUs from donations they receive from other parents; our aim is to have a pack available for every baby that enters the SCBU.

We also aim to provide a NeoPack for parents of SCBU babies, this will contain:

Shower Gel

Shampoo

Face cloth

Tooth brush

Toothpaste

Hot Chocolate

Cereal Bar

Notepad & Pen Information and Support Sheets

These items may seem small or even trivial, but when you’re thrown into a situation that you have no control over, the last thing on your mind is to sort these little essential items out. To be able to have a wash and brush your teeth is simply the best feeling - from someone who has personally been in the situation, it really is!

Hereford County SCBU will be the first to benefit from our charity.
 

I am a mum on a mission, to help other parents and babies that find themselves in the same position as I did, and hopefully be able to support them with the essentials, as well as an email advice/support service.

I started this alone, and do everything for this entirely by myself. I am hoping to gather more support for Indie's Gift, ultimately our aim for 2014 is to raise the £5,000 needed to apply to become a registered charity.

If you have any of the items on the list that you would like to donate, I would be ever so grateful. I would also welcome any fundraising idea's you may have!
I have no experience in working within/running a charity, so please bare with me as I'm learning as I go!

Our website is: www.indiesgift.co.uk - There is a gallery and also an 'About Us' section which has a more detailed story; maybe have some tissue handy? and our Facebook page is www.facebook.com/indiesgift

Thank you for taking the time to read this and I look forward to hearing from some of you soon.
 

Stacey Martin.
Indie’s mummy.

Taken from HT today:-

First phase of works to refurbish Newmarket street and Widemarsh street is due to begin tonight.

Initial work will involve the removal of the central reservation along Newmarket street and will take approxamately one week.

The work will take place at night, and traffic will be permitted in both directions throughout, keeping traffic disruption to a minimum.

Following removal of the central reservation work will take place to lay footpaths along Newmarket street for three weeks. these works will be carried out during the day, but with the central reservation removed and two lanes will be maintained in either direction.

In February, work will begin to construct the right turn from Blueschool street into Widemarsh street. Due to the evacuation and width of available carriageway, one lane in either direction will be maintained. This will be for a short length and two  lanes feeding Edgar Street roundabout during the day will be maintained at all times.

End.

Wagamama - Japanese Restaurant & Noodle Bar also joining the Old Market.

Jobs advertised HERE

I've been reading the debate in various places about the council's `Adult Wellbeing` directorate using an agency to find a couple of people who will accept a mere £500 a day to help them change to meet new challenges   This is defended by the director (interim director since September?) Helen Coombes on the HCC website.  Bobby 47 and others have already slaughtered the idea on the HT website.

Leaving aside the need for savings etc; the question that slowly formed in the depths of my brain was:

"What the **** does the (Interim) director do for her money if she doesn't herself have the skills and ability to organise and deliver the changes needed?  She was appointed in September at a time when the need for change was obvious - so why did they not appoint someone who could do the job without needing an extra £1000 a day spending on others to tell her what to do?

I suspect that the biggest cars in the Brockington car park are owned by people who are highly promoted admistrators, not leaders, and the current challenges are way beyond their competence.

Another one I saw on the HCC vacancies was "Head of Learning and Achievement" for £64k plus extras.  (again, B47 was please to see that this would at least result in a passionate person in place).  This education job is to oversee a team (massively reduced over the last few years) and work with schools (massively reduced numbers due to academisation) - so as Cllr Johnson is always saying people have no suggestions, here are two:  Merge this job with the same person in another county -  both will have a lot less to do in their own counties:  or:  get an outside education consultancy in to do the job - there are lots of companies with the ability and capacity to do it.

Of course these options will be binned if there is someone already in the building who wants the job.

gdj

Here's something from today's Scrutiny meeting on the budget. The £20 million pounds of NEW funds that had been obtained for Balfour Beatty to up the ante on these roads and potholes is NOW coming from a mass sale of as many Council owned assets as possible in the short term. Out of £100 million which we (you, us!) own the Council will sell off £20 million a year, every year at least for the next three years.

At a meeting held by BB and with the Chief Financial of the Council for all our parishes to attend, we were distinctly told this was NEW money. Can I have support from those present at that meeting please, because they're denying saying it. Or did I mishear?

Dreadful news about CAB.

If you've ever run a business or a charity and been told for months you are losing your funding, so you waste time fighting, trying to keep morale up, and then the b***ers change their mind - you know they'll probably change it back again. Demoralising.

Well done CAB for struggling on.

Taken from Herefordshire Council newsdesk.

Work will commence to improve the junction of King street and Bridge street in Hereford.

The scheme is due to begin with preliminary works on site on Monday 27th January 2014, and is likely to last 6 to 7 weeks. The scheme is being completed with minimum disruption to traffic flows.

The narrowing and realignment of the King Street exit will slow and reposition emerging vehicles to provide a better view of approaching cyclists and vehicles. Colour surfacing and new street furniture will create more of a "shared space" feel which will help vehicle behaviour.

Reducing number of bollards and existing sign posts to improve overall view and visibility. Pedestrian crossing locations will be better defined and the overall layout will be more pedestrian friendly.

the funding scheme is a match funding between Herefordshire council and Department for Transport Cycle Safety Fund.

END.

Police at Hereford investigating a robbery of cash from a woman on Wednesday 15 January have issued an image of a man they want to talk to. 

The woman was robbed in an alleyway by the Wye Inn pub in Holme Lacey Road. Hereford at approximately 12.45pm.

A man approached the 20 year old woman and asked for a cigarette. As the victim got a cigarette for him he grabbed a freezer bag from her pocket which contained cash.

When the woman tried to grab the cash back the man struck her. He then ran off along the footpath into FC Morgan Close. 

The man police want to talk to in connection with the robbery is described as a white man, aged between 40 and 45 with a dark moustache.

Detective Sergeant Tim Powell of Hereford CID said. “Fortunately this woman had no serious injuries. We need to trace this man as soon as possible. There are a number of industrial units on the nearby retail park and this man could have come from there. If you have any information on the identity of this man or if you think you saw him please contact officers at Hereford by dialling 101. All calls will be treated in confidence”.

Callers who wish to remain anonymous can also ring independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.

Full Details Here

2 year old boy dies when his mother rushes him to North London A&E only to find that it's been closed down due to cuts.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2541890/Boy-2-dies-family-rushes-hospital-not-realising-A-E-unit-closed-NHS-reforms-causing-half-hour-delay-treatment.html

Just another day in council/government service closures.

Change A Little, Save A Lot Campaign  

This is rich coming from Herefordshire Council who are about to put a huge increase on our community charge!  

I wanted to post this to show that when something is genuinely improved it doesn't go unnoticed.

Whoever is responsible for painting up those blocks of flats on the A49 Ross Road (Redhill?), well done, they look really really good and are a massive and marked improvement.

Jim, was that you I heard on the radio earlier trying to push through ANOTHER additional tax on alcohol under the guise of a "Social Responsibility Tax"?

Either way, this is ludicrous. It's about time people took PERSONAL responsibility and stopped blaming everyone else and relying on everyone else to take responsibilty for them.

This will do NOTHING but penalise those who drink responsibility.

What you should be doing is heavily fining those who are drunk and disorderly IN CONJUNCTION with a breathalizer. I think this is very important otherwise it would give the police a free for all for subjective penalisation. Say drunk and disorderly with a breath sample over 60 to enable some degree of objectivity.

Again, a Social Responsibility Tax on alcohol is nothing short of fcuking idiotic. 

E-fit Released In Attempted Robbery Investigation - Hereford

Do you recognise this woman?

Police investigating an attempted robbery in Hereford have released an e-fit in a bid to identify a woman who tried to rob a mother as she pushed her child along in a pram.

Previous witness appeals have been issued about the incident, which happened on a footpath that runs between Abbotsmead Road and Northolme Road, at around 3.30pm on Wednesday, 20 November.

The victim was walking on the path and pushing the pram while talking on her mobile phone when she was approached from behind by the woman.

The woman tried to grab the phone from the victim’s hand before she shouted abuse at her and demanding money. The victim attempted to walk away from the woman, who tried to grab her handbag from the back of the pushchair while hitting out at her and scratching her face. The victim called for help at which point, the woman left the scene empty-handed. 

The same woman is though to have been involved in two other incidents that occurred on the same day:

• At around 2.35pm, a woman boarded a bus from Bewell Street to Belmont. She got off the bus at Northolme Road and followed a girl in her late teens a short distance before pushing her into the road.  The girl asked her why she had done this but she did not reply and left the area.

• At 3.10pm - shortly before the attempted robbery took place – a woman visited an address on Flaxley Drive. The householder opened the door and the woman began to shout abuse at her. The householder - who does not know the woman - told her to leave. Shortly afterwards, she was seen walking in front of traffic on Abbotsmead Road.

Detective Constable Charlie Wells is investigating the incident. She said: “I would like to thank all those who came forward with information when we first released appeals about this woman. We are very grateful to have received such a great response and we are asking the public to help us again.

“If anyone recognises the woman in the e-fit, please contact the police. She is described as white, between 5ft and 5ft 6ins tall, of a medium build and aged between 20 and 27. She had shoulder-length, curly hair with blonde highlights, blue eyes and a pointy nose.” 

Anyone with information is urged to contact DC Wells via the non-emergency police number 101 or information can be passed on anonymously through the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. Please quote the reference number 428S 20/11/13. Alternatively, people can also contact the independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.”

Full Details Here

Please find attached draft minutes of the meeting held on Thursday 12th December 2013 at Belmont Community Centre, Eastholme Avenue, Belmont Hereford

Minutes - 12.12.2013 (DRAFT).pdf

Please find attached BRPC minutes of the Meeting held on Thursday 31st October 2013 at Northolme Community Centre, Northolme Road, Belmont Hereford

Minutes - 31.10.2013.pdf

Please find attached BRPC minutes of the meeting held on Thursday 19th September 2013 At Northolme Community Centre, Northolme Road, Belmont Hereford

Minutes - 19.09.2013.pdf

Minutes - 08.08.2013.pdf