Traveller helps tackle hate crime

 * Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner Julian Sandham
with Martin Gallagher, Hate Crime Caseworker at the
Victim Care Centre.

A member of the Irish travelling community who's suffered years of often vicious abuse has taken on a new job helping victims of hate crime.

 

Martin Gallagher believes his own experiences will give him a unique insight when he's helping other people who have been on the receiving end of cruel jibes and discrimination.

 

The 29-year-old has been appointed as the North Wales hate crime case worker and is based at the newly-opened Victim Help Centre in St Asaph.

 

The centre was established by the North Wales Police and Crime Commissioner Winston Roddick CB QC and provides an outreach service across North Wales. It is a one stop shop for victims, that has brought together the support services of North Wales Police, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and the former Victim Support organisation.

 

Martin will be providing support and guidance for people who are singled out for abuse because of their sexual orientation, race, disability, age or a host of other personal characteristics.

 

While the number of hate crimes in North Wales is relatively low with less than 400 being reported in a year, the impact on victims is often huge and can destroy their quality of life.

 

Martin, who is studying a Glyndwr University for a degree in youth community work, said: “I may have chosen to live in a house but I remain part of the Irish traveller community. It’s my heritage and it’s where I’m from.

 

“I don’t have an Irish accent, although most of my family do, but I still suffer from cruel and unfair discrimination and know the impact it can have.

 

“In the past I have been powerless to act and didn’t know how to challenge and effectively report discrimination when it occurred.

 

“I was born an Irish Traveller, that’s my ethnicity. I was actually born in London but lived for a few years on Paddy Doherty’s Travellers site at Queensferry, Flintshire.

 

“I started out studying engineering at college and image how I felt when the lecturer said one day we shouldn’t leave copper lying about as the ‘Pikeys’ from Queensferry would pinch it.

 

“The term Pikey is a derogatory term short for turnpike men from years gone by who became a nuisance and became known as Pikeys.  To me hearing someone referred to as a Pikey is deeply, deeply offensive.

 

“I have myself been refused access to a public house as I was with a group of Irish travellers and we were celebrating the Christening of a little girl."

 

Martin, who is married to Chloe and has a young son, Noah, who was born in August, wants to be available for anyone who suffers hate crime or discrimination in North Wales.

 

He said: “It doesn’t matter to what group you belong. People could be gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender, of different race, religion, age or disability it doesn’t matter - hate crime is wrong and we need to do something about it.

 

“I believe education is the answer and I intend to get out and visit schools, colleges, businesses and anywhere else I can get my message across. I will be here to help anyone who suffers from hate crime in North Wales."

 

North Wales Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner Julian Sandham welcomed Martin into his new post and said: “We care about victims of crime in North Wales and we want to support victims of all crime.

 

“There are many different levels of crime but it’s important we look after and treat all victims with dignity and respect. Hate crime may not always seem horrible if it doesn’t directly affect us but we need to think of the devastating effect it can have on individuals and even whole communities.

 

“Just because someone has a particular characteristic that can be associated or attached to a particular group of people doesn’t mean it’s something that should be highlighted or ridiculed.

 

“Hate crime and discrimination has a devastating effect on people and we have to show, that, here in North Wales, we will not stand by and ignore it.”       

 

Mr Sandham added: “Having established the Victim Help Centre at St Asaph, we included in the design a hate crime caseworker. This role has been funded by the Welsh Government in a grant to Victim Support."

 

Gareth Cuerden, the Victim Support All Wales Hate Crime Manager, said: “Martin has worked a great deal with children and young people in the past and his insight into youth work will certainly help. I’m sure Martin will be a huge success.

 

“I would actively encourage victims to report hate crime, in all its insidious forms, to the police in the knowledge that they will be supported.”

 

* To find out more about the North Wales Victim Help Centre visit http://www.victimhelpcentrenorthwales.org.uk/  or call 0300 303 0159.

BBC reports child's river death

The BBC is reporting this evening that a child has died in the river near Pontcysyllte.

For the full story, see:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-north-east-wales-34407778

A statement on the North Wales Police website says:

"North Wales Police, Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust, North Wales Fire and Rescue Service and the Air Ambulance were called to an incident in a river in  Pontcysyllte near Llangollen around 5.00pm this evening (Wednesday 30^th September).

"Sadly a child was pronounced dead at the scene and the next of kin have been informed.

"There are no more details available at present."

MP supports charities in conference speech

The right of charities to campaign and to provide services for people in need has been at the heart of what it's meant to be a charity in Britain for over 100 years.

That was the message from Susan Elan Jones MP (pictured) to a capacity meeting of charities at this week's Labour Party Conference.

The Clwyd South MP is co-chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Charities and a Shadow Wales Office Minister.

She said: "I was delighted to speak at such a well-attended meeting of the Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations (ACEVO) and also join in a discussion with audience members and other speakers.

 

"Charities make our local area, our country and our world a better place, and it was great to be able to discuss the future of charities at this important event." 

Community hub idea for old health centre

* The former health centre in Regent Street is empty since the opening of the new facility in Mill Street.

LLANGOLLEN’S former health centre should be turned into a business and community hub.

That’s the suggestion by a member of the town’s Cittaslow group, which fosters economic, social and environmental sustainability.

Following the recent move by the local GP practice to a new health centre in Mill Street, questions have been raised about the future of the old building, the former National School in Regent Street.

Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board (BCUHB), which owns the building adjacent to St Collen’s church hall, says it is now looking at selling or finding an alternative use for it.   

Mike Edwards, a board member of Llangollen Cittaslow and also a member of the Keep Llangollen Special (KLS) community group, said: “I feel this is the health board's opportunity to help the people of Llangollen by making the property available as a business and community hub (BACH) which the chair of the Keep Llangollen Special group has already constructively discussed with Simon Dean, the acting chief executive of BCUHB.

“The idea would be to provide facilities for Llangollen's multiple small independent business and residents to offer them meeting space, ITC infrastructure for co-ordinated web and social media marketing, business start-up support, training and development to help them compete in the current volatile economy.

“It could have back-office provision such as secretarial, administration, printing and photocopying. The facility could also offer help and support for vulnerable people in our community.”

He added: “KLS would like to work with all other interested community based organisations and groups, including Cittaslow and Llangollen Food Assembly, to progress this scheme and develop a business case and plan to secure suitable grant aid and financial support.

“It should be remembered that an open market sale of the property by the health board would be complicated and difficult due to existence of the church hall co-joining the former GP surgery and the car park which is understood to be owned by the Church in Wales with rights of way and useage granted and enjoyed by the church body.

“It is also understood the local social housing providers have already turned down an offer to acquire the property.

“Another relevant factor is that the building was originally provided by voluntary public subscriptions so is and always has been an asset of community significance.”

A spokesperson for BCUHB said: “The property is owned by the health board and, following completion of the new primary care resource centre, has been identified as surplus to the health board’s requirements.

“As such we will now follow the Welsh Government guidance for the disposal assets. This may include sale or alternative use subject to the appropriate approvals.”

Silver Band's fashion fundraiser

Llangollen Silver Band will be holding a fundraising and social evening at the Band Room in Parade Street on Saturday November 14 at 7.30 pm.

The event includes a sale of nearly new ladies clothes, bags and jewellery.

There will also be a buffet, raffle and drinks for sale.

Tickets are £3 and are available to purchase from the Honey Pots shop in Llangollen and from the band room on Monday evenings (7-9pm) and Friday evenings (6-8:30pm).

Tickets include entry with buffet and one drink (there will be more drinks for sale).

A band spokesman said: "We ask that those coming bring one or two items of good quality unwanted clothing, bags or jewellery to add to the sale if they can."

Ll20 hit by powercut

Update ...

The power was back on again at around 10pm.

It's understood that one event affected by the outage was the St Collen's harvest supper at the Royal Hotel.

Luckily, however, the power didn't go off until after the main course had been served.


Llangollen suffered a power cut at around 8.45 this evening.
ScottishPower emergency line says a large number of properties in the LL20 area are affected and that teams have been despatched to deal with promlem caused by a fault in an overhead power line.

New ambulance response system gets green for go

THE Welsh Ambulance Service will embark on its pioneering new clinical model pilot this week.

 

Under the new model, those patients in imminent danger of death will get a life-saving response as quickly as possible.

 

All other patients else will have a response based on their clinical needs, but it might not always equal a trip to hospital – it could be a referral to NHS Direct Wales or their GP.

 

It is hoped the new model will end the current practice of sending multiple ambulances to a 999 call in order to meet the eight-minute target.

 

The pilot was established after the McClelland review recommended that Welsh Government move away from the eight-minute target to a more intelligent set of indicators, which put a greater emphasis on patient outcomes and experience.

 

The changes will come into effect on October 1.

 

Dr Brendan Lloyd, Medical Director at the Welsh Ambulance Service, said: “Since 1974 our ambulance service has been measured by the time it takes to reach emergency calls.

 

“Para-medicine and pre-hospital care has developed rapidly since then, but the focus is still on how many ambulances arrive at calls within eight minutes regardless of the clinical outcome.

 

“That’s why we’re moving away from time-based targets to look more at the quality of what we do for our patients once we arrive.

“Having an ambulance arrive at a patient’s door quickly does not necessarily translate to a better outcome for the patient, but having the right type of vehicle arrive at a patient’s door and timely transport to a treatment centre does.”

 

The new model will introduce three new categories of calls – red, amber and green – to replace the current system.

 

RED calls are immediately life-threatening calls – someone is in imminent danger of death, such as a cardiac arrest.

There is compelling clinical evidence to show an immediate emergency response will make a difference to a person’s outcome.

The eight-minute target will be retained for this group of calls with an initial target of 65% receiving an eight-minute response

AMBER calls refer to those patients with conditions which may need treatment and care at the scene and fast transport to a healthcare facility, if needed.

Patients will be prioritised on the basis of clinical need and patients will receive a fast, blue light response.

There will be no time-based target for amber calls, but a range of clinical outcome indicators will be introduced to measure the quality, safety and timeliness of care being delivered alongside patient experience information, which will be published every quarter.

GREEN calls are less urgent calls, which can often be managed by other health services, like GPs, or through self-care.

This category also includes calls from healthcare professionals, which will be handled in a different, planned way in the future.

 

Dr Lloyd added: “In order to meet the complex and growing demands on our ambulance service, we need to transform the way we deliver our services.

 

“This new model will make our ambulance service among the most progressive in the world.”

 

* There is a more information about the pilot on the Trust’s website.

 

You can also keep abreast of news and updates by following the Welsh Ambulance Service on Twitter @WelshAmbulance and on Facebook.