Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
Fun in front of the camera
Last month the Advertiser featured the story of multi-award winning Airdrie photographer John Wilson launching education tutorials for photographers of all experience levels.
And we were so wowed by his creative, fun images, which normally involve putting his wife Carol and kids Jacob, eight, and Florence, five, into all sorts of exciting and unusual situations and positions, that we decided to share another selection with our readers.
John, 39, who runs his own firm called John Wilson Photography, said: “I think up all sorts of scenarios and my imagination takes off, like my family getting caught up in a giant snowball.”
To view John’s images, visit https:// www.wilsonphotography.co.uk, and his educational tutorials can be found at https://www.education. wilsonphotography.co.uk
Mears, in partnership with North Lanarkshire Council, has announced plans to take on 20 new apprentices, providing young people in the area with “outstanding career opportunities in a range of trades and skills”.
The successful applicants will get the opportunity to start a career repairing and maintaining thousands of tenanted properties and public buildings in their home towns.
The council’s vision is to ensure its plans support the local economy by creating new jobs for residents.
The partnership between Mears and the local authority to create new skilled jobs in the local area has become even more important during the past year.
A recent report has indicated that although the Scottish economy faces unparalleled economic challenges due to Covid-19, work-based learning through apprenticeships are key to the recovery.
Barry Duncan, managing director of Mears Scotland LLP, said “Each year we are committed to building on our self-delivery capacity through sustained investment in local talent.
“We had earmarked 11 apprenticeships for 2020 but this was hampered by the pandemic.
“This was a disappointment for everyone, however working in partnership with North Lanarkshire Council, we are pleased to announce a new intake programme for 2021 with an increase to 20 trade and modern apprenticeships.
“We want to give something back to the local community and it is a privilege to be in a position where we can create employment opportunities at this time.
“Our vision for North Lanarkshire is long-term and apprenticeships are an integral part of Mears’ philosophy.
“By offering people a first step on the career ladder we demonstrate our commitment to improving neighbourhoods, creating opportunities for local people and developing the next generation of our workforce to the very highest standards.
“I am proud to say that with these 20 new roles, Mears have created 170 apprenticeships with North Lanarkshire Council, with many going onto higher education.
“Life may start as an apprentice, but with a high proportion of our most senior people starting their working life as an apprentice, the opportunity to develop and grow is huge.
“We look forward to welcoming our new starts and helping them on their journey.”
Des Murray, council chief executive, added: “It’s thanks in no small part to the strength of our joint response to the coronavirus pandemic over the past 12 months that a further 20 apprenticeships are planned as part of the Mears strategic partnership. This is double the number of young people who have been recruited than in previous years.
“Our lives are shaped by the decisions we make. In my experience, choosing an apprenticeship can transform your life. They provide opportunity, training, experience, and reward effort. They enable choice and create prospects that can last a lifetime.
“My advice to all young people is that if you see such an opportunity – take it, shape it and make it your own.”
The strategic partnership housing and non-housing repairs and maintenance contract provides employment for 500 people across North Lanarkshire.
This sees teams of highly skilled tradespeople and office staff from Mears Group, in its link-up with the council, support and carry out the maintenance and repair of 36,700 tenanted properties and 1200 public buildings.
NHS Lanarkshire has delayed the reintroduction of nonurgent elective procedures due to continuing high numbers in intensive care.
The decision was taken in January to temporarily postpone all non-urgent elective procedures and a targeted range of outpatient appointments.
A number of clinically urgent and priority procedures were not affected.
This allowed the health board to focus acute service delivery on Covid-19 inpatients and emergency care.
Treatments for urgent cancer care remained in place and all three acute sites continue to operate an emergency service for theatres and diagnostics.
The number of patients being treated in Lanarkshire hospitals with Covid-19 dropped to 102 as of March 9, falling from a high of around 350 during the second half of January.
However, Covid ICU numbers remain high, and Judith Park, NHS Lanarkshire director of acute services, said: “The number of Covid-19 patients in our hospitals is falling. However, ICU numbers remain stubbornly high for both Covid and non-covid patients and there is still continued pressure on our resources.
“There are challenges to overcome before we are able to reintroduce non-urgent outpatient appointments
and planned procedures but we will continue to review this on a weekly basis.”
NHS boards last week reported 50 recently confirmed patients in ICU (for 28 days or less). This compares with around 220 in ICU at the peak in April 2020.
Judith added: “There are other challenges to consider such as availability and wellbeing of critical care staff, some of whom are redeployed, and we continue to have strict control measures in place
such as physical distancing measures which impacts on ward space.
“We are also busy caring for patients who don’t have Covid, as highlighted in the high number of non-covid patients we currently have in ICU.
“The safety of our patients and staff is of paramount importance and we continue to take all necessary action to ensure safe and effective patient care.
“The decision to postpone any appointment is not one that we take
lightly and I apologise for the impact this will have on patients. Most patients will receive a text message confirming the postponement of their appointment.
“A small number of appointments will still go ahead as scheduled. Appointments will be prioritised based on clinical need and those patients who are deemed clinically urgent will be rebooked.
“Patients will receive a letter, text message or voice message giving details of their new appointment.”
A song performed by students with additional support needs has given them the opportunity to express their feelings about lockdown.
The learners, numbering almost two dozen, from New College Lanarkshire have named the collective Virtually Here and recorded a video to accompany the track called Feeling Lost.
The main vocals are provided by college lecturer Alison Holmes but the students not only add their voices to the production, they also use Makaton in the video, a type of sign language that was thrown into the spotlight two years ago when 50 mums and 50 children used it in a carpool karaoke video, marking World Down’s Syndrome Day, which went viral.
Feeling Lost is set to go out on streaming services such as Spotify and can also be listened to via Alexa.
Kiera Ward, a lecturer in the college’s supported learning department, explained how it all came about: “My colleague and I have a class on a Friday afternoon. Alison is very musical and we thought , ‘why don’t we get the students to do a song on lockdown?’
“They have a range of additional support needs and we had them on a Friday for a few weeks and we were asking them how they were feeling about lockdown and what words they associated with it.
“Alison wrote the song using the words that the students came up with.
“Then, for a few weeks, we were singing it with the students and they used Makaton. Then they were sending us in videos of them performing it.”
Virtually Here is made up from students on three New College Lanarkshire courses; Raising your Potential, Towards Independence, and Ready for Volunteering.
Kiera said: “The students have worked so hard on it. They were absolutely buzzing.
“We’ve been working on it for a few months now but I still can’t watch it without crying.
“Alison sings the main vocals, I sing the chorus with her, and Stefan Connor – who is also a lecturer in the department – helped out with recording and mixing, and added some guitar and stuff on it.
“We’ve had a good response already and we want to get it out there and let people hear it, and let them know the experiences of coping during lockdown.”
Feeling Lost by Virtually Here is available on streaming services and the video can be viewed at youtube.com/ watch?v=2awunpixch8
A Monklands optician is urging residents to make their eye health a priority so they don’t succumb to one of the leading causes of blindness in the world – glaucoma.
Often called the “silent thief of sight” due to its gradual onset, more than 700,000 people in the UK are estimated to have the condition.
And this is predicted to increase by 44 per cent by 2035.
Yet, because it’s often symptomless, 50 per cent of glaucoma cases go undetected.
Based on its customer data, Specsavers predicts that around six million people in the UK have missed out on their eye test due to the pandemic, including more than half of its customers (55 per cent).
This means that signs of glaucoma aren’t being picked up.
Laura Mullett, ophthalmic director at Specsavers Airdrie and Coatbridge, said: ‘What is concerning for us as optometrists is that many people have missed their eye test due to the pandemic.
“At Specsavers, we identified 66 per cent fewer cases of glaucoma in 2020 than we did in 2019.
“When you consider that we perform almost half of all eye tests across the UK, this gives a good indication into how much glaucoma referrals will have dropped as a whole, which is an extremely worrying statistic.”
Laura added: “Glaucoma is one of the leading causes of blindness in the world, but what makes it even more concerning is that it is often symptomless.
“While it cannot be reversed, it can be successfully managed. This is why having an eye examination is so important as it can often detect any subtle changes before it is too late.”
The most common type of glaucoma, primary open-angle glaucoma, is hereditary. If members of your immediate family have glaucoma, you are at a much higher risk than the rest of the population.
Family history increases risk of glaucoma four to nine times; there are also several other risk factors it is important to be aware of too.
Visit www.specsavers.co.uk for more details or to book an appointment.
A Central Scotland MSP has hit out at the SNP Government for agreeing to allow hundreds of prisoners to vote in May’s Scottish Parliament election.
Graham Simpson says the party’s plan to let those serving sentences of less than a year vote is another example of “the SNP’S soft-touch justice system in action”.
Shadow Justice Secretary Liam Kerr brought forward a motion calling on the Parliament to ban prisoners from voting – but no other party supported the move.
Those serving sentences of less than 12 months include those convicted of sexual assault, attempted murder and drug offences.
Mr Simpson says it is “appalling that the SNP have given this move the go ahead, to allow prisoners to vote from the comfort of their cells, at a time when many people will have to change the way they vote”.
He added that people in his Central Scotland constituency will be “outraged that the SNP and other political parties have supported the move”, with only the Scottish Conservatives “consistently opposing any prisoners getting the right to vote since the plans were first brought forward”.
Mr Simpson said: “It is utterly shameful that the SNP and other political parties think it is the right thing to do by giving hundreds of prisoners the vote in May’s Scottish Parliament election.
“While many voters in Central Scotland will be changing their voting habits, these plans will allow prisoners to vote from the comfort of their cells.
“This is yet another example of the SNP’S soft-touch attitude towards criminals in action and will be met with outrage by people in Central Scotland.
“Only the Scottish Conservatives have opposed these plans since they were first proposed.
“We will also implement a Victims Law as our first act in the next Scottish Parliament to end the SNP’S soft-touch attitude once and for all. This debate showed victims are merely an afterthought for SNP ministers.”