Morris men lose battle for extra day holiday

I STARTED taking Orkambi in a clinical trial nearly 1,000 days ago.

Vertex initially supplied it to 500 Irish CF patients aged over 12 and the trial was doubleblinded – the drug I was taking could have been a placebo.

While I and my consultant did not know whether it was real, I am convinced it was, based on the amazing results after a few months.

My weight started rapidly going up – in a month I gained about 10kg, which for someone with CF, is amazing.

I also noticed how much I had grown in height.

My lung function didn’t increase much, maybe about four to five per cent, but it kept it stable.

I feel so much better overall. I can go for longer walks, I can MORRIS dancers have lost their fight for an extra Bank Holiday next year.

The Sweeps Festival sees Morris dancers and medieval re-enactors from all over Britain descend on Rochester in Kent over the first weekend in May.

This was set to be Saturday 2nd, Sunday 3rd and Monday 4th next year.

But the Government has switched the traditional Bank Holiday date to Friday, May 8, to mark the 75th anniversary of the end of the Second World War in Europe.

Morris dancers marched on Parliament last month to protest against the plans. They claimed the switch would cause “major damage” to local economies, and wanted an extra Bank Holiday created instead.