Mistake again not to prioritise asthmatics
THE Phoenix Theatre opened in 1963 as a 262-seat arena in Upper Brown Street, Leicester.
At the height of its success in the 1980s it employed about 80 staff and was a hub of creativity for new writers – including the much-missed Sue Townsend – and staged productions nationally acclaimed productions such as The Hobbit and Ms Townsend’s The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole.
The Haymarket Theatre was constructed in 1973 and the
Phoenix was renamed the Phoenix Arts Centre. The two venues continued to operate until the Phoenix closed as a theatre in 1987 and took on a new role as home for contemporary art, film and live performance. In May 2014, it was renamed The Sue Townsend Theatre, in memory of the writer, who died in April of that year.
1: From the Leicester Mercury, February 1973: “Whatever Leicester City Council decides about the future of the Phoenix Theatre building, when the curtain goes up at the new Haymarket civic theatre, it will involve the Flying Phoenix Theatre Company. The company, which handles the Phoenix work among young people, now divides its time between the interior of a large green van, touring schools and a workshop in King Street where they can’t have an audience.” Our picture shows the schools theatre caravan being loaded by Mick Moore, left, and Peter Mansell. 4 2: Liver Birds star Nerys Hughes (flowery bikini) as Sarah, and Jennifer Hilary as Milly, in Bodywork in August 1972
3: Gangsters with a 1939 Cadillac for Bertolt Brecht’s The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui by Leicester Phoenix Theatre Company in April 1979
4: Joss Buckley as Professor Herbert Sherbert in Bernie’s Barmy Garden, written by members of Phoenix Theatre Company for Children, in May 1976
ONCE again the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has ignored asthmatics in their new list of who to prioritise for the Covid vaccine.
They should be ashamed of themselves. My sister who is in her mid20s missed being in group six as she had not had enough courses of oral steroids.
She is a key worker and this is affecting her mental health.
A friend of hers said GPs can move patients into a higher priority group.
Her GP is refusing to do so, despite explaining over the phone, in tears, that she is in fear for her life. She’s not sleeping. This is becoming a postcode lottery.
Asthma is a medical condition affecting the lungs – so why delay the vaccine to them when Covid attacks the lungs?
An asthmatic relative who is in her 40s contracted Covid in October and has been on oxygen since she left hospital.
Several of friends and family (all asthmatic) have been put on stronger or additional medication since testing positive for Covid.
This is costing the NHS more money. Yet JCVI is basing its decisions on deaths, not on long-term conditions which asthmatics are more prone to.
Unless the JCVI/government change their minds, many asthmatics under 50 will die.