Nurse flies east to help refugees fleeing war
Katie goes from audience to stage at top venue
APRACTICE nurse is flying to the PolandUkraine border to help with first aid for those fleeing the war with Russia.
Gill Bolton, who works as a practice nurse at Yorkshire Street Surgery in Rochdale town centre, is flying to the Polish border town of Medyka for eight days.
Gill, who turns 56 on Tuesday, is part of a group of three nurses who will be travelling to deliver medical support to those crossing the border from war-torn Ukraine.
Having already supported fleeing families in Poland, Gill said she wanted to go a step further to help the refugees.
“I wanted to go as I’ve been buying Airbnbs to help a family get to Poland by just donating money - and I wanted to do something else,” said Gill, who also works two days a week at Accrington’s Peel House medical centre.
“I posted on Facebook that I was planning to go out over Easter, and two girls replied saying they were planning to go out at the same time.
“We are going to be providing medical first aid at the border. I’m a diabeticspecialist nurse so I’m going to take some things out with me as people are leaving their homes without their insulin and things - so I’ll be helping with that.”
Gill, who moved to Milnrow from Southport three years ago alongside 17-year-old daughter Millie, said colleagues at the surgery and her local community have been helping to buy supplies for her trip.
Once in Poland, Gill will join a team of ten, including nurses from Canada and America.
She said: “I feel like I need to do it. Some people say they have a calling and I never understood what that meant and it was just one day my daughter said ‘what shall we do for your birthday? And I said ‘go to Poland?’
“My colleagues have been buying some things for me to take out there - they’ve been really supportive. The community in Milnrow have been fantastic supporting me.
“I’ve had some donations from them as well - it’s really good.
“They’re predominantly women and children coming over the border, but we’re prepared to help anyone - even if it means carrying bags, all three of us are prepared to do anything.”
A SINGER and songwriter is set to enchant audiences with her unique brand of soulful Americana infused with country, folk and blues at a celebrated music venue.
Katie O’malley, from Castleton, will be playing acoustic and singing with her hip-swaying Americana band at The Deaf Institute in Manchester on June 30 at 7pm.
The former Oldham College musical theatre student plays a varied set of covers from artists such as Fleetwood Mac, Primal Scream, Gregory Alan Isakov, Chris Stapleton and Etta James.
The songstress said: “I used to go to music venues like The Deaf Institute with my dad to see who is playing there and now I am playing there.
“I love how much the band behind me has helped me to belt my voice.
“I am really happy with the band and we have a signature sound.”
Bandmates have changed since the group’s creation four years ago but currently she works with drummer Charlie Morris, bassist Kevin Holt and electric guitarists Richard Neal and Luke Dodd.
Their 70s inspired music is a mix of Americana, Blues and Rock which features heavy guitar sounds and gravelly throttling vocals.
The talented northerner attended dance classes at
Castleton Community Centre with the Castleton School of Dancing when she was three-years-old and remained dedicated to her lessons for the next 20 years.
When Katie was 13 she received singing lessons but preferred finding her own way with music and began to train her own voice.
Her long love affair with music stemmed from her father who was always playing soul music.
The former Matthew Moss High School student joined the school’s yearly musical which gave her the confidence to start singing more often and began gigging a couple of years later.
Katie, who works part time as a nursing assistant at Manchester Royal Infirmary, said: “I love hearing the way soul artists sing.
“They have a way of singing that is so emotional and for me music is about feeling.
“Lyrical content and having something to say is just as important as having a good voice. Bob Dylan really inspired me.
“As a singer I love all the places I get to go and the ability to connect to people on a different level through my music.”
The singer and songwriter, who moved to Manchester, has released a variety of songs including Traveller, Devil’s got a Hold, Taste The Dirt, Feeling It, Heart of Gold,
Wasting Time, Wild West and Yoshino.
Katie filmed her music video for her song ‘Wasting Time’ at Healey Dell, a place she loves to visit to be near nature.
Her self-released catchy rhythms can be found on her Facebook page, Spotify and Youtube.
She has performed at Rochdale Feel Good Festival and at St Edmund’s Church in Falinge for a Folk and Blues fundraising night.
By the age of 16 she began to play the guitar and took lessons at Johnny Roadhouse in Manchester.
Katie explained how music can be used to spread powerful and meaningful messages.
She said: “My song Wild
West is about Manchester gang culture.
“At the time there were a lot of stabbings and one particular night I came home from work and outside my flat there was blood on the floor and tape drawn up so I wrote about that.
“It’s nice when you can write songs that have the potential to change how people see things and connect to them.”
She also collaborated with Adam Lewis from Manchester band The Watchmakers to create their song “Piece Of The Pie’’ which was featured on the hit Netflix film ‘’Kissing Booth 2” gaining over 66 million views in its first few weeks of broadcast.