Don’t ignore cancer signs

APRIL is Bowel Cancer Awareness Month and Macmillan Cancer Support is encouraging people to be aware of the signs and symptoms of the disease.

Bowel cancer is the UK’s fourth most common cancer. In the UK in 2013-2015, on average more than four in 10 (44%) of new cases were in people aged 75 and over.

It is also very treatable and the earlier it is diagnosed the easier it is to treat.

Knowing what changes to look for and when to see your doctor could make a real difference. Don’t be scared or embarrassed and don’t ignore them, if you have symptoms. Get them checked.

Men and women are advised to see their doctor if they have any of these symptoms: Bleeding from your bottom. Blood in your poo (stools or bowel motions) for three weeks or more.

Looser poo or diarrhoea that lasts for four weeks or more.

Pain or a lump in your tummy or back passage.

Feeling like you haven’t emptied your bowel properly after going to the toilet.

Losing weight for no obvious reason or feeling more tired than usual for some time.

Most people with these symptoms do not have bowel cancer – they can be caused by other things. But don’t try to diagnose yourself, see your doctor. If you do have cancer, the sooner it’s found, the more likely it is to be successfully treated.

If you need support or just want someone to talk to, call Macmillan Cancer Support free on 0808 808 0000 or visit macmillan.org.uk

Sue Green Senior information development nurse

Macmillan YOUR report covering SRTF member Eric Woodcock’s dissatisfaction with SouthportManchester train services as proposed by Northern from May made interesting reading.

I too am well aware of the efforts being made to resolve the problem of timetabling with Northern.

Surveys show there is a strong demand for train services to both the north and south sides of Manchester which is in the ratio of 60% Piccadilly, 40% Victoria.

The reason for the major change to the timetable by Northern is complex, but one sincerely hopes that Northern’s aspiration to provide an all-day service to Manchester Piccadilly again at some time in the near future comes to pass.

Of local interest, as announced on OPSTA’s (Ormskirk-PrestonSouthport Travellers Association) website is the information that all trains will call at Meols Cop from the start of the new schedules.

This station continues to be well used, and the effect will be that roughly two daytime trains per hour will be available, as well as the standard hourly evening and Sunday trains.

Meols Cop has not enjoyed as good a train service as this will be for many years, since the loss of the frequent local electric trains in 1964 – when the town had its own dedicated local electric rail network serving St Lukes, Meols Cop, Hesketh Park, Churchtown and Crossens. One has to be over a certain age to remember them!

Another positive note is that Ormskirk-Preston train services, as you have reported, are expected to become hourly from May 20 on weekdays only.

This is just one welcome part of the jigsaw needed to be put back together to reinstate Southport’s rail links with Ormskirk and Preston – and, coupled with the two trains an hour service on the Manchester line all of which call at Burscough Bridge, it may be well worth the 10 minutes walking time to Burscough’s other station, Burscough Junction, to connect with the improved services to Preston and Ormskirk.

Still better of course would be the reinstatement of the Burscough South Curve between the two Burscough stations, all half a mile of it.

All it needs is a determined resolve from our national and local political leaders to get this useful link restored.

As a short rail line one might not make a business case for it in isolation. But its true benefit lies in the connectivity it would give to at least 200,000 people living in West Lancashire and North and East Sefton which takes in Maghull, Aughton, Ormskirk, Burscough, and of course Southport, for a start.

Throw in Preston, and there you have an excellent potential link to East Lancashire, the Fylde Coast, the West Coast mainline to Scotland and the Lake District.

As a holiday resort, I believe that Southport has suffered very unfairly over the years as rail links were taken away.

Older readers may remember that under the 1960s Beeching plan, it was even planned to get rid of the Liverpool-Southport line.

Thank goodness it is still with us, in the shape of Merseyrail, nowadays also directly serving the stations of St Michaels, Aigburth, Cressington and Hunts Cross as well as Liverpool South Parkway (replacing the old station of Garston) and once reached by the Cheshire Lines Railway from Southport’s former Lord Street Station, now home to the Travelodge Hotel.

I urge all Visiter readers who care passionately about the town’s rail transport links to support the efforts by all bodies who are beavering away hard at the task of improving the lot of the town’s rail users. John Eccles via email

30-DAY VEGAN PLEDGE

THIS June will mark Animal Aid’s first ever Summer Vegan Pledge – a 30-day vegan initiative that gives