Salute Keighley-Jade... our first lockdown hero
INSPIRATIONAL Southport mum Keighley-Jade Henshall has been named as the first Stand Up For Southport Lockdown Hero!
Keighley-Jade and her mum Clare will now enjoy a much-deserved overnight stay and breakfast in a superior double room at Bliss Hotel Southport and a meal for two at Trattoria 51 Southport.
Stand Up For Southport launched a competition to find our local Lockdown Heroes last week, as a way of highlighting and honouring some of the unsung heroes of the pandemic.
Thank you to everyone who responded with your heartwarming stories and nominations.
They included our ultimate winner, KeighleyJade Henshall, who was nominated by her proud husband, Jack Henshall.
Jack said: “My lovely wife gave birth to our third child during the first lockdown and a week later contracted Covid-19.
“She has an autoimmune disorder and battled through whilst homeschooling our eldest child.
“I feel she needs a welldeserved break as I’m an NHS worker who works between 48 and 60 hours a week, day and night.
“We have three children in total and as much as I would love for her to take me I think it would be lovely for her and her mum to spend some quality time together and I can finally put a shift in looking after the kids.
“Keighley-Jade is OK now. All the family is fit and well.
“Thank you for letting us know that KeighleyJade has been named as the first Stand Up For Southport Lockdown Hero. My wife and mother-in-law are so excited!”
Bliss Hotel Southport is looking forward to hosting them. The hotel, on the Promenade, has been open during lockdown, providing rooms for NHS staff and other key workers.
The venue is looking forward to being able to open fully to visitors from Monday, May 17 if the lockdown easing targets continue to be met.
Bliss Hotel Southport Sales Manager James Wood was moved to support the Stand Up For Southport Lockdown Hero initiative after seeing first hand the courage of local NHS staff in Southport during the pandemic.
He said: “I unfortunately lost my Grandad, Valentine Wood, to Covid19 in April last year. I was lucky that I was allowed onto the Covid Ward at Southport Hospital.
“I saw first hand what the frontline staff had to deal with, so we are more than happy to offer a free stay for Keighley-Jade and her mum!
“Both my grandparents went into Southport Hospital a year ago after being together for 60 years. “I’m afraid my Grandad never came out but my Gran, Pamela Wood, made a full recovery. “The support of the Southport Hospital staff during their stay and also when she came out was great.
“Truly what I saw on that ward, they are heroes.”
Trattoria 51 Southport was also delighted to support the Stand Up For Southport Lockdown Hero initiative.
The restaurant is situated on The Promenade in Southport and offers a delicious Mediterranean menu featuring pizza, pasta, sandwiches, salads, ice-cream and drinks.
The venue welcomes visitors for coffee, lunch, snack, dinner, a glass of Prosecco at the bar or a takeaway pizza or pasta dish.
Trattoria 51 owner Attilio Sergi said: “We were delighted to be able to reward such a worthy winner of this competition.
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“We saw all the entries and it was really emotional and heartwarming to see all of the comments.
“We are looking forward to welcoming Kayleigh to our restaurant soon.”
Stand Up For Southport owners Phil Gee and Andrew Brown said: “Over the past year we have been amazed at the many inspirational people we have in our town, many of whose stories we have been honoured to share through Stand Up For Southport.
“There are many using heroes in our town.
“We thought that launching our Lockdown Hero initiative would be a great chance to highlight some of the incredible people we have here.
“Thank you to everyone for your nominations. We would also like to say a big thank you to Bliss Hotel Southport and Trattoria 51 Southport for offering such fabulous prizes.
“Congratulations to our first winner, Keighley-Jade Henshall, and thank you to her husband Jack for nominating her.
“We very much hope that Keighley-Jade and her mum enjoy their welldeserved treat! We would love to be able to run another Lockdown Hero in the near future.”