Spotlight is on the year 1996
TODAY we have a group of very different pictures from September 1996.
Do any of these pictures bring back any memories for you?
There’s a good mix of 1990s football kits from Everton, Liverpool, Manchester United, Rangers and England in one picture. It shows a football team in Southport, just a few weeks after England had hosted Euro 96 and a year after Everton had won the FA Cup Final. Do you recognise this team?
Our next image shows a foundation stone being laid in Southport by Dr Tom Farley and Dr Margaret Farley and James
Hayes. But what was the building?
Then well-wishers at the Falstaff pub in Southport present a £600 cheque to Dr Karen Groves MBE from Queenscourt Hospice.
Dr Groves founded Queenscourt Hospice, which today cares for thousands of families across Southport, Formby and West Lancashire.
Next we have a presentation at a Slimming World group in Southport. Do you remember Slimming World meetings from those days? What were they like back then?
A picture taken in Cambridge Arcade shows some of the changes that have happened in Southport town centre.
In the foreground is Burton’s men’s clothing shop (now Clinton’s Cards); in the background is Hush Puppies, now Warren James Jewellers.
Also in the background – Chapel Street, now pedestrianised, was a three-lane road then!
Thousands of people have seen comedy legend Sir Ken Dodd at one of the many shows he performed in Southport over
A good mix of 1990s football kits from Everton, Liverpool, Manchester United, Rangers and England on this picture! It shows a football team in Southport in September 1996, just a few weeks after England had hosted Euro 96 and a year after Everton had won the FA Cup Final. Do you recognise this team?
the years. Here he is, in a promotional picture ahead of one of his many shows at Southport Theatre.
The RAF Battle of Britain Memorial Flight is pictured ahead of an appearance in Southport.
The flight boasted a lot of Second World War aircraft in those days! The BBMF regularly appears at
Southport Air Show, but usually with just three of these historic aircraft left flying these days.
“In my final year of school, I did work experience in a residential home and went into a position as a care assistant there. After a couple of years I had a personal tragedy that made me reflect on my career – I’d always been interested in make-up and beauty, so I did a course in fashion and worked for a major cosmetics firm.
“By 2012 I was travelling a lot, which left little room for anything else, so I decided to step away. The idea of working in care had never really left me and I think I have a natural affinity for the work – I’ve never been fazed by personal care.
“Now I work in sensory enablement. I primarily support customers who are being discharged from hospital to continue to live at home. From my initial role as a care worker, I was promoted to trusted assessor, so when we have someone we’re going to be supporting I’ll assess their needs, create a care plan, look at their medication and what steps we need to bring them back to live independently.
“My work supports people who have low vision or hearing to live an independent life. Some of them can be in a fraught, anxious, upset state of mind, and to be able to go in and unpick that and start to provide support that gives them that light at the end of the tunnel is incredibly rewarding.
“I remember one person who’d become so timid and withdrawn because of her low vision. At first she was too anxious to go out into the community, but we gave her the support she needed. Two years later, she was saying, ‘I’d like to see if there’s any possibility that I and my communication worker could start knife-throwing classes.’
“It’s hard to put into words that feeling you get when someone’s blossomed and regained themselves. If you could put it into tablet form and dish it out we’d be billionaires.
“Often, in care, the recruitment teams will look for candidates based on transferable skills and personal qualities, rather than qualifications.
“They’ll see if you have relevant experience, such as from previous jobs, or from raising children or caring for relatives.
“If you have the right personality and attitude, the organisation you work for will give you any support you need to get you geared up to do the job. The work is flexible – one of my colleagues was looking after her children in the day, but was free to do the evening shift and also worked weekends.
“If you’re even being drawn slightly towards adult social care, I’d say go for it. The training and support you need will be there. And there are so many different aspects.
“Start exploring, be confident and apply. You really can’t put a value on that difference you can make to someone’s life.”
Being able to offer that light at the end of the tunnel is so rewarding