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The Champion • Wednesday 30 January 2013Pharmacy’s donation is justthe tonic for OAP bowlersA BOWLING club for senior citizens that wasthreatened with closure due to soaring costshas been saved – thanks to a last–minutedonation.Council cuts mean the LitherlandPensioners Bowls Club’s annual fee for pitchmaintenance has risen to £2,700 as opposedto the usual annual £300 fee.Members feared for the future of the club,which has some members who are in their90s and provides a useful service to those inthe community who would otherwise behousebound.But after a borough–wide appeal,chairman Keith Sandon, 65, managed tosecure the £2,700 funding fromBootle–based pharmacy, Instant Pharmaafter they responded to his appeal on theradio.Keith said: “I’m over the moon about thisas it is very important to keep fees low as weare all pensioners and we can’t afford anyhuge increases in membership fees.“We thought we would have had to put thepayments up and that would have scared offa lot of the members.“Some are in their 90s and if they didn’tplay bowls then they would just be sat insideall year.”Co–owner of the Bootle–based homedelivery pharmacy, Gail Seavor, fromCrosby said: “It’s great to be in a position tohelp these people and so that’s what we aredoing.“They were looking for businesses to putmoney towards their costs so I spoke to mybusiness partner Steven and we gave themthe donation.“This no–strings–attached donation willenable them to keep membership as low asthey possibly can for the next eight years.“We are a closed–door pharmacy who dohome deliveries and it just gets our nameout in the older patient groups but we wouldbe happy to support them in the future ifthey needed it.”Council leaderwarns of ‘morepain’ to comeReport by Natasha YoungFURTHER cuts are set to “inflictsignificantly more pain” on Sefton’scommunities, as the council revealedmore options to balance its budgetthis week.Yet another list of potential savingswill be discussed by the borough’scabinet members tomorrow(Thursday, January 31), as the localauthority attempts to tackle itsmulti–million pound deficit, whichhas increased by a further £7millionsince the Government Settlement forLocal Authorities was announced inDecember.The council was already strugglingtowards finding savings of £43m overthe next two years on top of the £64mit has already slashed, and describedthe new figure as a “massive blow”.As it now continues working towardsa two year budget plan and continuesits bid to “reshape the council to meetthe needs and priorities of the futurein such a financially restrictedenvironment,” the cabinet willconsider bringing in changes whichwill hit council staff as well as morecuts to services in the borough.Proposals to save £3m, rather than apreviously suggested £6m, by alteringstaff terms and conditions are beingrecommended for progression,subject to further consultation withtrade unions.If given the go ahead they will seeemployees’ pay frozen over the nexttwo years, apart from in schoolswhose governing body controls suchmatters, saving a projected £1.69m in2013/14 and £1.5m in £2014/15.Meanwhile the four–day shutdownof many of the council’s buildings andservices over the Christmas period isalso proposed to continue.New savings options to be discussedby the cabinet include “redefining”the information, advice and guidanceprovided to young people through the‘Some of the savings we havealready had to make have hada devastating effect on ourcommunities and they arelikely to be hit hard again’Connexions service; reducing thecouncil’s subsidy to Formby Pool andin return varying the Formby PoolTrust and Formby Land Trust’scontract to allow them to chargehigher rates to users and extend theirlease of operation; and no longersupplying, installing and maintaining11 Christmas trees across the boroughor financially supporting Chrismascelebrations.A review of support packages forchildren with additional needs is alsoproposed, along with integratingdrugs and alcohol services in theborough; charging the full council taxrate for properties empty for morethan a month, rather than the current50%; reducing the number of areacommittees across the borough fromseven to three; reducing thegovernance structure of the councilalong with the number of meetingswhich are held; running the alreadytrimmed back Local History Servicethrough the voluntary sector ratherthan council; and also exploring anin–house management option andinviting tenders to take on theSouthport Theatre complex in a bid tosave £100,000.Previously discussed optionsincluding the recharging ofmaintenance and utility costs forjunior sports teams and also strippingback mayoral services to the statutoryminimum are recommended to not beprogressed at this point, while cabinetBmembers are also expected to confirma strategic review of parking servicesand hold off on controversial on andoff–street parking charge increasesuntil 2014/15.Sefton Council leader, CouncillorPeter Dowd, said: “It is hard to believehow this level of cuts in Sefton couldbe seen as fair. Some of the savings wehave already had to make have had adevastating effect on ourcommunities, and they are likely to behit hard again.“Making cuts of £43 million for thenext two years was bad enough butnow we are faced having to makedecisions which will inflictsignificantly more pain for ourcommunities.“These further cuts, now totalling£50 million, are as a direct result ofthe Government reducing its fundingto Sefton Council.“The council is currently consultingon a range of options and this willcontinue. But we have also had tolook, once again, at our budgetoptions and cut deeper into services sothat we can balance our budget –which we are legally required to do.”No final decisions will be made untila meeting of the full council at the endof February where the budget will beset.Consultation continues around someof the options and more details can befound at www.sefton.gov.ukSCHOOLS across Bootle saw adecrease in exam success in theGCSE performance tables,which were published lastweek.Although the results showed amoderately high percentage ofBootle students achieving fiveor more grades A* to C at GCSElevel there was a distinctdecrease in the figures from lastyear.Hillside High School recorded42% of pupils achieving at leastfive GCSEs A* to C includingEnglish and Maths, comparedwith 47% in 2011.St Ambrose Barlow CatholicCollege topped the board forthe Bootle area with 51% ofstudents attaining five or moreVisit us @ www.ChampNews.com • 3Fall in percentageof pupils gainingA* to C grades inGCSE examsReport by StephanieO’ConnorMERSEYHOME BUYERSGot an interesting story to tell?Champ Newsdesk 01704 3924000800 096 3635merseyhomeA* to C grades, but again, thiswas a drop from the 58% theschool recorded for 2011.The former St George ofEngland Specialist EngineeringCollege, which has now mergedwith St Wilfred’s to form thenew Hawthornes, also went outon a low showing a 10–pointdrop in the tables.In 2011, 54% St George’spupils gained at least 5 A* to Cgrades in the Key Stage 4exams.This was shown to drop to 44%in results published in the mostrecent league table.There were no figurespublished for The Hawthornes.Savio Salesian College alsorecorded a drop in studentsreaching the top grades.According to the table, 39% ofstudents scored five or more A*to C grades in their GCSEscompared to 43% the yearbefore.We Buy Houses!Quick Decision to Quick Completion• Any Property, Any Area, Any Condition• Probate And InheritedProperty Specialists• Repossessions Stopped At Any Stage• Legal Fees Paid. 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