NOVEMBER 2023 GLENFIELD GAZETTE online

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NOVEMBER 2023 GLENFIELD GAZETTE
Teenagers given
one million
antidepressant
prescriptions
FOR THE FIRST time in
the UK, doctors have
given out more than one
million antidepressant
prescriptions to teenagers -
in just one year.
Leading mental health experts
believe it is “further evidence of
a significant decline in the mental
health of young people on the back
of the pandemic.”
The figures reveal that in 2022
one in 300 children aged 13 had
been prescribed an antidepressant.
By the age of 19, one in 10
teenagers were taking them.
Dr Susie Davies, founder of
Parents Against Phone Addiction in
Young Adolescents says:
“The pandemic appears to have
exacerbated an already strong,
downward trend in well-being
which corresponds directly to
the increased popularity of the
smartphone and social media.”
NHS data reveals that one in
10 of 17 to 19-year-olds had a
“probable mental disorder” before
the pandemic, but this rose sharply
to one in four last year.
Marjorie Wallace, founder and
chief executive of the mental
health charity SANE, said that
normally children should only
be given antidepressants “as a
last resort”, but GPs were “left
with no choice because child and
adolescent mental health services
are overwhelmed.”
She said: “We urgently need more
specialist units, better training
for mental health staff and early
response to cries for help from
teenagers and their families.”
More than 432,500 under-18s
were referred to children and
young people’s mental health
services in the six months up to
February 2023, more than double
the same period pre-pandemic, or
three years earlier.
Antidepressants are prescribed
for a range of mental health
conditions, including depression,
anxiety, eating disorders and
obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Thine
A YORKSHIREMAN
wanted an inscription on
his wife’s grave to read:
‘She was Thine’.
The engraver mistakenly put
‘She was Thin’. The man wrote to
explain that they had left off the
‘e’. The next attempt read: ‘E’,
She was Thin.’
Walking Made Simple
Cllr. Roy Denney
IN MY ROLES both with the Local
Access Forum based at County Hall
and as a member of the Board of
Charnwood Forest I have spent
many years trying to encourage
people to walk more for their
health and general well-being and
to keep them out of cars as much
as possible to help the planet.
I always thought that if you can get them
walking for pleasure the habit will overflow
into day-to-day activities.
The two biggest barriers were fear and ignorance.
Not so much what they might meet
in the countryside but fear of getting lost.
A finger post saying footpath does not say
where to, how far, or how difficult. A very
small number do say how many miles but a
mile sounds a long way to people not used to
walking. We did an exercise outside Tesco’s
in Beaumont Leys a few years ago asking
people as they went in how far they walked
a week and what was the longest walk they
would consider. We then gave them pace
counters as they went in and showed them
how far they had walked during their shop.
Press release
New walkers’ map
and guide to
Charnwood Forest
This map at 1:25,000 is based upon the Ordnance
Survey but omitting detail of little relevance to
walkers. The addition of locally surveyed material
shows pubs, tearooms and permissive footpaths,
many of which are not on the OS data, as well as
open access areas. It results in an easy-to-read,
uncluttered map showing just what walkers need to
see.
The reverse of
the map is a
guide to the
area with
suggested
walks.
Available from numerous outlets for £6.99
or online from https://www.cordee.co.uk
Some amusing signs found outside CHURCHES
• Church carpark sign...FOR MEMBERS ONLY. Trespassers will be baptised.
• No God - No Peace. Know God - Know Peace.
• Free Trip to heaven. Details Inside!
Even we were surprised. Very few
were under ½ a mile quite a few ¾
of a mile and a good number a mile.
It also taught us to talk in minutes
not miles. A twenty-minute walk
sounds a lot less than a mile. I am
not sure what that said about their
decisiveness but it showed them
that half a mile is not far.
As for the fear of getting lost very
few people really know how to read
an ordnance survey (O.S.) map.
As a result, I commissioned a map
based on basic O.S. data with financial
backing from several authorities
and the Ramblers and set out
to make it far clearer than that of
the O.S. The basic map was created
for me by Mary Spence who has
been awarded an MBE for services
to cartographic design. The map is
at 1:25,000 but omits all the detail
of little relevance to walkers. I then
surveyed the area and added much
not on the O.S. to show pubs, tearooms,
access areas and permissive
footpaths. The result was an easyto-read,
uncluttered map showing
just what walkers need to see. That
map sold out and a second updated
edition was produced commercially
and most of those have gone and
I was considering another update
when the opportunity arose for a
major rethink.
The Leicestershire Footpaths
Association brought out a map of the
area in 1904 and I pointed out that
it was somewhat overdue an update
so they agreed to underwrite an update.
Coincidentally the Charnwood
Forest Regional Park changed its
name to a Geopark and made small
grants available to promote the park
supported by the Heritage Lottery
Fund. It was all coming together
very nicely so I spent the last six
months working on it.
That level of support enabled us to
go much further though, and the reverse
of the map is full of articles
and suggested walks.
• Searching for a new look? Have your faith lifted here!
• Outside one church is a picture of two hands holding stone tablets on which the Ten
Commandments are inscribed. A headline reads: ‘For fast relief, take two tablets.’
• When the restaurant next to a church put out a big sign with red letters that said,
‘Open Sundays’, the church reciprocated with its own message: ‘We are open on
Sundays, too.’
• Come in and pray today. Beat the Christmas rush!
The first edition won a number of international
awards and each edition
has improved on the last.
Early October saw Charnwood
Geopark host the 11th International
ProGEO Symposium.
(The International Association for
the Conservation of Geological
Heritage) and this map was
launched to celebrate it. Charnwood
Forest Geopark is making a case for
accreditation as a
U.N.E.S.C.O. Global Geopark which
will attract visitors from all over the
world. The Geopark is a project
bringing together partner organisations,
local authorities, user groups,
communities and businesses across
the region to celebrate and promote
learning about our unique heritage,
to support sustainable geotourism,
and to protect local sites.
The map will not make walking any
easier but it should make it simpler
and help people to not get lost.
I went into the local record shop and said ‘Have you still got the Troggs?’ He said ‘How dare you?’