Sunday Snippets 14 February 2021

Welcome to “Sunday Snippets” a weekly feature from birkenhead.news. It is a weekly round-up of our most popular stories from the last seven days.

Orrets Meadow School, Moreton, awarded ‘ADHD Friendly’ school status

Orrets Meadow School in Moreton has been awarded the prestigious ‘ADHD Friendly School’ award by the ADHD Foundation, for their work with children with ADHD in the last academic year.

Based in Moreton, Wirral, Orrets Meadow School has been recognised as an outstanding learning environment for children with ADHD. This accolade is awarded to schools that are committed to supporting children, whatever their particular needs, to improve their life chances through education.

Orrets Meadow School has an array of support structures and strategies to ensure that children with ADHD can access the curriculum. In addition, thorough staff training has been provided by the ADHD Foundation to ensure that teachers are able to support and get the best out of their neurodiverse students.

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Meet ‘Spiky’, who won the hearts of birkenhead.news readers

Wirral Hedgehog Hospital was set up in 2018, when Mandi Roberts, who always had a passion for hedgehogs, saw a need for a treatment centre for the spiny mammals.

birkenhead.news spoke to Mandi about the Neston based hospital and the work that it does in caring for injured and orphaned hedgehogs. “Our aim is to treat hedgehogs from the local area who are found by members of the public and release them back into the wild.”, Mandi explained.

“Hedgehogs are found for a number of reasons some are poorly which forces them out in the daytime, some get injured, trapped or stuck in places and need help and some are orphans in need of hand-rearing.”, she said.

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Results of West Kirby residents’ survey released

Over 1000 residents and businesses in West Kirby have taken part in a landmark survey on the town’s future.

The survey was commissioned by One West Kirby, a new Community Interest Company set up by a group of local residents.

David Rawlinson, one of the founding members of One West Kirby, said, “We’d like to thank all those who took the time to complete the survey.

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Ideas to keep kids & teens entertained during half-term, lockdown, and beyond

Back in December, Gail Jenkinson called into her local shop straight after a Tae Kwon Do lesson, still wearing her martial arts gear. “As I emerged with my bags of shopping, I could see some teenagers pulling down some of the town’s Christmas decorations.”, she said.

“I shouted something along the lines of ‘Hey, get away from there’, they turned, took one look at my martial arts suit, and fled!”

Gail told birkenhead.news that she found it amusing because “it was just like the Only Fools and Horses episode when Del & Rodney are dressed like Batman and Robin.”

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Birkenhead’s Dock Cottages: The rise and fall of a local landmark

Queen’s Buildings, known locally as the Dock Cottages, occupied a small triangular piece of land near to St. James’s Church in the North End of Birkenhead.

The construction of the buildings was completed in 1847 and were of such interest that they warranted a sizeable entry in the 1848 edition of the ‘British Almanac and Companion,’

The reason for their inclusion was not because these were quaint contryside style cottages, but a brand new style of building imported from Scotland – the tenement.

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Mersey Arts Zone: New Brighton’s very own creative space

Dawn Reck moved to New Brighton from Liverpool 20 years ago but she missed the city and its culture. In 2019, Mersey Arts Zone (MAZ) was born of an idea from her creative mind.

birkenhead.news spoke to Dawn about the whats, whys, and wherefores of Mersey Arts Zone. “At the start of my career, I worked with Bryan Biggs at The Bluecoat in Liverpool, the oldest contemporary gallery in the U.K.”, she said.

“I was living off Lark Lane in Liverpool in the 80’s which had a thriving artistic community and still does today.  Some years later, I moved to Wirral and I worked in the charity sector for the last 14 years and decided to leave my job as a Partnership Manager.”, she continued.

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Wirral Wombles wandering litter-pickers pick up litter wonderfully!

‘Wirral Wombles’ is a Wirral-wide collective of people who pick litter from the highways and byways, pavements and parks, the length and breadth of the borough.

Andrea Cutts and her sister, Lindsey Whitley, founded the Wirral Wombles and birkenhead.news spoke to Andrea about her inspiration and aims for the group.

“We both love the outdoors, and Wirral,” said Andrea of her and her sister. “We have been litter picking in our own small way for a couple of years now.”

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How to wear a face mask properly!