Maximum R 'n B at The Ash Tree; The Serious Chord Squad.

Saturday night and we were late getting to The Ash Tree in Ashford; I've been battling McAfee and McDonalds lately - fighting two multinational corporations at once is too much.

It's all to do with Wi Fi - you don't want to know!

 

 

This is the front row of 'The Serious Chord Squad' in full voice....except that the pub seems to have been forced to fit a noise limiter by the local authority.

 

It's possible this isn't a suitable venue for 'No Lip'!

 

The SCS had problems; every so often the policeman on the wall cut out the sound, just when it was getting interesting.

This is 'Maximum R 'n B' after all, or it would be if it was given half a chance.

SCS are on face book and they are starting to get dates locally. Judging by the full house at The Ash Tree there's a bit of a following too.

Neil Harris
(a don't stop till you drop production)

Home:  helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com

Contact me: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com

Patients; the last to hear about problems.

Ashford and St. peter’s NHS Foundation Trust has a number of problem areas but it’s PR department isn’t one of them. There’s a constant stream of good news stories for the local press.

Bad news? They don’t talk about that if they can help it.

So while you can read this story in “Runcorn and Widness World”, you won’t hear much about it around here.

The news is that Whiston hospital’s Cancer department is going to mentor cancer services at Ashford and St. Peter’s under the ‘buddy’ system.

It’s a great idea; where a hospital does something well they lend their staff to help a trust that isn’t doing very well to help it get its act together.

It means that the poorer hospitals learn best practise from the best.

How could I object to that?

I don’t.

My gripe is that the ill advised merger with Guildford’s Royal County Hospital is meant to allow Ashford to extend its cancer services to attract new business (yes – trusts now "compete" with each other so they need to woo business from other hospitals).

The problem is that cancer patients were the last to hear that there was anything wrong.

Let’s hope the buddy system works;

 

Runcorn and Widnes World

Whiston Hospital to 'buddy' another hospital to help improve the care of cancer

patients

First published Friday 13 February 2015  in News  

 

A PIONEERING buddy scheme is set to improve the care of cancer patients in

hospitals.

 

Whiston and St Helens hospitals have been chosen to help share their positive

experiences with another hospital in Surrey.

 

St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust was identified by the cancer patient experience survey as being one of the most highly rated by patients.

 

It will be mentoring Ashford and St. Peter's Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in

Surrey to help them improve their patients’ experience of care.

 

Ann Marr, chief executive of St Helens and Knowsley NHS Trust , said: “We’re really pleased to be part of this important project.

 

“We have a lot of respect for our buddy trust for taking part in the scheme too.

 

“It shows a real commitment to improving patients’ experience of care to take

part.

“We’re looking forward to sharing some of the work we’ve done at Whiston and St Helens hospitals and supporting them to try out new ways of working.

“I’m sure both sides will learn a lot from this experience.”

The buddy scheme is being run by NHS Improving Quality, the national NHS

improvement organisation.

The aim of the scheme is to spread and accelerate innovative practice via peer

to peer support and learning.

Neil Harris

(a don’t stop till you drop production)

Home: helpmesortoutstpeterslogspot.com

Contact me: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com

 

Water on the brain.

Sunday morning, while we waited for the shops in Staines to open, we went for a walk along the Thames at Penton Hook Lock.

It's a great bend in the river - in America it would be called an 'Oxbow' because it's so pronounced - it has a very narrow neck.

In the past, Staines was a point in the river where there was a sharp fall in ground level and the river broke up into a series of smaller streams and rapids. As a result it was a place where stone age man had a chance of fording the river.

The rapids must have covered quite a big area from Ash...ford (which is now Ashford) to Laleham which is where Penton Hook Lock is. When the Romans came they also forded the river at Staines and then built a series of bridges over the streams. As a result, they named Staines "Ad Pontes"...The Bridges.

Anyway, in the 19th century, the Victorians tamed the rapids at Staines and in the process built a lock and weir at Penton Hook Lock.

It's still quite a sight even when the river is low, as it was on Sunday.

It was also freezing cold with a wind that cut straight through you.

Neil Harris

(a don't stop till you drop production)

Home:  helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com

Contact me: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com

Friday night Gelato.

We're now in the second week of 2015 and quite frankly it is time this year started to make a bit of an effort.

I've spent the last week doing stuff no one wants to do and I've been ill. Robyn's been at work and suffering.

Friday night after work, we met up in Ashford.....to eat icecream;

And we are talking Gelato!

It's 'Pebbles' on Ashford High street and they have a website if you want to take a look.

We spent a very long time choosing, and because it was a warm evening (for January) we sat on a bench by the road, eating it slowly while the world passed by.

 

 

 

Here, you can see Robyn modelling our icecreams; mine is the cone on the left which was Rum and Raisin and coconut while Robyn chose a tub with Salt Caramel and Brownies and Beanberry Coffee.

 

Yummy!

 

 

We spent a pleasant time watching talking and laughing.

 

Opposite us was the empty multi-storey car park where the kids hang out after school (until the police come round).

 

We watched them dancing to their smartphones.

 

It was ridiculously nice, given that Ashford is one of those town's that the world passed by.

 

There was something magical about it.

 

Neil Harris

(a don't stop till you drop production)

 

Home: helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com

 

Contact me:  neilwithpromisestokeeps@gmail.com