June 28, 2007

2:06pm Friday 29th June 2007

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HARD on the heels of the unwelcome news from Ceramaspeed comes the devastation to parts of Wyre Forest by unexpected and probably unpredictable flash floods.

The damage to or loss of treasured personal belongings must be heartbreaking and the renovations to property cause huge problems for the families involved even if they do have insurance to help them.

For those without insurance the chaos must appear to be insurmountable. A statement in the House last Tuesday pointed to the Bellwin Scheme, a financial assistance scheme for Councils in whose areas there has been flood damage causing risk to life and damage to property but having made inquiries into this, the exclusions and conditions are so tight that the likelihood of help is disappointingly small. I hope local appeals will be supported.

This personal heartbreak is accompanied by severe damage to the Severn Valley Railway, one of our main tourist attractions and boosts to the local economy.

Because of the national interest in this memorial to our industrial heritage there is hope that a national appeal for help will be successful in addition to approaches to large organisations interested in the maintenance and success of the railway.

Last weekend I was introduced to another charity supporting the NHS without centralised funding.

The Severn Freewheelers are a group of dedicated motor cyclists who are turning their hobby into "free at the point of service" transport between all NHS facilities in Gloucesters-hire, Worcestershire, Hereford-shire and further afield by working with sister organisations.

Thanks to their major sponsors - Bikesure, Castrol and QinetiQ - and many other supporters they can provide an on-call service 365 days a year covering evenings and nights, weekends and holidays for the despatch of medical items between NHS hospitals and out-of-hours centres.

Their fleet of adapted BMW bikes, obtained at generously discounted prices, are an incentive to join as a volunteer and to obtain an Advanced Motor Cycling Certificate which is a condition to qualify for riding these superb machines.

They are always looking for help by sponsorship or volunteering through their duty co-ordinator on 07005 968 687 or ww.severnfreewheelers.co.uk The smoking ban in enclosed public places comes into force this weekend.

Thank goodness it does include the House of Commons which will make the Members' Smoking Room redundant.

Encouraging reports from Italy show that within a short time of introducing their similar ban last year the incidence of heart attacks fell significantly. This is thought to be due to reduction in particulates in smoky atmospheres that are inevitably inhaled and increase blood stickiness which can worsen narrowing of coronary arteries even during short exposure.

By the time you read this Gordon Brown will have named important Government ministers.

His stated support for the NHS suggests he will have thought long and hard about his Health Secretary. I hope he will not remove acknowledged effective and approachable ministers.