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Thursday, May 20, 2021

Newbury Weekly News

HUNGERFORD & LAMBOURN

22km of sewers are cleared in West Berks Thames Water tackles blockages as problem of fat put down drains rises

A NEW site offering Cov- id-19 vaccinations is now live in Newbury. Boots UK launched its vac- cination site at the North- brook Street store on Satur- day, May 8. The vaccine is administered by Boots phar- macists as the retailer sup- ports NHS England in vacci- nating the nation. Boots programme director for vaccines Nick Sunder- land said: “We are incredi- bly proud to be supporting the NHS to deliver Covid-19 vaccinations – our stores are conveniently located and ac- cessible. We look forward to welcoming patients over the coming days and weeks.” Patients will be invited directly by the NHS to book their Covid-19 vaccination ap- pointment at the Boots New- bury pharmacy. The opening of the Boots site follows news that the vaccination hub at Newbury Racecourse will close in June. The hub, run by GPs from nine district surgeries, said it Vaccinations at Boots was being wound down to al- low staff to “focus on provid- ing core primary care servic- es from practices again now that life is beginning to return to some level of normality”. A further vaccination site is also being set up in the Kennet Shopping centre and it was hoped that the first vac- cines would be taking place there this coming weekend. But all clinics have had to be cancelled at the site after a “vaccine delivery issue”. In a post on Facebook, the team behind the Kennet Shopping Vaccinations said: “Unfortunately we have had a vaccine delivery issue from NHSE this week. Therefore we have to cancel all clinics this weekend. “We are working through cancellations, unfortunately this is a very manual process. “Once cancelled you will be able to rebook for next week. Bookings are live for 27th, 28th and 29th May. “Apologies for any incon- venience this may cause you.”

By LIAM HEADD liam.headd@newburynews.co.uk @liamh_nwn

TESCO stores in West Berkshire are to hold an extra food collection this summer in support of chil- dren and families in need. The donations will be giv- en to anti-poverty charities, such as the Trussell Trust and FareShare. The collection will take place at Newbury Express stores between July 12 and August 28. In addition, there will be a collection at the Lon- don Road Superstore between July 15 and July 17. Tesco UK and Northern Ireland CEO Jason Tarry said: “The Trussell Trust and FareShare face extra de- mands during the summer, She found three like-mind- ed people by chance recently, when they all pitched in to help her with a canal rescue. “Between the four of us we managed to rescue two duck- lings and we have now formed a ‘duck watch’ group,” she said. “None of us knew each other before, but we now have nets and a yard and it’s a real A GROUP of animal lovers have set up a duck rescue squad in Newbury after coming together to save some tiny feathered friends on the canal. Newbury’s very own ‘duck lady’ Emma Bateman has spent lockdown shielding on her boat in the town centre, to ensure her husband could keep working, and this has meant she has been able to keep a close eye on the wildlife around her. “We urge all our customers to only flush the three Ps – pee, poo and toilet paper – as well as binning fats and oils rather than pouring them down the sink.” The work included using high-powered water jets to blast blockages and powerful vacuums to suck them out. Engineers even had to use hand tools to break down some of the more steadfast blockag- es and carried out extensive surveying of the sewers, in- cluding using remote camer- as attached to small floating barges, to help identify any blockages or defects. Areas where sewers were cleaned have seen internal flooding and pollutions halve in the last year, while emer- gency clearances went down by almost one-third. However, the number of blockages in public sewers in West Berkshire caused by fats and oils rocketed up by almost 10 per cent to 160, which may be due to more residents cook- ing at home during the pan- demic.

THAMES Water engineers have cleared more than 22km of sewers in West Berkshire over the past year, helping protect cus- tomers and the environ- ment from flooding. The underground pipes, stretching the equivalent of four loops around Donnington Castle and Snelsmore Com- mon, have been swept since April last year using a range of techniques, from hi-tech camera technology as part of the company’s digital revolu- tion to hand tools on the most stubborn blockages. The work was part of a re- cord cleaning programme across the Thames Valley and London, which saw 1,500km of sewers inspected and cleared to ensure they can safely take away the wastewater of mil- lions of customers without be- ing blocked by obstacles like fatbergs. Despite the disruption

caused by the coronavirus pandemic, Thames Water’s haul included a record-break- ing 190km in February alone. The water company has now set an ambitious target of 2,300km next year, the equiva- lent of a sewer stretching from London to Athens, with more than 30km of sewers in West Berkshire due to be cleared by the end of this year. Thames Water’s head of waste networks Matt Rimmer said: “Despite not being the most glamorous job, battling fatbergs and other blockages in our sewers is absolutely

vital in ensuring we’re able to safely take away the waste of our millions of customers. “Once again we’ve carried out a record amount of clean- ing this year but we aren’t stopping there and have ambi- tious plans to go even further to keep our sewers flowing as smoothly as possible to help protect our customers and the environment. “Sewers can be unpleasant places and some of the things we find in our pipes highlight just how important it is to en- sure nothing gets in there that shouldn’t.

‘Rescue squad’ saves ducklings

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will continue to be the case for many months.” Trussell Trust chief execu- tive Emma Revie, said: “No- one should face the indignity of needing emergency food. “Yet in the last year, food banks in our network provid- ed record numbers of emer- gency food parcels to people struggling to afford the essen- tials. “This is not right, but we know we can build a better future. “Thanks to the incredible ongoing generosity of Tesco, we are thrilled that customers will be able to support food banks during the Summer Food Collection.” “I picked up a Tesco bag that was full of water,” she said. “I was tipping it out and there was something in there. I started pouring more slowly thinking it may have been a rat and then I realised it was a really cold, tiny duckling.” Having already been given a duckling found on a road by a family and having expe- rience of rearing abandoned ducklings before, she took it home to be checked by a vet. A week later, having spent many hours each day putting a splint on its broken foot, Mrs Bateman handed both ducklings over to another lo- cal woman who reintroduces them to the river from the safety of her garden. Mrs Bateman plans to be- come a local volunteer for Windsor-based Swan Lifeline when Covid restrictions ease.

when children who would normally enjoy a healthy meal in school may miss out. “That is why we have decid- ed to hold this extra collection to help ensure that children across the UK can enjoy a happier and healthier sum- mer without missing out on meals.” FareShare chief executive Lindsay Boswell, added: “At FareShare, the demand for food from the communities we serve remains very high and, with the combination of the pandemic and many families struggling to afford to eat dur- ing the school holidays when free school meals are not available, we anticipate this Emma Bateman is caring for this injured duckling community thing.” A keen animal lover, she has also been nursing two small ducklings back to health after finding one trapped in- side a plastic bag on the canal earlier this month.

Tesco summer anti-poverty food collection in stores

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