IslingtonLife Blog

Get help to achieve your New Year’s resolution

Do you usually make a New Year's resolution that you just can't keep? Why not get a little help to achieve your goals in 2012?

Losing weight
NHS Choices says the key to losing weight is making realistic changes to your diet and level of physical activity that can become a part of your daily routine.

Quit smoking
Did you know you're up to four times more likely to quit smoking successfully if you go to your local NHS Stop Smoking Service and use stop smoking medicines, than if you try to quit using willpower alone? Call Smokefree Islington free on 0800 093 9030 or visit their website to find out what support may be right for you.

Cutting down on drinking
Why not use the NHS Choices interactive tools to calculate alcohol units, assess your drinking levels and track your drinking over time?

Get fit
Improving your fitness is a great goal, and Islington has got some great leisure centres and open spaces to help you get fit, or just great places to go to get you out and about.

Eat a better diet
The Change4Life website has tips on all the things that build on exercise to help keep you in tip-top form, like swapping less healthy snacks for better ones, eating smaller portions and getting your 5-a-day.

Have your say on key issues in Islington

This month sees the launch of the new Islington Online Citizens' Panel – an opportunity for all residents to put across their point of view on a range of key issues for Islington. 

If you become a member of the panel, you will be joining hundreds of other Islington residents who want to have their views counted. All you need to do to be involved is agree to let the council email you about ten surveys a year. These will ask you to tell us what you want and need from the services that the council provides. These could cover anything from the Olympics through to the way we help you stay healthy and warm at winter, and your answers could make a real difference to the way the council does things. 

To join the panel click here and simply submit your name and email address.

Save money on school lunches and get more money for your child’s school

Registering your child for free school meals could help you save up to £360 per year and also means that your school receives extra money.

Islington Council is urging parents whose children attend a local secondary school to check if they can receive the free meals. Those registering by 5 January could save up to £360 a year on their school lunch costs and the school will receive a £488 payment for every child registered. From September next year this payment – the pupil premium - will increase to £600 per pupil. This money helps schools to provide support such as extra tuition, learning assistants or after-school clubs and is absolutely crucial in Islington where 40 percent of children live in poverty.

The amount of funding allocated to each school for the 2012-13 financial year depends on the number of children registered as entitled to receive free school meals. Estimates show that Islington schools could receive extra payments of up to £155,000 each year, so it is important that all eligible parents register, even if they don’t want the free school meal.

Primary schools also receive a pupil premium, but since Islington Council began providing free school meals to all primary school pupils over a year ago, registration levels are high and the schools now receive their full quota of pupil premium payments.

Free school meals registration forms are available from schools or www.islington.gov.uk/freemeals

Watch out for mobile phone theft in Islington

The police and Islington Council are offering advice on keeping safe following a huge increase in mobile phone thefts in Islington recently. In November alone, 126 iPhones were snatched in the borough, many by thieves on bikes and mopeds. 

Lots of mobile phone thefts happen in crowded areas, near transport hubs and main roads, so if you use your mobile phone when you're out, please be aware and follow this advice:

• Watch out for bikes and mopeds - Thieves on bikes and mopeds are stealing phones in Islington, so don’t use your phone if someone could whizz by on a bike and grab it
• Move away from transport hubs - Don’t check your phone as soon as you leave a tube or train station - leave it a while, or walk into a shop to check it
• Stay alert - Don’t text while you’re walking as you will be less aware of what is happening around you
• Protect behind you - If you can, stand with your back against a wall when using your phone so nobody can come up behind you
• Don’t tempt thieves - Be discrete when using your phone, don’t leave it on the table in bars and restaurants, and don’t leave your bags unattended
• Register your phone - Register your phone and other property at www.immobilise.com – it can help recover your property and capture thieves. You will need your phone’s IMEI number, which you can find by typing *#06# into your phone, which will display a 15 digit IMEI number

We want everyone to feel safe this Christmas, so please do pass this information on to your friends and family.

Find out more here.

If your phone is stolen, report it by calling 101 (the non-emergency police number) or report the crime online here.

Islington People's Plaques - time to nominate!

From the time when Islington was no more than fields on the edge of London many remarkable people have lived here and fascinating events have taken place. 

Islington Council has been unveiling plaques to former residents since 1970. The People’s Plaques scheme was started this year so the public can have a say about the plaques that are put up. Celebrity is not a requirement, only that the individual, building or event has had a positive impact locally or further afield and is associated with the borough.

In 2011 we unveiled plaques to Crystal Hale, the saviour of the City Road Basin, John Wright, the founder of the Little Angel Theatre (plaque pictured above) and to the Peasant’s Revolt.  In the New Year plaques for Douglas Adams, writer of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, and Edith Garrud, suffragette and jujitsu expert will be unveiled.

We have already received nominations for plaques for 2012 and hope to beat the tally of votes from last year! Hopefully the scheme makes people think about the borough’s history and feel connected with the events and people that have come before them. Nominations close on 31 January 2012.

To get involved email your suggestions to local.history@islington.gov.uk or visit  www.islington.gov.uk/peoplesplaque

Finsbury Park rail closures over Christmas and New Year

Finsbury Park rail station will be closed from 9.30pm on 24 December to 4am on 27 December, and between at 1am on 1 January and 8pm on 2 January. During this time, Network Rail will be carrying out rail maintenance and upgrade works between Finsbury Park and Alexandra Palace.

Victoria and Piccadilly lines will be running Christmas and New Year services. 

Stroud Green Road closure
There will be partial closures on Stroud Green Road in January to assemble a scaffold and other preparation for the platform extensions. Full closures for extensive bridge works will be carried out at Easter.

Find out more about festive rail services here.

Beware of telephone scammers

Over the past few months the Islington Trading Standards team have been made aware of a number of residents receiving bogus telephone calls from people pretending to be Office of Fair Trading (OFT) representatives.

These telephone scammers are telling people that the OFT can reclaim bank or other charges for them, and that this service requires an upfront fee to be paid by money transfer. Luckily, the residents in the borough who received these calls thought it didn’t sound genuine and didn’t part with any money.

The OFT are warning people not to pay any money to these bogus callers – the OFT will never ask people for money over the telephone.

Anyone receiving one of these calls is encouraged to report it to www.actionfraud.org.uk  or by calling 0300 1232 040.

Nominate your local hero!

Islington Council has launched its annual hunt for the borough's unsung heroes - the Mayor's Civic Awards. The event sees public spirited citizens honoured for their contribution to the local community, and welcomes nominations for all local people.

Islington’s Mayor Cllr Phil Kelly said: "Each day in Islington I meet people who care enough about their local community that they go to great lengths to improve the lives of others.

"These people make a difference, and these awards recognise those ones who live, work or volunteer here. We say thank you because without them the borough would be a poorer place."

Nominees can be family members or carers, charity volunteers, local entrepreneurs and employers, or neighbours.

There is also a special award for under 18s – The Ben Kinsella Award – which recognises a young person whose positive actions have made their mark on the local community.

Last year saw two nominations so strong the judges couldn't split them. Daniel Lusardi and Rhys Farthing were the two young role models who made a difference by getting young people on their estate involved in positive activities following a rise in gang culture. They are pictured here receiving their awards from Islington’s former Mayor Mouna Hamitouche.

Other winners included former Mayor of Islington Pat Haynes and Shirley Franklin of the Defend Whittington Hospital Campaign.

Nominations close on Friday 20 January, and the awards will be presented by the Mayor at a special ceremony at Islington Town Hall on 15 March.

Click here to access the online voting form.

Islington signs up to Hunger Gap campaign

The British Dietetic Association (BDA) has launched a brand new national campaign called Mind the Hunger Gap, and Islington Council was the first local authority in the UK to sign up to its principles.

The campaign highlights the one million or so older people in the UK that suffer from malnutrition. This figure does not include those older people in a hospital or care setting, it is those older people living in our community or, as they have become, the 'invisible' population.

Mind the Hunger Gap is an online campaign, and members of the public and dietitians can go to the campaign website to download various materials and campaign tools to highlight the issue locally, while the BDA will raise the issue on a national level.

While primarily a dietitian-led campaign, the Mind the Hunger Gap website also has various tools that members of the public can use to add their support.

 

New film shows issues facing working parents in Islington

In partnership with All Change, Islington Council have made a film called 'Making it Work' looking at the barriers parents face when returning to work and how the council can help.

The council recruited six 'Parent Champions' to engage local parents and help them access services to improve their employability. The film shows some of the issues that parents face.

To watch the film, visit www.islington.gov.uk/makingitwork

To find out more about Parents Champions and other Islington Working for Parents services, visit the Islington Working for Parents page on the council website.