Talented girls at St George’s School, Ascot enjoyed an exciting start to the festive season as they played host to the great British tradition of pantomimes, performing the ancient story of Jack and the Beanstalk to children from a local primary school as well as family and friends.

Pupils from Whitegrove Primary School were invited to the matinee showing of Jack and the Beanstalk on Tuesday, 6 December, which was directed by St George’s Director in Residence, Rachel Johnson.  The ambitious production was the culmination of an intense four week rehearsal process resulting in a laugh-a-minute performance with upbeat songs and dances, a mind-blowing set and plenty of cow jokes to leave the audience in a good moo-d for the rest of the Christmas season!

Director in Residence, Miss Johnson commented “This cast has been an absolute pleasure to direct, owing to the commitment and enthusiasm shown by the entire year group.  For the majority of the cast, this was their first theatre production at St George's and I am hugely impressed by the incredible talent and confidence among such a young cast. It’s clear that the girls have been studying Pantomime in their drama lessons alongside rehearsals, as their comic timing and ‘over the top’ characterisations were nothing short of wonderful.”

Boys at Papplewick School, Ascot, put on a truly spectacular production of “The Lion King” from Thursday, 1^st to Saturday, 3^rd December. 

The matinee performance on Thursday was attended by day boys in the school and a party of 60 boys and staff from local schools, who were delighted with the show. On the Friday and Saturday nights the performers were given a standing ovation by an audience of teachers, current and future parents and extended family and friends.

Headmaster Tom Bunbury said: “Thank you so much to all involved in this wonderful production of The Lion King and especially to Mr. and Mrs. Malan and Mr. Grant, who produced the show.”

On 6^th December, Year 5 boys at Papplewick School, Ascot, took all the football boots donated by leavers and the pairs they have outgrown and cleaned them up. They wrote a Christmas note to children in Eastern Europe who are keen footballers but do not have the money to buy proper football boots.

In total the boys cleaned over 100 pairs, which will be flown out to various poor and deprived areas of Europe by the MT Foundation, a charity founded in 2013 by Marianna Tomasevic to give less privileged children the chance to play in proper football boots.

Tom Bunbury, Headmaster at Papplewick, said: “Every year we have discarded boots from those who’ve left or outgrown their football boots. The boys were delighted to be able to clean them up and give them to a disadvantaged child at Christmas time.”

Lloyds customers should be on the lookout for a new sophisticated fraud that involves fraudsters sending fake bank letters, say local police. 

The convincing letters being sent are a replica template from Lloyds and include their logo, address and signature from a customer service representative.  
The letter tells recipients that there have been some “unusual transactions” on their personal account and asks them to call a number highlighted in bold to confirm they are genuine. 
When victims call the number, an automated welcome message is played and the caller is asked to enter their card number, account number and sort code followed by their date of birth.Victims are then instructed to enter the first and last digit of their security number.
The fraud was spotted by the Daily Telegraph who was alerted to it by a reader who had three identical letters sent to an office address. On separate occasions the Daily Telegraph ran some tests using fake details and were passed to fraudsters who claimed to be from a Lloyds contact centre. The bank has confirmed that the phone number and letters are fake. 
The letters are essentially a sophisticated phishing attempt and serves as a warning to consumers to question written correspondence from their banks. 

If you are ever suspicious about correspondence from your bank you should call the customer serviced number on the back of their card. 
To report a fraud and cyber crime, call us on 0300 123 2040 or visit http://www.actionfraud.police.uk/report_fraud

Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals   Improving Care for Patients with Cancer

The results of the 2015 National Cancer Patient Experience Survey have recently been published and reveal positive developments in cancer services at Ashford and St. Peter’s Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. The survey was sent to 392 patients and the results show encouraging improvements in many areas.

The national survey is designed to monitor progress in cancer care and to drive quality improvements in hospitals at a local level. It takes into account a number of aspects of cancer patients' experience of care and treatment.

The overall response rate was up with the trust achieving a rate of 71%, 5% above the national average of 66% and a significant increase on the previous year’s survey of 58%. 

Areas highlighted as showing improvements included:

• Patients having a named Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS) to contact and ‘ease of contacting CNS’
• Improvements for patients leaving hospital and better reporting regarding home support
• Above national average result for length of time for attending clinics and appointments
• Significant improvement in the area of overall NHS care

Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals  

5^th Winter Colorectal Meeting held at St Peter’s

St Peter’s Hospital played host to the 5^th Winter Colorectal meeting last Friday (2/12/16). ASPH’s leading consultants, eminent industry experts and trainees converged on the Trust’s Post Graduate Centre (PGCE) for the day-long event to discuss advances in the field of colorectal surgery and early rectal cancer.
Phil Bearn and Pasha Nisar ASPH Colorectal surgeons and event organisers said: “What a fantastic insightful event. We were graced with leading experts in the field, who came to share their experiences, developments, good practice and successes with us.

“With significant advances in the field it is important we keep abreast of the evolution, share knowledge and continue our efforts to ensure we do our very best to tackle this disease and help patients who experience this type of cancer. A huge thank you to everyone that came and contributed to make the event the success it was.”