HELP - EVERY PENNY COUNTS!

A TOUGH CHALLEGE AHEAD

  EDINBURGH MARATHON

The heavy rain and cold strong winds affected us all last weekend in some way or another, but not for Catherine Cole who was out there training in readiness for the Edinburgh Marathon which takes place on 27 May 2012 .......

The last time we caught up with Catherine (who is based at ABD's Calne Office) was when she ran the Reading Half Marathon in March 2011 which was a tough one but, she still managed to complete it in good time.

Catherine decided to start running seriously just over 2 years ago.  She had some earlier attempts but failed dismally! She decided to take the "bull by the horns" and joined a local running club in Calne on a beginners running course.  There were 20 in the group to start with; finishing 10 weeks later with a 5k run around the town, followed by a well earned drink at the local pub! They had all completed the run and were very proud of their achievement!

Catherine knew at this stage that she wanted to continue with her running and so started to progress further.  She decided to join an intermediate running session and very quickly progressed to the main club session.  To her surprise she found herself entering local 10k races which she completed in relatively good times!

Catherine has gone on to complete 3 half marathons, the most recent being on 1 April 2012 in a time of 1 hour 52 minutes.

Her biggest challenge now is to complete the Edinburgh Marathon and she is DETERMINED to do it!

Catherine is currently following a 10 week training programme designed by club coach Amy Chalk, who is high calibre GBR international marathon runner.  Catherine trains 4 times a week, with her long runs on a Saturday morning.

Paul Radcliffe has given Catherine a huge amount of advice in her aptly named book "How To Run" regarding diet during training, and leading up to the race day, amongst loads of other useful information - all very technical stuff!

This race is Catherine's BIGGEST CHALLENGE YET, so she is taking this as an opportunity to raise funds for Wiltshire Air Ambulance.

The Air Ambulance is a unique charity whose sole aim is to save the lives of people living in Wiltshire.  Each year they need to find in excess of £700,000 in order to keep the helicopter flying.  This is one of the 7,000+ charities who rely on "JustGiving", an online fundraising business.  Every penny of every pound is donated through JustGiving will go straight to charity.

If you would like to help support Catherine, her fundraising page is;

www.justgiving.com/Catherine-Cole3

Catherine is training very hard, and as a result, she hopes to be able to give the proceeds to Air Ambulance - a very worthy cause.

We will catch up with Catherine after her race.

GOOD LUCK CATHERINE! RUN WELL!

NICOLA NEWTON RETIRES FROM ABD
A FOND FAREWELL LUNCH AND GIFTS

ABD Staff and Partners took Nicola Newton out to lunch followed by a glass of fizz back at the office, a presentation of farewell presents, and speech from ABD Partner Andrew Douglas on behalf of Staff and Partners to say farewell to Nicola who retired Thursday, 4 April 2012.

Nicola qualified as a solicitor in 1985 and has dealt with a wide range of residential and commercial property work.

Nicola joined ABD’s Commercial Team in 2007 as a Commercial Property Solicitor and has worked for private individuals, councils, housing associations, developers and commercial companies with extensive property portfolios.

Nicola has been a popular and well respected member of staff in the office and will be sadly missed.

Nicola starts her retirement by enjoying a holiday in USA which she is very much looking forward to once she has her passport renewed!

FAREWELL NICOLA AND HAPPY RETIREMENT!

LAW SOCIETY PRESIDENT MEETS PARTNERS OF ABD

29 MARCH 2012

Law Society President John Wotton met with the Partners of ABD at the firms Royal Wootton Bassett Office last Thursday for tea.

John Wotton is a highly influential figure in the development of the legal services profession and has been on the Law Society’s Council since September 2007.  He became President at the Annual General Meeting on 14 July 2011.

INVEST! INVEST! INVEST!

Hot on the agenda were concerns the Partners had about changes in the way that solicitors practices are being required to operate, and in particular;

-           The need to create a level playing field between solicitors and less regulated suppliers            

of the legal services.

-           The ban on referral fees.

-          The future of high street practices.

-          The strength of the brand which is co-operative legal services.

At a time of change, the meeting was a significant boost for the reputation and future of ABD.  John Wotton was “very impressed by the quality of the management of ABD and their readiness to embrace the future”.

After the meeting, John Wotton went on to give a presentation at Bowood Golf and Country Club, Chippenham, to members of the profession regarding the future of the role of Solicitors.

  

ABD Partners from left to right; Alistair Everett, Roger Chadwick, John Wotton, Andrew Douglas, Peter Shah and Tony Awdry.

URGENT

AWDRY BAILEY AND DOUGLAS (“ABD”)

 

NOTICE ABOUT RECOVERY OF CARE HOME FEES DEADLINE

REGISTER BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE

DEADLINE DATE 30 SEPTEMBER 2012

No matter how rich or how poor, if you or somebody you know is in a care home because of a Primary Health need, neither they nor you should be paying Care Home fees.

The Department of Health has recently announced that for periods of care between 1 April 2004 and 31 March 2011 the deadline date for applying for backdated NHS funding EXPIRES on 30 September 2012.

DON’T MISS OUT ON YOUR ENTITLEMENT TO NHS FUNDING.

For more information contact on a no obligation basis our specialist ABD Care Team by telephoning 01672 518620 or emailing Wayne Elliot wayne.elliot@awdrys.co.uk for a FREE appointment now.

ABD WINS

THE

MAYORS SALVER CHALLENGE RACE 2012

The Devizes Annual Pancake Race was organised by Age UK Wiltshire and held in the Market Place, Devizes, on Shrove Tuesday, 21 February 2012, between 12.30pm-1.30pm to celebrate Pancake Day! Good donations were made this year including ABD’s donation of £100.  All profits from this event go to Age UK Wiltshire to fund their work with older people.

The majority of races were run by local schools followed by single team’s races.  This year, ABD’s team consisted of Wayne Elliott, David Kelshall, Simon Lofthouse and Catherine Cole all of whom did a fantastic job in winning the “Mayors Salver Challenge Race” which was a relay race whilst tossing pancakes in the air with a frying pan!  Onlookers had great fun in cheering the teams on whilst eating pancakes of their own at the sidelines.  The first relay took place against Wilkinson’s which ABD managed to win and enabled them to enter the final heat against Age UK Wiltshire.  It was a tough run to start with, but ABD team managed to sail through and WIN!                                                                                                                                                                                                               

       

First to take off is Catherine Cole competing against Wilkinson’s in the first heat!

   

The silver Salver was then presented by Mayor Sue Evans and will be available for viewing in ABD Devizes office reception once it has been engraved.

 

Well done team for not only winning, but also for supporting a very worthwhile community cause.

For more information regarding Age UK Wiltshire go to www.ageukwiltshire.org.uk

ABD IS THE LEAD SPONSOR FOR ONE OF THE BIGGEST OUTDOOR CELEBRATIONS IN WILTSHIRE!

The Devizes Carnival celebrates its 100^th anniversary this year and ABD is proud to be the lead sponsor!

Devizes has a long tradition of fairs, markets and carnivals…

The Devizes Carnival and International Street Festival are an exciting mix of traditional and contemporary carnival styles. The Devizes Carnival is the biggest outdoor community event in the town’s calendar and consists of 2 weeks of festival activities in late August and early September. It is one of the biggest outdoor celebrations in Wiltshire last year’s Carnival drawing over 10,000 people to Devizes!  The Carnival events include the Devizes International Street Festival, Picnic in the Park, Confetti Battle and the Carnival Procession amongst lots of other supporting events.

The Picnic in the park, which is a free event, is held in Hillworth Park Devizes and features a range of musicians playing live music to people whilst they enjoy their picnics.

 “Last year we had the biggest crowd ever, with 500 people attending. It’s a fun and social event and Hillworth Park is a lovely venue.”  Gazette and Herald Newspaper

The Confetti Battle which takes place over the Carnival weekend is a popular local tradition that has been taking place for many years, and one in which everyone can take part.

The Devizes Carnival Parade is a spectacular event and promises to be even more spectacular this year marking its 100^th anniversary. The parade starts on the green and goes through the town centre.  A free community costume making workshop has been available to anyone wanting to build a float or take part in the Parade!

ABD will be the lead sponsor for these exiting events and is proud to be supporting the community!

AN INTERESTING CASE

NOT EXACTLY A BARREL OF FUN OR LAUGHS

ABD Personal Injury Team is always on the case. Rachel Fereday P I solicitor who is based at the Devizes office was approached by Mr X to help. This case was initially a personal injury case for an accident at work…

It all started when Mr X was working at a bingo club in Manchester. The club ran out of beer, so they arranged for one to be delivered from one of their other clubs in the area which arrived by taxi. Mr X was asked to help his manager lift the full beer barrel out of the taxi which was awkward and extremely heavy. In doing that, together with the act of subsequently needing to tilt the barrel to move it into an upright position, he injured his back.

His back strain then developed into an epidural abscess which required surgery. Mr X was left with ongoing back pain, loss of feeling in his feet, needing to use a wheelchair the majority of the time and essentially needing “round the clock” care from his wife. He was only 29 years of age at the time of the accident.

The claim against the employer was initially fiercely defended but Rachel kept the pressure on and eventually the employer conceded primary liability.

During the course of obtaining expert evidence on Mr X’s injuries, the issue of clinical negligence was raised. The expert opinion was that on admission to hospital with the clinical signs that he had, Mr X should have been referred to a specialist unit within 12 hours but instead that was not done for 5 days. Expert opinion was that if treatment had been instituted sooner his long term outcome would have been better.

The Hospital NHS Trust was therefore joined to the court proceedings.

There were several experts involved in the case who agreed that Mr X should have been referred to the specialist unit within at most one day and that had treatment been instigated sooner his long term outcome would have been better.

A care report was obtained to assess Mr X’s position and what aids and equipment could be purchased to improve his quality of life. A pain management report was also obtained to see if treatment could improve his levels of pain and/or help him cope with it.

A date was set for a 3 day Trial to start but, shortly before this, a meeting took place between the legal representatives for the 3 parties in which a settlement was negotiated at £410,000 for Mr X. This settlement was paid partly by the employer and partly by the NHS Trust.

The compensation agreed included the cost of future care that Mr X needed for the rest of his life, equipment and aids (e.g. purchase and maintenance of wheelchairs etc), loss of earnings and the cost of pain management to help him cope with his ongoing pain.

So, thanks to Rachel’s persistent efforts, this compensation can now be used to improve the quality of Mr X’s life.