I am delighted to have been able to support the 'Goole Gift Campaign for Heroes' who are doing a fantastic job in sending parcels to our brave troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. Kerry and Darren Smith who run the campaign from their home in Swinefleet are doing a great job and deserve our support.

I wanted to do a little something so I decided to put a request for support in my most recent newspaper which was delivered across Brigg and Goole. We have had residents dropping in items for the parcels to the office and even got an offer of 60 boxes of Haribo sweets from Haribo! We are storing the rest in our office in Normanby until the first few boxes are dispatched!

The photo above shows me delivering some of the boxes to Kerry and Darren. Haribo deserve our thanks in supporting this non-political campaign. Well done to Haribo and well done to Kerry and Darren.

Anyone wanting to contribute items to the parcels can either drop them into our office at 32 Main Street in Normanby or to the office of the Goole Times or Goole Courier in Goole. Items needed incled, talc, deodorants, soups, sachet food, pot noodle type foods, cotton socks, energy bars etc.

Prospective Brigg MP Andrew Percy and Brigg Councillor Nigel Sherwood met with representatives of the East Midlands Ambulance Trust to discuss local residents’ concerns over the recent changes to the Brigg Ambulance and to present their petition which has attracted over 1000 signatures locally.

Prospective MP Andrew Percy says, “Nigel and I were very pleased to be able to meet with the Trust and to hold what we felt was a very constructive meeting. We explained to the Trust that the concern of local people was not so much the introduction of the fast response vehicles, but rather the replacement of the Ambulance at Health Place which has resulted from those changes. In particular, we explained that local residents were concerned that they could now be waiting much longer for an ambulance to attend.

"The Trust assured us that the changes were happening as a result of national changes and that they very much wanted to work with local residents in bringing forward these changes. They were therefore able to assure us that the changes will be monitored closely for the next year and then reviewed next April.

"I explained to the Trust that one of the biggest concerns locally was that patients needing an ambulance may have to wait for one of the fast response vehicles to attend before an ambulance was dispatched. The Trust explained that the likelihood of that happening was very slim as in specific cases an ambulance will automatically be dispatched along with one of the fast response vehicles.

"Nigel and I are grateful to the Trust for allowing us to meet with them to explain the concerns of local residents. We found them very open to our concerns and we welcome their pledge to monitor the impact these changes have locally.

"Our ambulance crews do a first class job and deserve our support. The decision has now been taken and so all we can do is monitor the changes. That is certainly what we shall be doing and if we feel that local people are receiving a substandard service we shall be the first to speak out."