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Chester Zoo has been crowned the best large visitor attraction in England for 2022
The UK's largest charity zoo scooped two accolades at the prestigious Visit England Excellence Awards 2022 this week.
Chester Zoo is celebrating this week after officially been crowned the best large visitor attraction in England for 2022.
The UK’s largest charity zoo was crowned both Large Visitor Attraction of the Year and also received silver in the Resilience and Innovation category at the prestigious VisitEngland Excellence Awards that were held in Birmingham earlier this week, and was praised for its efforts in overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic.
It was also commended for offering visitors “a world class day out”.
Chester Zoo was representing Cheshire at the national awards this week after it automatically qualified ofd the back of two successful award wins at the Marketing Cheshire Annual Awards earlier in the year.
Bosses at the zoo say the award “means the world to us”, and has thanked all its visitors and everyone that supported it for helping it take home the coveted title.
Speaking on the win, Jamie Christon – CEO at Chester Zoo – said: “As one of the world’s leading charity zoos, we put everything into our conservation work both here in the UK and globally.
“Our huge team live and breathe wildlife conservation, from our animal and plant care, to our scientific breakthroughs, our policy work in government, through to our education programmes that are helping people from all walks of life to learn about nature.
Read more: Chester Zoo is having a recruitment open day and there’s over 100 jobs on offer
“We’re fighting to tackle the root causes of wildlife decline, doing whatever it takes to create a brighter future for endangered species around the world – but none of this could be possible without people coming to the zoo.
“In doing so each and every person is contributing to our incredible species-saving work and so a huge thank you goes out to everyone that has visited and supported us.
“It means the world to us.
“This national award firmly confirms Chester Zoo as one of the must-see places to visit in the country.”
Featured Image – Chester Zoo
News
Tameside police officers hailed ‘absolute heroes’ after saving the life of a seven-year-old girl
Emily Sergeant
Two Tameside police officers have been hailed as “absolute heroes” after saving the life of a seven-year-old little girl.
It comes after emergency services were called to an address in the Greater Manchester borough of Tameside earlier this week (29 November), and found a young girl who was struggling to breath and coughing up blood after choking on a sweet.
Police Constables Aaron Kincaid and James Blundell, from Greater Manchester Police‘s (GMP) Tameside division, were first on the scene.
To the huge relief of the girl’s parents, who were said to be “understandably distressed” and concerned for her welfare, PC Kincaid jumped straight into action and was able to utilise his first aid training to full effect by going on to successfully dislodge the sweet from the youngster’s throat, and then helping to calm her down before the paramedics arrived.
Whilst PC Kincaid looked after the little girl, PC Blundell did “everything he could” to help the parents remain calm.
Paramedics then took over once they arrived, and the young girl was taken to hospital as a precaution.
Reflecting on the incident, and hailing his officers “absolute heroes”, Superintendent Mike Walsh, from GMP’s Tameside district, said: “PCs Aaron Kincaid and James Blundell acted without hesitation during the incident, and took control of the situation that they were faced with.
“They deserve every credit for staying calm under extreme pressure and for working together as a team and utilising their training to lifesaving effect, and I’m sure the girl’s parents and family will consider them to be absolute heroes.”
“We’re both glad that we were in the right place at the right time,” PC Kincaid added.
“I have a daughter the same age as the little girl who needed our help, and I cannot tell you how much of a relief it was when she started breathing normally and said she was okay after I had managed to dislodge the sweet.
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“I remember saying, ‘Thank God for that’.
“The little girl gave me a thank you hug before she went to hospital, but I couldn’t have done what I did without PC Blundell’s assistance, so it was a real team effort.”
Featured Image – GMP
News
Someone has plastered posters advertising ‘authorised drug zones’ all over Manchester city centre
Daisy Jackson
Posters promoting ‘authorised’ drug use and sales have appeared all over Manchester today.
The posters even include Greater Manchester Police and Manchester City Council logos – though, obviously, without the consent of either authority.
The fake posters have also been springing up in other cities, with locals in Leeds spotting them all over the place yesterday.
They read: “Crack and heroin zone. The sale and use of Crack and Heroin is authorised in this area.”
The fake posters have been spotted outside the Central Library and in the Northern Quarter, as well as at locations in other parts of the city.
They were quickly removed by authorities, who say they were posted illegally.
West Yorkshire Police said yesterday: “We are aware of fake posters that have been illegally posted at locations in and around Leeds city centre and are making further enquiries.”
Greater Manchester Police and Manchester City Council have also been approached for comment.
Manchester mayoral candidate Nick Buckey wrote on X: “The lack of action to the drug epidemic in Greater Manchester is so huge that people thought these posters were legitimate.
“When jokes seems like reality then we know we have a problem.”
It appears that the group behind the drug posters project is Pattern Up, a ‘young artist collective from Brighton making their mark on the streets with provocative and witty installations’.
Plenty of people seem to have fallen for the stunt, believing it’s real, with one person posting on Instagram: “Can’t find anything online so surely fake news unless someone has a source.”
Another wrote: “Hahaha f*ck off this can’t be legit.”
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Featured image: User submission
